If any of these or all, the Timnian bride Had not so soon preferr'd
Thy paranymph, worthless to thee compar'd, 1020 Successor in thy bed,
Nor both so loosly disally'd
Their nuptials, nor this last so treacherously
Had shorn the fatal harvest of thy head.
Is it for that such outward ornament
Was lavish'd on their sex, that inward gifts
Were left for haste unfinish'd, judgment scant,
Capacity not rais'd to apprehend
Or value what is best
In choice, but oftest to affect the wrong?
Or was too much of self-love mix'd,
Of constancy no root infix'd,
That either they love nothing, or not long?
Whate'er it be, to wisest men and best
Seeming at first all heav'nly under virgin veil, 1035
Soft, modest, meek, demure,
Once join'd, the contrary she proves, a thorn
Intestin, far within defensive arms
A cleaving mischief, in his way to virtue
Adverse and turbulent, or by her charms
Draws him awry inslav'd
With dotage, and his sense deprav'd
To folly' and shameful deeds which ruin ends.
What pilot so expert but needs must wreck
Imbark'd with such a steers-mate at the helm ? 1045 Favor'd of Heav'n who finds
One virtuous rarely found,
That in domestic good combines :
Happy that house! his way to peace is smooth : But virtue which breaks through all opposition, 1050 And all temptation can remove,
Most shines and most is acceptable above.
Therefore God's universal law
Gave to the man despotic power
Over his female in due awe,
Nor from that right to part an hour,
Smile she or lour:
So shall he least confusion draw
On his whole life, not sway'd
By female usurpation, or dismay'd.
But had we best retire, I see a storm?
SAM. Fair days have oft contracted wind and rain.
CHOR. But this another kind of tempest brings.
SAM. Be less abstruse, my riddling days are past.
CHOR. Look now for no inchanting voice, nor fear
The bait of honied words; a rougher tongue 1066
Draws hitherward, I know him by his stride,
The giant Harapha of Gath, his look
Haughty as is his pile high-built and proud.
Comes he in peace? what wind hath blown him hither
I less conjecture than when first I saw
The sumptuous Dalila floting this way:
His habit carries peace, his brow defiance.
SAM. Or peace or not,alike to me he comes. [rives. CHOR. His fraught we soon shall know, he now arHAR. I come not, Samson, to condole thy chance, As these perhaps, yet wish it had not been,
Though for no friendly intent. I am of Gath,
Men call me Harapha, of stock renown'd
As Og or Anak and the Emmims old
That Kiriathaim held, thou know'st me now
If thou at all art known. Much I have heard
Of thy prodigious might and feats perform'd
Incredible to me, in this displeas'd,
That I was never present on the place
Of those encounters, where we might have try'd
Each other's force in camp or listed field;
And now am come to see of whom such noise
Hath walk'd about, and each limb to survey,
If thy appearance answer loud report.
SAM. The way to know were not to see but taste.
HAR. Dost thou already single me? I thought
Gyves and the mill had tam'd thee, O that Fortune
Had brought me to the field, where thou art fam'd
To' have wrought such wonders with an ass's jaw;
I should have forc'd thee soon with other arms,
Or left thy carcase where the ass lay thrown:
So had the glory of prowess been recover'd
To Palestine, won by a Philistine,
From the unforeskinn'd race, of whom thou bear'st
The highest name for valiant acts; that honor 1101
Certain to have won by mortal duel from thee,
I lose, prevented by thy eyes put out.
SAM. Boast not of what thouwould'st havedone, but What then thouwould'st, thou seest it in thyhand.
HAR. To combat with a blind man I disdain, 1106 And thou hast need much washing to be touch'd.
SAM. Such usage as your honorable lords Afford me' assassinated and betray'd,
Who durst not with their whole united powers 1110
In fight withstand me single and unarm’d,
Nor in the house with chamber ambushes
Close-banded durst attack me, no not sleeping
Till they had hir'd a woman with their gold
Breaking her marriage faith to circumvent me. 1115
Therefore without feign'd shifts let be assign'd
Some narrow place inclos'd, where sight may give thee
Or rather flight, no great advantage on me;
Then put on all thy gorgeous arms, thy helmet
And brigandine of brass, thy broad habergeon, 1120
Vant-brass and greves, and gauntlet, add thy spear,
A weaver's beam, and sev'n-times-folded shield,
I only with an oaken staff will meet thee,
And raise such outcries on thy clatter'd iron,
Which long shall not withhold me from thy head,
That in a little time while breath remains thee, 1126
Thou oft shall wish thy self at Gath to boast
Again in safety what thou would'st have done
To Samson, but shalt never see Gath more.
HAR. Thou durst not thus disparage glorious arms,
Which greatest heroes have in battel worn,
Their ornament and safety, had not spells
And black inchantments, some Magician's art, Arm'd thee or charm'd thee strong, which thou from Heav'n
Feign'dst at thy birth was giv'n thee in thy hair, Where strength can least abide, though all thy hairs
Were bristles rang'd like those that ridge the back
Of chaf'd wild boars, or ruffled porcupines.
SAM. I know no spells, use no forbidden arts; My trust is in the living God who gave me 1140 At my nativity this strength, diffus'd
No less through all my sinews, joints and bones,
Than thine, while I preserv'd these locks unshorn,
The pledge of my unviolated vow.
For proof hereof, if Dagon be thy god,
Go to his temple, invocate his aid
With solemnest devotion, spread before him
How highly it concerns his glory now
To frustrate and dissolve these magic spells,
Which I to be the power of Israel's God
Avow, and challenge Dagon to the test,
Offering to combat thee his champion bold,
With th' utmost of his godhead seconded:
Then thou shalt see, or rather to thy sorrow
Soon feel, whose God is strongest, thine or mine.
HAR. Presume not on thy God, whate'er he be,
Thee he regards not, owns not, hath cut off
Quite from his people, and deliver'd up
Into thy enemies' hand, permitted them
To put out both thine eyes, and fetter'd send thee
Into the common prison, there to grind
Among the slaves and asses thy comrades,
As good for nothing else, no better service
With those thy boist'rous locks, no worthy match
For valor to assail, nor by the sword
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