I pray'd for children, and thought barrenness
In wedlock a reproach; I gain'd a son,
And fuch a fon as all men hail'd me happy;
Who would be now a father in my ftead?
O wherefore did God grant me my request,
And as a bleffing with fuch pomp adorn'd?
Why are his gifts defirable, to tempt
Our earnest pray'rs, then giv'n with folemn hand
As graces, draw a fcorpion's tail behind?
For this did th' Angel twice defcend? for this
Ordain'd thy nurture holy, as of a plant
Select, and facred, glorious for a while,
The miracle of men; then in an hour
Infnar'd, affaulted, overcome, led bound,
Thy foes derifion, captive, poor and blind,
Into a dungeon thruft, to work with flaves?
Alas methinks whom God hath chofen once
To worthiest deeds, if he through frailty err,
He should not fo o'erwhelm, and as a thrall
Subject him to fo foul indignities
Be it but for honor's fake of former deeds.
Appoint not heav'nly difpofition, Father ;
Nothing of all these evils hath befall'n me
But justly; I myself have brought them on,
Sole author I, fole caufe: if ought feem vile,
As vile hath been my folly, who' have profan'd
The mystery of God giv'n me under pledge
Of vow, and have betray'd it to a woman,
A Canaanite, my faithlefs enemy.
This well I knew, nor was at all furpris'd,
beautiful imagery on the following text, Luke XI. 12. If a fon fhall afk of his father an egg, will be offer
But warn'd by oft experience: did not she
Of Timna first betray me, and reveal
The secret wrested from me in her highth
Of nuptial love profess'd, carrying it strait
To them who had corrupted her, my fpies,
And rivals? In this other was there found
More faith, who also in her prime of love,
Spoufal embraces, vitiated with gold,
Though offer'd only, by the fcent conceiv'd
Her fpurious first-born, treason against me?
Thrice she affay'd with flattering pray'rs and fighs,
And amorous reproaches, to win from me
My capital fecret, in what part my strength
Lay ftor'd, in what part fumm'd, that she might know;
Thrice I deluded her, and turn'd to sport
Her importunity, each time perceiving
How openly, and with what impudence
She purpos'd to betray me, and (which was worse Than undiffembled hate) with what contempt 400 She fought to make me traitor to myself;
Yet the fourth time, when must'ring all her wiles,
fummon to answer. Warburton. 391. treafon against me?] By our laws called petty treafon.
401. She fought] So it is in Milton's own edition; in most of the others She thought.
With blandish'd parlies, feminine affaults,
Tongue-batteries, fhe furceas'd not day nor night
To storm me over-watch'd, and weary'd out,
At times when men feek most repose and reft,
I yielded, and unlock'd her all my heart,
Who with a grain of manhood well refolv'd
Might eafily have shook off all her fnares:
But foul effeminacy held me yok'd
Her bond-flave; O indignity, O blot
To honor and religion! fervile mind
Rewarded well with fervile punishment!
The base degree to which I now am fall'n,
These rags, this grinding is not yet fo base
As was my former fervitude, ignoble,
Unmanly, ignominious, infamous,
True flavery, and that blindness worse than this,
That faw not how degenerately I ferv'd.
I cannot praise thy marriage choices, Son,
411.-O indignity! O blot &c] Nothing could give the reader a better idea of a great and heroic fpirit in the circumftances of Samfon, than this fudden guft of indignation and paffionate felf-re
proach upon the mentioning of his weakness. Befides there is fomething vaftly grand and noble in his reflection upon his present condition on this occafion,
Rather approv'd them not; but thou didst plead
Divine impulfion prompting how thou might'st
Find fome occafion to infeft our foes.
I state not that; this I am fure, our foes
Found foon occafion thereby to make thee
Their captive, and their triumph; thou the fooner Temptation found'ft, or over-potent charms
To violate the facred truft of filence
Deposited within thee; which to have kept
Tacit, was in thy pow'r: true; and thou bear'st 430 Enough, and more, the burden of that fault; Bitterly haft thou paid, and still art paying
That rigid fcore. A worfe thing yet remains,
This day the Philiftines a popular feast
Here celebrate in Gaza; and proclame
Great pomp, and facrifice, and praises loud
To Dagon, as their God who hath deliver'd
Thee, Samfon, bound and blind into their hands,
Them out of thine, who flew'ft them many a flain.
Thefe rags, this grinding is not yet fo bafe &c.
thered them together, for to offer a great facrifice unto Dagon their God, and to rejoice; for they faid, Our God hath delivered Samfon our enemy into our hand. &c. This incident
434. This day the Philistines a popular feaft &c] Judg. XVI. 23. Then the lords of the Philistines ga- the poet hath finely improv'd, and
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