My race of glory run, and race of fhame,
And I shall shortly be with them that reft.
MANOAH.

Believe not these fuggeftions which proceed
From anguifh of the mind and humors black,
That mingle with thy fancy. I however
Muft not omit a father's timely care

To profecute the means of thy deliverance.

By ranfome, or how elfe: mean while be calm,
And healing words from these thy friends admit.

SAMSON.

O that torment should not be confin'd

To the body's wounds and fores,

600

606

620

Nor less than wounds immedicable

Rankle, and fefter, and gangrene,

To black mortification.

Thoughts my tormentors arm'd with deadly ftings Mangle my apprehensive tenderest parts, Exafperate, exulcerate, and raise

Dire inflammation, which no cooling herb

mifery might grow tedious to the
reader, and therefore here with
great judgment varies both his
manner of expreffing it and the
verfification. Thefe fudden starts
of impatience are very natural to
perfons in fuch circumstances, and
this rough and unequal meafure
of the verses is very well fuited
to it.
Thyer.
623. Thoughts my tormentors arm'd
with deadly ftings

625

Or medicinal liquor can affwage,

Nor breath of vernal air from snowy Alp.
Sleep hath forfook and giv'n me o'er

To death's benumming opium as my only cure: 630
Thence faintings, fwoonings of despair,

And fenfe of Heaven's defertion.

I was his nurfling once and choice delight, His deftin'd from the womb,

Promis'd by heav'nly meffage twice defcending. 635

Under his fpecial eye

Abftemious I grew up and thriv'd amain;

He led me on to mightiest deeds

Above the nerve of mortal arm

Against th' uncircumcis'd, our enemies :

640

And

But now hath caft me off as never known,

677. Or medicinal liquor can affwage,] Here medicínal is pronounc'd with the accent upon the laft fyllable but one, as in Latin; which is more mufical than as we commonly pronounce it medicinal with the accent upon the laft fyllable but two, or med'cinal as Milton has ufed it in the Mafk. The fame mafical pronunciation occurs in Shakespear. Othello A&t 5. Sc. 10. Drop tears as fast as the Arabian

trees

Their medicinal gum. 628. from fnowy Alp.] He ufes Alp for mountain in general, as in the Paradife Loft. II. 620.

O'er many a frozen, many a fiery Alp.

Alp in the ftrict etymology of the word fignifies a mountain white with fnow. We have indeed appropriated the name to the high mountains which feparate Italy from France and Germany; but

any

And to thofe cruel enemies,

Whom I by his appointment had provok'd,
Left me all helpless with th' irreparable loss
Of fight, referv'd alive to be repeated

645

The subject of their cruelty or scorn.
Nor am I in the lift of them that hope:
Hopeless are all my evils, all remedilefs;

This one prayer yet remains, might I be heard,

1 No long petition, speedy death,

650

The close of all my miferies, and the balm.

CHORUS.

Many are the fayings of the wife

In ancient and in modern books inroll'd,
Extolling patience as the trueft fortitude;
And to the bearing well of all calamities,

655 All

This part of Samfon's fpeech is
little more than a repetition of
what he had faid before, ver. 23.

O wherefore was my birth from
Heav'n foretold
Twice by an Angel &c.
But yet it cannot justly be imputed

as a fault to our author. Grief
though eloquent is not tied o
forms, and is befides apt in its own
nature frequently to recur to and
repeat its fource and object. Thyer.
656. All

All chances incident to man's frail life,

Confolitaries writ

With study'd argument, and much perfuafion fought Lenient of grief and anxious thought:

But with th' afflicted in his pangs their found 660 Little prevails, or rather seems a tune

Harsh, and of diffonant mood from his complaint; Unless he feel within

Some fource of confolation from above,

Secret refreshings that repair his strength,

And fainting fpirits uphold.

God of our fathers, what is man!

That thou tow'ards him with hand fo various,
Or might I say contrarious,

656. All chances incident to man's

frail life, &c] There is a full ftop at the end of this line in all the editions, but there should be only a comma, as the fenfe evinces, the construction being And confolatories writ with &c to the bearing well &c. Milton himself corrected it in the first edition; but when an error is once made, it is fure to be perpetuated through all the editions.

658.-and much perfuafion fought] I fuppofe an error of the prefs for fraught. Warburton.

I conceive the conAruction to be,

665

Temper❜ft

confolatories are writ with study'd argument, and much perfuafion is fought &c.

659. Lenient of grief] Express'd from what we quoted before from Horace Epift. I. I. 34.

Sunt verba et voces quibus hunc lenire dolorem

Poffis.

660. But with th' afflicted &c] Here was another error perpetuated through all the editions,

But to th' afflicted &c.

Milton himself corrected it, and certainly