Alinen are sons of God; yet thee I thought
In some respect far higher so declared:
Therefore I watched thy footsteps from that hour,
And followed thee still on to this waste wild;
Where, by all best conjectures, I collect
'Thou art to be my fatal enemy:
Good reason then, if I beforehand seck
To understand my adversary, who

And what he is; his wisdom, power, intent;

By parle or composition, truce or league,
To win him, or win from him what I can:
An opportunity I here have had

|Cast herself headlong from the Ismenian steep;
So, struck with dread and anguish, fell the fienc
And to his crew, that sat consulting, brought
(Joyless triumphals of his hoped success)
Ruin, and desperation, and dismay,
Who durst so proudly tempt the Son of God.
So Satan fell; and straight a fiery globe
Of angels on full sail of wing flew nigh,
Who on their plumy vans received him soft
From his uneasy station, and upbore,

As on a floating couch, through the blithe air;
Then, in a flowery valley, set him down

To try thee, sift thee, and confess have found thee On a green bank, and set before him spread
Proof against all temptation, as a rock
Of adamant, and as a centre firm;

To the utmost of mere man both wise and good,
Not more; for honours, riches, kingdoms, glory,
Have been before contemned, and may again:
Therefore to know what more thou art than man,
Worth naming Son of God by voice from Heaven,
Another method I must now begin.”

So saying he caught him up, and, without wing
Of hippogrif, bore through the air sublime,
Over the wilderness and o'er the plain,
Till underneath them fair Jerusalem,
The holy city, lifted high her towers,
And higher yet the glorious temple reared
Her pile, far off appearing like a mount
Of alabaster, topt with golden spires:
There on the highest pinnacle he set

The Son of God; and added thus in scorn.

A table of celestial food, divine
Ambrosial fruits, fetched from the tree of life,
And, from the fount of life, ambrosial drink,
That soon refreshed him wearied, and repaired
What hunger, if aught hunger had impaired,
Or thirst; and, as he fed, angelic choirs
Sung heavenly anthems of his victory
Over temptation and the tempter proud.

"True image of the Father; whether throned
In the bosom of bliss, and light of light
Conceiving, or, remote from Heaven, inshrined
In fleshly tabernacle, and human form,
Wandering the wilderness; whatever place,
Habit, or state, or motion, still expressing
The Son of God, with godlike force endued
Against thy attempter of thy Father's throne,
And thief of Paradise! him long of old

Thou did'st debel, and down from Heaven cast

"There stand, if thou wilt stand; to stand up- With all his army; now thou hast avenged right

Will ask thee skill; I to thy Father's house

Supplanted Adam, and, by vanquishing
Temptation, hast regained lost Paradise,

Have brought thee, and highest placed: highest is And frustrated the conquest fraudulent.

best:

Now show thy progeny; if not to stand,
Cast thyself down; safely, if Son of God:
For it is written, 'He will give command
Concerning thee to his angels, in their hands
They shall uplift thee, lest at any time
Thou chance to dash thy foot against a stone.""
To whom thus Jesus. "Also it is written,
'Tempt not the Lord thy God:" he said, and
stood:

But Satan, smitten with amazement, fell.
As when earth's son Antæus (to compare
Sinall things with greatest) in Irassa strove
With Jove's Alcides, and, oft foiled, still rose,
Receiving from his mother earth new strength,
Fresh from his fall, and fiercer grapple joined,
Throttled at length in the air, expired and fell;
So, after many a foil, the Tempter proud,
Renewing fresh assaults amidst his pride,
Fell whence he stood to see his victor fall:
And as that Theban monster, that proposed
ffe riddle, and him, who solved it not devoured,
That once found out and solved, for grief and spite

He never more henceforth will dare set foot
In Paradise to tempt; his snares are broke:
For, though that seat of earthly bliss be failed,
A fairer Paradise is founded now
For Adam and his chosen sons, whom thou,
A Saviour, art come down to reinstal,
Where they shall dwell secure, when time shall be
Of tempter and temptation without fear.
But thou, infernal serpent! shalt not long
Rule in the clouds; like an autumnal star,
Or lightning, thou shalt fall from Heaven, trod
down

Under his feet; for proof, ere this thou feel'st
Thy wound, (yet not thy last and deadliest wound,)
By this repulse received, and hold'st in hell
No triumph; in all her gates Abaddon rues
Thy bold attempt. Hereafter learn with awe
To dread the Son of God: he, all unarmed,
Shall chase thee with the terror of his voice
From thy demoniac holds, possession foul,
Thee and thy legions; yelling they shall fly
And beg to hide them in a herd of swine,
Lest he command them down into the deep,

Tragedia est Imitatio actionis seriæ, &c. per misericordiam et metum perficiens talium affectuum lustrationem.

separably dak?

Thou art becore (O worst imprisonment!)
The dungeon of thyself; thy soul,

(Which men enjoying sight oft without cause
complain,)

Imprisoned now indeed,

In real darkness of the body dwells,
Shut up from outward light

To incorporate with gloomy night;
For inward light, alas!
Puts forth no visual beam.

O mirror of our fickle state,
Since man on earth unparalleled!
The rarer thy example stands,

By how much from the top of wondrous glory,
Strongest of mortal men,

In me, of wisdom nothing more than mean;
This with the other should, at least, have paired,
These two, proportioned ill, drove me transverse.

Chor. Tax not divine disposal; wisest men
Have erred, and by bad women been deceived;
And shall again, pretend they ne'er so wise.
Deject not then so overmuch thyself,
Who hast of sorrow thy full load besides;
Yet, truth to say, I oft have heard men wonder
Why thou should'st wed Philistian woman rather
Than of thine own tribe fairer, or as fair,
At least of thy own nation, and as noble.

Sams. The first I saw at Timna, and she pleased
Me, not my parents, that I sought to wed
The daughter of an infidel: they knew not
That what I mentioned was of God: I knew

To lowest pitch of abject fortune thou art fallen. From intimate impulse, and therefore urged
For him I reckon not in high estate

Whom long descent of birth,

Or the sphere of fortune, raises;

The marriage on; that by occasion hence
I might begin Israel's deliverance,
The work to which I was divinely called.

But thee whose strength, while virtue was her She proving false, the next I took to wife

mate,

Might have subdued the earth,

Universally crowned with highest praises.

(O that I never had! fond wish too late)
Was in the vale of Sorec, Dalila,
That specious monster, my accomplished snare.

Sams. I hear the sound of words; their sense I thought it lawful from my former act,
the air

Dissolves unjointed ere it reach my ear.

Chor. He speaks, let us draw nigh. Matchless in might,

The glory late of Israel, now the grief;

And the same end; still watching to oppress
Israel's oppressors: of what now I suffer
She was not the prime cause, but I myself,
Who, vanquished with a peal of w rds, (O weak-
ness!)

We come thy friends and neighbours not un- Gave up my fort of silence to a woman.

known,

From Eshtaol and Zora's fruitful vale,

To visit or bewail thee; or, if better,

Counsel or consolation we may bring,

Salve to thy sores: apt words have power to swage
The tumours of a troubled mind.

And are as balm to festered wounds.

Chor. In seeking just occasion to provoke
The Philistine, thy country's enemy,
Thou never wast remiss, I bear thee witness:
Yet Israel still serves with all his sons.

Sams. That fault I take not on me, but transfer
On Israel's governors, and heads of tribes,
Who, seeing those great acts which God had dons

Sams. Your coming, friends, revives me, for I Singly by me against their conquerors,

learn

Now of my own experience, not by talk,
How counterfeit a coin they are who friends
Bear in their superscription, (of the most
I would be understood;) in prosperous days
They swarm, but in adverse withdraw their head,
Not to be found, though sought. Ye see, O friends,
How many evils have enclosed me round:

Yet that which was the worst now least afflicts me,
Blindness; for had I sight, confused with shame,
How could I once look up, or heave the head,
Who, like a foolish pilot, have shipwrecked
My vessel trusted to me from above,
Gloriously rigged; and for a word, a tear,
Fool! have divulged the secret gift of God
To a deceitful woman? tell me, friends,
Am i not sung and proverbed for a fool
In every street? do they not say, how well
Are come upon him his deserts? yet why?
Immeasurable strength they might behold

Acknowledged not, or not at all considered,
Deliverance offered: I on the other side
Used no ambition to commend my deeds;
The deeds themselves, though mute, spoke loud
the doer:

But they persisted deaf, and would not seem
To count them things worth notice, till at length
Their lords the Philistines with gathered powers
Entered Judea seeking me, who then
Safe to the rock of Etham was retired;
Not flying, but forecasting in what place
To set upon them, what advantaged best:
Meanwhile the men of Judah, to prevent
The harass of their land, beset me round:
I willingly on some conditions came
Into their hands, and they as gladly yield me
To the uncircumcised a welcome prey,
Bound with two cords; but cords to me were

threads

Touched with the flame: on their whole host flew

Unarmed, and with a trivial weapon felled
Their choicest youth; they only lived who fled.
Had Judah that day joined, or one whole tribe,
They had by this possessed the towers of Gath,
And lorded over them whom they now serve:
But what more oft, in nations grown corrupt,
And by their vices brought to servitude,
Than to love bondage more than liberty,
Bondage with ease than strenuous liberty:
And to despise, or envy, or suspect
Whom God hath of his special favour raised
As their deliverer; if he aught begin,
How frequent to desert him, and at last
To heap ingratitude on worthiest deeds?

Chor. Thy words to my remembrance bring
How Succoth and the fort of Penuel
Their great deliverer contemned,
The matchless Gideon, in pursuit
Of Madian and her vanquished kings:
And how ingrateful Ephraim
Had dealt with Jephtha, who by argument,
Not worse than by his shield and spear,
Defended Israel from the Ammonite,
Had not his prowess quelled their pride
In that sore battle, when so many died
Without reprieve, adjudged to death,
For want of well pronouncing Shibboleth.
Sams. Of such example add me to the roll;
Me easily indeed mine may neglect,
But God's proposed deliverance not so.
Chor. Just are the ways of God,
And justifiable to men;

Unless there be who think not God at all:
If any be, they walk obscure;

For of such doctrine never was their school,
But the heart of the fool,

And no man therein doctor but himself.

Down, reason, then; at least, vain reasonings down;

Though reason here aver,

That moral verdict quits her of unclean:
Unchaste was subsequent, her stain not his.

But see here comes thy reverend sire
With careful step, locks white as down,
Old Manoah: advise

Forthwith how thou ought'st to receive him.

Sams. Ay me, another inward grief, awaked With mention of that name, renews the assault.

[Enter] Manoah.

Man. Brethren and men of Dan, for such ye
seem,

Though in this uncouth place; if old respect,
As I suppose, towards your once gloried friend,
My son, now captive, hither hath informed
Your younger feet, while mine cast back with age
|Came lagging after; say if he be here.

Chor. As signal now in low dejected state,
As erst in highest, behold him where he lies.
Man. O miserable change! is this the man,
That invincible Samson, far renowned,
The dread of Israel's foes, who with a strength
Equivalent to angels walked their streets,
None offering fight; who single combatant
Duelled their armies ranked in proud array,
Himself an army, now unequal match
To save himself against a coward armed
At one spear's length. O everfailing trust
In mortal strength! and oh! what not in man
Deceivable and vain? Nay, what thing good
Prayed for, but often proves our wo, our bane?
I prayed for children, and thought barrenness
In wedlock a reproach; I gained a son,
And such a son as all men hailed me happy;

Yet more they be, who doubt his ways not just, Who would be now a father in my stead?

As to his own edicts found contradicting,
Then give the reigns to wandering thought,
Regardless of his glory's diminution;
Till by their own perplexities involved,
They ravel more, still less resolved,
But never find self-satisfying solution.

As if they would confine the Interminable,
And tie him to his own prescript,
Who made our laws to bind us, not himself,
And hath full right to exempt
Whom so it pleases him by choice
From national obstriction, without taint
Of sin, or legal debt;

For with his own laws he can best dispense.
He would not else, who never wanted means,
Nor in respect of the enemy just cause,
To set his people free,

Have prompted this heroic Nazarite,
Against his vow of strictest purity,

To sex in marriage that fallacious bride,
Duclean, unchaste

O wherefore did God grant me my request,
And as a blessing with such pomp adorned?
Why are his gifts desirable, to tempt

Our earnest prayers, then, given with solemn hand
As graces, draw a scorpion's tail behind?

For this did the angel twice descend? for this
Ordained thy nurture holy, as of a plant
Select, and sacred, glorious for awhile,
The miracle of men; then in an hour
Insnared, assaulted, overcome, led bound,
Thy foes' derision, captive, poor, and blind,
Into a dungeon thrust, to work with slaves?
Alas! methinks whom God hath chosen once
To worthiest deeds, if he through frailty err,
He should not so o'erwhelm, and as a thrall
Subject him to foul indignities,

*

Be it but for honour's sake of former deeds.
Sams. Appoint not heavenly disposition, fa
ther;

Appoint not heavenly disposition."-Augn ne-sum

mon not to answer.