3 o8
��SAMSON AGONISTES
��Sams. Boast not of what thou would'st have done, but do
What then thou would'st; thou seest it in
thy hand.
Har. To combat with a blind man I dis- dain,
And thou hast need much washing to be
touched.
Sams. Such usage as your honourable Lords
Afford me, assassinated and betrayed;
Who durst not with their whole united powers 1 1 10
In fight withstand me single and unarmed,
Nor in the house with chamber-ambushes
Close -banded durst attack me, no, not sleeping,
Till they had hired a woman with their gold,
Breaking her marriage-faith, to circumvent me.
Therefore, without feign'd shifts, let be as- signed
Some narrow place enclosed, 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 haber- geon, 1 120
Vant-brass and greaves and gauntlet; add
thy spear, A weaver's beam, and seven-times-folded
shield:
I only with an oaken staff will meet thee, And raise such outcries on thy clattered
iron, Which long shall not withhold me from thy
head, That in a little time, while breath remains
thee, Thou oft shalt wish thyself 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 1130
Which greatest heroes have in battel worn, Their ornament and safety, had not spells And black inchantments, some magician's
art, Armed thee or charmed thee strong, which
thou from Heaven
��Feign'dst at thy birth was given thee in thy
hair, Where strength can least abide, though all
thy hairs Were bristles ranged like those that ridge
the back
Of chafed wild boars or ruffled porcupines. Sams. I know no spells, use no forbidden
arts; My trust is in the Living God, who gave
me, 1140
At my nativity, this strength, diffused No less through all my sinews, joints, and
bones, Than thine, while I preserved 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, 1 149
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 the 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. What-
e'er he be,
Thee he regards not, owns not, hath cut off Quite from his people, and delivered up Into thy enemies' hand; permitted them To put out both thine eyes, and fettered
send thee n6o
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 boisterous locks; no worthy
match
For valour to assail, nor by the sword Of noble warrior, so to stain his honour, But by the barber's razor best subdued. Sams. All these indignities, for such they
are
From thine, these evils I deserve and more, Acknowledge them from God inflicted on
me 1170
Justly, yet despair not of his final pardon, Whose ear is ever open, and his eye Gracious to re-admit the suppliant;
�� �
