SAMSON AGONISTES
��And timbrels; on each side went armed guards ;
Both horse and foot before him and behind,
Archers and slingers, cataphracts, and spears.
At sight of him the people with a shout
Rifted the air, clamouring their god with praise, 1621
Who had made their dreadful enemy their thrall.
He patient, but undaunted, where they led him,
Came to the place; and what was set be- fore him,
Which without help of eye might be as- sayed,
To heave, pull, draw, or break, he still performed
All with incredible, stupendious force,
None daring to appear antagonist.
At length, for intermission sake, they led him
Between the pillars; he his guide re- quested 1630
(For so from such as nearer stood we heard),
As over-tired, to let him lean a while
With both his arms on those two massy pillars,
That to the arched roof gave main sup- port.
He unsuspicious led him ; which when Sam- son
Felt in his arms, with head a while en- clined,
And eyes fast fixed, he stood, as one who prayed,
Or some great matter in his mind revolved:
At last, with head erect, thus cried aloud:
" Hitherto, Lords, what your commands imposed 1640
I have performed, as reason was, obeying,
Not without wonder or delight beheld;
Now, of my own accord, such other trial
I mean to shew you of my strength yet greater
As with amaze shall strike all who behold."
This uttered, straining all his nerves, he bowed ;
As with the force of winds and waters pent
When mountains tremble, those two massy pillars
With horrible convulsion to and fro
He tugged, he shook, till down they came, and drew 1650
��The whole roof after them with burst of
thunder
| Upon the heads of all who sat beneath, Lords, ladies, captains, counsellors, or
priests,
Their choice nobility and flower, not only Of this, but each Philistian city round, Met from all parts to solemnize this feast. Samson, with these immixed, inevitably Pulled down the same destruction on him- self;
The vulgar only scaped, who stood with- out.
Chor. O dearly bought revenge, yet glorious ! 1660
Living or dying thou hast fulfilled The work for which thou wast foretold To Israel, and now liest victorious Among thy slain self-killed; Not willingly, but tangled in the fold Of dire Necessity, whose law in death con- joined Thee with thy slaughtered foes, in number
more Than all thy life had slain before.
Semichor. While their hearts were jo- cund and sublime,
Drunk with idolatry, drunk with wine 1670 And fat regorged of bulls and goats, C haunting their idol, and preferring Before our Living Dread, who dwells In Silo, his bright sanctuary, Among them he a spirit of phrenzy sent, Who hurt their minds, And urged them on with mad desire To call in haste for their destroyer. They, only set on sport and play, Unweetingly importuned 1680
Their own destruction to come speedy upon
them.
So fond are mortal men, Fallen into wrath divine, As their own ruin on themselves to invite, Insensate left, or to sense reprobate, And with blindness internal struck.
Semichor. But he, though blind of sight, Despised, and thought extinguished quite, With inward eyes illuminated, His fiery virtue roused 1690
From under ashes into sudden flame, And as an evening Dragon came, Assailant on the perched roosts And nests in order ranged Of tame villatic fowl, but as an Eagle His cloudless thunder bolted on their heads.
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