Page:The Complete Poetical Works of John Milton.djvu/350

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��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;

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