The Annotated Milton: Complete English Poems

by John Milton; Burton Raffel

  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.7484

  If any be, they walk obscure,7485

  For of such doctrine never was there school,

  But the heart of the fool,

  And no man therein doctor7486 but himself.

  Yet more there be who doubt7487 His ways not just,

  As to His own edicts found contradicting,

  Then give the reins to wand’ring7488 thought,

  Regardless of His glory’s diminution,

  Till by their own perplexities involved7489

  They ravel7490 more, still less resolved,

  But never find self-satisfying solution.

  As if they would confine th’ interminable,7491

  And tie Him to His own prescript,7492

  Who made our Laws to bind us, not Himself,

  And hath full right t’ exempt

  Whom so it pleases Him by choice

  From national obstriction,7493 without taint

  Of sin, or legal debt,

  For with His own Laws He can best dispense.

  He would not else (who never wanted7494 means,

  Nor in respect of th’ enemy just cause

  To set His people free)

  Have prompted this heroic Nazarite,7495

  Against his vow of strictest purity,

  To seek in marriage that fallacious7496 bride,

  Unclean, unchaste.

  Down7497 reason, then—at least, vain reasonings down,

  Though reason here aver7498

  That moral verdict quits7499 her7500 of unclean:

  Unchaste was subsequent, her stain not his.

  But see, here comes thy reverend sire

  With careful7501 step, locks white as down,

  Old Manoa. Advise7502

  Forthwith how thou ought’st to receive him.

  SAM. Aye me, another inward grief awaked:

  With mention of that name, renews th’ assault.

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

  Though in this uncouth7503 place: if old respect,

  As I suppose, towards your once gloried friend,

  My son now captive, hither hath informed7504

  Your younger feet, while mine, cast7505 back with age,

  Came lagging after, say if he be here.

  CHOR. As signal7506 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 ever failing trust

  In mortal strength! and oh what not in man

  Deceivable and vain! Nay, what thing good

  Prayed for, but often proves our woe, our bane?7507

  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.

  Who would be now a father in my stead?

  O wherefore did God grant me my request,

  And as a blessing with such pomp7508 adorned?

  Why are His gifts desirable,7509 to tempt

  Our earnest prayers, then giv’n with solemn hand

  As graces, draw a scorpion’s tail behind?

  For this did th’ Angel twice descend? For this

  Ordained thy nurture holy, as of a plant

  Select and sacred, glorious for a while,

  The miracle of men, then in an hour

  Ensnared, 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

  He7510 should not so oerwhelm, and as a thrall7511

  Subject him to so foul indignities,

  Be it but for honor’s sake, of former deeds.

  SAM. Appoint7512 not Heav’nly disposition, father.

  Nothing of all these evils hath befall’n me

  But justly. I myself have brought them on,

  Sole author I, sole cause. If aught seem vile,

  As7513 vile hath been my folly, who have profaned

  The mystery of God giv’n me under pledge

  Of vow, and have betrayed it to a woman,

  A Canaanite, my faithless enemy.

  This well I knew, nor was at all surprised,

  But warned by oft experience. Did not she

  Of Timna7514 first betray me, and reveal

  The secret wrested from me in her height

  Of nuptial love professed, carrying it straight

  To them who had corrupted her, my spies

  And rivals? In this other was there found

  More faith? who also in her prime of love,

  Spousal embraces, vitiated7515 with gold,

  Though offered only, by the scent7516 conceived

  Her spurious7517 first-born, treason against me?

  Thrice she assayed, with flattering prayers and sighs,

  And amorous reproaches, to win from me

  My capital7518 secret, in what part my strength

  Lay stored, in what part summed, that she might know.

  Thrice I deluded7519 her, and turned to sport7520

  Her importunity, each time perceiving

  How openly and with what impudence

  She purposed to betray me, and (which was worse

  Than undissembled hate) with what contempt

  She sought to make me traitor to myself.

  Yet the fourth time, when must’ring all her wiles,

  With blandished7521 parleys,7522 feminine assaults,

  Tongue-batteries,7523 she surceased not day nor night

  To storm7524 me, over-watched7525 and wearied out.

  At times when men seek most repose and rest

  I yielded, and unlocked her all my heart,

  Who with a grain of manhood well resolved7526

  Might easily have shook off all her snares.

  But foul effeminacy7527 held me yoked

  Her bondslave. O indignity, O blot

  To honor and religion! Servile mind

  Rewarded well with servile punishment!

  The base degree to which I now am fall’n,

  These rags, this grinding,7528 is not yet so base

  As was my former servitude, ignoble,

  Unmanly, ignominious, infamous,

  True slavery, and that blindness worse than this,

  That saw not how degenerately I served.

  MAN. I cannot praise thy marriage choices, son—

  Rather approved them not. But thou didst plead

  Divine impulsion7529 prompting how thou might’st

  Find some occasion to infest7530 our foes.

  I state not that. This I am sure: our foes

  Found soon occasion thereby to make thee

  Their captive, and their triumph. Thou the sooner

  Temptation found’st, or over-potent charms

  To violate the sacred trust of silence

  Deposited within thee, which t’ have kept

  Tacit 7531 was in thy power. True: and thou bear’st

  Enough, and more, the burden of that fault.

  Bitterly hast thou paid, and still art paying

  That rigid7532 score.7533 A worse thing yet remains.

  This day the Philistines a popular feast

  Here celebrate in Gaza, and proclaim

  Great pomp, and sacrifice, and praises loud
r />   To Dagon, as their god who hath delivered

  Thee, Samson, bound and blind into their hands,

  Them out of thine, who slew’st them many a slain.

  So Dagon shall be magnified, and God,

  Besides whom is no God, compared with idols,

  Disglorified, blasphemed, and had in scorn

  By th’ idolatrous rout7534 amidst their wine,

  Which to have come to pass by means of thee,

  Samson, of all thy sufferings think the heaviest,

  Of all reproach the most with shame that ever

  Could have befall’n thee and thy father’s house.7535

  SAM. Father, I do acknowledge and confess

  That I this honor, I this pomp have brought

  To Dagon, and advanced his praises high

  Among the heathen round7536 —to God have brought

  Dishonor, obloquy,7537 and op’t7538 the mouths

  Of idolists, and atheists, have brought scandal

  To Israel, diffidence7539 of God, and doubt

  In feeble hearts, propense7540 enough before

  To waver, or fall off and join with idols.

  Which is my chief affliction, shame and sorrow,

  The anguish of my soul, that suffers not

  Mine eye to harbor7541 sleep, or thoughts to rest.

  This only hope relieves me, that the strife

  With me hath end: all the contest is now

  ’Twixt God and Dagon. Dagon hath presumed

  (Me overthrown) to enter lists7542 with God,

  His deity comparing and preferring

  Before the God of Abraham. He,7543 be sure,

  Will not connive,7544 or linger, thus provoked,

  But will arise and His great name assert.

  Dagon must stoop,7545 and shall ere long receive

  Such a discomfit7546 as shall quite despoil7547 him

  Of all these boasted trophies won on me,

  And with confusion blank7548 his worshippers.

  MAN. With cause7549 this hope relieves thee, and these words

  I as a prophecy receive, for God—

  Nothing more certain—will not long defer

  To vindicate the glory of His name

  Against all competition, nor will long

  Endure it, doubtful7550 whether God be Lord

  Or Dagon. But for thee what shall be done?

  Thou must not in the meanwhile here forgot

  Lie, in this miserable, loathsome plight

  Neglected. I already have made way7551

  To some Philistian lords, with whom to treat7552

  About thy ransom. Well they may by this7553

  Have satisfied their utmost of revenge

  By pains and slaveries worse than death inflicted

  On thee, who now no more canst do them harm.

  SAM. Spare7554 that proposal, father, spare the trouble

  Of that solicitation. Let me here,

  As I deserve, pay on my punishment,

  And expiate, if possible, my crime,

  Shameful garrulity. To have revealed

  Secrets of men, the secrets of a friend,

  How heinous had the fact been, how deserving

  Contempt, and scorn of all, to be excluded

  All friendship, and avoided as a blab,

  The mark of fool set on his front?7555 But I

  God’s counsel have not kept, His holy secret

  Presumptuously have published,7556 impiously,

  Weakly at least, and shamefully, a sin

  That gentiles in their parables7557 condemn7558

  To their abyss and horrid pains confined.7559

  MAN. Be penitent and for thy fault contrite,

  But act not in thy own affliction, son.

  Repent the sin, but if the punishment

  Thou canst avoid, self-preservation bids,

  Or th’ execution leave to high disposal,7560

  And let another hand, not thine, exact

  Thy penal forfeit7561 from thyself. Perhaps

  God will relent, and quit7562 thee all His debt,

  Who evermore approves and more accepts

  (Best pleased with humble and filial submission)

  Him who imploring mercy sues7563 for life,

  Than who, self-rigorous, chooses death as due,

  Which argues over-just, and self-displeased

  For self-offence, more than for God offended.

  Reject not then what offered means7564 (who knows

  But God hath set before us) to return thee

  Home to thy country and His sacred house,

  Where thou may’st bring thy off ’rings, to avert

  His further ire with prayers and vows renewed.

  SAM. His pardon I implore. But as for life,

  To what end should I seek it? When in strength

  All mortals I excelled, and great in hopes

  With youthful courage and magnanimous7565 thoughts

  Of birth from Heav’n foretold and high exploits,

  Full of divine instinct,7566 after some proof

  Of acts indeed heroic, far beyond

  The sons of Anac,7567 famous now and blazed,7568

  Fearless of danger, like a petty god

  I walked about, admired of all and dreaded

  On hostile ground, none daring my affront.7569

  Then swoll’n with pride into the snare I fell

  Of fair fallacious7570 looks, venereal trains,7571

  Softn’d with pleasure and voluptuous life,

  At length to lay my head and hallowed pledge7572

  Of all my strength in the lascivious lap

  Of a deceitful concubine, who shore me

  Like a tame wether, all my precious fleece,

  Then turned me out ridiculous, despoiled,

  Shav’n, and disarmed among my enemies.

  CHOR. Desire of wine and all delicious drinks,

  Which many a famous warrior overturns,

  Thou could’st repress, nor did the dancing ruby7573

  Sparkling, out-poured, the flavor, or the smell,

  Or taste that cheers the heart of gods and men,

  Allure thee from7574 the cool crystalline stream.

  SAM. Wherever fountain or fresh current flowed

  Against the eastern ray, translucent, pure

  With touch aetherial of Heav’ns fiery rod,7575

  I drank, from the clear milky7576 juice7577 allaying

  Thirst, and refreshed, nor envied them the grape

  Whose heads that turbulent liquor fills with fumes.

  CHOR. O madness, to think use of strongest wines

  And strongest drinks our chief support of health,

  When God with these forbidd’n made choice to rear

  His mighty champion, strong above compare,

  Whose drink was only from the liquid brook.

  SAM. But what availed this temperance, not complete

  Against another object more enticing?

  What boots it at one gate to make defence

  And at another to let in the foe,

  Effeminately vanquished? By which means,

  Now blind, disheart’ned, shamed, dishonored, quelled,7578

  To what can I be useful? wherein serve

  My nation, and the work from Heav’n imposed,

  But to sit idle on the household hearth,

  A burdenous drone? to visitants a gaze,7579

  Or pitied object, these redundant7580 locks

  Robustious7581 to no purpose clust’ring down,

  Vain monument of strength, till length of years

  And sedentary numbness craze7582 my limbs

  To a contemptible old age obscure.

  Here rather let me drudge and earn my bread,

  Till vermin or the draff 7583 of servile food

  Consume me, and oft-invocated death

  Hast’n the welcome end of all my pains.

  MAN. Wilt thou then serve the Philistines with that gift

/>   Which was expressly giv’n thee to annoy7584 them?

  Better at home lie bed-rid, not only idle—

  Inglorious, unemployed,7585 with age out-worn.

  But God who caused a fountain at thy prayer

  From the dry ground to spring, thy thirst to allay

  After the brunt7586 of battle,7587 can as easy

  Cause light again within thy eyes to spring,

  Wherewith to serve Him better than thou hast.

  And I persuade me so. Why else this strength

  Miraculous yet remaining in those locks?

  His might continues in thee, not for naught,

  Nor shall His wondrous gifts be frustrate thus.

  SAM. All otherwise to me my thoughts portend,7588

  That these dark orbs no more shall treat7589 with light,

  Nor th’ other light of life continue long,

  But yield to double darkness nigh at hand.

  So much I feel my genial7590 spirits droop,

  My hopes all flat. Nature within me seems

  In all her functions weary of herself,

  My race of glory run, and race of shame,

  And I shall shortly be with them that rest.

  MAN. Believe not these suggestions, which proceed

  From anguish of the mind and humors7591 black,

  That mingle with thy fancy.7592 I however

  Must not omit a father’s timely care

  To prosecute7593 the means of thy deliverance,

  By ransom or how else. Meanwhile be calm,

  And healing words from these thy friends admit.7594

  SAM. O that torment7595 should not be confined 7596

  To the body’s wounds and sores,

  With maladies innumerable

  In heart, head, breast, and reins,7597

  But must secret passage find

  To th’ inmost mind,

  There exercise7598 all his fierce accidents,7599

  And on her purest spirits prey,

  As on entrails, joints, and limbs,

  With answerable7600 pains, but more intense,

  Though void of corporal sense.7601

  My griefs not only pain me

  As a ling’ring disease,

  But finding no redress, ferment7602 and rage,

  Nor less than wounds immedicable7603

  Rankle,7604 and fester, and gangrene7605

  To black mortification.7606

  Thoughts (my tormentors) armed with deadly stings

  Mangle my apprehensive7607 tenderest parts,

  Exasperate,7608 exulcerate, and raise

  Dire inflammation which no cooling herb

  Or med’cinal liquor can assuage,7609

  Nor breath of vernal air from snowy Alp.

  Sleep hath forsook and giv’n me o’er

  To death’s benumbing opium as my only cure.

  Thence faintings, swoonings of despair,