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Dishonorer of Dagon: what had I
T'oppose against such pow'rful arguments?

Only my love of thee held long debate,
And combated in filence all these reasons

With hard contest: at length that grounded maxim
So rife and celebrated in the mouths

Of wisest men, that to the public good

Private respects must yield, with grave authority
Took full poffeffion of me and prevail'd;

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Virtue, as I thought, truth, duty fo injoining. 870 Sams. I thought where all thy circling wiles would In feign'd religion, smooth hypocrify.

But had thy love, ftill odiously pretended,

(end;

Been, as it ought, fincere, it would have taught thee Far other reasonings, brought forth other deeds. 875 I before all the daughters of my tribe

And of my nation chofe thee from among

My enemies, lov'd thee, as too well thou knew’st,
Too well, unbofom'd all my fecrets to thee,
Not out of levity, but over-power'd

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By thy request, who could deny thee nothing;
Yet now am judg'd an enemy. Why then
Didst thou at first receive me for thy husband,
Then, as fince then, thy country's foe profess'd?
Being once a wife, for me thou waft to leave 885
Parents and country; nor was I their subject,
Nor under their protection but my own,

Thou mine, not theirs: if ought against my life

Thy

Thy country fought of thee, it fought unjustly,
Against the law of nature, law of nations,

890

No more thy country, but an impious crew
Of men confpiring to uphold their state

By worse than hoftile deeds, violating the ends
For which our country is a name so dear;

Not therefore to be' obey'd. But zeal mov'd thee; 895
To please thy Gods thou didst it; Gods unable
T'acquit themselves and prosecute their foes
But by ungodly deeds, the contradiction

Of their own deity, Gods cannot be;

Less therefore to be pleas'd, obey'd, or fear'd. 900
These false pretexts and varnish'd colors failing,
Bare in thy guilt how foul must thou appear?
Dal. In argument with men a woman ever
Goes by the worse, whatever be her cause.

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Sams. For want of words no doubt, or lack of Witness when I was worried with thy peals. (breath; Dal. I was a fool, too rash, and quite mistaken In what I thought would have fucceeded best. Let me obtain forgiveness of thee, Samson, Afford me place to fhow what recompense Tow'ards thee I intend for what I have misdone, Mifguided; only what remains past cure

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Bear not too sensibly, nor still insist
T'afflict thyself in vain: though fight be loft,
Life yet hath many folaces, enjoy'd

Where other fenfes want not their delights

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At

At home in leisure and domestic ease,

Exempt from many a care and chance to which
Eye-fight exposes daily men abroad.

2

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I to the lords will intercede, not doubting
Their favorable ear, that I may fetch thee
From forth this loathsome prison-house, to abide
With me, where my redoubled love and care
With nursing diligence, to me glad office,

May ever tend about thee to old age

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With all things grateful chear'd, and fo fupply'd,
That what by me thou' hast lost thou least shalt miss.
Sams. No, no, of my condition take no care;

It fits not; thou and I long fince are twain;
Nor think me fo unwary or accurs'd,

To bring my feet again into the fnare

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Where once I have been caught; I know thy trains
Though dearly to my coft, thy gins, and toils;
Thy fair inchanted cup, and warbling charms
No more on me have pow'r, their force is null'd, 935
So much of adder's wisdom I have learn'd

To fence my ear against thy forceries.

If in my flower of youth and strength, when all men
Lov'd, honor'd, fear'd me, thou alone could'st hate me
Thy husband, flight me, fell me, and forgo me; 940
How wouldst thou use me now, blind, and thereby
Deceivable, in most things as a child

Helpless, thence easily contemn'd, and scorn'd,
And last neglected? How wouldft thou insult,

When

When I must live uxorious to thy will
In perfect thraldom, how again betray me,
Bearing my words and doings to the lords
To glofs upon, and censuring, frown or smile?
This jail I count the house of liberty

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To thine, whose doors my feet shall never enter. 950
Dal. Let me approach at least, and touch thy hand.
Sams. Not for thy life, left fierce remembrance wake
My fudden rage to tear thee joint by joint.

At distance I forgive thee, go with that;
Bewail thy falfhood, and the pious works
It hath brought forth to make thee memorable
Among illustrious women, faithful wives:
Cherish thy haften'd widowhood with the gold
Of matrimonial treafon: fo farewel.

955

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Dal. I fee thou art implacable, more deaf To pray'rs, than winds and seas, yet winds to feas Are reconcil'd at length, and fea to shore: Thy anger, unappeasable, still rages, Eternal tempeft never to be calm'd.

Why do I humble thus myself, and suing

965

For peace, reap nothing but repulse and hate?

Bid

go with evil omen and the brand

Of infamy upon my name denounc'd?

To mix with thy concernments I defift

Henceforth, nor too much difapprove my own. 970 Fame if not double-fac'd is double-mouth'd,

And with contrary blaft proclames most deeds;

On both his wings, one black, the other white,
Bears greatest names in his wild aery flight.
My name perhaps among the circumcis'd
In Dan, in Judah, and the bordering tribes,
To all posterity may ftand defam'd,
With malediction mention'd, and the blot
Of falfhood most unconjugal traduc'd.
But in my country where I most desire,
In Ecron, Gaza, Afdod, and in Gath,
I shall be nam'd among the famousest
Of women, fung at folemn feftivals,
Living and dead recorded, who to fave
Her country from a fierce deftroyer, chofe
Above the faith of wedlock-bands, my tomb
With odors vifited and annual flowers;
Not less renown'd than in mount Ephraim
Jael, who with inhospitable guile

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980

985

Smote Sisera sleeping through the temples nail'd. 990 Nor fhall I count it hainous to enjoy

The public marks of honor and reward

Conferr'd upon me, for the piety

Which to my country I was judg'd to have shown. At this who ever envies or repines,

I leave him to his lot, and like my own.

995

Chor. She's gone, a manifest serpent by her fting Difcover'd in the end, till now conceal'd.

Sams. So let her go, God fent her to debase me, And aggravate my folly, who committed

1000

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