In fable, hymn, or song, so personating Their gods ridiculous, and themselves past shame, Remove their swelling epithets, thick laid
As varnish on a harlot's cheek, the rest, Thin sown with aught of profit or delight, Will far be found unworthy to compare With Sion's songs, to all true tastes excelling, Where God is prais'd aright, and God-like men, The Holiest of Holies, and his saints,
(Such are from God inspir'd, not such from thee,) Unless where moral virtue is express'd By light of Nature, not in all quite lost. Their orators thou then extoll'st, as those The top of eloquence; statists indeed, And lovers of their country, as may seem; But herein to our prophets far beneath, As men divinely taught, and better teaching The solid rules of civil government, In their majestic unaffected style, Than all the oratory of Greece and Rome. In them is plainest taught, and easiest learnt, What makes a nation happy, and keeps it so, What ruins kingdoms, and lays cities flat; These only with our law best form a king."
So spake the Son of God; but Satan, now Quite at a loss, (for all his darts were spent,) Thus to our Saviour with stern brow replied. "Since neither wealth nor honour, arms nor arts, Kingdom nor empire pleases thee, nor aught By me propos'd in life contemplative Or active, tended on by glory or fame, What dost thou in this world? The wilderness For thee is fittest place; I found thee there, And thither will return thee; yet remember What I foretel thee, soon thou shalt have cause To wish thou never hadst rejected, thus Nicely or cautiously, my offer'd aid,
Which would have set thee in short time with case On David's throne, or throne of all the world, Now at full age, fulness of time, thy season When prophecies of thee are best fulfill'd. Now contrary, if I read aught in Heaven,
Or Heaven write aught of fate, by what the stars Voluminous, or single characters,
In their conjunction met, give me to spell, Sorrows, and labours, opposition, hate Attend thee, scorns, reproaches, injuries, Violence and stripes, and lastly cruel death;
A kingdom they portend thee, but what kingdom, Real or allegoric, I discern not;
Nor when; eternal sure, as without end, Without beginning; for no date prefix'd Directs me in the starry rubric set.'
So saying he took, (for still he knew his power Not yet expir'd,) and to the wilderness Brought back the Son of God, and left him there, Feigning to disappear. Darkness now rose, As day-light sunk, and brought in lowering night, Her shadowy offspring; unsubstantial both, Privation mere of light and absent day. Our Saviour meek, and with untroubled mind After his aery jaunt, though hurried sore, Hungry and cold, betook him to his rest, Wherever, under some concourse of shades, [shield Whose branching arms thick intertwin'd might From dews and damps of night his shelter'd head; But, shelter'd, slept in vain; for at his head The tempter watch'd, and soon with ugly dreams Disturb'd his sleep. And either tropic now 'Gan thunder, and both ends of Heaven: the clouds,
From many a horrid rift, abortive pour'd Fierce rain with lightning mix'd, water with fire In ruin reconcil'd: nor slept the winds Within their stony caves, but rush'd abroad From the four hinges of the world, and fell On the vex'd wilderness, whose tallest pines, Though rooted deep as high, and sturdiest oaks, Bow'd their stiff necks, loaden with stormy blasts Or torn up sheer. Ill wast thou shrouded then, O patient son of God, yet only stood st Unshaken! Nor yet staid the terrour there; Infernal ghosts and hellish furies round [shriek'd, Environ'd thee, some howl'd, some yell'd, some Some bent at thee their fiery darts, while thou Sat'st unappall'd in calm and sinless peace! Thus pass'd the night so foul, till Morning fair Came forth, with pilgrim steps, in amice gray; Who with her radiant finger still'd the roar Of thunder, chas'd the clouds, and laid the winds, And grisly spectres, which the fiend had rais'd To tempt the Son of God with terrours dire. And now the Sun with more effectual beams Had cheer'd the face of Earth, and dried the wet From drooping plant, or dropping tree; the birds, Who all things now behold more fresh and green, After a night of storm so ruinous,
Clear'd up their choicest notes in bush and spray, To gratulate the sweet return of morn. Nor yet, amidst this joy and brightest morn, Was absent, after all his mischief done,
The prince of darkness ; glad would also seem Of this fair change, and to our Saviour came; Yet with no new device, (they all were spent,) Rather by this his last affront resolv'd, Desperate of better course, to vent his rage And mad despite to be so oft repell'd. Him walking on a sunny hill he found, Back'd on the north and west by a thick wood; Out of the wood he starts in wonted shape, And in a careless mood thus to him said.
Fair morning yet betides thee, Son of God, After a dismal night: I heard the wrack,
As earth and sky would mingle; but myself [them Was distant; and these flaws, though mortals fear As dangerous to the pillar'd frame of Heaven, Or to the Earth's dark basis underneath, Are to the main as inconsiderable And harmless, if not wholesome, as a sneeze To man's less universe, and soon are gone; Yet, as being oft-times noxious where they light On man, beast, plant, wasteful and turbulent, Like turbulencies in the affairs of men, Over whose heads they roar, and seem to point, They oft fore-signify and threaten ill : This tempest at this desert most was bent; Of men at thee, for only thou here dwell'st. Did I not tell thee, if thou didst reject The perfect season offered with my aid To win thy destin'd seat, but wilt prolong All to the push of fate, pursue thy way Of gaining David's throne, no man knows when, For both the when and how is no where told? Thou shalt be what thou art ordain'd, no doubt; For angels have proclaim'd it, but concealing The time and means. Each act is rightliest done Not when it must, but when it may be best: If thou observe not this, be sure to find, What I foretold thee, many a hard assay Of dangers, and adversities, and pains, Ere thou of Israel's sceptre get fast hold;
Whereof this ominous night, that clos'd thee round, So many terrours, voices, prodigies, May warn thee, as a sure fore-going sign."
So talk'd he, while the Son of God went on And staid not, but in brief him answer'd thus: "Me worse than wet thou find'st not; other harm Those terrours, which thou speak'st of, did me none; I never fear'd they could, though noising loud And threatening high: what they can do as signs Betokening, or ill-boding, I contemn
As false portents, not sent from God, but thee; Who, knowing I shall reign past thy preventing, Obtrud'st thy offer'd aid, that I, accepting, At least might seem to hold all power of thee, Ambitious spirit! and wouldst be thought my God; And storm'st refus'd, thinking to terrify Me to thy will! desist, (thou art discern'd And toil'st in vain,) nor me in vain molest."
To whom the fiend, now swoln with rage, replied. "Then hear, O son of David, virgin-born, For son of God to me is yet in doubt; Of the Messiah I had heard foretold By all the prophets; of thy birth at length, Announc'd by Gabriel, with the first I knew, And of the angelic song in Bethlehem field, On thy birth-night that sung thee Saviour born, From that time seldom have I ceas'd to eye Thy infancy, thy childhood, and thy youth, Thy manhood last, though yet in private bred; Till at the ford of Jordan, whither all Flock to the Baptist, I, among the rest, (Though not to be baptiz'd,) by voice from Heaven Heard thee pronounc'd the Son of God belov❜d. Thenceforth I thought thee worth my nearer view And narrower scrutiny, that I might learn In what degree or meaning thou art call'd The Son of God; which bears no single sense. The Son of God I also am, or was; And if I was, I am; relation stands; All men are sons of God; yet thee I thought In some respect far higher so declar'd: Therefore I watch'd thy footsteps from that hour, And follow'd thee still on to this waste wild; Where, by all best conjectures, I collect Thou art to be my fatal enemy: Good reason then, if I before-hand seek To understand my adversary, who
And what he is; his wisdom, power, intent : By parl or composition, truce or league,
To win him, or win from him what I can : And opportunity I here have had
try thee, sift thee, and confess have found thee Proof against all temptation, as a rock
Of adamant, and, as a centre, firm: To the utmost of mere man both wise and good, Not more; for honours, riches, kingdoms, glory, Have been before contemn'd, and may again. Therefore, to know what more thou art than man, Worth naming Son of God by voice from Heaven, Another method I must now begin."
So saying he caught him up, and, without wing Of hippogrif, bore through the air sublime, Over the wilderness and o'er the plain, Till underneath them fair Jerusalem, The holy city, lifted high her towers, And higher yet the glorious temple rear'd Her pile, far off appearing like a mount Of alabaster, topt with golden spires:
on the highest pinnacle, he set The Son of God: and added thus in scorn.
"There stand, if thou wilt stand; to stand upright Will ask thee skill; I to thy Father's house [best: Have brought thee, and highest plac'd: highest is Now show thy progeny; if not to stand, Cast thyself down; safely, if Son of God: For it is written, He will give command Concerning thee to his angels, in their hands They shall up-lift thee, lest at any time Thou chance to dash thy foot against a stone." To whom thus Jesus: "Also it is written, Tempt not the Lord thy God.'" He said, and stood:
But Satan, smitten with amazement, fell. As when Earth's son Antæus, (to compare Small things with greatest,) in Irassa strove With Jove's Alcides, and, oft foil'd, still rose, Receiving from his mother Earth new strength, Fresh from his fall, and fiercer grapple join'd, Throttled at length in the air, expir'd and fell; So, after many a foil, the tempter proud, Renewing fresh assaults, amidst his pride, Fell whence he stood to see his victor fall: And as that Theban monster, that propos'd Her riddle, and him who solv'd it not devour'd, That once found out and solv'd, for grief and spite Cast herself headlong from the Ismenian steep; So, struck with dread and anguish, fell the fiend, And to his crew, that sat consulting, brought (Joyless triumphals of his hop'd success,) Ruin. and desperation, and dismay, Who durst so proudly tempt the Son of God. So Satan fell; and straight a fiery globe Of angels on full sail of wing flew nigh, Who on their plumy vans receiv'd him soft From his uneasy station, and upbore, As on a floating couch, through the blithe air Then, in a flowery valley, set him down On a green bank, and set before him spread A table of celestial food, divine
Ambrosial fruits, fetch'd from the tree of life, And, from the fount of life, ambrosial drink, That soon refresh'd him wearied, and repair'd What hunger, if aught hunger, had impair'd, Or thirst; and, as he fed, angelic quires Sung heavenly anthems of his victory Over temptation and the tempter proud.
"True image of the Father; whether thron'd In the bosom of bliss, and light of light Conceiving, or, remote from Heaven, enshrin'd In fleshly tabernacle, and human form, Wandering the wilderness; whatever place, Habit, or state, or motion, still expressing The Son of God, with God-like force endued Against the attempter of thy Father's throne, And thief of Paradise! him long of old Thou didst debel, and down from Heaven cast With all his army; now thou hast aveng'd Supplanted Adam, and, by vanquishing Temptation, hast regain'd lost Paradise, And frustrated the conquest fraudulent. He never more henceforth will dare set foot In Paradise to tempt; his snares are broke: For, though that seat of earthly bliss be fail'd, A fairer Paradise is founded now
For Adam and his chosen sons, whom thou, A Saviour, art come down to re-install, Where they shall dwell secure, when time shall be, Of tempter and temptation without fear. But thou, infernal serpent! shalt not long Rule in the clouds like an autumnal star,
Or lightning, thou shalt fall from Heaven, trod down Under his feet: for proof, ere this thou feel'st Thy wound, (yet not thy last and deadliest wound,) By this repulse receiv'd, and hold'st in Hell No triumph in all her gates Abaddon rues Thy bold attempt. Hereafter learn with awe To dread the Son of God: he, all unarm'd, Shall chase thee, with the terrour of his voice, From thy demoniac holds, possession foul, Thee and thy legions: yelling they shall fly, And beg to hide them in a herd of swine, Lest he command them down into the deep, Bound, and to torment sent before their time. Hail, Son of the Most High, heir of both worlds, Queller of Satan! on thy glorious work Now enter; and begin to save mankind."
Thus they the Son of God, our Saviour meek, Sung victor, and, from heavenly feast refresh'd, Brought on his way with joy; he, unobserv'd, Home to his mother's house private return'd.
SAMSON AGONISTES, A DRAMATIC POEM.
Τραγωδία μίμησις πράξεως σπεδαίας, κ. τ. λ. Tragoedia est imitatio actionis seriæ, &c. per misericordiam et metum perficiens talium affectuum
Of that sort of Dramatic Poem which is called
TRAGEDY, as it was anciently composed, hath been ever held the gravest, moralest, and most profitable of all other poems: therefore said by Aristotle to be of power by raising pity and fear, or terrour, to purge the mind of those and such like passions, that is, to temper and reduce them to just measure with a kind of delight, stirred up by reading or seeing those passions well imitated. Nor is Nature wanting in her own effects to make good his assertion: for so, in physic, things of melancholic hue and quality are used against melancholy, sour against sour, salt to remove salt humours. Hence philosophers and other gravest writers, as Cicero, Plutarch, and others, frequently cite out of tragic poets, both to adorn and illustrate their discourse. Apostle Paul himself thought it not unworthy to insert a verse of Euripides into the text of Holy Scripture, 1 Cor. xv. 33.; and Paræus, commenting on the Revelation, divides the whole book as a tragedy, into acts distinguished each by a chorus of heavenly harpings and song between. Heretofore men in highest dignity have laboured not a little to be thought able to compose a tragedy. Of that honour Dionysius the elder was no less ambitious, than before of his attaining to the tyranny. Augustus Cæsar also had begun his Ajax, but unable to please his own judgment with what he had begun, left it unfinished. Seneca, the philosopher, is by some
thought the author of those tragedies (at least the best of them) that go under that name. Gregory Nazianzen, a father of the church, thought it not unbeseeming the sanctity of his person to write a tragedy, which is entitled Christ suffering. This is mentioned to vindicate tragedy from the small esteem, or rather infamy, which in the account of many it undergoes at this day with other common interludes; happening, through the poet's errour of intermixing comic stuff with tragic sadness and gravity; or introducing trivial and vulgar persons, which by all judicious hath been counted absurd; and brought in without discretion, corruptly to gratify the people. And though ancient tragedy use no prologue, yet using sometimes, in case of self-defence, or explanation, that which Martial calls an epistle; in behalf of this tragedy coming forth after the ancient manner, much different from what among us passes for best, thus much before-hand may be epistled; that Chorus is here introduced after the Greek manner, not ancient only but modern, and still in use among the Italians. In the modelling therefore of this poem, with good reason, the ancients and Italians are rather followed, as of much more authority and fame. measure of verse used in the Chorus is of all sorts, called by the Greeks Monostrophic, or rather Apolelymenon, without regard had to Strophe, Antistrophe, or Epode, which were a kind of stanzas framed only for the music, then used with the Chorus that sung; not essential to the poem, and therefore not material; or, being divided into stanzas or pauses, they may be called Allæostropha. Division into act and scene referring chiefly to the stage (to which this work never was intended) is here omitted.
It suffices if the whole drama be found not produced beyond the fifth act. Of the style and uniformity, and that commonly called the plot, whether intricate or explicit, which is nothing indeed but such economy, or disposition of the fable as may stand best with versimilitude and decorum; they only will best judge who are not unacquainted with Eschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, the three tragic poets unequalled yet by any, and the best rule to all who endeavour to write tragedy. The circumscription of time, wherein the whole drama begins and ends, is according to ancient rule, and best example, within the space of twenty-four hours.
Samson, made captive, blind, and now in the prison at Gaza, there to labour as in a common workhouse, on a festival day, in the general cessation from labour, comes forth into the open air, to a place nigh, somewhat retired, there to sit a while and bemoan his condition. Where he happens at length to be visited by certain friends and equals of his tribe, which makes the Chorus, who seek to comfort him what they can; then by his old father Manoah, who endeavours the like, and withal tells him his purpose to procure his liberty by ransom; lastly, that this feast was proclaimed by the Philistines as a day of thanksgiving for their deliverance from the hands of Samson, which yet more troubles him. Manoah then departs to
prosecute his endeavour with the Philistine lords | To grind in brazen fetters under task
for Samson's redemption; who in the mean while is visited by other persons; and lastly by a public officer to require his coming to the feast before the lords and people, to play or show his strength in their presence; he at first refuses, dismissing the public officer with absolute denial to come; at length, persuaded inwardly that this was from God, he yields to go along with him, who came now the second time with great threatenings to fetch him: the Chorus yet remaining on the place, Manoah returns full of joyful hope, to procure ere long his son's deliverance: in the midst of which discourse an Hebrew comes in haste, confusedly at first, and afterward more distinctly, relating the catastrophe, what Samson had done to the Philistines, and by accident to himself; wherewith the tragedy ends.
SAMSON, [Attendant leading him.] A LITTLE Onward lend thy guiding hand To these dark steps, a little further on; For yonder bank hath choice of sun or shade: There I am wont to sit, when any chance Relieves me from my task of servile toil, Daily in the common prison else enjoin'd me, Where I, a prisoner chain'd, scarce freely draw The air imprison'd also, close and damp, Unwholesome draught: but here I feel amends, The breath of Heaven fresh blowing, pure and sweet With day-spring born; here leave me to respire. This day a solemn feast the people hold To Dagon their sea-idol, and forbid Laborious works; unwillingly this rest Their superstition yields me; hence with leave Retiring from the popular noise, I seek This unfrequented place to find some ease, Ease to the body some, none to the mind From restless thoughts, that, like a deadly swarm Of hornets arm'd, no sooner found alone, But rush upon me thronging, and present Times past, what once I was, and what am now. 0, wherefore was my birth from Heaven foretold Twice by an angel, who at last in sight Of both my parents all in flames ascended From off the altar, where an offering burn'd, in a fiery column charioting
His God-like presence, and from some great act Or benefit reveal'd to Abraham's race? Why was my breeding order'd and prescrib'd As of a person separate to God, Design'd for great exploits; if I must die Betray'd, captiv'd, and both my eyes put out, Made of my enemies the scorn and gaze;
With this Heaven-gifted strength? O glorious Put to the labour of a beast, debas'd Lower than bond-slave! Promise was that I Should Israel from Philistian yoke deliver; Ask for this great deliverer now, and find him Eyeless in Gaza at the mill with slaves, Himself in bonds under Philistian yoke : Yet stay, let me not rashly call in doubt Divine prediction; what if all foretold Had been fulfill'd but through mine own default, Whom have I to complain of but myself? Who this high gift of strength committed to me, In what part lodg'd, how easily bereft me, Under the seal of silence could not keep, But weakly to a woman must reveal it, O'ercome with importunity and tears. O impotence of mind, in body strong! But what is strength without a double share Of wisdom? vast, unwieldy, burdensome, Proudly secure, yet liable to fall
By weakest subtleties, not made to rule, But to subserve where wisdom bears command! God, when he gave me strength, to show withal How slight the gift was, hung it in my hair. But peace, I must not quarrel with the will Of highest dispensation, which herein Haply had ends above my reach to know: Suffices that to me strength is my bane, And proves the source of all my miseries; So many, and so huge, that each apart Would ask a life to wail; but chief of all, O loss of sight, of thee I most complain! Blind among enemies, O worse than chains, Dungeon, or beggary, or decrepit age! Light, the prime work of God, to me is extinct, And all her various objects of delight Annull'd, which might in part my grief have eas'd, Inferior to the vilest now become
Of man or worm; the vilest here excel me; They creep, yet see; I, dark in light, expos'd To daily fraud, contempt, abuse, and wrong, Within doors, or without, still as a fool, In power of others, never in my own; Scarce half I seem to live, dead more than half. O dark, dark, dark, amid the blaze of noon, Irrecoverably dark, total eclipse Without all hope of day!
O first created Beam, and thou great Word, "Let there be light, and light was over all;" Why am I thus bereav'd thy prime decree! The Sun to me is dark
And silent as the Moon, When she deserts the night,
Hid in her vacant interlunar cave. Since light so necessary is to life, And almost life itself, if it be true That light is in the soul,
She all in every part; why was the sight To such a tender ball as the eye confin'd, So obvious and so easy to be quench'd? And not, as feeling, through all parts diffus'd, That she might look at will through every pore? Then had I not been thus exil'd from light, As in the land of darkness, yet in light, To live a life half dead, a living death, And buried; but, O yet more miserable! Myself my sepulchre, a moving grave; Buried, yet not exempt,
By privilege of death and burial
From worst of other evils, pains and wrongs; But made hereby obnoxious more
To all the miseries of life, Life in captivity
Among inhuman foes.
But who are these? for with joint pace I hear The tread of many feet steering this way; Perhaps my enemies, who come to stare At my affliction, and perhaps to insult, Their daily practice to afflict me more.
Chor. This, this is he; softly a while, Let us not break in upon him :
O change beyond report, thought, or belief! See how he lies at random, carelessly diffus'd, With languish'd head unpropt,
As one past hope, abandon'd, And by himself given over; In slavish habit, ill-fitted weeds O'er-worn and soil'd;
Or do my eyes misrepresent? Can this be he, That heroic, that renown'd,
Irresistible Samson? whom unarm'd [withstand; No strength of man, or fiercest wild beast, could Who tore the lion, as the lion tears the kid: Ran on embattled armies clad in iron; And, weaponless himself,
Made arms ridiculous, useless the forgery
Of brazen shield and spear, the hammer'd cuirass, Chalybean temper'd steel, and frock of mail Adamantéan proof?
But safest he who stood aloof,
When insupportably his foot advanc'd,
In scorn of their proud arms and warlike tools, Spurn'd them to death by troops.
Fled from his lion ramp; old warriours turn'd Their plated backs under his heel
Or, groveling, soil'd their crested helmets in the dust. Then with what trivial weapon came to hand, The jaw of a dead ass, his sword of bone, A thousand fore-skins fell, the flower of Palestine, In Ramath-lechi, famous to this day. Then by main force pull'd up, and on his shoulders The gates of Azza, post, and massy bar, Up to the hill by Hebron, seat of giants old, No journey of a sabbath-day, and loaded so;
Like whom the Gentiles feign to bear up Heaven. Which shall I first bewail,
Thy bondage or lost sight,
Prison within prison
Inseparably dark?
Thou art become (O worst imprisonment!) The dungeon of thyself; thy soul,
(Which men enjoying sight oft without cause comImprison'd now indeed,
In real darkness of the body dwells,
Shut up from outward light
To incorporate with gloomy night;
For inward light, alas!
Puts forth no visual beam.
O mirror of our fickle state,
Since man on Earth unparallel'd!
The rarer thy example stands,
By how much from the top of wonderous glory, Strongest of mortal men,
To lowest pitch of abject fortune thou art fallen. For him I reckon not in high estate Whom long descent of birth,
Sams. Your coming, friends, revives me; for I Now of my own experience, not by talk, How counterfeit a coin they are who friends Bear in their superscription, (of the most
I would be understood ;) in prosperous days They swarm, but in adverse withdraw their head, Not to be found, though sought. Ye sec, O friends, How many evils have enclos'd me round: Yet that which was the worst now least afflicts me, Blindness; for had I sight, confus'd with shame, How could I once look up or heave the head, Who, like a foolish pilot, have shipwreck'd My vessel trusted to me from above, Gloriously rigg'd; and for a word, a tear, Fool! have divulg'd the secret gift of God To a deceitful woman? tell me, friends, Am I not sung and proverb'd for a fool In every street? do they not say, how well Are come upon him his deserts? yet why? Immeasurable strength they might behold In me, of wisdom nothing more than mean; This with the other should, at least, have pair'd, These two, proportion'd ill, drove me transverse. Chor. Tax not divine disposal; wisest men Have err'd, and by bad women been deceiv'd; And shall again, pretend they ne'er so wise. Deject not then so overmuch thyself, Who hast of sorrow thy full load besides : Yet truth to say, I oft have heard men wonder Why thou shouldst wed Philistian women rather Than of thine own tribe fairer, or as fair, At least of thy own nation, and as noble.
Sams. The first I saw at Timna, and she plens'd Me, not my parents, that I sought to wed The daughter of an infidel: they knew not That what I motion'd was of God; I knew From intimate impúlse, and therefore urg'd The marriage on; that by occasion hence I might begin Israel's deliverance, The work to which I was divinely call'd. She proving false, the next I took to wife (O that I never had! fond wish too late,) Was in the vale of Sorec, Dalila, That specious monster, my accomplish'd snare. I thought it lawful from my former act, And the same end; still watching to oppress Israel's oppressors: of what now I suffer
She was not the prime cause, but I myself, [ness!) Who, vanquish'd with a peal of words, (0 weak- Gave up my fort of silence to a woman.
Chor. In seeking just occasion to provoke The Philistine, thy country's enemy, Thou never wast amiss, I bear thee witness: Yet Israël still serves with all his sons.
« ПредыдущаяПродолжить » |