Of sort might sit in order to behold; The other side was open, where the throng

On banks and scaffolds under sky might stand;

I among these aloof obscurely stood. The feast and noon grew high, and sacrifice

Had filled their hearts with mirth,
high cheer, and wine,
When to their sports they turned.
Immediately

Was Samson as a public servant brought,

In their state livery clad; before him pipes

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, clamoring their God with praise,

Who had made their dreadful enemy their thrall.

He patient, but undaunted, where they led him,

Came to the place, and what was set before him,

Which without help of eye might be assayed,

To heave, pull, draw, or break, he still performed

All with incredible stupendous force, None daring to appear antagonist. At length for intermission sake they led him

Between the pillars; he his guide requested,

For so from such as nearer stood we heard,

As over-tired to let him lean awhile With both his arms on those two massy pillars,

That to the arched roof gave main support.

He unsuspicious led him; which

when Samson

Felt in his arms, with head awhile inclined,

And eyes fast fixt 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

I have performed, as reason was, obeying,

Not without wonder or delight beheld:

Now of my own accord such other trial

I mean to show 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

The whole roof after them, with burst of thunder Upon the heads of all who sat beneath,

But he, though

blind of sight, Despised and thought extinguished quite,

With inward eyes illuminated,
His fiery virtue roused

From under ashes into sudden flame,
Not 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.

So virtue given for lost,
Depressed, and overthrown, as
seemed,

Like that self-begotten bird
In the Arabian woods imbost,
That no second knows nor third,
And lay ere while a holocaust,
From

out her ashy womb now teemed,

Revives, reflourishes, then vigorous

Propping his face with listless hand; Watching the hour-glass sifting down Too slow its shining sand.

ANTONY OVER THE DEAD

BODY OF CÆSAR.

Antony. FRIENDS, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears:

I come to bury Cæsar, not to praise him.

The evil that men do lives after them; The good is oft interred with their bones;

So let it be with Cæsar. The noble Brutus

Hath told you Cæsar was ambitious; If it were so, it was a grievous fault, And grievously hath Caesar answered it.

Here, under leave. of Brutus, and the rest,

(For Brutus is an honorable man;
So are they all, all honorable men ;)
Come I to speak in Cæsar's funeral.
He was my friend, faithful and just

But here's a parchment, with the seal of Cæsar,

I found it in his closet, 'tis his will: Let but the commons hear this testament,

(Which, pardon me, I do not mean to read,)

And they would go and kiss dead Cæsar's wounds,

And dip their napkins in his sacred blood:

Yea, beg a hair of him for memory,
And, dying, mention it within their
wills,
Bequeathing it, as a rich legacy,
Unto their issue.

Citizen.

We'll hear the will;
Read it, Mark Antony.
Citizen. - The will, the will; we
will hear Cæsar's will.
Antony. Have patience, gentle

friends, I must not read it; It is not meet you know how Cæsar loved you.

You are not wood, you are not stones, but men;

And being men, hearing the will of Cæsar,

It will inflame you, it will make you mad:

'Tis good you know not that you are his heirs,

For if you should, O, what would come of it!

Read the will; we will hear it, Antony,