Or grov❜ling 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: 145 Then by main force pull'd up, and on his shoulders Like whom the Gentiles feign to bear up heav'n. Thy bondage or lost sight, Inseparably dark? Thou art become, O worst imprisonment ! The dungeon of thyself; thy soul, Which men enjoying sight oft without cause com Imprison'd now indeed, In real darkness of the body dwells, Shut up from outward light, T' incorporate with gloomy night! Puts forth no visual beam. O mirror of our fickle state, The rarer thy example stands, [plam, By how much from the top of wondrous glory, 147 gates of Azza] Beaumont's Psyche, c. v. st. 71. 165 Strongest of mortal men, To lowest pitch of abject fortune thou art fall'n. Or the sphere of fortune raises: 170 But thee, whose strength, while virtue was her mate, Might have subdued the earth, Universally crown'd with highest praises. 175 SAMS. I hear the sound of words, their sense the Dissolves unjointed ere it reach my ear. [air CHOR. He speaks, let us draw nigh. Matchless The glory late of Israel, now the grief, [in might, We come, thy friends and neighbours not unknown, From Eshtaol and Zora's fruitful vale, To visit or bewail thee, or, if better, power to swage 185 179 glory] Fletcher's Pisc. Eclogues, 1633, p. 27. his glory late, but now his shame.' Todd. 184 Salve to thy sores] This is one of the most common expressions in old English poetry. See Southwell's Mæonia, p. 21. Park's note to Heliconia, Part 1, p. 186. Billingsley's Divine Raptures, p. 67. Smith's Chloris, 1597. Byrd's Psalms, p. 11. Lydgate's Troy, p. 220. Gascoigne's Works, p. 14. 177. 230. 247. Beaumont's Psyche, c. xiii. st. 225; and Ellis's Specimens, ii. p. 15. 184 apt words] Esch. Prom. Vinct. ver. 377. Hor. Epist. i. 1. 34. 'Sunt verba et voces, quibus hunc lenire dolorem Possis, et magnam morbi deponere partem.' 190 SAMS. Your coming, friends, revives me, for I Now of my own experience, not by talk, [learn 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 see, O friends, How many evils have inclos'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 divulged the secret gift of God To a deceitful woman? tell me, friends, Am I not sung and proverb'd for a fool 200 205 In CHOR. Tax not divine disposal: wisest men 210 Than of thine own tribe fairer, or as fair, 220 SAMS. The first I saw at Timna, and she pleas'd 225 That specious monster, my accomplish'd snare. 230 CHOR. In seeking just occasion to provoke 240 SAMS. That fault I take not on me, but transfer 245 215.220 Warten conjecture that these times refer &r M.'s own marriage Us'd no ambition to commend my deeds, [doer; Safe to the rock of Etham was retir'd, threads 255 260 Touch'd with the flame. On their whole host I flew 270 |