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brated, and thirty of the Philistines were invited. these men Samson proposed the following riddle, founded on the honey found in the lion's mouth: Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came sweetness; and he promised to give to each of them a shirt and a coat if they would guess the meaning, they agreeing to give him thirty shirts and coats if they failed to discover it. At the end of seven days, when the forfeits were to be paid by the loser, the Philistines, puzzled and unable to solve the riddle, threatened Samson's wife with death if she did not persuade her husband to tell her his secret, and then betray it to them. Samson, ever unable to resist the solicitations of women, foolishly told her, and she immediately told her countrymen. Then, at evening, they came to him, and said: What is sweeter than honey? and what is stronger than a lion? Samson, however, instantly saw that he had been betrayed by his wife, and strengthened by a divine power, he went and slew thirty other of the Philistines, and with their garments paid his debt to the men who had thus deceived him.

CHAP. IX. Samson and the Philistines. His Death.

SAMSON'S wife proved altogether a worthless woman, and left her husband for another man. On this he openly declared himself at war with her countrymen, who upheld her in her faithlessness. He first caught three hundred foxes, and coupling them tail to tail, fastened torches between the tails, and sent them into the standing corn of the Philistines, and slew many of the Philistines themselves with his own hand. His own

countrymen, however, were so terrified at the rage he thus roused in the minds of their oppressors, that they threatened to seize him and deliver him into their hands. Samson then binding them with an oath that they would not themselves take his life, gave himself up to be bound with strong cords, and thus was given up to the Philistines. But as they came to lay their hands on him, he

burst the cords as if they had been flax in the fire, and catching up the jaw-bone of an ass that lay near at hand, he fell upon his foes, and slew one thousand men of them. Then, exhausted with fatigue and thirst, and finding no water to drink, he cried to the Lord for help, and behold, water flowed from the jaw of the ass with which he had smitten his enemies, and he drank and was strengthened.

For twenty years Samson afterwards judged the people of Israel; and at last, himself falling into gross sin, was entrapped by the Philistines. They shut him up in the town of Gaza, setting guards at the gates, intending to kill him in the morning as he came out. midnight he rose, went to the town-gates, lifted them from their hinges, and carried them on his shoulders to a neighbouring hill-top.

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After this he formed a connexion with a Philistine woman, by name Dalila, who was bribed by her countrymen to betray their dreaded foe into their power, by drawing from him the secret of his supernatural strength. She said to him, Tell me, I beseech thee, wherein thy greatest strength lieth, and what it is wherewith if thou were bound thou couldst not break loose. And Samson answered her: If I shall be bound with seven cords made of sinews not yet dry, but still moist, I shall be weak like other men. And the princes of the Philistines brought unto her seven cords, such as he spoke of, with which she bound him, men lying privately in wait with her, and in the chamber expecting the event of the thing: and she cried out to him: The Philistines are upon thee, Samson. And he broke the bands, as a man would break a thread of tow, when it smelleth the fire: so it was not known wherein his strength lay. And Dalila said to him: Behold, thou hast mocked me, and hast told me a false thing: but now at least tell me wherewith thou mayst be bound. And he answered her: If I shall be bound with new ropes, that were never in work, I shall be weak, and like other men. Dalila bound him again with these, and cried out: The Philistines are upon thee, Samson; there being an ambush pre

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pared for him in the chamber. But he broke the bands like threads of webs. And Dalila said to him again: How long dost thou deceive me, and tell me lies? Shew me wherewith thou mayst be bound. And Samson answered her: If thou plattest the seven locks of my head with a lace, and tying them round about a nail, fastenest it in the ground, I shall be weak. And when Dalila had done this, she said to him: The Philistines are upon thee, Samson. And awaking out of his sleep, he drew out the nail with the hairs and the lace. And Dalila said to him: How dost thou say thou lovest me, when thy mind is not with me? Thou hast told me lies these three times, and wouldst not tell me wherein thy great strength lieth. And when she pressed him much, and continually hung upon him for many days, giving him no time to rest, his soul fainted away, and was wearied even until death. Then opening the truth of the thing, he said to her: The razor hath never come upon my head: for I am a Nazarite, that is to say, consecrated to God from my mother's womb: if my head be shaven, my strength shall depart from me, and I shall become weak, and shall be like other men. Then seeing that he had discovered to her all his mind, she sent to the princes of the Philistines, saying: Come up this once more; for now he hath opened his heart to me. And they went up, taking with them the money which they had promised. But she made him sleep upon her knees, and lay his head in her bosom. And she called a barber, and shaved his seven locks; and began to drive him away, and thrust him from her: for immediately his strength departed from him. And she said: The Philistines are upon thee, Samson. And awaking from sleep, he said in his mind: I will go out as I did before, and shake myself: not knowing that the Lord was departed from him. Then the Philistines seized upon him, and forthwith pulled out his eyes, and led him bound in chains to Gaza; and shutting him up in prison, made him grind. And now his hair began to grow again. And the princes of the Philistines assembled together, to offer great sacrifices to Dagon their god,