A Philosophical Dictionary, Volume 09 — Voltaire — John Shaqi
A Philosophical Dictionary, Volume 09
Voltaire · en
In going to his mistress he met a lion, and tore him in pieces with his
naked hand, as he would have done a kid. Some days after, he found a
swarm of bees in the throat of the dead lion, with some honey, though
bees never rest on carrion.
Then he proposed this enigma to his companions: Out of the eater came
forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness: if you guess, I
will give you thirty tunics and thirty gowns; if not, you shall give me
thirty gowns and thirty tunics. The comrades, not being able to guess in
what the solution of the enigma consisted, gained over the young wife
of Samson; she drew the secret from her husband, and he was obliged to
give them thirty tunics and thirty gowns. "Ah," said he to them, "if ye
had not ploughed with my heifer, ye would not have found out my riddle."
Soon after, the father-in-law of Samson gave another husband to his
daughter.
Samson, enraged at having lost his wife, immediately caught three
hundred foxes, tied them two together by the tails with lighted
firebrands, and they fired the corn of the Philistines.
The Jewish slaves, not being willing to be punished by their masters for
the exploits of Samson, surprised him in the cavern in which he dwelt,
tied him with great ropes, and delivered him to the Philistines. As soon
as he was in the midst of them, he broke his cords, and finding the
jawbone of an ass, with one effort he killed a thousand Philistines.
Such an effort making him very warm, he was dying of thirst, on which
God made a fountain spout from one of the teeth of the ass's jaw-bone.
Samson, having drunk, went into Gaza, a Philistine town; he there
immediately became smitten with a courtesan. As he slept with her, the
Philistines shut the gates of the town, and surrounded the house, when
he arose, took the gates, and carried them away. The Philistines, in
despair at not being able to overcome this hero, addressed themselves to
another courtesan named Delilah, with whom he afterwards slept. She
finally drew from him the secret in which his strength consisted: it was
only necessary to shave him, to render him equal to other men. He was
shaved, became weak, and his eyes being put out, he was made to turn a
mill and to play on the violin. One day, while playing in a Philistine
temple, between two of its columns, he became indignant that the
Philistines should have columned temples, whilst the Jews had only a
tabernacle supported on four poles. He also felt that his hair began to
grow; and being transported with a holy zeal, he pulled down the two
pillars; by which concussion the temple was overthrown, the Philistines
were crushed to death, and he with them.
Such is this preface, word for word.
This is the history which is the subject of the piece of Milton, and
Romagnesi: it is adapted to Italian farce.
SATURN'S RING.