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| Master of Jean de Mandeville Samson and Delilah 1360s tempera on parchment Getty Museum, Los Angeles |
Milton's Delilah in Samson Agonistes explains why she helped the Philistines to capture and imprison Samson –
It was not gold, as to my charge thou lay'st,
That wrought with me: thou know'st the magistrates
And princes of my country came in person,
Solicited, commanded, threatened, urged,
Adjured by all the bonds of civil duty
And of religion – pressed how just it was,
How honourable, how glorious to entrap
A common enemy, who had destroyed
Such numbers of our nation: and the priest
Was not behind, but ever at my ear,
Preaching how meritorious with the gods
It would be to ensnare an irreligious
Dishonourer of Dagon: what had I
To oppose against such powerful arguments?
Only my love of thee held long debate,
And combated in silence all these reasons
With hard contest. At length, that grounded maxim,
So rife and celebrated in the mouths
Of wisest men, that to the public good
Private respects must yield, with grave authority
Took full possession of me and prevailed;
Virtue, as I thought, truth, duty, so enjoining.
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| Andrea Mantegna Samson and Delilah ca. 1495-1506 tempera on canvas National Gallery, London |
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| Giovanni Antonio da Brescia Samson and Delilah ca. 1510-20 engraving British Museum |
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| Lucas van Leyden Samson and Delilah ca. 1514 woodcut British Museum |
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| Hans Burgkmair Samson and Delilah ca. 1519 woodcut British Museum |
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| Niccolò Boldrini Samson and Delilah 1540-42 woodcut Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
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| Hans Brosamer Samson and Delilah 1545 etching Minneapolis Institute of Art |
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| Dirck Coornhert after Maarten van Heemskerck Samson and Delilah 1551 etching, engraving British Museum |
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| Cornelis Massijs Samson and Delilah 1562 engraving British Museum |
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| Alessandro Casolano Studies for Samson and Delilah ca. 1567-1606 drawing British Museum |
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| Philips Galle Samson and Delilah ca. 1569 engraving Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam |
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| Barbara van den Broecke Samson and Delilah ca. 1575 engraving British Museum |
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| Antonius Wierix Samson and Delilah ca. 1585 hand-colored engraving British Museum |
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| Georg Pencz Samson and Delilah 16th century engraving Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| Albrecht Altdorfer Samson and Delilah 16th century engraving National Gallery of Art, Washington DC |
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| Michelangelo Samson and Delilah 16th century drawing Ashmolean Museum, Oxford |