| BURPEE | CHARLES HEAVYSEGE 31 
Jehovah. To Abner’s plea that the execution of Agag was a just retri- 
bution, for he had made women childless, Saul impatiently replies: 
Have we not all, who draw the sword, so done ? 
Shall not Philistia’s mothers curse again, 
Ere long, our arms that shall bereave them ? Shall 
Not Israel’s matrons do the like, and howl 
By hill and valley their young darlings slain ? 
Thrice helm thy head; for soon will at it beat 
Such storm of curses, both from sires and mothers, 
As thou hast never seen its counterpart, 
Not e’en when darts flew at thee thick as hail. 
’Twas retribution ?—Oh, no more of that ; 
Or the great ghost of Amalek will rise, 
And stand before us with grim-eyed rebuke. 
In the following scene David is found at the Hebrew camp over- 
looking the valley of Elah. The giant Goliah has scornfully challenged 
any champion of the Hebrews to meet him in mortal combat, but none 
has dared to meet the huge Philistine. A soldier informs David that 
the king has promised his daughter in marriage and great riches to 
anyone who shall kill Goliah. David replies, in memorable words: 
O, dead to all, to freedom dead indeed, 
When fear of death commends to shameful life, 
And Dagon dares the God of Israel ! 
Oh Israel, where is thy valor! Then 
Has none yet offered move from us this shame ? 
For what is this uncircumciséd one, 
That he for forty days hatb been allowed 
Defy the army of the Living God ! 
After David has slain Goliah, the Hebrew soldiers, grown suddenly 
valorous, discover that the giant had been after all very much over- 
rated. The Hebrews attack the Philistines and defeat them, and Saul 
returns to his tent, weary and depressed. 
To hunt and to be hunted makes existence ; 
(he soliloquizes) 
For we are all or chasers or the chased ; 
And some weak, luckless wretches ever seem 
Flying before the hounds of circumstance, 
But he reveals a nobler philosophy in his rebuke to David, who 
has hastily condemned Goliah as utterly ignoble and evil. Saul replies: 
Full many things ‘are best forgot; and all 
The dross of life, men’s vices and their failings, 
Should from our memories be let slip away, 
As drops the damaged fruit from off the bough 
Ere comes the autumn. It were wise, nay just, 
To strike with men a balance; to forgive, 
If not forget, their evil for their good’s sake. 
