| 8 καὶ ἐπέστρεψεν με{Q'} ἡμέρας λαβεῖν αὐτὴν καὶ ἐξέκλινεν ἰδεῖν τὸ πτῶμα τοῦ λέοντος καὶ ἰδοὺ συστροφὴ μελισσῶν ἐν τῷ στόματι τοῦ λέοντος καὶ μέλι ἦν 9 καὶ ἐξεῖλεν αὐτὸ εἰς τὸ στόμα αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐπορεύθη πορευόμενος καὶ ἔσθων καὶ ἐπορεύθη πρὸς τὸν πατέρα αὐτοῦ καὶ πρὸς τὴν μητέρα αὐτοῦ καὶ ἔδωκεν αὐτοῖς καὶ ἔφαγον καὶ οὐκ ἀπήγγειλεν αὐτοῖς ὅτι ἐκ τῆς ἕξεως τοῦ λέοντος ἐξεῖλεν τὸ μέλι 10 καὶ κατέβη ὁ πατὴρ αὐτοῦ πρὸς τὴν γυναῖκα καὶ ἐποίησεν ἐκεῖ Σαμψων πότον ἡμέρας ἑπτά ὅτι οὕτως ἐποίουν οἱ νεανίσκοι 11 καὶ ἐγένετο ἐν τῷ φοβεῖσθαι αὐτοὺς αὐτὸν προσκατέστησαν αὐτῷ ἑταίρους τριάκοντα καὶ ἦσαν με{T'} αὐτοῦ 12 καὶ εἶπεν αὐτοῖς Σαμψων προβαλῶ ὑμῖν πρόβλημα καὶ ἐὰν ἀπαγγείλητέ μοι τὸ πρόβλημα ἐν ταῖς ἑπτὰ ἡμέραις τοῦ πότου δώσω ὑμῖν τριάκοντα σινδόνας καὶ τριάκοντα στολάς 13 καὶ ἐὰν μὴ δυνασθῆτε ἀπαγγεῖλαί μοι καὶ δώσετε ὑμεῖς ἐμοὶ τριάκοντα σινδόνας καὶ τριάκοντα στολὰς ἱματίων καὶ εἶπαν αὐτῷ προβαλοῦ τὸ πρόβλημά σου καὶ ἀκουσόμεθα αὐτοῦ 14 καὶ εἶπεν αὐτοῖς ἐκ τοῦ ἔσθοντος ἐξῆλθεν βρῶσις καὶ ἐξ ἰσχυροῦ ἐξῆλθεν γλυκύ καὶ οὐκ ἠδυνάσθησαν ἀπαγγεῖλαι τὸ πρόβλημα ἐπὶ τρεῖς ἡμέρας 15 καὶ ἐγένετο ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῇ τετάρτῃ καὶ εἶπαν τῇ γυναικὶ Σαμψων ἀπάτησον δὴ τὸν ἄνδρα σου καὶ ἀπαγγειλάτω σοι τὸ πρόβλημα μήποτε ἐμπυρίσωμέν σε καὶ τὸν οἶκον τοῦ πατρός σου ἐν πυρί ἦ πτωχεῦσαι ἐκαλέσατε ἡμᾶς 16 καὶ ἔκλαυσεν ἡ γυνὴ Σαμψων ἐ{P'} αὐτὸν καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ μεμίσηκάς με καὶ οὐκ ἠγάπηκάς με ὅτι τὸ πρόβλημα ὃ προεβάλου τοῖς υἱοῖς τοῦ λαοῦ μου κἀμοὶ οὐκ ἀπήγγειλας αὐτό καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῇ Σαμψων ἰδοὺ τῷ πατρί μου καὶ τῇ μητρί μου οὐκ ἀπήγγειλα αὐτό καὶ σοὶ ἀπαγγελῶ 17 καὶ ἔκλαυσεν ἐ{P'} αὐτὸν ἐπὶ τὰς ἑπτὰ ἡμέρας ἐν αἷς ἦν ἐν αὐταῖς ὁ πότος καὶ ἐγένετο ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῇ ἑβδόμῃ καὶ ἀπήγγειλεν αὐτῇ ὅτι παρηνώχλησεν αὐτόν καὶ αὐτὴ ἀπήγγειλεν τοῖς υἱοῖς τοῦ λαοῦ αὐτῆς 18 καὶ εἶπαν αὐτῷ οἱ ἄνδρες τῆς πόλεως ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῇ ἑβδόμῃ πρὶν δῦναι τὸν ἥλιον τί γλυκύτερον μέλιτος καὶ τί ἰσχυρότερον λέοντος καὶ εἶπεν αὐτοῖς Σαμψων εἰ μὴ κατεδαμάσατέ μου τὴν δάμαλιν οὐκ ἂν εὕρετε τὸ πρόβλημά μου 19 καὶ κατεύθυνεν ἐ{P'} αὐτὸν πνεῦμα κυρίου καὶ κατέβη εἰς Ἀσκαλῶνα καὶ ἔπαισεν ἐκεῖθεν τριάκοντα ἄνδρας καὶ ἔλαβεν τὰς στολὰς αὐτῶν καὶ ἔδωκεν τοῖς ἀπαγγείλασιν τὸ πρόβλημα καὶ ἐθυμώθη ὀργῇ Σαμψων καὶ ἀνέβη εἰς τὸν οἶκον τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ 20 καὶ συνῴκησεν ἡ γυνὴ Σαμψων τῷ νυμφαγωγῷ αὐτοῦ ὃς ἦν ἑταῖρος αὐτοῦ |
8 Some days afterwards, he came there again to make her his wife. He turned aside on his way to find the lion’s carcase; and what should he find in its mouth but a swarm of bees, and a comb of honey? 9 So he carried off the comb, and fell to eating it as he went along; gave some, too, to his father and mother to eat, but still did not tell them that the honey came from a lion’s body. 10 And now that Samson’s father had reached the home of his daughter-in-law, he gave a feast in Samson’s honour; for still the young men would be at their feasting; 11 and thirty of these had been appointed by their fellow-citizens, when he came, to be his companions for the wedding. 12 To these, Samson proposed that he should ask them a riddle; if they could answer it within seven days, while the feasting lasted, he would give each of them a linen shirt and a new garment; 13 if they could not, each of them should do the same by him. Tell us the riddle, they said; let us hear it. 14 And he said, Out of the eater came food, and out of strength, sweetness. The third day came, and still they had not found the answer. 15 And at last, on the eve of the seventh day, they went to Samson’s wife; Use all thy arts, they said, with thy husband, and make him tell thee what the riddle means; or we will burn thy father’s house down, and thyself with it; didst thou bid us to the wedding only to strip us bare? 16 Already, when she was alone with Samson, she was ever weeping and bemoaning herself, Thou art weary of me, thou dost not love me any longer; thou hast asked these neighbours of mine a riddle, and thou wilt not tell me the answer. Nay, said he, why should I tell thee? Have I not kept it secret from my own father and mother? 17 Such were the plaints she had made all through the week of the banquet; and now, this seventh day, she plied him hard, and at last he told her. At once she betrayed it to her fellow-townsfolk, 18 and they, before the sun of the seventh day had set, asked Samson, What is sweeter than honey, what is stronger than a lion? You have been yoking my heifer, said he, to your plough, or my riddle would be unanswered still. 19 Then the spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he went down to Ascalon and there slew thirty men, whose clothes he stripped off and gave to the answerers of his riddle. So, in high displeasure, he went back to his father’s house, 20 and his wife mated with one of these friends of his, that had been his guests at the wedding. |
8 Et post aliquot dies revertens ut acciperet eam, declinavit ut videret cadaver leonis, et ecce examen apum in ore leonis erat ac favus mellis. 9 Quem cum sumpsisset in manibus comedebat in via: veniensque ad patrem suum et matrem, dedit eis partem, qui et ipsi comederunt: nec tamen eis voluit indicare quod mel de corpore leonis assumpserat. 10 Descendit itaque pater ejus ad mulierem, et fecit filio suo Samson convivium: sic enim juvenes facere consueverant. 11 Cum ergo cives loci illius vidissent eum, dederunt ei sodales triginta ut essent cum eo. 12 Quibus locutus est Samson: Proponam vobis problema: quod si solveritis mihi intra septem dies convivii, dabo vobis triginta sindones, et totidem tunicas: 13 sin autem non potueritis solvere, vos dabitis mihi triginta sindones, et ejusdem numeri tunicas. Qui responderunt ei: Propone problema, ut audiamus. 14 Dixitque eis:
De comedente exivit cibus,
et de forti egressa est dulcedo.
Nec potuerunt per tres dies propositionem solvere. 15 Cumque adesset dies septimus, dixerunt ad uxorem Samson: Blandire viro tuo et suade ei ut indicet tibi quid significet problema: quod si facere nolueris, incendemus te, et domum patris tui: an idcirco vocastis nos ad nuptias ut spoliaretis? 16 Quæ fundebat apud Samson lacrimas, et quærebatur, dicens: Odisti me, et non diligis: idcirco problema, quod proposuisti filiis populi mei, non vis mihi exponere. At ille respondit: Patri meo et matri nolui dicere: et tibi indicare potero? 17 Septem igitur diebus convivii flebat ante eum: tandemque die septimo cum ei esset molesta, exposuit. Quæ statim indicavit civibus suis. 18 Et illi dixerunt ei die septimo ante solis occubitum:
Quid dulcius melle,
et quid fortius leone?
Qui ait ad eos:
Si non arassetis in vitula mea,
non invenissetis propositionem meam. 19 Irruit itaque in eum spiritus Domini, descenditque Ascalonem, et percussit ibi triginta viros: quorum ablatas vestes dedit iis qui problema solverant. Iratusque nimis ascendit in domum patris sui: 20 uxor autem ejus accepit maritum unum de amicis ejus et pronubis. |