im to shave off the _seven_
locks of his head; and she began to afflict him, and his
strength went from him."

The Philistines then took him, put out his eyes, and put him in prison.
And being gathered together at a great sacrifice in honor of their God,
Dagon, they said: "Call for Samson, that he may make us sport." And they
called for Samson, and he made them sport.

"And Samson said unto the lad that held him by the hand.
Suffer me that I may feel the pillars whereupon the house
standeth, that I may lean upon them.

"Now the house was full of men and women; and all the lords
of the Philistines were there; and there were upon the roof
about three thousand men and women, that beheld while Samson
made sport.

"And Samson called unto the Lord, and said: 'O Lord God,
remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee, only
this once, O God, that I may be at once avenged of the
Philistines for my two eyes.'

"And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars upon which the
house stood and on which it was borne up, of the one with his
right hand, and of the other with his left. And Samson said:
'Let me die with the Philistines.' And he bowed himself with
all his might; and (having regained his strength) the house
fell upon the lords, and upon the people that were therein. So
the dead which he slew at his death, were more than they which
he slew in his life."[66:1]

Thus ended the career of the "strong man" of the Hebrews.

That this story is a copy of the legends related of Hercules, or that
they have both been copied from similar legends existing among some
other nations,[66:2] is too evident to be disputed. Many churchmen have
noticed the similarity between the history of Samson and that of
Hercules. In Chambers's Encyclopaedia, under "Samson," we read as
follows:

"It has been matter of most contradictory speculations, how
far his existence is to be taken as a reality, or, in other
words, what substratum of historical truth there may be in
this supposed circle of popular legends, artistically rounded
off, in the four chapters of Judges which treat of him. . . .

"The miraculous deeds he performed have taxed the ingenuity of
many commentators, and the text has been _twisted and turned
in all directions_, to explain, _rationally_, his slaying
those prodigious