Page:Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral.djvu/40

From Gath he sprung, Goliath was his name,

Of fierce deportment, and gigantic frame:

20

A brazen helmet on his head was plac'd,
A coat of mail his form terrific grac'd,
The greaves his legs, the targe his shoulders prest:
Dreadful in arms high-tow'ring o'er the rest

A spear he proudly wav'd, whose iron head,

25

Strange to relate, six hundred shekels weigh'd;
He strode along, and shook the ample field,
While Phœbus blaz'd refulgent on his shield:
Through Jacob's race a chilling horror ran,

When thus the huge, enormous chief began:

30

  "Say, what the cause that in this proud array
"You set your battle in the face of day?
"One hero find in all your vaunting train,
"Then see who loses, and who wins the plain;

"For he who wins, in triumph may demand

35

"Perpetual service from the vanquish'd land:
"Your armies I defy, your force despise,
"By far inferior in Philistia's eyes:

"Produce