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 Encyclopædia, 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 numbers single-handed; his carrying the gates of Gaza, in one night, a distance of about fifty miles, &c., &c."
That this is simply a _Solar_ myth, no one will doubt, we believe, who will take the trouble to investigate it.
Prof. Goldziher, who has made "Comparative Mythology" a special study, says of this story:
"The most complete and rounded-off _Solar myth_ extant in Hebrew, is that of Shimshôn (Samson), a cycle of mythical conceptions fully comparable with the Greek myth of Hercules."[66:3]
We shall now endeavor to ascertain if such is the case, by comparing the exploits of Samson with those of Hercules.
The first wonderful act performed by Samson was, as we have seen, _that of slaying a lion_. This is said to have happened when he was but a youth. So likewise was it with Hercules. At the age of eighteen, he slew an enormous lion.[66:4]
The valley of Nemea was infested by a terrible lion; Eurystheus ordered Hercules to bring him the skin of this monster. After using in vain his club and arrows against the lion, Hercules strangled the animal with his hands. He returned, carrying the dead lion on his shoulders; but Eurystheus was so frightened at the sight of it, and at this proof of the prodigious strength of the hero, that he ordered him to deliver the accounts of his exploits in the future outside the town.[67:1]