ET CETERAS.

Unmanned, yet again n Samson, you will recall, had a certain--and ultimately fatal--attraction to women of suspicious, namely Philistine, pedigree as well as a reputation for roughhousing. When he finally hooked up with Delilah and her sneaky shears, he had already spread destruction and chaos far and wide. There was that juvenile stunt of setting fire to the tails of 300 foxes. Then he picked up the jawbone of an ass and slew a thousand Philistines. Incorrigible. By the time Delilah weaseled the secret of his strength out of him, Samson seemed ripe for a rude comeuppance. Still, Samson was blessed, and even his weaknesses fit neatly into God's plan.

Not so fast, say the authors of a recent letter to the Archives of General Psychiatry. Far from blessed, Samson's acting out conforms to the classic pattern of "antisocial personality disorder," at least as that malady is defined by the American Psychiatric Association's official diagnostic manual. "It's pretty straightforward, pretty cut and dried," Dr. Eric Altschuler told the New York Times (February 20). Samson's storied behavior, it seems, conforms to a "pervasive pattern of disregard for, and violation of, the rights of others that begins in childhood or early adolescence and continues into adulthood."

Where would that leave wayward souls like Jacob and David?

The moral and religious question seems to be: Why weren't these difficult children medicated?

Department of promotion n From a kind, but annoyed subscriber, we received the following: "I love the magazine. I subscribe myself and send an annual subscription to friends." (That's the good part.)

The complaint: "Imagine my confusion, therefore, when I received your impressive mail solicitation for new subscribers. Why send me a new member promo?"

The explanation: Paul Q. Kane, Commonweal's ever-vigilant business manager (and a pretty kind guy himself) replied: "You received the recent promotion mailing because we are working to build a base of new subscribers. This means we have to purchase lists from other publications. Although we try to eliminate duplicates and the names of subscribers, they sometimes slip through the cracks because they are listed differently (for example, a subscription may be under a spouse's name, or it may use initials rather than the actual first name). I am sorry that you received the promotion mailing unnecessarily."

From the editors: We are sorry, too. Readers so plagued could recycle Commonweal's promotion mailing, or better, give it to a friend (or enemy). Maybe he or she would like to subscribe.