"If in this act Ill-fate our tempter be,

860

"May all the ill it means be aim'd at me! "But sure, I think, God leads; nor could you bring "So high thoughts from a less-exalted spring. "Bright signs through all your words and looks are

"spread,

"A rising victory dawns around your head. "With such discourse blowing their sacred flame, "Lo, to the fatal place and work they came.

866

"Strongly encamp'd on a steep hill's large head, "Like some vast wood the mighty host was spread; "Th' only' access on neighbouring Gabaa's side, "An hard and narrow way, which did divide 870 "Two cliffy rocks, Boses and Senes nam'd, "Much for themselves, and their big strangeness, "fam'd;

"More for their fortune, and this stranger day. "On both their points Philistian out-guards lay, "From whence the two bold spies they first espy'd; “And, lo! the Hebrews! proud Elcanor cry'd, 876 "From Senes' top; lo! from their hungry caves, "A quicker fate here sends them to their graves. "Come up (aloud he cries to them below), "Ye' Egyptian slaves, and to our mercy owe "The rebel-lives long since t' our justice due. "Scarce from his lips the fatal omen flew, "When th' inspir'd Prince did nimbly understand "God, and his God-like virtues' high command. "It call'd him up, and up the steep ascent "With pain and labour, haste and joy, they went.

880

885

"Elcanor laugh'd to see them climb, and thought "His mighty words th' affrighted suppliants brought; "Did new affronts to the great Hebrew Name "(The barbarous!) in his wanton fancy frame. 890 "Short was his sport; for, swift as thunder's stroke "Rives the frail trunk of some heaven-threatening

❝oak,

895

"The Prince's sword did his proud head divide ; "The parted skull hung down on either side. "Just as he fell, his vengeful steel he drew "Half-way (no more the trembling joints could do); "Which Abdon snatch'd, and dy'd it in the blood "Of an amazed wretch that next him stood. "Some close to earth, shaking and grovelling, lie, "Like larks when they the tyrant hobby spy; 900 "Some, wonder-strook, stand fix'd; some fly; some

"arm

"Wildly, at th' unintelligible alarm.

"Like the main channel of an high-swoln flood, "In vain by dikes and broken works withstood; "So Jonathan, once climb'd th' opposing hill, 905 "Does all around with noise and ruin fill: "Like some large arm of which, another way "Abdon o'erflows; him too no bank can stay. "With cries th' affrighted country flies before, "Behind the following waters loudly roar. "Twenty, at least, slain on this out-guard lie, "To th' adjoin'd camp the rest distracted fly; "And ill-mix'd wonders tell, and into 't bear "Blind terror, deaf disorder, helpless fear.

910

"The conquerors too press boldly in behind, 915 "Doubling the wild confusions which they find. "Hamgar at first, the Prince of Ashdod town, "Chief 'mongst the five in riches and renown, "And General then by course, oppos'd their way, "Till drown'd in death at Jonathan's feet he lay, "And curs'd the heavens for rage, and bit the "ground; 921

"His life, for ever spilt, stain'd all the grass around." "His brother too, who virtuous haste did make "His fortune to revenge, or to partake, "Falls grovelling o'er his trunk, on mother earth;' "Death mix'd no less their bloods than did their

"birth.

926

"Meanwhile the well-pleas'd Abdon's restless sword "Dispatch'd the following train t' attend their lord. "On still, o'er panting corpse, great Jonathan led; "Hundreds before him fell, and thousands fled. "Prodigious Prince! which does most wondrous

"show,

931

"Thy' attempt, or thy success?thy fate, or thou? "Who durst alone that dreadful host assail,

"With purpose not to die, but to prevail ! "Infinite numbers thee no more affright,

"Than God, whose unity is infinite.

935

"If Heaven to men such mighty thoughts would

66

❝ give,

"What breast but thine capacious to receive

"The vast infusion? or what soul but thine

"Durst have believ'd that thought to be divine? 940

"Thou follow'dst Heaven in the design, and we "Find in the act 't was Heaven that follow'd thee. "Thou ledd'st on angels, and that sacred band "(The Deity's great lieutenant!) didst command. "'T is true, Sir, and no figure, when I say

945

Angels themselves fought under him that day. "Clouds, with ripe thunder charg'd, some thither "drew,

"And some the dire materials brought for new. "Hot drops of southern showers (the sweats of [breath;

"death),

"The voice of storms, and winged whirlwinds' "The flames shot forth from fighting dragons' eyes; "The smokes that from scorch'd fevers' ovens rise; "The reddest fires with which sad comets grow; "And Sodom's neighbouring lake, did spirits bestow "Of finest sulphur; amongst which they put 955 "Wrath, fury, horror, and all mingled shut "Into a cold moist cloud, t'enflame it more, "And make th' enraged prisoner louder roar. "Th' assembled clouds burst o'er their army's head; "Noise, darkness, dismal lightnings, round them

"spread.

960

"Another Spirit, with a more potent wand "Than that which Nature fear'd in Moses' hand, "And went the way that pleas'd, the mountain

"strook ;

965

"The mountain felt it; the vast mountain shook. "Through the wide air another Angel flew "About their host, and thick amongst them threw

"Discord, despair, confusion, fear, mistake, "And all th' ingredients that swift ruin make. "The fertile glebe requires no time to breed ; "It quickens, and receives at once the seed. "One would have thought, this dismal day t' have

66 seen,

970

"That Nature's self in her death-pangs had been. "Such will the face of that great hour appear; "Such the distracted sinner's conscious fear. "In vain some few strive the wild flight to stay; 975 "In vain they threaten, and in vain they pray ; "Unheard, unheeded, trodden down, they lie, "Beneath the wretched feet of crowds that fly. "O'er their own foot trampled the violent horse; "The guideless chariots with impetuous course "Cut wide through both; and, all their bloody way, "Horses and men, torn, bruis'd, and mangled, lay. "Some from the rocks cast themselves down head

"long;

985

"The faint, weak passion grows so bold and strong! "To almost certain present death they fly, "From a remote and causeless fear to die. "Much different error did some troops possess ; "And madness, that look'd better, though no less: "Their fellow-troops for th' enter'd foe they take; "And Israel's war with mutual slaughter make. 990 "Meanwhile the king from Gabaa's hill did view, "And hear, the thickening tumult, as it grew "Still great and loud; and, though he knows not why "They fled, no more than they themselves that fly,