Hewn on Norwegian hills, to be the maft
Of fome great ammiral, were but a wand
He walk'd with to fupport uneasy steps.
Over the burning marle not like those steps
On heaven's azure, and the torrid clime
Smote on him fore befides, vaulted with fire:
Nathless he fo endur'd, till on the beach
Of that inflamed fea he food, and call'd
His legions, Angel-forms, who lay entranc'd,
Thick as autumnal leaves that strow the brooks
In Vallombrofa, where th' Etrurian fhades
High over arch'd embow'r; or scatter'd fedge
Aflote, when with fierce winds Orion arm'd
Hath vex'd the Red-Sea coaft, whose waves o'erthrew
Abject and loft lay thefe, covering the flood,
Under amazement of their hideous change.
He call'd fo loud, that all the hollow deep
Of hell refounded. Princes, Potentates,
Warriors, the flow'r of Heav'n, once your's, now loft, If fuch aftonishment as this can feife
Eternal Spirits; or have ye chos'n this place
After the toil of battel to repofe
Your wearied virtue, for the ease you find
To flumber here, as in the vales of Heaven?
Or in this abject pofture have ye fworn
To adore the conqueror? who now beholds
Cherub and Seraph rolling in the flood
With scatter'd arms and enfigns, till anon
His fwift purfuers from Heav'n gates difcern
Th advantage, and defcending tread us down.
Thus drooping, or with linked thunderbolts
Transfix us to the bottom of this gulf,
Awake, arife, or be for ever fall'n.
They heard, and were abash'd, and up they sprung
Upon the wing, as when men wont to watch
On duty, fleeping found by whom they dread,
Rouse and beftir themselves ere well awake.
Nor did they not perceive the evil plight
In which they were, or the fierce pains not feel;
Yet to their General's voice they foon obey'ďî salek
Innumerable. As when the potent 'Rod
Of Amram's Son, in Egypt's evil day,.. Wav'd round the coaft, up call'd a pitchy cloud Of locufts, warping on the eastern wind, That o'er the realm of impious Pharaoh hung Like night, and darken'd all the land of Nile: So numberlefs were thofe bad Angels feen Hovering on wing under the cope of Hell 'Twixt upper, nether, and furrounding fires; Till, as a fingnal giv'n, th'up-lifted fpear Of their great Sultan waving to direct Their courfe, in even ballance down they light On the firm brimstone, and fill all the plain; A multitude! like which the populous north Pour'd never from her frozen loins, to pafs Rhene or the Danaw, when her barbarous fons! Came like a deluge on the fouth, and fpread digita Beneath Gibraltar to the Libyan fands.
Forthwith from ev'ry squadron and each bandia (2) pil
The heads and leaders thither hafte where ftood. A
Their great commander; God-like fhapes and forms 6/
Excelling human, princely Dignities,
And Pow'rs, that erft in heaven fat on thrones; 369
Though of their names in heav'nly records now
Be no memorial, blotted out and ras'd
By their rebellion, from the books of life,
Nor had they yet among the fons of Eve.
Got them new names, till wand'ring o'er the earth Thro' God's high fufferance for the tryal of man, By falfities and lies the greatest part
Of mankind they corrupted to forfake
God their creator, and th’invifible es
Glory of him that made them to transform
Oft to the image of a brute, adorn'd
With gay religions full of pomp and gold,
And Devils to adore for Deities:på
Then were they known to men by various names, 199
And various Idols thro' he Heathen world.n
Say, Mufe, their names then known; who first, who laft
Rous'd from the flumber, on that fiery couch,
At their great emperor's call, as next in worth
Came fingly where he ftood on the bare ftrand, cold 10
While the promifcuous croud stood yet aloof.
The chief were those who from the pit of Hell
Roaming to feek their prey on earth, durft fixe bio
Their feats long after next the feat of God,
Their altars by his altar, Gods ador'd
Among the nations round, and durft abide jan
Jehovah thund'ring out of Sion, thron'd
Between the Cherubim; yea, often plac'd
Within his fanctuary itself their fhrines,
Abominations; and with cursed things
His holy rites and folemn feafts profan'd,
And with their darkness durft affront his light..na
First Moloch, horrid king, befmear'd with blood)
Of human facrifice,.and parents tears!
Though for the poife of drums and timbrels loud
Their children cries unheard, that pafs'd through fire, 395
To his grim idol Him the Ammonite
Worship'd in Rabba and her watry plain,
In Argob and in Bafan, to the stream
Of utmost Arnon. Nor content with fuch
Audacious neighbourhood, the wisest heart
Of Solomon he led by fraud to build --
His temple right against the temple of God
On that opprobrious hill, and made his grove
The pleasant valley of Hinnom, Tophet thence
And black Gehenna call'd, the type of Hell.
Next Chemos, th' obfcene dread of Moab's fons,
From Aroar to Nebo, and the wild
of fouthmost Abarim; in Hefebonus a
And Horonaim, Seon's realm, beyond
The flow'ry dale of Sibma clad with vines,
And Eleäle to the Asphaltic pool.
Peor his other name, when he entic'av .. 4
Ifrael in Sittim on their march from Nile
To do him wanton rites, which coft them woe.
Yet thence his luftful orgies he enlarg'd
Even to that hill of fcandal, by the grove
Of Moloch homicide, lust hard by hate;'
Till good fofiah drove them thence to Hell.
With these came they, who from the bord'ring flood Of old Euphrates to the brook that parts
Aegypt from Syrian ground, had general names
Of Baälim and Ashtaroth; thofe male
These feminine. For Spirits when they pleafe⠀
Can either fex affume, or both; fo oft
And uncompounded is their effence pure,
Not ty'd or manacled with joint or limb,}
Nor founded on the brittle strength of bones,
Like cumbrous flesh; but in what shape they choose
Dilated or condens'd, bright or obfcure,
Can execute their airy purposes,
And works of love or enmity fulfil.
For those the race of Israel oft forfook
Their Hving ftrength, and unfrequented left
His righteous altar, bowing lowly down
To beftial Gods; for which their heads as low
Bow'd down in battel, funk before the spear
Of despicable foes. Whith thefe in troop
Came Aftoreth, whom the Phænicians call'd
Aftarte, queen of Heaven, with crefcent horns;
To whofe bright image nightly by the moon
Sidonian virgins paid their vows and fongs,
In Sion alfo not unfung, where stood-
Her temple on th' offenfive mountain, built
By that uxorious King, whose heart tho' large,
Beguil'd by fair idolatreffes, fell
To idols foul. Thammuz came next behind
Whose annual wound in Lebanon allur'd
The Syrian Damfels to lament his fate
In am'rous ditties all a fummer's day,
While fmooth Adonis from his native rock
Ran purple to the fea, fuppos'd with blood
Of Thainmuz yearly wounded: the love-tale
Infected Sion's daughters with like heat,
Whose wanton paffions in the facred porch
Ezekiel faw, when by the vifion led
His eyes furvey'd the dark idolatries
Of alienated Judah. Next came one
Who mourn'd in earnest, when the captive ark
Maim'd his brute image, head and hands lopt off
In his own temple, on the grunfel edge,
Where he fell flat, and fham'd his worshippers;
Dagon his name, fea-monfter, upward man
And downward fish: yet had his temple high
Rear'd in Azotus, dreaded through the coaft ha
Of Palestine, in Gath, and Afcalon,"
And Accaron, and Gaza's frontier bounds, dan
Him follow'd Rimmon, whofe delightful feat
Was fair Damafcus, on the fertil banks
Of Abbana and Pharphar, lucid streams.
He also against the house of God was bold:
A leper once he lost, and gain'd a king, po 354
Ahaz his fottish conqu’ror, whom he drew
God's altar to difparage and displace,
For one of Syrian mode, whereon to burn Vagí
His odious offerings, and adore the Gods kort
Whom he had vanquish'd. After these appear'd
A crew who under names of old renown j
Ofiris, Ifis, Orus, and their train,
With monftrous fhapes and forceries abus'a
Fanatic Aegypt and her priests, to feek
Their wand'ring Gods difguis'd in brutifh forms
Rather than human. Nor did Ifrael 'scape
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