ard and were abashed, and up they sprung ing; as when men wont to watch, eping found by whom they dread, bestir themselves ere well awake. ey not perceive the evil plight ey were, or the fierce pains not feel; r general's voice they soon obeyed, e. As when the potent rod

's son, in Egypt's evil day,

nd the coast up called a pitchy cloud warping on the eastern wind,

cast down; over

hment, confusion of

y.

or, either-or. strength; vigor.

ake of.

335

340

325. anon, presently; soon. 335. Nor did they not perceive, and they did perceive.

339. Amram's son, Moses. See Ex. x. 13.

341. warping, proceeding with a waving motion.

That o'er the realm of impious Pharaoh hung
Like night, and darkened all the land of Nile :
So numberless were those bad angels seen
Hovering on wing under the cope of Hell,
'Twixt upper, nether, and surrounding fires ;
Till, as a signal given, the uplifted spear
Of their great Sultan waving to direct
Their course, in even balance down they light
On the firm brimstone, and fill all the plain:
A multitude, like which the populous North
Poured never from her frozen loins, to pass
Rhene or the Danaw, when her barbarous sons
Came like a deluge on the South, and spread
Beneath Gibraltar to the Libyan sands.
Forthwith, from every squadron and each band,
The heads and leaders thither haste where stood
Their great commander; godlike shapes, and forms
Excelling human, princely Dignities,

And Powers that erst in Heaven sat on thrones;
Though of their names in heavenly records now
Be no memorial, blotted out and razed

By their rebellion from the books of life.

Nor had they yet among the sons of Eve

3

Got them new names; till, wandering o'er the earth
Through God's high sufferance for the trial of man,
By falsities and lies the greatest part
Of mankind they corrupted to forsake
God their Creator, and the invisible
Glory of him that made them to transform
Oft to the image of a brute, adorned
With gay religions full of pomp and gold,

345. the cope, the roof, or arch. 348. Sultan, sovereign.

353. Rhene or the Danaw, the Rhine or the Danube. - her barbarous sons, the tribes from northern Europe, Goths, Vandals, Huns, and others, who overran the Roman empire.

3

355. Beneath, to the south o the Libyan sands, the deser of Africa.

360. erst, formerly.
366. sufferance. See line 241.
369-371. See Rom. i. 23.
372. religions, religious rites.

o adore for deities:

hey known to men by various names idols through the heathen world.

375

e, their names then known, who first, who

1 the slumber on that fiery couch,
at Emperor's call, as next in worth

where he stood on the bare strand,
promiscuous crowd stood yet aloof.
were those who, from the pit of Hell
seek their prey on Earth, durst fix
long after next the seat of God,
s by his altar, gods adored
nations round, and durst abide
undering out of Sion, throned
e Cherubim; yea, often placed
sanctuary itself their shrines,
ons; and with cursed things
tes and solemn feasts profaned,
their darkness durst affront his light.

Coloch, horrid king, besmeared with blood sacrifice and parents' tears,

or the noise of drums and timbrels loud,

380

385

390

Worshipped in Rabba and her watery plain,
In Argob and in Basan, to the stream
Of utmost Arnon. Nor content with such
Audacious neighborhood, 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 called, the type of Hell.
Next Chemos, the obscene dread of Moab's sons,
From Aroer to Nebo and the wild

40

40

Of southmost Abarim; in Hesebon
And Horonaim, Seon's realm, beyond

The flowery dale of Sibma clad with vines;
And Elealé to the Asphaltic pool:

41

Peor his other name, when he enticed
Israel in Sittim, on their march from Nile,

To do him wanton rites, which cost them woe.
Yet thence his lustful orgies he enlarged
Even to that hill of scandal, by the grove
Of Moloch homicide, lust hard by hate;

on the east of the Jordan, but not
so far to the north as the river Ar-
non. Basan, or Bashan, and Ar-
gob belonged to the Ammonites.
Rabba, or Rabbah, was the chief
city of the Ammonites, situated in
a well-watered valley, and some-
times called the City of Waters.
See 2 Samuel xii. 27

415

or tambourine. In later times it was called Gehenna, and this word was used by the Jews to express the place of future punishment.

406. Chemos, or Chemosh, also mentioned in 1 Kings xi., as the abomination of Moab"; Peor (or Baäl-peor) his other name.

407-411. These places were in the country of the Moabites, situated to the east of the Dead Sea, or Asphaltic pool. Abarim was a mountain range east of the Jordan, of which Nebo appears to have been a part. Hesebon. Heshbon. See Isaiah xvi. 8, 9. Seon, Sihon.

413. Sittim, Shittim, the place of the last encampment of the Israelites before they crossed the Jordan. It was here that "Israel joined himself unto Bail-peor."

417. homicide, delighting in human victims. Lust is repre

osiah drove them thence to Hell.

came they, who, from the bordering flood hrates to the brook that parts

Syrian ground, had general names and Ashtaroth, those male,

nine: for spirits when they please sex assume, or both; so soft pounded is their essence pure, manacled with joint or limb,

d on the brittle strength of bones,

420

425

rous flesh; but in what shape they choose,

condensed, bright or obscure,

ce their aery purposes, of love or enmity fulfil.

che race of Israel oft forsook

g Strength, and unfrequented left Ous altar, bowing lowly down

gods; for which their heads, as low wn in battle, sunk before the spear ble foes. With these in troop Oreth, whom the Phoenicians called ueen of heaven, with crescent horns; bright image, nightly by the moon, virgins paid their vows and songs; so not unsung, where stood

e on the offensive mountain, built

xorious king, whose heart, though large,

by fair idolatresses, fell

430

435

440

445

Sidon

441. Sidonian virgins. was a chief city of Phoenicia, on the northwest of Palestine.

444. "Largeness of heart" is mentioned among the gifts bestowed upon Solomon. 1 Kings iv. 29.

446-452. Thammuz is supposed to have been the Phoenician Ado