And various idols through the Heathen world. 375
Say, Muse, their names then known, who first, whe
Rous'd from the slumber, on that fiery couch, [last,
At their great Emp'ror's call, as next in worth
Came fingly where he stood on the bare strand,
While the promiscuous croud stood yet aloof.
The chief were those who from the pit of hell,
Roaming to seek their prey on earth, durst fix
Their feats long after next the feat of God,
Their altars by his altar, gods ador'd
Among the nations round, and durst abide
Jehovah thund'ring out of Sion, thron'd
Between the Cherubim; yea, often plac'd
Within his fanctuary itself their shrines,
Abominations; and with cursed things
His holy rites and folemn feasts profan'd,
And with their darkness durst affront his light.
First Moloch, horrid king, besmear'd with blood
Of human facrifice, and parents tears,
Though for the noise of drums and timbrels loud
Their childrens cries unheard, that pass'd thro' fire
To his grim idol. Him the Ammonite
Worshipp'd in Rabba and her wat'ry plain,
In Argob and in Bafan, to the stream
Of utmost Arnon. Nor content with fuch
Audacious neighbourhood, the wifest 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' obscene dread of Moab's fons,
From Aroar to Nebo, and the wild
Of fouthmost Abarim; in Hefebon
And Horonaim, Seon's realm, beyond
The flow'ry dale of Sibma, clad with vines,
And Eleälé, to th' Asphaltic pool..
Peor his other name, when he entic'd
Ifrael in Sittim, on their march from Nile,
To do him wanton rites, which cost them woe.
Yet thence his lustful orgies he enlarg'd
Ev'n to that hill of scandal, by the grove
Of Moloch homicide; lust hard by hate;
Till good Jofiah drove them thence to hell.
With these came they, who from the bord'ring flood
Of old Euphrates to the brook that parts
Egypt from Syrian ground, had general names
Of Baälim and Ashtaroth; those male,
These feminine. For spirits when they please
Can either sex assume, or both; so soft
And uncompounded is their essence 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 chuse
Dilated or condens'd, bright or obfcure,
Can execute their aery purposes,
And works of love or enmity fulfil.
For those the race of Ifrael oft forsook
Their living Strength, and unfrequented left
His righteous altar, bowing lowly down
To bestial gods; for which their heads as low
Bow'd down in battle, funk before the fpear
Of defpicable foes. With these in troop
Came Astoreth, whom the Phoenicians call'd
Aftarte, queen of heav'n, with crescent horns;
To whose bright image nightly by the moon
Sidonian virgins paid their vows and fongs;
In Sion also not unfung, where stood
Her temple on th' offenfive mountain, built
By that uxorious king, whose heart, tho' large,
Beguil'd by fair idolatresses, fell
To idols foul. Thammuz came next behind,
Whose annual wound in Lebanon allur'd
The Syrian damsels, to lament his fate
In amorous ditties all a summer's day,
While smooth Adonis from his native rock
Ran purple to the sea, suppos'd with blood
Of Thammuz yearly wounded: the love tale
Infected Sion's daughters with like heat,
Whose wanton passions in the sacred porch
Ezekiel faw, when, by the vision led
His eye survey'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 grunsel edge,
Where he fell flat, and shan'd his worshippers:
Dagon his name, sea-monster, upward man
And downward fish: yet had his temple high
Rear'd in Azotus, dreaded through the coaft
Of Palestine, in Gath and Afcalon,
And Accaron and Gaza's frontier bounds.
Him follow'd Rimmon, whose delightful feat
Was fair Damafcus, on the fertile banks
Of Abbana and Pharphar, lucid streams.
He also against the house of God was bold:
Aleper once he lost, and gain'd a king,
Ahaz, his fottish conqu'ror, whom he drew
God's altar to disparage, and displace,
For one of Syrian mode, whereon to burn
His odious offerings, and adore the gods
Whom he had vanquish'd. After these appear'd
A crew, who, under names of old renown,
Ofiris, Ifis, Orus, and their train,
With monstrous shapes and forceries abus'd
Fanatic Egypt, and her priests, to seek
Their wand'ring gods disguis'd in brutish forms
Rather than human. Nor did Ifrael 'scape
Th' infection, when their borrow'd gold compos'd
The calf in Oreb; and the rebel king
Doubled that fin in Bethel and in Dan,
Likening his Maker, to the grazed ox,
Jehovah; who, in one night, when he pass'd
From Egypt marching, equall'd with one stroke
Both her first-born and all her bleating gods.
Belia' came last, than whom a spirit more lewd 490
Fell not from heav'a, or more gross to love
Vice for itself: to him no temple stood
Or altar smok'd; yet who more oft than he
In temples and at altars, when the priest
Turns atheist, as did Eli's fons, who fill'd
With lust and violence the house of God?
In courts and palaces he also reigns,
And in luxurious cities, where the noise
Of ri'ot afcends above their loftiest towers,
And injury and outrage: and when night
Darkens the streets, then wander forth the fons
Of Belial, flown with infolence and wine.
Witness the streets of Sodom, and that night
In Gibeah, when the hospitable door
Expos'd a matron to avoid worse rape.
These were the prime in order and in might; The rest were long to tell, though far renown'd, Th' Ionian gods, of Javan's issue held Gods, yet confess'd later than Heav'n and Earth, Their boafted parents: Titan, Heav'n's first-born, 510 With his enormous brood, and birth-right seiz'd By younger Saturn; he from mightier Jove, His own and Rhea's fon, like measure found; So Jove ufurping reign'd: These first in Crete
And Ida known; thence on the snowy top
Of cold Olympus rul'd the middle air,
Their highest heav'n; er on the Delphian cliff,
Or in Dodona, and through all the bounds
Of Doric land; or who with Saturn old
Fled over Adria to th' Hesperian fields,
And o'er the Celtic roam'd the utmost isles.
All these and more came flocking; but with looks
Down-cast and damp, yet such wherein appear'd
Obscure some glimpse of joy, to' have found their chief
Not in despair, to have found themselves not last 535
In lofs itself; which on his count'nance caft
Like doubtful hue: but he his wonted pride
Soon recollecting, with high words, that bore
Semblance of worth, not substance, gently rais'd
Their fainting courage, and dispell'd their fears. 530
Then strait commands that at the warlike found
Of trumpets loud and clarions be uprear'd
His mighty standard: that proud honour claim'd
Azazel as his right, a cherub tall;
Who forthwith from the glittering staff unfurl'd 535
Th' imperial ensign, which, full high advanc'd,
Shone like a meteor streaming to the wind,
With gems and golden lustre rich imblaz'd,
Seraphic arms and trophies; all the while
Sonorous metal blowing martial founds:
At which the universal host up sent
A thout, that tore Hell's concave, and beyond
Frighted the reign of Chaos and old Night.
All in a moment through the gloom were feen
Ten thousand banners rife into the air
With orient colours waving: with them rose
A forest huge of spears; and thronging helms
Appear'd, and serried shields in thick array,
Of depth unmeasurable: anon they move
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