Of hope in fears and dangers, heard so oft
In worst extreams, and on the perilous edge
Of battel when it rag'd, in all assaults
Their fureft fignal, they will foon resume
New courage and revive, though now they lye
Groveling and proftrate on yon Lake of Fire, 280
As we erewhile, aftounded and amaz'd,
No wonder, fall'n fuch a pernicious highth.
He scarce had ceas't when the fuperiour Fiend
Was moving toward the shore; his ponderous fhield
Ethereal temper, maffy, large and round,
Behind him caft; the broad circumference
Hung on his shoulders like the Moon, whofe Orb
Through Optic Glass the Tuscan Artist views
At Ev'ning from the top of Fefale,
Or in Valdarno, to defcry new Lands,
Rivers or Mountains in her spotty Globe.
His Spear, to equal which the tallest Pine
Hewn on Norwegian hills, to be the Mast
Of fome great Ammiral, were but a wand,
He walkt with to fupport uneafie steps
Over the burning Marle, not like those steps
On Heavens 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 Sea, he stood and call'd
His Legions, Angel Forms, who lay intrans't
Thick as Autumnal Leaves that ftrow the Brooks
In Vallombrofa, where th' Etrurian fhades
High overarch❜t imbowr; or scatterd fedge
Afloat, when with fierce Winds Orion arm'd
Hath vext the Red-Sea Coast, whofe waves ore
Bufiris and his Memphian Chivalrie,
While with perfidious hatred they purfu'd
The Sojourners of Goshen, who beheld
From the safe shore their floating Carkafes
And broken Chariot Wheels, fo thick beftrown
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,
Warriers, the Flowr of Heav'n, once yours, now loft,
If fuch astonishment as this can fieze
Eternal spirits; or have ye chos'n this place
After the toyl of Battel to repofe
Your wearied vertue, for the ease you find
To flumber here, as in the Vales of Heav'n?
Or in this abject posture have ye fworn
To adore the Conquerour? who now beholds
Cherube and Seraph rowling in the Flood
With scatter'd Arms and Enfigns, till anon
His swift pursuers from Heav'n Gates discern
Th' advantage, and descending tread us down
Thus drooping, or with linked Thunderbolts
Transfix us to the bottom of this Gulfe.
Awake, arife, or be for ever fall'n.
They heard, and were abasht, and up they sprung Upon the wing, as when men wont to watch On duty, fleeping found by whom they dread, Rouse and bestir themselves ere well awake. Nor did they not perceave the evil plight In which they were, or the fierce pains not feel; Yet to their Generals Voyce they foon obeyd
As when the
As when the potent Rod
Of Amrams Son in Egypts evill day
Wav'd round the Coast, up call'd a pitchy cloud
Of Locusts, warping on the Eastern Wind,
That ore the Realm of impious Pharaoh hung
Like Night, and darken'd all the Land of Nile :
So numberless were those bad Angels feen
Hovering on wing under the Cope of Hell
"Twixt upper, nether, and furrounding Fires;
Till, as a fignal giv'n, th' uplifted Spear
Of their great Sultan waving to direct
Thir course, in even ballance down they light
On the firm brimftone, and fill all the Plain; 350
A multitude, like which the populous North
Pour'd never from her frozen loyns, to pass
Rhene or the Danaw, when her barbarous Sons
Came like a Deluge on the South, and spread
Beneath Gibraltar to the Lybian fands.
Forthwith from every Squadron and each Band
The Heads and Leaders thither haft where stood
Their great Commander; Godlike shapes and forms
Excelling human, Princely Dignities,
And Powers that earst in Heaven fat on Thrones;
Though of their Names in heav'nly Records now
Be no memorial, blotted out and ras'd
By thir Rebellion, from the Books of Life.
Nor had they yet among the Sons of Eve
Got them new Names, till wandring ore the Earth,
Through Gods high sufferance for the tryal of man,
By falfities and lyes the greatest part
Of Mankind they corrupted to forfake
God their Creator, and th' invisible
Glory of him, that made them, to transform 370
Oft to the Image of a Brute, adorn'd
With gay Religions full of Pomp and Gold,
And Devils to adore for Deities:
Then were they known to men by various Names,
And various Idols through the Heathen World.
Say, Muse, their Names then known, who first,
who last,
Rous'd from the flumber, on that fiery Couch,
At thir great Emperors 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, durft fix
Their Seats long after next the Seat of God,
Their Altars by his Altar, Gods ador'd
Among the Nations round, and durft abide
Jehovah thundring out of Sion, thron'd
Between the Cherubim; yea, often plac'd
Within his Sanctuary it self 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 noyfe of Drums and Timbrels loud
Their childrens cries unheard, that past through fire
To his grim Idol. Him the Ammonite
Worshipt 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 Vally of Hinnom, Tophet thence
And black Gehenna call'd, the Type of Hell.
Next Chemos, th' obscene dread of Moabs Sons,
From Aroer to Nebo, and the wild
Of Southmost Abarim; in Hefebon
And Horonaim, Seons Realm, beyond
The flowry Dale of Sibma clad with Vines,
And Eleale to th' Afphaltick Pool.
Peor his other Name, when he entic'd
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 scandal, by the Grove
Of Moloch homicide, luft hard by hate;
Till good Jofiah drove them thence to Hell.
With these came they, who from the bordring flood
Of old Euphrates to the Brook that
parts
Egypt from Syrian ground, had general Names
Of Baalim and Afhtaroth, thofe male,
These Feminine. For Spirits when they please
Can either Sex affume, or both; so soft
And uncompounded is their Effence pure,
Not ti'd or manacl'd with joynt or limb,
Nor founded on the brittle ftrength of bones,
Like cumbrous flesh; but in what shape they choose
Dilated or condens't, bright or obscure,
Can execute their aerie purposes,
And works of love or enmity fulfill.
For those the Race of Ifrael oft forfook
Their living strength, and unfrequented left
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