Their course, in even balance down they light
On the firm brimstore, and fill all the plain:
A multitude, like which the populous north
Pour'd never from her frozen loins, to pass
Rhine 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 361
Be no memorial; blotted out and raz'd,
By their rebellion, from the books of life.
Nor had they yet among the sons of Eve
Got them new names; till wand'ring 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 th' invisible
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:
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 slumber, on that fiery couch,
their great emperor's call as next in worth
Care sing y where he stood, on the bare strand,
While the promiscuous crowd stood yet aloof?
The chief were those who, from the pit of hell
Roaming to seek their prey on earth, durst fix
Their seats long after next the seat of God,
Their altars by his altar, gods ador'd
Among the nations round, and aurst abide
Jehovah thund'ring out of Sion, thron'd
Between the cherubim; yea, often plac'd
Within his sanctuary itself their shrines,
Abominations! and with cursed things
His holy rites and solemn feasts profan'd,
And with their darkness durst affront his light.
First Moloch, horrid king, besmear'd with blood
Of human sacrifice, and parents' tears;
Though, for the noise of drums and timbrels loud,
Their children's cries unheard, that pass'd thro' fire
To nis grim idol. Him the Ammonite
Worshipp'd in Rabba, and her watery plain
In Argob, and in Basan, to the stream
Of utmost Arnon. Nor content with such
Audacious neighbourhood, the wisest heart
Of Solomon he led by fraud, to build
His temple right against the temple of God,
On the opprobrious hill; and made his grove
The pleasant valley of Hinnom, Tophet thence
And black Gehenna called, the type of hell.
Next Chemos, th' obscene dread of Moab's sons,
From Aroar to Nebo, and the wild
Of southmost Abarim; in Hescbon
And Horonaim, Seon's realm, beyond
The flowery dale of Sibma, clad with vines;
And Eleale to th' Asphaltic pool:
Peor his other name, when he entic'd
Israel in Sittim, on their march from Nile,
To do him wanton rites, which cost them wo.
Yet thence his lustful orgies he enlarg'd
Even to that hill of scandal, by the grove
Of Moloch homicide; lust hard by hate;
Till good Josiah drove thern 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 Baalim, 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 tied or manacled with joint or limb,
Nor founded on the brittle strength of bones,
Like cumbrous flesh; but in what shape they choose,
His righteous altar, bowing lowly down
To bestial gods, for which their heads as low
Bow'd down in battle, sunk before the spear
Of despicable foes. With these in troop
Came Astoreth, whom the Phenicians call'd
Astarte, queen of heaven, with crescent horns
To whose bright image nightly by the moon,
Sidonian virgins paid their vows and songs;
In Sion also not unsung, where stood
Her temple on th' offensive mountain, built
By that uxorious king, whose heart, though 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 am'rous 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 saw, 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 lopp'd off
In his own temple, on the grunsel edge,
Where he fell fat, and sham'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 coast
Of Palestine, in Gath, and Ascalon,
And Accaron, and Gaza's frontier bounds.
Him follow'd Rimmon, whose delightful seat
Was fair Damascus, on the fertile 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,
Ahaz, his sottish conqueror, whom he drew
God's altar to disparage, and displace,
For one of Syrian mode, wnereon to burn
His odious off'rings, and adore the gods
Whom he had vanquish'd. After these appear'd
A crew who under names of old renown,
Osiris, Isis, Orus, and their train,
With monstrous shapes and sorceries abus'd
Fanatic Egypt, and her priests, to seek
Their wand'ring gods dignis' in 'wrutish forms.
Rather than human. Nor did Israel 'scape
The infection, when their borrow'd gold compos'd
The calf in Oreb; and the rebel king
Doubled that sin in Bethel, and in Dan,
Lik'ning 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.
Belial came last, than whom a spirit more lewd
Fell not from heaven, 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
Turus atheist, as did Eli's sons, 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 riot ascends above their loftiest towers,
And injury and outrage: and when night
Darkens the streets, then wander forth the sons
Of Beliel, flown with insolence 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 beld Gods, yet confess d later than heaven and earth, Their boasted parents. Titan, (heaven's first born, With his enormous brood, and birthright seiz'd By younger Saturn: he from mightier Jove, (His own and Rhea's son.) like measure found So Jove ursurping reign'd; these first in Crete And Ida known; thence on the snowy top Of cold Olympus rul'd the middle air, Their highest heaven; or 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 Downcast and damp; yet such wherein appear'd' Obscure some glimpse of joy to have found their chə
Not in despair, to have found themselves tot. lost 525
In loss itself; which on his count'nance cast
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 straight commands that at the warlike sound
Of trumpets loud, and clarions, be uprear'd
His mighty standard: that proud honour claim'd
Azazel as his right, a cherub tal;
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 emblaz'd,
Seraphic arms and trophies; all the while
Sonorous metal blowing martial sounds:
At which the universal host up sent
A shout that tore hell's concave; and beyond
Frighted the reign of Chaos and old Night.
All in a moment through the gloom were seen
Ten thousand banners rise into the air,
With orient colours waving with them rose
A forest huge of spears; and thronging helm
Appear'd, and serried shields in thick array,
Of depth immeasurable: anon they move
In perfect phalanx, to the Dorian mood
Of flutes, and soft recorders; such as rais'd
To height of noblest temper heroes old
Arming to battle; and instead of rage,
Deliberate valour breath'd, firm, and unmov'd
With dread of death to flight, or foul retreat;
Nor wanting power to mitigate and swage,
With solemn touches, troubled thoughts, and chase
Anguish, and doubt, and fear, and sorrow, and pain,
From mortal or immortal minds. Thus they
Breathing united force, with fixed thought
Mov'd on in silence to soft pipes, that charm'd
Their painful steps o'er the burnt soil: and now
Advanc'd in view, they stand, a horrid front
Of dreadful length, and dazzling arms, in guise
Of warriors old with order'd spear and shield,
Awaiting what command their mighty chief
Had to impose: he through the armed files
Darts his experienc'd eye, and soon traverse
The whole battalion views, their order due,
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