Hewn on Norwegian hills, to be the mast
Of fome great ammiral, were but a wand,
He walk'd with to fupport uneafy 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:
Nathlefs he fo indur'd, till on the beach
Of that inflamed fea he stood, and call'd
His legions, Angel forms, who lay intranc'd
Thick as autumnal leaves that ftrow the brooks
In Vallombrofa, where th' Etrurian fhades
High over-arch'd imbow'r; or scatter'd fedge
Aflote, when with fierce winds Orion arm'd
Hath vex'd the Red-Sea coaft, whofe waves o'erthrew
Bufiris and his Memphian chivalry,
While with perfidious hatred they pursued
The fojourners of Gofhen, who beheld
From the fafe fhore their floting carcafes
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,
Warriors, the flow'r of Heav'n, once your's, now lofty
If fuch astonishment as this can feife
Eternal Spi'rits; or have ye chos'n this place
After the toil of battel to repose
Your wearied virtue, for the ease you find
To flumber here, as in the vales of Heaven?
Or in this abject posture have ye fworn
To' adore the conqueror? who now beholds
Cherub and Seraph rolling in the flood
With fcatter'd arms and enfigns, till anon
His swift 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 fprung
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'd
Innumerable. As when the potent rod
Of Amram's fon, in Egypt's evil day,
Wav'd round the coast, 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 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' up-lifted 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
Pour'd never from her frozen loins, to pass
Rhene or the Danaw, when her barbarous fons
Came like a deluge on the fouth, and spread
Beneath Gibraltar to the Libyan fands.
Forthwith from every fquadron and each band
The heads and leaders thither hafte where ftood
Their great commander; Godlike shapes and forms
Excelling human, princely Dignities,
And Pow'rs that erft in Heaven fat on thrones ;
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,
Through God's high fufferance for the tri'al of man,
By falfities and lies the greatest part
Of mankind they corrupted to forfake
God their Creator, and th' invifible
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, Mufe, their names then known, who first, who last,
Rous'd from the flumber, on that fiery couch,
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
VOL. I.
Their feats long after next the feat of God,
Their altars by his altar, Gods ador'd
Among the nations round, and durft 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 folemn feasts profan'd,
And with their darkness durft affront his light.
First Moloch, horrid king, besmear'd with blood
Of human facrifice, and parents tears,
Though for the noife of drums and timbrels loud
Their childrens cries unheard, that pafs'd through fire
To his grim idol. Him the Ammonite
Worshipt in Rabba and her watry plain,
In Argob and in Bafan, to the ftream
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' óbfcene dread of Moab's fons,
From Aroar to Nebo, and the wild
Of fouthmoft Abarim; in Hefebon
And Horonaim, Seon's realm, beyond
The flow'ry dale of Sibma clad with vines,
And Eleälé to the Afphaltic 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 inlarg'd
Ev'n to that hill of fcandal, 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 bord'ring flood!
Of old Euphrates to the brook that parts
Egypt from Syrian ground, had general names
Of Baälim and Afhtaroth, those male,
These feminine. For Spirits when they please
Can either fex affume, or both; so soft
And uncompounded is their effence pure,
Not ty'd or manacled with joint or limb,
Nor founded on the brittle ftrength of bones,
Like cumbrous flesh; but in what shape they choofer
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 forfook
Their living strength, 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 fpear
Of despicable foes. With these in troop
Came Aftoreth, whom the Phœnicians call'd
Aftarte, queen of Heav'n, 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
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