Book I Cont. Cont., Cont.

slumber here, as in the Vales of Heav'n?
 
Or in this abject posture have ye sworn 
To adore the Conquerour? who now beholds 
Cherube and Seraph rowling in the Flood 
With scatter'd Arms and Ensigns, till anon [ 325 ] 
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, arise, or be for ever fall'n. [ 330 ]
They heard, and were abasht, and up they sprung 

Upon the wing, as when men wont to watch 
On duty, sleeping found by whom they dread, 
Rouse and bestir themselves ere well awake. 
Nor did they not perceave the evil plight [ 335 ] 
In which they were, or the fierce pains not feel; 
Yet to thir Generals Voyce they soon obeyd 
Innumerable. As when the potent Rod 
Of Amrams Son in Egypts evill day 
Wav'd round the Coast, up call'd a pitchy cloud [ 340 ] 
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 seen 
Hovering on wing under the Cope of Hell [ 345 ] 
'Twixt upper, nether, and surrounding Fires; 
Till, as a signal giv'n, th' uplifted Spear 
Of thir great Sultan waving to direct 
Thir course, in even ballance down they light 
On the firm brimstone, 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 Gibralter to the Lybian sands. [ 355 ] 
Forthwith from every Squadron and each Band 
The Heads and Leaders thither hast where stood 
Thir great Commander; Godlike shapes and forms 
Excelling human, Princely Dignities, 
And Powers that earst in Heaven sat on Thrones; [ 360 ] 
Though of thir 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, [ 365 ] 
Through Gods high sufferance for the tryal of man, 
By falsities and lyes the greatest part 
Of Mankind they corrupted to forsake 
God thir 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. [ 375 ] 
Say, Muse, thir Names then known, who first, who last, 
Rous'd from the slumber, on that fiery Couch, 
At thir great Emperors call, as next in worth 
Came singly where he stood on the bare strand, 
While the promiscuous croud stood yet aloof? [ 380 ] 
The chief were those who from the Pit of Hell 
Roaming to seek thir prey on earth, durst fix 
Thir Seats long after next the Seat of God, 
Thir Altars by his Altar, Gods ador'd 
Among the Nations round, and durst abide [ 385 ] 
Jehovah thundring out of Sion, thron'd 
Between the Cherubim; yea, often plac'd 
Within his Sanctuary it self thir Shrines, 
Abominations; and with cursed things 
His holy Rites, and solemn Feasts profan'd, [ 390 ] 
And with thir darkness durst affront his light. 
First Moloch, horrid King besmear'd with blood 
Of human sacrifice, and parents tears, 
Though for the noyse of Drums and Timbrels loud 
Thir childrens cries unheard, that past through fire [ 395 ] 
To his grim Idol. Him the Ammonite 
Worshipt in Rabba and her watry Plain, 
In Argob and in Basan, to the stream 
Of utmost Arnon. Nor content with such 
Audacious neighbourhood, the wisest heart [ 400 ] 
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. [ 405 ] 
Next Chemos, th' obscene dread of Moabs Sons, 
From Aroar to Nebo, and the wild 
Of Southmost Abarim; in Hesebon 
And Horonaim, Seons Realm, beyond 
The flowry Dale of Sibma clad with Vines, [ 410 ] 
And Eleale to th' Asphaltick Pool. 
Peor his other Name, when he entic'd 
Israel in Sittim on thir march from Nile 
To do him wanton rites, which cost them woe. 
Yet thence his lustful Orgies he enlarg'd [ 415 ] 
Even to that Hill of scandal, by the Grove 
Of Moloch homicide, lust hard by hate; 
Till good Josiah drove them thence to Hell. 
With these came they, who from the bordring flood 
Of old Euphrates to the Brook that parts [ 420 ] 
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 thir Essence pure, [ 425 ] 
Not ti'd or manacl'd with joynt or limb, 
Nor founded on the brittle strength of bones, 
Like cumbrous flesh; but in what shape they choose 
Dilated or condens't, bright or obscure, 
Can execute thir aerie purposes, [ 430 ] 
And works of love or enmity fulfill. 
For those the Race of Israel oft forsook 
Thir living strength, and unfrequented left 
His righteous Altar, bowing lowly down 
To bestial Gods; for which thir heads as low [ 435 ] 
Bow'd down in Battel, sunk before the Spear 
Of despicable foes. With these in troop 
Came Astoreth, whom the Phoenicians call'd 
Astarte, Queen of Heav'n, with crescent Horns; 
To whose bright Image nightly by the Moon [ 440 ] 
Sidonian Virgins paid thir 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 [ 445 ] 
To Idols foul. Thammuz came next behind, 
Whose annual wound in Lebanon allur'd 
The Syrian Damsels to lament his fate 
In amorous dittyes all a Summers day, 
While smooth Adonis from his native Rock [ 450 ] 
Ran purple to the Sea, suppos'd with blood 
Of Thammuz yearly wounded: the Love-tale 
Infected Sions daughters with like heat, 
Whose wanton passions in the sacred Porch 
Ezekiel saw, when by the Vision led [ 455 ] 
His eye survay'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, [ 460 ] 
Where he fell flat, and sham'd his Worshipers: 
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 an

Book I Cont. Cont., Cont.

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Book I Cont. Cont., Cont.

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slumber here, as in the Vales of Heav'n?

They heard, and were abasht, and up they sprung

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