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 that opprobrious hill,2 and made his grove The pleasant valley of Hinnom, Tophet thence And black Gehenna called, the type of Hell. Next Chemos, the obscene dread of Moab's sons, From Aroar to Nebo and the wild
Of southmost Abarim; in Hesebon And Horonaim, Seon's realm, beyond
The flowery dale of Sibma clad with vines, And Eleale to the Asphaltic Pool:
Peor his other name, when he enticed
Israel in Sittim, on their march from Nile,
To do him wanton rites, which cost them woe.3 Yet thence his lustful orgies he enlarged Even to that hill of scandal,2 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 bordering 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,
1 See map, p. 87, for these and places following, to 505.
Nor founded on the brittle strength of bones,
Like cumbrous flesh; but, in what shape they choose,
Dilated or condensed,* bright or obscure,
Can execute their aery purposes,
And works of love or enmity fulfil.
For those the race of Israel oft forsook
Their Living Strength, and unfrequented left His righteous altar, bowing lowly down
To bestial gods; for which their heads, as low Bowed down in battle, sunk before the spear Of despicable foes.1 With these in troop Came Astoreth, whom the Phoenicians called 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 the offensive mountain,3 built By that uxorious king whose heart, though large, Beguiled by fair idolatresses, fell
To idols foul. Thammuz came next behind, Whose annual wound in Lebanon allured
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, supposed 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 surveyed the dark idolatries Of alienated Judah.1 Next came one
Who mourned in earnest, when the captive ark Maimed his brute image, head and hands lopt off, In his own temple, on the grunsel-edge, Where he fell flat and shamed his worshipers: 2 Dagon his name, sea-monster, upward man And downward fish; yet had his temple high Reared in Azotus, dreaded through the coast Of Palestine, in Gath and Ascalon,
And Accaron and Gaza's frontier bounds. Him followed 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 gained a king — Ahaz, his sottish conqueror, 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 vanquished. After these appeared A crew who, under names of old renown — Osiris, Isis, Orus, and their train-
With monstrous shapes and sorceries abused Fanatic Egypt and her priests to seek
Their wandering gods disguised in brutish forms Rather than human. Nor did Israel scape
The infection, when their borrowed gold composed
The calf in Oreb;1 and the rebel king Doubled that sin in Bethel and in Dan,2 Likening his Maker to the grazèd ox Jehovah, who, in one night, when he passed From Egypt marching, equalled with one stroke Both her first-born and all her bleating gods.3 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 smoked; yet who more oft than he In temples and at altars, when the priest Turns atheist, as did Eli's sons, who filled 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 Belial, flown with insolence and wine. Witness the streets of Sodom, and that night In Gibeah, when the hospitable door Exposed a matron, to avoid worse rape.
These were the prime in order and in might: The rest were long to tell; though far renowned The Ionian gods - of Javan's issue1 held
Gods, yet confessed later than Heaven and Earth, Their boasted parents; Titan, Heaven's first-born, 510 With his enormous brood, and birthright seized
By younger Saturn: he from mightier Jove, His own and Rhea's son, like measure found;1 So Jove usurping reigned. These, first in Crete And Ida known,2 thence on the snowy top Of cold Olympus3 ruled the middle air, Their highest heaven; or on the Delphian* cliff, Or in Dodona,3 and through all the bounds Of Doric land; or who with Saturn old Fled over Adria" to the Hesperian" fields,
And o'er the Celtic roamed the utmost Isles.
All these and more came flocking; but with looks Downcast and damp; yet such wherein appeared Obscure some glimpse of joy to have found their Chief Not in despair, to have found themselves not lost In loss itself; which on his countenance cast Like doubtful hue. But he, his wonted pride Soon recollecting, with high words, that bore Semblance of worth, not substance, gently raised Their fainting courage, and dispelled their fears: Then straight commands that, at the warlike sound Of trumpets loud and clarions, be upreared His mighty standard. That proud honour claimed Azazel as his right, a Cherub tall:
Who forthwith from the glittering staff unfurled The imperial ensign; which, full high advanced, Shone like a meteor streaming to the wind, With gems and golden lustre rich emblazed, Seraphic arms and trophies; all the while
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