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,

425

Like cumbrous flesh; but in what shape they choose Dilated or condens'd, bright or obscure,

Can execute their aery purposes,

430

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
Bow'd down in battle, sunk before the spear

These are properly named toge-
ther, as they frequently are in
Scripture; and there were many
Baälim and many Ashtaroth;
they were the general names of
the gods and goddesses of Syria,
Palestine, and the neighbouring
countries. It is supposed that
by them is meant the Sun and
the host of heaven.

423. For spirits when they please &c.] These notions about spirits seem to have been borrowed from Michael Psellus's dialogue about the operation of demons, where a story is related of a demon's appearing in the shape of a woman; and upon this a doubt is raised whether some demons are males, and others females; and it is asserted that they can assume either sex, and take what shape and colour they please, and contract or dilate themselves at pleasure, as they are of an airy nature. die

435

και έκαστος γε αυτων, τοτε σωμα προς ὁ αν αίροιτο σχημα μετατύπωσας, και χρώματος τινος είδος προς το του σου ματος εξανίσχων πέρας, ποτε μεν ὡς ανης ευφανίζεται, ποτε δε προς γυναίου μsтabaλλ μogy &c. See Mixaήλου του Ψελλου περι ενεργειας δαιμο vwv diaλoyos, p. 70-77. edit. Lutet. Paris. 1615. Such an extraordinary scholar was Milton, and such use he made of all sorts of authors.

426. --manacled-] In Shakespeare's time, manacle, properly a hand-cuff, was not out of familiar use. Cymbeline, act v. sc. 4. "Knock off his manacles ;" and in other places. The verb is also in Shakespeare, and in Beaumiont and Fletcher. See also our author's Free Commonwealth, Pr. W. vol. i. 595. “new injunctions to manacle the native liberty of mankind." Milton has immanacle, in Comus, 665. T. Warton.

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
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,

440

445

The account of Thammuz is finely romantic, and suitable to what we read among the ancients of the worship which was paid to that idol. The reader will pardon me, if I insert as a note on this beautiful passage, the account given us by the late ingenious Mr. Maundrel of this ancient piece of worship, and probably the first occasion of such a superstition. "We came "to a fair large river-doubtless "the ancient river Adonis, so "famous for the idolatrous rites "performed here in lamentation "of Adonis. We had the for"tune to see what may be sup"posed to be the occasion of "that opinion which Lucian re

437. With these in troop &c.] Asloreth or Astarte was the goddess of the Phoenicians, and the moon was adored under this name. She is rightly said to come in troop with Ashtaroth, as she was one of them, the moon with the stars. Sometimes she is called queen of heaven, Jer. vii. 18. and xliv. 17, 18. She is likewise called the goddess of the Zidonians, 1 Kings xi. 5. and the abomination of the Zidonians, 2 Kings xxiii. 13. as she was worshipped very much in Zidon or Sidon, a famous city of the Phoenicians, situated upon the Mediterranean. Solomon, who had many wives that were foreigners, was prevailed upon by them to introduce the worship of this goddess into Israel, 1 Kings xi. 5. and built her temple on the mount of Olives, which on account of this and other idols is called the mountain of corruption, 2 Kings xxiii. 13. as here by the poet th' offensive mountain, and before that opprobrious hill, and that hill of scandal. 446. Thammuz came next &c.] "like this we saw actually come

lates, viz. that this stream at "certain seasons of the year, especially about the feast of "Adonis, is of a bloody colour; "which the heathens looked

66

upon as proceeding from a "kind of sympathy in the river "for the death of Adonis, who

66

was killed by a wild boar in "the mountains, out of which "this stream rises. Something

Whose annual wound in Lebanon allur'd
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, 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 lopt off
In his own temple, on the grunsel edge,
Where he fell flat, 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

Dagon was fallen upon his face
to the ground before the ark
of the Lord; and the head of
Dagon and both the palms of his
hands were cut off upon the thresh-
old, (upon the grunsel or groundsil
edge, as Milton expresses it, on
the edge of the foot post of his
temple gate,) only the stump of
Dagon was left to him, as we read
1 Sam. v. 4. Learned men are
by no means agreed in their ac-
counts of this idol. Some derive
the name from Dagan, which
signifies corn, as if he was the
inventor of it; others from Dag,
which signifies a fish, and re-
present him accordingly with
the upper part of a man, and the
lower part of a fish. Our author
follows the latter opinion, which
is that commonly received, and
has besides the authority of the
learned Selden. This Dagon is
called in Scripture the God of
the Philistines, and was wor-
shipped in the five principal
cities of the Philistines, men-
tioned 1 Sam. vi. 17. Azotus or
Ashdod, where he had a temple,
as we read in 1 Sam. v. Gath,
and Ascalon, and Accaron, or

460

465

Ekron, and Gaza, where they had sacrifices and feastings in honour of him, Julg. xvi. Gaza's frontier bounds, says the poet, as it was the southern extremity of the promised land toward Egypt. It is mentioned by Moses as the southern point of the land of Canaan. Gen. x. 19.

467. Him follow'd Rimmon, &c.] Rimmon was a God of the Syrians, but it is not certain what he was, or why so called. We only know that he had a temple at Damascus, 2 Kings v. 18. the most celebrated city of Syria, on the banks of Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, as they are called 2 Kings v. 12. A leper once he lost, Naaman the Syrian, who was cured of his leprosy by Elisha, and who for that reason resolved thenceforth to offer neither burnt-offering nor sacrifice to any other god, but unto the Lord, 2 Kings v. 17. And gained a king, Ahaz his sottish conqueror, who with the assistance of the king of Assyria having taken Damascus, saw there an altar, and sent a pattern of it to Jerusalem to have an

Was fair Damascus, on the fertile banks
Of Abana and Pharpar, lucid streams.
He also' against the house of God was bold:
A leper once he lost, and gain'd a king,
Ahaz his sottish conqu'ror, 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 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

470

475

480

Their wand'ring Gods disguis'd in brutish forms

other made by it, directly contrary to the command of God, who had appointed what kind of altar he would have, (Exod. xxvii. 1, 2, &c.) and had ordered that no other should be made of any matter or figure whatsoever. Ahaz however upon his return removed the altar of the Lord from its place, and set up this new altar in its stead, and offered thereon, 2 Kings xvi. 10. &c. and thenceforth gave himself up to idolatry, and instead of the God of Israel he sacrificed unto the gods of Damascus, 2 Chron. xxviii. 23. whom he had sub

dued.

478. Osiris, Isis, Orus, and their train, &c.] Osiris and Isis were the principal deities of the Egyptians, by which it is most probable they originally meant

the sun and moon. Orus was

the son of Osiris and Isis, fre-
quently confounded with Apollo:
and these and the other Gods of
the Egyptians were worshipped
in monstrous shapes, bulls, cats,
dogs, &c. and the reason alleged
for this monstrous worship is
derived from the fabulous tra-
dition, that when the giants in-
vaded heaven, the gods were so
affrighted that they fled into
Egypt, and there concealed them-
selves in the shapes of various
animals; and the Egyptians af-
terwards out of gratitude wor-
shipped the creatures, whose
shapes the gods had assumed.
Ovid, Met. v. 319, &c. where is
an account of their transforma-
tions: and therefore Milton here
calls them

Their wand'ring gods disguis'd
in brutish forms
Rather than human.