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 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, 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 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,

batailles, se courbèrent devant la lance du plus méprisable ennemi.

Après ces Divinités en troupe, parut Astoreth, que les Phéniciens nomment Astarté, reine du ciel, ornée d'un croissant; à sa brillante image, nuitamment en présence de la lune, les vierges de Sidon paient le tribut de leurs vœux et de leurs chants. Elle ne fut pas aussi non chantée dans Sion, où son temple s'élevait sur le mont d'Iniquité : temple que bâtit ce roi, ami des épouses, dont le cœur, quoique grand, séduit par de belles idolâtres, tomba devant d'infàmes idoles.

A la suite d'Astarté vient Thamnuz dont l'annuelle blessure dans le Liban attire les jeunes Syriennes, pour gémir sur sa destinée dans de tendres complaintes, pendant tout un jour d'été; tandis que le tranquille Adonis, échappant de sa roche native, roule à la mer son onde supposée rougie du sang de Thamnuz, blessé tous les ans. Cette amoureuse histoire infecta de la même ardeur les filles de Jérusalem, dont les molles voluptés sous le sacré portique furent vues d'Ezéchiel, lorsque, conduit par la vision, ses yeux découvrirent les noires idolâtries de l'infidèle Juda.

Après Thamnuz amèrement, quand

il en vint un qui pleura l'Arche captive mutila sa stupide idole, tête et mains émondées, dans son propre sanctuaire, sur le seuil de la porte

Where he fell flat, and shamed 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 conquerour, 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.

A crew,

After these appear'd

who under names of old renown,

Osiris, Isis, Orus, and their train,

With monstrous shapes and sorceries abused

Fanatic Ægypt and her priests, to seek

Their wandering gods disguised in brutish forms Rather than human.

Nor did Israel 'scape

The infection, when their borrow'd gold composed

The calf in Oreb; and the rebel king

Doubled that sin in Bethel and in Dan,

Likening his Maker to the grazed ox;
Jehovah, who in one night, when he pass'd

.

où elle tomba à plat, et fit honte à ses adorateurs: Dagon est son nom; monstre marin, homme par le haut, poisson par le bas. Et cependant son temple, élevé haut dans Azot, fut redouté le long des côtes de la Palestine, dans Gath, et Ascalon et Accaron, et jusqu'aux bornes de la frontière de Gaza.

Suivait Rimnon, dont la délicieuse demeure était la charmante Damas sur les bords fertiles d'Abbana et de Pharphar, courans limpides. Lui aussi fut hardi contre la maison de Dieu une fois il perdit un Lépreux et gagna un Roi, Achaz, son imbécile conquérant, qu'il engagea à mépriser l'autel du Seigneur et à le déplacer pour un autel à la syrienne, sur lequel Achaz brûla ses odieuses offrandes, et adora les dieux qu'il avait vaincus.

Après ces Démons, parut la bande de ceux qui sous des noms d'antique renommée Osiris, Isis, Orus et leur train, monstrueux en figures et en sorcelleries, abusèrent la fanatique Égypte et ses prêtres qui cherchèrent leurs Divinités errantes, cachées sous des formes de bêtes plutôt que sous des formes humaines.

Point n'échappa Israel à la contagion, quand d'un or emprunté il forma le veau d'Oreb. Le roi rebelle doubla ce péché à Béthel et à Dan, assimilant son créateur au boeuf paissant, ce Jéhovah qui, dans une nuit, lorsqu'il passa

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 smoked; yet who more oft than he
In temples and at altars, when the priest
Turns 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 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 renown'd, The Ionian gods, of Javan's issue, held Gods, yet confess'd later than heaven and earth, Their boasted parents. Titan, heaven's first born, With his enormous brood, and birthright seized

:

By younger Saturn he from mightier Jove,
His own and Rhea's son, like measure found;