Of despicable foes. With thefe in troop
Came Aftoreth, whom the Phoenicians call'd
Aftarte, queen of Heav'n, with crefcent horns;
To whose bright image nightly by the moon.
Sidonian virgins paid their vows and fongs,
In Sion alfo not unfung, where stood
Her temple on th' offenfive mountain, built

: 440

By that uxorious king, whofe heart though large,
Beguil'd by fair idolatreffes, fell.

To idols foul.

Thammuz came next behind,

445

Whose

é opinion which Lucian relates, according to the traditions died

« viz. that this ftream at certain "feafons of the year, efpecially " about the feaft of Adonis, is of "a bloody color; which the Hea. "thens looked upon as proceed**ing from a kind of fympathy in "the river for the death of Adonis, "who was kill'd by a wild boar in the mountains, out of which this ftream rifes. Something "like this we faw actually come "to pass; for the water was ftain'd "to a furprising redness; and as "we obferved in traveling, had difcolor'd the fea a great way "into a reddish hue, occafion'd doubtless by a fort of minium "or red earth, wafh'd into the ** river by the violence of the rain, "and not by any ftain from Ado"nis's blood."

Addifon. Thammux was the God of the Syrians, the fame with Adonis, who

every year and reviv'd again. He was flain by a wild boar in mount Lebanon, from whence the river Adonis defcends: and when this river began to be of a reddifh hue, as it did at a certain feason of the year, this was their fignal for celebrating their Adonia or feafts of Adonis, and the women made loud lamentations for him, fuppofing the river was difcolor'd with his blood. The like idolatrous rites were transferred to Jerufalem, where Ezekiel faw the women lamenting Tammuz, Ezek. VIII. 13, 14. He faid alfo unto me, Tarn thee yet again, and thou fhalt fee greater abominations that they do. Then be brought me to the door of the gate of the Lord's houfe, which was towards the north, and behold there fat women weeping for Tammuz. Dr. Pemberton in his Ob fervations

Whofe annual wound in Lebanon allur'd
The Syrian damfels to lament his fate
In amorous ditties all a fummer's day,
While smooth Adonis from his native rock
Ran purple to the fea, fuppos'd with blood
Of Thammuz yearly wounded: the love-tale:
Infected Sion's daughters with like heat,
Whose wanton paffions in the facred porch:
Ezekiel faw, when by the vision led
His eye furvey'd the dark idolatries
Of alienated Judah. Next came one

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455

Who

bis face to the ground before the ark of the Lord; and the bead of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off upon the threshold (upon the grunfel or groundfil edge, as Milton expreffes it, on the edge of the footpoft of his temple gate) only the Aump of Dagon was left to him as we read 1 Šam. V. 4. Learned men are by no means agreed in their accounts of this idol. Some derive the name from Dagan which fignifies corn, as if he was the inventor of it; others from Dag, which fignifies a fish, and reprefent him accordingly with the upper part of a man, and the lower part of a fifh. Our author follows the latter opinion, which is that commonly receiv'd, and has befides the authority of the learned Selden. This Dagon is called in Scripture

the

460

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 grunfel edge,
Where he fell flat, and fham'd his worshippers:
Dagon his name, féa monfter, upward man
And downward fish: yet had his temple high
Rear'd in Azotus, dreaded through the coaftho
Of Palestine, in Gath and Afcalon,

And Accaron and Gaza's frontier bounds.
Him follow'd Rimmon, whofe delightful feat
Was fair Damafcus, on the fertil banks

the God of the Philiftines, and was worshipped in the five principal cities of the Philiftines, mention'd Sam. VI. 17. Azotus or Ashdod where he had a temple as we read in Sam. V. Gath, and Afcalon, and Accaron, or Ekron, and Gaza where they had facrifices and feaftings in honor of him. Judg. XVI. Gaza's frontier bounds, fays the poet, as it was the fouthern extremity of the promis'd land toward Egypt. It is mention'd by Mofes as the fouthern point of the land of Canaan. Gen. X. 19.

467. Him follow'd Rimmen, &c.] Rimmen was a God of the Syrians, but it is not certain what he was, or why fo call'd. We only know that he had a temple at Damafcus, 2 Kings V. 18. the most celebrated cry of Syria, on the banks of Ab

465

A

Of

bana and Pharphar, rivers of Da→ mafcus, as they are called 2 Kings V. 12. A leper once he loft, Naaman the Syrian who was curd of his le profy by Elisha, and who for that reafon refolv'd thenceforth to offer neither burnt-offering nor facrifice to any other God, but unto the Lord, 2 Kings V. 17. And gain'd a king, Abaz his fottish conqueror, who with the affiftance of the king of Affy ria having taken Damafcus,, faw there an altar, and fent a pattern of it to Jerufalem to have another 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 order'd that no other fhould be made of any matter or figure whatsoever. Ahaz however upon his return remov'd the altar

of

Of Abbana and Pharphar, lucid ftreams.

He also' against the house of God was bold:
A leper once he loft, and gain'd a king,
Ahaz his fottifh conqu'ror, whom he drew
God's altar to difparage 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,
Ofiris, Ifis, Orus, and their train,

of the Lord from its place, and fet up this new altar in its ftead, and offer'd thereon, 2 Kings XVI. 10. &c. and thenceforth gave himself up to idolatry, and instead of the God of Ifrael he facrific'd unto the Gods of Damafcus, 2 Chron. XXVIII. 23. whom he had subdued.

478. Ofiris, Iris, Orus, and their

train, &c.] Ofiris and Ifis were the principal deities of the Egyptians, by which it is moft probable they originally meant the fun and moon. Orus was the fon of Ofiris and Ifis, frequently confounded with Apollo: and thefe and the other Gods of the Egyptians were worshipped in monfrous fhapes, bulls, cats, dogs, &c. and the reafon alleged for this monstrous worship is deriv'd from the fabulous tradition, that when the giants invaded Heaven, the Gods were fo affrighted that they

470

475

480

With monstrous fhapes and forceries abus'd
Fanatic Egypt and her priests, to seek
Their wand'ring Gods difguis'd in brutish forms
Rather than buman. Nor did Ifrael 'fcape.
Th' infection, when their borrow'd gold compos'd
The calf in Qreb; and the rebel king

Doubled that fin in Bethel and in Dan,

Likening his Maker to the grazed ox,
Jehovah, who in one night when he pass'd
From Egypt marching, equal'd with one stroke

Egyptians, Exod. XII. 35. The calf in Oreb, and fo the Pfalmift, They made a calf in Horeb, Pfal. CVI. 19. while Mofes was upon the mount with God. And the rebel king, Jeroboam made king by the Ifraelites who rebelled against Rehoboam, 1 Kings XII. doubled that fin by making two golden calves, probably in imitation of the Egyptians with whom he had converfed, who had a couple of oxen which they worthipped, one called Apis at Memphis the metropolis of the upper Egypt, and the other Mnevis at Hierapolis the chief city of the lower Egypt: and he fet them up in Bethel and in Dan, the two extremities of the kingdom of Ifrael, the former in the fouth, the latter in the north. Likening his Maker to the grazed ox, alluding to Pfal. CVI. 20. Thus they changed their glory into the fimilitude of an ex

485

Both

that eateth grafs: Jehovah, who in one night when he pass'd from Egypt marching, for the children of Ifrael not only paid from Egypt, but march'd in a warlike manner, and the Lord brought them out, the Lord went before them: equal'd with one froke both ber firft-born and all ber bleating Gods, for the Lord flew all the firft-born in the land of Egypt both man and beaft, and upon their Gods alfo the Lord executed judgments. Exod. XII. iz. Numb. XXXIII. 4. and Milton means all their Gods in general, tho' he fays bleating Gods in particular, borrowing the metaphor from fheep, and ufing it for the cry of any fort of beafts. Dr. Bentley fays indeed that the Egyptians did not worship fheep, they only abftain'd from eating them: but (as Dr. Pearce replies) was not Jupiter Ammon worshipped under a

ram,