12

Yet thence his lustful Orgies he enlargd [ 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 tid or manacld with joynt or limb,

Nor founded on the brittle strength of bones,

Like cumbrous flesh; but in what shape they choose

Dilated or condenst, 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 ]

Bowd down in Battel, sunk before the Spear

Of despicable foes. With these in troop

Came Astoreth, whom the Phoenicians calld

Astarte, Queen of Heavn, 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,

Beguild by fair Idolatresses, fell [ 445 ]

To Idols foul. Thammuz came next behind,

Whose annual wound in Lebanon allurd

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, supposd 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 survayd the dark Idolatries

Of alienated Judah. Next came one

Who mournd in earnest, when the Captive Ark

Maimd his brute Image, head and hands lopt off

In his own Temple, on the grunsel edge, [ 460 ]