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,
Nor founded on the brittle strength of bones,
Like cumbrous flesh; but, in what shape they choose,
Dilated or condens'd, 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
Bow'd down in battle, 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,
Beguil'd by fair idolatresses, fell

To idols foul.

Thammuz came next behind,

Whose annual wound in Lebanon allur'd
The Syrian damsels to lament his fate

Ma il buon Giosia di là cacciolli a inferno.
Con lor quei venner che dal vicin lido
D'Eufrate antico al rio che parte Egitto
Da terra assira Baalim fur detti

Ed Astarot a un nome; viri i primi
Femmine gli altri; chè a talento i spirti

Puon vestir l'uno o l'altro o entrambi i sessi;
Si molle e semplice è lor pura essenza,

Non stretta o avvinta con giunture o membra
Non costrutta su frale forza d'ossa

Qual carneo invoglio; a piacer forma eletta.
O rara o densa, o lucida od oscura
Ponno condur i pravi lor consigli
E trattar opre di livor di amore.
Per essi i figli d' Israel sovente
Lasciar lor Dio poter vivente e l'ara
Sua giusta abbandonar; piegaro umili

A bruti iddii; però lor fronti in guerra
Battute fur, cadero innanzi al brando
D'oste imbecille. Fra cotesti in truppa
Venne Astorèt; in dir fenicio Astarte,
Del ciel regina con crescenti corna:
A sua lucente imago a chiara luna
Figlie sidonie offrian lor voti ed inni;
E in Sion pur non fu illodata, ù stava
Sul colle ontoso il tempio a lei piantato
Da quel femineo re che da idolatre
Frine corrotto il nobil cor a sozzi
Idoli orò.

Thammuz di poi seguìa,
La cui piaga annua al libano allettava
Le sire vergini a plorarne il fato

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 wantón 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
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 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 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

In numeri d'amor tutto un di estivo;

Mentre che Adone dal natio suo balzo
Piano iva e rosso al mar, creduto il sangue
Recare ogni anno di Thammùz: l'amante
Fola le figlie ancor di Sionne accese,
E le lor turpi fiamme in l'atrio santo
Vide Ezechiel, quando a vision rapito
Gli occhi girò sull' empie idolatrie
Del ribellato Giuda. Un poi venia
Che gemè inver quando captiva l'arca
Moncògli il bruto aspetto e testa e braccia
Sulla soglia sbalzò del tempio suo

U' boccon cadde, e svergognò i suoi servi:
Nome ha Dagon, marino mostro, uom suso
E pesce in giù. Pur tempio egli ebbe altero
In Azoto, temuto per le piagge

Di Palestina, in Gata, in Ascalona,
In Accaròn, e sui confin di Gaza.

Lui Rimmon segue cui fu vaga sede
Nel bel Damasco sulle sponde amene
D' Abbana e Farfar lucidi ruscelli.

Incontro al divin tempio ei pur stea baldo!
Un di perdè un leproso ed ebbe un rege;
Acaz suo folle vincitor, cui trasse
Egli a turbar e ontar l'altar di Dio
Per un d'Assire fogge ove egli ardeva
Sue odiose offerte ed adorava i numi
Già da lui vinti. Dopo questi apparve
Drappel che sotto nomi antichi e noti
Osiride, Iside, Ori e lor corteo
Con laide forme e con tregende Egitto
Stolto inganno e i suoi sacerdoti a ormare

Their wandering gods, disguis'd in brutish forms
Rather than human. Nor did Israel 'scape

The infection, when their borrow'd gold compos'd
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
From Egypt marching, equall'd with one stroke
Both her first-born, and all her bleating gods.

Belial came last, than whom à Spirit more lewd
Fell not from Heaven, or more gross to love
Vice for itself; to him no temple stood
Or altar smok'd; 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

Expos'd 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 seiz'd
By younger Saturn; he from mightier Jove,