Æquora cum verrit rapidis nimbofus Orion;
Quà Regem malesanum undæ stravere secutum
Ifacidas: Illi ex tutâ speculantur arenâ
Currusque excussasque rotas & pallida ponto
Corpora multa Virûm volvi. Tam densa jacebat
Mæsta Cohors fluvium occultans, horrore sepulta,
Mutatamque stupens sedem & squalentia regna.
Intendit vocem Satanas, sonitumque dedere
Antra profunda Erebi: O ingentibus inclyta sceptris
Regum excelsa Manus, bello imperiisque potentûm,
Flos cœli, quondam heu veftri! Nunc arcibus illis
Cedendum, tantus corda immortalia torpor
Si teneat. Sed fortè libet decumbere fluctu,
Scilicet hic Virtus bellis ut lassa quiefcat,
Utque levem hìc ineat, cœli ceu valle, soporem!
An certum eft adeò abjecto succumbere gestu
Victori, superâ insultans qui spectat ab arce
Illustres cæli Indigenas & celsa Seraphum
Afloat, when with fierce Winds Orion arm'd
Hath vex'd the Red-Sea Coast, whose waves o'er-
Bufiris, and his Mempbian Chivalry,
While with perfidious hatred they pursu'd
The sojourners of Goshen, who beheld
From the safe shore their floating Carcases,
And broken Chariot Wheels: so thick bestrown,
Abject and lost lay these, covering the Flood,
Under amazement of their hideous Change.
He call'd so loud, that all the hollow Deep
Of Hell resounded: Princes, Potentates,
Warriors, the flow'r of Heav'n! once yours, now
If such astonishment as this can seize
[loft,
Eternal Spirits: or have ye chos'n this place
After the toil of battle to repose
Your wearied virtue, for the ease you find
To slumber here, as in the Vales of Heaven?
Or in this abject posture have ye sworn
T'adore the Conqueror? who now beholds
Cherub and Seraph rolling in the Flood,
Agmina jactari rapido ludibria ponto,
Armaque fignaque flammantes densata per undas?
Jamque ardens meliorque loco pennata sequentum
Turba Inimicorum ruet æthere, semianimesque
Calcabit, triplici-ve infixos fulminis ictu
Usque imum premet in barathrum. Quin rumpite somnos,
Surgite, vel fœdâ æternum torpete ruinâ,
Audierant, puduitque; alisque micantibus omnes
Ociùs exiliere: Ut quondam nocte filenti
Caftrorum Speculatores, fi fortè sopore
Oppressos metuendi offenderit ira Tribuni,
Membra repente levant languentibus excita somnis.
Nec verò immanis non persensere ruinæ
Pondera, nec gravium stimulis caruere dolorum ;
At voci Ducis aufcultant, mora nulla, ruuntque
Innumeri. Veluti Amramidis cum Virga, Canopi
Littore vibrata infausto, per rura juberet
Ire locustarum nubem, quæ urgentibus Euris
With scatter'd Arms and Ensigns; 'till anon
His swift pursuers from Heav'n-gates difcern
Th' advantage, and descending tread us down
Thus drooping: or with linked Thunderbolts
Transfix us to the bottom of this Gulph.
Awake, arife, or be for ever fall'n!
They heard, and were abash'd, and up they sprung
Upon the wing; as when men wont to watch
On duty, fleeping found by whom they dread,
Rouze and bestir themselves ere well awake.
Nor did they not perceive the evil plight
In which they were, or the fierce pains not feel;
Yet to their General's Voice they soon obey'd,
Innumerable. As when the potent Rod
Of Amram's fon, in Ægypt's evil day,
Wav'd round the coast, up call'd a pitchy cloud
Of locufts, warping on the eastern Wind,
That o'er the Realm of impious Pharaoh hung
Densæ instar Noctis fævi Pharaonis in oras
Venit, & horrendâ Nilum circumdedit umbrâ.
Talis Tartareorum Acies densissima Fratrum
Ignem inter flammantem infrà circumque fupràque
Suspendit trifti fub fornice lentius alas :
Dum tandem magni Cuspis fublata Tyranni
Quò flectant iter oftendit: tum præpete pennâ
Æquato demissi unà libramine terrâ
Sidunt fulphureâ, & latum funduntur in æquor,
Turba ingens; quantam haud olim glacialibus Arctos
Effudit lumbis, populorum maxima Mater,
Aut Rhenum fuper aut Iftrum, cum barbara Pubes
Diluvii in morem tepidos undaret in Austros,
Usque ipfam ad Calpem & Lybia fitientis arenas.
Jamque omni à turmâ celeres atque agmine ab omni
Ingentem stipare Duces fimul undique Regem
Approperant: fua quemque & Sceptra, & major Imago
Humana, æthereæque ornant veftigia formæ.
Like Night, and darken'd all the land of Nile:
So numberless were those bad Angels seen
Hov'ring on wing under the cope of Hell,
"Twixt upper, nether, and furrounding Fires:
'Till, as a fignal giv'n, th' up-lifted Spear
Of their great Sultan waving to direct
Their course, in even balance down they light
On the firm brimstone, and fill all the plain :
A multitude! like which the populous North
Pour'd never from her frozen loins, to pass
Rhene or the Danaw, when her barbarous fons
Came like a Deluge on the South, and spread
Beneath Gibralter to the Lybian fands.
Forthwith from ev'ry squadron, and each band,
The Heads and Leaders thither hafte where stood
Their great Commander; God-like shapes and forms
Excelling human, Princely Dignities,
And Pow'rs! that erst in Heaven sat on Thrones;
Scilicet & foliis quondam cæleftibus omnes
Sederunt; verùm ob fastum mentesque rebelles
Æternis vitæ periere erasa tabellis
Nomina, nec fuperis ultrà memorantur in oris.
Necdum Eve natos inter nova nomina terris
Quæfierant; donec latum erravere per orbem
Non prohibente DEO, Pietas humana Fidesque
Ut spectarentur meliùs: tum capta malignis
Infidiis Hominum gentis pars maxima celfum
Deferit Auctorem; sanctique arcana Parentis
Gloria polluitur, vanis fimulata figuris
Brutorum; luxu turpantur Sacra nefando,
Fœdaque Tartareæ fumant altaria turbæ.
Olli inter Gentes diverso hinc nomine noti
Quisque habuere suos variâ fub imagine cultus.
Ergo age, Quis primus (terris jam nomina dudum
Clarefcunt) fomno excusso, Quis, Musa, supremus
Se demum erexit strato flammante tyranni
Tho' of their names in heav'nly Records now
Be no memorial; blotted out and ras'd,
By their rebellion, from the Books of Life.
Nor had they yet among the fons of Eve
Got them new names; till wand'ring oe'r the Earth,
Thro' God's high sufferance for the tryal of Man,
By falsities and lies the greatest part
Of Mankind they corrupted, to forsake
GOD their Creator; and th' invisible
Glory of Him, that made them, to transform
Oft to the image of a Brute, adorn'd
With gay Religions full of pomp and gold,
And Devils to adore for Deities:
Then were they known to men by various Names,
And various Idols thro' the heathen World.
Say, Muse, their names then known, who first,
who laft,
Rouz'd from the slumber on that fiery couch,
Ad vocem, latus ut nuda stiparet arena.
Processere Duces, meritis ut Quisque præibat,
Absistente procul turba. Venere priores,
Qui deinde inferno migrârunt gurgite terras
Rimati prædæ studio, & poft tempore longo
Per gentes latè divinos pofcere honores
Non metuêre, DEIque suas adjungere fedes
Sedibus, atque aris aras; interque Cherubas
Sublimem fummo Sionis vertice JOVAM
Suftinuere tonantem ; & mox vel in æde verendâ
Ipsius æternifque adytis fibi templa locârunt,
Infandum! violare ausi purissima Sacra,
Et contra ætheream tenebras advolvere lucem.
Extulit ante alios torva efferus ora Molochus
Fædata humana sanie lacrimisque parentum,
Quanquam lugubres superârint tympana questus
Infantum, quos per flammas horrenda recepit
Numinis Effigies. Illum Ammonita per agros
At their great Emperor's call, as next in worth
Came fingly where he stood, on the bare strand,
While the promiscuous crowd stood yet aloof?
The chief were those who, from the Pit of Hell
Roaming to seek their prey on Earth, durst fix
Their Seats long after next the Seat of GOD,
Their Altars by His Altar, Gods ador'd
Among the Nations round, and durst abide
Jehovah thund'ring out of Sion, thron'd
Between the Cherubim; yea, often plac'd
Within his Sanctuary it self their Shrines,
Abominations! and with cursed Things
His holy Rites and folemn Feasts profan'd,
And with their darkness durst affront his light.
First Moloch, horrid King, besmear'd with blood
Of human facrifice, and parents tears;
Tho', for the noise of Drums and Timbrels loud,
Their childrens cries unheard, that past thro' Fire
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