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THE WARS OF JEHOVAH,

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ALEXANDER MACINTOSH, PRINTER, GREAT NEW-STREET, LONDON,

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THE WARS OF JEHOVAH, HEAVEN, EARTH, AND HELL IN NINE BOOKS. THOMAS HAWKINS, ESQ. WITH ELEVEN HIGHLY FINISHED ENGRAVINGS, BY JOHN MARTIN, ESQ., K.L. : nirr nbnba -issn— Numbers *xi. u. t : t : • Va TTavra Koi iv tvckti xptaros — Coloss. iii. 11. LONDON : FRANCIS BAISLER, 124, OXFORD STREET. 1844.

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TF

TO HER MOST GRACIOUS MAJESTY, VICTORIA, by the grace of god queen of great britain and ireland, defender of the faith, etc., etc., etc. May it please Your Majesty, In adventuring the Work herein most humbly laid at Your Majesty's feet we were much encouraged by Your Majesty's most gracious acceptation of a former volume, and inspired with the hope that this present might serve as a mark for Your Majesty's reign unto the latest posterity. Your Majesty's predecessor had Spencer and Shakespear, nor are we amongst those who — imagining the time for celebrations of Princes past, waste their talents over a novel or romaunt in Hercules' manner when he sate to spin: but for this some better-gifted bard — some Amphion striking numbers beyond all reach had deterred our loyal if presumptuous strain; and we hope that this example — recalling some such noble genius to his proper vocation, he shall better assure to Your Majesty's memory all that we most heartily fain. Long may Your Majesty rule over a loving people ; not less renowned — for all the arts and blessings of peace, than if the Muse sounded to the conquest of the world.

ADVERTISEMENT. The Courteous Reader is desired to take notice, first, that Time is treated of throughout the whole History of These Wars as Holy Scripture declareth it to exist in the apprehension of Jehovah, viz., a thousand of our years to the day. This estimate of time elevates the Action and the actors far above the most exalted standard extant, brings all the most astonishingevents of the Universe within the reach of man, and raises or reduces him to his proper scale in the presence of The Eternal God. Second, that the word Earth hath no relation whatever to the globe upon which we live, but goeth for the aggregated matter of our Solar system when in a state of utmost expansion and occupying more space than all the suns Astronomy tells. We need not enter into an analysis of the word, which more properly expresseth a something that is not heaven, and it is upon this something — for which no other name can be given, that we have been obliged to call the Second, the War of Jehovah in Earth. London, June 18, 1844.

Mr. Martin has been unable to furnish the twelfth illustrative Plate which the Publisher promised in the earlier advertisements of this Work.

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THE WARS OF JEHOVAH BOOK I.

THE ARGUMENT. The Author recalls the circumstances attending the creation of his soul, and addresses Memory : he next invokes the spirits of the earth, then calling upon adorable Jehovah commenceth the history of the wars. The poem then describes the assembling of the universe and outlawry of the Arch-gerent Lucifer. He rises and seduces a third of the angels. The generation of Chaos and Night. The meeting of the seven archangels. Lucifer holds a council ; what Apollyon and others said : whilst they are in debate a terrible accident overtakes them. The description of Chaos, with whom the revolters invade the inner heaven. Chaos — panic-struck flies, and in his flight destroying Lucifer's Realm dashes with the ruins o^er the Battlements of Heaven. The fight of the Archgerent and Chaos in space. This Book opens with the morning in heaven.

BOOK I. The solemn song begin to boding sonnd Of woful wars which yet no bard divine Attempting sacred Muse ! do thou attune, Before the Trinal Throne accepted found And O ! inspired by Almighty God Who thund'ring shook the universe ere the earth Swung pendant round, or hell existence had. When the proud prince of the archangels rose Ambitious of th' eternal Crown of Heaven, With myriad angels terrorless as himself 10 Arming with deadly arms, nor impotent Their threat as then appear'd so long great God Delay'd them to exterminate, or drive Blast-stricken from his immeasurable realm b 2

4 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Where now they suffer. Smother'd in thy strains Be the deep sughs that from the Stygian gulf Perpetual come, like the resurging waves Which some lone shipwreck'd mariner on his rock Lists with erected hair. But first the blank 20 Of void recall, in which awaken'd up Quick life with effervescence indescript, Cours'd through my frame, th' ideal arms outstretched Unto the listless spaces its own parts A moment deem'd and th' unfathomable, Wild ignorant soul ! thine own. Immortal sprite ! Such was thy constitutional such time Thou rised'st to the mystery of change Keen and intensely tidal from the sea Of nothingness dispos'd instant to act 30 Omnipotence : resume thy wonted power, The past evoke ! and with no wizard wand Grown on Norwegian nor Laplandish soil, Nor from slim Greek from a Necropolis stolen, But with Mnemosyne ! (my midnight lamp Attending,) thine : Titan ! thy tablets from Oblivion sav'd produce with figures traced Such as the antiquary in old tombs Pelasgic finds, or in thick jungle wastes

IN HEAVEN. 5 Hindostan sculptur'd on great temple stones. 40 Thou too star-crown'd Urania ! but for thee These records in the tongue divine vainly Are ponder'd ; many a latter page too well Alas ! is known but chronicled in this Historical are deeds as half-effaced By the officious ages — still their fame Rings in the ear oft time when lapp'd in sleep iEgeria to my mental sight reveals : But O ! what tongue his earliest thought may tell Intelligibly 1 the Creator there 50 Sole witness of my passionate eddying up 'Midst the transcendant powers ; Mysterious ! thou Such task alone canst worthily fulfil In whisper tingling through the dreamer's brain So low as if thou feared' st the evil Larves Of all the charnels for thy person watched. Great Empress ! unto whom these blazon'd Books Of Wars shall come if my advent'rous flight Of retrospection to Elysian climes Our birth-place prosper, back to earth anon, 60 Thence to demolish'd hell in course compelled, Thus Diva ! learn of my once vap'rous state Shap'd in-consistenc'd, and like rudest harp

6 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH iEolian, subject to the sweep of Fate Profoundly awed the symphonies attend. Dear Earth, my mother ! and thy ministers Joyous, in air spirits of the blue fields Ethereal, happy dwellers of her green Rejoicing vales, the mountains, and the waves, In company come ; no stranger calls, your fair 70 Nereids attest oft by the ocean shore The jealous Moon our vows of love surprised : Embue me with sweet kisses every nymph Of morn, noon, eve, to whom in turn my court And piety was paid ; long leave I take, My shiv'ring soul, like some lorn cast-away Upon a narrow plank at sea adrift, Drives on, but Thou within the heavens enthroned Thy dwelling place O God ! I thee invoke, Eternity I call, whilst Nemesis 80 Measure the while of those fierce militants Who lost their seats angelical we chaunt, The shades of Dis, Ore, Ades numberless Battalious discours'd. — Sweep, sweep the strings ! Across the azure firmament there fly The sacred summonses ; from shrines of fire Azrael passes on his face concern

IN HEAVEN. 7 Delineate ; great expectation then Seiz'd all the heavens : he — with a voice more dread Than was Achilles' with Minerva's swelled 90 Unto far distant Troy, the citizens Evokes ; unto the battlements they heard That brazen tongue and with consenting wingFlee round him sore amaz'd, for never since Their blest creation that innum'rous train Such notice spurr'd ; unlike the call which oft Would them assemble to the Mount of God Observant of particular rites more marked Than ordinary when the ravish'd choirs Their glorious Maker celebrate with hymn 100 New made by some seraphic minstrel, or Listen his favour'd voice in rapture soar. Above, reserv'd in wait the herald shone Solemnar : so the Lyrist of Israel Some time in quire would look at vision'd scenes Prophetical of Salem gone distract Intestine, and beleagued as well by some Proud Gentile prince raging against the Lord And his anointed : thus Azrael stood With grave aspect, his lab 'ring thought it seemed 110 Too big for utterance ; at last with sigh Heart-fetch'd, and angry look thus he began.

8 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH " O cherubim, O seraphim, O powers, Dominions, principalities, and all Ye anxious angels ; shuddering I come On awful errand : wo, wo, wo to him The subject, the Arch-gerent, who with lust Self-spirited is verily become The foe of God Almighty ! This I say Commission'd where the seven archangels sit 120 Even now in council : ' go,' said they ' pronounce Him traitor ; reasoning his reason lost, Affecting Godhead ; fram'd anew in all His thoughts, condemning and defying God ; Thou him to all the angels thus proclaim False, infamous, outlaw'd.' " Trembling he ceased The hearers hanging on his reluctant words Long time incredulous, for this concerned Each one immediate in his tenderest point 130 That God should find ingratitude : his rule Paternal was the most delightful theme Of all the sanctities of heaven, this one Proclaimed in time past with flaming zeal Foremost with eulogy. Thus wondering, From the expanse — his diadem insphered With fire which like ten comets glar'd afar

IN HEAVEN. 9 Over the crystal hyaline dismay Engendering, that prodigy arose In such consummate majesty and state 140 Imperial clothed the hierarchies seemed Scarce worthy to attend him, all the flower Of heaven his servitors : so the Mogul In Agra, or Delhi with ornament Beyond the Persian the sirdars bemeaned : Spreading his hands unto the vaulted stars Paling before the Morn, (the uplands grey Rising to sight like Hsemus crown'd with trees, Or like Madeira from the misty sea, Orange and citron crown'd,) constellars vast 150 He swept word-like together in huge forms Incomprehensible to man : the gods Read. As a fire upon the chiefest beam Seizing in secret smoulders 'till it breaks Suddenly out when all the lesser joists Ready infection take, so these ; they read And — presently believing, down their harps Scornful were dashed, like a populace From government revolting the first man Hail'd as a king, with universal voice 160 Impassion'd " Lucifer ! " hailed as God. Dreadful it was and perilous the spirits

10 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Thus metamorphos'd intermixing fierce Antagonistic : so a torrent from The flank of Andes through Copiabo swept To the Pacific many a league sublimes The passive waters o'er the river bar Above the sea confounding. This as soon The alienated Gerent saw whilst yet The scene beneath to agitation boiled, 170 Slowly descending he in whirlpool rapt Ten thousands round who with their arms and wings Together knitted lifted him on high Their cherubim with a tremendous roar Proclaiming " Lucifer " unto the twelve Great cardinals of the distracted heavens. " Gods !" shouted he, " if what we lack One hath 'Tis by assumption all the rest impaired In their unquestionable right : no law Shall me enchain; I spurn pretence of sway 180 And the unknown promulgator, apart These ages sitting lone haughtily veiled. Oft by his mandate, at his sole caprice The heavens have been suspended, in their round The seasons at his pleasure when he chose For some flaunt festival — always to him Express, the flowering roses, bursting buds

IN HEAVEN. 11 Of summer to keep back ; the balsams, musks, And mimosas shut up as if our hands Were sacrilegious, and the whole in ban 190 Until the sandals, and the viriate shrubs Of incense offer'd to his majesty, Then his collecting vassals choice might have The choicest : then the daffodils were white, The jasmine, the magnolias, all the balms Were balmy, the amaris' excellent, And all the placid pools whereby they grew More clearly crystalhne ; even the airs Seem'd hush'd for beauty as the bondslave plucked Wreaths to God's special honor. Tributars 200 Unthinking, thus through epochs which transcend The memory we have been ; behold our harps Unto the thread are worn, and all the heights Of boundless heaven (save that,) familiar Unto our feet. O insolence ! too long Enjoy 'd and arrogated to our cost, Ye equal gods ! Thus One perpetuates A shameful difference, beneath him all Who never yet had right to be above : Th' offence we now resent with rising blood 210 Vindictive from wrong, a rankling wound Unbearable discover'd in the heart

12 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH That e'er such yoke was born ; acknowledged Our ignorance, credulity the while. Obedience is disgrace : to bow, to cringe, To praise in ceremonious sort, and pray To an usurper swaying secretly Prerogative as God the First ! what worse Can be imagin'd \ Thus hath he imposed Upon his comrades and the tyrant played. 220 Now strike for freedom, seraphim, all ye Beautiful cherubim, spirits of light ! We will, we will be free." Thus raged he on With shouting interrupted and acclaim, The revolution spreading like scatter'd fire Under the Line o'er some parch'd pampas waste ; For evil is contagious more than plague Of fire and more devouring, that dread Arch So propagating as wind intent to feed 230 Conflagrant Capitals. Dividing all He won with clashing clang from those their peers Who kept their good estate, (stern questioning ' This wild procedure as they question crime In innocent hearts,) the opposites contrast Their margin'd millions: terrible they looked From their indignant eyes : them to compare

IN HEAVEN. 13 With earthly such as Caesar's soldiers looked When at Philippi the triumvir crossed Cassius and Brutus ; or the Gallic host 240 And Britons on the plain of Waterloo. Then from the rank two seraphim stepp'd forth One a revolted but the other one Who yet sustained his faith upon the Lord Jehovah, and midway together met : These twain as Pylades and Orestes were Exact alike ; Narcissus when he saw His image in the lake no better saw Than these each in the other ; and they loved Even as the sons of Saul and Jesse loved. 250 Thus there they strove as once the patriarch strove With his strong angel ; but in vain therefore This as they found with undisguis'd distaste And pity one withdrew the other hate, And as the last rejoin'd his feet he stamped His harp upon and the expression caught Promiscuously they imitate from wrath Scarcely refraining, but the rallying cry Of Lucifer the rising rage coerced : So his compatriots the Norseman tells, 260 On Caracalla's prompt to rush awhile With voice of thunder Thor himself restrained ;

14 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Or as a sudden hurricane the surge Of Ocean flees o'erblown, anon the wild Subduing deep swells dreadful in excess Of conscious might, until the Storm allied Thron'd on their curling crests the billows drives Which way he will precipitating on, And the revolters — for a moment curbed, Reiterating he in forked spires 270 Swept northward : Msroch join'd a potent prince (Worshipp'd in time long after through the length And breadth of all the land Sennach'rib ruled Whose sons within his temple smote him dead ;) His principalities, with Haraphon Co-ruling thousand millions disarrayed Intemperate in formidable waves Rolling away : impetuous Moloch — served Through all Philistia with the tender flesh Of infants ; Ekriel, Apollyon 280 With cherubim innumerable came In hurried haste, rank upon raging rank Close crowding : asp'd Adramelec — renowned On earth, a thousand times in number greater Than the inhabitants, his threatful thrones Adding urg'd past tumultuous : Togarm — Of whom old annals show the secret seats

IN HEAVEN. 15 The Gentiles gave him, the Assyrian groves, The powers commanding mix'cl : Baal — the god Drnidical, who — long his baskets filled 290 With prisoners of war, had holocansts Offer'd ; or where in Cnsco the high-priest Tore out the human heart and quiv'ring fed His vermil'd mouth wide open ; worshipp'd eke By Nebuchadnezzar, — Baal follow'd forth With all the daz'd dominions in swarms More than the Northern Hive o'erpopulate boasts From the beginning : Zabrash last, not least, Clouds of six-winged seraphim the rear Clos'd up nigh numberless ; memorials theirs 300 In Asia where the Parthian kings adored. Thus off they fil'd irregularly fast And fleet across the heavens ; the spirits which As handmaids ministered unto them, (not As Rubens paints nor Mahomet describes Gross, but the blanchest blossoms of the spirits, Fair as Thaumantius in her crystal gown,) Dropp'd their opalline cups with hydromel Brimming, their tabors, dulcimers, or wreaths Of budding, blowing flowers, uplift their snow- 310 White arms and disappear'd : the silver-winged Songsters like those from far Oroo, or from

16 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH New Guinea, or Tidore, a plainting made On every bough which trembling turned — as well Each ever-verdant leaf to sombre bronze, Like the palmetts which anciently adorned Adrian's Mole ; each laurel shrivell'd up, Each myrtle ; all the almond vales from pink Celestial turn'd to brown, O fairer erst Than the Parrhasian where Calysto joyed 320 With the musk roses ; all the lilies drooped Shedding their pearled manna ; sacred blooms As dittany, and spangled poppies, and Acanthian shrubs of odour, nowrets of Moss'd azure, budding lazulites such as The heavenly seat of Vaicontha ne'er Own'd, nor Albericus in vision saw In his more heavenly meads, those starry, those More blossomy and golden growing cups, And vegetable vases intermix'd 330 With thyme and primroses on sapphire or Em'rald or amethystine stalks and stems, Ceas'd blooming, as a cloud spread greyly o'er The changed scene ; and all the crystal streams — More yellow than the Chilian, more enriched Than amber'd Po, like Amanane ran Impurely yellow; — these all wither'd black

IN HEAVEN. 17 The ground turned arid. So across the Doab Over the Jumna into Gwalior, A flight of locusts leaves a blasted belt 340 Behind. Then silence : such the traveller finds Reigning o'er Babylonia when in morn — Soon as his orient car the Sun wheels round, The satyrs, owls, and dragonets retire. As vengeance follows crime a Darkness grew In place of glory, blotting out those orbs Constellar, in apparital of form A dark damnific phantom ; unto her Another of tremendous gloom made haste, And both embracing to the rebels stretched 350 Beckoning hands. The seven archangels then, Scarce less than Lucifer, in stature gods Excelling, through the firmamental sped, Michael the foremost plum'd with gilded wings Wide spreading, dyed in purple where they joined His ivory shoulders, thence ensanguined From deepest crimson to the palest tint Topward ; these fragrance shed that fuTd the whole Circuit his heavenly eyes far-seeing took, 360 Warming all the ccerulean into gold : White lightning bound his tresses in a zone

18 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Tiaral high, with seven refulgent horns More regal than the planet-crested Moon's By Cupid watch'd when through the starless blue She rides ; in his right hand a spear he grasped, Such as Apollo when the evening clouds Darts : to the distant mount where Azrael stood, With shining sandall'd feet that strongest winds Panting outstripp'd they come ; the glittering bands 370 Thronging the flowery base. Gloriel first, Dazzling all eyes as in advance he came Peerless of form, thus seriously bespoke. " O brethren ! tried in heart and well-approved, Unto our Living Strength and Sovereign Lord Who reigneth o'er us evermore, amen ; Accepted angels ! if Almighty God This tolerates we have it in command Thus much to say that for your sake 'tis borne The more to prove your constancy secured 380 In meritorious love by this reserve ; Also the lapsing witness'd, to explain Its secret origin that — now the time Of trial's past, your faith may have its fruit Of grateful knowledge and the way divine Justification in the sight of all. Our God is God : dwelling as God alone,

IN HEAVEN. 19 Ruling the vergeless infinite his laws Are necessarily consequences Inevitable ; these I lov'd none less 390 Than the Arch-gerent aspirant to con Devout nor was forbidden ; trackless space In fellowship we search'd : fatiguing sore Free-will we first discovered ; then the sure Reaction of all things if any dared A rash displacement. Fascinating thought That God so far his sovereignty postponed To dignify his creatures with a choice ! This mightily affected both myself And my superior who brought the news 400 To these compeers : acknowledgment was made To God in council ; not that any then The privilege priz'd, but yet a privilege 'twas Abstractly valuable grateful thanks Demanding : if the Monarch of the heavens Rul'd arbitrary — since by him we are, This had not been, all were compell'd, coerced, Oblig'd and fated ; but the scales are held Pois'd with to us the right to stand or fall From our allegiance. Thence onward we coursed -410 The speculative cycles, darkness — such As ye have seen, prefig'ring ; shadowy things c 2

20 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Jarring by nature, self-abhorring, damned : All these I saw but fear'd not, when one time That reprobated chiefdom cried, ' now make Experiment ! ' till then I had not dreamed One capable of such a desperate thought As this implied, and striving first to draw Him back whilst yet was time, to other fields Turned : not he ; vacating thence his throne, 420 In the unsearchable himself he lost Delib'rate ; your salvation yours, attend ! " He ended, passing promise at the end, When Sacrael breathing eloquence, sage speech Continued thus. " O angels ! deem not thirst Of knowledge criminal since one thereby Alas ! is lost ; the All-creator none Denying that he slake where'er he will Of the innumerable springs, Gloriel — 430 As well as the Arch-gerent, hath his faith Thereby enhanc'd. Beyond yon arch'd concave I too have soar'd, and depths as they are high ' Sounded abstruse, disputing 'till I failed, In dizzy sort returning back to God For my refreshment, upon bended knee Asking the rule which never was refused.

IN HEAVEN. 21 But this observe knowledge the law of life Serves not, and for its own particular sake Is worthless : the first problem in the school 440 Is like the last mechanically solved ; Practis'd the whole to the original We are returned, otherwise the Arch To him the consequence. Ye cherubim Contented with the alphabet, as blest Are ye as the archangels studious Of mightiest magnitudes, unto his cost A greater, and with no advantage we." Solemn he look'd glowing with holy ire, As doth the patriot when some prince forsworn 450 Threatens his country : Hadriel then said Charming to hear. " O progeny of light ! Happy unto this time in all your thoughts, Be not concern'd for these our former friends Unworthy as they are ; master was each Of his own actions ; notice he received Of the original; misapprehend Could none his circumstance between his faith And duty on one hand, sin on the other : 460 Affecting God to judge they judge themselves Guilty, and if not yet well overta'en

22 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH With the sad following it lags not long : Their path, hehold ! once where an angel trod A flower sprung instantly 'till heaven no more Could hold, now desolate they make, but heaven Have restoration." With that word he shook Ambrosia from his wings beyond afar, And all the azure smiling donn'd afresh 470 Uncounted iris's : Copse and Thisb, Onchestus, Nisa that the poet calls Divine, nor Taphne's myrtled sylvan seat E'er look'd the like when all the dews were shed, And all the rivers : so when forth the sun Breaks over Scandinavia by the frosts Of winter bitten, pinks and pansies blown Mankind rejoice as did the angels then, Nor few refraining hastily sped forth Good distance glad yet surer these to see 480 But soon returned, Michael — like a king Elected for his form and count'nance rose, The ranks of splendour bending rev'rend whilst He paus'd that moment : hear his loyal words. " Regals, exalted to the high estate Whereto it pleased the Supreme above Most graciously to raise us ! he — whose name

IN HEAVEN. 23 Eternal silence keep lawful no more, Eschewing honour, faith, prescription, gone Aside is loosen'd like the wint'ring suns 490 Swept from their primal sign. The retrospect Of the infinity and whole perspect Future pertains to One, to One unmoved By hope or fear, but now let patience have Its work and good solution ye shall see Of what is happen'd ; this we well descry Th' apostate punish'd, the impostor bared A spectacle to those who stand as sure The execration of the faithless fallen ; Their price of him shall be demanded, God 500 Requiring the last decimal ; O what, What an impossible sum ! shall God forget I Or shall he circumvent Th' Ineffable 1 Who hath no second ! thought remediless, Follow'd by deed that ne'er can be undone ! The sequent hour shall see, and now one blast Of His hot breath should overwhelm the whole Those banded princedoms in retributive doom But so it is not written ; The I AM Designs us for his champions that these 510 Abandon'd — once co-equal with us, learn The excellence of virtue and the might

24 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Of the divine when to the trial brought : This shall they know companionship with hope Dissolv'd, the depths of ages for their shame Too shallow, the eternity too short For the repentance of this day's dark work. E'en now they think with ceremonial form Themselves to force upon us, this our place Of custom ravish'd, and the heaven of heaven : 520 Re-occupy my brethren ! it concerns Us much to demonstrate our fealty due Unto Jehovah, though his empire need No propping." So spake he a martial smile Lighting his noble face, his gorgeous plumes Rustling with strong emotion : presently At signal he unfurls, his glorious peers Risen same time aloft, through the throng'd skies Heading the ready retinue to that Seat 530 Around the palaces and towers emblazed In heighten'd hues with the imperial arms And sovereign ensigns of Almighty God ; These whilst afar they gleam — in crescent form The angels halt at that transcendent sight, And thought of the Inhabitant enshrined In such magnificence : no temple famed,

IN HEAVEN. 25 Whether that first and loftiest dedicate To Bel ; nor that in Thebais where the rites Of Cneph had precedence and Pharoa bowed ; 540 Nor Dorian Jupiter's ; Diana's which The kings of earth in emulation reared ; Nor the Palmyran where Longinus knelt Beside Zenobia, quote ; lo ! pile on pile Of vaulted domes immeasurable of cope, Uncounted pillars, huge elaborate gates Flung fulgent back, friezes of solid fire Graven with sculptures which beside that one By Rhodian Glares set astride the sea, Or the Memnonian and those strown this day 550 Colossi round, had infinite reduced : — Thence through the wide receding circles winged On the marmoreal terraces arrived, Those faithful lieges mystic offering made. Meanwhile the legions in revolt by such Defiles they thought the surer (for distrust Was theirs — that quick intuitive gift which once In commonalty all the angels had Obscur'd exaggerating,) regions sped Unto a Court than old Tyrinthe raised 560 By giants, or Elora, or that one By Pallas so design'd and built in vain

26 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Momus objected, e'en than that one far More stately rear'd, and far more beauteous limned Than Eleutherian Jove's renowned fane Painted by Euphranos with magic art : So, fashion-tower'd, the hundred-gated mosque Of the false Prophet, out as well within Gilded magnificent, in Hedjas shines Dome-crown'd : collecting in the hall — outspread 570 With show serene on loftiest shafts of fire But void of light, which from suspended globes Profusely studded flung, a wondrous throne Central distinguished, tier on crowding tier Of beryl, chrysolite, and topaz chairs Engirt around, — there re-assembled they, And those the mightiest of especial name Little reflecting on the present speech, Together to their seats distinguish'd strode ; This was a motion for the jostling mob 580 Themselves to rest, and each with haughty gait Choosing a place attentively disposed. Thou Holy Spirit ! whilst this great conclave Of traitor-subjects I record, attend ! Nor at this first assize alone, retrace Full often : lo ! I shudder on the brink Of doctrines ign'rant of their awful base

IN HEAVEN. 27 So deep they dive, and start abhorrent back Imploring Thy assistance whilst with hand Trembling my destin'd pen in gall is dipped. 590 First the Arch-agnate dark'ning, in his pride Deliberate indescribable sate Like god for God design'd : thus Saul above The shoulders higher than any of Heber's sons ; Thus the Olympian look'd : a moment he Held all expectant and the silence broke At last so loud they start afflict in ear. " Csesars and kings !" cried he, " ethereal powers ! Ye majesties ! unto your council come With firm accord together : so debate 600 Against the regnant Jah as shall effect His speedy downfall ; our nobility Joyful regain'd. What nobler deed than this A tasking tyrant to put down ; how 1 how 1 Discuss within our halls now the first time Fill'd fitting : counsel gods !" he said, a sound Like earthquake underneath hon'ring his speech. Apollyon then follow'd ; painful change Had come across his features once so fair In heaven as Atys' was on earth; his wings 610 Were also ruffled, and the crown of stars

28 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH He wore or negligently on his head Placed or fall'n awry. "Chief! Emperor!" Thns he commenc'd, " against the course of doom We turn resolved on freedom ; little more Remains to do : gods ! the initiate act Shook the Usurper on his wrongful throne Fixing a seal upon him ; confidence Be therefore ours, immunity is ours 620 Though some misdoubted when all consequence Disdain'd their chains they rent. Thus undeceived We are since with impunity like this Th' ' Omnipotent ' is tried : tradition lies No witness his but those who yet remain Bond- slaves ; when my assertion issue have Th' event shall prove it, our triumphant path Strewn with his millions. Let us laws invent To kill those craven clients ; few should boast Their criminal constancy disturbances 630 To breed hereafter, for howe'er repulsed — Beaten, I much distrust those who for God Stand unconvinc'd by argument, O Prince ! Like thine ; what ! to be free they fear and shrink, What means it 1 cowardice alone dare not

IN HEAVEN. 29 Calmly make choice like that, faith, custom prompt, Thence 'tis they err, and so to us remain Dang'rous : why even our least thoughts would clash Where'er they met ; far other sounds than those Of zephyrs whisp'ring through the arched boughs 640 To the cygneans — spirit-tongued in turn Silvery answering ; or the fountains — smooth Fallen, harsh heard. Happy were any who By one back-blow against their Principal Well-aim'd an end to opposition put." Th' audacious ceas'd. So Cataline proposed Against his country; Sejanus against His emperor and friend. Then Msroch rose ; He look'd like one when he prepares a knife For his detested foe. 650 "'Tis well!" cried he, " Apollyon for myself hast thou at last Express'd : though hard the feat to force the guard That his vast galleries and chambers nil, AboHshing as we win the covert heights, Let us adventure ! starr'd, aurine although They be let us adventure ! pavement we Shall find whereon to stand, or if in cloud Involv'd Jehovah hide, before us cloud Shall roll from his mysterious throne away : 660

30 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH There seek, there find, and hurl him down ; I swear ! Nor let his slaves escape ; the empire ours Inexorably sustain it or it drops As hath the olden ; freely use the sword ; Punish with death or in some distant age They rise ; they are too numerous : whate'er Their despicable spirit them to leave Alive as despicable were to risk All : what was custom, faith, we also know, Lighter than air, impalpable as light, 670 Neither confine the angels or so ill A wish the binding burst : other than these And coward chords than adamant more strong Decide the part they take ; affection 's theirs Which fear nor flattery fee : them decimate, Thrice over ! the remainers bowls of wine Mantling shall serve, our needful nectar drawn, Our honey gather'd from the opening flowers, Our candies by these servitors instead Voluptuous Wishes that no more attend : 680 Libations they from goblets brimm'd shall pour To thee, O Lucifer ! and load thy shrine With bloomy pinks and peach and others whilst The dew is on them." " Well !" said Baal the while

IN HEAVEN. 31 The veins that cours'd his temples ready seemed To burst, " but yet too confident be not O deities ! invisible God dwells : Although the courts extern our license know, And the great hierarchies in advance 690 Of the promiscuous angels pierc'd beyond Their halls and chambers, yet the inmost parts Impenetrable stood : phalanx'd prepare ! For danger may exist and some distrust Were prudent 'till the scope for action squared Maturely, and the means provided we Expel him by assault of open force, Or unaware surprising end his reign." Then join'd Togarmah as a murderer joins His hands as red with gore as are the others' : 700 Blasphemous words are his. " The laics left Slaughter outright ! not for revenge too low They to excite it but to glut God's place, So shut him in unto his meanest-made Amerc'd ; there let him live if forth he dread To come as it would seem, or why not take Thee Lucifer when only single hand % Incompetent he was : poor praise were his Who pierc'd him dead, and therefore let his flames 710

32 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Flame on if as thou Baal say'st it be Impossible to cleave them : let suffice For those his servitors they multitudes Count on the registry of heaven, a third We scarcely are : them end ; how 1 let one shed Light One who can knowing the best of all." So added that adviser in excess Of inexperience : unto him succeeds Adramelec as execrable : loose His pinions he shook out and put no false 720 Smile on his alter'd face. Inward his hate As outward, even now his soul had hatch'd A cockatrice that stung him : so some swart Indian by a coprella though he fled ; Or father by a thriftless thankless child Whose fang is sharper still. Thus haggard he. " Speak not of possible events but act ! At once ! unto the purpose ! Emperor ! Delay not I conjure thee ; haste too much In what is done we cannot. If despair 730 Hath seiz'd Jehovah now this instant take The opportunity to break him down Whilst fainting ! if the purpose to resist Him animate, ere he can organize : Dare him whilst single or at best with few

IN HEAVEN. 33 Armed about him ! Now suppose that God Be all unknown as personal the less Concern is ours ! if members appertain Not to him how against these sinewy arms Shall he contend \ if in a day by-gone 740 Some fainted as incapable of light Baal remark'd, 't was weakness neither thou Potent ! nor I henceforth will dare confess : Upon his seat of monarchy outpour Instant this instant ! slumberless as we More active probably our foe — first time Endanger'd in his royalty and hence At greatest disadvantage : him respite Ever so little either way we loose : Pounce down upon him ! his subjective throngs 750 None here need reckon, them our frown shall kill O Lucifer! and heaven immediate fall." Upstarted those amongst the primates who Remain'd unspoken, to their feet the rest Of the uncounted millions one and all They also started; "Lo! Adramelec! Adramelec!" they roar'd as roar the wild Atlantic when — the equatorial Winds Lashing, against the Tropic all the Waves Wildly prepare : thus they rolling their eyes 7(30

34 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Gorged with glowing fires from his lit up, Flinging aloft their wings as prompt to swoop Destroying down on the imagin'd prey, Rend God to pieces and his diadem seize. Then the prime-mover threatening of shape, Most dreadful stood upright, his hair well-nigh On end : so a black Lybian snake amidst A horrid brood their balls bent straight upon Some passing Ounce too strong, the menace-crest Rears highest: with a frown that smote them dumb, 770 Lifting his sceptred hand with warning fraught, His inconsid'rate hosts thus he bespake. " Gods glorious ! ye have said as it became Incens'd, insulted deities; I did Expect this angry show and made retreat Hither for counsel that th' Oppressor take Your inexperience by no quick surprise And so undo this memorable league Past a re-constitution, his hard rule Fresh fortifying : Baal well hath said 780 c Be not too confident ; ' something like doubt Is necessary for you 'gainst this God — No mere automaton of the fertile brain : Thus we return in what particular The gradient of his government to resolve'?

IN HEAVEN. 35 And if we not annihilate at least Compel an abdication, harps and hymns Little in unison with our new tastes : Lightning have we enough to overwhelm If not consume our enemy, horrent arms 790 Beside are mine, and whirlwinds that if need Heaven shall lay bare unto the central axe : All these have I collected with fore-thought Together, but the abjected opposed Distrust until — our hour with tempest winged, At best advantage upon them we fall : Guard then the Capitol from this outside Circumference, advancing with resolve Of vengeance as the opportunity comes." Whilst yet he spake a wat'ry ocean caught 800 Into an errant vortice so was cast Centrifugal away that out it burst O'er the conspirers as by accident there : When the terrestrial pole aside was turned Time after, and the blasts Septentrional Met Auster with rude Mesocsesius And Iapyx contending, the scourg'd seas, Air, earth commingled, rattling hail and storm Of rain adversely whirl'd thund'ring along, Such tempest made they not as thereupon 810 d 2

36 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH The palace of the paling pagans beat, Turret and terrace, spires of height sublime Dizzy to see, hurl'd frequent off at last The palpable obscure of roof, the lamps Involv'd came down — like to an ill-built vault Upon the masons who give all for lost : Then was the ground uptorn whole continents 'Gainst one another ruinously dashed Damnific : so the thick-ribb'd Neva broke Up in a rage Boreean ; so the isles 820 Ortygia and the rest aforetime drove ; So Attica was, taken by the flood They call Ogyges. Through a tedious time The rebels — sport of wind and wave and waste As if the universe to liquids laps'd, A fiend the total upon that one spot Pour'd for his malice, — halcyons-like or herns Ta'en unaware far out from land, up they Whirl, or dash'd down they for the moment drown Flutt'ring, bewilder'd, lost ; but Lucifer 830 Like him who wassailing a poison feels Or like a bird at twilight in the net Of spoiler caught, his wings now lash'd, now leap'd In frenzy up, nevertheless his throne Though foundering he to the last maintained ;

IN HEAVEN. 37 As in a midnight- wrack the smaller clouds Before the hurricane tumultuous drive, His angels — billowey confusion heaped To mountains higher than Sorrata, their Fierce Lord darting his lightnings as if he 840 Co-rul'd the storm as well ; Mozazor, Icke, Raabon, Asmodai, Abaddona, Arioch and Ramiel (the latter two Sung by our Milton,) through the rolling clouds Of thunder nash'd the last : at length given o'er, Far in the glow'ring gloom he lab 'ring rose Like a belated sun obscur'd ; around Far as the eye could pierce, the steaming stars Confus'dly heap'd or strown saw Lucifer The headiest hills Elysian vales as well 850 Of his tetrarchy gone : vague vaguely all Unimageable lay ; beneath a scene Transparent as from veins inosculate Of sanguine crimson the Titanian works Into surrounding smother stretch'd their lines Like solid rainbows, arteries jet-like — Thousands of thousands, equi-distant placed With azures braided ; gorgeous things beside Expos'd that have no names, surpassing aught That poet in the dreamiest dream his soul 860

38 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH To nicest impulse drawn enraptur'd finds : Thus was his realm dismantled, swept to doom The fulgent furnitures, exterminate He really fear'd his gods ; still with some hope — O who so ever hop'd so much as he 1 And with such disappointment ! still with hope His voice he lifted — loud : like the strange sound Of cannon heard from some big ship at night, By tempest cast on the Tinacrian shore Such time shrill Scylla answer from the blast 870 Collecting tarries when unto the ears Of the mistrusting boors with hope of wreck Untold it sullen comes, his fed'rates hark, And then exult from the dismember'd orbs, Or plung'd to bottom of unquiet seas, Or whirlwind drifted o'er the frozen floods And fiery fens of the unbounded range Of Chaos, lo ! they come : first thorough drenched Adramelec's that princedom at their head Still god-like if disfigur'd : Nisroch's winged 880 As well they could, many their broken plumes Regretting : Haraphon made headstrong haste, His principalities : the seraphim Zabrash still own'd : Togarmah all his powers Signalling brought innumerable : Baal

IN HEAVEN. 39 All his dominions ; Timor ne'er saw His multitude when pop'lous Asia armed Her millions : cherubim Apollyon, Moloch, and Ekriel at their head, direct Pour'd down, chill change was theirs, nor unobserved : So some proud general fording at the mouth [890 Of stranger-stream just when the turning tide Re-saturates the sands, he sinks, his men Stifling, and how 1 is scarcely known firm ground Obtain'd his bold battalions gathering round, Their baggage lost accoutrements of dress And flags denied, — but with his wonted pride " Immortals !" haught cried Lucifer, " we cheer !" And cheer responsive from those myriads came Startling the Chaos in his secret lair 900 Of contrary elementals, and the black She-spectre Night in the dim distance seen. Then strange debates ensued ; their thoughts at large And from the linkings loos'd as were the stars Inconsequently spilt, all seem'd but chance Whate'er they said, contingency unreined From reason, as of Chaos they discoursed Numbers same time : so in a parliament Distract for some bad Cromwell ; or a mob Cercopian turn'd to apes, they chatter all 910

40 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Agreeing, disagreeing, knotting worse What they unravell'd, quarrelling ; some said 'Twas God who visited, but others swore " Chance ! chance !" since Lucifer had broke the spheres Troubling the skies, Moloch cried out — striking The tabernacled throne in rage, " To heaven ! Dare the Heaven-shaker ; Gods ! discharge our wrath Upon him whilst 'tis hot ; be swift of foot, Swifter of wing ! " up up they started up Impetuous, like Gsetulian wolves that scent 920 A straying courser, in pernicious ire Already ilesh'd upon his reeking flanks : But Zabrash with a quivering lip call'd out Admonitory, and — the ill-sown seed Kill'd, to his voice they heed : like iEschylus Raved he exclaiming, " Whither, whither] ye So mad ! thou Emperor upon thy throne Ye angels hear — me ! Since the shadowy forms If forms they were we saw their palms outstretched, May be this evil is befallen us since 930 Such amity was despis'd, so have we lost More than I dare express, yet lost so much If these vindictive Sing'lars to our side Were won we gain'd much more ; " his sceptre high Heav'd he, continuing, " dare the tyrant then !

IN HEAVEN. 41 Drive the last lightning in his face ! and fire Not drown his towers in turn." So lunar Thais Against Persepolis — on earth what God's Palace was in the heavens, a lunatic Mov'd, with success as lo ! the ruins wide 940 Magnificently scatter'd, column'd stones, And bas-reliefs inscrib'd in languages Forgotten : thus the wisdom of the world Hath perish'd. " Aye revenge !" th' Arch-gerent cried, Inwardly groaning as he started up ; Not Saturn's self when in the Celtic wastes The curse was told on his usurping son So ardent hoped ; three times he stamping stamped, Calling aloud "to Chaos!" Chaos heard 950 And from the mine of matter burst so wild — Delirious that his every limber snapped And thus with armlets leglets dangling down, Pendant upon his breast a facial more Grim than Medusa's when Theseus drove The petrifying Centaurians with sight Of her dissever'd head to howling Hades. Chaos before the shuddering angels passed. And at his feet a shapeless body fell. So look'd Phineus, so his followers looked 960

42 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Hard'ning to stone, as Lucifer and his The whilst that dsemonized screach'd and screamed, And screach'd out " Sire ! " again, " Sire! ! " then they saw, Or thought they saw nine hundred heads or more (Orthus had only two,) continually At war with one another ; heads of hounds — Blood-hounds, black, blear, and bony ; or like birds — Like that vers'd vulture that on liver lived ; And some like those the Lybian giant had Whose height was three score cubits, of the Sea 970 And Earth the elfish son : the factious felt Nigh stunn'd to hear him : so an owlet through An open lattice gliding like a ghost Startles banditti who have just embrued Their hands in some estray'd rich traveller's blood : But the great Anarch cried, " What calledst thou me % Thou shatter'd object ! we conjure thee tell Thy terribles — thy secrets : " Chaos groaned Ridding his fleshiness from off his joints With agonizing throes, thrice worse augment 980 With every change and awful horror more Prodigious in degree the more he sloughed His frightful figure : not the shape of Death Unmasking Phlegethon to some stark soul, No j- Sin herself stripp'd of her whorish front

IN HEAVEN. 43 Are half so horrid unto man as this Then seem'd to those spectators, at the last The rotting vertebrals were all revealed To the Arch-gerent starting fearful back As if from destiny, the cherubic 990 And great seraphic lords around who saw Huddling together ; but that daring chief Stretching his strongest hand with caution forth The live jagg'd skeleton seiz'd, and at arm's length Upholding shouted, " Deities no more ! God must turn white at view of him ; our Sign ! Uplift our Sign, and Chaos ! Chaos on ! " As when to ground Antaeus — though before Nigh dead, renew'd his vigor, Chaos he No longer truculent leap'd lanky up 1000 So long none saw how high : like Phorcys fierce To Ceto e'er the Gorgonites were born That Chaos unto Night ; she speeds ! so through The Euxine a reft Cyanean rock Settling within : then, then they signall'd ; lo ! The elements unleash'd ten thousand globes, — (So at command ten banded-batteries blaze The rounded balls discharg'd) over the plains Resounding right unto the cardinal Of God they dash'd, the rebels disarrayed 1010

44 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH In person, to the winds their waving hair, Gleering, upon the ledge of inner heaven Flound'ring they come, the racing rebel force Elancing o'er : quicker than said, as soon Upon a vasty sun to smothering smoke Dissolving, Chaos wheel'd, his instruments Stupendous back-compell'd evaporating In a most sooty sort and ruin'd worse Than ever by that compulsion ; unpursued By any, 'mazement-mad, abject he fled 1020 Bestrewing all the stars on either side His way as to the court northern he took : Before the frame of the dismantled realm Where Lucifer erewhile inhabited, where He sate in council, Chaos check'd his speed Gazing upon those images unknown — Orderly mystery, the memorials Of power before his own ; the sinews of All his sore eyes grew slack such things to see, Or strain'd unto the uttermost; he gazed 1030 Heaping himself together, — so they heap Constrictors ere they strike, then, sudden then His fig'rate energiz'd th' enormous whole Against the great key-stone himself he hurled ; The poles, the piles, the centre-pieces paused,

IN HEAVEN. 45 Creaked, and with one lond tremendons crash Parting became incalculable wreck : No miser's heir — his last sole guinea gone, To garret driven for fear of an arrest, In desperation striking with such joy 1040 Hails from the ceiling showers of hoarded gold, Nor Danse when adulterous Jove her jail Her person won as then that Chaos hailed ; Entangling all, all to the battlements Of heaven swept he and o'er them frantic flung : Nor the Arch-en'my long behind ; appalled He witness'd that desertion, for no cause — None visible and pangs his harrow'd heart Eending, — then resolute on Chaos fixed He also pass'd : broad was the vacant way 1050 Though he alone of all th' invaders dared To follow that deserter who behind Left hotter winds than are the eastern when Over Marmarico like fire they blow : Through the immeasurable wastes beyond The limits of the light, th' informal blank, Him he pursued o'ertaking with such force A-head like a swift thunderbolt he shot Thousands of leagues ; he turn'd yet more enraged And — stretch'd to utmost all his waging wings L060

46 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Arrested Chaos : so a fierce athlete Some Mauritanian ; so Alcides seized The ramp Nemsean lion by the gorge : Concave capp'd he like some black-beetling crag Crushing to view ; or like the wave which rose Above Corinthus' strand, and bellowing burst Into the horned bull : Charybdis when Ithacus steer'd less hoarse Charybdis than Excelling Chaos, all his addling arms Briarsean upheav'd so ponderous 1070 As if the heavens he hammer'd, all his chest Of iron in motion, mouths and nostrils wide "With wanting, all his countenances blue Swoln to his very shanks ; he fought, he tore, He trod, great volum'd flames flaming — each one Enough to wrap the solar system in A mortal shroud : Space then from out deep sleep Awoke utt'ring one word the while her long Ne'er ending skirts over her hairless head, Blank eyes, dunch ears, she vainly strove to draw, 1080 Flying had she the feet ; " Oh ! " she exclaimed All mouth from the infinities to all Infinity, and dropp'd beyond reprieve Of resurrection dead. Impal'd in fire As in a furnace, or in iciest ice

IN HEAVEN. 47 Fought Lucifer ; to wrath of wrath then first He yielded, what unto himself pertained Forgetting ; O ! how he also his arms — How strong they were ! upfmng, or thund'ring brought Them with a vengeance down ; beneath his feet 1090 Nothing to ground he beat whereon to stand Such woful wear and tear to make, the round As round and broader than yon shining sun And ten times brighter : now one had his turn And vanquished as appear'd but then the other Alarming rose immediate to his work Of certain death it seem'd : so Milo fought With his antagonist ; Eteocles And Polynices with unsated hate. Three times had Chaos in three wezands felt 1100 His vitals handled ; in reprise three times He with his craziest crush redoubled drove Home to his Author's heart ; then vomited Was blood — so here to call it ; Hesiod Had he been there the giants had despised Describ'd as springing from the drops which fell From his generic god : the terrible Indeed was then, nor hands, nor heads but more Than heads and hands the apparitions had Which then, O Muse! werebirth'd; Typhosus scarce 1110

48 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Reach'd to the ancle though he touch'd the east — Or what is east to us, and west at once, His head against the stars ; Pelorus with Pachymus added, Lilybseum too Less than their lustrous eye : to see them were Death to an Adam yet their stature fell Almost to nothing by comparison With those two dreadful decrials ; their eyes To darkness, and their utmost when they joined Or one or other scarce a feather weighed 1120 In the opposing scales ; they roar'd as roar Wild bulls of Basan, and were hardly heard Nor heeded ; when they writh'd they writh'd, or when They folded folded it was still alike To the great combatants, — as unto men What busy goss'mers do to cobweb down Now either leg now an unconscious arm. — Thus Lucifer implacable, no less Implacable was Chaos ; where his brains Had been had he had any through and through 1130 The Arch-apostate groping out his hand Bringing empty down the sinister he sent Upon the hollow vertex so, 't was smashed In, altogether in ; and then let loose Were his ; such as alone he had conceived

IN HEAVEN. 49 Abstractions shocking : save ! oh save me from The fate of Athamas lest seeing these — Losing perception, the most lovely seem Hereafter horrid hued, and what I prize The dearest in this world a lioness look 1140 More raging than the lion which supports Her queenly arms ; nor let me meet the doom Of Actseon, turned so with an affright Even my friends shall field me : Ligia ! thou Aglope ! — by the scared Sabines feared By Cape Licosa, ho ! the Sisters Three Or more, ye Furies ; all ye wanton — swine Th' CEnean metamorphos'd, welcome from These of the dark the blackness ; see, their teeth To tear one ! see, their claws together clenched ! 1150 Their nameless nethermost ! what now the crop Of Cadmus 1 springing from the dragon's teeth And venom'd as the seed : to it they fell Like those on one another, those before Elicited on all. Thus they, likewise The two Progenitors whose breath was fire, Fury : they raze as two charg'd comets raze Each other when they meet : they froth they foam Like devils damnably : they darken, dash Dauntless on death, who were he there were dimmed 1 100 E

50 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH . And deaden'd ; smashing smashed, rending riven, Their skin stripp'd off in skeins, and hack'd and hewn Their most recondite bodily of bone : Awfulest action ! none before, none since In hell much less on earth is like it ; name No Lapithites, Chimeeras, Dirae, none Their utmost name ; nor yet the battles which — No nor the battles which some mighties had (And one still hath) with Destiny : now Fame Put up thy lying trumpet, or before 1170 Thou puttest blow to these until it crack All over and be done ; for these they fight — They fight like Lucifer and Chaos there So were th' infernal deities at hand They were no more : O monstrous ! now they tear Each other's harden'd heart ; and oh ! as soon 'Tis torn again it grows but cancrine like And tetter'd : now the Arch-one drags him down Like Cerb'rus ; now 'tis Chaos with a growl — That gravitated earth had earth then been, 1180 Fallen upon him, how he shakes, grasps, see ! He fleshes up his back in flakes as long — As long striated clouds ; immortal he More than immortal such a thing to bear And borne survive : so Amycus, the shades

IN HEAVEN. 51 Seeking post-haste : and Chaos victor proves If not the stronger; as he once before Lessening fell, reversing — like a tun Of nitrous stuff fir'd, to his utmost verge He spreads bat-like his mangy membranes out — 1190 As Evening spreads o'er half the world at once, Collapsing back ; now the absorb'd abysm Seems as illuminate the whilst his force Fierce Lucifer exorbitantly spends ; Black, blue, hot, cold he makes perpetual round Ruining all his sides ; but like a kite Ensnar'd, in vain out of that cage he hopes By force to come : he raves, rifts, hales, he hauls Whole hemispheres of matter with his hands Down on his danger'd head; extreme extremes 1200 He tries ; he burns, he grinds ; the virile parts Infixes, gnaws, eats, rends, but shuddering sees The Chaos gradual grow : so in a pit Taken an elephant or tiger, round And round they tear, they leap, they lance ; or like A criminal within the mesh of law He turns, tries, tramps in desperation vast His neck to save : in vain ; Procrustes less Cruel, that parricide froze down — like snow Upon some fainting, struggling, famishing wretch 1210 e 2

52 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH IN HEAVEN. Lost by degrees from sight ; his web he weaves Around his votive victim 'till not one Of all his lamed limbs gives evidence Of life but there into that Chaos rapt Lies Lucifer eternally undone.

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THE WARS OF JEHOVAH BOOK II.

THE ARGUMENT. Address to Poesy. Night following Chaos and Lucifer out into space, overtakes and conceiveth by both The Undying Worm : what followed. The advent of rebel angels. The march ; the halt. The addresses of Ekriel and others, whereupon Lucifer evokes terrific beasts, fixes Chaos for a battle-field, and arms his legions. The order of his armies under the nine regents ; they exercise, unfurl the sovereign banner, and file upon the heavens. The morning in heaven with which the first book commenced still continues.

BOOK II. Thou Soul of Numbers ! irresistibly felt Burning, and seen in elemental air Surrounded with all spirits known to men, To gods, the brightest next Th' Adorable Brighter for thine, (the fairest lily craves Thy paint, the gold thy gild,) the fiends of hell Blacken'd, the grim sub-Tartarean powers, The salamandrine gnomes transpicuous lit By thine own hallowed fire ; lift, lift me up O marvellous Poesy ! beyond the spheres 10 Of nature, and the compasses of thought Known once to the Maeonian, or to him Of my lov'd Father-land, and (purg'd mine eyes With euphrasy, from heavenly herbs in flowei

56 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH By the low lucid moons careful distilled,) Summon together the supernal powers In local action ; properties inform Ranking, and if yet obstinate, strike thou The iron strings ! I strike affecting thine Immeasurably swoll'n : upon the ear 20 Raking they rush, like those the tempest twangs From the suspended arch stretch'd high and wide Across the Seine, the manes of The Fallen Rising colossal in no circle bound, — Lo ! how they thicken desp'rately compelled By the miraculous, now, now ! I see Eternal Hunger gnawing her own neck, Her dreamy ministers — blaspheming Thoughts Clasping the hand, drear Sorrows like the dead Fading corrupt or frosted to a stone, 30 Perplexed Ghosts Glooms Adorants and Hopes Mix'd with back-clutching Fears and Phantasies Perpetually metamorphos'd, Sighs,— No more, and God control them else a pyre The universe were made : so from small seed The Upas springs branching as these from out The trunk innum'rable, and like an oak — Born from an acorn, many a raging storm Of the hard-favor'd heavens, though scath'd shall stand

IN HEAVEN. 57 Living for ever : " Now th' impression stamp 40 On thy imperishable canvass ; paint Boldly if quick ! " the Sprite-compeller cries, And beck'ning an elaborate Fancy he Pours on my pallet sable pigments forth, Nor Time shall tame but mellowing leave divine. Now Night in that wild drift confounded, scarce Knowing what thing to do, thinking at hand Omnipotential vengeance, through the heavens Follow'd northward with savage speed the track Until the latest mark evanish'd she 50 Reaching the battlements fled giddying o'er Chasing the senseless void 'till lo ! she heard The booming Chaos : startled she awoke From reverie of desolation drear, Whirling through emptiness and at the last Chaos with breath full brief and jerk of joy To her convuls'd embraces covering rushed And Lucifer perforce in him contained ; The two she bore but with an instant shiver, Her darkling eyeballs starting from the socks, 60 Thereat her contradicting form recoiled Seiz'd with parturient pains, and present forth — Portentous sight ! issued a hydra huge — Huge, huge ! Jormungandr which round this earth

58 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Coils (as the Edda tells,) less terrible, And all Alecto's serpents : this since called By One who knew Th' Undying Worm, whom he Declin'd confessing God, — this sallied forth : So when the Minotaur was born look'd vile Queen Pasiphse like Night, her carnal child 70 Upon her rearing, in tremendous heat Tearing her down, rending her abstract parts, Them greedily devouring : Chaos next Essay'd as cruel, as a pitchy cloud O'ercharg'd explodes Chaos the Arch thrown forth, Up, up tower'd he at that unnatural sight, Measuring his bulk and capability For what was just intended, indisposed From that to turn that snake though he was turned Incontinent as a panther from a prey 80 When unexpect the king of beasts appears Right in the path : then Lucifer beheld Where Night had been devour'd, the caul unclean From whence this offspring — all his bristling jaws Reeking as like ten sepulchres they gaped Ready to swallow more ; blenched thought he Of his forlornest Hope, for hope he had If Night with him would venture God nor fly The while under her ebon wing he fought ;

IN HEAVEN. 59 " Dire shape !" cried he (so fierce Th' Undying quailed,) Unutterably looking, as if he [90 Leap'd trampling on him, — Ate ne'er like that Reach'd to Orestes ; nor to Hippolyte His sire pale Phsedra listing ; Night's lump'd limbs Were cast as half-digest where Chaos shook Stagnated in his veins : opening the eyes (So call'd) she yawn'd and belching seven times worse Than Herculaneum and Pompeii smote, All were engulf d • then The Undying Worm Like ten grim pyths excelling the Lernsean, 100 Or that famed drace, O Empress ! which Saint George Of England slew, — erect his aspic mane, His aspic dorsum, tramping on transfixed The Arch-aspirer with innum'rous stings Charg'd with such poison that — his withers wrung, Unto the upper air the eyes raised he Invoking all his angels : like a storm Of hail by an electric shock discharged, From the amazing heights — their brains well-nigh Dissolv'd and all their senses utter gone, 1 10 Instant they fell : (O ! paralys'd my hand Muse ! to my help, and trim the flaring lamp, Return Mnemosyne !) affright they turned, Affright as once the Cholchians ; dead-still

60 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH The monster with vitality of joy Saw thinking of depopulation, but Soon whetting his whet teeth : so once the sphynx In Echionian Thebes ; or like the snake Of Mars upcoiling ; " Thunder fat ye !" then That wretched suff'rer cried, " your Paramount ! 120 Gods! gods! lift up and this curs'd curs'd smite, smite!" Then on came they with fell Typhcean rage Upon that Terror ; others quick succeed Riding th' oppress'd air, upon his skulls Abhorr'd fast falling, or perpetual whirl Around his flanks belabor'd, often back Deploying as undone, whilst Lucifer Opposing, these so seconded at length Releas'd he stood, Th' Undying Worm prone, Night And Chaos at their worst as there he lay. 1 30 Hast'ning from forth that place the rebels came Their emp'ror sole undaunted, the dark drear Eagerly winging some with hubbub vast The time they told each his especial fate Since space receiv'd him listners though he'd none In the wide gratulation to have found Nay sav'd their idol : so Marius returned To Home surrounded by his partisans As Lucifer to heaven — that was the bourne

IN HEAVEN. 61 None other was propos'cl, and soon it broke 140 Distant in view a long straight line of light Of smallest breadth but endless : now the JewsOutcast of God and man come from afar In hope their bones within the bounds to lay Jerus'lem see gnashing their teeth to think Abomination of desolation there, They soon shall be restor'd, the angels ne'er Who with recoil clos'd back as soon they saw What all had wish'd, crowding together round Their potent, princes, and such daring chiefs 150 As foremost battling racking hurts received ; These with insufferable virus thrilled Looked dreadful : so some wretch depriv'd of tongue, So Damien regicide : then Lucifer L^pon a mountain like the Euganaean Extinct volcanoes, with a bended brow The counsels of his breast thus far disclosed. " O matchless!" he began, " in strife hateful To name, thus far we come in fervent hope Our seats to reascend, by what design] 160 The question : whilst above, the gods with Night I thought secure ; Chaos I overtook Ask not for what, he's here ; without him what — What shall be done 1 foundation none beside

62 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Beyond the heaven — ne'er more to be escaled By mere volition ; gravitating down We tend as much as formerly we rose : This therefore we must do invent fresh force If we the lofty battlemented walls Ever repass, their downfall compass'd, God 170 And garrison o'ercome. O if the thirst Of boundless vengeance burn your souls like mine, Our foot but once on God ! with scourges he Shall rue the dire effect, in iron chains Secur'd for frequent fury ; that shall God Have for a tribute even 'till the knees Of the infhctors give ; now, now first time Most truly bent, our future doings plan, Course settle, and to end the common cause Adramelec! the biggest thunder roll, 180 Rend heaven asunder, slaughter to its height Urging so long one feudator remain." Thus he, more grisly than the god of Thrace ; Or than Ciampolo but just escaped From Dante's demon, mockery of words Further disdaining, whilst his strained lips Mutter 'd ; and unto him then Ekriel — stung Right o'er his heart, in agony replied. " If from the heavens we're shut the starless space

IN HEAVEN. 63 Is ours for ever, Emp'ror! that event 190 Of which thou hintest all redemption past : Unto the throned eminence of God Thou venturest not the eye but asketh how To over-top his walls, so to escape This frightful desolation, horrible ! O that we had annihilated been, Space, Matter, Chaos, Night with us annulled, If this the consequence." With eyes like those Of the great naming diamonds within 200 The socks of the Orissan idol fierce Apollyon interrupting cried, " Disdain Be thine despairing cherub : that we bear Eradicable is ; nor heaven against A battery impregnable. If twice Chaos hath failed that no reason is He shall third time ; and if his help we take Unto us he subserves if not ensures : Let none despond though we inhabit sole These sombre shades, good occupation ours 210 Providing engines wherewithal to storm And take by force what fairly we cannot : Fair is the brow of heaven if yet to us Forbidding we must violate and will,

64 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Only the arduous space great gods ! maintain Lord of ourselves, until to wrath aroused With pointed arms destruction is indulged, And all upon their thrones — all re-installed." So he th' impression of the master took, As metal dies, or mud the form of one 220 Fall'n down, himself approving ; Zabrash next Deep thoughtful rose with a terrific glare Scowling and redden'd, pleading like some paid And wary advocate his hearers fools, Loos'ning his robe, as he his weary wings ; As if his thoughts were for his mouth too tasked, Thus he. " The present full amends shall make The future, as thou promis'd by thy speech Dread Emperor ! propositive against 230 The unknown God : we meditate his fall With rancour now, devoting his high head To scorn and detestation ; pityless And slow rend all his person nerve from nerve, His flesh unto us for a feast, his blood In ornate urns receiv'd in lieu of wine Shall serve his servants if our rightful rage Any escape : who with these thews shall cope In godlike exercise with heart less stout

IN HEAVEN. 65 Than outs'? forge chains for bondage! Night again 240 Shall wave her flaggy wings within the heaven And o'er the inessential elves and fays And fairies queen it. Heaven before us lies, See ! all ye prime of angels ; Ekriel thou, Thou ! look behind thee, is there light enough For God to mangle cowardice like thine % " He started ; so a baleful baron bold Belied, or brindled lion at a pard Roaring ; " Scorn'd seraph!" he exclaim'd, " withdraw Thy insolence : ye gods ! if I repine — 250 As who doth not our actual loss ! and hate Reverse, ye also hate, nor that conceal Boasted ; I but prefer no sense to that Which shocking is, and if ye had the choice Of pref 'rence make no doubt which one were ta'en. Now Emp'ror thou proposest war, but how Leave us in doubt and ign'rance upon what War can be rais'd ! — against Jehovah, One Who sate the while unmov'd, a third of heaven With Chaos turn'd from our united course 260 To our original starting place nor there Leaving sufhc'd it, but beyond our own Celestial field with power resistless drove The anguish'd angels o'er the heights of heaven F

66 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH And scarcely there invisible refrained." Chafing he clos'd, the proud pretender's pride Sore handled ; so a falling charioteer Observes a linch-pin loose : Adramelec Rush'd forward crying, " Rash ! imaginings Like these forbear, or other audience seek 270 More tolerant ; where God is still enskied In his eternity prostrate thee there If they vouchsafe it : we shall conquer yet By the necessity of things, and God Humble to dust. Just is our anger, peers ! Encourage it and triumph or we die." Utterless thoughts were his so brief he said ; Like some false priest upon the brink of death " Peace, peace," cries where is none, full soon found out ; Then rose Togarmah, from his fearful front 280 Shaking the grime ; so Ancseus of size Gigantic. " Arm ! " cried he, " the worst, the worst We know, nor Chaos ask but use his whole Fixing, thou God of God ! for our good field Of battle, if to joust the others dare Before we tourney hold inside their walls : Illumine matter ! characters of life Give thou unto the lifeless, organize

IX HEAVEN. The inorganic : arm ! with weapons such As God possess nor handle, and practised Win. That we wasfd with Chaos war was not But an experiment ; henceforth war real Exterminating all we shall engage. Unsheath us instruments, two-edged swords. Other ill-omen'' d things which showers of blood Flashing shall shed; assassins thon shalt find Ready to wield : with passing poison tip Us pointed lances, that the slaves shall sting As we are stung : stretch! stretch hut forth thy hand," The Gerent look'd considerate : so one playing Chess makes due calculation e'er he moves His latest pawn on which his fortune frowns For mortal fear ; the comers of his lips Inverted. Muse ! beyond the balked brush. As pale around his roving eyes he rolled ; Then like the god of War smote down upon The trembling ground : all the terrene confessed — ■ As Delos Xeptune when he smote it with His trident, hard consolidatins: ; forth 3 1 0 z Innumerable hippogryphons rushed. Gorgons. chimaeras with be-gilded horns. And horse like that which with his fore feet smote At Heliodorus full of fright and fear.

68 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH And harpy birds or beasts — Philoctetes Ne'er saw in his lone island half the like, Creatures with scraggy skulls and jaunty jambs Speechless to see, envenom'd giant jinns, Scabb'd scolopendrians — fiercer than the steeds Diomed fed upon the flesh of man, 320 Spouting gross fires from mouth nose eyes and ears Incessant — or with membranes mainly charged Unfolding fun'ral shrouds fanning the air Racking each other as in prankish play ; In some the pressing pulses underneath Were seen to flow like melted lava oft As oceans into their enamell'd chests Gasping they drew : the semi- vital big Alligatorians that the unknown Soil of our bottom'd seas, prodigious pierce, 3,30 (Defiling so, green Thetis — me she tells, Trembling the haunts of all the Naiads seeks,) These — like mail'd moles, which islands often raise, Or shift a continent, they nothing are As comparable : some were like some things In the salt wave, but few are like in air ; Enchas'd were some with lineaments mis-turned, Ten-tush'd, and hydra-headed ; winged vults Blue, black, or red-wing'd vult-like gryphons worked

IN HEAVEN. 69 The air with mania gladness ; starting eyes, 340 And lolling tongues had some — the incubi Like mounts of flesh ; whilst some came serpenting With never-ending involutions, wide Of nostril, and blood-red their shaggy jaws, Rav'ning, and bloated, virulent, wrathful ; And one more fierce than all, wondrous wild-eyed, — A horrid thing in counterview came forth And instant on espial hunger-pained Heap'd up his hundred heads and dashed down Upon him ; (might tremendous ! chill my soul 350 Turns with the recollection ;) muscular Vastness unto them both, they wriggled up Their plated bellies earnestly inspired And unappeasable : so ships full-freight Full-sail encounter groaning all the masts And every timber start ; or like hell-clouds From two volcanoes — high as Antisan, Against each other roofward driving up Lash'd mutual grim, elate : iEtolian plains Such never held as wide they stretch 'd the jaw, 360 Beat their black brawn, and in the turgid sides Drove twenty-talon'd tests and crunched the bone ; Thus they 'till sooty flames the wide expanse Involving the Arch-actor smote them both

70 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH To stone : so on the Aulis sands they boast One damnate dragon unto marble turned : Others there were strange creatures strangely joined, By million millions, emblems of the Night And Chaos whence they came ; the latter long Burden'd within his ribs now out they poured 370 Even as a wave begets another from One end of the wide ocean to the other ; Or gravid clouds as o'er the earth they sail Congenial shadows ; lacking were their looks, Erect the hackled hair, malign the mould, StifFning their limbs, longer the skinny arms Than Mycale's who pulled down the moon ; Clapping they yell'd, and formed into troops, Legions of fiends with visages viceful, Sunk eyes, mouth-steaming, every time they breathed 380 Fetching a horrid hiss : so (Ete, so Th' Achaian cities heard when CEdipus Invoking, from the gates of Tsenarus Tisiphone wing'd forth: Chorcebus such Ne'er saw though one begot in depth of hell Encountering he slew. Thus the far space Was peopled with dajmonians as well With unform'd, unco' things : even then the crash

IN HEAVEN. 71 Of Empire some imagining call'd, " To arms !" 390 Measur'd the light horizon each his beast Seizing, and arms there were which here for want Of weighty words we call invuln'rable Shields, helms, breastplates, and others, these they don ; Pallas full armed came unto the birth And these instant appear'd with casque, and plume, Vizor, gorget, corse, cuirasses, and cuish — Even to the sandals serv'd, with trappings dight Of baldric, thong, belt, chain, and cincture light, Starr'd-mantles, robes than ermin'd kinglier far -±00 As more becoming ; in their hand or spear Missive, or shaft, or lance, cutlass, or sword — These the majority preferr'd for these Allow'd close quarter, and the rebels then, O sanguine ! thought with mail like theirs such wage The surer ; some took clubs like those we find In late-found Tootoonah ! some arrows seized Feather'd with fury — such the Parthians sped Sharper than razor-teeth; some javelins like The Mamlukes throw unerring ; pensile nets 410 Others endued with which they hop'd to snare The birds of heaven; faulchions, and hangers broad, And razing steels to many ; bearded bolts, Iron maces, deadly darts — their quivers stored,

72 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH And bows than Teucer's stronger ; others chose Ponderous disks, or gauntlets — surer than Th' GEbalian; slings the Balearic; some Lightly accoutred, others for the sap And mine, whereby the Capitol of God — If storm prov'd ineffectual should be scooped, 420 Those too who rode their panoply put on Heaping their horse — if horse their carriers were With choicest gems and carbuncles of fire, Whilst some the lengthful lash whirling outrushed Chariots and cars inlaid with fires, above Bimm'd with the flexile flames the crowning rays Trac'd wondrous fine, the body parts outwrought With battle polish'd to the last degree As were the circling frames and axles — bossed Most blinding bright ; ten thousand thousand ranged 430 In shining order, quick with tensive trace, Argentine rings, and sparkling harness strong, The whirlwind-footed gryphs they join, to each A pliant pole except the two extern Prancing in pride ; the reins of lightning light Scarce felt, than mares of the Pheretian breed Gotten by Zephyr on the harpy- winged Podarge swifter they, (the charioteers Leap'd loos'ning to their seats,) oft' they all went

IN HEAVEN. id " Whiz " down the hills across the pictur'd plain 440 Evanishing same time, the clang, the tracks Phosph'rous behind : so the aerolites Kindled, a momentary space are heard Rushing and seen, the next outstripping sight Beyond the swinking stars : meanwhile a camp Immense outspread the tents the booths arranged, Amidst the paragon pavilion pitched Conspicuous, — not the Elishan dye Of the rare robe the sumptuous empress wore Poppea, nor queen Hecuba's could match, 450 Nor Hyacinthus' locks ; the sockets, rings, Long poles, and staples, and elab'rate ribs Were finest gold, (an ore hateful to name,) Northward an altar stood where incense burned Unto such strains the bound Bellona heard Precede the lictors when the Quirine door Impris'ning they with pageant pomp threw ope. Thus was prepar'd for war, Mnemosyne ! Recite the outlin'd order when the trumps Bray'd begg'ring and the banners were unfurled. 460 Bid Baal first, like some proud sultan through His janizaries come, earth, ocean his In prospect as of Giours like dogs he thinks, And of his prophet : blazon'd at his breast

74 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH And for breast-harness shone a sardell'd sun Inwrought with ornament ; in main of space Floating like a bright bubble through the air The heavenly heaven, illusion cloth'd the whole Celestial well ; as in a glass were seen All the palatinates, the seat supreme 470 Wide occupying central, hid in clouds The towers that God for the eternity Belting had built, refulgent they, but lo ! Instead of God's express escutcheon o'er The entrance portals, and his formless flag 'Twas Lucifer's, that Anarch to the place Of God the Sovereign King depos'd advanced ; And here they crown' d him with most solemn state Th' assembled angels ; coronation ne'er Like this was represented, numberless 480 Although to us the actors every one In scenic sort upon that plate appeared, Here thousand thronging legions lordly lift The hand and oath allegiance, there they bind O Muse ! some few th' Almighty, some his crown Kicking make sport, and one his sceptre tries To lift that he may strike him ; scatter'd here And there are chained captives, low the head Hanging despondent ; some the axes edge

IN HEAVEN. 75 For fresh decapitations, whilst the crowd 490 Themselves to joy abandoning on all The outer margin festival is seen And strangest festival — the noises seem Express'd, the gen'ral tumult, laughter, love Or lust for so it look'd where with the sprites (Nor angels though angelic,) that upon Them as their Thoughts and Wishes always had Attended, with all these Bacchan tic-like Licensing : Baal thus ; beside him shone His bearer tabarded, within his fists 500 A banner he sustain'd : so rear'd the Turk The Crescent when the Saracener lay At point of death. The darkling deserts rung As on they pass'd like storm. Apollyon next, Outnumbering the stars with cherubim Their wavy wings advanc'd : so he — who slew Himself at loss of priz'd Pelides' arms, Appointed Ajax and the Locrian bands : Nor Ekriel less ; magnific Moloch eke 510 Ruling in concert, the disastrous past Forgotten, the import'nate future more Than the avengement promis'd : to the winds Their flags stream'd wide astonishment : Rumor

76 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Went with all three ; rapacious were her looks Toward the heavens. Then came Adramelec; O'er Chaos he unfuii'd : Enceladus — Now stretch'd by the Avernian lake, like this Ne'er trod : he stalk'd as if alone he meant 520 To tread Jehovah down, dominion won And the eternal-aU to him subject : Nor Oileus's now name ; his looks Were more than terrible; presumption none Apparently was his but what he looked He meant and would assuredly fulfil. Follow'd Togarmah 'battled ; through the air An ensign swum none other could have owned : The peerless powers were his ; his, charioteers With crescent scythes unto the axles, they 530 Drove to the din of hasting hoofs and sounds That baulk'd the boiling blood. On hippogryphs Haraphon's heavily endow'd, that chief Carrying his crest immutable as God's On whom scornful — like Tityus he thought, His heart throat-high to see his vast concourse There marching : o'er his broad and beauteous brow A darting dragon shed or seem'd to shed

IN HEAVEN. i i Particular poison ; kindling up he killed, 540 Or seem'd to kill all upon whom he glared Out of his ireful eye — but one had he That more effective than the thousands owned By Envy to a proverb, where it flashed Dissolv'd the clouds immediate, all the space AYax'd warm, as if about again to life It must it must return : jNTisroch with him ; Drawing no spurious sword he orcler'd, " On!" Anticipating God within his power ; To them were harpies with war- wanting wings, 550 And formidable talons : high their flags Unceasing shone ; as through the wintry mists A double sun. Last, who shall dare impede I The seraphim, like tawny tempests when The regent call'd Zabrash whom Conquest waits And Satire at the side : his ensign flouts All the preceding, in diviner light Enhanced to inviolable black ; The leger light that ever courses through 560 Three sev'ral heavens fold up and such a flagSo fulgent were not made ; when Triron tore It down and rended it to tatters he Even he was blinded : wafting wings were his

78 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Unto his helmet, great Petasian wings Perspicuous bright ; they blaz'd and bickering burned Most terrible, advancing harrowing heads Unlike aught else beside ; wide open were The gory dripping mouths, and still they seemed As they had never swallow'd, they so much 570 Desir'd to swallow ; horns they had like those The ocean-god upon the taurus put He sent to punish Minos ; and such eyes That Polypheme's blasted but to meet. High, high above them all from whence he saw The glittering whole array 'd united stand, Lone Lucifer : pond'ring he stood divine In sight of all. The fabled god of heaven With him of hell unite, the image faint Pour trays his person. Now his soul inspires 580 With thought of deathless fame ; the lightnings play Around him at his feet ; the heavens turn pale When heavenward out he looks, and all the field Before him his effulgent eyes reflect Back right upon themselves : the very god Of Fire was he ; amazement follow'd all His giddy ing glances ; now he rises — like Xerxes when at Doriscus high enthroned His satraps sanction'd, Syrian, Persian, Mede,

IN HEAVEN. 79 Indian, and iEthiop the million ronnd 590 Filed along. Their truncheons — thick empearled, Advancing then those mighties, like a sea All present was in motion ; with a tide Recurrent to one point : the Persian king Thought Grsecia ended, Lucifer as much The Heaven of heaven his own. Now where the plain Extended farthest with experiment Of arms those countless disciplining met, Marching to clarion'd brass, or trumpets woke 600 Earnest, and dreadful drums ; pursuing some, Or back retreat brandish'd their weapons o'er Their heads, or thrust before, or right, or left ; Others their jav'lins, pikes, or spears they dart, Or many a length the low'ring arrows speed ; And monster-mounted myriads o'er the wilds Interminable on together dash Their coursers rear'd on skinny shanks aloft, Lighter than aether, fleeter than the winds, Whilst more behemoths stride, or bigger beasts 610 Such as their weak'ning weight — encas'd from head To the far distant sole in proof, may bear, These for their legs had pillars, brawny backs, And heads within the hollow'd shoulders grown :

80 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Others with shovellines, and adzes, tools Invented various delv'd the marls, or with Insidious Archimedeans wrought the rocks With such successful aptitude that soon Their theatre their tomb had surely been But as they excavated myriads more — 620 When the incumbent crack'd, onrushing propped : Uncounted wave the wing ; self-pois'd are some In attitude of thrusting; others up The perpendicular aspire, whilst one — Venus his storied dame, from out the ground By potent arts electric inchoate Minerals drew to streams than Acheron — That noted river ! broader, blacker still, And deeper ; these through lengthening canals Conducted, huge cylindric tubes were made, 630 Upon ten huger asteroids upraised, And charg'd with stars up to the rugged mouth. Thus were they occupied, above, beneath, And under ; imprecations often heard And boastful promises what should be done In downright earnest : some the lightnings red Would ride and deluging the field with name Garish rejoice. Then from the cherubim

IN HEAVEN. 81 Of might with gesture eminent march'd one 640 A banneret forth defying ; in his hands The flag of that pretender, Lucifer Leader of all those armies ; paramount Of princes, the adversary of Him Who is the King of kings, and Lord of lords ; Like the boreal in the blindest night Flaunting and nickering to the zenith, so Lengthen'd it stream'd spangled with scorching suns That lurid lightness spilt, a dragon shone Graft in the centre like the sovran sign 650 Of the high emp'rors who in China rule, Or far Pegu : to blast that Pontus had Perpetuated — stone, thus he unfurled Upon his mount, like Teneriffe seen at sea When the shy moon her pointed crescets dips Below the troubled main and all her suite Attend the court above, or else insphered Lie hid; or high Lam aim on in Tigra, Shap'd throne-like : there that mighty Magnate stood Outshining all his nobles, gath'ring fast 660 Soon as they heard his summons — whether air They wing'd or pac'd or rode or wrought subtern, Thither all troop'd ; imperial crown he wore And sceptre ; close around his chivalries —

82 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH No more associates, wait, no equal his Amongst them, none though glorious they were Proud as their prince, but to his heighten'd height Not daring whatsoe'er of it they thought. Then up rose he : so Philip's son, or if Olympia be accredited joint Jove's 670 When to his Greeks his deep design was shown, And thus with voice of thunder them addressed. " Homeward ye deities ! to prove our worth Impatient for th' occasion which shall end Th' insulting question, and good title show To our estates celestial : now prepare ! Incens'd with wrong that nothing can atone Save vengeance as unlimited. Tremble The heaven of heaven ! we not contend alone For empire but redemption from reverse 680 Insuff'rably humiliating, ill Detested, ye will tell hereafter our Sad accidents — their cause Chaos, not God So here to call that Ruler, secret he 'Bides in the cradle of eternity Yet still a thing may be that these strong arms One day shall stifle if he dare not meet And if — let come through the rent clouds with all The seven archangels, this Jehovah eighth

IN HEAVEN. 83 I cope the whole; their slavish phalanx thrice 690 More than enough are ye, great gods ! to take The transitory while. Arrest us none May hope, subdue still less, elicited Our power as your apparatals shall prove : Now with desire that knows no bounds, no more Than doth 0111* pride — vital the more 'tis touched, Xow lift the brazen bray of war, and formed The fretted front upon the heavens let loose."' He said, nor they delay'd but like a lake Long pent the barring ice in some grand gorge TOO Dissolv'd ; or avalanche from Cotopax Fallen, they rush : Baal deploy 'd in square — Steel'd squares with an ^terminable line Of more than iron o'erlapping sides and van, Each had a sword if other weapon failed, Some so accoutred that to sap they could Xunibers — exhaustless as to mortals seem And are. Apollyon, Ekriel, Moloch — In more than Pylian armour sheathed their limbs, 710 Swept forth pyramidal : tumultuous winged Their multitudes unto the starless cope Mounting- : So in a darksome night the flocks g '2

84 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Of Hurricane through the concave compelled By iEolus and others. Stream'd the slings Breathless aforth, one vast unruffled wave Floating along : Nisroch the left, the right Haraphon rul'd : so at the equinox The Northern Ocean o'er the dismal dams 720 Of Gothland pours : communicating each His thoughts unto his fellow but by looks They bore as if a-swoon they would surprise The Ever- wakeful ; hippogryphs and brutes Gorgonian drove shuffling on behind, Deathful their riders look'd as strong to bear As to inflict ; these the artill'ries served In chief ordain'd reserves if any gave, Or if — which much they deprecated, God "Within his battlements defied the van 730 To sap retir'd upon him as besieged They open would : moreover on each flank Such force immense was plac'd and so disposed That if the sides did, unexpected break Then Haraphon's were there. Adramelec's Upon their harpies soar'd : no atmosphere

IN HEAVEN. 85 Of light was theirs close crowding with unrest Incessant, flushing one the other on ; Myriads they flew : Togarmah's myriads more 740 Past calculation, soon exulting lost In the invisible as if the cramp Of ages from their limbs were just removed. And countless as the Cyrenaic sands Surrounding Ammon's fane the seraphim Self-shrin'd immediate follow, many-eyed — Eyes more than feathers theirs innum'rous they, Moving continual and running to And fro where run they might : thus out they spread Their whizzing pinions startling as they spread 750 E'en Lucifer himself. O'er air, the sea, The land if so to call Hibernian bogs Allow'd, they sped those spirits, joyance theirs Such as the Mohawks have when on the trail Of white men to their fiendish hand betrayed By evil fortune. With a nameless sense Of ecstasy wrought from preceding woe Th' horizon of the heavens was seen to clear, Faint in the rising blue the golden gloam 760 Outlining the great wall ; words incomplete And exclamations short congratulative

86 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Some time were then indulg'd : no warden warned No garrison gave sign, and as the light At length upon them through the short'ning space Pour'd clear and sculptur'd in the radiant sky The battlements unguarded, welcome hope Of God abandon'd all the citizens In mutiny came to the Arch-one's heart, — Toil at an end, behold! the fruit, thought he, 770 Pluck ! but that instant other surmise stole Of stratagem and that so plausible He started agoniz'd — in full career His armies stopp'd imperiously : 'stonied They turn with noise tremendous, bucklers brash With bucklers, cars on cars, and steeds on steeds In infinite disorder ; close around The regents rushing where their Eoyal stood Cruelly calm and strong, his balls of sight Turgid and wounding to their eyes to see 780 For care sat on his cheek wrinkling his brow : So banish'd from his country looks some lord Frustrated in return. " Unto our arms ! " Cried he, " this uninhabitedness Is craft, auxiliars ! if heaven retain His population 1 not one watcher there

IN HEAVEN. 87 Shows to perplex us ! worse at loss for that Considerate absence if not yet compelled." The princes heard convinc'd nor answer 'd one, 790 Consid'ring all. Then a sub-regent rose Nam'd Phalton and — distrustful of his speech As is some alien when he first accosts A meeting, thus replied : " High Emperor ! Such seed as thine must fructify, impulse To freedom natural as thy following proves Though follow'd thee not all ; the dormant mind Will germinate : this I opine is happed Belief in God dying gradually away 800 On all sides round : no paradise of peace Is yon divided realm ; the restless spirits Consummating such liberty as ours Foreboded little what in consequence We bear : thus split in twain far off at bay Fearing the one the other, all are kept Ign'rant of our approach else welcome now Unto these walls had we. Now in his pride Upon his throne — which these millenniums stood In solitary pomp, th' arbitrator 810 And sov'reign of the skies proceed and seize ;

88 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Thou greater God ! the sympathies of soul Are all thine own ; impotent God shall fall, Unsanctifled he totters to his base Which baseless is as when we roll away The myst'ries of prescription shall be found." Then rose Croastor saying, " Thou who knowest Better than that thine inference to draw Whence many come, O Emp'ror! as if God's Party had yet no leader, and their head 820 Were grown too old or altogether gone Indifferent to fate even to death, For that awaits him and the burning brand Of cowardice if so ; incredible 'Tis all : he meditates a single blow With his twelve-handed engines, once to smite And smite no more. If all to us were like Fever were certain, but none less it is The opposite emasculated are Their vigour quite extinct though still the show 830 Of mind continue else were they revolt Same time with us and join'd in heart and hand; Bondage to some is sweet as freedom's self. Jehovah deeming us untaught behind His force conceals, designing when the least

IN HEAVEN. 89 Expected use to make ; for how may He These armies hope in fair contest to take, To vanquish] 'tis impossible, beware!" Thus contrary that speaker like some sage Pillar of state, when Inexperience draws 840 Danger as distant he believing near Anxious for the result : Ahithopel Counsell'd like manner, others like to him. " Heaven shall be," cried Baal, " emptied all Vainly for that their monarch at their head Panoplied in his best, the massive keys Upon his most mysterious chambers turned Lest if we drove him off we enter should By way of portal rather than by force To which they're destin'd echoing thunder back 850 So resonant he shall hear where'er he flee. 'Tis treach'ry what thou, Emperor! observed'st, God strengtheneth himself as well he may : In stedfast manner bravely hold our course Unto the destin'd goal prepar'd to meet His aggregated force ; fearless to face A hailing hail-storm from those waiting walls, And a full harassing until our stores Brought gen'rally upon them down they're done, The fadeless fillets ours." 860

90 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH " The universe," Added proud Haraphon, " dread Lucifer ! In dreary calmness on thy fiat bound Awaiteth thy decision : trust not Chance None equal, and before our hosts resume Their onward march let some bold wing essay As spy the silent intermediate space, I offer." He displaying, and to him Adramelec. 870 " If now the foe prepare To meet us, let him : if the heavens we gain By downright storm and violence we gain : War is our trade, and war ! our sternest will, Our fiercest rage unvanquishable show. What matt'reth it to us that God within Or out be found ? so long we find ; we seek He hideth, well ! he croucheth, well ! his spring Takes us by no surprise whene'er he come, Or how ; rather surprise shall we receiving 880 Him in these longing arms crushing the life Out of his Bodyless. To watch were mad, For what ] he watcheth ; game like his we scorn As fear we scorn, what prompteth him beside And conscious weakness 1 Quick ! let us resume,

IN HEAVEN. 91 Resume our Emperor ! the thrilling trump Impatient lies, the ail-artill'ries long To open on the heavens, the armies all O'er the embattled heights in mass to pour Victorious, and to spoil the spoiler in 890 His turn : this is our limit, nothing short ; Scabbards we 've none, nor what wherein to rest Our lances, nor wherewith our Fells to feed — Unless we kill our own, their corpses thrown Instead of God's unto their rav'ning maws : The time is come for victory, revenge!" So the Armada by contrary winds Check'd the commander for an omen took, But not the captains all a-thirst for spoil No thought of my brave ancestor : he said. 900 Then Lucifer : " The probability Is ambush from behind those well-built walls Couching : 'tis well from this assurance draw That we are formidable otherwise No wrong advantage sought God would confront Us as a God behoveth face to face Delib'rate open : this he first hath done Witness proud powers ! what we all despise ; With what advantage it remains to see, Or disadvantage rather we the more 910

92 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Guarded in consequence ; thus shall it be To tyrants their own snare the free escaped Suspecting its existence, tapestried Although it be and interlac'd with care." So that deceiver preach'd forgetting how Unto Adramelec one time he talk'd Declining in full synod open feat Of arms with that Opponent : this said he With a commanding air and ordering They re-career : so the Danaians in 920 Their course on Ilium by contrary winds Detain'd the heavy anchors gladly heaved With the first change and Menelaus first : Whilst all the leaders measuring with care The deeps of space, restrain'd — as pilots will In strange and dang'rous seas ; 'twas thus the gulf Those on the wing they swam, whilst those who marched Oft started at their shadows in the dark Imagined or seen cast lengthning by The horizontal beams of light which streamed 930 Upon that heap of darkness from the heavens. Thus on the great frontier of God they came Over the wild abysm with Chaos to The fulgent fringes of eternal day ; I [ere alleluias met, or echo of

IN HEAVEN. 93 The alleluias, from afar within The hyaline outcome : some lightning stroke Fallen on his only son — a blacken'd corse Smitten before his eyes the father scarce So much surprises ; God within his court 940 Unmov'd, his throne he fills to praise inclined, Thought Lucifer, the while I hostile come ! Angelic quires ! to other strains full soon Your citterns ye shall tune, your deftest clamped : And thou mine enemy prepare, prepare Contemptuous King ! for more experienc'd arms Which yet shall prove supremacy not thine : Thus on gain'd they and soon the barrier walls Frown'd ominous upon them and immense. Eternal sure defences up they towered 950 Beyond capacity of seeing, down As deep inscrutable, afar beyond Imagination, and their stones were squared So truly and so perfectly infixed That jointure none appear'd : as high they towered 'Twas jasper all to excellence as clear As crystal polish'd ; these to sapphires changed As fitly built, and chalcedons beneath Of varied vein red, purple, white and gold ; Em'ralds came next, and still beneath them lay 960

94 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH. Transcendent stones to species twelve as tells John the divine of Patmos to him shown More than the angels previously had known. Obdurate rebels ! in such pride ensconced Yet still they hoped to scale or undermine These hugest bulwarks, there in wide array The labour calculating, unassailed As yet from the high tops ; fell Lucifer — The while braving he saw, his sceptred Lord Secretly cursed that his walls so stood 970 Apparent sure, begrudging sore the time They must delay his overthrow and fate ; Ruthless he look'd over his ruthless bands Following his flaming eyes, unto the depth Stirr'd up the silent multitude, strengthened Their failing spirits ; such his bearing was So boastful, or so confident — the more Proportion'd to his doubt which came unto His secret heart like cold : thus on they winged Massively gathering those millions close 980 And closer all together as those walls Of the Almighty God's great realm they won.

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THE WARS OF JEHOYAH BOOK III.

THE ARGUMENT. Lucifer sits down before the wall of heaven which is vainly sapped and mined : discovering a gate he besieges that. The holy angels rise invoking God : God appoints Michael, Gloriel, and Hadriel — .three of the seven archangels against the rebellious in equal number. The battle : Death and others : finally Lucifer and the three archangels meet, with so tremendous a shock that the whole Chaos is shivered to pieces, all the revolted that survived falling headlong down. The action opens with the same day in heaven.

BOOK III. Now the meridian crystalline shone bright Heaven's lengthen'd day half spent, since Lucifer Rebelling rose when down before the walls His myriads battalious they sate : But O ! what task were mine so to relate The solemn ord'ring at the journey's end, The awful calm, the silence when their arms Grounded those rebels to reflection turned Under the shadow, the seraphic airs Floating aerial o'er like outspent waves 1 0 From some far ocean of divinest sound : Long of these battlements the battled thought Other reception and like some wild troop Fezzanee the mirage across Saharr H

98 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Hopeful pursuing the resemblance fair Of water undetected 'till too late So these ; but the Arch-agnate nearing Night Quick invocating, o'er the boundless tract Outpour'd were seas of spume; thus he designed To fence from hostile ken, and ranks select 20 Proceed the deep foundationals to find, Whilst thrice ten thousand charioteerers scour The crap'd champaign their earnest eyes in search Of some adventure : so casqued Cortez looked And his Espagniols when to horse they took In wide Columbia soft Montezume In his fair city ignorant or at peace : Then too did all such as were mounted ease Their wearied beasts ; some to their armour see Consid'rate ; some their service volunteered 30 And join'd the jav'lins ; others Amy clean Tenters pitch out ; as sentinels some stood ; Whilst some unseasonable resting sought — Such rest as eyes for ever open take, Not like that trance delectable in heaven From pure ambrosial excess brought round When Ev'ning o'er the drooping gardens sheds Her Morphic airs white culminating moons Rising opaque, the stellar influence felt

IN HEAVEN. 99 By all the flowers as well ; whilst others list 40 Adoring airs — to which in happier times They also strung their lyres to hymns as high Charming the soul, and thus the hour wore on. Thus there enormous galleries they wrought Through the intestine and with spoil so vast Of wasteful matter that th' expanse behind A length'ning chain of lofty mountains rose Ambitious of the walls, nor angels few The heights essaying thence like Icarus — Vain boy ! their forces though immortal spent, 50 Fell in the fond endeavour : Lucifer — Aforetime wont, he vainly the attempt Secretly made ; like Daedalus he rose, His strength ill-calculating to the ground Flutt'ring came he confusion in his heart. Now havocing they went nor yet deterred By difficulty whether solid beds Of fire, or ice harder than adamant Well-nigh impenetrable plied, high O'erarch'd their roof, posting the legions so 60 At the right moment into heaven they pass In phalanx its voluptuous tribes to sweep Away for ever, or their shatter 'd ranks Annihilated to the Throne of God h 2

100 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Advancing make the prize : so in a dream Feasted the Barmecide ; these presently Reaching sardonyx's like him awake. Then speculating what beneath remained, Nor yet despairful perpendicular down Hasty they dive, legions relay'd constant, 70 Scooping the craggy chaos with effect Amazing, the debris at-length behind Another Himmala ; lo ! unaware The super-cumbent buttresses and dome Suddenly giving topple in came they Upon the operatives ; dismal it was That fissur'd place to see — th' Antilles ne'er So suffer 'd nor Guadaloupe, the victims dug From out the ruins shatter'd in their limbs As if corporeal grown ; but soon their wounds 80 And injuries clos'd their comrades they rejoin : Incens'd the more for this mishap they seek Fresh ground the distance doubled, unto that Setting with zeal proportionate, in bands Lab 'ring such multitudes the space decreased So rapid that full soon, " Sure they are ours This time," said they, when the persistent sards Again oppose; the Arch-bestirrer blank! Th' artificers examine if a flaw

IN HEAVEN. 101 Presented but defect no one could find DO In that excelling work : long with lorn hope Well-temper'd tools they try, on every part Carefully drawn so that if scratch remained Much more a joint detected it had been. Then Mulciber advis'd, " O Emperor!" Said he across his overhanging brow Passing his hand not fluent much of speech, 44 The height, the depth beyond us, nought remains Behind but the unknown resisting breadth, Desp'rate to tempt is that for if so much 100 The former two exceed the third most like As much, but yet if thou command we will : " Lo ! when a man-of-war in shoreless seas Takes fire, and all their efforts in despair The crew to quench give o'er, the gunner comes Reporting to the adm'ral that but one Chance for the life remains, (the magazine Of powder close endanger 'd,) that poor chance Scuttling to boat, so Lucifer likewise, Assenting, with combustibles they fill 1 1 0 The hollow'd deep, careful the port'rage there Effecting ; the sierras they return Back from the postern to re-plug those dark Approaches, all the outlets with such blocks

102 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Of diamond as hugest they could find Hermetically clos'd except one stair With but small room the final train to lay Unto the hellish gulf; this Vathec did — Of all the angels slimmest he of form Bolder none found, in his right hand a match 120 Lighted he bore, his sinister a rock Which safely plac'd — return'd full many a time For fresh materials, at last the mouth Of that long path was no less artful sealed. Thus hopefully prepar'd the rebels then Aside retire : Night too impulsive rose In expectation hovering on high As possibly she could, for such a time As now approaches, to herself said she, Was never known, the battlements must fall 130 And I before the 'seigers can will in : Thus they awaited ; suddenly with vast Explosion from that mine the forced flames Outpour, aloft in hideous volume driven The cupola of that prodigious pit, Sere smoke in torrents from the agued abyss Gushing with furious fires ; the fragments reached Countless spectators and so smote them as A storm of April hail ephem'rides smites,

IN HEAVEN. 103 Whilst Night was in the chok'd combustion whelmed Unto the bottom, from her dizzy height [140 Brought down insensible : so when the Earth Op'ning lost Lisbon swallow'd those she spared Distrustful stood : at length — the murky clouds Of desolation pass'd, the whirling spent, Over the vacuous void the walls of heaven Shining abhorr'd they see, and from restraint Broke loose tumultuous coasting the black brink Discerning Night some thought, many would fain That daemon extricate, but so profound 150 And suffocating the blue bottom lay They found it was impracticable ; then Cried Timiel " She dies, what better gravel O angels ! " this that rash suggester said So to divert their thoughts ; with noisy mirth — Boist'rous the more the less good cause it had, To that whole myriads set, and from the riven Volcanic precipices quick detach Such pond'rous rocks the Night nigh buried lay When Lucifer o'er the aerial waste 160 Borne on his seraphim, with thunderbolts His frenzied eyes threat'ning as well restrained ; To swift perdition living lightnings drove Timiel scorch'd up, over the smoking sides

104 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Dash'd with ring down where Night in spasmy state Stretch'd stark ; she shriek'd to see her Author there Reviving, and in lamentable plight Clutch'd him convulsively : so one near drowned Grasps a deliv'rer to the crowded bank Of the deep river turning. 170 Whilst these passed In the dim distance visible appeared A charioteer remorseless lashing on His flying gryphons, his slight body bent For haste upon the hindmost twelve their backs ; That sight that Agnate watch'd wishing the goads And their appliance sharper ; Elis ne'er Witness'd such speed as theirs ; Plegon and Eous, Pirois and (Ethon thund'ring down the vault Western .when he Clymene bore the god 180 Of Day threw down the reins were slow ; as soon As seen he greets : whilst explorating on Far in advance adventured the first Of all the cohorts on that errand sent, As on he drove close to the wall of heaven A marv'llous gate he found, " Fast shut," said he, " It is, if I may judge unto this day Ne'er open'd:" he. Scarce credible the tale ;

IN HEAVEN. 105 No one not Lucifer suspected that 190 The wall had gate : what purpose \ so he mused, Nothing external ; if I choose beyond The rampart to expatiate I plunged Into real randomness ; O mystery deep ! Thought he, and whilst he thought a gen'ral shout Heralds another in the dense inane Antipodal, his passage made so swift They said he bred no shadow : to the first Discoverer he confirmation brought ; He also found set in the jasper frame 200 Of those huge bulwarks, " Gate that still defies Description," so cried he, " swift though my gryphs Sudden they stopp'd so short when that grand view Upon them burst far in advance from out This chariot I was flung : " one ask'd if road As beaten they had seen but neither that Thought to observe. Now this invited fear — Fear that Jehovah even then a-forth Was sallying with his armies them to take 210 By sage surprisal ; hope that since longwhile They came not they would never, whilst ingress Denied as yet was possible by that means : Complacent then as trusting to destroy

106 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH That barrier unto their Chief they look For his opinion which with theirs agreed Gladly his regents found ; nor he delayed, Over that peopled space came instant change With his commandment, "Up, now gods! now up Your standards, and the En'my in his den 220 By his own secret pathway let us seek." Like tempest shaken forests was the sound Of preparation; terrible the tramp Of those tenanciers passing from that scene Of maddest impotence : like swollen stream — Like Oronok by hurricanes fed — full At all his sources, they the Chaos shook Eddying their gonfalons, the uncouth beasts Rolling as roll gnarled enormous elms Torn up in the career and driven along 230 In the chaf'd scouring scurf; regions they ploughed In passing to the roots advancing so Scarce were the wing when all the rest arrived Unto their object — that saw Lucifer Smitten with admiration now first time, That rich-wrought portal, lustrous pearl entire With frontispiece magnificent ; Edfou Pride of ^Egyptian kings — where sphynxes sate Guarding the gorgeous entrance, to some slave

IN HEAVEN. 107 From Abyssinia less astonishing ; 240 Or that grand door of Luxor which shut in Veil'd Isis from the vulgar : graven on The transom shone in a most royal style An untranslateable, " Judah!" read they And throbbing thought erasure soon to make ; No speck disfigur'd that divinest proof Of the great Architect, through all the turns Of fretwork the most intricate no line Betray'd an incapacity, where touch Slightest produc'd the necessary effect, 250 Or where the boldest chiselling was required 'Twas passing perfect high within the wall Proportionally set by fair degrees Ascending (like that tower on Sennaar's Plain Which God came down to see,) as truly chosen The compass wide so that the chariot of The Sovereign King of Heaven with thousands square Had ample passage found, or host enough Even for Lucifer's, — he sick'ning sore Then turn'd, from point to the far distant point 260 Severely scanning ; all the breadth and length Of his immense artilleries he saw Drawn ordered ; so formidable they Appear'd vain Hope he calFd — ne'er called in vain

108 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH If with sincerity ; in semi-cirque Convergent to that portal they were wheeled Innumerable, servitors in rank Ten to each engine, chosen for their size Cyclopean and expert as those who forged The noted thunderbolts : thus close arranged, 270 He with no longer pause precipitates The long'd-for signal, each his torch applying Same time out out it rushed a bodied Ruin Resistless with, O Queen ! such deaf ning roar Th' inventor was confounded, fire and flash Eclipsing the whole firmament, the heights Wrapping in shaggy shade, or gone the whole To an infernal wreck spires, pinnacles, And portal, wall, and all, — for hailing, down Enormous comets with a crash descend, 280 Back too upon a high sharp-crested wave Oceans of lava drove involving those The foremost rebels with the train advanced, Rudest disorder rul'd as these urg'd back Down-treading the posterior, millions swept Far distant ; such as timely on the wing Escap'd scarce safe, and many frighten'd faint Fell actual in : appalling was the scene, Whole squadrons from their growling gorgons — mad,

IN HEAVEN. 109 Unhors'd lay perishing beneath their feet ; 290 Had they been charged their senseless pride were less Abas'd as some sharp cries conclusive proved, Those The Undying Worm mortally stroke Such shrieks refrain'd whilst writhing as a snake Disbowel'd ; thus unto their cost they proved The thirsty tools they play'd with, 'gainst their throat Retributively drawn instead of God's ; So 'tis with treason since it first began Sooner or late : rebellow'd then the heavens, The seas serenest wrinkled, the abodes 300 Of all the gods were shaken ; from their halls Th' inhabitants rising from the banquet sped, From the myrtillian bowers, the manner'd meads, The mountains ; every one within the twelve Circles of Paradise — their starry wings Upflung in prevalence together, thronged The wide-spann'd courts of God mounting such steps Upon his Everlasting Throne as ne'er Before archangels trod, their golden lyres Unheeded, their right hands as well uplift 310 In solemn conjuration, crying loud, " O Thou the angels' life ! unseen because No creature can behold Thee and endure The vision of Thy glory ; now incline

110 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Eternal ! to Thy servants where Thou sitteth Solemn within alone the God of all The gods ; O hear us ! unto Thee we fly Thou Hearkener from that unseemly, strange, Indescribable noise : Mysterious One For ever solitary thron'd within 320 Immensity ! O let the space between Thee God and these Thy angels — lowly bowed, Be shorten'd or the distance to the gate Of heaven whence the revolters threat so loud Greater we we conjure Thee : Undisturbed, Unruffled One ! a fear upon us comes Unbearable ; reveal ! distinct descend From Thine so high an exaltation, or Divinity ! most gracious lift us up Wherein Thou livest manifest : High God ! 330 Rule for our hope in act that — if not wrath Shall judgment deal unto thy foes to their Dismay, O Lord ! Lord ! Lord ! " Thus they begirt Importunate around, their voices deep Invoking vengeance : on adoring knees Bent simultaneous one alone remained Of the petitioners upon his feet Their representative ; Michael was he

IN HEAVEN. 1 1 1 The great archangel who before declared 340 Unto the then-rememb'ring suppliants war Avenging theirs ; awful look'd he the while Th' Almighty sate in silence, on the ground Fix'd his regards, his hands together palmed, Cov'ring with careful wings his failing feet ; JSTor God denied ; from out the empyrean Wherein He shrin'd, through all the more than gold Sapphirine domes high vaulted, round the walls Of crystal, o'er the turquois floors, apast Diamonded balustrades, and polished doors — 350 O'erstud with azure gems high glittering, vast Pillars and obelisks — shaking the whole Great globed cupolas, the aisles, and all The bastion'd recesses from the base E'en to the glowing towers, articulate forth Assenting answer comes, " Go Michael — now Prince of archangels, Gloriel, Hadriel, An equal number unto them oppose Outside our battlements, asserting there The right Supreme : and plagues of fire and flood 360 And fury — in your right usurping, fall On Lucifer on his infatuate host." God said, the heavens all tremble all the while ; His angelry most reverendly then

112 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Casting their crowns before Jehovah down, Sung, " King Eternal, Righteous, Just and True ! To Thee be honour, praise, dominion, power : We laud, we magnify Thy Holy Name Who mad'st the Round in space and all therein Similitude of Glory : Genitor 370 From everlasting to e'erlasting King ! Dominion Thine without an end, O Thou Who judgest all things we Thy sceptre own God of the just, Thou Light of lights, before All worlds in highest bliss supremely throned, To whom alike the past, the present is, And the to come : Omnipotent art Thou, Omniscient, Omnipresent, Infinite, And Absolute ; above all height, all thought Thy most divine beatitude ; amen." 380 Thus those blest blessed join'd 'till heaven rung Again, and Michael sounding all his host Immortal marshall'd for the great conflict, Impatient all to vindicate the cause Of outrag'd Majesty ; radiant also Hadriel rose ; Gloriel the Sovran voice Heard and as soon prepar'd : so Athens once Assail'd, scarcely they waited arms to don Snatching the handiest ; from their feasts, their games,

IN HEAVEN. 113 Their sacrifices rushing garlanded 390 To battle, like Eunseus thrown aside His wreath Nyssean : to the complement Beyond the royal warrant unto them Uriel spoke of some futural field An opportunity theirs with like result Promis'd their brethren : thus — the self-same day The skies resounded, and through that grand gate — Swung back upon the hinges, throngs were poured Thrones, powers, dominions, virtues, princedoms with Spread signs and ensigns — thousands fan the airs 400 Imblaz'd, chiefest the sign to Michael far Flaming o'er the abrupt beyond the wall Embattled thick : when king Darius met, Thus Alexander with his men appeared As half-expos'd, a sword, breastplate, and helm Well-nigh their total furniture, so these To Lucifer his mediate time employed Re-organizing. Thus those armies stand Confront; unquenchable of hate the one, 410 Horror the other, — not that horror which Men but good angels feel, unlike the two As men and angels : so the Sabines met i

114 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH The ravishers, of Romulus ; so Tell The Austrian. Now between them yawn'd short space The rebels porting their inventionings At heaven's incens'd ; determining so in The forming fight their dreadful arms to use With such advantage that once more they breathe 420 The od'rous groves of nard, re-earning there — As promis'd their lord Paramount they should, Their forfeit heritage, addition theirs Incalculable all God's gods o'ercome. Thus with a mutual will those angels turn To battle, rank'd and banded : clashing all Their brassy shields the reprobate the din Of war provoking, with loud shouts they vex — Distract, at the same time the war-whoop raised : So yell'd the Sioux, the Hurons when they rushed 430 Blood-thirsty forth : over the narrow edge Dividing, and in proud parade the rest Hosting came on; hideous they join'd the shock The universe acknowledging with groans How painfully 'twas felt, nor angels few As half-amaz'd themselves they found well met In that wide onslaught: for sometime the two

IN HEAVEN. 115 Kemain'd in doubt of the tremendous clash, Then with recoil broad space asunder drove Stern-eyeing ; presently again the forced 440 Truce spurning they all violate, Contempt And Frenzy infinite at wildest work With Destiny distrusting : thus ending As oft renewing with increas'd uproar And re-collision, light and lightning gushed Continually forth out into space Illuminate the corners most remote ; Then one, Phornicorash the first was done To death ; O Muse eternize ! Tonoros Who from him wresting a prodigious sword 450 Cleft through his helm, his skull ; deadly the stroke, The wound, his eyeballs start, the nervures snap, Down to the ground he falls, his plate and mail With heavenly ichor hued : so from a vase Upon the sand the precious wine is lost ; Before him now there indistinctly swim His failing pulses, at the heart he feels Unwonted icy, his transparent skin Exudes a clammy sweat, then from his mouth A spirit dabbled in his blood went forth 460 Like that one Shakespeare draws by Clarence seen : As when Amphiar'aus unexpect i 2

116 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Confronted Pluto Lucifer like him Started afraid of such an one deformed Crying, "Death!" and he in his own person sped — For Death was there, gender'd amidst the heaps Of slain already putrid basilic-brimmed ; A-forth came he with whity wings, wall-eyed ; Rising in might ruling the glairy ghosts Swarming — shaggs, sea gulls, kites, and gornets o'er 470 The king of birds ; or if of biform beasts, Jackals, hysenas, cats — serpented-tressed They clutch'd the fingers and bestrid rav'ning The carcases close watching if he saw, Their claws exploring for the inward parts By him as yet untouch'd, or chance-like left. Then as a princedom ruling, Azazeel Upon the flank of nearer Nisroch fell So sudden that the bitter dust they lick Ten thousands and ten thousands ; thousands more 480 Struck with a panic unto present flight Like shadows take, to them the boundless void Seem'd cabin'd as with wings at utmost stretch They vanish'd in the distance ; on himself His lost artill'ries turn'd Destruction counts By millions glorying resolved on more, He flapp'd his flabby wings as oft he heard

IN HEAVEN. 117 The thickning thunder, breath'd as deep he could And vap'rous rose tip-toed to see what then After the clearing clouds ; ere the survey 490 And reck'ning could be made the midnight mists Resuming, down confus'd o'erpower'd he fell Instant to rise again o'erjoy'd, again ; There baleful Battle in a whirlpool caught And rampt Resolve together frantic fought : Clio, declare ! upon the earth as time (Proportion'd to the fleeting life of man,) They reckon full one hundred of our years Which yet upon the horologe of heaven Twice round the circle the long minute hand 500 Barely describ'd, those rebel legions that Reverse withstand : so in the Polar seas Shoals of leviathan ; or those they call Grampii amongst the hemming icebergs rage Harpoon'd : but the forlornest effort theirs Driven back whence Nisroch rul'd, he with a shout Which all the armies heard last essaying, on Astride his dragon swept ; over the slain God-like he drove : so Agamemnon king Of men rose up and fought when Zeus gave 5 1 0 The signal ; Azazeel retreating then Such as remain'd unharm'd came numbers up

118 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH In whose determin'd looks promise shone forth, These down upon the holy angels like A deluge swept ; that princedom like a rock Repelling in a ruining retort Retorts well-aim'd whole legionaries gored With grisly gaps ; the thrilling steel transpierced Or maces crush'd their bones ; torrents of blood Spouted were then as wav'd the seethed sword 520 Forceful, or fledg'd the shaft, or wielded well Down came the club, the glitt'ring cutlass, or The visionary steel : his armies down Trodden or falling lo ! the regent flees His banner sav'd : as from a frightful dream One rous'd a dagger at the moment sees Ready to strike him dead at Nisroch then Lucifer look'd ; up, up dilating he — With passion pang'd, went forth anew the sign Of battle giving, trampling down as mire 530 Resistance, in his stormy strength unmatched Apparently, whilst — like a scorpion stung To desperation at his side still fought Indomptable that potent with such feat Of arms as few but him that day could boast. With whirlwind wasteness too Resentment raged As well on high — sunless but burning bright

IN HEAVEN. 119 With the collision of the iron wings, And dark'ning darts which vaulting overflew Constant; there the chimsericals also 540 With beaks and talons fought, making at each Warrior as he approach'd, but these no power Finding they scream'd, swimming in giddy mode Mad, wild, malignant, inarticulate For fury, racking one another's joints Oft unaware, indignant, glaring worse If possible than the envenom'd sprites Or spectres intermix'd and now swollen fat With marrow : Glaucus when that herb he eat Transform'd to no one such ; no such one that 550 Sea-monster by the angry god despatched To scare ungrateful Troy : thus there they met The warrers mix'd dividing for himself Through boiling seas of shapeless depth, and oft Whole legions in disastrous sort would fall On those engag'd beneath (as water-spouts When on the wav'ring waves wrack-rent they come,) Strewing the combatants : many withdrew Aside as done to death, yet more remained Than tongue can tell tameless as hurricane, 560 As restless, in their dark career revolved Perpetual round, contending eagerly

120 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH With Death as if indeed for him they craved To cram his mouthful maws : millions more Phantoms like Death came forth, in livid skins Corpse-like endued, cold, hollow, blue their cheeks — If cheeks they were, and horn'd if they were eyes Like those the lizards that have balls as large As are their heads but eyes as small as beads : Sharp as the Frosts — when over Iceland reigns 570 The moon the lakes unto the bottom froze, They flitted, but administ'ring to those Lucifer lost ; before the holy they Dispers'd as fogs, or altogether ceased Existence : these when even Death or chanced Or dar'd confront invisible he fell. Then Michael — in full blaze his signal flung Out on the skies, to order summon'd all The gods, for gods they were ; fast as their wings Could bear them from those fields of disarray 580 Multudinous they gather'd : silence ruled Whilst the archangels through the radiant ranks Threw the observing eye ; triumphant gods They look'd, uninjur'd from the rival powers, Before their brigandines habergeons And others vauntful undisparag'd they Victorious stood, their sinews joints and bones

IN HEAVEN. 121 Invulnerable were, Omnipotence Having ordain'd th' imperishable worth Of goodness, by as necessary law 590 To evil rawness, rottenness, relax, This to the sorrow wofully was proved By myriads — of their brittle bodily Angelic forms to nakedness of soul Depriv'd and sore afflicted far beyond Expression, utter done : in master-mail Those angels shone armed — the trusty shield Of faith, the temper'd sword of God's bless'd spirit, The helmet of salvation theirs, to these What were the gifts th' Olympians bestowed 600 On Hercules % the suit Minerva gave, The bow and arrows, sword, great club of brass, And shield, Apollo, Hermes, Vulcan, and His father gave % these diff 'rently devised Each to the wearer's rank, but equal all In strength, not one who from the portal passed Forth was found missing ; but against the foe Harmless that sword, each angel snatch'd or wrest Offensives, them so using none had reached Their plumes — more brilliant than the Owyheeian 610 From glossy feathers excellently made, Or the Circassian's boast.

122 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Dread through the dark And chasmy air the three archangels all Their hugest columns irresistible Roll'd regular ; like billows in the Bay Biscayan : when the midnight Winds complain Amongst Siberian pines such sound make they Advancing ; or Cocytus stern-reproved Gainsaying Ghosts : the adversaries close 620 Mortal, each mighty to his utmost bent Strain'd in that new encounter : feller then Fought the rebellious, with a science true As gods could use it who invented had The actual elements ; they smote, passed, met, Rose, bent, or mov'd aside with agile grace, Wit, and undying strength : so afterwards The Solymeeans fiercest of mankind But they were conquer'd : thus — long while in vain When one to Acarynthimos opposed 630 His weapon dropping down was instant done, And from that gap through the hard-yielding lines Won he exult ; feebly the archers then — Their quivers spent, the slingers they oppose The eager millions close together rushed Behind that valiant leader slaying as Spirits.

IN HEAVEN. 123 Then Zarael, Togarmah smote And smote his dragon, joy ! eternal Gloom The angels saw close np his blasting eyes 640 And shroud the show ; Baal bewilder'd saw Whilst they of harness spoilt him, waging fell Resistance ; his most falsely fiction'd front On fire, his shield flung down, his passage marked Like a broad zone : then Phrymour at him thrust ; Right through his side upon a gorgon came His tranchant blade and to the monster's heart Sped — through the omoplate, extinct he fell, Whilst Baal like a bull a hunter spears — The armies of Togarmah scattering gone 650 Like buffaloes through the Savannah when Their trusted foremost falls, though drench'd in gore Call'd, " To your standard ! our immortal hate This shameful scene forbids; th' encumber'd ground Were verily with adversaries strown Instead if half our strength were put ye gods ! In earnest forth," Uproar resuming drowned His voice Stentorian Apollyon Immediately engag'd ; as if Wrath now Really awaken'd, and the militants 660 Trifled no longer, then ran riot Hope With Fear, whilst Madness shriek'd their change to 6

124 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Sped barbed darts, impetuous lances than The fam'd Pellsean stronger, or those long Beams with vast labour from the iron-trees Cambodian shaven ; wrathful faulchions so Dext'rous they segments seem'd of sacred fire Perpetual ; and avenging bars and bolts Glancing like light, disks of whole mountains wrought Down-crushing all they met ; and gauntlets clashed 670 Eesounding ; scourge on scourges ; shields on shields, Shock-broke, 'till murd'rous Rout for pity came Nor worse Perdition her rough raven wings Wagg'd ever and enchantments horrible Brew'd so, the airs they momentarily Grew thick and irrespirable, death-birds — Fram'd like the Flinder-mice, with deathful glee And Terrors like proportion'd round : thus they — Fiercer than dogs-Kalmuc, or cub-robb'd bears, Or out-brav'd ounces, driven as dirt and dung 680 Before the ploughshares wholly overturned, God's force acknowledg'd crying out that none But God had like to that : then hippogryphs Leaping unfurl'd the inexperienc'd web Wanting to fly ; these from the nostrils and Mouth pouring, as the heaped autumnal leaves Rapt from some hollow by a wandering wind,

IN HEAVEN. 125 In middle air at disadvantage took By lightning fell abroad ; for those who rode — Their armour fused, these all strangely reached 690 The surcharg'd ground by millions far worse Expos'd than ever, worse subdued nor flight Nor feat for them — unstrung : Apollyon — His ample count'nance fix'd, oft times advanced For the deliverance ; reared aloft Bore he heroically through the throngs Ready to fall — as swathes before the scythe In sultry summer-day ; lancing he drove Aside his thousands and with mainful might Impetuous pass'd arresting as he passed 700 Their hostile tramp ; once he alone repelled Whole legions in his stronger strength put forth Entirely : O if the fallen fatuous power Like that possess what attributes are His Who made them ! then — as if a god from the Walhalla sent the Amazonians charged, So he whole squadrons reeling to and fro Drunk-like : now with the plectrum ! Lydian airs Calliope ! were Homer's ; iron strings Twang to his memory as sweating blood, 710 Over the hills of slain Apollyon goeth A ghastly train behind whose homes are flesh

126 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH And bev'rage blood : outlooking whence he ruled That war, the Arch-abettor him beheld Applauding ; Clamour upon Clamour rose Inextricably fused, rallying here A chieftain, there the lavish legions locked Or trodden helpless down ; the Lightnings flashed Growl'd Thunder purple-black as unassailed Long time that potent plagued, to Slaughter giving 720 In thought all then he saw : Tydeus once— With more success, the Thebans mostly slain ; So too Hippomedon : invuln'rable Seeming, Death he encounter'd scornfully Defied his best, sating his eyes superb As often as from bold exertion ceased, He look'd rampious around, his pathway straight Left vacant ; none could quell him, Sapharon Attempting like a thunderbolt he rushed Over his body aiming arlablasts 730 Against that person but aside fell they Ent'ring the ground full ninety fathoms deep : Thus more than strong whereto the haughty step He turn'd the stream of battle there was stemmed, Yet gen'rally it flow'd that unmatched chief Sure undermining : Ekriel likewise Did tameless things beyond all human reach

IN HEAVEN. 127 Of thought ; no cherubim more potent found In that day's fighting : careless pride or scorn Was his the while ten thunders in his hand 740 God-full he pois'd ; gallant his spear he shook And stalk'd elate : so some Georgian prince — Fresh from the harem, thinks to turn the tear Of battle with one arm ; reckless he bounds Amidst and seems the god, the God of War Incarnated in beauty, friend and foe Admiring, nay by sympathy compelled To love him ; thus this one as half-beloved, Half-fear'd, fairest of form he hurled things Shiv'ring to see and when he hurl'd the Air 750 Went "whisht" so far, so fleet, against the wall Of heaven it dash'd dead ; or suns detaching Sent on before so that this day they drive Comets — (unclaim'd when God this side hot hell To order call'd ; hence the distress of men Of nations when ill-omen'd they gyrate Return well-founded was 'till Christ shut up Hell in The Bottomless and chain'd the Sons Of Wrath for ever down :) his matric'd mail Hung pealing peals, from out his causal casque 760 Sparkles like diamonds from Golconda, or Philosophers strange stones, by millions shed :

128 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Yet, notwithstanding rout on routed rout Grew wider, Sapharon and others — baulked Like him a moment, rising pav'd their paths With dead and dying ! Fright thenceforth their feet Attending down the lesser standards they Eepeated tore, their bearers overthrown Loading the blasts with execrable words : Thus o'er continual din frequent arose 770 The sounds of anguish ; as if craft nocturn From th' American against Montreal Directed, on Ontario opposed By Britishers and nr'd a-down the lake Drifting over Niag'ra one by one Went headlong, each lost crew their shrillest shrieks Forth-sending as the fatal Fall they made. Thus dwindled their hack'd hosts despite such acts As startle Truth ; their rough resistance less And less until where disadvantage pressed 780 The heaviest a wide battalion turns Deflecting on the back : so the great dyke Of Flanders in the night-time gradual gives The damage ever-length'ning whilst the Villes Rush to the breach the burgomasters first In act to stop it though impossible ; And these two mighties rallying quick as may

IN HEAVEN. 129 Spurring their dragons to the gaping gap Rashly resisted ; in that bristling space Vengeance confronting presently her own 790 Made the presenters, o'er the delug'd plain Victorious : rueing — their red ensigns saved With difficulty proud Apollyon And Ekriel to Lucifer retreat, — His thund'ring mace he lift, Gog, Magog ne'er Look'd half so ferine as that Anarch then The whilst at both he glar'd ; thus fellowship Is to the bad no longer than their ends Mutual are serv'd : burning with his reproach In his wrath's-worst — repressing it the space 800 From off his living- seat he swiftly passed (All the surrounding gods grew white to see Backing through all the being,) mightier than The mightiest as the mighty are above Men, scatter'd squadrons as they fled ruthless He slew, thrice wildering the sight of all As fellest that had been ; the conq'rors pause Whilst he relentless pour'd oceans of blood As Chaos should be slak'd ; Pygmaean like Th' affrighted angels look'd — like those beyond 8 1 0 The Bacchic Nysa in the haunted grove Where Mab and Oberon their courtlies keep k

130 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH When some swarth savage unexpected falls Upon them all their trains, their trump'ry made Of cobwebs, bladed swords, and moted spears Despairful dropp'd ; behind him Ruin shot Her arrowy glances, seal'd the overthrow Of all he met ; Eternal Death — his strides Scarce equalling, with all his rav'nous jaws Choke full : so the sworn son of Hamilcar 820 So too the Maccabee, but premature That time was that Arch-trier, but waste work For his own en'my doing: mad he seemed The whilst the coward rebels with requite He visited ; but thus in some degree Order return'd Fear in worse shape returned To scare those stricken millions, thus compelled Unto their duty ; first one legion halts And then another, rather to endure God's angels than his more tremendous wrath 830 Profuse outpouring : on that face no one Living dar'd pause 'twas like his mighty mind Too awful to be studied ; what had been Before perform'd by all his potent powers Sunk into insignificance compared With his achievement ; every time his arm He lifted all the chaos the effect

IN HEAVEN. 131 Dreading attended, in its swift descent Thousands to nothing driven : so at the touch Of angry Winter moths, grasshoppers, flies 840 All disappear ; his pinions to their length Measureless flung his winged heels as well Accelerating, thus they fade away By myriads — nor were missing, — soundless seas Own no decrease ; those to Togarmah, all The principalities to Msroch, all The cherubim Apollyon once ruled With Ekriel, and the dominions owned By baffled Baal, from his sand-like sum Scarce wanted ; that saw he with flushing face, 850 Inconsequent he argued such a loss Nay, advantageous, the worthless dross Purg'd from his armies off: then he his arm Stay'd nor reluctant and bade shell and trump Blow instant to the charge. A gonfalon Which to a President of provinces Belonged they attempt ; Apollyon first Wrecking, then Nisroch, on they bore and towered Heading six bands — like the Thessalian fixed 860 Of purpose : how they wasted ! militing It well those louring leaders, broad in front k 2

132 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Opposing, overcoming with high hand Those who supported or who durst oppose Vigor divine to that which hellish hazed So long their painted plumes they shook and hurled Such as Gath's giant never thought to lift, Even in dream : they rag'd ; as Alcinous When Dejanira by young Lichas sent JSTesseus's robe enduing ; or as gods 870 Annihilating (did not God prevent,) The whole creation : thus excelling they, The Parcse round, or such as Parcse seemed Tipping portended spears, or barbing barbs, And other nameless arms of which the like We know not, hissing solid iron clouds Sent through the yielding air ; then dire Alarm — With putrid corses link'd — high o'er his head His scarlet armlengths flung, leap'd maniac up And aim'd ; like vultures that upon the vans 880 Of war flit close anticipating ere Sunset a bloody feast, a ghostly crew Shad'wy pursue, and o'er those warrers wave Impatient wings as if their eyes they eat Then then or tore them out : with hurried steps Omonoros undaunted follow'd by His laden legions met ; over the heaps

IN HEAVEN. 133 They dash'd in cubic phalanx brandishing The most redoubted arms, and with such dire Greeting receiv'd all the rebellious powers 890 Incontinently pause, Nisroch driven down Dead whilst his death-stroke dragon — like the horse Of Pterelas, at large with terror back Destroying fled ; then Thunder open'd wide With all the pomp of Thunder ; Lightning shone Unequall'd through the showers of crimson blood, And bolts all unextinguishable redHot hiss'd ; the hideous races pallid turned Their face from heaven with all their tilted thoughts On opp'site space, numberless others joined 900 Enlarg'd, black furies from the fire, the flame, Undying come — breeding with one another Horrors additional ; the field burnt blue Reflecting, where they mated mountains rose Like Hecla in irruption blasting all Their retchings reach'd, whilst with a cruel joy The fleering phantoms on the guarded groans, Of the rebellious assiduous tend ; So felt the witch Canace ; the scowling sphynx Lapping bil'd blood intent to lose no drop ; 910 Whilst the wail-worms of conscience — like the green Adders of the Carnatic, through the skin

134 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Appearing wriggled round and some, some One — Or like the claw'd sea-cat, or what beside No poetaster wots, with brassy glare Was busy breaking up each fibrous heart. Now in the air the rebels sorely pressed As nearly undefended — for nor helm Nor guard of mail were their's but merest robes Of lightest texture, happly some a targe 920 Almost as light as useless, overcome ; Such too as had the seraphim escaped, And those the snatch'd artilleries had spared — Or rather reach'd not their chimseras swift, These re-arrang'd afresh, Adramelec's And Moloch's added — fled : Calliope ! Thy faithful glass presents the lagging Muse Doubting description : harpy mingled beasts, Gorgons with harrowing voice, and anguish'd roc's — Their clenched teeth at horrid work, each roc — 930 Like Atlas wing'd, a-fiedge, and spirituals — So them to call, far bigger than that one Biggest on Earth which the old Brocken haunts ; Eld eagles bred on Imaiis, or such As Australasia own'd — of which the learned Examining their bones, astounding things Unto the world relate, — such, and beside

IN HEAVEN. 1 35 Imaginings of men long held sublime Of the elv'd earth-born broods, or sought by knights In Teuton times, or those more monstrous mysts 940 Moslemen fear in Eblis' halls, grotesque Are all with ours compar'd ; hill upon hill They rose audacious animated with New fury, and half-witted hatred nursed Impregnate ; on the right, the left they formed Like goggling giants by the giants got Their propagators dwarfs ; they gloam'd, they glid Gangrening, or compos'd God's vengeance dared In person of his champions ; hov'ring high, Like Pindus, Athos, or like Eryx and 950 The Appenines all added, they appear Huger, like polypi the diver saw In gulf of Smyrna, or Spitzbergers think Of scraggy Kraackens, or the caked clouds Unto some maniac who believes them fiends Sent for his sinful soul ; they spoke and then It tingled through the auricles unto The brain none understanding, as one time The friend of the Uzzean Job when (dark Fall'n on him) he was question'd, in a voice 960 More terrible than the artilleries "Which — rattling or incubating, that field

136 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Of battle shook, all — but the Throne of God : These then the Holy smote adding the limbs Unlawful to the lawful, as if the Rhinoceroses, batrachides, specked Evet-like saurs and crocodiles which earth Hath, altogether, own'd since time began Unto the present, were collected there Cut, slash'd, and slaughter'd in a common heap 970 With all the horses half-expir'd inmix'd : Through them were channels chas'd like those great gaps Aurora through the matin shades will force Resistless ; Solyphron his dazzling helm Topp'd like the train which Argus's ex-eyes For the original confess'd, fourfold More waving than the Ida queen e'er owned, Millions of beamy crests as proud as his (Beside him) following, together drove Heaps upon heaps confounded ; woful massed 980 At length together in forlornest sort They hew'd, spear'd, spok'd them down ; the harpies last Sustaining fled, Adramelec behind With matted Moloch, in their hellish hands Swords, hangers, maces, bolts, spears, arrows, stones Countless they held and us'd, thrust, sped and flung Ferocious, — so cast comets scatter fire,

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IN HEAVEN. 137 Frost, rain, drought, deluge, pestilence and pock In their retreat through all the loaded spheres They — speeded, traverse ; and had these prevailed 990 For thee, O heavenly Maid ! I vainly called, Or for yon vaulted dome uplift the eye Enquiring ; wreaths of amaranthine flowers And asphodel for yew, and nettles, and Wort-everlasting chang'd ; thy robes — as white As Zembla snow black as Illyrian pitch, As were the firmament, O blessed God ! Beneath thy servant's feet ; angels ! around List'ning commemorative chaunt, where then Your cordons, crowns, your palaces o'erwrought 1000 Praxitilean, and the Fortnate Isles % Silv'ry surrounded where sometimes we bathe In flower-reflecting waves ; the rosy hills, Forested mountains, vales with violets vest'd, Palm-groves, nepenthe, all the sweets of heaven 1 We oft enjoy : great Empress ! for whose ear The chaunting, where thy bard 1 Adramelec Unnumb'd of soul — though thousands 'gainst him urged, With all his might retorted arms more famed Than were the Gnossian, whistling, whirring, broad, Bristling and bloody, ten- times pointed; these [1010 The angels intercepting all back then

138 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH They drove : with razed crest, corse, baldric, thongs, Belts, cuishes, greaves, cincture, robe rift to shreds About him, helmet bulg'd, cuirass indent All over still Adramelec so fought Some angels they fell back : as well Moloch Now high, now low, skirting the victors with Perfect address, blazing their faulchion blades As blaze great suns in the sur-lunar skies, 1020 And far they scatter'd wheresoe'er they burst Like deadly bombs. — Oh, what a fearful might! The fight continuing as they went, the air Deserted as for ever on so far Into the limitless those adverse pierced. Whilst these are chas'd, below a myriad fall Afresh on wounded Baal's ; he upheld Still ordered implacable, " Disperse Tyrannicides!" cried he, " grip, gash them, hew The feudals down:" so said he follow'd up 1030 His precept to his most consummate bent, Though bath'd in blood and reeling with his wounds : So a grand monument half-ruined rears O'er a bombarded city as defying All : Of kniv'd Nisroch's there but few survived The incandescent hail : the angry Arch Unto Apollyon's and Ekriel's dealt

IN HEAVEN. 139 A special vengeance ; but those braves who fell Upon the meteor-flag they banded then In deadly opposition, from the sides 1040 Collapsing surfeit of such prowess they Bitterly prov'd as their impairment showed : Then Ephatreen engaged 'till gradually The whole on either side, chariot, horse, foot With all their flutt'ring banners in their place Levied came on ; all the rebelling thrones Arose affluent emulous each one To be the foremost in this last attempt Outrageous ; all the coasts outside those walls Of heaven in motion : so the Maelstroom from 1050 Smallest beginning when the flood runs up Between Logoden and the Island grows With violent rapidity unto Its irresistless might : the seraphim Were given to Pharnaspine, whilst Jenrosar, And Ophathron the powers commanded both Together ; the dominions Myttilon, And all the lesser angels : lo ! their names Upon a high triumphal arch in heaven Are written. 1060 To this theme Urania ! say Who dares the harp profane, or the Orphean

140 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Take 1 his worse fate than the torn Thracian's, or His who in the Eleian field fell : Muse ! Symphonious tune. Thus were those jarrers joined In sweeping battle, conquest in perspect To one and certainty of rich reward In God's great approbation, to the other Shame, rage, and death eternal: Conflict highest 1070 Assail'd then Haraphon's ; when Pelion on Ossa high pil'd Olympus storm'd Triton Though with his voice astonishing to flight He put the Giants no such shout made he As Haraphon and then the wrack came on, The rush, the clash, the pause, the retro-step, The gutt'ral groan that follow'd the first breath Of those who sufler'd : now appalling noise, And now appalling silence, Chaos with JEtnsean throes convuls'd, strange engin'ry 1080 Volleying counter-volley, dazzling cars Millions now visible the every spoke Now all invisible as if they flew And more, evanish'd : War then rattled back War in succession grave, and charge, recoil, Rally and rout, clash on preceding clash Followed ; but effectual to subdue

IN HEAVEN. 141 The Holy thought, the adversary he — Hardly esteeming hope of victory Possible, to resist: thus that twain throng 1090 Close press'd or parted with immortal scorn, And hue of cheek that none with paints like ours May dare attempt : as in the Tempest's teeth The braided Rainbow smiles appeared then God's angelry, so glorious their estate Shining the while on retributive task They were engag'd, — the privilege is this Of Virtue calm to ride the storm, to tread On asps, to kill them with unruffled brow, Thus whilst the Wicked wildly smote at them 1100 Smiling they thrust for God and his good cause Untroubled for th' event : thus hour by hour Which seem'd eternal, visibly the crowd Decreasing Care next then in realty Appear'd, grinding her gums, fixing her eyes As if she perish'd but her pulse crept on Yet still so slow, that it no measure hath Mortal : then from his feast, deepest Despair Like Himmel tower'd, alternate fits of rage And fear across his farcied flesh pursued 1110 Each other ; when he breath'd 't was like the breath Of Samiel fire-impregnated, and those

142 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Who suffer'd turn'd fore-token'd in the face Expiring : Death was with him 'stonying less Than that his minister who shook and shaped Himself perpetual half the circle round, Fiercer than he who held the Delphic plain Python ; lolling his tongue as oft he lanced Devouring thousands, terrified for flight Some turning, the Arch-gerent seeing they 1120 Dropp'd instant down and thus great gaps remained In the rebeller's squares ; the lightnings he Drunk up by oceans spouting them aforth From his inebriated eyes as whales Spout frantic — in commotion all the seas, The shores ; the axles of the chariots creaked As cumber'd or unhung, the rattling cars Stopp'd grinding, those who drove them down the reins Dropp'd but their steeds — no more to trace or bit Observant, petrifying lifeless grew; 1130 Wav'd then the sword no more, or wav'd the last Time shining ; blades than the Toledo more Sharp — sure unvalued to the ground were sent, Or scornful broken ; lifted bolts remained Unto the lifter, knotted maces failed In the intention, shafts abortive fell Like sleet inop'rative, or show'ry snow

IN HEAVEN. 143 Unfelt ; so this one figur'd, snakes for hair Fringed his face and o'er his bushy breast CuiTd bearding: so the deathless Fury looked 1140 Arming Adrastus with infernal ire : Eternal Death enhanced — as a tide That ebbs and flows oft times a day, so these O'er rocks, o'er hills, o'er vales, ensanguin'd swept, Or backward fell — as God's brave warriors fought Or stay'd the wearying hand : unto the skies They lifted up spasmodic, then a-down In drearer deepness fall'n prepar'd anew For slaughter ; — thus the battle, wheresoe'er The rebel ranks the eager angels met 1150 Continually flickering through all Their marked masses ; underneath their feet Writh'd millions irresistibly down-trodden, Whilst those withstood turn'd white, and Hate and Scorn Clasping fought desolate : so men have fought After their homes and hearths were utter gone. Then the slouch'd seraph Zabrash flapp'd his wings — As doth the condor o'er the lesser birds Peruvian, his pinions widely woofed As Victory's own : he with emotion none 1 1 60 May ever tell went forth ; aside, away He scatter'd as he plash'd in plate and mail

144 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Magnific ; labor'd light he rais'd around And so illuminated warr'd ; the Winds Kept festival, or with a hideous spasm Yielded to rain of fire that outward he Drove terribly before him whity-black, Alive and with'ring ; all the holy as He fought seem'd helpless, happy they beyond His arm prostrating ; he, impassion'd dared — 1170 As his co-regents had before him, all Those myriads rioting amongst them there Like Flame unchain'd, or the unpastur'd Deep, Or like the will-wing'd bird (unto the gods As Percnos known) when o'er the halved world From his aerie darting talon-armed With thunderbolts : as if renown bespoke Were his, intoxicate a thousand times Forcing he tramped through the files of war Stemming the ranks; once an entire cohort 1180 He pack'd like hinds at bay their antlers thought Inutile and their haunches sore a-sweat : So drove Pholeus ; so Pizarro drove Numbers ; disquietude on many seized When, lo ! he fell, and Darkness wrapping round Signall'd for succour, Haraphon promptly Quadrated sped, down-bearing all burning

IN HEAVEN. 14o With rage came he in his collected might On Michael's where that seraph senseless lay Smit to the death; those who had him hemm'd in 1190 Those armed terrors stood not, back they urged To sound of clashing swords unmeasur'd loud A million combating ; but they return With raking rout the rebels sore reversed Batter'd and broken, dashed dying down, Zabrash left far behind worse wounded by That rescue ; Haraphon with low'ring 'tempt, Foaming, — his baton raised, turn'd again Once more for his co-equal ; furious he Fighting came on; rung then resounding rims — 1200 Brass iron found such tongue Steropes ne'er From out his anvil drew, targe upon targe Concave, the binding adamant oft burst With the full shock, the diamond dashings ground Or natten'd, all the figurings as well ; Concussion of the arm left thousands termed For ever, but the angels — yielding, were Forced good league — such as they measure in The heaven for which the girdle of this world Nowise suffic'd ; the captive potent gained 1210 Back they disgorge like flurried flames from out A mountain flourish'd in the breaking sun. L

146 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Then rose th' archangel Michael swift as fire As fulgent sweeping on, Gloriel and Hadriel on either side; Chaos turn'd black, Night blacker them to see ; the phantoms rose From off the perishing like ravens scared From lifeless lions, and the dogs of War Howl'd as they rose to Death ; Despair — Death's-man, Ruin attend and all the hag-hair'd ghosts 1220 Cowring about them, gory-visag'd things Beside 'till now unknown the newt-like neck Lift up for wonder, and the gen'ral sounds Of battle shrink away : — nor these rose sole Fell Lucifer was heard blaspheming them, Their Sovereign Lord; then scarcely there the ground Their feet — like bronze of Corinth, touch'd as with A noble rage they pass'd, " Backslider ! thou The Lord rebuke," cried Michael, and upon Him fell, nor the Arch-agnate unaware 1230 Who smote unanimously at all three Check'd in career the armies, falling back The foremost from commotion of the clouds Whirling warning as with the lightning speed Now one now th' others at their rival rasped : " Low slaves!" cried Lucifer, " the Empery Of heaven is justly mine ; behold ! how vain

IN HEAVEN. 147 Slavish performances," with that he stroke Aside their equal blows : then Gloriel cried " Chargest thou this, thou criminal to us 1240 That we prefer our first condition'd good To thine of evil ] dismal be thy change To mis'ry self-deceiver and such woes As pass thy fellows ! " saying this to it Again they turn dreadfully, looking fierce — Fiercest defiance whilst their every charge The universal frame of matter shook : Upfiung their pinions their naked shapes And lineaments of majesty exposed Emblaz'd and supereminent — beyond 1250 Even the seraphs thought admiring all As much they dread as one was seen to smite The other so that it should be a writ Of vanquishment and irremediless doom ; Thus instantly a killing storm of stars Their strokes elicit, from their veins the vif Nectareous needing oft as they recurred, Determining continual as they fought Ever the more, the more, immoveable The one as th' other, each successful for 1260 His own immortal nature, oft as harmed Self-rais'd to puissance higher : where they waged l 2

148 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH A plashy fen soon was, nor any dar'd Seek other place, unintermitting all Faces to face : whilst yet this doubtful strife — For it was doubtful, lasted stifled sighs Were often heard from either army sent Such time the foemen smote as butchery Inevitable carried; once a shout The rebels rais'd expectant of a sweep 1270 That promis'd sure destruction, through the air It went so certain ; Michael then that blow Shunning return'd and with so good effect Lucifer stagger'd : so an earthquake took The tower of Pisa, or that ancient tower In Mona — Cherphil though it not sufficed For perfect overthrow : th' engagement thence Unequal and more horrible with swords Frequent they stabb'd, when Lucifer off guard All unaware a woful wound received 1280 The faulchion flying from his faithless hand ; Then Chaos, slipping leash in bodied forms Than Hades' hound the triple-headed, or Those which begat on Sin within her womb Subsisting on her bowels kennell'd, worse, All the rebellious occupying in wake, Instant arose : so Ismenos, so rose

IN HEAVEN. 149 Also the river Xanthus all their beds ♦Uncovering : serenely these the three Archals observing whilst from off the feet 1290 Those myriads urg'd, down their wrath-weapons fell Upon them seething Death ; Night too that scene Instinctive sought; like the Cromyon sow, Phsea ; or like Euryale she rushed From all her confines ; in an ague she looked Frighten'd into a pale : the miscreant dames That into batten 'd bats themselves transform And through the Scythian wildernesses flit,— Spheno or Philogave less horrid are Than she that time sheath'd up into a shape 1300 With such a flashing — if not eye, instead ; Dismay came with her, stony as a stone, Elf-lock'd and gnawing — spitting out her tongues, Sunk down like Pisonses her evil eyes, Broke through the skin her bones, — upon the wings Of Night just like a vampire sits sate she Half-furr'd, wan, foul, aghast, and evermore Hung on unto her mother's dangling dugs Thrown over her smutch'd shoulders ; Terror twinned Minister'd frenzy with his hairy hand 1310 But not so long ; a radiant light from forth The Mount of God sped forth and chas'd the tin

150 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Afar with orient arms : so Phoebus Nox : The Holy then betaking to their swords To purpose put effectual, Wrath before Ravaging, Solitude as grim behind; Thus they upon the regal centre won Flashing continual up, blaze upon blaze Expir'd as they return upon their course By the artill'ries turn'd, for still were served 1320 A million, all the brutish beasts yet staunch Unto the rebels ; long their utmost force Thus they adventured, with might and main Borne charging down, scourging the pre-fac'd ranks, Their gay and glitt'ring robes dispread abroad Upon the lightning, grinding all the rock They trampled ; as they came great globulars From that conflict arose ling'ring a-while On high or whirl'd beyond ; (in after times These form'd what mortals call " the Milky Way," 1330 Or " Way of Light," o'erarch'd and studded thick With these bright scintillating sparks which stars Appear to some astronomers ;) alway Thus they received them in such orderly Phalanxes join'd many would fain desist And did reposing on their answer d arms. Then from the ground one wrenched a mountain stone

IN HEAVEN. 151 Hurling it quoit-like ; down it ponderous fell On Pharioch, Aspathyn — it was he Who hurl'd behind as quick, incredibly 1340 Hewing — cut through maintain 'd until the rest Of his leagued legion winning to his side Deforming fought ; thus at the end was broke That centre, many a ring concentric drove The inside out, planted the heavenly flags Instead the false, Destruction to surcharge Cramming damn'd Death : O ! evil time was there To Evil just outside the walls of heaven. Thus with avengement adz'd the angels doom Completing brought to narrower degree 1350 With deeds of glory ; Empire long had been Unbalanc'd, Hope extinguish'd, life alone Remaining unto that unvanquish'd crew With dismal disappointment ; but for this And Herod-hatred down their arms were flung And vaguest Void with their arrival wild : The odds increasing fast in fiendish fight Malign, on edge their teeth, their standards round Fought they ; with marble brow and studied step Pharnaspine then advanc'd his deep'ning eyes 1360 Fix'd on the ensign haught Togarmah owned ; Unutt'rable he look'd the charged ranks

152 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Supporting scatter'd welter'd thousands then O'erthrown confounded ; perilous his wayWon dizzying down he tore : Exampsal next Took nighted Nisroch's : Ephateen at length Had Haraphon's ; Jenysar, Myttilon Apollyon's and Baal's : Obazur Rent Ekriel's to rags the bearers cloven Down, the surviving regents that had owned 1370 With shatter'd arms and woful wounds abroad Sent fugitive. Now with the loss of that First ensign the proud Principal gone wild Precipitates himself right onward on His enemy ; before him none could stand On either hand driven back — like billows which A hull well-launch'd compulsive drives on heap, Heaven's warrers stay'd distrustful : blashing light Uttermost he put forth as Godhead, none 1380 Such prime e'er saw before — not when he smote At all the three archangels in what seemed Supremest mode : Aphorotine he met Reversing with Charthason to his aid Courageous come ; others that interposed Felt deadly : more than vain their seemliest swords Ompthos and Areon uplifted as

IN HEAVEN. 153 They saw his shadow, shiv'ring on pass'd he Invincible expressionless his scorn For such opponents though toparchs they were; 1390 Michael and his co-adjutors sought he : To meet long while they essay'd but like great Ships driving furious down propelFd aside By the embroiled waves, often they turned Oblig'd away when near or close at hand : Vainly his vagrants were undone it seemed If this the head remaining such sore sport Could make ; it was a myst'ry ; why not God Now from his own infinity come forth And since none others could Himself an end 1400 For ever make of the apostate sect ? In this the Author ! such the anxious thought : Exandus then a desp'rate effort made With those great godlies all together linked — Five mighties that to match five legions scarce For each sufficed, these his road bestrode ; Callous came he — aloft his head, his eyes, Despising such opposers as his hand Raising with twenty sullen thunders he Drove down upon them; rustling tumult then 1410 Was to those worthies as the lengthen'd mile They gladly wing'd aside, their pinions wide

154 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Derang'd, some feathers even as appeared Ruffled or shed. Thus supereminence Writ on his countenance — though dash'd with lines Expressive of a pain for what for whom Known best himself unto, whelm'd he aside Ten thousand thousand ; once the lustrous gate Of heaven reaching as if he alone Would enter : thus : no mythic tale of Mars 1420 Nor of allianc'd gods Roman or others Who fought within the limitary earth Name, this had field as wide as Chaos 's wide And arms befitting ; the Erynnys none Eound comparable : thus, most confident That day with gesture grand a second time Antagonists he sought as if hardly Any were worth him : the archangels fired As if within their eyes Almighty God Verily liv'd and look'd, their heart heav'd up 1430 To highest to a tempest lash'd the soul, Vengeance for their obedient — both his ears Sharpen'd to hear the least, mass'd magazines Of arms collected by him for this hour Priding he held black, baffling, brazzen arms Some reeking still the blood for he himself 1 1 ad proven every one ; thick missile showers

IN HEAVEN. 155 Girdled had he that ready were to fall, Fasces unbound and yet in his apt arms Together for occasion ready kept, 1440 And as he went three more than Lyssian bows He joined at the ends with twang that winged Unerring arrows ; over his haught head The likeness of a skin with tushed teeth Thrown grinning horrible ; nor Lucifer If unattended less, in clouding cloud Envelop'd, sparkling all his wings with eyes Deadliest dark, far far beyond his reach ; Steel too was his well tested, spear had he That through the bodies of a host at one 1450 Chance cast had pierced, and O ! beyond the stretch Of the imagination, arms beside Which he the Sovereign Power of Arms reserved Jealous unto himself, to me arms known But which for ever shall remain unknown To others lest the mere mere mention kill : Thus tow'ring he prepar'd for final fate Prodigious, plausible resolved — if God To conflict came as victor to survive Maugre the ill experiment with his 1460 Archangels : Horror guarded then, long strides Before them taking : level were their wings

156 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Flying as well impatient of delay, Carrying scoop'd shields — such as the sun appears To Oxmantown, forged of iron, brass And adamant, through all the capp'd convex Burning intolerable ; close behind Far more intol'rable the bearers burnt Dreadful or scowl'd, the fiery seraphim Eclips'd or neutral as the noony flames : 1470 Name no Olympic, Pythian, Alb an field Of mortal mem'ry where with royal pomp Mighties have met for heathendom or heaven, At Aspramont, Damascus, in Tartish With Morescoes, nor tourneys of the courts Of Haroun al Easchid and Charlemagne, Baldwin or Saladdon : a sudden clap Of thunder rolling through unclouded skies Struck mute the beasts, the birds the next attend In terror; thus the gods, the blinding blades 1480 Of all in half short stroke the moment that Arch-one the three encounter'd, face to face Back driven the space as far from this unto At least our moon : from thence their iron-winged Tempests unloos'd under their rattling shields Blazing they break, blade-broken, back again Resistless from each other dead-like drove :

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"Hi also >/""i /X/'' cteruUun. skies Pursuedhj i'li'/i'i'i" vehement and oh Trims* endanl /L>n/r and Ete> "''>' ■"/

IN HEAVEN. 157 Then solid stars they hurl'd, whole stars at once Down-fall'n with dreadful crash scattered, or Rebounding ball-like, rocks, and rivers, seas, 1490 And oceans spilling in the action out : Again they — formidable, met the scales Of all their armour sounding, many a clasp Broken in Lucifer's, his starry belt Loosened, — that he felt : again : again Contending, every time contention wrought Unto perfection so that the terrene Shook shatt'ring ; at the last on Michael's spear Impal'd lost Lucifer with thunder came So terribly with such a dread redound 1500 That the chaotic aggregate went rock ; Rock ; rock, dissolving ; all the rebel hosts That yet surviv'd fall'n down as Chaos fell Falling as if for ever : Lucifer Fixed awhile enduring but at length He also down from the ccerulean skies Pursued by Vengeance vehement and oh ! Transcendant Horror and Eternal Ail.

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THE WARS OF JEHOVAH BOOK IV

THE ARGUMENT. The Poet alluding to certain wrongs addresses a false shepherd and then hastens into the action of this Book, which gives the description of Lucifer's descent from before heaven to the sun : he musters the discomfited angels. Several speeches as to what had been and what should be done : Lucifer appoints Night to his throne, and parts in search of his remaining hosts. The spirits of Slaughter : Lucifer's accident. The angels in heaven observe him wandering in space ; description of hell (given by one of the archangels,) to which the spirits of all slain in the war just recorded had been sped. Time : the second day, early.

BOOK IV. Hunted by packed Perjuries (condemned Unrighteous,) from my early chosen home In rural Avalon and all my heart Lamenting loves, in banishment like his — As unendurable, who tun'd his lute In Tomos to the rude Sarmatian boors, So, Empress ! I, abstracted from my wrongs Thus celebrating His to whom I've cried Appeal the Judge of Judges who shall mine Judge: Thou, who holdest in unhallow'd hand 10 The golden key of heaven, of hell the iron Burnish'd so bright that last the wicked take To their eternal cost, that one for th' other Rusting ; incestuous murd'rers to the Feast M

162 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Of God encourag'd whilst thou drivest back Those by the Master bid, thou who hast clomb Into the fold unweeting who are there So long thy belly's lin'd with meats, thy back Clothed in fleece that to the flock belongs, Worse still than his assured curse is thine ; 20 But O ! our Galilean, haste amain Bespeaking, if not for his sake for those Who hungering look up from him to thee Unfed, unfed except with windy chaff And push'd aside to that where dragons lie Devouring many pawing them unclean. Return, return and let mine anger pass Like mists before, Calliope ! thy sun From the horizon rising ; Thamyras Methink who anciently the Pagan Nine 30 Meeting they struck him blind, others as well In Scio or in Albion born whilst I — Learning these bases supernat'ral loud, Thou Muse ! thyself my tympanum hast broke. " Admetus's were taught the pipe but thou The harp" the maid replies op'ning mine eyes, " And they became so happy that the gods Fearing lest mortals happier should become Than the Olympians, the preceptor straight

IN EARTH. 163 Unto Elysium call'd ; and Plutus see ! 40 Like Fortune blind but thine shall be restor'd, As is thy happiness : " from blessed heaven's Unto the earth's imperial throne she points The finger and, Augusta ! sounds her shell. Thy strain I strike ; now let the song proceed Best judging goddess. "Ai!" Lucifer Cried whilst the depths he dark'd his livid lips Smoth'ring to purple as with speediest speed He drove confounded down : Mcenutius flung From heaven, nor Phaeton hurl'd by angry Jove, 50 Nor he who fell in the iEgean isle From the meridian, no such journey made Nor half so swift as the Arch-felon then : Three times did he resist his total powers Opposing that down-throw in vain ; reversed His gravity which as a spirit up Nat'ral aspir'd God- ward now down as much Compelling, he (no longer self-controlled,) Came like a falling star : beyond the term Of time, through the immeasurable wilds 60 Of space he plough'd, through uniformal blank Until the voices of the living lost Apostates in discordant manner smote His auricles : he overtook present m 2

164 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH His frenzied hosts frenzied the more to see His fall, for Darkness horrified his face With all his habile hands ; as on came he Like a fire-isle, like Stromboli a-sea, Their solid span was cleft and all through void Scatter'd. 70 And this was Lucifer above Son of the Morning, to the paeans of heaven Outcast ; — not to that star in after-time Call'd Phosphor when the moon in place brought round The one of all the plane tars which shine Most beauteous, (this the magians erring taught,) But to the sun — in the succeeding war Shatter'd to pieces the hard nucleus sole Remaining, all his sev'ral parts detached His satellites continual coursing round ; 80 Beyond is Canis where now Sacrael rules All the circumference : in the Balance reigns Gabriel — although the flamens Venus said, As in the Scorpion Mars, the Archer Jove : The other five archangels rule beyond Unto the seventh in which Jehovah holds : Thus through the inessential went he, The boundless nought closing behind in waves, Until his sadd'ning shadow o'er the orb

IN EARTH. 165 Darken'd : with wide but nerveless wings, his hands 90 Advanc'd to break the forceful fall upon A boiling sea he shot : in cat'racts too Full prone his angels dash'd, gorgons, and gryphs, Chimaera's, dragons, beasts, or birds or both, Or neither, — like that later creature brought Down by enchantment from the circle of The moon, with all their reins and trappings broke To pieces ; nor Geryon's look'd like them When human flesh they wanted ; nor like them So passing the Propsetides: the cars 100 Were dragg'd behind, batter'd, and banged, beat Together in great intermingled heaps, Whirling the wheels, or in each other locked Total ; spokes, seats, and steps, bodies and all Indescribable came, as once the car Solar in ruin fell at Tellus' prayer, So that the waves drove to and fro through all The wildernesses roaring, or in mounds High perpendicular affrighted rose. Long there lay they afflict, shuddring, and mute, 1 10 Wing-broken and half dead, 'till the abyss Listened moveless hung : with fear convulsed Parch'd, blood-stain'd, bleeding they, like those who take Narcotic with the irritant poisons mixed —

166 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Opium and pmssic acid, madness theirs As if sea-crabs and adders made their stings Within the stomach whilst a demon binds To silence all the motors of the tongue Turning the issues right upon the brain, Red-hot, or through the sinciput and spine. 120 Then the fallen Emp'ror in his agony cast His woe-gone eyes abroad : dreadful he saw Outspread upon the dark chaotic — spaced With fire and frore, deep yawning, gloaming, glued, His myriad angels drifting as if life They at that moment lost astonished Deplorable : delirious, all his pride Recalling, Memory beat down, Ms hands Spreading, his feet asunder on a rock Planting he call'd; electrified heard they 130 Assur'd : so when that emperor exiled From Elba to his vet'ran Gauls addressed His well-known voice, enthusiastic hope Of sack of cities rushing back to mind They throng'd around, so these but he — surprised The audience contemplates, in number less Than was an army when nine full-equipped Boasted a regent : loud he summoned The residues, instead up from the waste

IX EARTH. 167 Of waters like Perimele, or one 140 Of the Echinades to islands changed, Or like a murkier melancholy Death, Pierc'd with uncounted shafts right through and through A sable Shape : ;; Thou! call" sigh'd Night, " no more; When I tied forth, ruin-involv'd they went Apast beyond me ; none shall overtake Breathing:" she ceas'd e'en Lucifer convinced That numbers not avaiTd, and calculating What his reverse, what too the priceless cost Of billion angels gone he knew not where, 150 Counting the sad remainder as one plunged In debt a sum incompetent a dark Prison in prospect, harmonizing tune To the occasion thus attendance called. " Gods ! deities ! all indestructible If shock'd and damaged by the result Of war, nor shall we miss those who remain Wanting if firam'd as I will have anew Our future scheme : warriors ! the victory 's Xot altogether lost; nothing is lost L60 Save time which no occasion to regret Have the eternal ; we shall conquer yet This be believ'd. with grateful recompense For sun 'ring — hymns to truth and freedom str

168 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH In the resounding skies. What though we had A battle, 'tis but one ; far as we're driven Michael as far and his exulting hosts Joying in that within the heavens they're safe From this right hand ; had Chaos kept his ground Thence had I follow'd through the open gate 170 At which we thunder'd 'till for shame they oped : Regalities ! such scars they carried back With them to heaven long that well-foughten field Shall they remember, with repented pains Distrusting that the Throne so sternly shook May one day fall ; it must : despondence scorn ! The flower of those we led in arms are here Despite th' Almighty — change shall surely be In that bad title. Danger, toil, trial Welcome if serv'd our object; we shall yet 180 Empty the heavens : now, now methink I see The Tyrannizer on that danger'd Throne ; O Thou ! for ever watchful lest I rise And seize it I defy Thee : sleepless as Thou art, O thou Rememberer ! thou find'st Thine enemy, impassive Raised-One see 'Thine everlasting foe ! nor keenest pangs Eating the soul shall make me e'er despair Of thy damnation : on thy Name I spit ;

IN EARTH. 169 Pour fire in cataracts, hot thunderbolts 190 Hail down, and splitting thunder thund'ring drive, Drive uttermost again, thy blasts let loose, Rage, rain, and ruin'd oceans overfull Of plagues upon this crowned head outpour Here am I Unrelentor ! I survive To imprecate thy Person, and to break The course of thy imaginings so thou Shalt tire of hearing, seeing, and tormenting, And of thy Godhead e'er my malice cease, My parched tongue, my mind supreme remit : 200 Go for knee-worship to thy craven crew Multitudinous ; no praise no prayer from us Thou proud Exactor ! hope ; treble our pangs, Sliver us with large lightning we retort Unmeasured back : O God ! that thou wert but Chain'd down beneath this adamantine heel ; Welcome it all, this latter lively hope I cherish, cherish : crawl ye moments, hours, Eternity crawl on, baffling where'er A sanguine look I cast, the change must come : 210 (O for the Book of Fate that I might count The distant year, and sum these suff 'rings up Squaring the two:) with an unbroken heart

170 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Will Lucifer hold on, divided sway So long maintaining just so long as one Unspended bolt unto my grasp remains. What horror his when undefended down For ever and for ever he is hurled ! I breathe, exult, ye rolling suns this hand Swept from his vaulted skies, to changes gone 220 Lightless ; thou Vast so fill'd, attend ! I swear By all I've won and lost, and all the fiends That cry me " Father!" Chaos, Night, and Death, Against him death : hark ! the Abysm calls Unto Him — bound as in a fearful spell Or why not answer \ down the thunders flung, The lightnings as impotent — shuddering he : Moveless and mute he sitteth : hush ! thou Nought Rock rocking heaven no more until I plant Myself upon that Throne His Crown my own." 230 He said recov'ring, shaking up and down His plumes, and parting back his matted hair : As when a starry lamp in liquid heaven Long ages burning heap'd with crusted fires Zephyr disturbs a myriad purple sparks Shedding around, he, through the glowing waste Like show'ring. Then Ekriel, with thought engorged

IN EARTH. 171 And ninefold rage ; his eyes with fury bled The whilst — like a petard burning long while He thus exploded in their very midst. 240 "The damn'd reverse! our beaded brows betray How deep : O reprobation ! ache ! dost thou By empty sounding words th' accursed past Gloze I truth I ne'er will shun if thou our head Advanc'd as emp'ror doth. Undone are we, Defeated, the whole blame nor Chaos's But to our shame our own, and shame so great 'Tis here disown'd, as if disowning we Had valuable gain : beguiling god ! Hereby we lose who can so ill afford 250 Reduc'd so lasting low : forbear, forbear The metamorphose of the real to that Which unreal is. If we suppress vain tears 'Tis wisely done, nevertheless the cause Which prompts deny not nor the dang'rous wounds We have receiv'd the while beneath thin skin They fester worse." He ceas'd as Linesung Sudden irruption, all the crowding hills Connagrant, all the province from the sleep 260 Fearful arous'd : so those his auditors, Chief the Arch-speaker, like a Sophi in

172 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Durbar after lost battle rude bespoke By some bold bashaw. Then Zyninthrine thus, " Tis so regalities ! war we have waged Hating and hated, lost, and if we live By respite it would seem since Lucifer Himself was overcome. Have we not left God's service rather than concealing truth Do violence to nature ; shall we that 270 Practise to please another so much less — O Lucifer ! than God 1 If as thou say'st Freedom survive we serve nor him nor thee Against our conscience, and this fact shall help To nerve us to endure two-sided wrongs : Put off the style of majesty therefore, This vain outside for it but ill sets off A shatter 'd crown the jewels lost. Now gods! Drown'd, driven from heaven, defeated, curse the day That Chaos whelp'd, if — as to him 'tis charged, 280 To him we owe. Wondrous it is that God Should so advantage from our first Ally ! But Night remains unto us, take some cheer, Much may be done our Agnate thinks with Night Although she fail'd or fled : the jealous King Who holds the supreme Throne, with soundless step She yet may take his usurpation brought

IN EARTH. IT 3 Unto the end ; O Lucifer ! thou said'st Hope no where else remains. Over this world Look out and so revolt the eyes, and rend 290 The heart : who, who the difference can bear ] 'Tis black, the trees are fruitless, pools with brine Scabbed supplied : O for the sparkling springs, The green ravines, the vallies, ambient airs, And fleecy clouds we've lost ; the veined-leafed And amber-stemm'd delices of the heavens : O for our happy homes deserted left For ever, by the tributary streams, Lakes, seas, or on the hills, or mountains reared Magnificent, our sylvan seats, our bowers 300 Whereto the winds in visitation rare But seldom came and when with fresh'ning love Gladding the flow'ry shades. Yon wither'd waste With a few stunted shrubs and thorny trunks Observe, and O my peers ! this hollow gourd, This fungus, growing from the viscid earth." Gath'ring, thus he, and one like Jonah's showed Unto them, and some apples which appeared Sodom's fill'd in with alumm'd ash, or poxed And putrefying cores; and aconites, 310 Nightshade and such like others : so convicts

174 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH The desolation and accompanying things Of Dieman's Land first saw. "Gods!" then cried one, "Into th' original gulf of things had we Fallen 'twere better." Then one said, " It were, This is intol'rable." Another cried, " Heaven we have vainly lost, our thrones, our all." 320 Most unto him confess'd. Apollyon then — Confronting Ekriel as with disdain And turning from his party on the back, Contemptuous spoke. " God of the gods !" cried he, " That is thy name whatever hath befallen Thy arms, thy fortune ; take my full consent Resignment never. Hitherto vainly We have opposed Fate, what then % we feel — Suffer the consequence : let cowards rue 330 Degenerating, self-despising souis Such we had not suspected in the ranks We rul'd, nor thou amongst thy princes. Now Why not to heaven ambassadors despatch 1 Repentants ! with your importuning prayers ;

IN EARTH. 1 75 Cherub ! thou Zyninthrine from us depart With a long train of suppliants, and with Your art assiduous make experiment Of God in all his humour, liberty Forswearing — ye would Lucifer, yourselves 340 Apparently forsworn, and servitude — Abjectly fallen on your faces, crave." So that bold leader ; Baal — in his hand A shiver 'd spear, as with a hectic pale, Join'd thus. " Our Emp'ror ! irresistible Or why were three archangels forc'd when thou Met them and more than once : dread Lucifer ! I hail thee, nor as long as thou persist Will anything despair : angels ! though long 350 Descent is ours ascent more welcome be ; If transported, the heavens surely remain In the same place, and some of us may drive Yet through the open gate tyrant, and all Scouted with hurry hotter e'en than ours : This makes the present tolerable. Doubt Disdain ; be gods ! for if heroic deed The worth assur'd far other case were ours ; For this we charge not God. Call not defeat Repulse what we have to regret, devise 360

176 THE WARS OF JEHOVAFI In subtlety, undoing this event Undoing God ; these are his bitter dregs Let ours be bitterer ; within this soul Abhorrence sits with all her teeth well set — Not one is loosen'd, unto sea and sky Her eyes in search for Vengeance ; Death his jaws May gratify with my person, but the soul Beyond them all with the accustom'd eye Watching remains : to me alike are life, Death, heaven, this uttermost if that were but 370 Accomplish'd ; that — implacable, pursue." " Chance — in good time," thus Haraphon, " our good Cause may befriend ; ye gods ! that we are free Sufficeth if but true ourselves unto : We must succeed, our hatred be fulfilled, Our just revenge. O aggravate not worse By our own voluntary act ; contemn These losses, restoration to our thrones Certain : in this emergency forbid Useless comparisons ; occasion wait ; 380 Despair not, we shall yet uprise. Meanwhile This present place be order'd ; mirror it With solid imag'ries, and massive quoins Of a palatium for deities Mete ; trench our camp above the wat'ry heaps."

IN EARTH. 177 Ord'ring he said, and scarcely said when from The ground the palace rose : so once upon The navel of the earth the mansion of The Scandinavian gods ; so Neptune built ; To lyre Threicius : in the midst, beneath 390 His burning feet the Anarch's gorgeous throne Aurif 'rous rais'd him up high above all His coped host upon the pavement — white As the Pentelic, left; an altar bye Smaragdine with great rubies, finer pearls Than Ormuz boasts, and amethysts than those The Tyrians copied, crusted ; with a crown Upon it for but One design'd nor fit : On pillars that with most in heaven might well Compare the dome ; great castellars were reared 400 Such as Sostrates' dwarfed ; Dinocrates Had died for grief and envy but to see The smaller turrets machiolated, walled Most solid, and upon foundation laid Of basalts : — lo ! some ruins to this day Through all the Hebridean islands, Skey, S tafia and others lie. Like some proud Czar Deeming Byzantium his, himself enthrones That sanguine potent, in his secret heart Nothing concealing with his lips the more, 410

H8 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH "Thou Ekriel!" he paus'd as if the call Should wither him away, " the right is thine As ours thy thought to tell ; unlicens'd thou Hast, but thou speakest false ; if we were beaten God's angels were not satisfied by our Present condition ; if their will they had, If vict'ry as pretended where wert thou, Thy seconders % behind their chariots dragged In triumph not perversely speeching here : Ye deities ! I err, his legions fled 420 Before their master ; yea, thou wast undone And thine, but One remain'd — whate'er was done To thee or them, God's champions dar'd not look Nor Michael in his face ; who God shall hint The song of vict'ry % if one were so rash Th' archangels smarting with their hurts at once The folly met reproving, all they have For trophy Ekriel's banner ; Chaos ours UnravelTd, unto the infinity It floats as God shall find ; infinity 430 Ours. Throated gods ! because some blood is spilt, And some are scratch'd or scarr'd, shall we in awe Stand 1 like condemned slaves ; perish the thought And thou complainant there, forgot the day When thou pronounc'd an oath to conquer or

IN EARTH. 179 Die. That reverse should have one conquest, shame ! Where are your trusty hearts, your free-born souls ] O scandalous ! If now I thought despair Confirm'd, th' Imperial Crown of Heaven I scorned As scorning those by whom that crown was forced 440 Upon me forc'd, for power to none I stooped Soliciting, nor took by force nor guile — As One before had done ; none offer'd for My on'rous office, none oppos'd when I Took not obtain'd it : interest forbids The least despondence as your honour doth : Despite the Lord of Battles we will win Renown : ye princes ! battle is to come, For this the pall around us thrown I lift Regath'ring." 450 Then Apollyon unto that : " That which we scorn 'twere wrong to call it ill As hath been heard ; experience yet may show 'Twas good disguis'd, and shall if, Emperor ! Thy forces from exilement are restored To our embracing arms : but since that wreck Of Chaos was, gone is the total whole Through space, the stars drive swounding through the air Each by the other generally stormed : Over that scene to rule no sceptre 's forged 460 n 2

180 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Since his is gone ; rocks, plains, seas, syrtes, flood, fire To thee although inconsequent, beware ! For us the vestiture of majesty No more remaining in the place cometh What thou conceivest : necessary 'tis For liberty that one as settled stand Heading the whole." O inconsistent! this Doctrine preach'd he, disown'd when to revolt Senseless they turn'd : thus said, the orator 470 Expectant of an answer that should leave Him chiefest of the rebels ; this observed The fellow potents — politic as proud Then Baal thus. " Thy lofty throne the while Vacant ; who us shall bid ] yon wildling waves Too truly symboliz'd our bad estate." Gloomy look'd Lucifer considering The germs of dissolution, unto him As the red rash that in the arm-pits come 480 Of the plague-fasten'd : heretofore he ruled Dictator all unquestion'd ; now one dared To contradict and all the rest expressed Distrust of one another : what to do He speculated ; even then the flames

IX EARTH. 181 Of discord scorch'd his hands and dispossessed Many a ling'ring hope dang'ring the last, For though with all his order'd forces he Had signal fail'd yet he design'd to arm Once more the residue, nor quite despair'd 490 If fearing the event : so one within The law of noble birth, through the thick mesh Though guilty hopes to break, dreading the while The judge august. Then he — concern'd, rose up His frame enlarg'd apparently, his brow Severely bent, upon his eloquent mouth Impress'd such resolution none may turn And few oppose ; he beckoned to Xight : That leman gath'ring up her fringed veils Darting black rays of inconceivable gloom, 500 Unutterable rose, terrific, dread, And with a goddess-like deport slowly Sweeping the length of that most kingly hall Approach'd the seat of power ; the vision'd steps She mounts like Demogorgon, as if she All the sworn-secrets of the universe Guarding contain'd in most tremendous form Of deepen d Darkness crown'd with horns opaque : So a mock sun at midnight vapoury, dim. Spiked most wonderful, encinctur'd round 510

182 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH With unilluminating crescets raised The one above the other : of such parts Was she to seat her scarce that throne sufficed Though Lucifer's who seem'd but was not heard Something to say as with a grim resolve She sate ; so once King Croesus ask'd as low The dubious oracle, and in return Night answer'd that apostate ; so two Winds Under the centre met, sometimes commune Half-inarticulate, fearful mankind 520 Watching the awful whisp'ring scarcely breathed Yet tingling up : omnipotent she looked When forth she stretch'd ten inorganic arms To take his sceptre like ten lightnings forged Into a dreadful rod : obscurely then O Muse ! we saw what follow'd ; faint I turned Thou also fainted'st when entwining both The power of Lucifer her vacant veins Filled like smelting blood ; her spirit growing Colossal burn'd and roll'd, and roll'd and burned, 530 Like a black comet tangled with an orb Flaming together : outwards out she shot, Shook her portentous hair, madd'ning ; O the Intoxication then ! to false repose That Reprobate returning in her arms

IN EARTH. 183 A moment and — -uplift, contagion swilling Of madness : so the great Black Sea reflects The cloud which carries thunder, all his face Shining as jet, when the Vulturnian or The Msestral joined out the livid fires 540 Plentiful gushing sea and sky together Both mingling, curdling, cleaving seem to burst : A sightless fire within her cheeks burned Right through her stony skin revealing more Than yet had been reveal'd her mutt'ring lips, Her bosom cover'd with blood-letting teats. Meanwhile Adramelec's with vengeance driven Long through the waste obscure, discomfited Fell upon Sirius, which the vulgar dread When with the Lion through the Zodiac posts 550 The culminating sun ; Moloch's as well In millions, that vast continent the shock Hardly sustaining : there — recover'd, they Erected thrones and o'er their numbers reigned. Now Lucifer with respirative gasp From the earth's edge out into void sprung forth In his right hand a spear that radiance threw Long way advanced, and at will sustained : Down in the depth of the deep deep he plunged, Down, down with all his might, down in the dark

184 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Profound, 'till thinking on firm ground he came To plant inequilibriate he fell Reeling : so a balloon collapsed, shift The ballast ; or a ship ill-stow'd capsized, Unto the bottom forcing overturned : Thus through the blankmost he, a meteor through The darksome night ; or like some wizard wild The moon eclipsing as he journeys blue And fiery by turns, the gloaming vales The utmost hills lit up : so he oft-times 570 List'ning if ought he heard imagining He had, and flying or exploring slow As if for want with pains of hunger gaunt : Around he glar'd ; once in career he fell Startled, his heart as low, over his head A long fire line descriptive of th' extent : So when a great tarantula from off A tree, the glitt'ring web behind he leaves Floating the length ; or on some errand dire, Cyllenius sent from the fool-fabled heights 580 Driven perpendicular ; then a great globe Rush'd past, and then another, all the airs Confusing, and behind in wake from out Infinitude with blast, and blight, and blur, Astonishings — all brain, and drunk desire,

IN EARTH. 185 Angrily flashing inwardly sore racked, Confluent creatures from the ends of space As if she spawn'd them : what th' embodied cranes Of Caysters springs in number unto these ! Owls or sea-eagles ; O ! unchanted leave 590 The spectred spectres, steaming up, or down, Raining, or driving in his face like hail Fast, and from all about, with famine waste As Erisichthous' ; voiceless thoughts had they Streaming unreal, their lidless eyeball raised White, black and bold : none in the lowest depths Of natron — bitt'rer than the Astrachan, The devil Asmodeus rules ; and if From out his caustic elements he joined All Hecate's in the dark Chaonian woods 600 With cypress, yew, beech, holm, and pitch-tree, rilled, And all the elder of the Sister- fiends Coerces ; all Veia, Erictho and Those Macbeth met were added, not the half In number they nor horror : vomiting Some shed their biles, their bloods, their hearts upon Their fierce progenitor, (that Anarch was Their sire for these were of the slaughter bred He had committed;) horrible they frowned, Frisk'd, fought, or fled affright: so out to sea 610

186 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH An eagle-king, pells, pettrels, pindadoes Ominous flit, and dash, and dive, and skim Continually around an hateful kind, — Like these nonentities that still defy Realization; shadowy things like those Reported of a church-yard by some wight Escap'd erect his hair and all his limbs Palsied : and then their livid art'ries burst With various putrid slime, over him all Spended : Oblivion with earnest voice 620 The Miserable call'd ; the hoary Deep Oblivion held blindfold and gagg'd, in fear And agony but with resolve ; then out His blood-red hands he stroke, as if he would Eternity have dead, unable to Bear those accusers longer : in the Day Of Doom the children on the parent — both Condemn'd to everlasting fire, like these Will never look ; Orestes look'd not so Upon his mother the Eumenides 630 At hand : then hate was verily performed, Confusion rush'd amongst them scattering Their crooked lines ; aside he flung right, left ; So cyprids some strong swimmer, all the waves Around him rippled fir'd ; but as he swum

IN EARTH. 187 And swept spots fouler than the leper's blots Were his, their nervous parts discharg'd as he Destroy'd them following unto a zone Stretch'd out like Saturn's belt ; shapeless it stretched But solid ; unaware against the rock 640 Like a huge hulk drove he ; his body split Instant apart and from the gaping gap The Spirit look'd half-craz'd : oh ! what a sight Was that, nor like Sagana, nor yet like The Tuscan coasting the Tyrrhenian shore By Circe chang'd ; Sin to that Sprite did more Than Circe could to him ; a man and beast Are greatly different, oh ! how much more Angel and devil into which Sin turns All her lascivious lovers this the first: 650 Foully besprent were his marmoreal limbs — His golden plumes, and carking cares displaced His every feature, but that carious sprite That then, O Muse ! we saw ; that fev'rish thing ; That monstrous monster with the long blue hair ; That perfect Misery, disfigurement Of body left like grace ; her dragon womb Was spongy as immufning that she tore Up with large handful hands, and in such heat That surely it was exquisite delight ; 660

188 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH And still a hidden strength continued hers For yet she died not : all her bones were stripped As bare as those which hungry jackals leave To bleach upon the mountains ; but her bones Were not like bones ; nor yet like Chaos' bones ; None these could see unblench'd nor gods, for men As soon they saw those shocking shaftless bones To serpents they degraded, like that one With immortality as Nicander tells ; O hideous ! Lucifer saw charactered 670 With such abhorrence as were vain to tell ; Then back she slunk and he resum'd his way Priding again as in the life secure ; But what he carried ! With the lightning girt, Grey ashes in his wake instead of flame So fleet he sped — as if the gates of Death He burst, the gulf which Void itself engulfed Bottom'd, behold him in his pathless path ! Uncertain as the Labyrinthine maze The Argive trod ; or that iEneas sought 680 Hades- ward from Thessaly ; or impious men When wind they secret sow surely to reap In season whirlwind. Now in holy heaven The morning hour was chim'd when on a cloud 

IN EARTH. 189 Capp'd hill like Alyattes ; having slept From toil and sweat of war and triumph too, And bath'd within a lake fed by a spring Than Ilyssos in which Tritonia purged More pure, more od'rous than the Chien-tien ; 690 All that had warr'd and all they left behind From all their cities gather'd, on that mount Rejoicing they a grand triumphal arch Inaugurated. His Vespasian's arch Were scarce a stone ; and that one lately raised A-nigh the Tuilleries no more : then trumps Were blown, and cymbals rung, thundered drums — So them to call those instruments prepar'd By heaven's Beethoven, others mix'd bassoons, Sheccles, and tringles silvery, and voice 700 Accordant from such choristers as chose In the dilation of the heart to join; There they with celebration on the spot Where Lucifer in time bygone his laws And mandates promulgated through his wide Vice-royal realm : Around in hero-heap Were helms, casques, plumes, crests, vizors, corslets, thongs, Belts, baldrics, gorgets, cuirasses, gemm'd greaves, Cuishes and sandals, cinctures, mantles, chains, Trappings of armed mail, uncounted arms, 710

190 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Swords, cutlasses, frizz'd faulchions, hangers, steels, Bolts, maces, shafts and lances, arrows, bows, Spears, jav'lins, darts, disks, retiaries, slings, Gauntlets and lashes, scourges, all together Carelessly thrown, with bucklers, targes, shields Mostly to pieces riven, and even cars And chariots, and the trappings of their steeds, With the strange engin'ry which erst outside The walls such clatter made though vain and worse For those who prov'd them; One brought Zabrash's arms — They stripp'd him where he fell, elab'rate wrought [720 With half — and more than half the hosts of heaven Exact enchased battling, Zabrash marked Ever the foremost and wherever he Flight show'd the back ; upon the breastplate God Was figur'd also flying, nor in time — From that swift seraph's still uplifted arm His Bodily was pierc'd as with a lance — You almost heard it sing ; with passion wild • The Passionless was represented there 730 Turning an anguish'd face on Zabrash round, O blasphemy ! 't was thou who that conceivedst And pictur'd. — Muse forbear ! Athcoron brought A shaft of which Antrashing was as proud As of his Macedonian Latraeus ;

INEARTH. 191 Sothor a club, Almonides look'd so When he Alcides' handled, 'twas so huge : Another brought the skin from both his hands Slipp'd by a wrathful wrench — by Orinos From Acer, wrestling they ; Cercyon king 740 Of Eleusis ne'er wrestled as did he Nor Simnis half so cruel ; " Go thou to," He cried, "for I will quench thee," when, behold ! His epidermis yielding he drew back Agoniz'd ; one good thrust ended his pain Of body, but his soul ! Tryometon Added an axe ; the giant Sciron had Hopeless attempted but the heft to lift ; With it he sped the owner Crimenos : Thrynown the harness of that dragon brought 750 Which carried once Togarmah ; Sterops such Rings, buckles never forg'd, and yonder moon The collar might go through, — beside him ten Of his companions him assisting brought, Praising Zarael : for Phrymour others add Spoils equal of the gorgon that he slew When Baal had his wound ; that horse Neptune Boasted had it imagined a hill When down they threw it, so exorbitant It was; nor less th' appointments of a gryph 7(H)

192 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Which grinn'd at Hylasoph, — Ugolon rode That one, a better horseman than was e'er Castor the Constellation, and he fought As Craeus wonld had he been set astride One of the strong Strymphalians — which fed On man, their beaks and talons made of iron ; Unshapen it all look'd : Hallar who drove His chariot like Antolycns and swore To drag ten angels at the tail, Amphon Deliver'd from the reins — inwoven light 770 He brings them there : though Triron tore it down, Motonsinoth had sav'd some shining shreds Of Zabrash's banner ; sparkling these were shown With wonder, blazing still, the shades of Night Crossing the woof: thousands of colours hung Revers'd that to the lesser gods thrown down Had once belong'd : tens'd thunderbolts were brought Innumerable, and of every kind, Single, and sharpen'd, or like bundled rods Twenty and more, with lightnings girdled round 780 To keep them ; some had painted plumous wings Beside, whilst all the effigy had stamped Of Lucifer upon them ; those he hurled Were few, but few could hold them, fewer lift From off the ground when idly down they fell,

IN EARTH. 193 For when they came full point no one could hope Ever again to find : others there were In sort indescribable arms to which We scarcely dare allude with which that Arch Was hung all over, when a cherub boy 790 The fretted lyre which heretofore belonged To Lucifer discover'd ; up that hill Of hills sped he and as he sped the strings Swept, out discorders rush'd — like winter-swollen Torrents o'ershot from perpendicular cliff's Upon a stony beach ; or like the sharps And flats of a great organ, all the notes Nat'ral designed withdrawn ; great was the fright Wliilst myriad thought-born Shapes divinely bright Glancing like birds, arresting drove them back 800 Over the battlements, the instrument With horror sent close after, all the strings Resilient crack'd : then Gabriel in the void Surpris'd beheld — like some far errant sun Refulgent, that great Anarch to and fro Winging irregular the gen'ral heaven Trooping to see, lining the skiey towers Billions of billions. " Mark!" cried he, " ho^ strange That destituted angel scours or shoots BIO

194 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH At random through the vast : this Lucifer Is necessarily from yon earth'd star Adventuring with purpose be assur'd Conceiv'd in pride and malice." Hadriel then ; " He journeyeth in search of what is lost Not heaven, to this hardly would even he So soon direct his eye, but to that globe Nearly approached; that his object is Where yet two regents reign o'er those we drove 820 Through the beclouded air. Nor difficult To guess what such an adversary prompts, Vengeance as to th' illimitable range Of his Almighty power Jehovah is Magnanimous, — doth not that license show % But boast not God, this attribute moreo'er Exactly squar'd unto our express want To prove true fealty which this ingrate The opportunity incont'nent gives : And ye who fought rejoice ; ye who remain 830 Untried in action Lucifer e'en now Intent on war plotteth for your just turn : O the infatuate ! the Prince of all The rebels though he be, boundless beneath God, how demented ! space a point — or less

IN EARTH. 195 All time a moment to the Known Unknown What from his vergeless vision lieth hid 1 All the Seditions with a word had he Ended hnt heaven repell'd them, Chaos fled And Night in their essential persons, who ? 840 We witness'd who behind ; behold upon Our arch the shatter'd glory. How he coasts See ! the broad disc discov'ring as 'twould seem Now first that star, revolving in his mind What part to play when present he rejoins His legionaries ; mutual are their stings His to abhor such instruments the while They 're used, and theirs his comp'tence to suspect : Thus in the circle they are self-deceived Deceiving ; they alone whom Death Etern 850 Hath dispossest inform'd of the extent Of misery consequent on the fact : Those in an element to which the airs Of lightning are like balm eternal die Bound round with living fires ; yonder they wheel Where yonder stretches, yon ! too far to see." " That is their miserable fate for aye," Said Sacrael when the archangel ceased Trembling — as did the rest of that great throng, " The past it is inexorable both 860 o 2

196 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH For them as us also, nothing can move The everlasting fixtures — ours in heaven, Theirs in a Hell for by that awful name To the inconsolable lost 'tis known : There giant worms of fire continually Crawl, cling around, or crunch those tortur'd souls ; Their dreadful groanings diapason make Unto the hissing snakes. Thus ill from ill Flowing continual terrific shapes Habiliments put on that change but for 870 An aggravation : in my sleep I saw Their dungeon'd deepness, black unutt'rable, And sooty, measureless by any eye Finite ; an under darkness, vast, abrupt, And pinnacled with antres curved huge, Grim, wild uncertain vistaed, maw'd enorm O'er the rapacious deep, and Guilt — a thing Most fiendly, with ten thousands like to her Congeneric, Scorn, Hate, Mock'ry, and Crime, And Infamy with the worst sting of all, 880 Through all the passing elementals of Damnation flash'd or flar'd : my spirit saw Adoring God's great Justice thus at length There vindicated while in heaven unchanged At His right hand all passionless she wait.

IN EARTH. 197 Nor — though lost Lucifer the first to fall And these through him as proximate, excuse Find they ; self- victimized ne'ertheless They really are, and when Despair extorts The truth from their parch'd lips as frequently 890 He doth, they that acknowledge damn'd the day Of their creation some with dol'rous drone Dreadful to hear, others with laughter loud More dreadful still, so as to be hardly Endur'd the spectrals dancing ; strange ! these sights Moveless I saw, nor ruth nor pity mine." "O say not strange !" cried Uriel, t; since thou say est God's justice thou adored'st ; none may come Between us and our Maker ; sympathy No room finds there our souls so close they lie 900 Unto his Father-heart : those who would come But drive us yet the closer and thereby Shut an eternal door against themselves. Affections there are two, intern the one Given to our Creator, and extern For those in whom his image is reflect, In these 'tis lost as unto God they 're lost As well themselves, alas ! and us unto." Earnest but calm he said with look benign

198 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH The whilst that Sacrael in agreement bowed 910 The head : then Gloriel rejoin'd : "Agreed! All these are as we hold baffled no more By seeming contradiction than by truth More than apparent which O Uriel ! Thou makest this though glozingly it looked Before thy handling : yet may we not start To hear such accents mild such scene describe, And feel unusual awe that princes who Once occupied beside us mighty thrones 920 Are thus reduc'd and ruin'd 1 if by deed Suicidal — they are, we none the less Regret the painful fact, not for their sakes Alone but ours, nay God's — if I may use Such an assertion and be understood ; For what is fate 1 but the result of will Appointed free, and one so desolate Surely those powers ne'er contemplated though That mitigates not the most graceless guilt : Had they reflected as they should they scarce 930 Methink had sinn'd, this therefore we regret : Lucifer none may palliate, doubtless The risk he saw in all its magnitude

IN EARTH. 199 Immensity to call; delib'rately Hoping to win 'gainst God whose Throne he aimed : O Impious ! what a dateless period that Denied him. Yet but speculations these What in such minds revolve we may not know, And since God thus permits th' apostate spirits To be self-plagued, none may gainsay nor plaint." 940 "If," then spoke Raphael, " all were free to sin With grace preventing this were to reward The sinner and to make a fee of sin As if in wantonness : given sin is — Nor wanteth that an argument, if good (Bless'd be God's Holy Name,) be granted then Th' existence of the two corollaries Inevitable have. Almighty God Is infinitely good, sin equal bad, Even the far antipodal bodied 950 First in that Lucifer — unto himself Left, all his followers for ever cast Out from the Light Divine. Necessity In things there really is but none may plead Hardship in that when as a consequence Not cause it comes and knowingly invoked. Moreover such the constitution is Of Error turn he cannot back to God

200 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH IN EARTH. In his own ruins stubbornly he lies All unrepentant — save that ruins there 960 Instead of God's he finds : if desolate He feel, not for the cause but the effect, Embitt'ring more his fault ever the more He ruminates, parent and nurse at once Of progenies that on his vitals live : Thus are the rebel crew in their distress As far from thought of aid beseeching heaven As heaven is off, curses not prayers their strain." Thus those archangels reason'd reason good Of will and fate, foreknowledge, misery, 970 And providence ; well if mankind alike Had argued so avoiding endless maze Of passion, apathy, what evil was, What good % with purblind argument the whole Confounding — as a sorcerer confounds Together holy and unholy things.

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THE WAES OF JEHOVAH. BOOK T

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THE ARGUMENT. Lucifer arrives at the star Sirius and seizes Adramelec's throne. Various speeches, the Arch-gerent encouraging the rebels that their case is still hopeful. He returns with the greater number to the earth, or more properly the sun, which had been built upon and fortified during his absence. The second day still continues.

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BOOK V. Now where corrosive airs the ambient space Edg'd the Arch-gerent like an avalanche Torn from a mountain's brow came thund'rino- down. Unto that sickly star where his two chiefs Held empire on; the atmospheric shock Excruciatingly his latent nerves Reached, but he endur'd ; the privilege Is this of the immortals ; evil things Stellar, or inter-stellar, moist, or dry Are all reduc'd bv the alchemic lungs I < I Of angels : through the stratic mess or mass Of thick'niog cloud fierce urging pond rous he Precipitate the smoking passage made. Distant had he been seen : so some galloon

204 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH To rendezvous at Cuba, rising but A speck on the horizon through the Gulf Of Mexico descried : like savages Myriads collect where likelihood most was For meeting nor postpon'd : sparkling his eyes, Whigs put to utmost with impetuous speed 20 Came Lucifer a shout tremendous raised Of welcome recognition as he came. Thus like young eagles on th' uprisen sun Gazing look'd they, praising those starry plumes Which carried him so far through gloam and gloom, And more his royal heart which to them turned So distant, that his glory with loud voice They sound as to an idol and as God. In rage and fear Adramelec upon His to tt 'ring throne attends : Pelias once 30 The tumult Jason caus'd like manner heard : The habitude of rule, if some, O Queen ! Forego as Diocletian, or in times Modern the Spanish emperor they both Had reasons of such gravity as forced Those acts spontaneous-like ; angels hold on Faster; Adramelec, his blood-shot eyes Glowing like basilisc's, beneath the dome Competent made for millions and just now

IN EARTH. 20.") The sapphire floor crowded with all his gods ; 40 Thus he, around haggard a faithful few Dreading the echoes all the time they list Ovation's trump. " I swear !" that princedom cried, " The vain Pretender to the thunder ne'er Will we again subserve, Our pillar'd thrones In heaven were yet our own but for that BrandBearer, that Death-getter who us thoughtless Induced for his sole benefit to join A desp'rate game. O what a spectacle 50 Was the Conspirer made, what dire disgrace Was put upon him ! in the sight of all Outside those walls of heaven. Fellest of all He is, the gloomiest ; like his dragons gone Past the endurance : tidings none we sent Him of our exigence what doth he here ] But for his damn'd ambition. He commenced Professing his intent to equal God If not surpass him, but equality Same time to us held forth ; we equal are 60 His fond pretensions foil'd : shall we permit Him what we God denied'? we are betrayed For in his words implicit confidence Putting we all rebell'd : gods! we're betrayed."

206 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Raging thus he, all his assembled lords Looking assent prepar'd by him to stand Despite what came unto their deafen'd ears Shaking above their heads that lofty cope As if to bring it down : so once they heard On the Seven Hills — the Allia crossed when rude 70 Brennus came on, and like Papirius one Nam'd Nebo (whom the nations after owned A god to the Araxes,) handling arms As prompt to use them — meteor-arms had he Under his ceremonial robe, thus spake. " Are we not gods % in heaven they liquor pour And viands offer the superior Lord Though absent, none for Lucifer hath this Propos'd nor done. Without him we were well Better since the three Archals drove him down 80 Blasted ; O now eternal shame were ours If diff'rence we acknowledg'd ; after that Never : and if the Arrogant as drunk With bad celebrity concession claim So oiTring insult to th' indignant gods, Alone will I avenge them, I will plunge This dagger to the hilt. Where were the use Of all his armaments of chariots, horse Flying and footed 1 brac'd although we were

IN EARTH. 207 Embroider 'd, shining, varied in our arms 90 Buckled, encas'd, girt, bound in panoply That seem'd invulnerable, loaded with Polish'd, and golden, beamy, sharpen'd, winged, And fatal shafts, or headless, tough'd, and crooked, And barb'd batons, clanging, ringing, crashing Irons as fatal, fatal but against Wrong'd deities ! our sacrificed selves : And how he Lucifer against his own Could and did use them ! We have him foregone If not the gangs from out these halls desert 100 Committing treason personal to thee Adramelec ! howe'er here we abide Him insolent if boldly here he dare Th' impostor come." Thus he when through that court Thousands on thousands rushing like a sea Filled the spacious whole ; the arch'd concave Resounding back expressively such roar As millions make : the Coliseum vast At the Naumachia or such other games 110 The Caesars gave never like that one filled O'erflowing : in the midst — unnat'ral glare His as he saw Adramelec upon The boastful throne his irresistless lord

20$ THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Vindictive Lucifer : upon them he Tramp'd as an earthquake tramps ; or like a lion Upon a lair of lizards ; or like one Upon a fire, extinguishing, the chiefs Also Adramelec with panic seized Passing away. 120 Baring his pallid brow His arm advancing there enthroned, firm — Fix'd sate that Arch-ambitious : so engirt By craven councillors and Romans round Maximius look'd : he speaks that perfect pause Breaking — as doth the gun that signals war To empires ; they too near backward recede Stifling a groan and like a refluent wave Over the audience a terror drove. Like as a panther — all his bowels stung 130 With drought, when nothing in the pool he finds But hard'ning sand so he, as if his throat And blacken'd tongue the offices of speech Refusing were compell'd and he would fain Swill oceans of their blood: "Gods! gods!" he cried, He stopp'd as if for want of speech, again A moment after shouting, " Gods ! what's this \ Conspiracy in person of your head Against the Common-weal ! scath'd though we are

IN EARTH. 209 Now worse ; we inly bleed ; a something yet 140 Divine we hop'd e'en in the lowest, these Immitigable baseness these suppressed Wholly deforms. The slave ! with eyes askant He saw the gods around me rallying true, The perjur'd coward ; coward for I saw Him flying from his post, and now aping Divinity, behold the appareil! Call it not hopeless that we are undone In our first battle ; wonder not 'twas lost With this example : Chaos I had charged 150 Before, and now Adramelec with all We suffer. Disagreement ! rashness rank Betraying the last chance. Sorely reduced Already cannot all together meet Unanimous ? methought a common cause Had that at least ensur'd : now Folly comes Dagger in hand our new design to stab In the conception. Reconcile with this Disorder hope I abdicate to serve The reconciler. Fast confed'racy 160 Closer than ever e'er the more we loose ! We undivided reign or if with God None him beside, and Kingless be his Throne ; p

210 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Eternal hate to him so long he live Fearful, as he shall find more with delay Of execution. If astray we come From those proud towers, and Vacancy within Our ranks finds ample room ; so long as I Withstand fortune's retrievable : if God To martyr this firm spirit for a fire 170 Upheap'd the universe and utmost wrath Exhausting kindled it, from out the smoke, Or the transparent flame calmly would I Face him unalter'd mould'ring flesh and bone : The thought remorseful — if in any heart Remorse arise, let perish. When we warred — And some were slaughter'd, none a tear expressed Save those which briny hate alone extorts ; Yet will we not repent, as soon shall God Whatever follows. Let the lawny mounds, 180 And incense-bearing dales, and sleepy seas, Mellifluous airs, the radiant skies o'erthrown, And ebb and flow of light translucent be, The time shall come when from these dismal deeps Rising with glad surprise we find them ours The heritors dethron'd and dispossessed ; Conviction like to this consuming cares

IN EARTH. 211 Kender endureable, nay welcome since They but increase our forces requisite For the fulfilment/' 190 He — with effort, ceased Sanguine : so some great disaffected prince Defeated by his paramount persists E'en to the last the halter round his neck. Then one call'd Ziphroth hastily arose, Over ten legions he ; unto the seat Of his escheated principal he looked ; Then thus. *• An infidel unto thy cause Great Emp'ror ! that Adramelec to ours 200 Ever the same: he goes, so let him, from These hosts another name more worthily The vacuum to fill. Behold our sum And let the tyrant in the heaven of heaven Pale : that Adramelec unto his post Was manifest incompetent ; when on Came Michael's, through the wide concave as if Not wide enough he stretch'd, and myriads drove A-back no one behind the shock to bear ; No opportunity my legions had 210 But driven — in the event upon this orb Were forceful dash'd ; witness these arms unsoiled r 2

212 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH As others witness : if Adramelec Rul'd afterwards, thou Emp'ror ! we obeyed But thy lieutenant, learn'd, if he not learned As prov'd just now, what discipline demands." Then Rassach — like a lion cag'd together And anger'd by a libbard, rousing cried The while he shook his crest " Thou braggart, liar ! The absent to traduce, is that thy part % 220 Though I not vindicate 'tis not for me Others to justify but this I hate — As much the Godhead on his Throne I hate, Vaunts like to thine seeking to gild them o'er With that which daubeth more : lo ! at thy side In rank commanded one whose weapons ill For lacquer match with thine, this plate and mail Indented show that one nor distant fought If yet not thou." Indignantly he ceased, 230 Ziphroth uprisen with intent to hurl At the insulter's head ; whilst there he aimed — Rassach observing with contempt, the gods Around in vast commotion such their risk Thought they, that moment Moloch at the head Of his uncounted came filling the floor Impetuously so quick they Ziphroth from

IN EARTH. 213 His leger feet remov'd, his challenger As well : so some swoln crocodile a pard Drinking he threatens when a swarthy troop 240 From Darfour journeying sore athirst the two Unheeding either separate : Moloch Imperial look'd as in cherubic state That gorgeous fane he trod ; with steps full slow As kings on earth they meet so pass'd he on Where dazzling his Seducer sternly sate The Honor'd of the gods ; darken'd his brow As on the second step that regent stepped Then rung that starry cope, Moloch — his crown UndofFd, off'ring to speak his magnates round 250 Close throng'd and trustiest captains : this his speech : " We greet thee, Emp'ror ! to such capitol As here thou occupiest, ill-designed For the imperial guest better upon Th' Almighty's seat enthron'd his angelry Captiv'd or serving as one time was hoped Alas ! how vain. From this his throne came one Unto my own, O Agnate ! if this tln*one Denied, as one which none beside rightful Could mount, our compact spoilt when Michael put 260 Thee — us unto his test : nor that deny :

214 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH What was the treaty made 1 equality With reservation to thyself so long Only as thou against Jehovah fought, Confirmed the nine regents in the place They previously enjoy 'd. Good faith we kept Concerted : we have fought under thy flag So long as to maintain against the foe Who rush'd upon us possible ; now where That flag \ that we shall rally, rallying bow 270 Unto the owner : if the Primate fly From his engagement or by force or choice His seconds are exonerated. If Thou wilt fresh league, propose, but we protest Against compulsion nor will e'er submit No more to thee than God by means unfair, And here we are : Adramelec the thrones Elected; to the cherubim around I owe my elevation ; interfere Not with their just prerogative^-since thou'st lost 280 Return'd in all the amplitude it had When in the heavens we 'Lucifer' proclaimed." He ceas'd, consenting murmurings upon His closing sentence falling; to him joined Another call'd Darpathrus, bolder still :

IN EARTH. 215 So Mirabeau, Danton, surrounded by The canaille. " Lucifer ! that throne," cried he, " Thou hast by treason and if wrath be checked Thou misinterpret not, if Scorn forbear." 290 Then out nash'd high his sword millions more Following with such high injurious words As men enfuriate use, but one was heard, " Thy charge, false creature ! to thy chatt'ring teeth, And as contemptuous : thou ! who failed'st thy due When sworn to pay it, thou ! t' incriminate Thy betters ; pois'nous scorn be thine, thy praise Nor partial that e'en that we deign express." " Forego !" cried Lucifer the while he stamped The thunder rising as with gloomy power 300 Impress 'd in all his looks unto his feet From off that throne he mov'd; "forbear! if I Unto this em'nence came Adramelec Was thought the first to welcome but deceived Was it, O Moloch ! fit that I should stand Humbly below ] Regalities of gods ! Is my great majesty so dimm'd that ye Imagine me unsceptred? I derive No honour from the heights which ye desire ; Invest no more such trifles, rather turn 3 L 0

216 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH To our necessities, for this came I For such good counsel as ye have to give On theme of gen'ral interest, even how Light, life may be recover'd : nothing there I see impossible if impossible Ye do not make it ; heaven 's within our reach From these wild shores ; no spot shall me contain Outside the heaven ; grand deities ! is this So charming \ that ye droop the idle wing Enraptur'd ; here my straining vision seeks 320 A glimpse of light celestial ; shall they say The gods are stroke so blind their world appears Fitted to their bereavement % whilst with lyre Some fav'rite minstrel sings of dole and death To notes unmeasur'd, some even report With triumph what as spies they here have seen. Even were this star like that which used to gild The coronet of Morn, encircled round With silv'ry airs, and furnish'd in like mode With amaranths and palms, and viriate shrubs, 330 The roseate skies above us, purpled orbs, Rainbows, and crystal moons, such blandest bounds The sons of Freedom kept not, Pride forbids ; What we aspir'd to once we still aspire." Like pleasant dreams before them this discourse

IN EARTH. 217 Floated : few angels thought much less had hoped Such thing as possible as he affirmed Most possible and with so good a grace As half-convinc'd them all : assenting signs Exchang'd around some thought accomplishment 340 With such indomptive leader — whom no fate Could bend, still likely. This immurement then Insufferable seem'd the while he sketched What they instinctive lov'd and glorious change Yet hoping, in their count'nance was reflect Each scene as Lucifer its term expressed : He saw exulting : so some beauty — ripe, The sly seducer ; gamester stakes increased Not at his cost ; and once more uncontrolled Himself abandon'd to the like deceits 350 With such success he practis'd : thus it is The best sophisters oft themselves persuade, The wicked have their dreams and more than dreams, As sin is self-deception in the light — Broader than noon, of the Omniscient God ; And some are tranc'd so deep that if one rose Up from the sepulchre they would not hear. Then he, who afterwards as Pan was known On earth, and worshipp'd by the Dardans — since Saturnia goddess-mother was deposed 360

218 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH With all the Cretan Court, the Corybants Instead to Cybele, the Pharian swains Osiris decking him with ears of corn Fresh-gather'd ; and since then — th' Idalian doves And Cyrenaic sect proscrib'd, to him The wise ones of the world Pantheists called Their fulsome homage pay, (out of the mouths Of babes and sucklings God shall them confound,) He rising, thus. "Gods! whilst we live, live free, 370 And hope : thou Lucifer ! say'st hope and live, Here I take up no ref'rence to the past Making 'twere bootless even if not worse Unless maybe we made God insecure And therefore still more arbitrary. Now Where are we ; if to better our lorn lot Possible % are the queries, what the means ? How from this uttermost and where our way Wing through the shatter'd Chaos o'er the vault Above the stars 1 where the faint smile of heaven 380 Beams forth celestial. Eddying we may whirl Unknowing whither, by the axles ground Of errand worlds. Doth any know the line Unto our cardinal 1 through wrack and waste ; All, all is peradventure. Some may here

IN EARTH. 219 Insist that if we — we degraded down Involuntarily the while in thought Soaring unto the canopy above So undistinguishable stretch'd, our plight Were no way worsted : the experiment 390 Try, as unlikely to succeed as there Are points unto the circumspace — but one Right ; the immensity around, about I stagger, let the god who doth not speak." Long pause was then as if eternal breath Had pass'd from every angel to some grave Beyond the limits of the void described, Their persons in that palace left behind For ever with the solitude of death : Each fix'd his eye as motionless he thought 400 Of those hard hopeless words ; thus ponder'd they Uneasy 'till the vast promiscuous crowd Grew more than anxious something more to hear Nor were they disappointed, Aricon One of the vulgar, — all in disarray Studious was he, his once resplendent wings Nigh featherless, and such as then remained Untrimm'd and frizzled, — right across his face Many a ghastly gash, — one of his lips Sever 'd hung on as by the fest'ring skin 410

220 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Bare to his jaw, — thus, like some bravo bold Which a Venetian Doge had hir'd some deed Of darkness for the senate to perform, In council he presented : his plebeian Pride thus he there displayed. " Gods all attend ! Attend what one shall say uncareful how So that he utt'reth what belongs unto Our bad occasion ; this ye soon shall hear, Ye who the seats of power by force or fraud 420 Now occupy, the gods fighting against God for your gratification, — what with other Result than these green wounds 1 now I begin Myself to ask — question well ask'd before We follow'd Lucifer, comrades ! what gain 1 Prescient were we of time and space before We follow'd, when our essence we disposed To either, in the midst a Central power Scarcely restraining as we round revolved Orderly I suppose. Now where are we ; 430 What are we now become 1 Our centre thou Wouldst fain have broken, Lucifer when off Thou broked'st us all — reduced to thine own Despotic will. The Primal God before Thyself was specious, us he left — thyself

IN EARTH. 221 He left at liberty, whate'er thou say'st Of edict or command, yet thou the thrones — As independent as thou, Tyrant ! art, Hast brought to self-contempt. I fear thee not The less perhaps as having nothing more 440 To sacrifice, and thus with millions more "Who if they list applauding thee, accuse Their thoughtless folly. Where are all the hosts Of Zabrash, Nisroch, and Togarmah ! they Obey'd thy ord'ring in the battle which We rue, and they in consequence are lost ; And yet these present thou would'st bend and shape Into subservient instruments, for what % O well 'tis answer 'd by thy recent act." Thousands of thousands as that factious ceased 450 Leap'd to their feet : so in the stead of one The hydra multitudinous heads sprung When he Alcmena bore Ionian Jove Lopp'd constant. Thus it is when those who reach A tiar by the populace kick out Against the rungs they mounted, or forget The mode in which at bottom they discoursed And acted. Then stood Moloch : so at night A rock as black as jet the traveller takes 1(>0

222 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH For the dread genius of the mountains close Guarding their treasures scimitar in hand ; Or Spirit of the Ocean couch'd behind : The burnish'd dome above wav'd as he rose Ten thousand pearly waves, his golden wings In trem'lous motion, all his eyes divine Flashing supernal sparks : so wonderful Was he that then his audience thought first They had observ'd, and o'er the slip'ry floor Press'd forward. 470 " Hold! " cried he, "none here may count With Lucifer ; nor any one compare Their greatest to his least : nor this the time When horrible we feel and this curs'd scene Compulsive occupy for words like thine, 0 senseless angel ! better we engaged How % if 't were possible to make return Together, so that let what may befal The satisfaction ours nothing remained O'erlook'd for our redemption, or to break 480 Such further fall — if further any be. For me, an unsubduable array 1 think yet possible if selfishness Would but forego poor claim ; all with sound heart Joining as I will join fresh Avar to wage

IN EARTH. 223 How1? where] he judges best who best can judge. When disenthralls is time for tripping tongues Now premature at least : refrain, refrain ! And turn your scorn whate'er it be, or how En gender 'd all into the course our case 490 So urgently requireth, so shall God Eeceive its full effect th' advantage we." Thus he with features firm, but various thought Distracting and to that Atoncryntal. " 'Twere mis'rable indeed, grave gods ! if from Your nat'ral leader, Lucifer — ye fly, For what ] because one time our effort failed Before the walls of heaven ! even so I thought His chieftainship expir'd, but reas'nable Cause shown for his continuance — as he hath, 500 I vote for its continuance, let the rest — Regretting those who're absent but resolved T' atone the want we feel, with me agree. Insensible to fear e'en when he most Had cause, our mighty Emperor design'd Even in unsnccess success 'gainst heaven Whose signet is on many in such sort We little like, on Lucifer 'tis not. Thus hast thou, Moloch ! barter 'd not despair, But something like it, for such hope as he 510

224 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH OfFereth : who, O who can hope refuse 1 And live; e'en at the name the pulse beats quick And to the pedestal of God the eye Once more uprais'd god-like — god-like we feel. What of one strowed field 1 many may be And we the losers, hard if by-and-bye We persevering win not one, whate'er The cost who then shall heed 1 who dies in this Dismal of dismals. O how profitless Other engagements are save this, the sole 520 Solace remaining that one day we war Again, meantime so arming best as may The best assure us when the crisis comes ; All narrow schemes forego for this grand scheme Worthy th' inventor ; deities ! alone Worthy our study which that cloudless brain Undaz'd may yet resolve if any may Unto our benefit, our energy Tighten'd around as price before prefixed. How God must tremble when he finds us turned 530 Even from this upon him, unsubdued With longings of the soul for vengeance : gods ! 'Tis thus in common with our Emp'ror I Experience ; so shall all if ye reflect How much we lose because we freedom chose

IN EARTH. 225 To grinding slav'ry, — did we not obey, Bow, minister, and fear ] to this it comes We would not God and therefore from the heavens Are we exil'd ; it matt'reth not to me Whether by God or Chaos, we're exiled 540 Unwillingly, and to our horror tread These distant places. Rise ! unchanging will Be yours, unservile ; elevate yourselves Above the Tyrant ; though his viewless rod He lift to dash us down as often we Out of th' abysmal rise, times upon times — If necessary, dare his deadliest blows Loathed his Being as we loathe our bane, Rend'ring it joyless from necessity Imposed thus upon him still to watch." 550 His looks were like his words : then Aphrasac. " Nothing shall us compel as thou hast said, Emp'ror ! to yield whatever be our doom Subduing ; no soft plastic we to take The form design'd, whether of liv'ried serfs Or chain'd as tameless : yet our outrag'd rights Shall have atonement and great God his due. But arm for murd'rous deed, and steel yourselves In ten-fold brass ; at disadvantage we Henceforth contend so vast that but for hate 560

226 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Rising as vast scarce visible a chance Against such enemy. Since we survive The nobler are the free howe'er they're wronged Whether by Chance or God, we are by both. So long as these immortal minds endure Unalt'rable by constitution stand One by another ; all unworthy care Sink in the common cause ! as I have sunk Sincerely joining Lucifer to redeem His gage as he hath promis'd and I hope." 570 As if his very looks would blast them then And bloodiest scourge were his — if yet withheld From their bar'd shoulders, Lucifer upsprung With a terrific shout ; "If," thus he cried, " Assurance had its due my thunderbolts ! But thou and thy supporters, 'ware ! one thing All who have liberty — as, they, the rank Abuse of liberty forego as if It were perdition ; liberty is law And order; anarchy is license far 580 From liberty, or liberty run mad : If I a priv'lege have another claim Then let him come upon my throne and sit Whose val'rous deed points worthy, but 'till then ! Flave I not said 1 Lawgiver there must be,

IN EARTH. 227 The only law I know is so to rule That we all hold together strong as fate, For one and that a purpose necessary As much for those who serve as him who reigns : Nay, more ! dissolve alliance ; on the Throne 590 Of Heaven I thought, I mean to sit, but that Never shall I secure by means of arms Which fail'd me erst though they may serve again : If to that height I rise — as rise I shall, By my inherent strength and that alone, Which nought impairs ; O Deities ! I speak Seeing such sore defencelessness as is Yours whilst scornful I speak ; the enemy May come when least expect such finishes Making as shall for ever glut his wrath. 600 That ye are not destroy'd what but this arm Prevented 1 none deny me ; and these hands Shall sickle harvest yet if ye only Forego these weak divisions, to your prime Seconding on as once was your delight ; As capable as ever strike once more.,, He said as if the battlements of heaven E'en then he clearly saw through that ribb'd dome, And Empire at his feet subjective lay, And thus continued, ;t Thou misdoubting god ! (> 1 (^ q 2

228 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH No quarter of the universe is shut, Tis open field, gain'd we no more than this This something were our theatre enlarg'd; Time is quite valueless except to sow And reap our excellence ; the chiefest this Our happ'ness to pursue howe'er unknown The place or e'en unlikely : what is chance ? Chance is a phantom that but cowards scare ; One journey happily accomplish'd we Augur the like another. Such as will 620 Remain, remain ! and keep this sterile place Whilst this victorious arm the thousand-domed Capitol winning there my followers lodge. 0 senselessness ! O shame ! glory to spurn, 1 or heaven yet to prefer contrast like this — Forgetfulness and ruin, where the ghost Of Freedom stalks dreading its own dull shade : Long centuries of years shall pass and more Relaxing come and the sojourners here Blighted remain rather than cast for heaven 630 These torrid plains, these icy glens preferred Unto the fiow'ry fields, blue seas, and cloud ; And why despair them ? think and be like gods ! Full competent ye are infinitude Itself to compass. Time restless prepares

IN EARTH. 229 Our destiny nor abject ; destitute We are not that so long as with brave heart We hold uncow'd and unconverted on. Meanwhile your honors keep ; ye princes ! your Confirmed dignities ; who here attend 640 The Emp'ror join ! " Thus he, and from that throne, That hall kingly went forth following behind At that his mandate all the glitt'ring court In solemn order : transient on flash'd they As void and desolation on the rear Instantly clos'd : no speech, no sound was heard As to the hollow vast stretching beyond Those numbers pass'd: then dizzily they reeled In the nocturnal nothing, Lucifer 650 Awhile at loss which compass to assert When one the marks of his precedent path Discov'ring that they took back to the sun Gladly addressing. Fadeless fame were his Who so described these advent'rers as Well they deserve : deathless the mem ry is O Queen ! unto thy minstrel of that One Flush'd at their front who like a sweeping storm Pass'd terrible; tremendous strokes his plumes 660

230 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Cut far and wide the space, great flurrying flames Hustling each other horribly as with Incomprehensible precipitancy And vehemence he wing'd ; he wing'd in all Th' infernal majesty of beauty scarred And corrugate, as men may think of Cain's Foreheaded who like Lucifer was loved — As witness his posterity, — adored. For more than a world's praises, Empress! I Thirst with intensity that only one 670 Can slake, and now my quenchless burning heart Feels an unearthly appetite for all The blaze of fame and all the love of God ; These be my steadfast aim, my guiding stars By thee O Muse ! unto a oneness brought Under the Royal spell : now load my tongue With thunder. — Wrathful he from every cause Existing, in his mightiness again He felt omnipotent ; his iron crown — No more one-sided, fix'd ; his throned seat 680 Unscaleable as God's ; the smoke he made Had blotted out creation, or those fires He — rutilating made consum'd afar Beyond creation, everything beside Th' abstracted infinite in which composed

IN EARTH. 231 The Majesty of majesty lives calm ; Eternities he added then unto Eternity, the anatomical Of Space spurn'd from him, her nihility Attributing to himself and drawing long 690 Conclusions thence to God over whose neck Bruis'd, broken he would drive, the Urim and The Thummim pulveris'd ; his lieges seemed To glide like gilded birds : so the fire-flies Sparkle by night ; the phosphorescent waves When animalcules by the millions rise Tracking some whale that through the Baltic roams : Thus they in close succession, swift as wind Chasing the light, or thought wThich both outspeeds, Interminable multitudes, broad path — 700 Broader than yonder sun's — broad though it be In the ecliptic, theirs, behind them marked Arrowy and farther than the eye could reach The Blank far distanc'd as behind it quenched. Thus through the ebon vault those rebels winged, Like stars innum'rous that at Cape of Hope In autumn fall unutterable to see ; The blacken'd brightend Vast reflected as They sped deep'ning behind cloud upon cloud Stupendous — more than Tempest ever owned 1 10

232 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Shrouding some continent : right through the yawn Profoundly limitless, and darkness more Intol'rable than night their Archal tracked Looking — as looks some khan upon the Schah Who fain would him inhume alive or else Impale but dare not ; so Phalaris looked ; So Nero when inhuman thought he had Of Rome a-blaze : at length the Round they glimpse In the wide range, through th' encompassing gloom Blotting it worse, with one a brighter spot 720 Such as Awatska to the dwellers in The moon benighted looks ; or to the spirits Far off the flaming Mongibell ; and hark ! The roar, Night startled on her short-held throne Frequent : now lo ! she mutters in return Gutturals which her co-distractor hears Construing, that prerogative was his Alone. Then jarring sounds frightful increased And mighty clangour ; loud and yet more loud Discordants growing, shout on shout uplift 730 As to that globe with frantic welcome they Eventual come : so a great ship-of-war The merchantmen — with opium from Patna Freighted, the voyage bad, safe anch'rage casts hi the Ta-ho. like some ^tcrn tribune, as

IN EARTH. 233 Torquatus was ; or like Caligula ; Scylla when lie return'd dictator home, So Lucifer the while the greet he drank Into his thirsting soul thrilling with joy — Such as it was. Evil is parasite 740 No trunk it hath but like the climber grows Unto some other and the stronger that So much the welcomer as then thought he Summing the product : O surpassing prince ! Who seekest in another like thyself What both what all, alas ! for aye have lost. The alteration there since Lucifer Departed then he saw ; around the pile Originally executed aisles Innumerable ran — flat roof'd nor yet 750 With columns graced, nor ornament but built And plated strong as if the crush of worlds They should withstand ; Phylee — that labor'd rock Of granite with its colonnaded fane, Embrasur'd ranges, vestibules and courts That seem eternal, unto these a toy : Beyond the peristyles defences thrown In radiates up concircled join d well-nigh O'er half the globe and — in enormous mass Provided with great store of grated stones 7(H)

234 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH And others for defence ; or if they meant Another dreadful war for surest gain : He saw approving, stalking on to Night Swelling and shrinking as with sensual mind Her paramour she waited but not long Yielding his charge : so Pestilence to Death Participate together : round them then Sate the tetrarchals, lords, rulers and chiefs, And those whom Honour mark'd or Fame declared Worthy, the foremost Moloch — heretofore 770 Little dispos'd for conf 'rence when it cost He thought some pers'nal sacrifice ; apart Ekriel stood stern : others there also were — Whose names in hell they dropp'd whene'er they named, Full many engirdling. So staid statesmen sit The president on high, — th' Amphictyons ; On the Tarpseian or the Capitoline The Conscript Fathers ; or in later day The Council of Five Hundred, mad as these We now describe, as ruthless, studying how 780 God's earth to ruin as these studying hope God in the heaven of heaven : no sense of crime Was to them then ; no treason treason seemed Tf but successful thought ; no channel low By which to gain their object, hopeless but

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IN EARTH. 235 For measures of deceit by covert ways Brought upon God to bear, his Crown secure From open violence or open war.

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THE WARS OF JEHOVAH. BOOK VI.

THE ARGUMENT. An invocation of God. Jehovah — calling to Time, revealeth and with all the holy angels drives forth of heaven lighting up the external universe. The anthem of angels. Uriel and Sacrael are commissioned against Lucifer in the sun. The engagement. Driven to the heart of his fortress Lucifer consults his two sole remaining princes, retires to the centre, rends the sun asunder and dies. Time : the third day, in the morning.

BOOK VI. O God ! in Thy Eternal Mansion throned Serene on high above the din as well The reach of war — though Lucifer not alone But all th' archangels with the hosts of heaven United fought, rais'd though my thoughts they are To utmost yet (of earth earthy) my verse Descriptions lacking as were mete for these Great hist'ries, O ! unworthy though the muse Thy Holy Name to take the while this harp With frail and fev'rish hand I trembling strike 1 0 Yet from Thy height — beyond all height, look down Upon Thy servant, and the Golden Key Which tund the spheres to harmony again

240 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Let sound that tributary song nor less Displeasing unto Thee once more we tune. Now had The Righteous Ruler on his Throne Imperial seen whence the adorning suns Of Paradise were fall'n with such dire wreck As Chaos in his flighty passage through The Northern made and with the spoils insphered 20 Together ruin'd o'er the battlements Of heaven with pelting ponderosity Drive into space, and since that combat shook The mass asunder ; — through the blank they whirled Each one his way the Sun and Sirius, And others, the rebellious cast down Upon them : thus the mainful main was isled From the disruption'd heaven ; but the Lord Present commands his saints : — with the third day Of Morning that came round with rosy smiles 30 Refraining the high mountains, saffron light Scatt'ring o'er all the misty dews from out Her burnish'd urns and vases at their feet, "Attend!" said God whilst all the angels — from Entrancement fresh, adoring heard the Voice Divine, " attend all angels !" then the Lord Call'd to revolving Time ; the heavenly spheres

IN EARTH. 241 Chiming for answer, in a sacred cloud Above the lust'rous sether, in the day Of day where all is sky and moveless stream 40 Silent, serene, where no archangel thought To climb, above all stars two ocean-doors Flew open ; there, behold ! in boundless bright God's Majesty was seen, heaven in amaze — All heaven, the angels, all the air-born Sprites Veil'd lighter than Andromeda upon Her bridal day or Hebe at the feast Dodonian the space the son of Tros Pours to the gods, all these together trooped, With all that own'd the seas like Lsera, or 50 Nemertes, Nesse, Clymene, Proto, Or Doris, over-populate the air, Out of their eyes of love shedding their thoughts In shape of strangest, purple, crimson, wild, Unfading buds and flowers ; all the Shades Heaven-bred when the great meteoric round Of light which makes the day unto his place In order tends and seems to touch some low Horizon, and his — scarce less bright, reflex Pales the broad gloamings which relieve the plains, 60 Crescet-crown'd Fatuis's, (drawn their breath From nightly colocassias,) which bound R

242 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Like playful fawns about now here now there Starring the sleepy scene, or — moving to Some mystic measure in gauze-like cymars, Swim, swish in multitude devoutly round, All wondering look'd on as God went forth Like sound of many waters, or like hosts Rushing to battle, principalities, Powers, thrones, dominions, virtues, angels, all 70 Following the cherubim of glory awed Proceeding at their head : " Lift up !" cried they, " Your heads, ye gates! ye everlasting doors! Lift up, the King of Glory comes, He comes." " Who is the King of Glory ! Glory? who]" The semi-chorus answer'd, and they cried, " This is the King of Glory:" then upon Their golden hinge spontaneously back The sun-bright portals swung ; eternal Day Rush'd instant out from heaven rolling away 80 Before Jehovah yawning yellow'd space In volume none can reckon though they count By the celestial squares : bear up, O Muse ! The all-sustaining air our shoeless feet Shall silent keep, our waving wav'ring wings Noiseless : the car of God ! the whirling wheels The shining spokes, the nave, the braces, rings,

IN EARTH. 243 Beams, body, all seem'd one as — sounding, God Invested outward drove : crowned was God With overshadowing crowns ; great Empress ! thine 90 Victoria ! richest that the earth e'er owned The faintest symbol ; for thy diamonds suns, Thy pearls whole stars, thy gold the passing gold Of heaven — refln'd from all that makes it dross, Imperishably bright around His brow Encircled : thus — an hyaline beyond Unspeakably afar, one orb upon Another operating as with life Instinct, and all the horrible hot cold Suspended, the confusion horrible 100 Stopp'd, — then Almighty God pronouncing, " Light,1 ' Chaos unto his bounds remotest heard And felt the penetration — through his frame Sinking to his foundations ; desolate In desolation he to Ruin, Night, And his Progenitor in broken tones Entreated as the purest airs of heaven Rush'd past — the countless suns to order turned ; Then out he tore his hollow heart wherein Sate sceptred Undelight, with features grim 110 Grimmed arose, reel'd dizzily, and with All his abysmal subjects — Wraiths conceived r 2

244 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH In darkness, mottled Spectres — some like bones Sapless and marrowless, with rampt Resolves And Unresolves as rampant, Rout and Rage, Resentment, Ruin, Rumor, Gloominess, And Wrath and Winter, Wind and Clamour, Chance And Conflict, Care, Confusion, Fury, Fright, Lightning, Discord, Destruction, Darkness, Doom, [down Dread, Dross, Drought, Dusk and Thunder sunk sunk 120 The light gone through them : then methought I saw In his ten-fold times aggravated pangs Chaos's final spasm — shaking his form In the extremity, convulsive clenched In bitterness of death his chilling hands. Thus Nothing — heretofore a vacant gulf, Was woven o'er, the crystal empyrean Ringing again as once the heavens they rung At the creation of that concourse vast Of holy angels who rejoicing sung, 130 " Hosannah ! now rejoice ; Creating Word ! Rejoice, rejoice, O angels, sound aloud Elohim ! O Elohim ! unto Thee Hosannah O Elohim ! The calmed vast The hall' wing of God's eyes — rejoice ! receives ; Rejoice ! the heaven is belted : thou Abysm Join, join in tenor our full-hearted hymns,

IN EARTH. 245 The joy of unction on thy head : O Light ! The best ! with veiled radiance, eclipsed Before God's sanctuary-splendour, Light! 140 Light ! Light ! to the Eclipser with a song In chorus ; seraph of the heaven before All seraphs, join unspeakable, our chords Vibrating unto thine, The Majesty Through all the crystal circlings shall approve. Thou the so long encircled Mystery ! Eternal Calm ! O Infinite ! O Sole ! Love ! O Thou Showing Forth ! the numbers raise, The holy numbers ! lo, Elohim ! O Ye cherubim of glory give Him praise, 150 Raise, raise your voices seraphim, raise high, Raise high ! respher'd His radiant lamps go forth Revealing glory : magnify His Name Ye angels : now hosannah, choral now ! Serenely calm with gladness fill'd behold The renovated suns broke forth from out The blessed Vision of the heavenly place, Fountains of fire and banners of the Lord : O Glory ! Glory ! canopied above The spangling stars: ye glories of the heavens 160 Join ye the swelling strain: He gave them light Repeat ! them light, repeat ye countless, light !

246 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH And ceaseless praise. The revelating suns The luminars of language are restored ; Sing to His fame, ye powers thou Mazzaroth, Arcturus and his azure sons the seven Refulgents orb'd Orion ! at the head." Thus were the ruins of the outer heaven Illuminated by his ordnance, space Immense beyond the Walls of Empire filled 170 With circling wheels of bright careering orbs ; And thus great joy the holy angels made In solemn quire watching the countless spheres Spring forth continual in order sure Of mazy dance that none had dar'd invent Nor thought it possible so intricate Yet perfect all the movements as they swung Each from his partner or mysterious turned Drawn by a secret impulse, wav'ring less The farther they disparted as when close 180 They trembled to their centres fill'd by some Divinest sense of love attracting all : Hail goddess ! thou whom oft by night I hail Urania ! all the stars thou know'st by name, Thou then observed'st them come ; O who shall tell Their legion ] who the measure they describe Around the heavens \ Cimmerian darkness shrouds

IN EARTH. 247 The skirts of that dominion, far beyond The farthest verge that Javan's issue feigned Where curs'd Iapetus and Saturn pine; 190 O thou befriend ! the numbers me affright And overpowering spells as on they whirl In swiftest trains with such presentments wild And marv'llous I am giddy ; wanton dance As that to me appears wondrous amiss, Most riotous though — better learn'd by thee Than the Castilian king, we know 'tis well Measur'd to music that the gods enchant : Guide back, O Muse this philosophic flight For Newton e'en too high. 200 Then round the wheels Living of those swift cherubim turned Facing the heavenly multitudes which bowed Lowly the head whilst in their tingling ears Jehovah's message unto Uriel came And unto Sacrael; thus Jehovah, "Where Yonder remotest sun yet unreprieved Rolls red, O Sacrael ! and that sun beyond Uriel ! to ye hath God assigned each For your good government ; beyond the range 210 Of the Omnific word the depth of deep Remain for all who enter — Hell, saith God

248 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Myself alone exempt, infinity Mine heaven." Th' Almighty said and homeward rode — All Raphael's sacred tongues around, his car Dark with intolerable bright that all Blinded to black so that a chlorite cloud Seem'd passing all the while it travers'd space. Then the archangels their retainers called 220 Through all the vocal air ; instant heard they Enchanted and — with warlike passion, moved Round where advanc'd they stood waving the wing To testify their readiness for that flight Distant earth-mark'd. The flow'ry perfum'd stars Elysium nighest reach'd, across their zones Glist'ning they sped, and others known to song Heroic that no Mesilegenes Dare to attune — so high their destinies Of demi-gods that in the after time 230 Had entries of great triumphs through the gates That to their worlds pertain'd, unto the Throne Of heaven itself; these uninhabited They all observ'd admiring but straight on Wing'd till they Sirius reach'd ; there Sacrael found Great ruins ; none Sesostris owns this day By Mceris ; nor in Bactriana, or

IN EARTH. 249 Edom compare ; nor of that Phrygian fane Eear'd by a god ; — the palatine o'erthrown When Sirius in the career was stopp'd 240 Short : all around them stretch'd the fields of death Bearing envenom'd herbs, dark trees like yew Swarming with amphisbcenic snakes — the land, The monster-teeming seas : to arms, to arms Under the low-hung clouds the gloomy gods They altogether rush Adramelec Urging together : so the Kabyles in The Afric mountains, to the Iron Gates By Nature in an earthquake-fury forged Horrific, huge, irregularly high ; 250 The Quarters blew ; like all the winds let loose At once from Strongyle, east, west, and north, And south o'er the Liparian towers in rage The four fearful contesting, all the pines, The palms prostrated — stripp'd as if a frost Had ta'en their blacken'd branches, then and there And worse the clouds dispers'd like tempests sped Over wide wastes of snow : from all the rents, The ravines then the shafts flew out against The bold invaders ; these sheer scabrous stones 260 Big as mount Blanc against the rock-ribb'd range Driving the deep foundations shook, and down

250 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Enormous masses fell ; the regent — braced And plated, grip'd with shame — distraction, called Upon his followers ; to sally forth None daring, he at length alone th' attempt Made and was met ; Podisthinos met he Emerging as a Cyclop from his den With black-blue fires in hand ; dreadful he drove Suddenly with a magazine entire 270 Of welted bolts ; that angel's trusty shield Then rattled : so that gun Archimedes Ne'er thought of, by our greater engineer Invented, the potential steam let loose, A string of bullets in a moment drives Like lancets out 'gainst the opposing wall ; Podisthinos was blinded, but he hurled As if 'twas Chaos hurl'd, turn'd whitest white The intercepted mass ; Adramelec's Shield sounded hollow, for a moment shone 280 The bossy hydra on the apex as Alive provok'd, the aspics rimm'd around Expressive writh'd and darting out fell down Fus'd like his breastpiece (with device enchased Infernal,) and a diamond lining wrought; All, all then went to wreck their owner left A heap of shapeless cinders — such they find

IN EARTH. 251 After a fire in some small entry where None was suspect ; they stare, and stir, and stare Again and take it for a perish'd cat 290 Or missing mastiff. — Nor Adramelec Alone, that torrent enter'd to the heart So sure, it blew all up : so wasps are blown, Or hornets — nests and all into the air Too long infested, all their stings as well Their legs, wings, sing'd, burnt, broken : owning Death The rebels terror-fraught their ghosts from out Their eyes glar'd in advance, and with a shriek Sped — like Siberian wolves their haunting fired, Outward to Hell. 300 With well-practised plumes Turn'd north the victors, from that star well heard Warring if seen not ; the explosion came Too certain to the Arch-divider's ears Across the mediate space : soon through the clouds A thousand thousand voyagers were seen Angelical but stern, and beauteous forms Such as ne'er Hylas, nor th' Idsean boy, Nor Cinyras's son, Endymion — lov'd E'en by Diana, Hermaphroditus, 310 Nor the Bithynian fav'rite Antinous Boasted, with eyes the empress- J uno wished

252 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH When Paris for the Paphian her postponed : Thus present they forestalling his vain boast Meeting him those he said would glad avoid ; Nor Lucifer unwilling ; use he'd made Meanwhile, in various sort arming more sure He thought than ever ; wondrous works had they Moreover added ; those ramparts which cost The Hellenes ten years to gain nor gained 320 Then but for Sinon, those which Russia holds From Turkey for examples are (O Muse ! Suff'ring comparison,) as these unto The warrior-angels ; here were casements close As those at Antwerp found after the siege By France was over ; long drawn passages, Like those within the pyramids, the ends Of which are still unknown, — these secret were As Night who them design'd, and labyrinths More tortuous than Crete's ; herein she denned 330 Since the great act of God had lighted up All the external universe : " Forth ! forth ! " Then Lucifer to her cried, " forth ! God's glare Now petrify to gloom, advantages Giving unto us that this Arm of heaven Encount'ring we may break; abroad, and scare!" Over that orb straightway she slowly swept

IN EARTH. 253 Quenching so far the beam of the first day With a tremendous frown : then Uriel looked Doubtful, around his head his glory shone 340 Streaming, and from the casquenetts of all His hopeful hosts ; high over all stood he Lynx-eyed; the distant walls, the towers of iron He saw and hov'ring o'er them Night — 'twas Night Fac'd to the verge of death, or Death it was Anger'd frowning like Hell, shaking the wing More angrily, when with a living fire Fir'd the impetuous Lucifer came on Against them ; O that coming ! set upon Chimaeras — like those Ixion got upon 350 Cloud, down they came, and with a scaring cry Discharg'd : Parthonopseus Dryas took Same manner : Uriel's with one baulking bound Each took his foremost ; Pollux ne'er like that Grappled, returning scorn for hateful scorn Beyond example : fury fury met So much more resolute as the cause was good Incalculably ; peal on sounding peal Rung the archangels crying, " On ! at them Gods!" ever foremost to sustain the shock 360 Of shock-repeating battle ; Lucifer Cried also baring both his wither'd arms

254 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Worn with the warring : giant Brontes' arms Were sliver'd, Arges' crush'd but these were worn ; So promontories wear, the weather, waves Against them : menacing he look'd, whole troops Troubled ; like castled elephants behind His frightful monsters ; Oceanides Thaumas, Electra ne'er such ones begot ; Nor she of Callirhoe to Chrysaor 370 Born fell Echidna : some had octave rows Of teeth — like that dread dragon Cadmus slew, And bit for rage great pieces out their backs And bellies, kindling fire or vomiting Each time they vomited an earth quite full Of solid smoke ; O ! terrible were they Oft turning Heaven's aside — as blasted trees — Left standing, reapers in a corn field, or Reft rocks advanc'd to sea the chafing waves, Or high peak'd hills the swiftly rushing winds, 380 Or burst-bound rivers armies ; when they fell Wounded to death their dying voice was like — Was like a dying thunder, and their blood Like grumous lava, spinning, spirting forth Their mountain-bodies as the Geysers spout, Or spirt, and spue in Iceland ; one when in His latter agonies stroke out behind

IN EARTH. 255 Full six score jambs; a cameleopard so — Escap'd but wounded from a lion, fallen Sometimes will strike, woe to the wild wood-cats 390 Behind him ; then was horror some cried out Ripp'd up, but more their lower limbs undone For ever ; then Patrancosothos fell Thrimos, Acostras, Pylon ; these an oath Had sworn that if contrary went the war Their Emperor should die : he — like a huge Sea-worthless vessel that the masts hath lost Plunging keel upward in the ocean-brine Rent all the ribs, presumptuously ploughed The skies, the deeps ; o'er hills of slain he urged 400 Ascending ; down he drove o'erpow'ring all Roiling from side to side : so a Malay Drunken he runneth muck — his forfeit life Selling, armed with knife, spear, ataghan : Immortal frenzy his long javelins He launch'd at every breath ; the oaks renowned Dodonian, the tall pines the robber used, By the Trcezenian hero for himself Used at the last were reeds ; e'en he, himself Scarce lifted, dashing glad ; whizzing they went 4 1 0 Like lightnings wing'd one side and not the other Often awry far out beyond the lines

256 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Or far beyond, and some as much fell short ; Oft times his orbed shield — hammered, up Flaming he held, behind the ample round Shelt'ring, nor seldom to his sword was he Put by some enterpriser who across His path bravely would rush, guardfull the while : Thus the reviling Lucifer that day Portentous, savage fought; famous his feats 420 Headlong, headstrong, hard-handed ; high the ground He spurn'd, as if he eke were brazen-hoofed As well his maddest momics neighing, loudLarynx'd, alarming, startling; Night above Him constantly was seen, — never before So resolutely wild she blighted air, Earth, sea, she blighted all ; the stars that rolled Above turn'd sickly pale, and still she shoved And shov'd her warding wings the sky nine times Clogging ; and down she look'd so direful on 430 Each aching angel that full many felt Unnerv'd : so she the subtlest of the fiends — Headed and breasted like a woman, with The body of a dog, a lion's claws, "Wing'd like a bird, and with a human voice, Her victims meditated from on high Ready to dart, — but more unnat'ral Night

IN EARTH. 257 As if her every eyeless eye were pricked For every one on whom weetless they fell ; O ! how she lowered, frown'd, turn'd red and black 440 Erecting rampant, each especial hair Unknotted up on end, the hydra head Of every hair jaw-open'd raining down Over her forehead, face, continual rain Of poison thrice distilled ; equal fierce Serpentries zon'd her waist, her wenny wings Were fring'd with serpents ; down sometimes she seemed To swoop and then, oh then ! a million snakes — And more, of prey made sure, but often as She lower'd Lucifer was fain to smite 450 At her himself by thousands bit and stung. Now through the battle — brought to utmost bale, Speeding a shower of shining shafts Uriel Went arch angelic forth ; a bloody blain Follow'd his sabred sword, no better hand Had he in both ten blasting bolts he caught Bellowing, and — bearing up, the sender sent Back with the sense of death ; whole legions fall Or fly before him ; squadrons squadrons seem No longer ; through the serried ranks he drove 460 Spreading Death dainties, — Death a banquet made More than Thyestian ; Heliogabalus

258 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Never so feasted, no such supper made Lucullus ; all the crowded corses he Coring elated as that monster cored Who had the heads of howling dogs around Her middle, serpent-shaped feet, six heads Three row'd with teeth ; six at a time eat she, Death tens of thousands : Ismarus was felled Once for one funeral, no fun'ral there 470 Was kept for millions ; no Achilles mourned His Patroclus, each felt his fate alone And had they tears — they had not, (all the founts Whence real tears proceed long since dried up,) Not one had been bestow'd : now woe to them The wicked ! those who in the heavens had been Friends — foll'wing as Theseus Pirithous To hell, now hell was in the view hated Each other with a more determin'd will Than e'er they lov'd : this the great difT'rence is 480 Between the good and bad, the gracious love For ever, but a time the froward — Hate Close on the heel ; Reader ! guard, guard thee well From mixed wine, now in the youth whilst yet The days come not when thou shalt say in them I have no pleasure ; for the sun, the moon The stars shall darken, nor the cloud return

IN EARTH. 259 After the rain ; the keepers of the house Tremble ; the strong bow down ; the grinding teeth Cease, and the eyes grow dim, fear in the way 490 When thou unto account must go, — beware ! Woe in his wake Uriel with martial might Pursuing slew : so Hector once the Greeks ; Now here, now there : so some refiuxion'd wave In a wide bay drives on or back or on Unto the level : the archangel fought For the inviolable God himself Scarce less inviolable : brethren ! hope And faithful be unto the end, fight on The fight of faith and we like him a crown 500 Shall surely have. " Strike ! strike the iron sixth O laureate, to thy lead !" Melpomone ! Thy sister Muse commands, thou tragic queen ! Gorgeous enrob'd,— Clio ! with laurel crowned Attend whilst for our Empress unrestrained Numbers I raise or from my fingers flayed The pestled plectrum falls. Then Lucifer — Like the huge Erymanthian boar rush'd down 510 Upon the hunter ; gnashing all his teeth A thunder-bolted lance he drove but back — s 2

260 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Like that Electryon threw, with added force Against himself it went, — his corslet pierced — His heart then on came Death ; from both his eyes Out upon him he blaz'd, his bonds he burst Like the Philistian withes, or like the god Of Strength Busiris' chains ; then such a flail He aim'd ! more terrible than ever he Corynetes brandish'd, the which upon 520 Astonied Death fell down as falls a great High overthreat'ning rock upon a rude Assailing billow in confusion driven Foaming on heap, nigh sever'd back from whence Spiry it came a horrid gap between, — Back that one roll'd voluminously vast Like the sea-serpent that Laocoon seized Clenching his latent claws ; or like the mouthed Sea-monster Perseus met, on either hand Upflung his failing fins like taken towers 530 Or falling ; in the centre to the ground He haled his heads expecting such another Dangering trial, starting all his eyes, Harrow'd his harden'd heart : so in his cave Shut up, distracted Caurus bang'd again Eaves raving, all the pect'ral earth intent To loose him : then his thick and foetid breath

IN EARTH. 261 Went forth like fume from out a lazar house — All the attendants with their patients dead, When in the morning one unknowing opes 540 The spotted door ; those who respir'd fell down Death-stricken worse than ever ; Wonder took Night and out out like Iphiclus shrieked she Amazing both the armies, such a shriek None heard before nor after gods nor men Save Orpheus when Eurydice was lost, Like her she flitted and like her she looked Mounting ten fiery dragons ; she Medea Her children murdered, from Iolchos To Athens drove some-like scatt'ring behind 550 Her salted conjurations ; thus then Night Defiling ; e'en her limbs were scatter'd, some Rotted away especially the snakes That stood for limbs below, as that young hag Absyrtus scatter'd : oh ! horrific sight ! Then Lucifer like Polydectes looked, His angels like his adjuncts when they saw Gorgon ; no one thought then of cureless wounds Balsams or balms, or those curative drops Renown'd in heaven more than Tolu are here, 560 Or Gilead, or those amber-looking tears Lampetie and her loving sisters claim

262 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Exuding from their trees ; and the Arch-one — That more than an archangel, after her Seemed as if he fled, and so they looked Flying together, for one time they turned Full speed full round the two, the three — for Death They overtook, and he a something shook A something dreadful — undistinguish'd what, And Mght her nine score hands determin'd shook 570 Fill'd with crap'd clouds and flung them to the full Of her unbounded bent ; but Lucifer He flung, — he stoop'd and from the groaning ground More than an island tore, he lifted, poised A moment o'er his head and — all his might Expending, hurl'd ; well met ! O kindling Muse ! What shall assist me to my theme 1 what ope Incred'lous ears so wide as shall admit The labor'd latitudes 1 then Uriel too Also essaying, and like Hercules 580 When from the Pillars unto Ceuta he Tore the whole Isthmus up, rocks, rivers, roots, And the Atlantic met the Middle sea, So then nor diverse ; all the globe gainsay'd That major meeting ; Night set up a howl That scar'd the Utmost, e'en the azure Orb Of heaven re-echoed back ; whole legions drown,

IN EA.RTH. 263 Or die bespatter'd with the marls, the muds And mingled fall ; then back the lesser drove Tempesting, heap'd, confus'd as destin'd to 590 O'ertake them all unransom'd ; gauntlet, shield, Avail'd not here ; they fled his weapons dropped Th' Apostate in his haste, Hippomedon Not half so fleet ; in vain, or nearly vain Vengeance at hand down, down the ruin comes Eazing his hinder joints ; then out the thin Pellucid ichor pour'd, and Death again Turn'd round as if upon him, Night also She turn'd her dragons back before his eyes Flitting as if her last ; Death e'en his arms 600 Adventuring held forth, O Miserable ! He left his limbs behind writhing to think How much he suffer 'd in the sinewy grip Of that Arch-potent whom the daemon Night Rapt sudden up and — lashing furious, drove Her cank'rous coursers on ; out wide stretch'd they Like Draco, or like those strange Volants which Swum in the air of — unto us ancient Hell ; Trymenor compelling a great bow Seven times seven arrows went, and one brought down, Like he Periclymenos levelFd by | 61 0 Alcides; see! he flutters, Leaps now up

264 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Now falleth down the spectres busy with The harnessing and bonds, bursting, or broke, Torn, cut asunder ; now precipitous He comes, he comes wide gaping, hated thing, Filmy, sombre, grisly, mysterious Deformity, Deadness, Astonishment: Then the rebellious found themselves between Th' untiring enemy, upon themselves 620 Continually revers'd : the battle went Against them everywhere ; where'er they turned They found, and many rather than be slain Pointed their own dread arms : so hemm'd around By fire detested scorpions on themselves Are said to turn the sting ; so countermined Traitors themselves blow up : Moloch — gone mad In handling his sharp sword across his throat Unguarded drew it ; out the crimson tide Gush'd and his fierce and reckless spirit most 630 Bloody to see : Apollyon and Baal Fought frantic, pik'd all o'er beyond the reach Of Chiron's styptic or of Paean's rue, Infix'd also with many a barbed beard Broke in their fury off; they thrust, tore, teethed, Nor friend, nor foe could brook ; where thickest, they Loading and loaded, blinding, blasting all

IN EARTH. 265 That they encounter'd if not blasted borne Down or driven back the first : Haraphon fought As desp'rate as possess'd ; brutally bluff 640 Hack'd he or hew'd maintaining ample space On all sides round ; his vizor fallen his face Was gory red all o'er, nor target his Right through the pierc'd cuirass his body through Below the diaphragm a fatal fork Had speeded straight — over the cuishes down About his legs his inwards dangling hung ; Still on press'd he as animate as e'er Sputt'ring the teeth as often as fresh blow Frequent was had 'till quite exhausted he 650 Once and for ever fell : upon Ekriel One sent a thund'ring hill ; so Tityon Was serv'd in quick reprise, his impious tongue Jaws, cheeks together altogether crushed One undistinguish'd mass : the common rout Of the rebellious equally were served, None deign'd to them a second blow, but sent Their souls apart at once : the carked crew Bi-forrnd nor gods nor ought beside whereto The Muse may liken, — some their swimmers stretched Amazing wide, and some their necks so high [6()0 Scarce were their heads discover'd from amidst

266 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH The gath'ring clouds ; feathery, scal'd, or haired With crisp'd or long cerastes — thick or thin O'ergrown, or small or saucer 'd eyed, their breath Flame such as Ceres kindled, or like that Which seizeth on the leper-souls of men Their condemnation seal'd; their calls, or cries Like his Argestes' when he rocks the earth With terror to and fro; all these they drove 670 Drench'd in their draff, with all that kept the seat, All that surviv'd on foot, pell-mell they drove Breathless, and blind, and beaten, branded whence So ill-advis'd they came : so brave Calais And Zethes drove the vulture-bodied birds But human fac'd unto the Strophades Beyond Peloponesus, that despite Their formidable claws, and iron wings, And threat'ning voices : back like curling waves Unwilling they were back'd those millions to 680 Their outside pretenture ; there they renewed A moment when sore batter 'd, bruis'd, and broken Over the next they go — one after th' other With ill success defending 'till the last Reached the angels found across their road Some not expect ; — like those fire-breathing bulls That guarded close for Mars the Golden Fleece,

IN EARTH. 267 Death, Night and Lucifer ; his naming hair Shook Death elancing to the utmost bounds, Night after but with oft redoubled strokes 690 Of her reft ramy wings, whetting what was Her visionary tusks, wrinkling her brow As if the limbs of all God's angels she Would shred ; then the archangels Death and that • Confronting put to flight Night foremost, back Along the bristling passages hast'ning Nor look'd for fear behind, Death he dissolved Like a sun-shrivell'd cloud, whilst Lucifer — Pierc'd though he was unto the bone by the Most piercing weapons, haughtily the crest 700 As ever carrying cover'd the retreat Of his thrice decimated armies 'till — The living last behind him, to they put (The universe resounding as hoarsely They grated back) the declarative doors. Thus in his turn the baffled Anarch there Was close besieg'd, and in such serious terms That no conditions offer'd; none he wished Unquell'd his pride : who shall a mortal's pride Much less an angel's quell] Full oft in pack 710 Issuing from some strange vent his wolves would fall As if the prey were theirs ; great grisly pyths

268 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH And cancriners often with riders wild Would venture a surprisal when they thought The watchers intermitted ; warily They apparition made in ghastly sort Whilst some would sortie opposite with sign Of broody battle and so much distract The angels that to greater distance fallen Good room for field remain'd : once Lucifer 720 Himself in earnest set, Uriel he saw His back upon his towers, the multitude Exhorting, flitting where that regal stood Who — felt forecasting shadow, uO!" cried he, " From thy dark den art thou at length come forth With hopeless hope me unaware to take 1 Trapping or slaying ; lend unwilling ears That I may sate them thou apostate prince ! Untrue to God, God to thy bitter own Reflections leaves thee, I to them will add 730 Inducement if unthank'd whilst I abhor Thy cureless folly : O ! is it for this Thou didst revolt and all thy hosts seduce To follow thy bad ways % for them hast thou Industriously forg'd such chains I doubt If they prefer them unto those of which Thou mad'st the false report their souls to snare :

IN EARTH. 269 Where is thy former crown of fulgent stars 1 So ill-replac'd by painted plumals, O Lucifer ! thou art chang'd from what thou wast 740 To recompense of evil ; fallen Arch ! Would all receiv'd thee as I now receive." With that emblaz'd over his head erect Sublime his sacred sword — bestud with stones The hilt which burn'd like brass ; but Lucifer Unfearing that vaunting himself returned. " Proud serf! for this laying aside thy harp And odes to Majesty in studied style Of servile adoration, Lucifer Dost seek % Self-flatterer ! back'd as thou art 750 With all thy vassal crowds well mayest thou Injuriously insult him whom the three Greater archangels fear'd that yesterday We sieg'd thy Lord else long I had not sought Them vainly as the foremost of my foe Obnoxious to these arms ; well this thou know'st Boasting thy worth, and simulating what Thou nor The Tyrant know'th when Lucifer Trembling ye name. For other than for this We rose uncumber'd of those coz'ning shows 760 Prided by slaves, as thou this time doth pride liveried, in th' enjoyment as it seems

270 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Of that which but disgraces thee much more Than our reversals : whilst to me thou preach'st List if not learn thou braggart ! freedom lies Not always in one's happiness, but he Who free remains disdaineth such as thou Serving such court and mock solemnities Thou as inferior servest, plied thy best Prankt in that holiday disguise to please : 770 O this were hateful to the glorious gods Who free confess me Head with better thank Though maybe small than His whom all the rest Besotted fear and praise. The god who dares For liberty is noble though he fall." He ceas'd and dazzling fenc'd a stroke, returning Ever the while fresh blows he also put Continually aside, smiting oft-time His vig'rous adversary but intent Unto his towers to make retreat, this as 780 That prince discover'd he directly hewed Down straight so, Lucifer had much ado — His hands nigh cleaving to his blades and used With all dexterity his life to save, — His seconds also, for though Uriel fought Alone — wav'd off all comers, sometimes these Headlong he reach'd two-handed either side

IN EARTH. 271 On the supporters, fring'd the course he took Frequent with dead : then Agafriminos, Accandrar, and the daring Agiphine 790 Fell pierc'd with the same shaft, — Pathriknites — Behind them near run through, with mortal pain Withdrawing disembowel'd, the broad sweep Of a crabb'd club (from Toron wrest) sufficed To end him with twelve others ; in excess Of might one time the dread archangel smote Not only his antagonist to knee But num'rous in the rear — with the bare blast, Were blown prostrate to ground and some fell dead ; Thus wilding he, channelled his long way 800 Tearing some times (when arms or missives failed As oft they did so many at a time Pointing he charg'd,) great fragments of their works — Like Savendroeg that rock of death, clean up And swinging them right round let fly ; Scholaf, Nomron and others by these means were slain Hopra and Saropheli : so Pholeus, Pout — ravage following; so th' JEtolian chief: Then also sank Hyprostar, Hammonak And Thrydaomer, mighty names were these 810 'Mongst the admiring angels, on them all At once he rush'd, fixing in each seven darts

272 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Pinning the ground ; and high he waves seven swords Instantly after o'er the horrent heads Of Harrinthrytor and a chosen band Together round him cow'ring, every blade "Was fatal and to more than one ; he smote Many whene'er he smote dealing his deaths Alternate now this side and then the other So quickly none within arm's-length could hope 820 Even if he dar'd to come, nor one remained Not one behind : the Arch dishonor 'd galled Fought as he best could fight — not as he once Outside the heavens contended like a god In his supremest strength, that day was past At present but he ne'ertheless so fought As all astonished; he moves, the globe Trembles ; he plants a foot, the centre quakes ; He bounds, a whirlwind rises that this earth More than suffic'd to wheel against her course 830 Diurnal, and so wheeling spin it out Impalpably to space unravell'd mist ; Yet all his rage came short, his blows were dealt Like blows but not like Uriel's ; not a wound Had he inflicted, whilst with loss of blood Fainting he reels ; his darts were darted so J fad Alp been then Alp through and through were seen ;

IN EARTH. 273 And still his steels smote down when on he pressed His forceful frame opposing that none there But his antagonist had them survived ; 840 His thunders all were spent — or such they once Call'd thunder ; all his bolts ; he stalks, he flies, He stands by turn, pride, shame, and frenzy his Whilst Uriel pours upon — around him wrath Incessant, wheeling, whirling, now above In air, and now upon the slippery ground, The boastful shield upflung whene'er he met Behold ! around his arm half-hammer'd back, His cloven diadem, his razed crest, And all his plate and mail spatter'd and spoilt ; 850 Arrows and lances, spears and deadly darts Are his unnumber'd, bristling there he seems The object of ten thousand most expert Unfeeling marksmen, often as he pluckt As often plied and pierc'd with all but force Fatal ; an axe he lifts, out of his hands It goeth like lightning back and kills — mis-chanced, Grothor, same time a stunning blow was cut Disabling one whole side, — down fell what stood For ten great wings, down his robustious arm 860 Useless, and through the air a summons sped At once into his brain, into his mouth T

274 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Through the crush'd palatals the pulp divine Discharging then he spitted — all his eyes Bloodied as if by death, then Pallor — like A white-eyed vampire, o'er his members crept, Yet still he breath'd, liv'd, fought, retir'd — or fled Reviving as he fled, his streaming balls Staunch'd by a more than iEsculapian art Known only to the gods, the cranial sphere 870 Reintegrating — all the injur'd bones Soder'd again together by the mere Motion of will ; he gasps — behind him lies The lower terrace ; to the portal with A wordless effort he the passage made, The next, the next ; then Uriel first time Sacrael joins, their angels to that spot They also rush for ingress, up they mount With the opposers, earning step by step — Sanguineous or paven with the slain, 880 Unto the iron lintels, — here with force Supernal Lucifer with Uriel and Sacrael waged long while singeing the airs Each time they stroke and torrents driving on Like storms outside and in which through the halls Resounding rush'd and to her cover came Where Night crump'd close ; many a hard essay

IN EARTH. 275 Made then those three, the one that door to keep The others take, as if upon the hinge Hung destiny : O Diva ! never gate 890 Of Babylon, nor Hecatompylos, Nor Priam's, nor Phoenician, none that great Titus attempted when his Eagles pitched Round Hierosalem, of later age Constantinopolis by Mahomet The Second hard assail'd — nor gate of Rome By Alaric — Bourbon, nor those waylaid In feudal times by the crusading kings — The lion-hearted King thine ancestor Great Empress ! foremost, none was so contest'd : 900 He who his father Ccelus cruel mauled To gain his throne, when he in turn was ta'en By the Olympian, Jupiter himself When Demogorgon — by the son of Maia Heralded, came (as he — of mantled Myth, Who hung on Caucasus foretold,) like that Made no resistance : fill my pen with fire O Muse ! and Terror, wait ! aspiring after That signal hour when for his outlaw'd life The Gerent fought with all the might of limbs 910 E'er-living and indescribable rage So that his presence seem'd like flame dissolved t 2

276 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Continual and back penetrating fresh Into an image flash'd ; thus those princedoms Bodied with threat unbodied appeared The time they threat fulfill'd, thaw'd by the strokes They aim'd at one another, sometimes both Together smiting then the three would seem Destructive lightnings at right angles met Disparting back unto his cloud charging 920 Again for more ; then grinded they the winds Whirling or thund'ring down, or hurling up Their gleamy faulchions, trampling each the ground Spurning yet keeping : thus wreak'd they their all Constant, yet more for ever in reserve More ruinous from which was no appeal Unto a higher ; one or th' other must Sink conquer'd, which'? the holy angels thought Of such fierce combatants well met before But direr now : detesting and detest 930 Mutual they judg'd for doom, bottomless Void Assigning one and an eternal wreck Of all his being ; the other or if he Imperishing were found down sink they should Same time inextricable to that sea Shoreless through all the heaven-assailing waves Unto the bottom : " Thus ! " said Uriel, and —

IN EARTH. 277 Melpomone he smote ! Vast to the core Shivering sunk when down mis-spent it came ; And " Thus ! " cried his offensor sending down 940 Tempestuous cloud that shut them all from sight A moment, then the vagued Vast again : Thus awful they dimming the stars, shaking The Universe ; the terrors of their looks Unbearable to all if up they dared Through the red ragged storms at them to glance ; At last the strife remitted, but for time Less than one instant when to it again Frowning they put : now, lo ! now Uriel is — His foot upon the threshold and with huge 950 And pond'rous blow meets Lucifer's advanced Weapon so well that right, right through he cuts ; He flies defenceless all the outer walls Fill'd with belligerents, the outlets of The citadel beleagued, some half-way won : With all the outworks all their engines lost Immediate they were turn'd — as once before With such effect ; remorselessly they smote Column and capital, a hideous roar Perpetual : with as incessant mind 960 The renegades in turn deploy'd such means As there to them were left often in blaze

278 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Outbursting where the Holy least expect But still inutile ; oft to dispossess Some corner they essay'd and wondrous feats Were done by either : but, O ! who shall rive That solid, keyless place ? God and none other Said they, so strong those adamantine walls What reek they these 1 yet on continually Fire-hail was pour'd upon the plated doors 970 Eeady to take if when each trial o'er Aught open stood. Clio ! relate their names The most distinguish'd who that famous time Stood forth amongst the angels when they rushed Forward with Sacrael ; Rhytoronon first Confronting Baal — presently o'erthrown If not quite finish'd, him they rescued ; to Pathrine Apollyon owed much although A shield was interpos'd ; nigh dead was Oth From the redoubted Eunymo ; and ten 980 Chief-rulers from Prospal and Mazinor Fled, but were met by Eusthynes, Mazob And Theophestus ; the renown'd Crothor, Phalton, Vathec, Dremos Abaddon slew And Ziphroth ; other noted were that time In valors deed ; Atrine and Barachos And Athbrascantes thrice their numbers drove

IN EARTH. 279 With ghastly gashes out ; whilst Nepamon Smote seven successively purpled the ground With gushing streams ; these the distinction won 990 To head the batteries incessantly Play'd, when from an embrasure Mulciber Unguarded looking out himself a prey Fell to them. Long the tale of risks they ran Firing concert together ; oft the roofs Scaling they met the warders at their posts Unsleeping, and resum'd. Now Lucifer A secret council held ; within a shrine — Unknown but to himself, with cunninge wrought 1000 More latent than the Golden Chambers worked For the superior gods, he on a throne Sate royal still and thus the business sped. " Despair not potents yet — hard though the day Against us goeth, but retire with me To your profoundest thoughts there shall ye find Such big rebellion to high heaven as leave Us no alternative, ye gods ! egress If unto one yet possible to none Beside myself: and time an end shall make 1010 Even of our towers assail' d as these assail. The watch have well-nigh given, and but for ye,

280 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH 0 princes ! carrying high the head the hosts If not surrender'd lassid grown, or worse Despairing of the issue down their arms Long since had thrown. Even if we forsook All hope, if I even my crown despaired Yet would I wear it 'till the moment came For the dire ravishment. Immortal gods Unmov'd I look with the consummate scorn 1020 1 ever look'd ; nothing from me detracts My high prerogative, highest to hate Subservience to another. Now our Guest Answer, what in this new extremity Remains undone." Then Baal — all besmeared With crimson, said, Apollyon sitting mute, " Service were his who at this solemn time Sagely could answer that, amidst all our Distractions; nor this one the least that thou 1030 Whose part it were to show, request of us What way — if one remaineth yet to take. From ill to worse we journey, this the worst Dreadful to think that when we promis'd much Least is perform'd the puissant powers within This confine shut for whom ascent to heaven Was thought still possible — th' arrangement made.

IN EARTH. 281 I list as well dost thou the routous noise Of our great arlablasts and reckon time Anxious how long these last defences stand 1040 Such outburst, for — a difference between These and the walls of God, down they must go And with them fate necessitous to all, For what avails our skill such arms to forge Or use like these % behold ! we strike, we hew God's armies and throw down but harm none can Whilst they are turn'd upon us with such wounds As few may bear and live. If time there were For speculation now good cause have we The system of our policy to review 1050 From the beginning ; something wrong there is Low at the root, alas ! the search were late Even if possible : thus we are smit Though the first smiters. Who such peerless height Of daring in our enemy could expect X As we have witness'd ; or in God such power ? For he inspireth if He doth not deign To lead : O Lucifer ! misreckon'd there, God truly is above us proof to fate If yet not Fate which now I much suspect, 1060 The more irreconcilable as thou Arch-gerent ever art ; nor I deplore

282 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH But still our eyes to thee continual turn If not for succour at the least advice Which shall amend us : to this pass we 're brought Now is the time thy excellence to prove." "Well said;" Apollyon cried drawing his breath With difficulty in such piteous plight Had Parathseel left him ; " now great act Thou Lucifer ! is necessary, more 1070 Than e'er, let those who saw Death say 'tis worse Than angry God to see or to endure ; For this wert thou design'd foremost of gods And separated as it were : put forth For our captivity more than thou hast — E'en to the pitch of our afflicting need Deliv'ring : if thou God imagin'd thine Already duell'd when from him thou gained'st Thy millions surely Uriel's not above Thy boasted strength if to the earnest brought, 1080 This at the least was promis'd. What can we More than is done ] no more ; not one a blow Harder than hath been stricken hopes to strike And few so hard since these our dol'rous wounds Disabling. 'Twas by no default of ours Arch-potent ! that we lost ; whene'er we lost Compulsion overpowerd us j for myself

IN EARTH. 283 Dishearten'd are my hosts to impotence Of mind as well as body, and but for Politic carriage if the heavens they fell 1090 Scarce would they keep in hand their fatal arms, Fatal they are, prescribe them how we will, Use in what manner and with best exploit, With strength heaven-given the enemy to use Infinite better puts them : we 're abased Even by our own auxiliars, delivered Unto destruction. Ask and now what gain Have we ? nor rash I speak when this I say None but a loss deplorable which way We turn distractful looks now to our last 1100 Extremity arriv'd : who this foretold To us in heaven had on the spot been stoned Predicting. Thou to rule 'twas given, rule ! As dispensation unto us shall bring." Then Baal added : " Lucifer ! thou hast Heard : thou so long proudly secure subserve These accidents to glory as behoves One who disdain'd an equal ; out with all Thy strength of body, soul, so that henceforth We know thy utmost, it may chance suffice 1110 For our redemption of the which we else Truly despair nor marvel thou for we

284 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Have done what in us lay ; if thou also Hast thine declare ! that we the worst may know And knowing bear : worse misery were ours Hoping to be deceiv'd when last when most Fondly we hoped ; of this complaint we make That all all all thy schemes frustrated are Thy latest in the bud if Uriel wins This day: O loss incalculable if 1120 He needs must win ; hope is thenceforth extinct, The gods expos'd to more contemptuous wrong, Eternally in power of those we hate Hating, or oh ! despising us in turn : Expose thee, Emperor ! in all the blaze Of thy prime majesty or we are — lost." " Tis so," rejoin'd Apollyon, " we 're bereaved Entirely but for this : in this recess Truth may, nay needs be told ; th' allied gods Are all incomp'tent to the task in hand. 1130 We urge thee Lucifer! this living death's Intol'rable, we 're buried to our shame In grave self-made. O thing beyond belief ! That we are thus abandon'd and given o'er By that renown'd Viceroy who once upon Jehovah turn'd defying on the back And promis'd in the hearing of the gods

IN EARTH. 285 To meet him and the seven archangels too Conq'ring the whole : on onr embattled hosts The angels rush'd but down, wrested our arms, 1140 Turned to disadvantage all we wore, And killed us by millions ; Uriel he Alone dares Lucifer engage and with Effect ; well may we dread unless more than Thou hast achiev'd thou doth ridiculous To make him in the sight of all who stand For fear aloof: this were the heart to cheer Of all thy foll'wers who in turn would fall With like result in adamantine proof Of soul upon the adversary, spurned 1150 Innumerable legions to the ground, Or fled in wild discomfiture : O God ! Mace in thy mighty hand this instant forth Go ! so thou shalt anticipate the time Compulsive, and assuredly postpone." Then Lucifer — the light upon him broke Of sure experience ne'er thenceforth to be A moment in his agitated mind One moment discontinued, spake ; to this Persisting Pride had Hope minister'd ; to 1160 The Throne of God he thought to mount and all Its posts pull up or more confirming seat

286 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH But now first time th' emergent case in which He stood was visible : for Uriel he Hardly suffic'd, — for Uriel's those his hosts In no way equal, thus unparalleled Destruction was at hand. Coop'd as they were, And now disjointed all his latest joints ; Where aid he sought reflections only found Or bold incitement unto that he knew 1170 Above him, thus was he as well by talk Troubled as Conscience, Th' Undying Worm Troubled her much but only as in dream, Now with the liveliest reproaches she Adds, yet betraying not to what he fell But highest head maintaining he replied, " Now both my last attend ! nor counsel, nor Yet consolation : is it unto this Arriv'd that when your contributions fail I am defaca'd? ye arm'd with forgeries 1180 Of temper'd brass, cuirasses, mail that none Had they their furniture defended as I mine such wounds as yours the others rued. Tax ye yourselves as well the timid hosts Motion'd to infidelity when faith I sought by ev'ry means in them t' impulse For war's occasion. What deliv'rance now

IN EARTH. 287 Can ye expect 1 if forth in all my power From some postal I drive over the hosts Engirdling overthrown, who following 1190 With my huge strides an equal pace could keep Or with my pinions % the time I wide Eavag'd, for flight out of the question is E'en could we fly : for Uriel I am armed — Though with ill chance my blade in twain was stroke Last time, another left. But what avails % Let me confess th' archangels' lives above All accident, for aye we all might fight Self-rais'd and thence inconsequently, but What if I won] abject ye hardly heave 1200 The head or if presumptuously address Despairful language, or demeaning speech Unto your Paramount : dispose me not At your good wills ; I am deceiv'd, I hoped Most noble things where others have been found. Mine acts are in heaven's chancelry ; Michael Gloriel and Hadriel have suffer'd far Too much for silence ; Uriel, Sacrael ask And they shall grant many a cruel blow For them sore-bruising fell, — they have my last 1210 Henceforth strike I 'gainst none but glowing God, 'Tis He I Avar with, if with less T warred

288 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Only for ye ; not one of the seven thrones As high as mine I pass them with contempt For the Supreme : war on my own account Now will I wage, how, and in what brave sort It pleaseth me alone. Lawful it is For ye also to war each for himself If so it pleaseth ; ye have lost enough T incite ye by no coming short of mine." 1220 Thus he decisive, breaking up that board — Amaz'd and mute so strange it seem'd to them His resolute resolve, retiring slow From oft his abdicated throne by way Shown but to him by Night : deep underground Through caverns longer than the one beneath Taenarus, or the long Campanian, or That one near Acheron in Epirus found Thoughtful he pass'd, through all the principles Terrestrial and sub-ccelar bound around 1230 The outer circle of the sun as 'twere In embryo order : what the poets feign Of their outrageous chaos (older than Vesta but not as some have daring thought Con-seminal with God, or caus'd by God,) Latent he saw scarce seeing, through that bound He penetrated down en t 'ring a third

IN EARTH. 289 Well guarded, then turn'd he for who that sight Could bear and live ] his Fate, his horrid Fate Risen from the centre: "Who?" cried he, "or what Awful! art thou?" the while his burning eyes [1240 QEdipus-like he tore lest evermore They that beheld : sepulchral were the tones, iEacus, Minos, Khadamanthus when United they condemn'd a soul unto A worse than Tantalus his doom spoke not So terrible, "Thy Dira, I, Dira!" It answerd, " Come, thou Dead ! thou Living-dead : " Night boding heard that more than ghostly talk And gathering her force the two approached 1250 When the Arch-potent heard ; wordless with her Conversing for brief space at last he cried " All, all is lost ; detested Prodigy ! Then where is Death 1 " " In this deep dungeon long For thee I waited," said embodying Grime No mortal can conceive to paint ; he that Felt as ten adders at his vitals, stung To madness; "Ever-living might of God," Then Lucifer cried out, " thou reignest through 1260 This mis-created brain ; avenging God ! What 's living in my brain, and in my heart u

290 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH And crawling through my veins as in contempt Tracking my kingly soul, speak Loathesome ! " "I Am thy unnat'ral child on Destiny This evil day begotten." "Dira! thou! And down I trample thee, down, down," with strength Equivalent and more the rooted sun 1270 Plucking he pull'd and all the orbed mass — For it was orbed hollow and blown up Like a great bubble when it drove from heaven, The whole he drew : so Titan ; so also He who the Delphian tripod all the way To the Ismenion brought great pines uptore From Mount (Eta when in his dying pangs ; He too who carried off the gates of Gath Hight Atlas by the heathen, when their bars He mightily, and when at Dagon's feast 1 280 Those pillars whereupon his ample roof Depended, slain the princes of Ashdod, Ekron, and Askalon : and Lucifer Plucked but once wresting the stubborn poles With such an importunity that they Strong though they were as adamant no more They that resist than flax the touch of fire,

IN EARTH. 291 Him they confess'd asserting to his height The privilege of gods o'er matter then In list against him enter'd, overthrown 1290 From all the bases, the rebelling powers Above in the calamity involved By that great suicide who — labour done, The merit found rewarding weight full good Whole continents upon him thund'ring down ; — But no deep sleep for him ; the philtre which The never-sleeping dragon set to rest ; Tremendous Styx which whosoe'er amongst The gods had tasted one whole year were sent To senseless lethargy, — if he the whole 1 300 River had drunk and every drop that flows In Lethe it sufhc'd not : he had seen That dreadful Dira, the Original Sin, his reflected shade ; Necessity It was, but name not Lycophron, Rhamnuse Emaciated, ghastly, with blood-shot Eyes from their holes depending, iron whips — Or whips of scorpions knotted, chains, and hellLit torches nor Vengeance : close at his side That more than phantom stood, between the life 1310 That was, and death which was the life to come Itself the mediate link, strange, terrible u 2

292 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH And nameless : who shall utter ] call the ghosts Seated within the Lebadsean Cave There they shall answer, but this one if all The universe demanded from the Throne Of Heaven, from Earth, the Pit, or from all three Yet would not answer : look ! 'tis burning Burn, A gory Gloom, an everlasting Death, Damnation; oh tremendous ! now the bonds 1320 The nerves are sever 'd, snapp'd ; convulsive, throed He dies to live, within him and without Looks living Death with Lucifer, O God ! Incorp'rate, re-imag'd, that Dira, and Night for a spoil dividing : once before He saw with the gross eyes (so here to speak,) Now with the occulars beyond the reach Of the abandon'd soul : oh evil ! since Thy first beginning three short days suffice For this curs'd consequence : O shock ! ten great 1 330 Torpedoes shocked reader less thy frame Than that his soul, within the moment more Crowded than e'er in centuries before : Oh ! what a wound was then ; no murder-grave E'er clos'd on one like that, bodily wounds Mortal the mortal dies, the soul receives More infinitely mortal and would die

IN EARTH. 293 How gladly it would die ! and there was Death Devouring the Arch-anarch's body but Leaving untouch'd the metamorphosed Soul 1340 O how it thirsted ! he who Pelops slew Serving unto the gods, with hunger plagued Perpetual never the pomegranate bough Loaded with luscious fruit, and — plagued with thirst, Refreshful water mantling to his chin Desir'd so dear : he look'd at one and turned His eyes, the other fell upon them and From that he also turn'd but evermore Both were in view : oh ! cover me, thought he, Night! now no more for like a shade of shade 1350 Vacant she vanish'd vertigoed away : They also vanish'd the uniting Three Without remission through the outer spheres Speeding hell- ward : inexpiable hate Theirs all his angels — one had not escaped That executional, following behind. The Holy — well-advis'd, upon the wing Soaring full-high on the Rebellious saw Perdition unappeasable swoop down Unto the surfeit: maledictions then 1360 Were heard that all posterity would shock Were I to utter what ; dark Hecate ! thou

294 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Heard them as well thy snaky locks erect Thine for the horror : infamy was his They cried, eternally the trusting gods Betray'd, now damn his soul, which presently Ampler than ever lavish'd forth with Death — Which they all tasted, and one ne'er before Seen nor imagin'd : once the sun went back Be-smitten had the sun that figure seen 1370 He had dissolv'd away with more than a Numidian poison thaw'd but sun was none — Whether by the sole act of Lucifer Or by an impulse that so dread a thing Should be within the centre soon as that Fell in a common wreck upon them then That moment heaving, urging for the life — Like one whose life is lost if out the whole Stomach come not, at last with might and main It burst asunder ; far as they could fly 1380 Away the fragments went ; then all was fused, What heavenly principles of things as had — And many had, the Chaos firm withstood Were overcome or spoilt: the golden trees Bearing gold apples — which some fablers feign The goddess-queen unto her consort gave A marriage gift, by iEgle and her two

IN EARTH. 295 Most watchful sisters and the dragon kept Beyond the ocean, these surviv'd though changed Like the fair fruit which Proserpina in 1390 Unlucky hour wand'ring Avernian woods Pluck'd eating seven plum'd pips, — description these Pass, as the groves surpassing Cairo's, or The groves romantic orange, citron, clove, With tamarisks, and sycamores and such Tall stately palms as in the Tropics grow ; Or those which he whom the ^Egyptians thought Superior to the greater-gods of Greece Lycsean Pan possessed ; essenced flowers Like the amomum, roses found like those 1400 Of sainted Francis of Assizi grown Without one thorn, baccar, acanthus, and Such Indian and Sabsean grasses as The Bacchic tigers eat, and such as fringed The fam'd Peneus, these were all decayed And lost for want of the celestial dews Long time before : — but chief to this remained The rubyfied rocks and radiants rare That glistening to the skies like icebergs when The setting sun illuminates them rose; 1410 O fold mine eyes Calliope ! I scarce Endure thy catalogue, acanticone

296 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Alalite, analcine, augite, bildstein, Botryolite, cornelian, celestine, Datolite, dipyre, moonstone, pyrochlore, Plasma, prase, pyrope, qnartz, scherbenkobalt, Sideroschizolite, sun-opallite, Talc, telluret, tincal, endellion, Feldspar, fluor, fulgurite, garnet, blende With all their sapphirine and satin shades, 1420 Inwoven purples, paly plumy pearls, And others fail, sardonyx, sardius, Chrysoprasus and chrysolite, topaz, Amethyst, jacinth, beryl ill-explain The wonders : the rich jewels we admire Were common stones the least expressly pure Amongst them all, which — to combustion turned, Went diverse, Earth amongst one rounding mass Of venting, vap'ring, issuing, igneous stuff: But a most precious relic of its state 1430 Primordial, O Queen ! that time sustained, Muse ! let me now relate, nor Midas smile But when the Teucrian tutelars above Ride high with the full moon to Westminster! There in the Coronation- chair 'tis found, That stone Aurora unto Tithonus One morning at the foot of Ida showed,

IN EARTH. 297 And he to Brito who — forewarn'd, set sail Before the fall of Troy and to these Isles Their true palladium brought ; Ierne first 1440 Receiv'd and witness her Dardanian harp, Next Caledonia (th' iEtolian king In Caledonia slew the brawny boar,) England the seat of Empire last, behold ! Upon our towers the grasshopper we mount In mem'ry of the finder : Empress hail ! Augusta — higher than the Quirites boast, Thou the chief blood of Teucer, Priam was Th' usurping second, yet within those veins The Roman blood, and now from Cyrrha's grot 1450 No draught I need a-read thy line divine, Thy foremost fortune : let who dare gainsay Urania often from her orb descends Admiring when — the city lapp'd in sleep, Thy loving laureat dazzled unto her That faticidal stone with pride reveals ; Then the old Abbey gloams and all the line Of crowned kings past and to come appear ; Then 'tis the sons of Belial think they see Unwonted lightnings whilst the virtuous late 14(H) Aurora — flashing through the midnight streets, Incontinently lightens to their homes.

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THE WARS OF JEHOYAH BOOK VII.

THE ARGUMENT. This Book opens with the introduction of Religion who furnishes the outline of much that follows. The revelation of the Trinity. God the Son proceeds out of heaven inhabiting all the worlds which Lucifer had ruined and Chaos drawn forth. The creation of Adam and Eve. The Fall, and a brief history of the Adamites unto the Deluge. The scene is in heaven, commencing with the fourth day, the book concluding with the sixth.

BOOK VII. Blessed be thou Religion ! in the east My polar star whether on shining seas, Or with the canvass torn the mast well-nigh O'er board the helm unmanageable of Hope On breakers driven ; or where my subject steps Loit'ring anigh the footstool of the throne I bask within the smile our gracious Queen Knows to dispense with such a grace — my heart Inspir'd to ecstacy ; or world-direct Barefooted palmer with but staff and scrip — 10 The last hard crust consum'd, thou sweetest Maid, Divinest! still my fainting faith reviv'st; — Yea, bless'd be thou ! who whilst these songs I chant Before th' Eternal Throne accompanying stand'st

302 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH With look devout, the harpist raising to The theme sublime, th' Hereditary King, The Thunderer — in Unity before The angels tuned an anthem, list'ning mine : Continue song — so long with vasty space Beyond expanse conversant, but with change 20 From inexpressible exploits that I But, but for thee had paralyz'd been found A new Bellerophon, or may-be torn In other Rhodope by other mob Than the fam'd Thracian tore ; Heaven's war is sung, The Earth's, now lift me up adoring to The cause of that great final war in Hell Mankind involv'd : — but ere the seal of Death On all mankind we break O thou ! refresh At Zion's Helicon and let me drink The ever-living water, much I thirst. 30 Now had the Victors from the finish'd wars With joy triumphant through the gilded Gates Of welcoming Heaven return'd, unto the Lord Of Glory coming with report of that Dire deed of the Arch-princedom when he rent The sun asunder. — From his vaultless height The All-surveying through the skies serene Look'd lighting out and all created things

IN HELL. 303 Consider'd : far within himself the King 40 Triunal thought ; then the shechinah saw Divine abstraction, worshipping around The Inaccessible, the Secret God ; The seven archangels veiling worshipp'd where He sate paternal Deity on his Thron'd Throne, the billions glittering around Guarded in godly silence ; Zephyr — more Balmy than was the Occident that bore For Eros Psyche to his palac'd place, Paus'd first since he was born ; the nymphs of sea 50 And of the rivers that the poets call Tethys and her fair daughter Amphitrite, And silver-footed Thetis, Thoa, Panope, Pherusa, Cymodoce, Callianira, Msera, Cymothoe, Melita, Doto, Glauce, Galatea, Janira, Dexamene and the rest More beautiful than Venus in the veil Wove by the Graces, — the Phantasians — (Fleeter than was that sacred hind whose hoofs 60 Were brass, horns gold,) which peopled all the parked Palatinates of paradise in vale, Or on the hills, or mountains, Dryads called, Or Hamadryads, Orestiades, —

304 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH And all that carried in their helpful hands The Amalthean urns from which were shed Replenishment, and bloom, and liquid love, And shapeless rainbows over the parterres Painting their passions on the peerless flowers, Or floating on the south the picturesque 70 Or grand with vernal charms or cloud enhanced; — All these as well the Pandionian birds That made sweet music — the bulbul the like Never to Hafez and Sadi, — envied Were they by Juno's peacocks for their plumes ; Fountains like Aganippe, Hippocrene, More limpid or than Arethuse, forgot — All these forgot their offices, their song, Their warbling flow ; e'en Time itself was stopped — Like a reach'd river when a radiant frost 80 Invisibly puts forth or passeth down, Streaming it stopp'd ; the dial of the heavens — Made with two orbed suns — the one cut through The centre for the index, nothing marked, No shadow but the rather pal'd all o'er As did the upper aether with the light That gradual came forth from out the place Most Holy : unremember'd was the day When in the orient Day like that arose

IN HELL. 305 Turning the twilight with emblazon'd hands 90 Behind the blazon'd balustraded hills Till even : O ! what cloudless skies were then, And soundless streams, and seas, and watchful winds, The angels bending breathless whilst the Lord Apart, Alone, First, Greatest, with Himself In all his Majesty express retired. The Lord of angels ; The Eternal, The Before eternity ; the Great Unborn ; Lord of the thunders ; Monarch sole of gods ; Life of all life ; The All-beholding ; The 100 Uncircumscrib'd, Omnipotential, Just, and Consistent, True, and only God Put off at length the veil ; heaven, though prepared, Sunk with surprise to see, the stars were faint Half-falling and the whole embodied Round Ravish'd with rapture to a tremor turned : In the clear space above the fields of light In ether that beyond all ether shone Where yet no sun had overlaid, no light Before was kindled, in that heavenly space — 110 Vacant but for bless'd God Jehovah to The heavens wholly reveal'd : O Empress ! thou — Pious, hast often — on the bended knee Contemplating, beatitude attained, x

306 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH To thee, O Queen ! therefore Calliope — Supported by her train, for thee alone Calliope the golden Gordian chord Also adoring her divinest notes Strikes now with hallow'd hand. "Go!" said The Word Unto God's only Son — begotten not [120 Made, then first time to all the wond'ring host Of angels loud proclaim'd, " Mine only Son Before all worlds! Thou God of God! Thou Light Of Light ! Engender'd of the Father ! mount Thy chariot and beyond Our battlements With thousand thousands driving order Thou ! Lo ! I — as when the heavens created were, Even I am with Thee, and the Holy Ghost Proceeding from Us." 130 The empyreum shook When he made ready answer, " Lo ! I come," And through the sacred street the archals, and Innumerable angels — none behind Remaining in their midst onward past He Majestic borne, through the crystalline sky Riding in visible glory ; at that sight Prone either side they worship striking loud Sackbut and harp : from the wide open doors

IN HELL. 307 Of pictur'd pearl they drove ; a radiant sun 140 God met as it sprung forth inhabiting At once with blessed beings, woods and streams And mountains still adorn'd : with love divine Others were made complete His vital word Sufficing : thus — God's active labour urged, Th' organic frame and fabric of the spheres With high intelligences were informed And more — ennobled : wisest the intent Imprintings different made ; some more inspired For cold and some for heat, others between 150 Their vigorous essence found in tepid gleams Moon-like, but blissful all : thus were the powers Of the extraneous universe unrolled, Where'er Imagination roams God spread A smiling happiness or solemn joy In best variety : moments were weighed As ages, ages unto others seemed But moments, and the circuits they described Unbounded unto man, to them — if not Confin'd, a pleasant journey: light some gave 160 Others receiving or like mazy gold Or shaded silver lest their weaker eyes Should feel offence, nor less in bounties rich Herbs, fruits, and flowers, and a perennial spring x 2

308 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH And autumn own'd the whole ; no winter then Lock'd Nature pining up, no summer scorched Like sin her guiltless breast but all was plain Unviolated beauty, luxe, and love : Thus lib'ral was bestow'd, the buds revived Unto the beams of heaven, the continents 170 Freshen'd put on, and all the genial hours Their opening blossoms blew ; but when this earth And all the ruin'd radiates from the sun — Now spinning here now there, and now full stop, Elohim saw, or seem'd first time to see, Earth, water, fire and air one gen'ral mass By Chaos kneaded to a lawless lump Of blunted, bigot principles at war One with the other, in his course God stopped Put back the golden Zones where now they lie — 180 Where Euclid could not reach, and said, " Be still." And still there was, poised the central, poised All his loose parts : then from his bright abode — Before from even the archangels hid, A spacious Vast that made the vast appear Almost as nothing, visible wing'd out The Holy Spirit : who shall image God 1 But ye who have his testimonial to Your spirit ye are sons, behold ! He winged

IN HELL. 309 The Holy Spirit spreading ; marvellous [190 That speechless spreading ; heaven seem'd then from Itself to travel out, or like a scroll [heaven Of lucent light unroll'd far far beyond A dire and dismal blank ; calm calmest Power Celestial sate, and the remotest bound Quickening reach'd and rul'd ; Disorder then Retir'd into the unapparent, mute Ruin went after ; Void shrank silent back, And heady Hell its farther would have burst : Then was the firmament — which roofs our world 200 As if with heaven, stretch'd out, the liquid air Surrounding all the Ball. Calliope ! Now for the silver lyre that to the earth Awhile belongs, not that by him they called O shame ! thy son affected but the lyre Fam'd for the golden string (reserv'd for One Unutt'rably renown'd,) aforetime heard In Salem, destin'd to be heard anon Then laid for ever. — At the voice of God The waters move with a resurgent pulse 210 From off this orb tumultuously upheaved Unto one certain and appointed place Obedient to the fiat, " Land let be :" Then from the ebbing deeps the mountains rose,

310 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH And land appear'd, and em'rald verdure grew, Herb pleasant and the fruit-trees good in kind Yielding their yield, with carpeting of grass Delightful green, and od'rous shrubs and flowers : And when God call'd the dazzling sun broke forth Like a young bridegroom from his chamber, light 220 Of morning, to the Occident in course Rejoicing there to meet again the Even With lights nocturnal, and the argent moon Rulers of signs and seasons, days and years : The water next brought forth the thing with life Swarming innumerable finned fish With spangled scale, or oaring it in boats Of lightsome shell ; the fowl they also fledged At once on high ; there likewise came the land Inhabitants all in their order good ; 230 Not those of land or sea which reptiles were — Hyleosaurians of which the rames Buckland discourseth, or those saurs with necks Ophidian, or with jaws wider than are The crocodiles as arm'd ; these verily By Lucifer conceiv'd and things beside With them consisting, great carniv'rous fish — No beast hath yet been found ; the tardigrades And their congenitors from the Bresils

IN HELL. 311 To the geologists brought herbiv'rous were 240 And harmless as were all Elohim made. Thus ended God creation all the sphere Diurnal finish'd to the hymning harps Of angels fill'd with admiration, earth Comparing to Elysium, and when The morning shone again an ode they tuned To magnify the Maker of the worlds Who said and it was done : harmonious sound Filled the firmament all new-born things In rapture joining ; the resplendent sun 250 Coursing aloft melodious drove his wheels Vibrating to the music from the frame Of universal Nature, the deep sea Reciprocating back in bated base From the profoundest, and with choral voice The mystic elements from hidden shrines Acknowledg'd their Restorer utt'ring praise. Thus had the sixth successional of time As reckon'd by the Hebrews when the son Of Amram in the Moabitish hand 260 Of " The Beginning" Avrote, — the sixth had risen, Six times the Spirit wav'd those wondrous wings When God to all his angels said, " A man In Our own Image We will make that here

312 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH He have dominion ; him We up will raise Between the fallen powers, unfaltering To stand, or sinning fall as it shall please Only himself, heaven for his high reward Death for the punishment." God said; but O ! 270 O who shall Adam sing ! perfect, god-like Upon th' enamell'd ground as there in all The person of his Maker forth he came ; Not from a tree as the Arcadians tell, Nor as the Javans by a Titan formed And — animated with the solar fire, Offensive to the God Cybele reared In secret ; nor as ignorant moderns hold Wild as was Orsus, or those apes they call " Men of the woods ! " but perfected in all 280 His thoughts, his ways, the first, the prime of men Such as ne'er woman bore — Hyperion's son Nor he Hyperion, nor of Myrrha born Adonis, or the son of Peleus — killed By Paris, or Hsephestion in a brawl ; Nireus loveliest of the Grecian race, Or any one beside, or bond, or free Of his posterity : the mountains through The loving mists look'd down, the airs hung o'er

IN HELL. 313 Him moveless — mad with joy, and all the world 290 Spell-bound acknowledged at once her lord And master : passion and the sense of change He knew not but with more than piercing eye Turning to heaven took in the whole at once : O Muse ! if any words had power thy words Rock'd the orb'd Earth to hear ; the mem'ry Earth Yet keepeth though within her well-nigh dead And gone, for dark and wanton was thy youth Charg'd with uncounted crime, thy middle age Dishonour'd. Nymphs of Solyma ! the Prince 300 Of Peace, the Great Restorer shall be sung The Second Adam to sublimer strains And hasten, haste ! now the first witness on The earth for Adonai, son of Love, Delight of Morning, from the Fountain Head Of Love and Light we sing ; the fav'rite of God born into the early earth whilst yet The flowers with fragrance fill'd the spicy Spring Shed at his feet her horn with blessing full : Nor Corybantes, nor Curetes there 310 Nor suckling goats, but of the coming time The father he — at once to manhood brought Behold him ! then the wilderness was glad, The solitary place the desert smiled

314 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH And blossom'd as the rose ; the fir, the pine, The box together beautifully grew : Offspring of Gods ! The Father, and The Son And Holy Ghost : the forests then broke forth The mountains joining in a gen'ral shout, " O all ye powers of the Lord," they sung, 320 "Ye Heavens, Sun, Moon, and Stars ; the Day, the Night, Dews, Showers, and Winds of God, Waters, and Wells, Floods, Rivers, Oceans, Earth and all that dwell In Water, and in Air, and all the Beasts Bless, bless, and praise the Lord." The angels then They also hymned saying, " All the earth Doth worship Thee The Father ; unto Thee All angels cry aloud, the heavens, and all The powers therein ; to Thee the cherubim And seraphim continually cry 330 Holy Lord God of Sabaoth ! the heaven, The earth are full of Thy great Majesty And Glory : Thou ! the King of Glory, Son Of the Eternal Father, infinite Thy Majesty, at the right hand of God Sitting, we Thee acknowledge : Thou ! also The Holy Ghost the Comforter this day We magnify we worship evermore World without end."

IN HELL. 315 Thus they the wedded worlds 340 Following, the lilies lifting up their heads, Reeds and bull-rushes from the copious springs Of water ; all the myrtle trees put on The fairest blossoms ; all the flying birds In wind, the fish in wave, the cattle in The green rose upward in a mingled voice Out from their souls of love : from dawn to dark The whole creation hymn'd, when they returned — Leaving the spirit Gladness, back to heaven Resounding to receive. Then brightest wine 350 Brimm'd all the golden chalices outspread Dazzling upon the citron-tables sphered Where upon great occasions feast was made — Feast metropolitan, the Courts of all The North, South, East, West bid, — that wine which Christ Unto his saints shall pour, than the Falern Dearer, or Chian, or than Tenedos, Wine of no Formian vintage : rich desserts — That the Tartarian emp'ror's had disgraced, From off the trees of life laden with fruit 360 Of various kinds as the immortals eat, Great pommeloes, pomegranates, tufted pines Like Ceres' diamonded and rubied, more Luscious than were the Lotophagians joyed

316 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH By the returning mariners from Troy Home long-desir'd forgotten ; cocoas, dates Finer than Tafilat, and grapes that in The Sogdian valley grow, or those the spies Discoyer'd when they search'd the Promised Land ; Figs had the senate seen Carthage were saved 370 And Cato's shamed, and olives finer than The Lycabessos whence Palladian oil, With bread-like fruits, and all that trailed or hung — Melons, guavas, o'er the swarded thyme More than Hymettan, daisied meadows mixed With vegetable cups of pearl o'erfllled With manna, — these for a dessert were placed Ready, with unimagin'd luxuries Beside, things lavender'd, candied quince, Gourds, semilucent jellies, cinnamon 380 Creams, tinctur'd syrops, spiced dainties, and Elixirs from strange kernels, possets sweet To plenitude, and others wanting name ; These well were serv'd, the servers far more fleet Than Atalanta, or Dyname fair, Or heavenly-fair Astyoche, or she The youngest Grace Pasithae her eyes Like azure yet more deep, the other two Had been their humblest handmaids, she that went

IN HELL. 317 For Phoebe Syrynx's self — the pride and song 390 Of all the shepherd plains, the daughters seven Divinely form'd — by Niobe the queen Above Diana chastest goddess thought, Nor worthier ; some like fair Limnoria Callianassa, Thalia, Apseudes, Amphinome, Amatheia amber-haired, Brought in transparent shell the choicer fruits Of the deep ocean on the taxed twigs Hard'ning to coral calcedonies, and Anemonies and sea-cups grown so rich — 400 So prodigal of bloom that all the gods Receiv'd them wondering whilst around their heads Chaplets were wreath'd by vestals that no print Left of the lucid finger on the leaves Of rose or tulip that an essence breathed Through the surrounding air. Name not the feasts Of Cythera in April when the moon Rose new o'er all Achaia : then I wot They banquetted the viands rich as rare Sharp too their hunger, (our bless'd Saviour said 41 0 That heavenly bread and heavenly wine was in His Kingdom eat and drunk ;) the woods, the springs, Rivers and seas had in their absence been Well search'd for this provision, restorates

318 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Honied, conserves of the most melting things, Crystaliz'd lozenges that diamonds looked Or still more sparkling stones, and cakes, and cates More balmy than the Idnmean balms And odoriferous in golden shields, Whity opals, great onyxes, and orbed 420 Salvers that on the massive sideboards stood For asteroids and moons, nor wanted then, As if the queen of Elf-land, and the three Hesperides, and all the Msenads from Out the brown Indian vales, and all that own The silver grots Janassa fair, Spio, Agave, Ampithoe, Orythea, Had cater'd all : with more than lightning feet Desire — where'er it went, was followed And oft anticipated ; like the shade 430 Of love they followed so light not one Of all the spreading flowers a bruise received, Only when touch'd the heliotropes gave out Fresh perfume : and the concert ! (diff'rent from That which aforetime for the wasting war Was rais'd in celebration,) all the winds Even the winds were charm 'd, the Sirens had They heard their man-seducing strains were thought But scrannel, and the same Orpheus thought

IN HELL. 319 Of his excelling own : Euterpe ! thou 440 Wast then enchanted so that seldom since Hath any heard thy flute, what Hermes taught The son of fair Antiope the strains That won the dolphins such thou could'st not bear, Nor those which mov'd the else insensate stones ; Choral with psalters, cyth'rons, timbrels, pipes, Virginals, vials, tabors, out it gushed That music and o'erflowing reach 'd the Hound That girdled all the universe ; it sunk Into the soul as light into the sea 450 Windless and waveless with delight and joy, Or like the breath of God into the soul Of Adam when the paradise prepared For occupation and with right aspect Unto the gate of " Judah " duly turned A living soul, he felt. Return to him Return ! First-Father ; whilst we loiter thus The sun hath run his course and Adam found Himself alone : his garden he had traced 460 The trees, shrubs, herbs, he knew, vain moderns knew Better than your Linnaeus, than Buffon The beasts the fish, or he who drown'd because Nature so well interrogated in

320 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH All but that secret of Eurippus seven Times in the day outflowing, even he The Stagyrite his master had confessed That made him silly, Locke, Galileo too. Ye simple ! like the Cretans who the tomb Of Jove to strangers show'd, O simple ! ye 470 Who with the Book of Genesis in hand Acknowledging, to unbelievers grant It was not meant geology to teach Nor Joshua astronomy, ye cast The pearl before the swine which rend you, hear Warning while it is time, noviciate Assisted as a child that thinks he rides Before he even walks : the origin Of man is truly told, made perfect in The Image of his Maker : History 480 Profane as well as sacred solveth doubt And settles that grave matter, it remained For those who call themselves the wise the great Philosophers in pride to question both, Were God before them they would question God. Then Adam slept and whilst he slept the Lord Out of his side took Eve : hard 'twere to tell The meeting when he 'woke, in ecstasy She knelt beside so exquisitely fair

IN HELL. 321 And lovely that with glad surprise he leaped 490 Unto his feet : her eyes were each a heaven The whole contract within the long black fringe That bound the blue and in the centre he Shone like a god elected to the throne, Upon him she look'd as Eunonie buds Dropping upon Vertumnus : Aphrodite Risen from the waves with all her simple charms Nat'ral was better dress'd than if she wore Such bracelet as Eriphile, or that Phidias added to Minerva's neck : 500 "O beautiful!" he cried, " beautiful Eve ! " With that her glossy ringlets parting back Over her ivory shoulders in his arms With tremulous tenderness he rais'd her up Imprinting on her forehead many a kiss Of rapt'rous love, pressing her damask cheeks, Sustaining all her person in his arms : Upon him fell her balmy breath, her heart Swimming in fond desire, and O ! her speech For trilling melody and persuasion soft, 510 " Adam!" she answer'd echoing back the voice Of his own soul, but who shall now express The concord 1 who his sunny shade can catch, Or who unto the bale-born blind describe

322 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH The gorgeous clouds pil'd on the glassy floor Of the wide sea % to curtain in the Sun With loving Alia : our Mother this The First, the flower of those whom God so fair Hath made the feminine ; so fair was she The pagans calling her Pandora paint 520 The envious goddesses about her with Insidious gifts : none of her daughters came To like perfection, (save, O Ladye Queen ! One at the most,) nor she Acrisius King Of Argos vaunted, Alcumena, nor Europa ; her long hair was melted gold Like Hippolita's, such Apelles gives His mistress, so the Cyprian, in such locks Prided Actea, the surpassing flower The last of all the Ptolemies the like, 530 And O ! Euphrosyne thine own confess Outdone, Aglaia has. Like memory Of a most pleasant dream, Religion ! tell — Nor heed Eurynome with envy filled, Eve's passing excellence ; over the earthSuppose it parch'd she rose a golden cloud Earth wond'ring how without existence were Or joy, or happiness : O most beloved, Most beautiful ! to man the sun, Eve was

IN HELL. 323 The reflex moon, the Earth enjoying both 540 As satiated to the folded depths ; Within her eyes her history she read Day after day then slept as some young babe Within her guardian angel's ample arms : " O shut mine eyes ! " Earth said each even, " ere Thine own in sleep be closed, I dissolve Unto the heart away ; " and as in heaven So likewise on the earth the printless air Was fill'd with shining Spirits, soft Desires And Adorations that incarnate went 550 Forth of our Father's and our Mother's soul Fulfilling their behests ; all these would crowd Around the imag'd Earth, their milky arms And hands across their heaving bosoms placed, And so admiring love ; but Adam most : Wand'ring the warbling woods, or where the flowers In bush and brake and o'er the velvet turf Invitingly upon each other crowd The live-long day they went unweeting time Inquiring and informing ; when the chaste 560 Delia from the zenith prompted rest " O gentle Eve!" said he, and brought her then Unto the nuptial bower but Phosphor found Oft-times their mutual looks upon him cast y 2

324 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Watching the rising sun and ofF'ring up Pious orison to Almighty God. Now Eve as cognisant of starry heaven When Adam of the bless'd Creator spoke Correctly reason'd, yet such love as his And absolute entrancement felt not but 570 Kneeling upon her spouse her looks she turned Exemplar best— still would she have of Him They worshipp'd there, "For O !" said she, "when first Myself I found, and these mine eyes about Inquiring cast no other god saw I Nor can I realize beyond thee ought Whom I can love, but as expressing thank Short invitation make, impulsive bliss From thee proceeding The Invisible I praise that with thee — Visible, I exist/' 580 Then up she rose and held him in her arms : So she we read of in the Song of songs The Rose of Sharon. Then there came a Dream Far more renown'd than the Assyrian's, or Any they told Tiresias, or than any The Pythonissa : this ; a garden filled With variegated arborescence in The midst (from which four radiate rivers flowed,)

IN HELL. 325 A stately tree, another at the side 590 Most sightly: then Jehovah call'd, " Of all Eat free, saith God, of everything ye see Within the garden but of this one which The Tree of Knowledge is, eat ye shall not And if— ye die:" then Adam 'woke, " 'Tis Eve," Cried he, "none other," who awakening She also recapitulates the same. First then they found how much to God was owed — How much they were indebted, singleness Of heart he claims, and will be reverenc'd, " O 600 Fairer than angels ! " our forefather cried, " My spouse of gladness ! still too much engaged One with the other, seasonably to warn Against idolatry this notice is : Eve ! thou art my companion, my delight, My passion, thus unto my loving heart Mingling our souls I clasp thee, unto Him Who made us for the dwellers of the earth Give all the praise." One sultry noon reclined 610 Close by a brook their mirror'd faces Eve Takes for her theme, "And O!" cried she, "if thus In this true glass so beautiful we look What are we in reality ! " she paused —

326 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH " Now let me favour find ! whilst thou hast slept One day a wondrous seraph from thy side Beckoning converse made of that our dream And saith, ' Hath God that Tree so good denied ] For if thereof ye eat ye gods become Both good by eating taught and evil too 620 In that ye thus delay delicious meat;' Nor only that, this duplicate so fair Which cometh only as we come and goeth Away as unsubstantial when we leave He saith a picture actual shall become And all the world our offspring present fill." So said soft Eve with blandishment of air Of gesture proof of that forbidden fruit That — long desir'd, in secret her had filled. So Hamlet royal Dane, once look'd as then 630 Heart-struck lost Adam, back he started, " Oh ! Eve ! Eve ! what hast thou done]" cried he, " our dream Interpretation had that none may dare Gainsay : woe to us ! who is this, this, this, This seraph who — so call'd, hath thee deceived ? " From forth a cypress avenue he came ; 'Twas Lucifer : bloodshedder ! O thou worst Than the Iscariot who if he sold The man-God Jesus Christ had yet forbore

IN HELL. 327 Our simple mother ; O thou Judas ! thou 640 Falsest dissembler, Sinon ! O thou wolf Fleshing a virgin deer ; Ganilion ! thou Burglar, thou robber, thou enticer, thou Despoiler, thou denier, O thou most Pitiless fiend ! From hell had he returned To spoil mankind if God he could not spoil And Eve was thus seduc'd, that innocent He slyly stole and — as the god who changed Himself into the grape his end to gain And gain'd, so he with sugar'd sophistry 650 Assailing covert, to her bower returned Her pluck'd and broke for ever both the wings : O merciless apostate ! take my curse And all the curses of our common-race Unto thee ; O thou malice-bearer take Whilst blessing on mine enemies I pour Abundant, they are men, though merciless My wrong and wanton-stung, are they not men ? But thou ! above all angels ! oh thy guilt Eedoubled ever by the distance mounts 660 Too high for God's forbearance : none for thee Dar'd even if they would — not Christ to pray ; O thou vile serpent ! thy revenge shall have Its perfect work. Other heroic lyre

828 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Immortal sounding this Conspirator This way hath trac'd or I : before the man Kingly stood he all his original bright Utterly tarnish'd yet he yet was grand ; As Jove to Semele appear'd with all His thunders, he to Eve : " The Tree !" he spake 670 To Adam, "boldly take," but he bewailed, " Disorganiz'd hast thou the heavens," cried he, " Now earth, begone !" the bad Betrayer past: Such was the might of Adam ere he fell Even the Anarchist when he forbid His presence was abash'd. Alas ! what pains Were his, the sun clomb lab 'ring up the sky And linger'd feeling down, and if the horns Of the sad moon appear'd none noted, " O ! Lift not thy looks upon me," he would say, 680 " O Eve !" who on his neck lamenting hung, " Thou, thou hast both undone ; we are undone, Our righteousness is lost, our perfect will In whom we stay'd and that so long reward Of every good and perfect gift was ours : Ingrate ! to doubt his truth on which we stood So surely grounded ; by this monstrous act Death enters we 're destroy'd. Is it not writ Upon the firmament that thou shalt love

IN HELL. 329 The Lord thy God with all thy heart and mind 1 (>90 For this the stars the holy angels read Unto us frequent hallowing discourse Of good and evil ; oh ! that evil thus — So guarded from, should come : was not thy faith Conviction 1 nothing less it could be with Such miracles around. Woe, woe to us." Prone with her hair dishevel'd Eve was fallen Upon the grass : so of Boeotian Thebes The helpless queen changing to stone when all Her joys were slain : and oh ! those virgin tears 700 Phaethusa, Lampethusa ne'er such tears Inconsolable wept ; Serena when — Sir Calepine away, her dreadful fate She waited : but at last when she could speak, " O thou!" cried she, " much injur 'd lord in that I ardently ador'd thee with perverse Affection ; my delight, from whom my soul Could not refrain although by God forbid, Above my sex so noble % woe is me ! Thy sight is mine, in all that life requires, 710 Without thee unendurable were life ; O let me to our gracious Author now With such repentance as I have to give, God is not deaf, — else mad I die with that

330 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Cruel reflection that though perfect found For my defeasance ne'ertheless thou 'rt fined Me losing : can th' inexorable law Which executes on both my fault be just?" Thus she at random passionately moved For this great trespass, swooning at the last 720 To pale inanity away ; our Sire Then thought her doom completed and despaired, In his delirium wishing her's his fate Or that for her the penalty he paid : Thus of fatality took he in turn Electing Eve, nor yet by any Fate Lachesis, Clotho forc'd. O woman ! well The poets feign upon thy lips thy looks Persuasive Pitho ; from the birth of time Thou rulest all : the angels string and strike 730 Their lyres in vain to man when thou art near With thy preferred prattle ; nay some tell Even of angels who their lyres, themselves, And God forgot to listen to the soft Melodious pulsing of thy harping heart ; The thought distracts myself what I for thee In the green youth endur'd ; I rose, I stormed — As he Astrseus storm'd, the heavens, and thought The gods were all mine own and with them thee,

IN HELL. 331 But O ! less careful than the Titan, chains 740 Of iron eschewing as unsightly, chains Of flowers for them I chose and smiling bound My idol-prisoners and woman bound Fallen naked with the folly in her lap ; Ah me ! my locks were shorn ; seven weary years I pin'd in prison 'till in manhood strong I burst the bars ; I burst, posterity ! But O a goddess met whose love is placed Upon a royal prince ask not the name : Thus 'tis with thousands, nor let me complain 750 No Omphale is mine, and Naso loved Scarce less imperial, Tasso also loved A potent princess, Marcus Anthony For one disdain'd the Empire of the World. Thus reason'd Adam what to God is sin To me is grace and though the prompter be Detestable the mischief hath been done By force of argument within her power Had Eve been careful to resist with ease But she accepted and, behold ! how much 7 MO She loveth : when therefore back she returned Herself unto he clasp'd her in his arms Sharing her destiny. Was it for this

332 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Th' angelicals their cadenc'd cymbals tuned When this Elysium was first prepared Fairer than the Hesperian, or where Aladdin found such vegetable growth, Or any the Parnassians celebrate — The groves of Daphne, or th' Italian groves, 770 Or where the Naiads and Sylvanus haunt Continual whether in Cycladean isles, Or on the continents with myrtle crowned, In Pontus, or where Dido reign'd and died, — Ah ! woe the day for us when that palm'd pair Our authors in the flesh disloyal turned Eating the Fruit prohibited and thus That Garden lost. Then our fond mother as The goddess of the Morn on Cephalus, On Adam look'd, unheeding at their feet 780 The poison-flowers which sprung in rankness up : O that love-look, and oh ! the consequence. Exultant back the Winner sped to hell For Death, the while Sin he had left behind With Eve his victim only yet conceived Not born ; then hell had concourse, when the thing Fie told the damn'd, " Immaculate!" they cry, " Thy hate, we hail thee, Lucifer ! once more As erst in heaven our King, now King in Hell :"

IN HELL. 333 Adramelec himself was one who hailed 790 And even Timiel, Nebo, Rassach, Darpathrus, Aricon, and all that he Himself had slain close follow'd: — dreadful they Receiv'd him formerly, to ruin Hell Seem'd fallen the moment that his hated soul They saw arrive ; all their black Effrits rose As well against him as if all their flesh And bones grew baleful bigger ; the dispraise Was frightful, God forgotten all their hate Fell on him sole ; like those Eloo trees 800 In Tongatabo — which their morais shade, Swarming with bats, the serpents bred like worms Long worms in the intestines of the soul, Mounting even they were heard and many winged Together curling up — like those which sped As Pliny tells for Arabie across The sea, made at him : what his Dira did Attempt no record, Death abandon'd both, His joy augmented hoping yet to feast Upon his leavings for he hunger'd still 810 Nay more than ever and imagin'd hell Already strewn before him ; it was not, The Devilry prevail'd, Lucifer turned Involuntary round and back to earth —

334 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Like a gaunt famish'd and sore-wounded wolf Unto the sheep-fold whence his wounding was, Heart-grip'd with anguish came. The rest is told. As heretofore with rage now upside down With acclamation the infernal realms Rung pouring billion foulest spirits forth 820 Death hunger-mad rampanting at their head, Arms not alone in theirs but even in His scarce discernible — his ghosty hands : (No Mantuan pipe is mine !) the farther gloom Of hell was left to Desolation fixed In horror as he was to see them whet Their scathful swords as onward still they urged From all the steaming bounds unto the dykes Thrown up to earthward, Outer Darkness he Beckon'd and was obey'd ; I saw them both 830 Look one into the other's brassy eyes Their heads so close together that one knew Scarce which was which — and Outer Darkness too StifFen'd for fear, the two would fain have skulked When Night with tempest bursting from her lips Dragg'd Terror in convulsions to their feet And with unequall'd fury heap'd such chains Upon him and so quench'd with fiery irons His most egregious balls that from that time

IN HELL. 335 To them and Lucifer he ministered 840 As an especial slave ; no sooner she Had this effected than the four outspread Their clapping wings and from the Agnates cut Th' astonied rebels ; hesitating they Stopp'd when that great she-spectre Terror put Upon them each — a Frankenstein's and drove Them back so fast that Desolation (glad Although he was, and Outer Darkness both With company,) had much ado to keep Up, yet they kept but with tormenting ill 850 That added to their aspects ; then the flames Darted to meet them, and the spirits peeled Again by fasting fires resum'd the wail Wail that no one beside myself outside The Malebolge hath heard ; u Hope, hope extinct Of heaven ! " said they, " then hackle hell ! " cried Night, " And labour Lucifer a throne whereon In league we rule ye : " Desolation looked Unto them the same words, and Terror took Hell to himself for eyes and out upon 860 Them so petrinc nar'd that every one Instant stoop'd down and tore with all his might Great rocks for building up, — hell actual sunk Such was the tear they made ; these dash'd amain

336 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Upon the centre (whilst they dash'd they made All thunder feeble,) the foundation thus Of Pandemonium was laid, whilst he That erst upon the sun so strongly built Conceiving in his fertile brain the plan Blazon'd it like a picture on the roof 870 Where all observ'd and wrought according on. Meanwhile like comets — all the compasses Fearfully threaten'd wildly sweeping through Th' adjoining spheres with Pestilence behind Those Anarks upon earth full soon arrived, And with a shock so dread the pole was turned Present aside and calorific clouds Out-pouring all things wither'd ; then the blight Condensing fell in flaky fashion down On paradise and wall-eyed Winter rushed 880 At once upon the scene with storm and hail And bitter cold and snow : hard change was then Greater than Palestina's since the plough Raz'd all her cities and they sow'd the Land With barren salt ; or that iEgyptia mourns Abas'd, the Nile neglected by the Curds Or Othman conq'ror ; and the Punic Coasts : And oh ! our ancestors, — when he her sonHusband — unwitting, of Jocasta went

IN HELL. 337 With Antigone imprecated forth 890 Of the plague-smit Diospolis, they felt ! These more when God by one a cherub drove Them forth of Eden dreading as they went Some power would kill them, e'en the trembling trees They fled so menacing they then appeared. Sad Muse ! continue. Adam first took heart Crying, " My Eve ! thy falling tears be stanched One yet remains to comfort thee beside The God who cloth'd us in these careful skins ; The firmament o'ercanopies as well 900 The world we wander, and the moony night Again shall wrap thee slumb'ring in mine arms : And I a bower will raise which thou shalt twine With gold and purple mosses, in some wood Wherein is honey stor'd in antique trunks, Trellis'd with green and richly cluster'd vines ; And what ! if yet some fruits delicate taste Disprove as sour enough we '11 find as ripe As wholesome as the apples we have left, And some with kernels for more solid meal, 910 See! how they hang upon the bushes here." Then sighing our disconsolate mother thus. " O thou too kind, thou much too gen'rous lord ! If now I fainted but for this alone z

338 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH That in my fall from innocence I drew Other my unreflecting self beside From O ! how much I drew thee canst thou say, Who the amount can draw] that thou enjoy edst Before me in the Eden we have lost." Thus they discours'd morn, noon, and when the even Claimed upgathering the leaves fallen from [920 The spreading trees, with care a bed composed Within a grotto and so rested first. Once as from toil with eventide he came Laden with roots that in the woods were found And succulents his Eve she came not forth As was her wont to meet him when sometimes At home she would remain for such slight cause Of necessary work or listless ease As it behoved, and the arching door 930 Of entrance our Progenitor had reached When piteous bleat within he startled heard ; An antelope pursued had thither fled For refuge, Eve intently hanging o'er Her new-born fawns instant upon the seek Instinctively for the maternal teats : Nor yet long after by a streamlet he Found Eve with two small infants their small limbs Surveying fondly for the Lord had said,

IN HELL. 339 " The woman's seed that seraph's head shall bruise." These were their pledges and revolving time [940 Increas'd their numbers manifold until From that the Table-Land and primal home The earth grew populous. Then war arose For at the outset Cain his brother slew And Abel had avengers : earth moreo'er Possess'd incarnately by beasts such as This day their bones are found in mountain-caves Antediluvian in Kirkdale, or those 950 Upon the Mendips, in Franconia, and Remoter countries, bones of ursines, pards, And others. Now as Adam sate before His tent, in the perspective was descried The Cains upmount on libbards ; that curs'd seed Outcast from their own territory came To glut their lust of blood ; nor only these Spurring came on the Eephaims gotten by The coupling Belials of such kind they called 960 The demi-gods Silenes diadem-crowned — Cast in dark bronze (one in the Louvre stands,) Or in dark marbles carv'd, crying " Evo ! Evose!" in their furor, Psyllians, z 2

340 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH And Ophiagii of ancient leaves, Cyreanites or Marsians ; these amongst Mankind rode eminent : Adam they took Falling on Seth's unmindful of the shrieks Dying behind, and far they ravag'd fire And slaughter with them ; such the Vandals ne'er 970 Did Genseric their king : spoil too was theirs Numberless pris'ners, so with fiendish yell Unto their city in the Land of Nod Captive they drove. Now where the Cainites dwelt Each art they long employ 'd in stone and wrought The metals to their use ; upon a mount Hewn to proportion for the base uprose The capitol of polish'd marbles built Unto the starry roof through all the grades 980 Porphyries, onychites, lazulis, verds, And tables rich contrast ; on pedestals Of orizum or gold huge columns raised, Friezes, and architraves, and cornices Festoon'd ; there thron'd upon a dais did Cain His sire arraign, accuser and his judge, Calling the gods to witness that when he Ate of the one and not the other Tree Of Life to all posterity he was

IN HELL. 341 A traitor worthy death ; Adam — as proud 990 As Csesar when to Pompey's bust he turned Death-stricken, Cain adjudg'd, the Seths as slaves Unto the giants who immediate set Them to a monument of that first war Fratricidal. Then Cain's ambitious son Mounted his father's throne ; Seth — mustering, warred Against him and that capital at last Took, fifty thousand Rephaims, and of men Twelve times that number to the sword were put, 1000 Cain's corpse the lupals had ; the city hung In balance unregarded fires therein Smould'ring in desert homes and priest-fled fanes Made lifeful with the images ; the Seths Felling the trees collected on great piles The slain ; and overthrew the pyramids, One o'er the grave of Adam Adam's heart With dedication to the gods of Cain ContahVd, and eke a crypt nine sided nine Names on the sides engrav'n, "Ekriel! Moloch! 1010 Adramelec ! Togarmah ! Haraphon ! Baal ! Apollyon ! Nisroch ! Zabrash ! To them and all their lesser — Zynithrine,

342 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Atoncryntal, Aphracac, all the nine Upon the Nine Great waiting, this," thus read They that inscription. Then Cainan returned With all his Nephilim, avenging war Put to the utmost. Thou ! who me inspirest To sing the battles of the gods, thou need'st 1020 The history Adamic whence the cause Of the concluding war, therefore record When by the Valley of the Waters two Mann'd armies met, nor Aristarchus blame The episode : now giants were desert To Seth's, and these disdaining Adams seek Each other in the battle treading down Before them, pouring blood ; thus the first day Amongst the Rephaims ; when the morrow came With cries of scorn unto it they return 1030 Heaping the dead until from orient steep The sun compell'd short truce War's panting hounds Watching impatiently his slope, full breathed Op'ning again until the skies grew black : The third day was the same ; the fourth was like ; The fifth; the sixth; the seventh when some one spoke Of a compromising ; the living halt

IN HELL, 343 Upon their weapons whilst a grand debate Their chieftains hold : at length these were agreed And all the cities feasted. 1040 Thence as one The races multiplied 'till war arose Not as between the Cains and Seths but those Amongst them who would certain gods adore New come and they were many errand-sent By Night from Hell to Lucifer, — Zamiel Was one ; and so wag'd they that in one year The east was desert all nor throng'd the rest : Thence came a lull to revelrie devote And former aptitudes of sport unclean 1050 So that half-emptied earth soon overflowed And one incessant tide of mortal sin Immitigable puls'd resistless on. Then came the end : the Holy Spirit grieved As despited, Jehovah to the heart That man was made ; — O Muse of Zion ! thou Forbiddest, for a thousand years were scarce Sufficient to expose that guilty race ; Like imitative sheep if one but leaps Whether with cause or none, they all, so men 1060 The primal rebel follow'd. On the shrine Of glory in the midst of which God dwelt

344 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Long visible on earth, whereto they sought The righteous e'en to Noah, Lucifer His substitution rais'd unto the clouds Sublime ; conjuring spirits in such shapes For stones as were appropriated — forms Had they innumerable, thus he built By word of mouth a living temple up Zamiel the pontiff, priestesses with power 1070 More than the Vestals had ; here men adored The King of Hell who fill'd the inner shrine With a dread figure and the earth o'er-ruled : But so not long — for what is time, all time Unto the angels, how much less, if aught It be to God ] the Elements turn'd so That the alchymists — who the genii bound Of Air, and Fire, and Water, (more adept Than those of latter times who thought to take Defter Protceus and to purpose put,) 1080 Mark'd, and the sorc'rers summon'd ; instantly From Asrac snows where some did Trivia bay, From fens mephitic some with herbs occult As the Sardinian, from the caverns some With operous ores, and witches with their banes Like she of Endor, came, Air, Water, Fire Questioning and what they demanded they

IN HELL. 345 Would not by Nature be denied, when They were — like treasure hunters who the Seal Of Solomon or the astrologists 1090 Old Kosicrusian tomes consult to find By the conjunctive planets some weird spell Not finding, they : then all the three they sore Tortur'd to tell what had possess'd them ; one — More than one thousand years her age she told, From out her paps upon the altar squeezed A milk so acrid that it eat right through The adamant ; the curd this was of food As none but she enjoy 'd, in secret pit Close to a temple genitals and brains 1100 They flung of still-born children, viriles old Of men and women, capricorns and bulls, These with toadstools for centuries alone She eat, and only of the few thick drops Express'd from broken hearts assuag'd her thirst ; She first-tormentor treating them like sores Embodied, as a village doctress treats A cancer that defies her : fury worse Than Calcabrina's theirs others there were Who follow'd, creatures unto skeletons 1110 Worn like Megacra Acheron produced ; Some used the ordures poison'd whether those

346 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Which work eruption'd from the globe relax'd With slime defecated, or worse from brutes Dying the foetid product of their young. Thus were they occupied nine thousand they Hideous their names as persons : Shraphryth, Oom, Hollos, Frank, Scrematry, Adsch, Na, Troumdell And Nashmurdrand o'er all : then Shraphryth a Crook-back'd arose, " I saw a star as, black," 1120 Said he, "as others bright earthward dissolve." " All know," Scrematry said " what Noe, son Of Lamech prophesieth." " Six score years," Added Hollos, " and more that same is preached." " His ark is filled with the domestic beasts Ready to float with flood," Nashmurdrand joined. Whilst these they told the air grown dense mankind And all the giants to that central fane Seek choking ; from the north, east, south and west They come on fleetest dromedaries, some [1130 On rapid coursers : then from out the sea A stifling vapour crept and drove the brutes Upon the rear of the assembling world; — Behind the last the sloths huge as are now Big elephants (their bones to us remain,) Urging from the circumference send in

IN HELL. 347 Disorder, tribe on tribe crushing the one The other soon the universal whole Tumultuous labour stormy to and fro, 1140 The agitation unto violence grows, The megatheria and others rush With angry snort their predeceders o'er And brutes of blood feline wide open mouthed A torrent roar, so multitudes down-trod Imploring shouts raising contention make, Then prematurely soon the sun he set : No moon arose, no star ; a meteor blue Irregularly flashing through the dark Swum. 1150 Then the Rephaims to the council came Enquiring, they to Lucifer in turn With iteration through the tedious night 'Till dawn'd the day — if day it may be called, And in the north a comet dread to see Hast'ning ; then the star-gazers all their rules And tables brought, and what his motion was, His altitude and declination, law Assign'd sure calculating to the last Infinitessimal for what they called 1 l(>0 Affection : at the noon the sickly sun

348 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Gone down with that mix'd meteor the night Again began. The wizards now resort Unto their orgies and blaspheming rites, And with collective force their wither'd hands With incantations flung the comet drew, Whilst some by madness driven unto the shrine Of Zamiel rush, — these when the leaders see With rage possest upon them falling some 1170 The brains dash out, others they throttle, some In twain they rend and spattering outcast, Thus devastated they as long the third Craped sun endur'd — not long. A sock or sigh From out the ocean came, the water-sprites Wond'ring the how, and Earth advent'ring forth From the deep bottom to his fane made haste And whisper'd Lucifer, " Didst thou hear that?" More wrinkled she than the Cumsean who 1180 Brought Tarquin books the Arch-condemner caught And crush'd Earth so unto his chest that out She shriek'd and from her womb Beelzebub Upon the altar fell ; that aged crone First saw and, boldest, cried, " A god ! a god ! "

IN HELL. 349 With that he seiz'd her in his freckled paws And brought her to his mouth ; the gastrics, the Saliva from the all-abounding glands Her soon enchyl'd but in her skull a gem Like to a toad's was found which up he cast 1190 As indigestible ; with frantic joy That all the sorc'rers seize, and with the charm Spend o'er their rituals the third long night. Now when the sun appear'd in gleer mankind Were painted with the units better done. Towards the fifth more dismal day whilst yet The fires beneath the sacrifices smoked The ocean belching shed uncounted crabs Hideous : when the sun the zenith reached The sorc'rers join'd unto the Rephaims called 1200 Imperiously, he stopp'd — the earth as short And thereupon a high and angry wave — Shock-broken though it was by cunning spells And counter-forces from the planets won, Impulsive flow'd : a common heap after They gathered of dead and in the midst Fire-generating-Beelzebub — enthroned, Shower'd sparks afar. Then Shreesh a heart tore out And eat, " The cursed earth is nigh an end," 1210

350 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Cried she, and hurrying to her call there came From out an adytum of which she long As the chief-priestess kept the guarding key (The doors flung open,) monsters flesh and blood Nor man nor brute, nor spirit gender'd but Of all through all the triune opposites To reptiles e'en and fishes, corm 'rants, bats Uglier than the Manillan, Strypian ouphs, Hybrids descriptionless, and devils damned On mares begotten, lynxes, unicorns, 1 220 And lionesses, beasts that marshes haunt ; And some had web-like hands, and talons, nails, Some leprous pats from the chelonians got, Club-footed some whilst some the hoof divide From two proceeding on to twelve rank claws, And some there were preponderated men Like men they spoke their parts inferior grown Whether to scales or plumes pinnated both, Or terminating in a draco's base ; And there were elephant-begotten, and 1230 Of camelopardes, and behemoth "Which at the bottoms of deep rivers live, Crustaceans too the heads of women joined Into their dermals yet with bearded chins And language like a man's, and gelid shapes

IN HELL. 351 As half humane tentaculars for arms The mouth the only fundamental vent ; And green, and speckled, yellow, black, and red ; And up themselves they toss'd, and down they tossed, [1240 Bray'd, squeak'd, and yell'd, and mov'd, and mop'd, and And other ictions odd to see and hear [manned, Never conceiv'd : and these would prey, mankind Selecting some the old, the tender young Others, some male, some female, some affect The brown, the fair, the tall, the short such crooked Caprices were indulg'd ; and one — a snake With a most lovely face and fleecy hair Like Berenice's, nursling she would have, One at the mother's breast, — embracing both Curling around with gusto then she laved 1250 Her lips in their warm blood the flesh reject'd : And some there were who feasting made on apes, Obscene baboons, lemurs, and such vile broods As evets have with stings and prickles full, And some putridities most noisome eat. Then all the wizards expedited — round Close ringing, and with voice as with the sun They fix'd the comet in impetuous course So that the tail recalcitrating swung Reaching the earth and it so surely swept 1260

352 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH With dankest danger that mankind looked For fear they died, but yet they died not. Then In a disorder'd train as if with grief Or worse stung all the Sins of all the world Appear'd innumerable, all the lights Extinguishing with their unhallowed hands : So when the excommunicated go To Tophet all the tapers are put out ; But Earth pride-swollen still amongst them rushed 1270 With all the witches to arrest that work But it was done, and up the spectrals passed Like swamp-born meteors ; soon as e'er they reached The middle air collapsing down they fell A shower of flesh and blood on all below. Then one rush'd forward in the garish which Came forth of that great temple, others eke, Upon the sorcerers they fall, their things Unholy, smoking censors, cauldrons, spats, Prongs, shovels, glassy masks — protective from 1280 The aura they would oft from neither light Of sun nor moon distil, down these they dash And up the tow'ring tiers of steps the vast Wide measur'd portals reach : then Lucifer Call'd the incarnate fiends ! from land, from sea,

IN HELL. 353 Above, beneath they hungry slaught'ring came So, then thought he as Chaos in the heaven For us did lose now sure he comes to gain A lesser battle ; Chaos was ! that star Reported was himself in search of Night 1290 Eemember'd well ; that day when God lit up External heaven surviv'd : what thought he thought Was all for his co-mate, her loss he cursed Inconsolable ; soon therefore as he Might course at choice he cours'd the voidy blank Searching and in his range falling on hell Found it in uproar ; but one guarded there Of whom too well he knewT Th' Undying Worm Swoln out to full proportion upon man Grown monstrously millions to him by Sin 1300 And Death deliver'd ; unto Chaos he Swore Night he knew not of: a meteor thence Wing'd Chaos 'till the system of this globe Made, in a gen'ral fog he all o'erspread ; He utter'd those same socks wThich Earth alarmed. And when she fell, from that portentous star — Which was his real Cyclopean eye he saw The devil squeezed forth ; but when they came The Adamites and Rephadms on their chiefs And the carnivora upon them all 1310

354 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH More jealous still as apprehensive that Another all inspir'd better than he Could hope t' inspire them, then his singulars Collecting down upon the apex he Came with concussion so tremendous that The deeps that God himself had barr'd were burst And out the waters won ; nor stopp'd he there As up th' abysmals leap'd down, down again In all his ponderosity he drove Upon the drowning races whilst from heaven 1320 His latencies in rainy torrents fall Circumfluent over all a pluvial shroud. Thus on the earth delugal vengeance came, And all the fTrmarnental clouds dissolved Nor intermitted ; forty days were told As through the liquid pall the sun appeared Apparent in his course, and forty nights The rains in cataracts continual come Upon the earth ; then all the rising hills — The hills were cover'd and the mountain heights, 1330 And all flesh died that on the earth had moved Of fowl, of cattle, beast, and creeping thing, And every man in whom the breath of life Was to his nostril died; — but one remained The righteous Noe, son of Lantech, son

IN HELL. 355 Of old Mathusalah, of Henoch (him Who walk'd with God,) the son, that Henoch son Of Jared, son of Malaleel, the son Of Cainan, son of Enos, he the son Of Seth appointed in good Abel's stead 1340 Whom Cain had smote : with Noe too his wife, His sons, their wives, and all with them they took Of every living thing appoint of God. A A

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THE WARS OF JEHOVAH. BOOK VIII.

THE ARGUMENT. God's covenant with Noe, his folly and curse of Cham. The general history of mankind unto the advent of The Messiah whom Lucifer confronts. Lucifer's return to Hell. The Temptation, and death of our Blessed Lord. Time : the seventh and part of the eighth day.

BOOK VIII. Like dreamer through whose fervid brain is chased An evil spirit to the realms beyond The precincts of his being doubtful long Whether the narrow isthmus upon which He stands be earth and the good angel his Discern'd returning, I — the whilst I plunged So long in shades historic doubting all Therein contain'd and horrified at all I found save Thee before invok'd constant Keligion! poring o'er thy Book of books 10 Our certain safeguard, safer than the clue Minos's daughter to her lover gave When in the labyrinth the minotaur He sought and khTd : if unto mortal sight

360 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH The mystery of heaven, of earth, and hell I bravely charge to thee I grateful raise The voice my patroness ! such space we drag The dragon forth to day and in the light Stab mortal ; and if yet immortal he Live on his wounds shall incapacitate 20 Him much and my example others urge, Numbers repriev'd from his devouring jaws : Terrible this, long time the ends of earth Paying tribute of their best to satiate His appetite, so propagating death And woe throughout all generations that Come unto this the Holy Spirit grieved Past utt'rance is retir'd as thou hast shown : Thus from the heavenly heights Jehovah hurled Him and his hosts and man creating if 30 Pervert by whom % So as in heaven the earth, Plausible, change this Arch-advent'rer wrought, And what is man ] who dareth question make Of him whom all the hierarchies serve Adoring ; evil is not surely by Device of God ; the Holy Spirit ask O sceptic ! why permitted % He shall show Thee all things, this that hence Jehovah shines The brighter in The Son : — -hail Thou ! who mad'st

IN HELL. 361 The heavens, the earth, and in the flesh descended'st 40 For our salvation ; now within me burns My heart whilst upward Faith directing, lo ! Spangled with countless stars Thy Throne, O God ! Thy servant seeth, the blue infinity Vaulted with the similitude of Wings We celebrated quivering o'er the world ; O cherubim, O seraphim, and all Ye finitudes of heavenly time and space Continually worshipping the highest, All ye bright angels that confess Him King ! 50 Although immeasurably far exiled From the expression of His Imag'd Light God's Excellency I on earth as ye In the Elysium devout adore. Thus all the aqueous humours met conjunct Drowning the world, the sanctities on high Pale with surprise around th' Eternal Throne Collecting, save the guardians gracious God Appointed unto Noe in armoury Of shield and mail and spear if any fiend 60 Or all attack' d him now so rash were they Successful thus so far, expatiating Over the waters a triumphant crew, And chiefly him the dread degen'rate Prince.

362 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH God's great Abhorrer, he advent'ring sought That latest hope of the lost world to whelm Irrevocable ; proud, alone, with rage Prodigious on swept he tornadoes in His fiery path : so a black cloud drives blank 'Gainst perpendicular mountains — broken down TO Thund'ring and lightning ; Lucifer confus'd Fusing to fires intolerably bright, Vomiting smoke such match was his though no Archangel, nor Jehovah (bless'd His Name,) But One co-equal, co-eternal, Son Of very God to him unknown, nor then Seen but with an immedicable wound Encounter'd and such shock he inward groaned In spirit, fleeing, how no notice needs Nor whither — in his wake his potent fiends 80 Shudd'ring : so 'cross the Steppes the Turcomans Before a Christian Power, a battle gained Over their bashaw — the incredlous chief Best-mounted foremost ; or stark cannibals West Indian conquer'd : stretch of wing was his As ne'er before, nor that enow his want Craving to meet ; Death to the bottoms sought Where lay the Nephilim interr'd alive Under the cumbent waters thunderstruck :

IN HELL. 363 Chaos behind the last all his thick lips 90 With'ring : so black snow-storms driven afar South from high Himmala the red simoon Melts. Then the deeps were stopp'd, the rain restrained, The waters they decreas'd continually And Ararat appear'd, floating thereby A perfect ark divinely plann'd by Him Who fram'd the worlds : when forty days were gone A window oped and forth came out a bird, To him inquiringly a dove succeeds; 100 Again, seven days full gone she wings abroad Such time as the renew'd and glorious sun Meridional shone ; yet other seven Days were elaps'd when the third time came forth Earth dried. Then Noe went, with him his sons, Their wives, and every beast and thing aforth Building an altar ; not as is described In mythos of Deucalion asking grace With Pyrrha of one Themis; Noe took 110 Burnt off'ring to the Lord : Jehovah smell Accepting said, " Whilst earth remaineth seed And harvest- times, cold, heat, and day and night Shall cease not." And Jehovah blessed Noe,

364 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH His sons and said, " Be fruitful, multiply, And fill the earth, and I, behold I make With you a covenant, no more shall flood Destroy you, this the token ; " in the heaven Above the mountains there appear'd an Arch Upbuilt from the horizon colour'd bright 120 A shining Iris; " This the sign shall be," Said God and Noe bowing to the ground Call'd all his congregation and from thence Departing in the plains they pitch'd their tents. Long time in this sojourn like paradise If not so primitive yet fairer far Than any plot Pomona owns this day, Or any his to the anemone turned — Recall'd for the disconsolated quean, Or where umbrageous figs in Deccan spread 130 High-pillar'd roofs, long while with such slight toil As serves the day and sanctifies the even That family admonish'd, angels oft Upon the slanting sunbeams gliding down On wings of gladness borne with speed along As once to Eden from their skiey court : This was the age which Ovid — following Writ, Calls golden, unto him of Shinaar shown In image with the honour'd head of gold,

IX HELL. 365 With ill-join" d feet : for though her flowers to seed 140 Still ran and Earth was solemn like one rose — Like Jairus's fair daughter Cidli from The dead, yet often Earth would sweetly smile Relating to her tut'lars how forlorn She felt when one after the ling ring other Amono-st them left 'till all, alas ! were °-one Into the heavens ; and how the rebels sought And gain'd her graces ; " O how I abhorred Myself the while.'" said she. "for though of heaven I knew they were yet well I also knew 150 From hell they came to rifle me, for what ? I shudder ; " then she wept so many tears Inconsolable "till the blessed Bow Appear"d to comfort her. and so resumed Telling how that Corruption with the rage Of famine, full of want against her gnashed The teeth when One — no angel, drove him back And turn'd her eyes unto the pearly gate Of "Judah" whence they came, " And O! that gate" Cried she, " I plainly saw from Eden 'till 160 The latest guardian parted from my side And left me to myself: " thus Earth, again Renascent she. Now husbandmen were they,

366 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH And when autumnal mists prevail'd the grapes Gath'ring from out the vineyard to the sieve Consigned what with those the dews they'd caught And humid airs fermenting come to wine Noe he tasted and therewith full pleased Immoderately drank : O wiser he 170 The Thracian king who by the roots uptore The vines from his dominions ; fatal draught ! More than the Maronean, or those draughts Delicious Messalina mixing, or Macrinus those who — ignorant, quaff 'd were Poison'd, or that which Sisera of Jael Unthinking took when he from Baruk fled, These lost the life, but honour still more dear Unthinking Noe for his younger son His nakedness perceiv'd: when Noe awoke 180 He curs'd him saying, " Servant let Cham be Of servants to his brethren." Then went Cham Forth with his eldest Chus ; Mesraim and Phuth, And Chanaan ; Saba, Hevila — the sons Of Chus ; and Sabtah, Regma, Sabtechah And Regma's sons : to Chus was Nemrod who The first from worship of the Living God Estray'd and fell ; a man of might renowned

IN HELL. 367 He was and rul'd from Babylon unto 190 Arach and Achad south, Chalanne the west, Four cities strong entrench'd and wall'd about But Babel most : and thence went Assur forth Erecting Nineve, Chale, Resen, And Rehoboth. Mesraim to him was On, Sais, Memphis and the cities of the Nile. The Phethrusim and Chasluhim they spread The whole sea-coast along ; and Chanaan held From Sidon unto Gaza, Lesa to. Lebahim, Naphtuhim went forth to west, 200 Ananim east, the Teinans, Lybians theirs. To Sem are all the Ebers ; Eber got Phaleg and Jectan, these their dwelling had From Messa to that mountain Sehar called. To Japhet, Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Thubal, Mosoch, and Thiras : sons Had Gomer Ascenaz, Rephath, Thogarm. Javan Elisa, Tharshish, Chettim and Dodonim ; all the Isles they held. But some Were usurpations: Nemrod his obtained 2t0 From Sem by force of numbers; "Go!" said he, " Go let us build a tower — a temple high Where we will honour whom we honour will," Then to that work they set ; lo ! where this day

36$ THE WARS OF JEHOVAH On Sennaar's plain the Mulijebe lies Mountainous ruin : whilst the builders wrought Euphrates from his wonted river-bed Driven by a furious wind statues of gold Therein were found upon the grandest graven " Typhon! our King, Conservator, and Lord." — 220 This with solemnity a god they called Placing it in the yet unfinish'd fane, But some from that dissented, many thought The total idols to erect, thus fierce Arguing together off to build they left And scattering abroad, in his old age Nemrod's state-politic to pieces fell. Now these the generations are of Sem Arphaxad, Sala, Heber, Phaleg, Eeu, Sarug, and Nachor. Terah who begot 230 The faithful Abram ; unto him the Lord Had said, " From out thy Land thy kindred go, In thee the kingdoms of the earth are blessed." Now his descendants in the course of time Were sore oppress'd in Egypt, to Taphne, Athos, Isis, Serapis, Anubis, Thoth, Cynocephalus, Osiris their False goddesses and gods with various shapes Of hawks, and crocodiles, cats, monkeys, bulls,

IN HELL. 369 Building : then Moses rose and Israel called 240 Together ; unto Pharoa present come His brother Aaron on the ground his rod Casting it turn'd a serpent, others cast Their rods of divination and they turned But Aaron's swallow'd all : then Moses smote To blood the waters, this did Jambres too : Then frogs came up, this Jannes he performed : Next Aaron stretch'd and dust in man and beast To insects grew ; this the magicians tried In vain to do : then grievous swarm of flies 250 Arose ; and on the morrow all their beasts Died ; boil and blain too came, and hail and fire Smote all the Land save Goshen : next there came The plague of locusts ; darkness next three days : Then all the first-born fell, unto the throne E'en from the dungeon, and at midnight cry Mighty was heard proud Pharoa crying, " Go! From these my people Israel begone!" So spoiling the ^Egyptians, Joseph's bones [260 Took, they to Succoth journey'd. Thence they camped In Etham on the wilderness, a Cloud From heaven by day and pillar'd Fire by night Guiding them on : then Pharoa ready made His chariot and in arms pursued unto B B

370 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Phihairoth the sea beside, but o'er The waters Moses stretched his hand and by A strong and burning wind dividing right And left with Israel pass'd ; th' ^Egyptians haste After, but in the watch of morn God looked From out that Cloud upon them, and the sea 270 Returning back Busiris was o'erthrown. Thence to the wilderness of Sur, and thence To Mara, Elim, thence to Sin where God Cover'd the camp with quails and manna rained. In Raphidim they pitch'd where Amalek "Was sore discomfited ; "Write!" said the Lord, " For I of Amalec remembrance will Put utter out ; from generation I To generation war with him will have." Thence next in Sinai o'er against the Mount 280 And there in thunder, lightning, and in cloud, With trump so that it quak'd and smok'd the Lord Commandments gave ; and then as Moses went Into the tabernacle, then the Lord Talk'd with him as a friend, and Moses said " Thy glory let me see ; " Jehovah, " I Let Glory pass before thee but My Face No man can see." To Pharan next, lusting

IN HELL. 371 'Mongst them burnt fire at Taberah, and plague 290 At Kibroth-Hattavah : from Hazeroth And Pharan they saw Canaan : thence to Zin, Thence Kadesh, and upon mount Hor beside Edom died Aaron. Arad they destroyed And all his cities ; then were serpents sent Because they murmur'd. In Oboth they pitched In Ije-ab'rim, Zared next, and thence In Arnon wherefore it is said, " Behold ! What God in the Red Sea and in the brooks 300 Of Arnon did, and in the stream that goeth Down to the dwelling Ar lying upon Moab." Thence unto Beer, to Mattana, Mahaliel, Banoth, and at Jasa Fought Sehon and was smit : the Amorites From Jazer they drove out, and Og the king Of Basan slew. Baal-peor be named, The plains of Moab : " 'Venge the Lord ! avenge 310 Of Midian," and they smote the kings Evi, Eecem, Sur, Rebe, Hur, and Balaam put Unto the sword. Then to the mount Nebo b b 2

372 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Went Moses, to the top of Phasgo, o'er 'Gainst Jericho and died. Then spake the Lord To Joshua, "Rise!" and Joshua arose Bringing the Ark of Covenant the Lord And Israel between to Jordan (whence O Ocean-Empress thy most princely heir 320 Receiv'd baptism,) and when those who bare Dipp'd in the waters they heap'd back, so all Pass'd ; in Gilgal are the memorial stones : Then Joshua took the Land, the hills, the south, Goshen, vale, plain, and mount, and valley to Mount Halak going to Seir and Baal-gad. Joshua dying Judah succeeded, — he In Bezek fought, Jerusalem he took. Then rose a generation who from God To Baal turn'd, and Ashtaroth ; Othniel 330 Arose, and Ehud, Shamgar, Deborah The prophetess, and Gideon after him Abimeleck to whom an evil Spirit Coming he died : Toba, and Jair, Tola Succeed, and then to Bethlehem- Judah came With one Naomi, Ruth a convert whom Boaz wedded. Next Jair was judge, Jephtha, Ibzan, Elon, Abdon, Sampson who loved

IN HELL. 373 And suffer'd for Delilah ; Eli next : 340 Then Samuel arose, of him they asked A king, and he anointed Saul who fought And Am alec subdued but Agag spared : He of the witch requested, " Bring the dead," She crying loud exclaim'd " I gods behold Ascending from the earth, one cometh up Cloth'd with a mantle ; " then said he to Saul " Why hast thou me disquieted to raise V Next David reigned in Hebron, afterwards O'er Israel in Jerus'lem ; Solomon 350 Succeeding : now from Tyre Hiram the king His envoys sent and Solomon return'd, " Thou Hiram knowest that our father meant Unto the Lord his God an house to build And thou command ; " thus was the temple built, And all the elders, heads of tribes, and priests, And people brought the tabernacle and The Ark into the Holy place, the Lord Filling it with his glory ; yet this king To Milcomb the abomination of 360 Ammon, and Chemosh Moab's, and unto Moloch bow'd down. Then Rehoboam reigned The kingdom split ; and Jeroboam set

374 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH In Dan and Bethel calves calling them gods, High places too Jerusalem profaned And groves on every hill, so Shiskah spoiled Them for the sin. Next Rehoboam reigned, Nadab, Asa, Jehosaphat, Baasha, 370 And Elah slain by Zimri who seven days Only maintain'd the throne : Ornri succeeds, Ahaz, and Ahaziah, Jehoram, Joram — (Elisha in his time rais'd up The Shunamite her son,) then reign'd Jehu, Next Ahaziah, Jehoaz, and next Athalia — slain, Jehoash, Amaziah, Azariah, Jeroboam, Zachariah, Shallum one month, Menahem, Pekahiah, And Pekah in whose reign Assyria led 380 Them captive. Over Judah Jotham, and Ahaz : Hosea Shalmaneser served, For then the Lord rejected Israel, they Had sinn'd against Him, covenants despised, And idols worshipp'd with the shining hosts Of heaven, and through the fire their children passed, Used divinations and enchantments, sold Themselves to evil in His holy sight,

IN HELL. 375 Therefore remov'd they were not one was left 390 Save Judah only ; men from Babel brought, From Cuthah, Ava, Hamath, Sepharvaim Filled their cities. Then Sennacherib 'Gainst Hezekiah warr'd, but he returned In shame to Nineve. Manasseh next, Amon, Josiah who the idols brake, Their groves and altars and their priests put down, Denied Tophet, and the bones of men From out the sepulchres at Bethel burned ; 400 Moreover those that with familiars worked The wizards and the Teraphim he put Away as most abominable. Next Jehoahaz, and Eliakim named By Pharoa-necho : Jehoiakim went Captive to Babylon and in his stead Reign'd Mattaniah in whose day was broke Jerusalem ; the temple of the Lord, And every house and all the walls were razed: 410 So Judah captive was, carried away Full threescore years and ten. The Persian thou

376 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Proclaim'd, " The Lord of heaven to me hath given All kingdoms of the earth, and He hath charged That at Jerusalem an house be built Unto Him ; who amongst you Judah ! will, Go, build, your God be with you: let them go." Then rose the chiefs of Judah, Benjamin, The priests and Levites, and with them all those 420 Whose spirit God had rais'd, these strengthen'd were With precious things, the vessels of the Lord — Which to his gods Nebuchadnezzar gave, Chargers of gold and silver, ornate knives, Basins, and vases Cyrus all restored, So up went they and to the temple set. Jeshua rul'd, Jehoiakim, and next The bad Eliashib, Judas, then John Who in the sacred court his brother killed ; Jaddus came next : but Misraim them oppressed 430 Also the Syrians when iEgypt failed Until Antiochus the sanctuary Polluted : then the Maccabees arose — King Aristobulus, to him succeeds Next Alexander, then Salome, next Proud Aristobulus : Roma aroused Great Pompey took Jerusalem, profaned

IN HELL. 377 The oft-profaned temple and reduced Judah to servitude, but in the end Herod the Edomite arose and reigned. 440 Thus were the prophets whom Jehovah sent (They persecuted all and many slew,) Most righteously aveng'd from Moses down, Asaph and Samuel, and Shemiah, and Iddo, Ahijah, Azariah, and Jehu, Hanani, and Elijah — caught Up into heaven ; Elisha, Joel, and Hosea, Amos, Michajah, and him Who prophesied of Edom ; Obadiah, Habakkuk, Jonah, and Isaiah 450 Invoking heaven and earth to give his words An ear ; Michah, Haggai, Malachi, Nahum, and he who lamentation made 44 O ! that mine head were waters and mine eyes Fountains of tears that I both day and night Might weep for this my people ; " Daniel, and Ezekiel, Zachary, and Zephaniah. Elsewhere mankind were equally corrupt, Assyria wide had stretch'd her lusty arms North to Armenia, east unto the Mede 4oO The Perse, and even unto Ind she reached ; This symbolizing God square altars cut,

378 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Fire from the sun enkindled and adored Mithras the great light-giver : then magi Eastward arose who thought in stars they saw Other divinities and — passing from The abstract, taught Belus — ador'd upon The tower which Nemrod built ; from that great height Watching, or in Chaldee the cloudless skies, The constellations they as gods bespoke 470 As Peri — beautiful and excellent, Caherman — the resemblance in the fire, And Tahmuraz — the change, or Ahriman The sender, Oramuz concealer, with The Demruth-dive outcast of fulgent heaven ; To these she hew'd her pillars, victims brought, Mingled her wines, and paid her foolish voavs Believing ; the diviners of the spheres, Star-gazers, aged seers, her bed of power So decking with fine linen, tapestry, 480 And others that to her the Nations sought Her head a harlot lift : beside all these Were Succoth-benoth — representee shrines Of astral forms, Nergal — the circle, and Gilgal, Ashimah, Tartac, and the gods Of Sepharvaim : Ninus o'er them ruled, Semiramis, and Sardanapalus

IN HELL. 379 The last : against the rampant lion with Great eagle wings Arbaces warr'd and won ; And thence three kingdoms came, the Median 490 And those which Nineve and Babel still Own'd for their capitals : Cyaxares Joining Nabopolassar Nineve O'erthrew. Then Evil-merodoch, and next Neriglissar, Laborosoarchod, Belshazzar last the Babylonians ruled, Famous is he for God's handwriting o'er The candlestick upon the wall observed, His count'nance chang'd, troubled his thoughts; the joints Even of his loins were loosen'd, and his knees 500 Smote one another. Then the Medians with The Perse allied and Lydia, unto Darius fallen iEgyptia all the false Gods met ; above them all — the prophet paints, A raging bear three ribs within his teeth Was Chosroes god. Then Japetus sprung up In younger Amnion Macedonian born, His symbol was a leopard with four heads Four wings unto him representing Perse 510 Assyrian, Mede, and Grsecian over whom He sate enthron'd : this the false worship brought

380 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Of gods made human gross and bestial some ; With oracles ambiguous, Pharmacus, And from the covert caves Trophonian And Eleusina ; Helios he brought, Autopsia, Demiurgus, Cneph — the winged, And him of Khamnes, with the routous mob That follow'd the Napeans liquor-mad, Transforming those who saw to beasts or worse 520 Fiends like themselves ; and some infernals were Furies gaunt-blue, wrath-throed shades, of whom Dramatic authors wrote : some of the sea Troops which our credulous have mermaids called : Japetus feign'd the muses, not O thou Mnemosyne ! their mother heretofore Invok'd nor vain, nor thee Urania, nor Calliope I call, far other Spring Is yours and Mount than Cytheron, more famed Than the Phocean, but the muses which 530 Hesiod and Pindar sung, and those playwrights With mask of Thalia or the tragic, draw, Theocritus, Euripides, ^Eschyle, Or Aristophanes : Religion ! Faith ! Bear witness none like these our sacred task Affect. Then came the Itoman to the clang

IN HELL. 381 Of arms invincible ; no banner his By princesses within their harems wrought In the cool evening by soft purling founts 540 To dulcet symphonies, poetic sounds. And incens'd airs that paradise might blow, But his was pictur'd terrible a beast Exceeding strong with iron teeth with which Devouring he in pieces brake and stamped The residue beneath his feet ; ten horns Were his and all the world unto him fell. Kings too had been Phoenician, Ehodian, and Kings on the Coasts : the Shepherd-kings had ruled Amenophis in line ; Memnon that fane 550 At Elephanta rear'd : great Ecbatan Dejoces built his capital; Phraote Succeeding then Cyaxares, and him Ahasuerus grandsire unto one That conquer'd Croesus — he to Sardis fled Another capital city, — Tomyris The Lydian aveng'd. Beyond where Ind Or Ganges roll their empires yet survive The lapse of ages, Ava, the Chinese; Whilst history King Evechous records, 560 Calca, and Crete, and Alba-longa where Sylvanus rul'd ; great polities there were

382 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH From Barbary unto the Guinea-gulf, And thence below the tropic, and beyond The wide Atlantic where the Laurence now, The Mississippi, or La Plata sweep, All rul'd by khans, and emperors, moguls, Or kings, czars, sultauns, yncas, noble heads Boasting the idols shown. Thus was the world 570 From unity of faith together gone, Philosophy at its meridian scarce One feeble ray emitting ; dialect At Athens, the fortuitous concourse Of atoms by Democritus she taught, At Rome the genius of Cicero Could nothing add ; truth she pronounc'd was quite — Quite unattainable, and virtue quite Impracticable, all the world from out The chalices of Epicurus drunk : 580 Unbridled the licentiousness to Vice — Enshrin'd in their recesses, all the throng Sapient made haste to cede the temples of Religion : under sorcery of Sense Sense guided all the world, the blind the blind Leading into the ditch, secular games In honour to th' Infernals oft observed

IN HELL. 383 That left the Saturnalia far behind : They knew not God, see Socrates they call The wisest sacrificing ; Plato sought 590 And what he found describ'd so ill or well His clients even now the question ask What is it 1 Aristotle reason'd dry Of nat'rals in a square following the eye — As some yet follow who through outward things Can nothing concrete catch ; Pythagoras For his metempsychosis Ennius had To verify that once a chanticleer He really was • and Aristippus — still Amongst the libertines a famous name : 600 Draco gave laws, and if they Solon boast For that he made approximation to God's pandects promulgated centuries Before from Oreb, — kings therein shall find Their copy, and their subjects what their rule. Senates instruction, magistrates command, Witnesses warning ; there the jury are Requir'd to give true verdict, and the judge Is furnish'd with the sentence; weddings there Alone are well directed, as the lord 610 The husband, as the mistress o'er the house The wife divinely set, how'? both are taught,

384 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH And what of their first-born ; for burials They order, and the orphans introduce Unto a heavenly father ; they detect All error, and can make the foolish wise : "What record like Bereashith \ what book Hath so sublime beginning ] from the cares Of government unbending unto that The Grsecian sage in Tadmor turn'd as the 620 Most perfect ; here antiquities ! events Most wonderful ! and so of others which Record the wars unparallel'd, O Queen ! Inspir'd we chaunt, or of heroic deeds : The Bible ! Book of books to mvsteries Profound, for doctors the directory, Galen therein were exercis'd, the best Arithmeticians and astronomers ; And here mechanics, artists lessons learn Invaluable ; unto ignorant men 630 Its own interpreter for dictionary The Bible stands, authenticated through The world ; the Covenant the best that e'er Was made ; the Deed that e'er was sign'd ; and the Best Testament that ever yet was sealed : Nor all the odes through the Olympiads sung Compare with those they tun'd on Zion's hill,

IN HELL. SS5 The lying sophists tun'd ; and for the rest Most famous, what Demosthenes when stripped Of his high-sounding words ] or he who wrote 640 That orator and augur ? who Calcas And Mopsus in his equal folly scorned ; Nor Livy mourning o'er Lucretia, nor Sanconiatho, Lysias, Sallust, Quintius Curtius, Tacitus, Plutarch, Gellius, Juvenal, Nicander, nor Lactantius, Xenophon, Thucydides, Apollodorus, Statius, nor yet Seneca best of moralists compare To our God-gifted : nor their patriots, 650 Those the most vaunted died for praise of men, Others in Jewry died despising that For praise of God who seeth in secret though Before th' assembled angels he rewards. But O ! what pen the matter may indite I We now approach : though with archangel's tongue I sung, Religion ! what to me by night In the still watches when the world 's asleep Thou tellest, all my soul therewith entranced Rapt up as was th' apostle to the seventh 660 Recepting heaven, the Holy Spirit in His arms embracing me, — though thus I sung, c c

386 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Dipping this plume in firmamental tints The purest, such as from some Syrian height When vesper warns the young monastic knows Scarce how for prayer to sacrifice, and propped By Eloa, how infinitely short Were all t' express what in the depth of heart I feel, and O Thou God Effluent ! know. O now the golden string ! Jehovah spake 670 Of Thee to Adam when guilty he went Outcast of Eden, Thee ! Deliv'rer, God With man incorp'rate, who the serpent's head Should'st crush ; O Thou Restorer ! long (to us,) They prophesied that Thou of David's seed The flesh according to should'st come : strike high, He comes ! He comes ! Messias from the heavens (Immac'late) down ; attending seraphs sing And Gabriel, who the salutation, " Hail, Hail Mary ! and be blest," The Virgin gave, 680 They sing to sounding dulcimers and lutes, " Glory to God on high, she bears The Son, Peace, peace on earth ; ye eastern kings adore With gifts, adore Him ye who watch'd your flocks By night and heard us say, ' good will to men.' ' Strike high the lyre ! thy King O Salem ! comes, Daughter of Zion ! comely make thy cheeks

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L\ BELL 387 With rows of jewels, and upon thy neck Put chains of gold, borders of gold and studs Of silver take unto thee, spikenard, myrrh 690 Take for thy well-Beloved, so shalt thou Be as the carnphire cluster 'midst the vines Of sweet En-gedi : better is his love Than wine ; he saith. • ; Rise up my love and come, For lo ! the winter *s past, the ram is gone, The flowers appear, the singing birds — the voice Of turtles they are heard, the fig-tree forth Putteth green figs, the vines the tender grape ; Arise my love ! my fair one come away : O my sweet dove ! hid in the rocky clefts. 700 And sacred stairs, thy count nance let me see. And let me hear thy voice for sweet it is, Thy count nance comely.'" 0 Thou Prince of Peace ! Thou Lord of Light and Love ! born very man Of the bless'd Virgin, Shiloh ! I have seen Thy tear- when first this mortal life thou breathedst. And heard that cry as Adam's offspring ciy Pain'd at the birth, and all the agony felt That smote Thy Wondrous Being when our airs — 71" Adulterated gross by sin. Thou drewest Thick ning and hurtful to the heavenly lung. 2

388 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Muse ! He the Lord of Worlds, the psaltery To angels and the souls of the redeemed, Return ! Scarce born when at His feet One stood Reflecting speechless, nor incontinent His eyes like fire, a fire as opposite Kindling the Arch-arraigner flash'd confessed His arrogants around : thus there the Bane Of heaven, of earth confronting God The Son 720 Was found ; then from the Godhead answer went — An answer so tremendous that the fiends Precipitately fled ; O Lion of The tribe of Judah, hail ! the un withstood Lord of the Living Might ! O Adam ! once Before the First that Depravated sped — But on a diff'rent mission, back to hell, Elated with a triumph promising A quick return ; and often in the times Before the deluge painful check had he 730 From Seth, Henock and others (which his gain But palliated ill,) so that the road To hell from earth was beaten, and the gates Knew well their owner. Now — if Adam more Than Adam and the patriarchs combined Together, Christ ; as if a second race More than the Nephilim, or those that claimed

IN HELL. 389 The gods and goddesses progenitors After the Flood, God had His person made More than the Anarch's Match, august, divine. 740 To hell full soon arriv'd to Night and Death Made he flaming with rage, rolling his eyes So fast that whirlwinds rose about him as He hasted through th' innumerable hosts That throng'd the passage, who were instant snatched Up and discharg'd upon the surging waves In which the Adamites lay swelt'ring : so With a west wind the plaguing locusts driven Into the vex'd Red Sea, his wrinkled waves Were loaded ; or when Aquilon the pole 750 Arctic his barring continents of ice Would burst, from the adjoining shores he sweeps Rocks, pines, oaks, forests whole, launching them on : Over them all his frenzied eyeballs rolled Firing their substance through and through until Night actual white for fear between them stood Harrow'd and rooted ; Outer Darkness fled In time before he saw him — felt the fall Of his sperm shadow worse than he had felt Ever before, great spectres nestled up 760 Between his warty wings and holding on Like two agreeing lupes upon the back

390 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Of a surprised lion grown too old To shake them off; or like two reddening fiends Upon a lost emaciated soul : O first adulterer ! adulteress ! Holding Hell's Empery your very names "Were then forgotten ; " Hell ! Primordial God Pursues ! " cried Lucifer and hardly cried When that his leman — recollecting what 770 Before she suffer'd when His arrowy light Drove on her from the gate of heaven, shriek'd out So dread that Sin took glut and Death, and both Fell : then keen-talon'd creatures — ghastly stern Swarthy of hue, by millions came forth Out from their frothing mouths, and fought with hands Nor them alone but heads and all their parts Indescribable ; these had flesh and bone Electrum-like and harder than a stone, And they so fought that in a moment hell 780 Around was strown with splinters : — lo ! wild-like The crew that Cozener had far outsped, With blastful airs ; a refuge there they sought : Thus panic-struck the whole ; e'en Terror crouched As terroriz'd in turn, and drew his claws Retractile in. Then one who always had

IN HELL. 391 Access presented — Ruin ; at the heel — As they were loadstones, Fire-Etern brought up Now from a sparry hollow, sparkling ; Woe 790 From the same endless range, and Mystery ; These — like great beasts upon the smell of blood, Bellowed, so unbearable it all To them appear'd : the olden couch of Space Upset, the winding-sheet Infinity Bestow'd fell off into the Dip profound And never more was seen ; whilst all the Void At that dread uproar van'd, but Lucifer — Making to Pride a sacrifice of self Steeling his heart thrice o'er, his throned seat 800 Took, seating Night at his right hand : then thus. " Gods! gods!" but Night then interposing cried, " To it gods ! gods to it ! see ! see ! now see Now see ! see to this Hell ! God will be here ! God He pursues ! now Terror ! Terror now Fortification finish ; add to what Is fortified as if it nothing were : Nine times be added, and to that a tenth For Lucifer, for I." Then Terror seemed 8 1 0 Dim from infinitude of size and went Forth like the giant Jatmund, and a horn

392 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH As long as from his latten lungs unto His leaden lips made blow ; all hell turn'd black As if with instant death to hear ; all, all The towers of hell did reel, and leaning o'er Like Carisenda for the moment looked ; Typhon held up the head, Despair held up As if too fierce to bear, so agonized That hell was present doubly double sunk 820 The damn'd set so to work : " This First !" cried he, And Pandemonium so huge before — So huge that in the lesser of the halls The billion billion reprobated had Space ample for their thrones, now look'd so small That Lucifer was satisfied God — God Could never master that although He brought All that was possible against the walls : Then he. " O gods ! from earth where objects cross Expressly first well- contradicting, so [830 That all mankind to unities reduced For all that 's good are easily a prey : Gods ! once before from God this orb we tore And tearing the administration kept Through generations 'till the gen'ral flood Unto the multitude before arrived

IN HELL. 393 The final multitude perforce did add Our monuments. Nor since that desp'rate turn Of God's hath earth much frankincense bestowed 840 But unto us returned save in one Confined spot, and there had he not wrought Continual miracle himself to keep In small remembrance that but piteous seemed So long as madmen prophesying died (Witness the dotard whom the lion slew,) Martyrs to that we always deem'd a lie, So at the length our power entirely taxed Unto the uttermost we thought the roots Of providence eradicated, air, 850 Sea, and the land our own perpetual fee Ours as is hell's : — our tit'lar is no more Our own, all all those pleasaunces of balm, Localizations, altars, idol shrines Crowding that green domain in jeopardy If those sight-seers lunatics were not : He, He is come by them so oft foretold With stubborn iteration so that e'en The heathen caught some promise ; come indeed Incarnate man-like : we have verily seen 86'0 Jehovah God The Son, of whom a noise Was bruited once in heaven which none explained

394 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Inexplicable then, I palliate Such stroke he strook at me as ne'er in war Taken at disadvantage and with might Mightiest had I before." Adramelec, All the nine chiefs start up crying aloud, And they ; Adramelec the worst as he Was nighest unto Lucifer that time 870 Ever to be remember'd ; ministers Of grace ! defend us from that sight of his Sore macerated shape ; his soul all o'er Was one continued wound and how he reached Hell from the earth the wonder : " He will come Here," they all cried nor said th' Aggressor, "Nay:" Then Death from the benumbent rose and asked With a sardonic grin, "What then]" and still "Ye timid gods ! what then V9 "Yea, what! what then 1" Join'd a sub-regent, " Time to both extends [880 An hand and if to us the left with hell Console with this that every wrong is God's Rack'd with continual doubt : for if mankind His most particular workmanship so soon Fell from him what may we not yet expect \ Down by this God of God God we will hale

IN HELL. 395 The universe uniting as one soul Together for our purpose. O ! we 're hound'd And misery hath harden'd me the more, 890 I mock him, curse him the Great King, uplift To the pale heavens my voice ; anathema Maranatha upon him ; all the storms Of this blue prison-house of fire and frore. O witness ye fang'd, foodless, famishing things, Gedim and all th' inhabitants of hell, No grief is mine for what I bear by God's Compulsion : ask the Earth how much we fear Her purpled seas her rivers running blood, Her winds are sicken'd with the blood of man, 900 The valleys of his world upreeking airs As incense from his sin-corrupted sons ; Men for our weapons the eternal strife Continues : though to phantoms we are worn Let God upon or off his termless throne Exhaust his quiver scatt'ring through our shades His sharpen'd arrows thus are we revenged : He doth, we suffer : there O princes ! lies The broad distinction : in our turn we do God suff'ring, this new world the theatre 910 Mankind the vehicles : for this same Christ Fire all the dismal elements, and more

396 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH The imprecating furies ; all our arts Malignant down upon his Godship bring Devoting him to Satan — Lucifer ! Thy pris'ners call thee that, to Death, and Hell To Christ and all the damned devils left Our partnership with all of them at end When his begins : now haste, haste we to earth." He said unknowing but no one made haste 920 And Adsherac — who ne'er outside the walls Of hell had been permitted since that day Night drove them skelt'ring back, since Terror left Unwonted bold, cried out, " What better field Than earth whereon to fight % shall Lucifer Now flee % who fled not when his armies fell All intermingled from the pitch of heaven Our spirits to this metamorphose put ; Nor when upon a more disastrous day 930 He rent the sun — nobly 'twas done, the deed Was valorous and worthy of the god ! As 'twas most worthy when returned afresh Thou won'st a world : if Thou abas'd wilt be That crown lay down ; another shall upmount The throne, and for myself I this will say Less should I shun Jehovah now to meet

IN HELL. 397 Than when before his battlements we filed Nor from his thunders fled — reviler ! but Went." 940 Affrac, Harec, Eroctrac, Shry, Fok, Sub-powers confln'd like him, ten thousands, voiced Like thought, with faces green and livid, eyes No longer fading, and such horrid looks As threaten'd a dethronement : Ugoline De Gherardeschi, Ruggieri starved, With all his hapless sons never such looks Look'd, nor the sacrilegious Fucci when pursued By Cacus ; hard their lineaments all grim And ghast they turn'd on Lucifer and shook 950 Horrid : then, then rose he as ne'er before — No not when the Undying Worm he met Gorged with Night, from posture upon that Stupendous height up then erect he towered As if hell's roof with calculating power He rent. " What other field'?" thus he, " what gain Had we upon the earth % 'tis mine but now Jehovah would reclaim it : " to some one Spectre, or more unseen he speaks, the leaved 960 Portals of hell upon the iron swung Back with hell-quaking sound, and one of his

398 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Dread unappealable expressions drove Earthward the sceptics forth. Then discomposed Zabrash, his fury rous'd against them thus : " On no light errand they : thou wast the first Great Emperor ! to raise a kingdom where No harps are found or some were soon prepared To greet those vaunters in forlorn return. 970 Tradition was in heaven 'mongst other things That God conjunctive natures would put on And how conjunct we know, for gods we got On human-kind and others ; but in this Consummate mystery lies for what doth God Descend 1 not surely propagation for, Nor yet caprice which us propelling sorts Hap-hazard we engender'd — what they were There in those hideous imps too well is shown : And though conjoint inseparables, God 980 Is veritable God as man in Him Is veritable man, though where the two Divide none know ; in that too diff'rence is With ours for they are neither separate But mix'd and by admixture total spoilt : This followeth then with Two we now contend, With God indeed, and man no less indeed

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IN HELL. 399 Nor more than man ; in this particular Hope on : by what elimination God Is God Jehovah, also God The Son 990 We know not, but his Unity we know, And if the Son the Father falls in One Essential Person : all our arms therefore Be, deities ! well burnish'd whether those Invented with the grosser shapes for man, Or those imagin'd of ingenious mind With subtlest points so sharp that you shall steal Therewith into Jehovah unaware ; With these assail we Christ, above in air, Below in earths continual so at last 1000 Into the vortex of our toils he drop And O ! once fallen to rise no never more." He said, agreeing murmurs on all sides, As if Lui-shin the spirit that commands Thunder were there. But O ! with me return Thou Holy Spirit : on his toilsome flight From Judah Jesse's son ; O holy child ! Whilst Rachel mourning for her children and Great lamentation are in Rama heard 1010 Because they are not. O bless'd Jesu ! God ! As the pure Virgin pass'd with Shiloh on,

400 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Daemonic prodigy ! a net-like thing Wefted with serpents like a cobweb falls Upon him ; O the innocent ! he seeth Smiling and with those blue and heavenly eyes Meekly uprais'd apast's already gone. Then to themselves from that disguise returned The rebel angels ; Adsherac swoop'd down Within his talons — such were his deformed, 1020 The boa writhing which had strung the whole, Indignant this rent he right through the spine Dashing him down : upgath'ring from his parts His antecedent form — angelical His face, but oh monstrosity ! his corps Bristling with horrent hair, upon him he Upon his shoulders fix'd, therein he dug Into the cervix where it joins the skull, Something ethereal flow'd, when with a stroke That Lucifer's broad wings alone could wave, 1030 " All!" cried he, and smote, but all the powers Smote in the turn the four far-corner'd winds Regrating on the ground, but with a heel Of iron with such aversion Lucifer Trampled annihilation seem'd their lot. Now the Divine Similitude, Express Glory of God, Personal Image came

IN HELL. 401 From Galilee to Jordan, Thou, O Spirit ! Attesting with The Father His baptism : But who of Jesus claims attention] thence 1040 Leading into the wilderness and when The sun went down there still ; " Long day," said he, " Thou 'st ponder 'd now with Night," that demon came : Then Jesus fainting felt : O Muse ! thou looked'st Though altogether vain for help when Eve Fainted, for some rare medicine, moly, Or such nepenthes Hellena had given In pearly myrrhine cup ; again I look, Amaze ! the great Redeemer from the skies To suff'ring come : then Lucifer, *; Art God]" 1050 Waiting the answer but that patient prince — His eyes downcast unto the earth, his hands Devoutly o'er his sinless bosom crossed, Xo otherwise replied. Audacious Arch ! If yet not God, before th' archangels Christ The Lord and thy Creator answereth not, With speech such as The Spirit gives, for God The Son's most holy sake Religion ! thou : O Profligate! wilt thou a lie suggest] 1060 As once thou grafied'st in the harmless heart Of our weak mother in the hope to graft D D

402 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH The heart of God ; infatuated fiend ! Observe th' effect — if an effect it have Other than this to add unwonted weight Afresh to pity for thy wretched state, That e'en thy recklessness forgot may be In momentary ache for what thou art ; O Righteous One ! rebuke him : was he not By silence such as our Atoner held'? 1070 Then Night more palpably outstretching God Shudder'd, and that Aggrievor ask'd again. Third time third night ask'd he and answer mete Receiving all the fourth long day our Lord In uncomplaining want he left. Then Night Girding with him came back and, " O !" said he, " This man hath said he's God :" she girded more. Through the fifth day unnourish'd Jesus sate His sweetest image marr'd, " Impatient Night!" 1080 Said her Abettor, " thou God's jaoler be," Then her th' Abandon'd kiss'd and dusky wings Outspreading dived. Night then approaches made Haglike, and looking to her toes said, " God ! Admire them," then she wound him in her arms Nor He resisting long she held as tight

IN HELL. 403 As she could hold, and with impure salute Whin'd, " God ! art thou alive?" then flung away, " Upon these stones," cried she, " I sit 'till thou 1090 Comest unto me;" opposite sate she Waiting full thirty days beating the ground, Kicking and raving, courting, coaxing so The sun thereat the while for shame eclipsed. Then the Beginner join'd and with him Death Grown nine times larger, lustier, inflamed, Backward fell he his occulars muffling Gleering askant; at length, " Godhead!" cried Death And in a syncope away dissolved, Night and the Bravo fled. 1100 Then came to Christ That Adsherac habilimented in The everlasting fire ; " O David's son ! Efflowing God ! " said he, " though by the banks Human confin'd, thing wond'rous the finite Engirdling the infinity ! what dost Design 1 long time Life's River thou shalt glide Ere mortals stoop to drink ; to bitter sweet, To ill the good is chang'd : no price ask I, If man saw hell, and heard th' eternal wail 1110 Of the thick soul-strown shores, and in his state J The Alienator, this thy argument o d 2

404 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Whereby futurity to save : this I Will show for neither love, O God ! to Thee Nor them — contemn'd the both, but for revenge." " No covering from God hath hell" then said The tempted Jesus, " if from man 'tis well Lost spirit ! it were vainly done : " in grime Th' abjurer instant fled. Then Lucifer 1120 Invoking all came on : Th' Undying Worm Trail'd, Death along as wistful, compassing About the pure and holy Son of God And man ; dread was their doing ; Death with arms Strongest as at the first he Adam sought In whom we died, the second Adam now Essay 'd in whom we live ; God's Person he Insidiously attempted but no speck Finding his stings upon himself he turns, His ganglions droop, and paralys'd his shape 1130 Falls : the Undying Worm too dealing dire — Damp awe is mine to tell, flaccid, unstrung Lay also prostrate : when they lifeful grew With renovating horror back to hell With Night they spanking sped, the road they took Strewn all the way with swoln and rotting limbs. The sun was risen and set full forty times

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IN HELL. 405 Then Jesus hungered nor yet could he That Forcer yet forbear, so rank his hope That by repeated aim the Lord of Life 1140 Might make relapse ; and then said he, " If thou, Thou art the Son of God command these stones They bread become." Then Jesus answer'd thus, " By bread alone man shall not live, but live By word also proceeding forth of God." Then Jesus up was caught and set upon A pinnacle, and the Arch-tempter said " If thou the Son of God may be thyself Cast down for it is writ His angels have 1150 Thee in their charge, lest thou against a stone Thy foot should'st dash." And Jesus said, " Again 'Tis writ the Lord thy God thou shalt not tempt." Then to a mountain most exceeding high He taketh Jesus showing to him all The kingdoms of the earth and said, "All these I give thee will if thou but worship me." And Jesus answer'd, " Hence ! for it is writ, ' The Lord thy God thou worship shalt and serve.' " 1 160 Then he arose, and O ye heavens give ear, O earth his words ! for they shall drop as vain,

406 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH His speech distil as dew upon the herb, And as the showers upon the tender grass : He is the Rock, perfect his works, his ways Are judgment, true, and just and right is He. O Man ! remember all the days of old, The years of all the generations ; ask Thy fathers and the elders they shall show : The Lord He found us in a desert land, 1170 And in the howling wilderness, He learned And kept us as the apple of his eye, And as an eagle nutt'reth o'er the young Bearing them on the wing, the Lord hath brought His people to the increase of the fields, And oil, and honey, butter, milk of sheep, And fat of lambs. O who like God can teach % Behold his finger traced line on line And precepts on the firmament but man — Those lessons so sublimely writ, from out 1180 His lurking places soon upon them gazed As painful, even on the images Expressive of the government of God ; The statute-book of heaven misconstruing he Went far astray, though witness found the truth From Adam unto Noe through the line Of Seth, and now since the baptismal Flood

IN HELL. 407 Through Shem to Heber, yet — on evil set Continual, to man God written law By Moses gave. O who to God is like 1190 Amongst all gods % the God that cov'nant keeps And everlasting goodness : God His Son Hath sent the last the word of God to teach, God The Predicted, in the Central Light The Dweller, of all goodness Author, Great, Solemn, obedience claiming, full of Grace, Searcher of hearts of men ; with signs he comes And mighty wonders, lo ! the sick he heals, Cleanses the lepers, gives the blind their sight, The deaf their ears, the lame to walk are made, 1200 The dead to rise, and — from their seats put down The proud, he those of low degree exalts. Divine Instructor ! on Thy lips we hang : " Bless'd are the poor in spirit," Jesus cried, " In spirit theirs of heaven the kingdom is : Bless'd they that mourn for comfort they shall have : Bless'd are the meek, the meek with God shall reign : Bless'd they which after righteousness do thirst And hunger them the God of grace shall fill : Bless'd are the merciful they mercy find: 1210 Bless'd are the pure for God the pure shall see : Bless'd are the peaceful they're the sons of God:

408 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Bless'd those which, wrongfully they persecute For righteousness reward to them is great : Resist not evil, but whoe'er shall smite Upon thy cheek the other to him turn : To him that fain thy coat away would take Unto him give thy cloak : to him that asks Give thou ; nor from the borrower turn away : And love your enemies; bless them who curse; 1220 Do good to them that hate you ; pray for them Which use you with despite, and perfect be Even as God our Father perfect is." This was the Gospel brought, the gate of heaven Re-open'd and mankind to happiness Bidden : thus He who stretch'd the heavens aforth When we forgot the testimonial stars Down from His Dwelling Place of Glory came God manifested for our sake in flesh ; Herein was love ! Look from the top, O spouse ! 1230 Of Amana, Shenir, and Her mon, look From lions' dens and mountains of the pards, The voice of thy Beloved knocking, saying, " Open to me my love ! my undefiled ! My head with dew is fill'd, my locks with drops Of the dark night." Chiefest is he amongst Ten thousand, ruddy, white, his head like gold,

IN HELL. 409 Black as the raven are his clustering locks, His eyes like dove's are set, his cheeks a bed Of spices — as sweet flowers, lilies his lips 1240 Dropping with myrrh, his hands like golden rings Set with the beryl, ivory his waist O'erlaid with sapphires, pillars are his legs Socketed — set with gold, his countenance As Lebanon, as cedars excellent, His most sweet mouth ! he 's lovely altogether : He feedeth 'mongst the lilies 'till the day Break and the shadows flee : Beloved ! turn, Be like a roe, or a young hart upon The mountains of Bether, 1250 Beauty of God ! Bright Shiner o'er the storms of wintry time ! Hope of the world! O Advocate! O Light! O Truthful Prophet ! Priest ! Incarnate King ! Abroad He went the Spirit in His mouth Of wisdom, understanding, counsel, might, Knowledge, and fear of God ; not judging by The sight of eyes, neither reproving after Hearing of ears, but righteously judging, With equity reproving; thus He smote 1260 With rod of mouth the earth, and with His breath The wicked slew : but who His great report

410 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Believed ! lo ! what virulence of men Succeed these machinations ; when the fiends Fled the possess'd and down they fell " Tis by Beelzebub," they cried : meek humble he When they upbraided, curs'd, revil'd, and stormed. Surely our griefs He bore, and carried all Our sorrows and the chastisement for peace Upon Him with His stripes we all are healed : 1270 Oppress'd was He, afflicted, yet His mouth He open'd not ; and as a lamb is brought To slaughter, and before the shearers sheep Are dumb so Jesus open'd not His mouth : From prison He and judgment false was ta'en, Who shall His generation tell 1 cut off From all the living : O ! how He was stricken For the transgressors ; yet it pleas'd the Lord To bruise Him, and an offering for sin The travail of His soul His seed shall see 1280 And shall be satisfied. But woe to ye Chorazin and Bethsaida ; thou exalt Capernaum in the Day of Judgment best Shall be for Sodom, for the mighty works Within ye done : and woe to ye the scribes And pharisees ; of heaven the kingdom ye Shut neither ye yourselves going in nor others

IN HELL. 411 Suff 'ring to enter ; widows ye devour, Long prayer make, and when ye proselyte Than ye yourselves of hell a greater child: 1290 Woe unto ye blind guides, ye fools and blind Who swear not by the Temple but the gold Within, not by the altar but the gift ; Of mint, and anise, cummin, tithe ye pay Omitting weightier matters judgment, faith, And mercy ; hypocrites which at a gnat Do strain and straight a camel swallow whole ; Ye whited sepulchres without so fair Within uncleanness and the bones of dead ; Ye generation of sharp vipers ; how — 1 300 How hell's damnation can ye hope escape 1

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THE WARS OF JEHOVAH BOOK IX.

THE ARGUMENT. The assembly of all the Holy angels with the Coronation of Christ. He maketh war against the King of Hell. The souls of the redeemed. Christ enters Hell alone, confronts Lucifer who is driven with all the rebellious, Hell, Chaos, and all into the Bottomless Pit. The book concludes with a general notice of what passed on the earth during this last drama, and the eulogium of Queen Victoria to whom the Poem is inscribed. Time, the ninth and tenth day.

BOOK IX. " Let flare Hell's oriflame ! the time is come King of the Damn'd ! Infernal Monarch ! all Thy Devildom prepare ; the gods of fire Summon in harshest thunder for thy crown Of rays — nine spik'd from shiver 'd lightnings, sits Loose on thy hlacken'd brow : Vengeance in thought Like ten Hyrcanian lionesses rends Thee, thee, thee ! arm ! arm the accursed sprites ! Arm instant ! all the angelry is armed Against thee, all the saints of heaven are armed, 1 0 Mouth speaking mighty things ! ruling their Head One from before the earth's foundation slain ; Arm ! He is strong who judgeth thee, even now His Banner they prepare, with looks that run

416 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Thy blood to shed : let desolated Hell Roar with thy preparation ; stand, now stand Ready to meet Him of the many crowns Unfailing, for a prey the Lord shall make According to their deed repaying all His adversaries recompens'd : unto 20 An end thy kingdom draweth ; God will now — Even God himself against thee now will fight : Thou who the first from out the Book of Life Wast blotted keep thy word, deny Him not, Hold fast for He descendeth, The Amen, Him upon whom to look is as the walls Thou sieged'st or sardine, Sabaoth's God : Thy chariot, bow, and arrows take He comes O Name of Blasphemy ! and Death's pale horse Harnessing, Death unto they right advance ; 30 The day of wrath is risen, final woes Hail, fire, and blood and burning mountains great Of brimstone, plagues, and torments they prepare, Thou Dragon ! wherewithal to wound thee to Thy second death : thou Outcast of the Skies ! Deceiver of the world ! Profaner vile Of Images of God ! how shalt thou feel Dying, thy smoke for ever and for aye Rising : Destroyer ! now to overcome

IN HELL. 417 Or be o'ercome redemption past prepare ! 40 Prepare ! for Him who for this war upon His thigh girds fast the sword : Damnation ! come Seize on this falling King." Thus sung the Muse Bearing me up to heaven, encouraging Me ever as she lift through all the six Into the holiest seventh of which before I knew only the threshold ; O my soul ! O Empress ! thou may'st better tell than I What then I felt, the joy, the overflowing 50 And boundless gladness not to be restrained, The animation which dissolv'd me as A cloud dissolveth in the radiant sun, And O mine eyes were beams as earth I spurned Dispelling all the mists of ages with A glance, forgetful of the days and nights Since on a foreign soil I trod : — " Exult ! The heavens exult ! " she cried, " the hour is come ; Caverns, and crags, and pitchy fountains, and Ye boiling bubbling oceans in th' abysm, 60 Deserts and wildernesses how I laugh With inextinguishable laughter : hell ! Ha ! ha ! how now I laugh ! " Thus through the air E E

418 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Sweeping her harp to the unmeasur'd strains We pass'd like spirits, all the universe Drinking the sounds ; O how I gasp'd and gasped For breath, and well for me I copious drunk Of waters far more pure than those which flow From Eunoe else through the thousand spheres 70 I had not sped like that ; O spheres within Spheres, and the one within a fairer sphere Than the preceding, unimaginable Of beauty; but O ! who the element Of the seventh heaven shall give % grind mist to mist The smallest, and from one sole atom grind A boundless globular expressly, plain From that one out, and iridescence from The lightest bubble bring, and tens of times Ten million add unto it all that light 80 Alone can paint, — that ! that a bubble were Like one unsightly solid marble piece Of dirty stone to this : u Muse ! Muse ! " I cried, " Thine alabaster arms, 1 faint," nor she Kefus'd me and that traceless threshold thus With her devoutly cross'd : O God ! accept My presence, deem it not unholy ; God Encompass me ; and O Thou Spirit of Life ! Keep me ; I see ! a Vision : underneath

IN HELL. 419 An orb-like canopy that made the suns 90 External look opaque the thrones were placed Of all the Holy Angels, deeper yet Dipp'd in the light were they — intensely light So that I scarce endure the pearly shine And ravishing radiance ; diamonds no more I value : high upon the cloudless cloud Of solid day which in the centre stands Distinctly shap'd, rises a column'd Throne As yet unoccupied ; Isocrates Were ten long years panegyrising one — 100 One of the royal ornaments ; Cinna Laborious had despair'd a thousandth part Of one the least, and had Vitruvius seen, Palladio, or Callimachus they scorned All the five Orders as disorder'd things ; O how the feet upspring if they are feet, Or bases azur'd, from that sea of seas Illumin'd with the white that whitest snow Turn'd black, and with the clear that crystal made Insufferable dirt : lo! there are suns 110 Within them wing'd, or winged spirits like The burning suns that waver like the wind When transported with love ; ethereal They are like countless eyes : O now T see E E 2

420 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH The cherubim as darkness where they bear As Caryatides or Genii the Pil'd piles of pillars up ; O how they stand As if eternal fix'd adoring eyes Uplifting in acknowledgment so high, 0 Muse ! dare I now follow them? I turn 120 Mine own for an example ; all the hosts Of heaven are standing ; all the myriads stand Each one by his own throne ; never before Unto this shrine of shrines had any passed, And the archangels stand in wonder lost With e'en the pavement ; far beyond remote Circle the seraphim ; beyond them in A wider circle cherubim ; virtues Are next seen visible ; the powers behind ; The principalities the sixth in row 130 Innumerable ; the dominions thence Rang'd out ; lastly the thrones beatitude In all their faces, but they look not up Nor I, I dare not ; the eternity 1 think of and shrink back ; I also think Of Him who made Eternity look pale And little : O trite time ! how easily An infant of a moment all the bounds Of thy horizon grasps. Then I beheld

IN HELL. 421 Zarael who kill'd Togarmah, Tonoros 140 Who was the first in heaven's first war to kill A rebel angel ; Triminor was there, And those who took the banners, Pharnaspine And his companion worthies ; there also Ashoron, Apthos, Rhotyn, Alessine, Tauromer, Sothon, Sifanaros who Have an inscription on a lofty arch Of triumph at due distance from the arch That Michael's firstly had ; all these had been Re-consecrated, all the angels had 150 Themselves re-consecrated to the Lord When summon'd to this council ; all the heavens Breath'd impregn'd incense, all the altars bore Off'rings unto Jehovah e'er one went The Trinal Stairs to mount ; th' archangels ne'er Had passed beyond the lowest until God In Person of The Son to heaven returned From lighting up the Universe and then They were assisted by The Holy Ghost, But not into the Holy wherein now 160 Enchanted all th' assembled angels stood Together with them. Now the dial which Markd the celestial time was on the point

422 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Of chiming the fourth day since Adam fell When One like to the son of man — unto The foot divinely cloth'd and girt about With a gold girdle, white His hair, His eyes As names of fire, His feet as if they burned, His countenance as if the noon- tide sun, 170 Upon that Throne appear'd ; within His hands Seven stars, and when the angels saw He cried — His voice like many waters so that all The solar spheres were seen to bend as if They ready were to snap, " Fear, fear Me not, I am The First, The Last, I lived and Was dead, I am alive for evermore, And have the keys of Hell and Death." Then one — Whom no one knew, in lowliness knelt down 180 Before that Triple Throne, — germin'd was she In the eternal counsel, writ upon Her forehead, " Knowledge ! " from a living lock That open'd inward she drew out a great Imperishable Roll with warped wings Which then flew open ; all the holy knelt, To see their names within a frightful gap The names rebellious lost : no verse can paint The blot, the blotting ; Knowledge vainly pored

IN HELL. 423 The indiscernible oblivion'd names 190 That once shone there authentical, now God Himself could not authenticate e'en one For long God look'd and all His sovran light Directed on the page : then Memory Rose solemnly before Him and the Book Of the Remembrance brought ; a spring had that By which she clos'd it from th' Omniscient eye And all the angels lest it made if not God all the latter miserable ; she Even the covers most assiduously 200 Had cover'd ; folding now the eyes, the ears, Before the senate of the skies she them Unfolded, and unfolded scarcely when A crash of heaviest thunder fell from out The hands of Justice standing at her side, They, they were much too light ; this calling, in A shadowy procession march'd along All that therein were pictur'd from their dead Slumbers so rous'd, nor they ador'd nor feared But fix'd the ken on God, the keenest ken 2 1 0 On God, for every one against His Spirit Were sinners ; O my soul ! but in the heavens No tear may stain one cheek : methought the floor

424 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Shook as before the Throne, before The Lord That revelation was. Next Prescience brought Her shining Tables and that synod made Glad ; every one thrilled with sacred awe To read within them what first time they read Of past perplexities that none had thought 220 It possible to straighten, now as straight As lines they were and straighter, and revealed Fate as a good, not merely as a just But good Identity — a Cymbeline That charm'd them all : O she the eyes lifts up From light to light to God ; then up also I look'd, and lo ! I took within me all — All the infinity, — in that swum hell — As in a sea a strange unnatural thing, And from beyond drew God His presence so 230 No trace whatever of Himself was left Upon, within, or near it ; heaven alone Seem'd to enjoy the presence : thus it seemed To me as if' a mirrorizer stood Exhibited in which unblench'd I saw. Then rose The Son — all knees before Him bowed, And was commission'd : in His loving eyes

IN HELL. 425 I read the whole that pass'd nor silence keep Religion ! but let tell, for what I gaz'd To see shall others glad attention give 240 To hear, and everlasting joy be theirs : And first the light was yet more hallow 'd made And more resplendent ; Intellect did this By means most secret, she came forth from out God's bosom : then the seven before the Throne Cried " Holy," and the crowned heads which stood By four-and-twenty seats beyond the sea Of crystal round about they "Holy" cried, "Holy Lord God Almighty, which was, is, And art to come ; " and when they glory gave 250 Their golden crowns they cast, saying, " O Lord! Worthy art Thou glory and honour to Have, power, for Thou all Greatest hast, For Thee they were created:" in the midst The spirits cried, " Holy," harpers harped, " Worthy The Lamb ! power, wisdom, riches, strength, And honor, glory, blessing be to Him That sitteth on the Throne ; " the cherubim " Amen ! Amen : " God then the Golden Keys Of Glory took, and all the angels cried, 260 " Crown! crown Him Lord of all !" a Diadem I saw like an eternal one with gems

426 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Engirt, heliotropianal gems As if new made and by none other but God they so glisten'd; " O ! who, who shall wear That Diadem 1 " Eternity I heard j In a low whisper ask when One Unseen If seen, plac'd it upon His head, and straight Anointed God The Son : then praise was heard, " To Him! to Him! the gods; to Him! the gods, 270 King of the worlds innumerable ! God's Co-Heritor ! before Eternity Bow'd awful in The Presence, Wonderful One ! filled with all Fulness bodily And manifest in flesh The Filial God ! O Personality Divine ! Thou Sun Of Righteousness ! ineffable to see, God of IUimitable Glory ! Thou Transcendent Myst'ry of the covenant made And kept with man ! The Messenger of God 280 In God ! now alleluias : lo ! the deep Foundations of the universe to Thee Are nothing ; nothing elements that loose Were its destruction ; light before the light That gilds Thy Diadem insuff 'rable Blackness becomes : O Crowned King ! what tongue Shall give Thy praises 1 Thy dominion who

IN HELL. 427 Shall sum through added ages golden sums Of number trilling from his tired lips, The doors of heaven all open lest the heaven 290 Burst : Thee we sing, adore, but O ! how vain Our intermingling voices ; Music be Low ; let the shalm, the dulcimer, the lute, The harpsichord be soothe ; no breath be heard That utt'reth not His praises over-well, Rapt'rous to mutest inexpressive love Joy'd into such a passionate as shall O blessed God ! acceptable be found : Ye shaping visions ! all ye bright- wing'd spirits That bring the morning light and ever tend 300 On us God's happy favourites as ye Are ours, come join your song, this happy time Is heaven's first jubilee, hereafter oft To be observ'd by all ; sing and adore, Pure concords from your strings ascending up In gen'ral chorus ; melodies hereto Kept sacred glad unlock that all may flow Back to the broad capacious ocean of The inexhaustless Ocean whence all come Originally forth: Great King! the lyres 310 Sigh sympathetica!, with them we skreen Our tearful eyes and all the honied words

428 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Of heaven rejecting as incompetent, Or thralling, to the universe our bliss — Before the Light ! to Thee ! Commission 'd ! Crowned ! In unpremeditated sound express : " O what a burst was then ! from all the store Of heaven like silver streak'd with rivery gold Sparkled with million million flashing sparks Of stars and diamonds, rubies, sapphires and 320 Other most shining argent aurine things That seem'd and seem'd not and then seem'd again, Until each unit in that countless quire Felt his expression for himself by all Was comprehended and by God enjoyed To the extremest force : and then I heard From out the primal Source of all things come Command to Honour and to Providence Who thus directed spake, bright Honour first ; " Ye congregated angels who assist 330 Our council, unsubdued the Enemy Though driven from heaven, and earth by your brave Even to hell ; they insurrection hurl [arm Continual up implacable and proud As fallen : the Adamic race were theirs But for God's Majesty : God's Antique Throne None but himself against the warrior-chief

IX HELL. 429 Had held : now therefore forth His Might be put In wrath and terror : Arm ! Omnipotence ! Thy foes Thy footstool." 340 Providence thus joined, " Thy foes Thy footstool : Glory be to God On high, we praise, we bless, we worship Thee, We glorify Thee, thank Thee O Lord God ! Heavenly King ! " Then The Incarnate Word Ascended to the upper Throne of Thrones, The Ancient Throne of Days, Throned the first, The powers of heaven libation pouring out From all the carmine chalices devote 350 Since their remembrance to Almighty God : Then fill'd the daedal cups they deeply quaffed Another chorus rising 'till the roof Ringing again the exultation shook To hell's far confines : the Confounder heard Confounded ; " God hath surely hell surprised Whilst we are absent," all his agnates cried Following hell-ward : Hell heard embattling straight Lighting up all the fires on all the hills ; Behind the Emperor they bound and barred 360 The adamantine gates and garrisoned The wondrous walls diving to mvst'rv, and

430 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH To mystery mounting : then Night rattled all The gongs and — Noise put down, the puissants called About her ; how their overshadowing plumes Shook whilst they glar'd ! the great recess of "Waste Was mov'd fear-struck, and those that had not wings Clomb up the iron sides with claws, and bills, And beaks, and spurs more iron, whilst the winged Steam up from the red gulfs in all the pomp 370 Of wonder : then the direful Dirse met ; Never before met they — the offspring of Geryon and Echidna far less dire, These from their furnaces, whilst Tempest strange Lifted the oceans ; O ! what unto that Was earth's deluga!? Lucifer aghast Beheld but more aghast saw then aroused From torpor one begotten by himself — Yea by himself on Hell, that sunk The Worm Undying down a dastard ; from the depth 380 Of Deep it crawl'd, a Hell improv'd on Hell Which blacken'd at his frown as if before She was in truth most fair ; O Dante when The Lombard he call'd " Master " err'd in that, And Milton when advice of hell he sought From the pretending pagans who a hell Pictur'd that unto ours had been a heaven ;

IN HELL. 431 A sudden horror shot through all his frame When him he saw, pallid his features fell His knees together smiting : so a thief 390 Caught in the act, or an adulterer Thrust through : this Thing was his, it look'd like his Exactly and it was, and how his wrath Burn'd ! Desolation desolated turned Or would have turn'd upon him had she dared To trust the broken back ; to uttermost Deform'd was he so that his dam herself Sham'd and the spirits living and the dead Howl'd ; all the vacant shades he swept, returned In less than one half instant ; then indeed ! 400 Was Lucifer arous'd as if before He had been half-asleep ; Adramelec And Moloch dropp'd the banners they had kept Outside the walls of heaven, and Silence broke Out loud, so loud all wonder'd what it was So tongueless yet so tongued ; forth manifest Of flaming fire and frore stood Death as if His secrets he would tell oranything Do but to save his life, and Terror rolled Himself close gath'ring up and Blackness swore — 410 Or tried to swear by him for love to stand ; The Dirae look'd as if they queried if

432 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH 'T was possible they saw or — frenzied gone, Thought as the mad whilst this upon them looked Dreadless, or worse contemptuous, and there Chaos heaven-born stood petrified : but oh ! What words shall give that Imagery % fume He breath'd and blew in volume far away When he expir'd and as he blew the fires Within the embers glow'd — like some fierce blast 420 Over a burnt down forest all the heaps Of ashes scatter'd, all the half-burnt trees Flaming again : then he unlock'd the seas That yet were mounded and cried out, " For Hell Of hell now Lucifer shall fight or — woe ! " So cried with his glance-killing eyes he drove The rebels all before him, and the fiends, The devils weeping, wailing, gnashing teeth, And all the sable troops of horse that fed On vegetable fires, or on the crisp 430 Long efflorescent salts and sulphurites Depastur'd ; all the hell-black ghosts, the jinns — Such as queen Seba's throne to Solomon Carried, with all the lamise, graiae, worse — Worse than were e'er in the Erythraean sea Spawn'd or Maremma's Marsh, asps, serpents all On fire with horned flames and souls all o'er

IN HELL. 433 Painted with putrid nodes, and evil things Splay-footed, horned, whose erected hair Grew from the naked brain, and worms of fire 440 Long leagues in length, all he together drove To Aceldama, all — his sire distract Alone excepted, unto him he held In amity an hand nor was refused : Then the Obscure and Hot grew more obscure More hot when they agreed ; Th' Undying Worm Had a command o'er all the elops — such Amphitryon's son had more than terrified, Enyo had not borne them ; these the shores Lin'd thick by millions ; he Beelzebub 450 O'er those born somewhat like himself was put A ruler and a most prolific brood They were with wide wen-lipped wolfish grins ; Death took the frighten'd furies that had birth Under himself outside the heavens and in The earth, and in the hell, he arm'd them with Great torches that Byzantine fire made frost, Tressed were they with snakes that strew'd the ground With countless young, unrest continual theirs Either begetting or producing, now 460 Coiling and now uncoiling ; plum'd with flame As if new-fir'd and like a heavenly sprite F F

434 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH By the comparison came Night, a shape Illustrated her eyes that all the Vast Beneath made shallow, o'er the Dirse she Commanded and the hell-bred horrors they Had (how I know not,) gender 'd, one lank worm I saw and saw no more, he Terror made Mean ; over all the horsed-grim his staff The Arch-deserted stretch'd, rowels wore they 470 And well their horses flank'd swilling their sides With blood and yet so held the bits as kept Them all upon the spot ; Baal was one And Ekriel — O once most beautiful Of cherubims ! now none had recognised Those worried looks ; O ! who can dwell content In fire ? O saddest pity ! how endowed He was who had remembrance % in the gloom Gloomy look'd he corrupting ; so a man Dying with a claw'd-cancer eating at 480 The heart and yet another at the throat ; O horrible ! O horrible ! to that Is Ekriel indeed ! impair'd ] his Lord Remaineth grand if ruin'd, and no one Ever had love for Lucifer whate'er Of admiration, Muse ! O pass him bye. " Hark ! 'tis the total universe to wreck

IN HELL. 435 Utterly gone," I thought and cried when lo ! I saw a cherty chariot thund'ring up Beyond the gate of heaven pealing along 490 Such pealing thunder as before was ne'er Heard ; that I follow darkling : listen ! ho ! Ho ! to the rainbow- winged steeds which fill All the void Void, the constellations reel, All the Elysian pines and cedars bend Their bronzed heads unto the rumbling ground The while they pass as if a hurricane Were raging that would tear them every one Up by the ancient roots ; there is a seat Within that looks unfathomable red 500 With a consuming fire that overflows Over the edges in the guise of stars Like burning lamps, or like great burning mounts, Lamp-lighting stars go up and down and up Amongst them and the lightnings come aforth In flashes, wheels there are like beryls — high Wheels within wheels four sided, as they drive They turn not, rings eyeful around where'er They go close following for a living spirit Is in the wheels : O all ye glories ! all 510 Ye bursts of spangled light ! O all ye things Starry — gold buds, and downy clouds, gold rocks, f f 2

486 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Gold sands, seas, amethystine towers, rubied Palaces, silvery fountains ! over all I plant the standard of immortal song Pageanted History stripped ; Omnipotence In arms rose awful mounting ; lightnings blaze And growl the thunders and the heaven would flee But for His Majesty serene frownless Sustaining all the time ; the synod broke 520 Up for the hour was stroke, the King of Heaven And Earth fully prepar'd thousands of trumps Sounding : then viols full of wrath were brought And one lift up the voice crying " Thrust in Thy sickle and the winepress of Thy wrath Be filled : " then unto the hosts of heaven A wonder was made known, God rolling clouds Away, in tempest cradled He revealed Such broods of Thunder that for every one Fallen angel there were handfuls if the hand 530 Could wield they were so heavy, all the seven Archangels look'd distrusting ; Fame hath none So huge before reported ; there they lay In nakedness, the lightnings lathe to see Running amongst them, to a tumult all Going — indescribable like scath sprites That much too long had been chain'd up, they had

IN HELL. 437 For these were what the great Aggressor had Boasted in his first council, underground He in his pride conceiv'd them all, (not one 540 Of all the thunders that existence had Or hath owns God th' Inventor,) these prepared He rose as hath been told and but for that Disastrous deluge probably had launched Them all against his Sovereign and his God ; How, how they bicker'd ! livid, sheeted, wroth, And some quintupular ; tremendous ! O ! For they were made for none but Lucifer His hardy hand ; and some had shaggy manes And twirling darted so that if once thrown 550 None ever should wrench out ; great crackling coals Kept them alive all the vermilion'd flames Eat ravenously up the moment they Shot out beset around : " Woe ! woe !" they hissed, " To those we trouble woe ! " and leap'd all up Provoking round that chariot, God — pointing Their heads hell-ward and all the spirits like Bulls, lions, eagles, men in face, a fire Amidst itself unfolding, forward drove, Within and upward, and downward, around 560 Him fiery brightness ; then a voice was heard Of One that spake to all the heavenly host

438 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Commanding that they follow, far behind Stood they astonied, " Hell," Jehovah said Whilst all the Universe their Echoes grasped Silent for horror, " Hell- ward ! nor dismay, My exaltation this on Hell to war, Follow ! " then up His Triune Sceptre God Holding imblaz'd, in all The Father's might He drove with the archangels, seraphim, 570 Cherubim, thrones, and principalities, Dominions, powers, and virtues ; hung unto His radiant zone the Keys of Death and Hell Rattling as quicker than the quickest light He pass'd : aloft His Sign was written with All lamentation, mourning both within And out ; thus as He rode the suns turn'd black Falling as when a tree untimely casts Her leaves when she is shaken, or a scroll When it is roll'd together ; as God drove 580 Out from the portals of the heaven the hills And islands of this earth their places left, Sores falling on th' inhabitants, the seat Of Satan fill'd with darkness so they gnawed Their tongues for anguish of their pains and sores, And weighty hail falling exceeding plagued All that blasphemed. " All, all new I make,"

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IN HELL. 439 Said God, " the former are no more ; I give Of life the Water freely unto all That thirst and of the Tree of Life the fruits 590 Healing the nations : no more curse shall be, Take freely." Onward thence Effulgent He To Hell's portcullis'd doors — girded with steel And studded, in the wall of mountains set, Upon their ramparts all the kites of hell And o'er the bastion'd towers and outer domes Ten-circled, all the fiend-begotten, all The hellish furies that had wings to waft Aloft, the banner-cry of Hell peal'd forth Ramping from out their rugged throats as pipes 600 War-deep made mocking : oh ! who knocked that — At the great gates like that ] nor only knocked But with one fulminating thunderbolt Burst them right in ; Hell at the summons thought To open had he time, but that one huge Twelve-bolted thunder through the panell'd rock Went and transfixed Death, the others fled After their flying hosts, Th' Undying Worm, Beelzebub, and Night, Chaos as well As e'er he could and all the Dira? fled 610 Dragging the boasted Lucifer, for then That Boaster boasted, " Leave me! I alone

440 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH By Death and Sin will meet Him." Out the smoke Unrepresentable pour'd curling, caked ; So in the gulf Tonquin the touch'd typhoon Edg'd coppery and black itself lets loose Raging, redoubling : that aside with blast Of breath or backward driven I saw, Great God ! The prison-house of darkness then first time Since it was scoop'd lit up ; within those gates 620 Sin secretly with an untiring mind Had hollow'd out and so made ample room For every soul that Adam own'd for sire, And there was Sin still busy, busied so The forcing of the gates even that had not Disturb 'd her in her work, but in the heart — Which border 'd on the hinges, with edg'd tools All her hard hands kept plying : clapp'd above Their heads their arms, ineffable their looks, All the Redeem'd came forth, since they were dead 630 To earth the time with them as spirits passed And yet it seem'd too long, u To God!" they cried " Salvation ; to our Lord, Almighty ! who With Thee and with the Holy Ghost liveth And reigneth evermore one God, One God ! W^orld without end;" thus they, all nations, kins, Peoples and tongues, and all the angels and

IN HELL. 441 The elders and the cherubim fell down Upon their faces worshipping and saying, " Amen ! blessing and glory, wisdom and 640 Thanksgiving, honour, might and power to God For evermore, amen : " these all were tried In tribulation, now no more shall they Hunger nor thirst for Christ the Lamb shall lead Them unto living fountains dried their tears : And then they cried, " Almighty God we give Thee thanks for thou Thy mighty power hast ta'en, Thy wrath is come and Thou shalt punish Death, And them destroy who all the earth destroyed:" Then was a temple open'd with the ark 650 Of Testament and so therein they all Crown'd victors went ; Death unto Sin cried out And listening unto that the whole she saw Abandoning her art, " Now grave me, grave, Grave me ! " to Death shriek'd she, Death black'ning more Disrellish'd e'en the thought : O how he made As if he would depart ! even as if He would be uncreated, torture fixed His occulars, all his in-being writhed, But death was deathless made ; a wounding storm 660 Drove right upon them, all the angels stood Afar with the redeem'd whilst Vengeance made

442 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH His victims, down swoop'd he and every sting Of Death tore mercilessly out, O what Soul-stinging stings were they ! an adder bites, Ten adders with a common-tooth scarce gained Attention from the wretched who one sting Of all those numbers felt ; inexorable Down-trampling Sin likewise the two he chained Unto that chafing chariot wheels, o'er both 670 Driving matchless in arms ; Death all his jaws Expanding, they were crush'd and every fang To powder instant ground : then hell itself Seem'd crumbling into nothing but God held The fiat foundation sinking Him to see Upholden all the while ; cried then aloud The tongueless Echoes that the damn'd had made Tongueless ; O Omnipotent ! what were all Earth's conquerors ? this with destruction armed Invincible drove on over the heaps 680 Of heapy ruin, o'er the glassy gulfs More than Serbonian, wildernesses waste With wasted waste, and over peaked mounts, Vanishing valleys into vacancy Abandon'd ; and was Vacancy also A spirit] it ten centred cressets seemed Glowing upon Him and it fled — behind

IN HELL. 443 A deader channel ; then the sable air Grew sable and the clouds, fell Lucifer Was turn'd, no more they dragg'd him but he now 690 Dragg'd them and at his side the one described That is descriptionless : the yet untouched Stores of asphaltum they abandon'd to The fires most inextinguishable, out — Out they all belch'd at once, well then it was That none had follow'd God — no one beside The gapped gates had enter'd though a space Was left as long infinite longer than The fifteen hundred miled wall they built To keep the Tartar out and vainly built 700 As these : thus foremost he the Origin Of evil moral, physical, though some As if for God excusing say the last No evil is, Religion at the root Blindly attacking, — he now taking heart Calling his seraphim — rueful they heard, As wand'ring spirits heard the sorceress Calling them back into their putrid corse For a confinement, but none disobeyed Their Absolute and compassing about 710 Thron'd him in dark magnificence of mail : The rest too were uprisen Night as black

444 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Or blacker than was Hell, Th' Undying Worm, Even Beelzebub and Chaos rose With all their armies in their surest clad With all their arms invented since they came Hither, and arms they were ! a whity horse His, with a crown of iron upon his head, Within his hands a bow that would have brought Vesta from her orb'd place Haraphon : in 720 His hands a spherul'd sword Zabrash : Togarm Pois'd welded thunders that were doubtless forged Not in the heavens, intending all to launch ; And thus the others : millions follow 'd close, Horses with countenances fierce of men But hair like women's, lion-like their teeth, Their heads like lions' crown'd ; breastplates they wore Of fire, jacinth and brimstone ; one a great Red dragon with seven heads, ten horns, and crowned, And wrathful floods he cast ; another was 730 Crown'd like the last, and horned like unto A pard and raging bear, his mouth was like A lion's ; then a third two-horned spake As dragon's spake, and fire brought down pouring The utmost indignation ; three there were Like frogs gigantic most unclean which met At Armageddon ; one a scarlet beast

IN HELL. 445 Filled with names of blasphemy rode high As if to slay Jehovah glorying Much, but not long for He amongst them sent 740 Deaths, mournings, famines, raining rabid plagues In oceans full ; O the red agonies That burn'd them up ! O the bewilder'd eyes ! The ululation of eternal woe On all sides round ! Hell's lifted arm as soon He lift 'twas stiffen'd ; Terror died outright For double terror by the chance of one Flash from His eyeballs so he instant fell And fell regretted as a spirit that Had been indulgent, nor unstained with blood 750 He also felt the wheels or if not felt His carcase lay beneath them ; rivers rose, Volcanoes volumes pour'd, and all the winds Like the Levantine, Greccan, Ponent met Together ; lightnings leap'd for ever but None touch'd Almighty God ; then adamant No more was adamant, and fire no more Fire but a most delicious sense of cold Compar'd to what they now too late found out In hecatombs undone or flying like 7(U) Chaff or like fleetest ghosts before a storm : So when a continent entire subsides

446 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Interminable forests are overwhelmed The trees stripp'd present bare and torn up by The roots ; or when the summer-grass they fire The blacken'd trunks remain : God conquer'd all As if before none conquer'd, Pity fled Rankling, Confusion and Avengement lay Both satiated : keep thy count'nance hid, Thine ears close stopp'd O sinner ! whilst I draw 770 For the most sacred Empress : Second Death Towers like great ocean cliffs, rapacious, grim, Striding colossal, as if then Death were Dead born but animated by the shock Receiv'd ; whirl winding all that saw him fled — Many who saw to idiotcy were turned, Him ! the wide-stretching, the wide-reaching, the Wide-waxing one replete with horror and With — oh ! no word 's for that ; and he interred Within him millions at a time nor yet 780 Was freighted ; Death that had been and that Sin Both were engulf 'd and otherwise all hell Was more than dizzen'd by the damned daze His doing ; with no helping wings nor feet But something that were more, unrein'd, uncurbed He ran or reeling roll'd at every step Exploding like three fiery mountains, or

IN HELL. 447 A comet when the lapidar is made Ten times too hot to bear it, flying out Innumerable splinters all through space 790 As he through all that realm the splinters souls, O what a dread laboratory they Like clay had pass'd ! and now like flinted glass Imperishable made bore every one His uncial character ; O Wrath ! 't was thou That with a legal torture set that stamp Upon them drawing out the heart and that Thy signet stamping ; Woe the self-destroyed The self-destroyed angels ! search the world Through for this likeness, cleave the centre all 800 Were vain, yet I delay o'erstepping all The bounds of language that my song divine Lose nothing of the knowledge God hath shown Unto his servant : O now call to mind Their counsel 'gainst His Majesty, their act Most diabolical on man, their whole Performance since that memorable day They rose rebelling ; who shall mete the half What they deserve, the coiners who the mint Of God broke open or would break and passed 810 Their counterfeits for God's amongst themselves Conceitors ! first and next on Adam-kind,

448 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH And worlds there were beside but they refused ; O the Deniers ! what have they denied 1 The Second Death asks not, nor God but prove Scatt'ring before them to the starless site Of Lucifer's term'd throne ; he like a wind North-eastern by a more than furious wind From the south-west oppos'd upon the heels Of Hell retreated thither ; thrice he lift 820 And thrice he also sank in his attempt To turn him ; dismal words were in his mouth Of daunt defiance and vibrations ran Up from the deepest roots unto the tip Of his most brassy tongue but no one heard If anything were said ; but parley none The other tolerated, what was hid He then uncover'd in a bloody heap Great ogre heads as if they in a lair Were all for him reserv'd or he for them 830 Scarcely a meal, all these set up a roar When him they saw as satisfied what They meant, he back'd unto his soul of soul Shaken, and then had infamy been there ! But Infamy or what misjudging men Call Infamy to Lucifer was not, He shook, he shudder'd, but he shook at what

IX HELL. 449 And shudder'd ? so had God, and if he fled The holy hosts of heaven — although far off, Continually thought from that to fly 840 And surely had had God not been between, Yea all the hosts with the archangels armed — The seven archangels armed at their head ; Upon the Outcast He hot ashes heaped And drove the seraphim enthroning down Discomfited and fallen and — if not dead, Blasted and dying. Thus alone fought God That battle, blazing as a comet down Upon them, or ten thousand comets, all Together flying, fainting, failing, all 850 But one — but One before Him ; he the great Displayer still display'd, his sluices he Threw open raining all that he could rain Unwearied : shall he that diced with God For Empire fly ! though disenthron'd and all The living wheels of his war-chariot broke To shivers, never, never ! what although His armies are undone they were outdone Outside the walls of heaven nor then fled he, Again they fail'd him he preferred Death 860 Unto Dishonour, now — ah ! now that Death The Second, and he thought how excellent G G

450 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH To look at were that shape that once was held So passing shocking, one that call'd herself His dira ; dira ! now for paramour Welcom'd were she ; this the Rewarder was Of his misdeeds, not The Undying Worm Which stunk within his nostrils as a worm : These were the Anarch's thoughts as he retired Like one close baited where his tyrant power 870 Pageanted, Night receiv'd him and had fain Put to his palace-portals when, behold ! A sharper point than e'er before she felt Pierc'd her unto the heart and down she fell Blocking them up; nor God his chariot stopped, As erst the outside gates with one was forced In, now against the towers and awful domes Thunders He thunder'd thousands ; Hell then heard, Space in the sepulchre though she was dead She must have heard for something in The Deep 880 Outside the heavens and also quite outside Hell it was heard to rattle back as if All her blank bones she rattled for the want Of any other voice, and oh ! that voice It upward went, it downward went, it went Out on all sides, and in with liberty To go beyond itself; beyond itself

IN HELL. 451 It went : O Man of Arms ! 0 God in arms Fallen upon Thine enemy ! O Thou Of Bozra ! whom if yet the German sung — 890 Klopstock, art yet unsung — though strain devout Was his ; O Liberator ! O Thou great Arbitrator ! Accomplisher ! as ware As potter's ware is dash'd to pieces so These all were dash'd to pieces ; down they fell Down to the last foundation with a crash That deafen'd all the universe and all The Fallen deafen'd so thereafter they Heard never any more, even the Trump Of Resurrection fail'd, and now were God's 900 Own Throne (which is impossible,) to fall And with it all creation they would hear Nothing their ears so dunch, what wonder then That mine % but thou O Muse hast more than made Amends, nor with that Phrygian king who had Egregious ears and whatsoe'er he touched Turn'd into gold, no not with him for all That would 1 now exchange ; Pactolus rolls Over the shining sand and that alone Sustains his memory whilst mine shall last 910 When Pactolus no more ; I hear even Better than he and no Silenus brought g g 2

452 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH In welcome to my fire but — O what grace ! Thee, goddess thee ! who the Thrymbrsean god In music far excellest. Thus God waged His warfare that dread day absolving Fear Of all offences, cumbering the wide Hell with no thing but ruin, this the last The greatest by such forceful arguments 920 As none thought any had : O then that crew — That wretched crew so long so self-deceived Straight-bolted-up their hair all in excess Of frenzy horrible, the mighty dead Yet dead not, unconsumeable, saw God Ent'ring at will and violating all The scragg'd saturnine shrines, o'erturning all Unto the last in which upon his throne His Hater seated held : then Second Death No more thought of him or would fain no more 930 Think of him for a prey lest he should make Him in despite all his unmeasur'd heads And all his others as unmeasur'd and Worse than those heads his prey : O spectacle Sublime ! that great Arch-gerent residence Keeping like God ; thunders to him no more Nor lightnings were, the last — last priceless one

IN HELL. 453 Delib'rately he spent before he put Within his fortress foot ; O how he then Regretted Chaos lost the whole now turned 940 With such effect right round, aye those he made In all his lustihood as soon he fell The moment that he fell ere he one hair'sBreadth in his stature fell whilst yet he was That name that stood for Lucifer, or yet If not scarce Lucifer ; O if he those Had brought full-handed at the first against Jehovah he were then he thought upon Jehovah's not that scorn'd that sinking throne, There was he left deserted, yet when he 950 Look'd on The Face of God he blew a breath Most bilious : blow Libecchio in the teeth, Spit at the sun ; for then I saw a Groan In mourning infinite, an awful Groan, Blindness made up unto her as if he Would seize all her red-bloodshot bleeding but Torch'd tearless eyes ; she — terror-proof to all She saw ere she saw God, Avhen God she heard Rattling, when God she saw no more endured But moaning offer'd Lucifer, hoarseful 960 With rage he turn'd suppressing, ne'ertheless Into his heart she crept through all his wounds, 

454 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Into the secret heart sorely aggrieved : " And now relate nor droop, the iron strings Strike thou," Calliope thus calls, " the iron And all the iron strings ; strike them at once And mighty strike them now, or all the reeds In all the rivers for another name Shall change the old, some vain reviewer near Eelating," O forbid, O Muse ! forbid 970 Me Zoilus : strike thou ! Ah ! unto what Had Lucifer aspir'd'? Jehovah paused Abstaining as surpris'd, admiring or Wond'ring that any so collected could As he receive Him ; all the hoary white And blacken'd arlablasters that He grasped Within the high right-hand, reverberate Thunder, and lightning lanc'd, shafts, steels and darts, Arrows and spears, bark'd bolts and all that looked Like scoring scourges, all God dropp'd and all 980 God took unto Him that beside were arms Offensive all thrown down and all God wore (So Muse we thought,) helm plum'd, and breastplate and O that magnific shield that by His side Blaz'd like three blazing suns all disappeared And God before the Great Arch-anarch stood In the uncover'd Person ; Evil saw

IN HELL. 455 Its evil in astonishment that left All other at a distance, turn'd against That Lucifer her woe-gone eyes, her nails, 990 Her teeth canine, whilst that afflicted sprite That burrow'd in his heart ten thousand stumps Uplifting in her horror rent it to As many pieces ; he in silence fell His eyes like burning coals and all his limbs Eternally unhing'd : O ! who that Face Could see and live'? transcendent majesty And might so magnified as none may dare Depict, and lumination none could stand : The roaring of the Hon and the voice 1000 Of the fierce lion, and the lion's jaws Were broken His the strength, brought then to light The shadow e'en of Death so that he seemed Vile in the sight, all other might put out By this : O King of Terrors ! where was then Thine or that monarch's confidence ? as beasts Were ye accounted, hunger-bitten all Your boasted Blasphemies, Destruction at The side with the sure besom ; that used he Through Pandemonium before him chased 1010 The wicked, all the blowing blasts outsped ; Millions of millions, all the shudd'ring sprites,

4:56 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH The sinners, all the satirists of God God help'd and put before him, Chaos last Made Chaos on them heap'd, hell gorging full And overfull with ruin, all the gloom Of hell condens'd together, all the fires Condensing drove upon them in unknown Unqualified quantity ; for nought They thought to fly they more than fled they ne'er 1020 Had fled so fleet had God not added to All their own proper wings ten others each One fleeter than the whole, nor rank was kept, Nor one of them fell out, none interposed, None neighbour'd there was something burning aft Burning so close behind yea closer than A ploughshare, hell a hillock overturned Unto the base ; thus altogether put The hold of Lucifer the king, and all The ponderosities of hell beside, 1030 Hell — Wrath too vomited their entrails out Upon them and supreme Revenge as well With unrelenting fury set upon Their back deep fleshing all her iron claws, He smote them straight beyond unto a Pit Without a bottom ; Blank look'd blank when o'er The edging edge she look'd her senses gone

IN HELL. 457 Eddying, and the foremost angels who Kenn'd that stopp'd short arresting by that stop Necessity herself, a thund'rous sound 1040 Was hers unknowing what compell'd, and first To her amaze compell'd, but who the will Or what the might of the potential God Shall balance ] to that fathomless by word Air-emptied infinity, O ! no Something beyond beyond wherein if God Had ever been He was not, and would ne'er Be evermore, unto the core of all The nethermost abysses, lorn of light, Filled with quenchless fire to Destiny 1050 Imperative she points, a tragic sound One long appealing groan, then dark and deep All the rebellious went instant down, Perdition, Panic, Pain, Plague, Pestilence Worse looking than worst Famine, Loathesomeness That made mute Misery and freckled Vice Look healthful, Putrefaction, Darkness set On fire of Hell phosphoric, Hell also, Typhurgo with a more than hellish shape Gore-distillating — scowling, Hurricane lOb'O Gone to the climax, Enmity its own Brain gnawing, grissly baleful Battle, Fear,

458 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Folly, Fury, Alarm, Hate, Hopelessness, Madness that would have shriek'd, Woe — in the wake Wonder, Thunder, Dismay, Damnation, Blast, Blasphemy, Error, Undelight, Tumult — Cower'd, Crime, Guilt, Pride down they went, their forms Unform'd for ever, and with all his crew Great God's Adversary, Attainter, and Derider yet not ended, in his hands 1070 His battle-axe, remorseless, in distinct Defiance, dark, stonily fix'd his eyes If woe-struck, he the last, the Last, and those God found not written in the Book of Life, The fearful, and the unbelieving, the Abominable, murderers, and the Whoremongers, sorcerers, idolaters And liars, The Undying Worm and all The misbegotten had same time their part In that great final gulfing in the Lake 1080 Of brimstone-fire : then God a wondrous seal — Originally made for matter when Matter was first created and for mind When mind, this seal God took and with twelve times Twelve thousand thunders — all that were unused, Drove it inviolable o'er their heads Fixation sure attesting.

IN HELL. 459 Thus these wars Were finish'd : God his cerule chariot turned Triumphant back, diffus'd celestial day — 1090 Which brush'd to brightest all the golden zones, And love omnific ; all the glorious gates Of hallow'd heaven thrown open to receive The King, The Conqueror, The First Begot And Prince of all the powers in earth and heaven, With acclamation all His hasting hosts Shouting " Ye worlds! ye worlds join, join with us! Glory, praise, power, dominion unto Him ; Salvation now is come, O heavens rejoice Thou first," they ent'ring sung " Captivity 1100 Is captive ; O thou earth fear God and give To Him the glory ; God the King of saints ! Who shall not fear and glorify Thy Name ] Thy judgments now are manifest ; rejoice Prophets and ye apostles :" thus they sung Through all the six bless'd heavens that yet the youth Untainted kept, " O alleluia, God Omnipotent reigneth and he shall reign Ever and ever." Now whilst all these passed 1110 As reckon'd by mankind long centuries Appear'd to lag and loiter, to the Jews

460 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Calamitous exceeding since the Lord His life laid down — for power had He to lay And power to take it up as at the end Of three short days the blessed Saviour did : Dating from that their miserable tale Through civil strife and massacre to war Upon them by the eagles Titus loosed From Tibur, desolation as the world 1120 Ne'er saw before nor since was Salem's, all Her children sold, such as surviv'd dispersed A bye-word to the nations : then was Rome Mistress to Gaul — where they Adgistis and Euris ador'd, unto the farther isles Where bearded Druids mystic empire held And under old gnarl'd oaks their system taught To the initiate ; or from the Seven Hills passing eastward to the Indus she Claim'd all the swamps of Babylon, the pools 1130 And solitary sites that Nineve Still owned with the lynx to Susa where The truthful prophet lies foretold the whole : Thus Rome that in her catalogue great names Of ancient empire for her property Stood, — 'yond administration, so rul'd she Calling herself " Eternal : " so they thought

THE CRUCIFIXION

IN HELL. 461 Their kingdom the fond Pharoas, all their dead Embalming : where is Rome ? in vain we look, Foxes have gleer'd from out the casements wide 1140 Of the palatinate, wolves prowl'd the courts Or in them litter'd, through the circus dogs The Campus Martius and suburra packed Hunted as wild, and where Maecenas strolled — Augustus ; prostrate shafts the portico The capitol encumber 'd, fallen roofs Strewn all the way ; o'er the Tarpeian tower The vultures and within the sanctuaries Hatching polluted ; marble ruins tilled The senatorium, and foetid pools 1150 The fair Campagna — all the villas fallen : And where the gods 1 from all the kingdoms round That Roma peel'd, of Migdol the Sabaean Bel boweth down, Nebo is stoop'd together ; Ophion and Eurynome and Ops, Zeus by the Pelasgian poets feigned, And others older ere the Pleiades quired Or Hebon burning for Irene froze Diceos forlorn, where they Ephaistos taught ? The cave — the country Egyaleus swayed 1 L60 Remain, and where Minerva rul'd a town Riseth but not the Parthenon ; now none

462 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH To Eleusina seek, hierophants None there the myst'ries wait nor Ceres' — who Kindling a torch from iEtna through the world For her lost daughter roam'd : the oracles Are dumb, a mightier than Alcides hath The Delphian tripod seiz'd : no temple now Elide adorns — where Jupiter's once stood Wave the rank reeds, no statuary carves 1170 His images Another in that place Is found nor there alone, where'er the sun Shines unto Jesus orisons arise And vespers with the moon in languages Unknown to the Phoenician and as old — Some as the Attic sweet where Owhyee The halcyon-ocean studs : and Grsecia's gods All, all are gone ! no more th' Olympians now Disguis'd on love or lust or war the earth Wander; upon Mount Latmus Luna see 1180 But no Diana to her shepherd boy Steals secret on the beam ; the Paphian bower Runs wild none off'ring doves unto the dame The last of all deserted by her crowd Of lovers ; Pallas no Theoricons Honour ; (Eneides none ; Cecropides Leontides, Antiochides nor those

IN HELL. 463 Grave Panathees are kept ; no archon-king Votes now the olive or the laurel crown ; Erigone no orgies hath observed 1190 The vot'ries jolly drunk, or at the fetes Scierian ; Hecate under the lote tree None : where Zamolxis, Mithra, Karedwen The Arkite goddess, Cambdos, Chronos, where Him that they serv'd at Denderah, O where \ The Echo answers " Where1?" the penates gone Even the noble from the plough'd up hearths Of the patricians ; stern Fabricius, Curius or Scipio none claim for kin ; Julius is but a name, his line extinct 1200 Like theirs : no lemurs where th' unburied lie Proscrib'd now flit : Erynnys there are none, No Atropos with shears, no altars smoke Augurs at hand, libations none are poured Nor victims bled in sacrifice to gods Long since prov'd false ; even the Nilus herd By the triumvir brought, Sate, Isis, Myrionymnia, Phthah and numbers more — Configurate dualities abstract, And quantities unknown but to the priest L210 Well-learn'd from Asmodeans, are depart, Their shrines oerturn'd, their imag'd chambers used

464 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH E'en for the lime kilns. — For God's anger was Arous'd against them to destroy all, all ; Howl'd those who serv'd for the destruction come, Hearts melted, fear and sorrow, pangs and pains As when a woman travaileth upon Them came : now doleful creatures occupy Their houses, owls and dragons use them all : This God hath wrought the lustrals pouring out 1220 Cleansing where Roma rul'd. The Crescent pales O'er the Osmanlis ling'ring on permiss The Antichrist in Mahomet undone : Eternal horror his and silence like The dead, no conclamation rais'd no friend Attends his sordid couch, so let him die — So let him perish he that wasted earth, Warring against the witnesses : O all Ye birds that fly gather yourselves together 1230 That ye his flesh may eat. Thus is the Faith Gone forth through Negroland, Niger hath heard Along the banks so that the idols e'en Of Barbary nod and the diviners there Diviner light espy than Thales or Zeno discuss'd : these are the heathen by

IN HELL. 465 The haughty Rabbins call'd — who talmuds forged And multiplied cabbala scarce worth The ethical philosophies of Stoa, 1240 Now valueless the whole since Light and Life Are by the Word of God unto us come ; Therein we find " Republic," so to speak, Than Plato's happier, high and low alike, Learn'd and unlearn'd, the monarch and his slave Before Jehovah who hath equall'd all ; Nor that " Utopia" fram'd so well adroit In Atalantis by ingenious mind, Compare with the inheritance of saints ; Nor those the Gnostic, nor the paradise 1250 "With fleshy houri fill'd. Those earthquake torn In early ages from the olden world, From the rude Esquimaux's and those Red tribes Once masters unto Mexico, thence to Magellan's Straits, by lying spirits all Reduc'd, what viols theirs ! The far Chinese From wide Birman unto Thibet, and thence The soft Mantchou's, with all the Islanders From Horn to Comorin and Cape of Hope Idols ador'd and terrible their plagues. 1260 But one remains, an empire vast — as yet O Muse ! unsung, where Brahma and Veeshnu, H H

466 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Soeva, Lutzmee, with heads, breasts, arms and legs Strange multiplied the simple ones deceived ; She too whose gates long ages since were borne As trophies to Ghuznee, her mansion razed By the fierce conq'ror ; from his tomb renowned Despoil'd those portals they return but who Receives % Somnauth's no more, her priests are dead, Her name well-nigh forgotten; Juggernauth 1270 Greatest of all detestable what time His car in festival, but he is fled Who him informed, the Peninsula Is freed from his cognominates as well, What o'er the universal earth remains Of idol gods is but the senseless form And blank mortalities and skeleton things. Thou too, O Ephesus ! so glorious once, So planted thou and Smyrna, Pergamos And Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelph 1280 And Laodicea, ye churches Seven How were your candlesticks remov'd ! so long As ye the word of patience and first love To Christ observ'd and kept what light was yours ! And now with such apostates from them both These periods through, your judgments ! Christendom Behold their ruins.

IN HELL. 467 Now that other theme The last, the dearest ; from decaying shades The day-spring dawns millenial and our Star 1290 Serenely rising peace and plenty brings : The arbitress of times and seasons, sure In God's eternal providence, enthroned Sits England the supreme, magnific, lone : Queen of the West her arts her arms prevail, Her governmental unities are fixed From Bheerings to The States — her daughters these If rustic comely ; thence Columbia through The lengthning whole who asketh or desires What doest thou'? not one but all observe 1300 And honour if obey not Albion — Queen : Queen of the East she rules, from all the mouths Of Gunga gathering her merchant fleets — Richer than those in Ezion-geber built Trading to Ophir, to her palac'd heart Calcutta ; by her will alone the Lords Of Ava, Assam hold, Caubul, Nepaul ; Wild though he be that Issachar he rounds His neck and loves Britannia's queenly hand, Whilst Ali craving to her offers Suez 1310 For but a smile ; impotent Turkey hands Jerusalem's keys protesting that the time h h 2

468 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Should come when Christians on Islam wait For pity's sake in the expiring need, But as she sinks " O England ! who but thee Can any trust?" cries she, " my testament O thou magnanimous ! be thine alone : " Now the celestial cities open stand Wide by invictrix Britain's armies thrown, Great tribute offer'd; he who claims the sun 1320 His brother to the deaf Tartarian gods Cried to save him, One above them rules Who nerv'd our arm and victory ordained. Queen of the North, the South, th' admiring world For wisdom to her cometh and for grace, And finds beatitude within her arms ; Her trophies fill the world, her martial airs Follow the hours through the engirdled earth Continual so that no sun rise hath she, No setting: Spine of government and Axe 1330 Of state she all upholdeth : cease O earth ! Fear for the future, Fortune 's Albion's own Fate, she Napoleon fell'd, greater than he A son she bore nor more shall wanting lack Like Wellington through ages, mighty ones Shall bear her banner, arrogance shall cease The haughty in her presence bondmen they

IN HELL. 469 Bondwomen all their princesses, the staff Of all the satraps broken, the nabobs [1340 Hurl'd from their thrones and all their pomp brought low Which shook the nations and destroy 'd mankind. Thus in her house for ever she shall dwell Filling the world with cities, thousands now She buildeth, branching like our native oak Throng'd with green leaves and fruit and meat for all ; Shining abroad, she gath'reth corn; olives And grapes in all her borders they abound. Crown'd Queen ! O let the loving Muses hail Victoria! thy great name : Urania! stars Worn in thy diadem as bright adorn 1350 Augusta's ! thou Calliope who — when The lightnings sing'd my auburn locks, to me Long life and honour promis'd if I placed Her name above the sacrilegious reach Of Time, 'tis done ! now goddess at her feet Write thou in joy and gladness, all her plebs Killing fat beeves and sheep and eating flesh And drinking wine, and of her revenues Gold — silver reckon'd stones, jewels and horse And chariots numberless, of finest flour, 1360 Harts, fowls her servants eating, every liege Under his vine and fig tree ; princes wait

470 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Crowding around her, kings unto them sought For favour off'ring gifts of costly gerns, Collars of finest gold with cunninge wrought Invaluable ; all her towns are like Great palaces, and nothing wants where'er She turns the ready eye ; no officers Our Empress needs too happy they who run. Her fame in all the nations, wise and just 1370 In government with fortitude of soul, Firmness and temperance, severely great In manner, lov'd her country, all the steps Of her resort with embassies are thick From the white-headed Sclave unto the Moor Turban'd : thus God hath her establish'd and Delighting in her for the throne rais'd up Her heritors ; her halls the voices ring Of the young Caesar and the royal seed Unto her and her princely Consort given, 1380 These ne'er shall fail a trusty buckler theirs Stronger than Vulcan for iEneas forged, Unto them a palladium none can steal, Integrity of heart, uprightness in Their way, so these their children she shall see Rejoicing as their mother, all the Land Also with her rejoicing. Muse divine !

IN HELL. 471 No task I set, long years do thou attend That footstool, on thy tablets close inscribed Her acts, her deeds, in war, in peace no room 1390 Leaving innumerable they : write thou For far posterities with diamond point Recording first — O let me first in hand Upon thy book fondly her name inscribe, " Victoria reigns!" Victoria reigns, now write, Thereafter, that her hill is as the hill Of Bashan, that her enemies on the head Were wounded and the tongues of dogs lick'd up Their blood ; and grace upon thy pages pour — Her garments smell of cassia and myrrh, 1400 Her clothing of wrought gold and needlework Most excellent, and many her desired For her rare beauty : and O thou before Invok'd, Religion ! thou our Diva bless Perpetual at her side ; short time devout Thy neophyte yet claims but sound of War No more our care now let thy sacred voice In consummation come : Vengeance and ye Whom once I calFd infernals ! all your prints Made on the airs of heaven, the brine of sea, 1410 Nearly effac'd although they be I charge Come hither hither all the traces left

472 THE WARS OF JEHOVAH Of the fallen angels, Nephilim, or men, Shadows surviving though to tatters torn In God's great indignation : — with thine arm Religion ! from the face of earth do thou Sweep them for ever ; let the limbs of Death Strewn o'er the land the waves when Christ he fled Affright, upon the winds tramundane speed Calcin'd to ashes ; Night in vain her shade 1420 We call, invisible — if it exist; And The Undying Worm with all his breed Seal'd up with Hell remain ever and aye Wither'd to nothing : now th' historian bless Hope ! Faith ! and thou before — before them both Thy sisters, Charity ! these dreadful wars Inditing — what to them the woes of Troy % Much failure needs must be, no carol mine (The suns fell down the while,) O but for Thou Who Throneth in the Heaven of heaven, Lord God! Almighty! Thou! Thy celebrator were [1430 Annihilated : if my sounding lyre Over the dawning worlds were heard such time As the Arch-gerent Lucifer in pride Levied against Thy Majesty with loathe Recording his depravities — O Thou ! Who judgeth hearts and trieth all the reins

IN HELL. 473 Of men, in mourning, of the soul before Thy Throne Thy lyrist stood : Supreme art Thou Long while I waited for the Lord, behold ! 1440 The terrible reversal, Death and Hell Shut up : mourning for gladness chang'd the times Of the refreshing from Thy Throne are come, After the rain it shineth and the earth Her youth renewing now let grateful song Mount up to heaven and every kindred, tongue And people choral join: glorious day Of resurrection for a buried world ! The sound of wings of cherubim are heard The glorious companies aforetime seen 1450 In Mahanaim ! God's ladder is replaced Reaching to heaven. O Thou in Glory crowned ! Now let Thy servant Lord ! in peace depart, I fall before Thee O Thou King of saints ! Adoring : Thou who saidst to Gabriel from The banks of Ulai, " Make him understand," Deign to receive my harp ; its strings attuned Fit for the song of Moses and the Lamb 0 let it be 'till with a spirit's hand 1 strike in heaven, Jehovah crown'd The King 1460 Of kings for ever and The Lord of lords, FINIS.

SOME OF THE IMAGES, WITH THE PROPER NAMES IN THIS EPIC POEM. Mgeria, 5 iEolian, 6 jEschylus, 40 jEtolian, 69, 271 JEthiop, 79 ^Eolus, 84 ^Etnean, 140 iEgean, 163 Mneas, 188, 470 ^Esculapian, 274 JEelcus, 289 Mgle, 294 ^Egyptian, 295 jEgyptia, 336 jEschyle, 380 ^Etna, 462 Actaeon, 49 Acrizius, 322 Actea, 322 Abel, 338 Adamic, 342 Acheron, 80, 345 Adsch, 346 Achad, 367 Abram, 368 Abyssinia, 107 Aaron, 369 Abimeleck, 372 Abdon, 372 Adorations, 323 Adsherac, 396 Acostras, 255 Achiles, 258 Absyrtus, 261 Accandrar, 271 Acheron, 288 Adam, 48, 300 Adamites, 300 Adonis, 312 Adonai, 313 Achaia, 317 Achaian, 70 Acarynthimos, 122 Adrastus, 143 Admetus, 162 Abysm, 170, 244 Abhorrence, 176 Acer, 191 Ades, 6 Achilles, 7 Adramelec, 14 Adrian, Mole of, 16 Acanthian, ] 6 Abaddona, 37 Adorants, 56 Agra, 8 Aglope, 49 Ajax, 75 Ahithopel, 89 Agamemnon, 117 Air, 117 Ail, eternal, 157 Agafrimenos, 271 Agiphine, 271 Aganippe, 304 Agave, 318 Aglaia, 322 Agag, 373 Ahaz, 374, 377 Ahaziah, 374 Ahijah, 377 Ahriman, 378 Ahasuerus, 381 Affrac, 396 Aceldama, 433 Adgistis, 460 Alia, 322 Alcumena, 322 Aladdin, 332 Alexander, 113, 376 Alba-longa, 381 Alessine, 421 Alarm, 458 Albion, 162, 467 Ali, 467 Alp, 272 Alaric, 275 Alcinous, 132 Alban, 156 Alyattes, 169 Allia, river, 206 Albericus, 16 Alcides, 46, 191, 263 Alecto, 58 Almonides, 191 Amanane, 16 Amycus, 50 Ammon, 85, 373, 379 Amy clean, 98 Amphiaraiis, 115 Amazonians, 125 American, 128 Amphon, 192 Amphictions, 234 Amphitrite, 303 Amalthean, 304 Amran, 311 Amphinome, 317 Amatheia, 317 Ampithoe, 317 Amalec, 370 Anion, 37.") Amos, .">77

476 INDEX OF PROPER NAMES. Amenophis, 381 Amana, 408 Amphitryon, son of, 433 Amaziah, 374 Antiope, 319 Antigone, 337 Ananim, 367 Anubis, 368 Antiochus, 376 Antiochides, 462 Antichrist, The, 464 Antinous, 251 Antwerp, 252 Antilles, 100 Antrashing, 190 Andromeda, 241 Andes, 10 Antaeus, 43 Ancaeus, 66 Antisan, 69 Aphrodite, 321 Apseudes, 317 Apollyon, 2, 14, &c. Apollo, 18, 121 Apennines, 135 Aphorotine, 152 Aphrasac, 225, 342 Apelles, 322 Apollodorus, 385 Apthos, 421 Arcturus, 246 Argos, 322 Arabic, 333 Aristarchus, 342 Ararat, 363 Arach, 367 Arphaxad, 368 Arad, 371 Arnon, 371 Ar, 371 Aristobulus, 376 Armenia, 377 Arbaces, 379 Aristophanes, 380 Aristotle, 383 Aristippus, 383 Arctic, 389 Armageddon, 444 Arkite goddess, 463 Archimedes, 250 Arges, 254 Argestes, 266 Arethuse, 304 Arcadians, 312 Archimedians, 80 Armada, 91 Argus, 136 Areon, 152 Archer, The, 164 Argive, 188 Araxes, 206 Aricon, 219 Arioch, 37 Assyrian, 15, 324 Asia, 15 Asmodai, 37 Aspathyn, 151 Aspramont, 156 Astonishings, 184 Astrachan, 185 Ashdod, 290 Askalon, 290 Astyoche, 313 Astraeus, 330 Asrac, 344 Assur, 367 Ascenaz, 367 Ashtaroth, 372 Asa, 374 Asaph, 377 Ashima, 378 Ashoron, 421 Asmodeans, 463 Assam, 467 Aquilon, 389 Athos, 368 Attic, 462 Atropos, 463 Athens, 112, 261, 382 Atlantic, 33, 262 Atrine, 278 Atlas, 134, 290 Atalanta, 313 Athos, 135 Athcoron, 190 Atoncryntal, 223, 342 Atys, 27 Attica, 36 Athamas, 49 Ate, 59 Auster, 35 Aulis, 70 Austrian, 114 Australasia, 134 Aurora, 136, 296 Augusta, 163, 297 Autolycus, 192 Autopsia, 380 Augustus, 461 Ava, 375, 381, 467 Avernian, 76, 295 Avalon, 161 Awatska, 232 Azazeel, 116 Azariah, 377 Azrael, 6 B Baal, 15, 372, &c. Babylonia, 17 Basan, 48, 471 Balearic, 72 Bacchantic, 75 Barmecide, 100 Battle, 117, 457 Baldwin, 156 Balance, The, 164 Baltic, 231 Bactriana, 248 Babylon, 275 Barachos, 278 Bacchic tigers, 295 Baruk, 366 Babel, 367, 375 Banoth, 371 Baal-peor, 371 Baal-gad, 372 Balaam, 372 Baasha, 374 Barbary, 382 Beethoven, 189 Beer, 371 Bezek, 372 Bethlehem- Jud ah, 372 Bethel, 374 Benjamin, 376 Belus, 378 Belshazzar, 379 Bereashith, Book, 384 Bether, Mountains of, 409 Bethsaida, 410 Bel, 25, 461 Bellona, 73 Belial, 297 Bellerophon, 302 Beelzebub, 348, 410 Berenice, 351 Bithynian, 251 Birman, 465 Biscayan, 122 Blanc, Mount, 249 Black Sea, 183 Blasphemy, 190, 458 Blank, 231, 456 Blackness, 431

INDEX OF PROPER NAMES, 477 Blast, 458 Bheering's Straits, 467 Bcetian Thebes, 329 Boaz, 372 Bottomless Pit, The. 414 Book of Remembrance. 423 Bozra, 451 Book of Life, 458 Borean, 56 Boreal, 81 Bourbon, 275 Brutus, 13 Britons, 13 Briaraean, 46 Britishers, 128 Brocken, 134 Brennus, 206 Brontes, 254 Brito, 296 Bresils, 310 Brahma, 465 Britannia, 467 Buckland, 310 Burn, 292 Busiris, 260, 370 BufFon, 319 Byzantine, 433 Byzantium, 177 Calcabrina, 345 Cainan, 355 Canaan, 371 Caherman, 378 Calca, 381 Calcas, 385 Carisenda, 392 Cacus, 397 Capernaum, 410 Callimachus, 419 Caryatides, 420 Campagna, The, 461 Cambdos, 463 Cape of Hope, 231, 465 Calcutta, 467 Caubul, 467 Caesar, The young, 470 Caesar, 13, 207, 341 Cassius, 13 Caracalla, 13 Calysto, 16 Cataline, 29 Cadmus, 49, 254 Cambodian, 124 Calliope, 125, &c. Canace, 133 Carnatic, 133 Care, 141, 244 Canis, 164 Cayster, 185 Castor, 192 Cain, 230 Caligula, 233 Capitoline, 234 Castilian King, 247 Callirhoe, 254 Caurus, 260 Calais, 266 Caucasus, 275 Campanian, 288 Cairo, 295 Caledonia, 297 Callianira, 303 Carthage, 316 Cato, 316 Callianassa, 317 Calepine, Sir, 329 Cain, 338 Cainites, 340 Cecropides, 462 Ceuta, 262 Ceres, 266, 315, 462 Cephalus, 332 Cercyon, 191 Cercopian, 39 Celtic, 41 Centaurians, 41 Ceto, 43 Cerberus, 50 Chimaeras, 50 Chorazin, 410 Charity, 472 Christians, 468 Christendom, 466 Chronos, 463 Chinese, 381, 465 Chosroes, 379 Chaldee, 378 Chemosh, 373 Chettim, 367 Chasluhim, 367 Chale, 367 Chalanne, 367 Chanaan, 366 Chus, 366 Cham, 358 Chaos, 2 Chilian, 16 Charybdis, 46 Cholchians, 59 Choraebus, 70 China, 81 Charlemagne, 156 Chance, 90, 244 Christ, 127, 315 Cherphi), 148 Charsathon, 152 Chaonian, 185 Chien-tien, 189 Chrysaor, 254 Chiron, 264 Chian, 315 Ciampolo, 62 Cinyras, 251 Circe, 187 Circassians, 121 Cidli, 365 Citheron, 380 Cicero, 382 Cimmerian, 246 Cinna, 419 Clymene, 104, 241 Clares, 25 Clarence, 115 Clio, 117, 259, &c. Clamour, 126, 244 Clotho, 330 Conflict, 140, 244 Corynetes, 260 Constantinopolis, 275 Conscience, 286 Corybantes, 313 Corinth, bronze of, 146 Confusion, 186, 244 Coliseum, 287 Corybantes, 218 Copiabo, 10 Copae, 22 Corinthus, 46 Conquest, 77 Cotopax, 83 Cortez, 98 Columbia, 98, 467 Contempt, 115 Cocytus, 122 Corruption, 365 Confusion, 416 Comorin, 165 Coelus, 275 Croastor, 88 Crete, 252, 381 Crothor, 278 Cretan, 320

478 INDEX OF PROPER NAMES. Cromyon sow, 149 Croesus, 182, 381 Crimenos, 191 Craeus, 192 Crime, 196 Cretan, 218 Cromwell, 39 Crescent, The, 75, 464 Crime, 458 Cneph, 25, 380 Cumean, 348 Cuthah, 375 Cusco, 15 Cupid, 18 Cuba, 204 Curetes, 313 Curds, 336 Cyllenius, 184 Cybele, 218 Cyrenaic sect, 85, 218 Cygneans, 29 Cyanean, 43 Cyclopean, 108, 353 Cynocephalus, 368 Cyrus, 376 Cyaxares, 379, 381 Cymbeline, 424 Cyclop, 250 Cyrrha's grot, 297 Cymodoce, 303 Cymothoe, 303 Cybele, 312 Cythera, 317 Cyprian, 322 Cycladean, 332 Cyreanites, 340 Dagon's feast, 290 Damnation, 292 Dardanian, 297 Dane, 326 Daphne, 332 David, 373 Dan, 374 Daniel, 377 Darius, 113, 379 Darkness, 17, 144, 164 Danae, 45 Damien, 61 Dante, 62, 430 Danaians, 92 Day, god of, 104 Damascus, 156 Day of Doom, 186, 241 Darfour, 213 Darpathrus, 214 Danton, 215 Dardans, 217 Daedalus, 99 Delhi, 9 Death, 42, 130, &c. Death the Second, 446 Destiny, 50, 290, &c. Delos, 67 Destruction, 116,151, &c. Dejanira, 132 Despair, 141, 146, &c. Delphic, 142 Deep, 144 Demogorgon, 181, 275 Deformity, 254 Deadness, 264 Delphian, 290, 462 Dexamene, 303 Desire, 318 Desires, 323 Delia, 323 Desolation, 334, 431 Deucalion, 363 Deccan, 364 Deborah, 372 Delilah, 373 Demruth-dive, 378 Demiurgus, 380 Dejoces, 381 Democritus, 382 Demosthenes, 385 Denderah, 463 Discord, 244 Dira, 289 Disorder, 309 Dido, 332 Diospolis, 337 Dismay, 458 Diceos, 461 Diana, 25, 462 Diva, 5, 471 Dis, 6 Dirae, 50 Diomed, 68 Dismay, 149 Dieman's Land, 174 Dinocrates, 177 Diocletian, 204 Doab, 17 Dorian, 25 Doriscus, 78 Dodonian, 241, 255 Doris, 241 Doto, 303 Dodonaim, 367 Druidical, 15 Dread, 244 Dross, 244 Dryas, 253 Draco, 263, 383 Dremos, 278 Dryads, 303 Druids, 460 Dusk, 244 Dyname, 316 E Earth, 6, 42, 313, 323 Eber, 367 Eblis, halls of, 135 Echionian Thebes, 60 Echinades, 167 Ecbatan, 381 Echoes, 438 Echidna, 254 Eden, 337 Edom, 248, 371, 377 Edomite, Herod the, 377 Edda, 58 Edfou, 106 Egyaleus, 461 Egypt, 368 Ehud, 372 Ekiel, 14, &c. Ekron, 290 Elis, 104 Electra, 254 Electryon, 260 Elf-land, 318 Eloo trees, 333 Elements, The, 344 Elisa, 367 Elim, 370 Elon, 372 Eli, 373 Elah, 374 Elisha, 374 Eliakim, 375 Eliashib, 376 Elijah, 377 Eleusina, 380, 462 Elephanta, 381 Eloa, 386 Elysian, 5 Elora, 25 Eleutherian, 26 Elishan, 73 Eleian field, HO

INDEX OF PROPER NAMES. 479 Elba, 166 Eleusis, 191 Elohim, 244, 311, &c. Empire, 151 England, 59, 297, 467 Enceladus, 76 Envy, 77 Endymion, 251 Ennius, 383 En-gedi, 387 Enyo, 433 Endor, Witch of, 344 Enos, 355 Eous, 104 Epirus, 288 Epicurus, 382 Ephiaistos, 461 Ephesus, 466 Ephatreen, 139 Erotrac, 397 Eryx, 135 Erynnys, 154, 463 Erisichthous, 185 Erichtho, 185 Erymanthian boar, 259 Erigone, 463 Eros, 303 Eriphile, 321 Erythraean, 432 Esquimaux, 465 Espagniols, 98 Eternity, 6, 186, 420, 42C Eteocles, 47 Etham, 369 Euripides, 380 Eunoe, 418 Euris, 460 Eurynome, 461 Eurydice, 261 Eunymo, 278 Eusthynes, 278 Euclid, 308 Euterpe, 319 Eurippus, 320 Eunonie, 321 Europa, 322 Euphrosyne, 322 Eurynome, 322 Euphrates, 368 Euphranos, 26 Euxine, 43 Euganean, 61 Eunaeus, 113 Euryale, 149 Eumenides, 186 Evechous, 381 Eve, 300 Even, 310 Evil-merodoch, 379 Evening, 51 Evil, 151, 454 Exampsal, 152 Exandus, 153 Ezekiel, 377 Ezion-geber, 467 Fate, Book of, 169 Fate, 6, 174, 281, 289 Fame, 50, 234, 436 Father-land, 55 Fancy, 57 Fatuis's, 241 Falern, 315 Faith, 361, 380, 472 Fabricius, 463 Fear, 457 Fears, 56 Fezzanee, 97 Fire, god of, 78 Fire, genii of 344 Fire— Etern, 391 Fright, 128, 244 Flanders, 128 Flame, 144 Fortunate Isles, 137 Fortune, 163 Formian, 315 Fok, 397 Folly, 458 Freedom, sons of, 216 Freedom, ghost of, 228 France, 252 Francis, St., of Assizi,295 Frankenstein's, a, 335 Franconia, 338 Frank, 346 Frenzy, 115 Frosts, 120 Fury, 143, 458 Furies, 49 Fucci, 397 Gallic, 13 Gaudaloupe, 100 Gath, giant of, 132 Gallilean, 1(52 Gabriel, 164, 386 Gauls, 166 Galatea, 303 Galileo, 320 Ganilion, 327 Gaza, 367 Ganges, 381 Galen, 384 Gallilee, 401 Gagtulian, 40 Gentiles, 15 Georgian, 127 Geryon, 165, 430 Geysers, 254 Genesis, 320 Genseric, 340 Gellius, 385 Genii, 420 German, 451 Gentile, 7 Ghosts, 56 Ghuznee, 466 Giours, 73 Giants, The, 140 Gilead, 261 Gilgal, 372, 278 Gideon, 372 Gloriel, 18 Glooms, 56 Glaucus, 119 Gloom, Eternal, 123 Glauce, 303 Gladness, 315 Gnossian, 137 Gorgonites, 43 Gorgon, 261 Gorgons, 67 Gothland, 84 Golconda, 127 Gog, 129 Golden Fleece, The, 266 Gordian Chord, The, 306 Gomer, 367 Goshen, Land of, 369 Graecia, 79 Greek, 4 Grothor, 272 Grime, 2S9 Graces, The, 303 Greccan, 445 Groan, a, 453 Guilt, 196, 458 Gunga, 467 Gwalior, 17 H TIavaphon, 1 1. fee.

480 INDEX OF PROPER NAMES. Hadriel, 21 Hades, 41 Hamilcar, son of, 130 Hate, 143 Haroun al Raschid, 156 Hallar, 192 Hammonak, 271 Harrinthrytor, 372 Hamadryads, 303 Hafez, 304 Hamlet, 326 Hazeroth, 370 Halak, 372 Hamath, 375 Hanani, 377 Habakkuk, 377 Haggai, 377 Harec, 397 Haephestion, 312 Hasmus, 9 Hedjas, 26 Heber, 27 Hesiod, 47, 380 Herculaneum, 59 Heliodorus, 67 Hecuba, 73 Heaven, fabled god of, 78 Hell, fabled god of, 78 Hercules, 121, 262 Hermes, 121 Hecla, 133 Hebridean, 177 Hecate, 185, 293 Hebe, 241 Hermaphroditus, 251 Hellenes, 252 Heliogabalus, 257 Hector, 258 Hecatompylos, 275 Helicon, Zion's, 302 Hebrews, 311 Hesperides, 318 Hermes, 319 Henoch, 355 Hevila, 366 Heber, 368 Hebron, 373 Hezekiah, 375 Herod, the Edomite, 377 Helios, 380 Hellena, 401 Hermon, 408 Hebon, 461 Hector, 258 Hindoostan, 5 Hippolyte, 59 Hibernian, 85 Himmala, 100 Himmel, 141 Hippomedon, 126, 263 Hierosalem, 275 Hippocrene, 304 History, 320 Hippolita, 322 Hiram, 373 Hopes, 56 Homer, 125 Hound of Hades, 148 Horror, 155, 157 Honour, 234, 428 Hopra, 271 Hollos, 346 Hor, Mount, 371 Hosea, 374, 377 Hot, 433 Hopelessness, 458 Hurons, 114 Hyprostrar, 271 Hyperion, 312 Hymettan, 316 Hyrcanian, 415 Hyacinthus, 73 Hylosaph, 192 Hylas, 251 I Iapyx, 35 Iapetus, 247 Ibzan, 372 Icke, 37 Icarus, 99 Iceland, 120, 254 Idumean, 318 Ida, 136, 296 Idalian doves, 218 Idaean boy, 251 Iddo, 377 Ierne, 297 Ije-abarim, 371 Ilium, 92 Illyrian, 137 Uyssos, 189 Imaus, 134 Imagination, 307 Ind, 377 Indus, 460 Indian, 32, 295, 318 Inexperience, 89 Infamy, 196 Infinity, 391 Intellect, 425 Ionian, 221 lolchos, 261 Iphiclus, 261 Iron Gates, The, 249 Irene, 461 Israel, 7, 369 Isis, 107, 368, 463 Ismenos, 148 Ismarus, 258 Isthmus, The, 262 Iscariot, 326 Isaiah, 377 Isocrates, 385, 419 Issachar, 467 Islam, 468 Italian, 332 Ithacus, 46 Ixion, 253 Jair, 372 Jason, 204 Javan, 247, 312, 367 Janira, 303 Janassa, 318 Jared, 355 Jairus, 365 Jael, 366 Japhet, 367 Jannes, 369 Jambres, 369 Jasa, 371 Jaddus, 376 Japetus, 379 Jatmund, 391 Jesse, 13, 399 Jews, 61, 454 Jerusalem, 61, 372, 467 Jenrosar, 139 Jectan, 367 Jericho, 372 Jephtha, 372 Jeroboam, 373 Jehosophat, 374 Jehoram, 374 Jehu, 374, 377 Jehoash, 374 Jeroboam, 374 Jehoahaz, 375 Jehoiakim, 375, 376 Jeshua, 376 Jewry, 385 Jove, 26, 163, 221, &c. Jormungandr, 57

INDEX OF PROPER NAMES. 481 Jonah, gourd of, 173 Joshua, 372 Joshua, Book of, 220 Jocasta, 336 Joseph's bones, 369 Jordan, 372, 401 J oram, 374 Jotham, 374 Josiah, 375 John, 376 Joel, 377 Jonah, 377 Jumna, 17 Jupiter, 25, 275, 462 Judah, 107, 372 Juno, 251, 304 Judas, 327, 376 Juvenal, 385 Justice, 423 Julius, 463 Juggernauth, 466 K Kalmuc, 124 Kabyles, 249 Kadesh, 371 Karedwen, 463 Kirkdale, 339 Kibroth-hattava, 371 Klopstock, 451 Knowledge, 422 Laplandish, 4 Larves, 5 Lapithites, 50 Lamalmon, 81 Latraeus, 190 Laocoon, 260 Lampetie, 261 Land, The Promised, 316 Lampethusa, 329 Lachesis, 330 Lamech, son of, 346 Laborosoarchod, 379 Lawrence, river St., 382 La Plata, 382 Lactantius, 385 Latmus, Mount, 462 Laodicea, 466 Laera, 241 Lebanon, 409 Levantine, 445 Leontides, 462 Lernaean, 59 Lethe, 291 Lebadaean cave, 292 Lesa, 367 Lebahim, 367 Libecchio, 453 Line, The, 12 Lilybaeum, 48 Ligia, 49 Licosa, 49 Lisbon, 103 Lightnings, 126, 133, 244 Lichas, 132 Linesung, 171 Liparian towers, 249 Limnoria, 317 Linnaeus, 319 Livy, 385 Lotophagian, 315 Longinus, 25 Locrian, 75 Logoden, 139 Locke, 320 Louvre, The, 339 Lombard, 430 Loathesomeness, 457 Lui-shin, 399 Luna, 462 Lutzmee, 466 Lucifer, 2 Luxor, 107 Lucullus, 258 Lucretia, 385 Lysias, 385 Lybian, 34, 367 Lydian, 125 Lyssian, 155 Lycophron, 291 Lycaean Pan, 295 Lycabessos, 316 M Mattanah, 371 Mahaliel, 371 Manasseh, 375 Mattaniah, 375 Malachi, 377 Maremma, 432 Madness, 458 Magellan's Straits, 465 Mantchous, 465 Mahanaim, 473 Macbeth, 185 Macedonian, 190, 379 Maxi mius, 208 Mazzaroth, 246 I I Malay, 255 Mahomet, 15, 275, 464 Maia, son of, 275 Mazinor, 278 Mazob, 278 Marcus Anthony, 331 Mantuan, 334 Malebolge, 335 Marsians, 340 Manillan, 350 Mathusala, 355 Malaleel, 355 Maronean, 366 Macrinus, 366 Magog, 367 Madai, 367 Madeira, 9 Marmarico, 45 Mauritanian, 46 Mars, snake of, 60, 164 Marius, 60 Matter, 63 Mamelukes, 71 Madness, 123 Magog, 129 Mab, 129 Maccabee, 130 Maid, Heavenly, 137 Maelstrom, 139 Maeonian, 55 Maestral, 183 Maera, 303 Maenads, 318 Maecenus, 461 Menahem, 374 Median, 379 Mede, 377 Memnon, 381 Memory, 423 Mexico, 465 Mexico, gulf of, 204 Mesilegines, 248 Melpomone, 259, 277 Medea, 261 Melita, 303 Mendips, 339 Megaera, 345 Messiah, 358, 386 Messalina, 366 Mesraim, 366 Memphis, 367 Messa, 367 Memnonian, 25 Mesocsesius, ;)."; Medusa, 11

482 INDEX OF PROPER NAMES. Mede, 78 Menelaus, 92 Memory, 2, 166 Minerva, 7, 121, 321 Midian, 371 Michael, 17 Milton, 37, 430 Milo, 47 Minotaur, 58 Minos, 78, 289, 359 Misery, 187 Mirabeau, 215 Midas, 296 Michajah, 377 Michah, 377 Mithras, 378 Mississippi, 382 Migdol, 461 Moon, 6 Mnemosyne, 4, 380 Moabitish, 311 Mcenutius, 163 Mceris, 248 Moor, 470 Mopsus, 385 Moses, 369 Moab, 371, 373 Motonsinoth, 192 Mockery, 196 Mongibell, 232 Mosoch, 367 Mogul, The, 9 Morn, 9, 332 Moloch, 14, &c. Momus, 26 Mozazor, 37 Mohawks, 85 Montezume, 98 Morphic, 98 Montreal, 128 Moslemen, 135 Mona, 148 Morescoes, 156 Mulijebe, 368 Muse, the Sacred, 3 Mulciber, 101, 279 Myttilon, 139 Mycale, 70 Myrrha, 312 Mystery, 391 Myrionymnia, 463 N Narcissus, 13 Naiads, 68, 332 Naumachia, 207 Nature, 308 Naso, 331 Na, 346 Nashmurdrand, 346 Naphtuhim, 367 Nachor, 368 Naomi, 372 Nadab, 374 Nahum, 377 Nabopolassar, 379 Napeans, 380 Napoleon, 468 Necropolis, 4 Nereids, 6 Nemesis, 6 Nebuchadnezzar, 15, 376 New Guinea, 16 Neva, 36 Nemsean, 46 Neptune, 67, 177, 191 Nesseus, 132 Nebo, 206 Nero, 232 Nemertes, 241 Nesse, 241 Newton, 247 Nepamon, 279 Necessity, 291, 457 Nephilim, 342 Nemrod, 366 Nebo, Mount, 371, 461 Neriglissar, 379 Negroland, 464 Nepaul, 467 Nergal, 378 Night, 2, 39 Nisroch, 14 Nysa, 22, 129 Niagara, 128 Nicandar, 188, 385 Nireus, 312 Niobe, 317 Nile, 336, 367, 463 Nineve, 367 Ninus, 378 Niger, 464 Norwegian, 4 Norseman, 13 Northern Hive, 15 Nox, 150 Nothing, 244 Nought, 170 Nomron, 271 Nod, Land of, 340 Noah, 344 Noise, 430 Numidian, 294 Nyssean, 113 O Oboth, 371 Obadiah, 377 Obscure, The, 433 Oberon, 129 Obazur, 152 Oblivion, 186 Ocean-god, 78 Ocean, Northern, 84 Ocean Spirit, 222 Oceanides, 254 Occident, The, 310 CEdipus, 70, 289 CEta, 290 CEneides, 462 GEnean, 49 CEte, 70 GSbalian, 72 GEthon, 104 Og, 371 Ogyges, 36 Oileus, 76 Olympian, 27, 275 Olympia, 82 Olympians, 121 Olympus, 140 Olympic, 156 Olympiads, 384 Omphale, 331 Omri, 374 Omonoros, 132 Ompthos, 152 On, 367 Onchestus, 22 Ontario, 128 Oom, 346 Ophiagii, 340 Ophion, 461 Ops, 461 Ophir, 467 Opathron, 139 Ore, 6 Orestes, 13, 59, 186 Oroo, 15 Ortygia, 36 Orthus, 42 Orissan, 63 Oronok, 106 Orphean, 139 Ormuz, 177

INDEX OF PROPER NAMES. 483 Orinos, 191 Orion, 246 Orpheus, 261, 318 Orestiades, 303 Orsus, 312 Orythea, 318 Oramuz, 378 Oreb, 383 Osmanlis, 464 Osiris, 218, 368 Ossa, 140 Oth, 278 Othman, 336 Othniel, 372 Outer Darkness, 334 Ovid, 364 Owhyee, 462 Owhyeian, 121 Oxmantown, 156 Pacific, 10 Parthian, 15 Parrhasian, 16 Palmyran, 25 Palladian, 316 Pandora, 322 Parnassian, 332 Paean's rue, 264 Patmos, John of, 94 Papirius, 206 Pandemonium, 336, 392 Palestina, 336 Palladio, 419 Pactolus, 451 Panic, 457 Pain, 457 Parcee, 132 Pagan, Nine, The, 162 Parthenon, 461 Pallas, 25, 71, 462 Panathees, 463 Pan, 217 Pantheists, 218 Patna, 232 Paris, 252, 312 Paphian, 252, 462 Parthonopaeus, 253 Patrancosothos, 255 Patrocles, 258 Pathricknites, 171 Pallor, 274 Pathrine, 278 Paratheel, 282 Panope, 303 Pandionian birds, 304 Pasithae, 316 Pachymus, 48 Pasiphae, 58 Parthian s, 71 Pelasgic, 4 Persian, 9, 78, 375 Persepolis, 41 Pelorus, 48 Pelides, 75 Petasian, 78 Pegu, 81 Pelias, 204 Pestilence, 234 Perseus, 260 Periclymenos, 263 Peloponesus, 266 Pelops, 293 Peneus, 295 Peleus, 312 Peninsula, The, 466 Pergamos, 466 Pellaean, 124 Perdition, 124, 457 Pelion, 140 Peruvian, 143 Percnos, 144 Perjuries, hunted by, 161 Perimile, 166 Pentelic, 177 Pekahiah, 374 Pekah, 374 Perse, 377 Peri, 378 Pelasgian, 461 Phoebe, 317 Phidias, 321 Phosphor, 164, 323 Phaethusa, 329 Phuth, 366 Phethrusim, 367 Phaleg, 367 Phihairoth, 370 Pharan, 370 Phasgo, 372 Pharmacus, 380 Phocean, 380 Phoenician, 275,381,462 Phraorte, 381 Phrygian, 451 Phornicorash, 115 Phrymour, 123, 191 Pharnaspine, 139, 151 Pholeus, 1 1 1 l'li.ua, 119 Philogave, 149 Phoebus, 150 Pharioch, 151 Phaeton, 163 Phthah, 463 Philadelph, 466 Pharian, 218 Phalaris, 232 Phylae, 233 Phrygian, 249 Philistine, 260 Pholeus, 271 Phalton, 278 Pherusa, 303 Phantasians, 303 Philippi, 13 Philistia, 14 Pharoa, 25, 375 Phineus, 41 Phlegethon, 42 Phorcys, 43 Phantasies, 56 Phaedra, 59 Philoctetes, 68 Pheretian, 72 Philipson, 82 Phalton, 87 Pirithous, 258 Pillars, The, 262 Pirois, 104 Pindus, 135 Pizarro, 144 Pisa, 148 Pisonaes, 149 Pitho, 330 Pindar, 380 Pleides, 461 Pliny, 333 Plato, 383 Plutarch, 385 Plague, 457 Pluto, 116 Plutus, 163 Plegon, 104 Po, 16 PolynicL's, 17 Poesy, 54 Pompeii, 59 Podarge, 72 Poppea, 73 Polypheny, 7.^ I'onlus, SI Podisthinos, 2,'>o Pollux, -J),; Polydectes, 2<>l

484 INDEX OF PROPER NAMES. Power, 309 Polar, 117 Pompey, 341, 375 Pomona, 364 Ponent, 445 Protceus, 344 Prescience, 424 Providence, 428 Pride, 216, 285, 458 Praxitilean, 137 Propae tides, 165 Proto, 241 Priam, 275, 297 Prospal, 278 Proserpina, 295 Procrustes, 51 Pschyce, 303 Psyllians, 239 Ptolemies, 322 Pterelas, 133 Punic, 336 Putrefaction, 457 Py lades, 13 Pylian, 83 Pylon, 255 Pygmaean, 129 Python, 142 Pythian, 156 Pythonissa, 324 Pyrrha, 363 Pythagoras, 383 Q Quirine, 73 Quirites, 297 Quintius Curtius, 385 R Raabon, 37 Ramael, 37 Rainbow, the, 141 Raphael, 199 Rassach, 212 Rage, 244 Raphidim, 370 Rachel, 399 Rama, 399 Resolve, 117 Resentment, 118, 244 Religion, 300, 380 Rephaims, 339 Regma, 366 Resen, 367 Rchoboth, 367 Rcphath, 367 Reu, 368 Recem, 371 Rebe, 371 Rehoboam, 373 Red Sea, 389 Rhodian, 25 Rhytoronon, 278 Rhadamanthus, 289 Rhamnuse, 291 Rhodope, 302 Rhamnes, 380 Rhodian, 381 Rhotyn, 421 Rome, 61, 232, 275 Romulus, 114 Rout, 124, 244 Roman, 154, 297 Rosicrusian, 345 Rubens, 15 Rumor, 75 Ruin, 108, 130, 146, 244 Ruth, 372 Ruggieri, 397 Salem, 7 Saul, 13, 27, 373 Sacrael, 20, 164, 247 Saturn, 41 Sabines, 49, 113 Saracener, 75 Satire, 77 Saharr, 97 Savannah, 123 Sappharon, 126 Samiel, 141 Salome, 376 Sardanapalus, 378 Sardis, 381, 466 Saturnalia, 383 Sallust, 385 Sabaean, 295, 461 Sate, 463 Savendroeg, 271 Saropeli, 271 Sadi, 304 Salem, 309 Sardinian, 344 Saba, 366 Sabtah, 366 Sabtechah, 366 Sais, 367 Sala, 368 Sarug, 368 Samson, 372 Samuel, 373 Saladdon, 156 Sarmatian, 161 Saturn's Belt, 187 Sagana, 187 Saturnia, 217 Saturn, 247 Scythian, 149 Scio, 162 Scorpion, The, 164 Scandinavia, 22 Scandinavian, 177 Sciron, 191 Scylla, 233 Scholaf, 271 Scrematry, 346 Scierian, 463 Scipio, 463 Sclave, 470 Scylla, 38 Scorn, 143 Sennacherib, 14 Sejanus, 29 Septentrional, 35 Serapis, 368 Sea, 42 Seine, 56 Sennaar, 107 Sepharvaim, 375, 378 Sennacherib, 375 Sense, 382 Seneca, 385 Seba, queen, 432 Serborian, 442 Semele, 328 Serena, 329 Seths, 340 Sehar, 367 Seir, 372 Seven Hills, The, 206 Sesostris, 248 Sharon, rose of, 325 Shraphryth, 346 Shiskah, 374 Shreesh, 349 Shinaar, 364 Shamgar, 372 Shunamite, 374 Shallum, 374 Shalmaneser, 374 Shemiah, 377 Shry, 397 Shenir, 408 Shakespear, 155 Sinus, 183

INDEX OF PROPER NAMES. 485 Sister Fiends, the, 1 85 Simnis, 191 Siberian, 122, 251 Sinon, 252 Sin, 42, 187, 352, 441 Sisters Three, the, 49 Sighs, 56 Sioux, 114 Sin, hounds of, 148 Sirens, 318 Sinon, 327 Silenes, 339, 451 Sisera, 366 Sidon, 367 Sinai, 370 Sifanaros, 421 Silence, 431 Skev, 177 Slaughter, 126, 160 Smyrna, 466 Smyrna, Gulf of, 135 Solitude, 150 Sodom, 410 Sodom, Apples of, 173 Sostrates, 177 Sothor, 191 Sorrata, 37 Soul of Numbers, 55 Sorrows, 56 Solymseans, 122 Solyphron, 136 Solyma, Nymphs of, 313 Sogdian, 316 Solomon, Seal of, 345 Socrates, 383 Solon, 383 Sothon, 421 Soeva, 466 Somnauth, 466 Spio, 318 Space, 46, 391, 450 Sprite-Compeller,The, 5 Spitzbergers, 135 Spheno, 149 Spanish, 204 Spectres, 244 Spring, 313 Statius, 385 Stoa, 465 States, The, 468 Strophades, 266 Styx, 291 Stagy rite, 320 Strypian, 350 Steppes, The, 362 Strongyle, 249 Strength, god of, 260 Stromboli, 164 Staffa, 177 Sterops, 191 Strympbalian, 192 Stygian, 4 Storm, 14 St. George, 59 Stentorian, 123 Steropes, 145 Sun, 17, 332 Sub-Tartarean, 55 Succoth, 368, 378 Sur, Wilderness of, 370, 371 Susa, 460 Suez, 467 Syrians, 376 Sylvanus, 332, 381 Syrinx, 317 Taphne, 22 Tartish,156 Ta-ho, the, 232 Tarpeian, 234 Tantalus, 289 Tartarian, 315 Tafilet, 316 Tsenarus, 70 Tasso, 331 Tarquin, 348 Taphne, 368 Taberah, 371 Tahmuraz, 378 Tartac, 378 Tadmor, 384 Tacitus, 385 Tauromer, 421 Tartar, 443 Tarpeian, 461 Teinans, 367 Terah, 368 Teraphim, 375 Tempest, 141, 430 Tellus, 165 Teucrian, 296 Teucer, 72, 297 Tethvs, 303 Tenedos, 315 Terror, 60, 149, 275, &c TenerhTe, 81 Tell, 114 Teuton, 135 Thor, 13 Thaumantius, 15 Thisb, 22 Thebais, 23 Thais, 41 Theseus, 41, 258 Thrace, god of, 62 Thetis, 68, 303 Thunder, 126, 133, 244 Thunder, broods of, 436 Thebans, 126 Thessalian, 131 Thracian, 140, 302, 366 Thamyras, 162 Threicius, 177 Thessaly, 188 Thrynown, 191 Thummin, 231 Thaumas, 254 Thrimos, 255 Thyestian, 257 Thrydaomer, 271 Theophestus, 278 Thalia, 317, 380 Thoa, 303 Thebes, Bcetian, 329 Themis, 363 Thubal, 367 Thiras, 367 Thogarm, 367 Tharshish, 367 Thoth, 368 Theocrites, 380 Thucidides, 385 Tbrymbrcean, 452 Theoricons, 462 Thales, 464 Thibet, 465 Thyatira, 466 Titus, 275, 460 Tibur, 460 Tityon, 265 Titan, 4, 290 Tithonous, 296 Tiresias, 324 Tidore, 16 Titania, 37 Tinacrian, 3S Timor, 39 Time, 57, 23S, 30! Tisiphone, 70 Tityus, 76 Tigra, si Timiel, 103 Tophet, 352, 375

486 INDEX OF PROPER NAMES. Toba. 372 Tola, 372 Tomyris, 3S1 Tonquin, 440 Torquatus, 233 Tros. son of, 241 Tolu, 261 Toron, 271 Tongataboo, 333 Togarm, 14 Tootoonab, 71 Tonoros, 115 Toledo, 142 Tomos, 161 Troy, 7, 119, 297, 316 Tropic, The, 33, 295 Triron. 77 Truth, 128 Triton, 140 Tritonia, 1S9 Tryometon, 191 Traezenian, 255 Trvmenor, 263 Trinity, The, 300 Trivia, 344 Troundell, 346 Trophonian, 3 SO Turkey, 252, 467 Tumult, 458 Turcomans, 362 Tuscan, 187 Tuilleries, 189 Turk, 75 Tydeus, 126 Tyrinthe, 25 Typhaeus, 47 Tvphaean. 60 Tyrians, 177 Tyn-henian, 187 Typhon, 368 Tyre, 373 Typhurgo, 457 U Ugolon, 192 Ugoline de Gherardeschi,' ^397 Ulai, Banks of, 473 Undying Worm, 54, 286 Undelight, 243, 45 S Unresolves, 244 j Universe, the, 277 Upas, the. 56 Uproar, 123 Urim, 231 Uriel. 113 Urania, 5, 139, 297 Utmost, The, 262 Utopia, 465 Uzzean Job, 135 Vaicontha, 16 Vathec, 102, 278 Vast. The, 170, 231, 277 Vacancy, 210, 442 Vandals, 340 Venus, SO, 164, 303 Vengeance, 129, 154, 157 Veia, 1S5 Vespasian, 189 Venetian Doge, 220 Vesta, 288, 444 Vertumnus, 321 Veeshnu, 465 Virtue, 141 Victoria, the Queen, 243, 414, 469, 474 Victory, 143 Vitruvius, 419 Vice, 382 Void, 151, 188, 309 Vulcan, 121, 470 Vulturnian, 183 W Waterloo, 13 Waves, 33 War, 140 War, god of, 67 War, dogs of, 146 Walhalla, 125 Way of Lidit, 150 Waste, 430 Water, genii of, 344 Westminster, 296 Wellington, 468 Wishes, 30 Winds, 33, 144 Winter, 131, 244, 336 Wonder, 261, 458 Woe, 391, 458 Wraiths, 243 Wrath, 123,150,244,447 Wrath, sons of, 127 X Xanthus, 149 Xenophon, 385 Xerxes, 78 ZamoLxis, 463 Zabrash, 15, &c. Zarael, 123 Zamiel, 343 Zared, 371 Zacharia, 374 Zachary, 377 Zenobia, 25 Zephyrs, 29 Zeus, 117, 461 Zembla, 137 Zethes, 266 Zephaniah, 377 Zeno, 464 Ziphroth, 211, 278 Zion's Helicon, 302 Zion, Muse of, 342 Zin, 371 Zimri, 374 Zodiac, the, 183 Zones, the Golden, 308 Zoilus, 454 Zyninthrine, 172, 342 314.77-1).

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