Was fair Damascus, on the fertile banks Whom he had vanquish'd. After these appear'd A crew who under names of old renown, Osiris, Isis, Orus, and their train, 470 475 With monstrous shapes and sorceries abus'd 480 Their wand'ring Gods disguis'd in brutish forms other made by it, directly contrary to the command of God, who had appointed what kind of altar he would have, (Exod. xxvii. 1, 2, &c.) and had ordered that no other should be made of any matter or figure whatsoever. Ahaz however upon his return removed the altar of the Lord from its place, and set up this new altar in its stead, and offered thereon, 2 Kings xvi. 10. &c. and thenceforth gave himself up to idolatry, and instead of the God of Israel he sacrificed unto the gods of Damascus, 2 Chron. xxviii. 23. whom he had subdued. 478. Osiris, Isis, Orus, and their train, &c.] Osiris and Isis were the principal deities of the Egyptians, by which it is most probable they originally meant the sun and moon. Orus was the son of Osiris and Isis, frequently confounded with Apollo: and these and the other Gods of the Egyptians were worshipped in monstrous shapes, bulls, cats, dogs, &c. and the reason alleged for this monstrous worship is derived from the fabulous tradition, that when the giants invaded heaven, the gods were so affrighted that they fled into Egypt, and there concealed themselves in the shapes of various animals; and the Egyptians afterwards out of gratitude worshipped the creatures, whose shapes the gods had assumed. Ovid, Met. v. 319, &c. where is an account of their transformations: and therefore Milton here calls them Their wand'ring gods disguis'd Rather than human. Nor did Israel 'scape Th' infection, when their borrow'd gold compos'd 482. Nor did Israel 'scape Th' infection, &c.] The Israelites by dwelling so long in Egypt were infected with the superstitions of the Egyptians, and in all probability made the golden calf, or ox (for so it is differently called, Psal. cxvi. 19, 20.) in imitation of that which represented Osiris, and out of the golden ear-rings, which it is most likely they borrowed of the Egyptians, Exod. xii. 35. The calf in Oreb, and so the Psalmist, They made a calf in Horeb, Psal. cvi. 19. while Moses was upon the mount with God. And the rebel king, Jeroboam made king by the Israel ites who rebelled against Rehoboam, 1 Kings xii. doubled that sin by making two golden calves, probably in imitation of the Egyptians with whom he had conversed, who had a couple of oxen which they worshipped, one called Apis at Memphis the metropolis of the upper Egypt, and the other Mnevis at Hierapolis the chief city of the lower Egypt: and he set them up in Bethel and in Dun, the two extremities of the kingdom of Israel, the former in the south, the latter in the north. Likening his Maker to the grazed ox, alluding to Psal. cvi. 20. Thus they changed their glory into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass: Jehovah, who in one night when he passed from Egypt marching, for the children of Israel not only passed from Egypt, but marched in a warlike manner, VOL. I. and the Lord brought them out, the Lord went before them: equalled with one stroke both her first-born and all her bleating gods, for the Lord slew all the firstborn in the land of Egypt both man and beast, and upon their gods also the Lord executed judgments, Exod. xii. 12. Numb. xxxiii. 4. and Milton means all their gods in general, though he says bleating gods in particular, borrowing the metaphor from sheep, and using it for the cry of any sort of beasts. Dr. Bentley says indeed that the Egyptians did not worship sheep, they only abstained from eating them: but (as Dr. Pearce replies) was not Jupiter Ammon worshipped under a ram, hence corniger Ammon? Clemens Alexandrinus tells us, that the people of Sais and Thebes worshipped sheep; and R. Jarchi upon Gen. xlvi. 34. says, that a shepherd was therefore an abomination to the Egyptians, because the Egyptians worshipped sheep as gods. We may farther add, that Onkelos, Jonathan, and several others are of the same opinion, and say that shepherds were an abomination to the Egyptians, because they had no greater regard to those creatures which the Egyptians worshipped, than to breed them up to be eaten. These authorities are sufficient to justify our poet for calling them bleating gods; he might make use of that epithet as one of the most insignificant and contemptible, with the same air E The calf in Oreb; and the rebel king Of ri'ot ascends above their loftiest towers, 485 490 495 500 of disdain as Virgil says Æn. Moloch the first, as he was the viii. 698. fiercest spirit that fought in heaven, ii. 44. and Belial the last, as he is represented as the most timorous and slothful, ii. 117. It doth not appear that he was ever worshipped; but lewd profligate fellows, such as regard neither God nor man, are called in Scripture the children of Belial, Deut. xiii. 13. So the sons of Eli are called 1 Sam. ii. 12. Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial, they knew not the Lord. So the men of Gibeah, who abused the Levite's wife, Judg. xix. 22. are called likewise sons of Belial; which are the particular instances here given by our author. Of Belial, flown with insolence and wine. 502.-flown with insolence and wine.] I have heard a conjecture of somebody proposing to read blown instead of flown, blown with insolence and wine, as there is in Virgil inflatus Iaccho, Ec. vi. 15. Inflatum hesterno venas, ut semper, But flown I conceive is a participle from the verb fly, and the meaning is that they were raised and heightened with insolence and wine, insolence and wine made them fly out into these extravagances. Or, as others think, it may be a participle from the verb flow, as overflown is sometimes used for overflowed. And the meaning is the same flushed with insolence and wine. An expression very common from the verb fluo. In the same sense we use flushed with success, as Mr. Thyer observes. as 502.] Warton would read swoln, comparing this passage with Comus, 178. To meet the rudeness, and swill'd insolence Of such late wassailers. 505 when hospitable doors Yielded their matrons to prevent worse rape. And Milton did well in altering the passage, to make it more agreeable to the Scriptural story. Pearce. 506. These were the prime] It is observed by Macrobius and others, in commendation of Homer's catalogue of ships and warriors, that he hath therein mentioned every body who doth, and nobody who doth not, afterwards make his appearance in the poem: whereas it is otherwise in Virgil; some have a place in the list, who are never heard of in the battles, and others make a figure in the battles, who are not taken notice of in the list. Neither hath Milton in this respect attained Homer's excellence and beauty; but then it should be considered what was his intent and purpose in this for him to exhibit as complete a catalogue. It was not possible catalogue of the fallen angels, as Homer hath given us of the Grecian and Trojan commanders; and as it was not possible, or indeed proper, so neither was it at all his intention. He proposed only to mention the chief, and such who were known in Palestine and the neighbouring countries, and had incroached upon the worship of the God of The rest were long to tell, though far renown'd, Israel and what he proposed he hath executed with wonderful learning and judgment. He hath enlarged very much upon each of these idols, as he drew most of his materials from Scripture: The rest were long to tell, the rest he slightly passes over, as our knowledge of them is derived only from fabulous antiquity. 508. Th' Ionian gods, of Ja van's issue held Gods, &c.] Javan, the fourth son of Japhet, and grandson of Noah, is supposed to have settled in the southwest part of Asia Minor, about Ionia, which contains the radi'cal letters of his name. His descendants were the Ionians and Grecians; and the principal of their gods were heaven and earth; Titan was their eldest son, he was father of the giants, and his empire was seized by his younger brother Saturn, as Saturn's was by Jupiter son of Saturn and Rhea. These were first known in the island Crete, now Candia, in which is mount Ida, where Jupiter is said to have 510 515 been born; thence passed over into Greece, and resided on mount Olympus in Thessaly; the snowy top of cold Olympus, as Homer calls it Ολυμπον αγαννιφον, II. i. 420. and xviii. 615. OvλvμñOV 11Qoros, which mountain afterwards became the name of heaven among their worshippers; or on the Delphian cliff, Parnassus, whereon was seated the city Delphi, famous for the temple and oracle of Apollo; or in Dodona, a city and wood adjoining, sacred to Jupiter; and through all the bounds of Doric land, that is of Greece, Doris being a part of Greece; or fled over Adria, the Adriatic, to th' Hesperian fields, to Italy; and o'er the Celtic, France and the other countries overrun by the Celtes, roamed the the utmost isles, Great Britain, Ireland, the Orkneys, Thulè or Iceland, ultima Thule, as it is called, the utmost boundary of the world. Such explications are needless to those who are conversant with the classic authors; they are written for those who are not. |