And all the host of hell aghast appear’d!
Now Bassareus cried; tears mingled with his sweat:
He lash’d his body, and defined a threat,
And coupled with it a most horrid oath;
Which Pluto could not bear. So, in his wroth,
He turn’d an Enemy; and, with disdain,
Commanded all the Elements to rain
A torrent of red flame!—Down came the flood!
The merc’less fluid, mingled with the blood
Of tens of thousands (in an instant slain),