XXII.
Peor and Baälim[54]
Forsake their temples dim,
With that twise batter'd god[55] of Palestine;
And mooned Ashtaroth,
Heav'ns queen and mother both,
Now sits not girt with tapers holy shine;
The Lybic Hammon shrinks his horn;
In vain the Tyrian maids their wounded Thammuz mourn;[56]
XXIII.
And sullen Moloch, fled,
Hath left in shadows dred[57]
His burning idol all of blackest hue;
In vain with cymbals ring
They call the grisly[58] King
In dismall dance about the furnace blue;
The brutish[59] gods of Nile as fast,
Isis, and Orus, and the dog Anubis last.
XXIV.
Nor is Osiris seen
In Memphian grove or green
Trampling the unshowr'd grass[60] with lowings loud,
Nor can he be at rest
Within his sacred chest;
Naught but profoundest hell can be his shroud;
In vain with timbrel'd anthems dark
The sable-stoled sorcerers bear his worshipt ark.
XXV.
He feels from Judas land
The dredded Infants hand;
The rayes of Bethlehem blind his dusky eyn;[61]
Nor all the gods beside
Longer dare abide,
Not Typhon huge ending in snaky twine:
Our Babe, to show his Godhead true,
Can in his swaddling bands controul the damned crew.