"Henceforth thou art the Genius of the shore."
[51.] consecrated earth—holy hearth. Referring to the places specially haunted by the Lars and Lemures. The Lemures were the spirits of the dead, and were said to wander about at night, frightening the living. The Lares were the household gods, sometimes referred to as the spirits of good men. The former frequented the graveyards; the latter, the hearths.
[52.] Flamins. Priests.
[53.] forgoes. Goes from, gives up, abandons.
[54.] Peor and Baälim. Compare the proper names which occur in this and the following stanzas with those in "Paradise Lost," I, 316-352.
Peor. The name of a mountain of Palestine is here used as one of the titles of Baal, who was worshipped there.
Baälim. Plural of Baal, meaning that god in his various modifications.
Ashtaroth. The Syrian goddess Astarte. But her worship was identified rather with the planet Venus than with the moon.
Hammon. A Libyan deity, represented as a ram or as a man with ram's horns.
[55.] twise batter'd god. Dagon. See 1 Samuel v.