[56.] mourn. In Phœnicia, in the ancient city of Byblos, a festival of two days was held every year in honor of Adonis, or Thammuz, as the Phœnicians called him. The first day was observed as a day of mourning for the death of the god; the second, as a day of rejoicing because of his return to the earth. The principal participants were young women. The prophet Ezekiel alludes to this subject: "Then he brought me to the door of the gate of the Lord's house which was toward the north; and, behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz."—Ezekiel viii. 14.
Milton, in "Paradise Lost," says:
"Thammuz came next behind,
Whose annual wound in Lebanon allur'd
The Syrian damsels to lament his fate
In amorous ditties all a summer's day."
[57.] Compare with "Paradise Lost," I, 392-405. In Sandys's Travels, published in 1615, and a popular book in Milton's time, the following description is given of the sacrifices made to Moloch: "Therein the Hebrews sacrificed their children to Moloch, an idol of brass, having the head of a calf, the rest of a kingly figure, with arms extended to receive the miserable sacrifice seared to death with his burning embracements. For the idol was hollow within and filled with fire."
[58.] grisly. Frightful, hideous. Probably from A.-S. agrisan, to dread.
[59.] brutish. Shaped like a brute; animal.
Isis. The Egyptian earth-goddess, afterwards worshipped as the goddess of the moon.
Orus. The Egyptian god of the sun.
the dog Anubis. Juvenal says, "Whole towns worship the dog."—Sat., XV, 8.
[60.] unshowr'd. A reference to the general, though erroneous, idea that it does not rain in Egypt.