[143. like glories wearing.] The adjective like means nothing without a complement, though the complement sometimes has to be supplied, as in this instance. Fully expressed the passage would be,—wearing glories like those of Truth and Justice. The like in such a case as this must be spoken with a fuller tone than when its construction is completely expressed.
[155. those ychained in sleep.] The poets, in order to gain a syllable, long continued to use the ancient participle prefix y. See yclept, [Allegro 12].
[157. With such a horrid clang.] See Exodus XIX.
[168. The Old Dragon.] See Revelation XII 9.
[173.] Stanzas XIX-XXVI announce the deposition and expulsion of the pagan deities, and the ruin of the ancient religions. In accordance with his custom of grouping selected proper names in abundance, thus giving vividness and concreteness to his story and sonority to his verse, the poet here illustrates the triumph of the new dispensation by citing the names of various gods from the Roman, Greek, Syrian, and Egyptian mythologies.
[176. Apollo], the great god, whose oracle was at Delphi, or Delphos.
[179. spell], as in [Comus 853], and often.
[186. Genius.] A Latin word, signifying a tutelary or guardian spirit supposed to preside over a person or place. See [Lycidas 183], and [Penseroso 154].
[191. The Lars and Lemures.] In the Roman mythology these were the spirits of dead ancestors, worshipped or propitiated in families as having power for good or evil over the fortunes of their descendants.
[194. Affrights the flamens.] The Roman flamens were the priests of particular gods.