LEADER of those bright Armies, which none but the Omnipotent could ever have overcome; if they but once hear that Voice, their greateft Surety of Hope in Fears, and Dangers, which they have fo often heard in the worst Extreams, and which in the hazardous Edge of Battle, and in all Affaults has been their fureft Signal, they will foon recover, take new Courage, and revive, though they now lie in extreme Mifery, and proftrate on yonder Lake of Fire, as we not long fince did, aftonish'd and confounded, which is no Wonder, confidering that we fell from fuch a dangerous Height. He had fcarce done fpeaking when the fuperior Fiend SATAN was moving towards the Shore; his heavy Shield of heavenly Workmanship, maffy, large, and round, was caft behind him; the broad Compass of it hung on his Shoulders like the Moon, whofe Orb the TUSCAN (a) Artift (b) views through optic (a) Tufcan; one of the Tufci or Hetrufci; the antient People of Tuscany in Italy, that came from Phenicia; but Juftin fays from Lydia, L. 20. The Latins had long Wars with them, and at laft conquered them under Servius Tullus, the 6th King of Rome. It is now a fine Country, fubject to the Grand Duke of Tufcany, in Extent about 144 Miles. It was called Hetruria now Tujtany, and the People Tufcans or Hetrurians. (b) Antift; Fr. Lat. One that is fkill'd in any Art or Science: Milton means Galileo Galilæi, an excellent Aftronomer, and Native of Florence, the Capital of Tuscany, chief Philofopher and Mathematician to the Grand Duke of Tuscany; who invented thofe Glaffes whereby he discovered Spots in the Sun, Mountains, Rivers, &c. in the Moon; the Nature of the Milky-Way; the various Appearances of Saturn; many new Stars about Orion and Cancer; and 62,500 Stars, whereof 63 only appeared to the bare Eye. For these useful Difcoveries he was imprisoned five Years by the Inquifition, condemned by Pope Urban 8, forc'd to recant at 60, and died at 78 Years of Age, A. D. 1642. But that firft Invention was owing to Roger Bacon, Fellow of Martin-College of Oxford, long before Galilæo. And others af cribe optic Glaffes in an Evening, from the Top of F ESOLE, (c) or elfe in VALDAR NO, (d) to discover Mountains, Rivers, or new Lands on her Globe; the tallest Pine hewn on the Mountains of NORWAY, to be a Mast for the Ship of fome great Admiral, were but little in Comparison of his Spear, with which he walked to fupport his uneafy Steps over the burning Sulphur, (not like his former Steps in Heaven) and the Heat of Hell fmote on him fore befides, for it was furrounded and cover'd with Fire; nevertheless he endur'd it, 'till he came to the Brink of that infla-. med Sea, where he stood and call'd his Legions, Angelick Forms, who lay intranc'd and confounded with their Fall; as thick as Leaves in Autumn, that fall into the Brooks in VALOMBROSA, (e) where the Trees cover over and fhade the Stream; or like fcatter'd Sedge afloat, when ORION, (f) attended with boisterous Winds, hath vexed the Coaft of the RED-SEA, (g) whofe cribe it to Mr. James Metius of Amfterdam. But Galilao brought it to vaft Perfection. C (c) Fefola; vulg. Fieffole and Fiezzole; call'd Feffala by Tit. Livius, Pliny, and Silius Italicus. It was an antient City of Tufcany near Florence, the Refidence of the Tufcan Augurs, who taught the old Romans their fuperftitious Divinations, Sacrifices, &c. Here the great Galileo refided, and made his Aftronomical Observations from the Top of the Towers thereof. (d) Valdarno; Ital. from the Lat. i. e. The Valley on the River Arnus. It is a fruitful Vale on the River Arno, which runs through Tuscany and by Florence into the Tuscan Sea. () Vallembrofa ; Ital. Lat, i. e. A fhady Valley; a fruitful and pleasant Valley in Tuscany, full of Shades and fruitful Trees. (f) Orion; Lat. from the Gr. i. e. Urine or Tempest. An Aftron. T. It is a Southern Conftellation of 30 Stars, rifing on the 9th of March, and setting in November; in November; and bringeth Storms and Rain with it. See Job 9. 9. Amos 5. 8. Some call Orion the God of the Winds. (g) Red-Sea; Heb. It is fo called from Efau or Edom, be cause of the red-colour'd Pottage which he purchas'd of Jacob; for his Dominions lay along that Sea, and from him the Country was called Idumea, i. e. Red: And fo the old Egyptians call'd whofe Waves overthrew BUSIRIS (b) and his MEM PHIAN () Horfemen and Chariots, while with treacherous Hatred they purfu'd the ISRAELITES, who from the fafe Shore beheld their Carcafes floating, and their broken Chariot Wheels; fo thick lay thefe, abject and loft, in a Manner covering the Flood, and ir the utmoft Confternation and Amazement at their hideous and unhappy Change. call'd it Rythra, i. e. Red, which the Greeks turned into Erythra or Erythras, and the Latins into Mare Erythraum, i. e. The Red Sea. But in the Hebrew it is called Suph, i. e. The Sea of Sedge or Weeds, which grow and float upon it in Abundance. This Sea parts Egypt from Arabia, and therefore it is called alfo the Arabian Gulf. (b) Bufiris; Lat. from the Gr. i. e. A Manager of Oxen; because he butcher'd Men like Oxen. A cruel Tyrant of Egypt in the Time of Mofes, who under a Pretence of intreating Strangers, facrificed them upon his Altars. He built the famous City of Zoan or Tanais, and made it the Seat of his Kingdom. This Fable fignifies that Pharaoh, who put the Ifraelites to a very hard Slavery like Oxen; for which Hercules, the true Mofes, deftroy'd him and all his Attendants in the Red-Sea. Some call him Amenophis, but others Cenchres. (i) Memphian; of or belong. ing to Memphis; Heb. i. e. A populous Country or great City. In Heb. it's called Moph and Noph, which the Greeks turned into Memphis. This great City was built, as fome fay, a little before the Flood; and being afterwards repair'd and enlarg'd, it became the Royal City of Egypt, 'till the Time of the Ptolomies, who refided at Alexandria; because it was built by Alexander the Great. It was a great City, feven Leagues in Circuit; becaufe in Length of Time four Cities became one; and stood on the Weft Side of the Nile. was deftroy'd by the Arabs, as the Prophets foretold; and out of its Ruins they built another on the other Side of the River, call'd alcair, Heb. i. e. The City; which the French call Grand Cairo, i. e. The Great City. Here it is taken for the whole People of Egypt, in the Days of Bufiris. It CHAP. CHA P. II. Şatan awakens all his Legions, who lay 'till then confounded; they rife. Their Numbers. Array of Battle. Their chief Leaders nam'd, according to the Idols known in Canaan and the Countries adjoining. ATAN call'd fo loud, that his Voice refounded through all the hollow Deep of Hell. S through PRINCES, (k) Potentates, (1) Warriors, chief Powers of Heaven, which once was yours, but now is loft; if fuch an Aftonishment as this can feize eternal Spirits, or rather have you chofe this Place to repofe your weary'd Virtue in, after the Fatigues of the Battle, for the Ease you find to flumber here, as if it were in the bleffed Manfions of Heaven; or have ye fworn in this abject Manner to worship the Conqueror, who even this Minute beholds Cherubim and Seraphim rowling in the Flood, with their Banners and Enfigns fcatter'd, 'till perhaps e'er long, those who purfu'd us out of Heaven difcern the Advantage, and defcending from above, thus drooping as we are, tread us down; or with Thunder-bolts link'd together, transfix us to the very Bottom of this Gulph: Therefore awake, arife now, or else be for ever fallen! THEY heard him and were afham'd, and fprung up upon the Wing; as when Men who are us'd to watch on Duty are found fleeping, by those of whom they stand in Dread, get up in Surprize, and begin to flir about before they are well awake. Not that they did not fee the evil Condition which they were in, or feel the fierce Pain, yet they foon obey'd their General's Voice, and appear'd innumerable; as when the potent Rod of MOSES, in the evil Day of EGYPT, (m) was ftretch'd forth over the Land, and call'd up a black (m) Egypt; Lat. from the Gr. i. e. The Land of the gopti, Cophti, and Copti, from Coptus the Metropolis of Thebais, a City mentioned by Strabo and Plutarch; or from Cobtim, the People and firft King that fettled in that Country, and of the Pofterity of Ham; or from Egyptus, the Brother of Danaus, and an antient King of it. This Monarchy lafted 1300 Years 'till Alexander the Great. In the OldTeftameut 'tis call'd the Land of Ham and Mizraim. (Mizraim fignifies Afflictions, and is a Prediction of the Tribulations the People of God were afterwards to fuffer there.) The Greeks call it Egyptos, q. Ge Coptoon, and Chamia or Chemia, i. e. the Land of the Copti and of Cham; the Turks and Arabs call it Mizri and Mir. to this Day. An antient and fertile Kingdom of Africa; having Ethiopia on the South, the Red Sea and Ifthmus of Suez on the Eaft, the Mediterranean Sea on the North, and the Defarts of Lybia on the Weft. It is about 650 Miles in Length, and 310 Miles in Breadth. It was peopled foon after the Deluge, had Kings in the Days of Abraham, Gen. 12. 10. celebrated for the great Skill of the People in polite Literature. Nebuchadnezzar vanquifh'd it, Cambyfes brought it into the Power of the Perftans, A. M. 3479. Then it fell into the Hands of the Grecians for 300 Years. The Romans reduc'd it into a Province, and called it Augufta, who held it for 313 Years. The Saracens, then the Mamalucs, and at laft the Turks became Mafters of it. There is little Rain, but the Overflowing of the Nile yearly renders it very fertile: So that it was always a Granary to Canaan, Arabia, Greece and Rome, and is now to Conftantinople; though fometimes there have been Famines there. The Harveft is in our March and April. The evil Day of Egypt was under the ten Plagues mentioned Exod. 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11. |