Folio 10v

Of Southmost Abarim; in Hesebon
And Horonaim Seons realm, beyond
The flowry dale of Sibma clad with vines,
And Eleale to th' Asphaltick poole.
Peor his other name, when he entic'd
Israel in Sittim on thir march from Nile
To do him wanton rites, which cost them woe.
Yet thence his lustfull Orgies he enlarg'd
Even to that hill of scandall, by the grove
Of Moloch homicide, lust hard by hate;
Till good Josiah drove them thence to hell.
With these came they, who from the bord'ring flood
Of old Euphrates to the brook that parts
Egipt from Syrian ground, had generall names
Of Baalim and Ashtaroth, those male
These feminine. For spirits when they please
Can either sex assume, or both; so soft
And uncompounded is thir essence pure;
Not ti'd or manacl'd with joint or lim,
Nor founded on the brittle strength of bones,
Like cumbrous flesh; but in what shape they chuse
Dilated or condens'd, bright or obscure,
Can execute thir aerie purposes,
And works of love or enmity fulfill.
For these the race of Israel oft forsook

Paradise Lost. Manuscript of Book I, in the hand of an amanuensis, ca. 1665.