Folio 11r

Thir living strength, and unfrequented left
His righteous Altar, bowing lowly down
To bestiall gods; for which thir heads as low
Bow'd down in battell, sunk before the spear
Of despicable foes. With these in troop
Came Astoreth, whom the Phoenicians call'd
Astarte queen of heav'n, with crescent horns;
To whose bright image nightly by the moon
Sidonian virgins pay'd thir vows and songs,
In Sion also not unsung, where stood
Her temple on th' offensive mountain, built
By that uxorious king whose heart though large,
Beguil'd by fair Idolatresses, fell
To Idolls foule. Thammuz came next behind,
Whose annuall wound in Lebanon allur'd
The Syrian damsells to lament his fate
In amorous dittyes all a summers day,
While smooth Adonis from his native rock
Ran purple to the sea, suppos'd with blood
Of Thammuz yearly wounded: the love-tale
Infected Sions daughters with like heate,
Whose wanton passions in the sacred porch
Ezekiel saw, when by the vision led
His eye survay'd the dark Idolatries

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