REDEMPTION. 45
The varying sense of fickle man; pure,
For the lustrate; for the impure, obscene;
Hideous, to terrify the weak; ornate,
The fanciful to please; hermetic last
For wise, who chief are trick'd with subtil lore.
Thus Belu?, who the Babylonians duped,
Assyria, and all the spacious east,
Rose first, whose temple Babel was ; Baal
His name the Canaanites among; the next,
Astarte, his obscene consort, fit pair
The sons of Noe to seduce, and shape
To our intent; Phoenice chiefest seat
Of her adoring rites, adulterous.
And who of hell has never heard the fame
Of Dagon ? fishy monster half, half man;
The more of monster he, the more adored,
Which stands the certain seal of our success,
And well might raise the wonder both of heav'n
And hell. But here in our affairs occurs
Some change, secret till now, and unexposed.
The world lay prostrate at our feet, when Heav'n
To secure the slight allegiance he held,
Living reponses gave, and oracles
Endow'd Urim and Thummim, chief the means
Thus used. So we, as who me knows, knows well
How this was met, and knows with what success.
First, Libyan and Dodouian Hammon rose,
Famous in Egypt, chief in Thebes renown'd,
Whose temples, monuments, and hundred gates,
Magnificent, conspired to swell the fame
Of his high state. Memphian Serapis next,
Scarcely less eminent, appear'd; three fanes
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