Monsters, Head and Tail; Scorpion, and Afp, (b) CERASTES (c) the horned Serpent, dumb ELLOPS, (d) and dreadful DIPSA S, (e) and all Kinds of Serpents: Such prodigious Numbers as never were seen in OPHIUSA, (f) or other Place more infested with them: But ftill SATAN amidft them was the largeft of all, being now grown a Dragon, larger than that the Sun was feign'd to have engender'd in the PYTHIAN Vale on Slime, and was call'd huge PyTHON; and he feem'd ftill to retain his Power above the rest. They all follow'd him rushing forth to the open Field, where the reft of that revolted Rout that were fallen from Heaven ftood in their Station, drawn up in Array, exalted in their Expectation, when they Z 2 fhould

(b) Ap; Lat. from the Gr. Poifon ; or not extending; because they lay round commonly. A very venomous Serpent, whose Poifon kills fpeedily. It is fmall like a Land-Snake, but of a broader Back, having red and inflamed Eyes, hard and dry Scales. Some are above a Foot and half long; others three, four and fix Foot. The fhorteft kill fooneft. They abound in Africa, kill inftantly and without any Remedy. See Acts 28. 6. And even in Britain their Bite is mortal, but not fo fpeedy; but in Egypt they are tame and abide in the Houses.

(c) Ceraftes; Gr. i. e. Horn. ed. q. The horned Serpent: For it hath four Pair of Horns, others fay only two.

(d) Ellops; Gr. i. e. Without a Voice. A dumb and filent Serpent, that gives no Notice of his Approach, as others do by Hiffing, Rattles, &c. So no Creature can avoid it.

(e) Dipfas; Lat. Gr. i. e. Thirst. And alfo Caufan; Gr. i. e. Burning. A Serpent with a great Neck and black Back, lefs than a Viper, but more venomous and quicker in killing. It is in Lybia, Syria, and other hot Regions. The Poison of it is vaftly hot, dries up the Blood, and infects every Creature which it ftings, with a moft vehement Heat and Thirft, unquenchable and incurable, whereof they die quickly.

(f) Ophiufa; Gr. and Colu braria, Lat. i. e. The Serpentine Ifland; because it is much infefted with Serpents, of which there are three moft remarkable, viz. Two in the Mediterranean Sea, and one in the Propontis, near Conftantinople, which the Inhabitants quitted for Fear of thefe Vermin. Some fay Cyprus was one of the two.

fhould fee their glorious Chief come forth in Triumph. They faw (but 'twas a Sight quite different) a Crowd of ugly Serpents: Horror at once fell on them, and horrid Sympathy; for what they saw they felt themselves now changing; down fell their Arms, Spear and Shield, and they as faft; and renew'd the dire Hifs, and catch'd the dire Form by Contagion; alike in Punishment, as in their Crime. Thus the Applause they meant was turn'd to an exploding Hiss, and their defign'd Triumph to Shame, caft upon themselves from their own Mouths.

HARD by there ftood a Grove, which fprung up at the Time of their Transformation, (fuch was the Will of him who reigns in Heaven!) to aggravate their Patience, which was laden with Fruit like that which grew in PARADISE, and was the Bait the Tempter had us'd to catch EVE: On that strange Profpect they earnestly fix'd their Eyes, imagining, that for one forbidden Tree there was now rifen a Multitude, to work them further Mifery or Shame: Yet, parch'd with burning Thirst and fierce Hunger, could not abftain, though they were fent only to delude them; but on they rowl'd in Heaps, and climbing up the Trees, fat thicker than thofe, which are feign'd to dress the Heads of the FURIES: They greedily pluck'd the Fruit, fair to the Sight, like that which grew near the Sea of SODOM; (g) though this more delufive, did not deceive the Touch but the Taste: They fondly thinking to allay their Appetite with a good Guft, instead of Fruit chew'd only bitter Ashes, which the offended Taste rejected with Diflike; often they tried, Hunger and Thirst constraining them, and were as often tormented with the hateful Difrelifh, writhing their Jaws about that were fill'd with

(g) The Sea of Sodom. JoSephus fays, the Apples of Sodom were very fair and pleasant

Soot

to the Sight; but when touch'd they flew into Smoak and Ashes.

Soot and Cinders. Thus they often fell into the fame Illufion; not as MAN, whom they triumph'd over, who fell but once; thus were they plagu'd and worn with Famine, and with long and continual Hiffing, 'till by Permiffion they refum'd their loft Shape: Yet fome fay, that every Year for a certain Number of Days, they are enjoin'd to undergo this Humbling, to dash their Pride and Joy for feducing MAN. However, they difpers'd fome Tradition among the Heathen, of the Purchase they had got; and fabled how the Serpent, whom they call'd OPHION, (h) with EURYNOME, (i) (who encroach'd on her Hufband, and ruin'd his Pofterity) had first the Rule of high OLYMPUS; that they were driven thence by SATURN and OPs, (k) before the DICTEAN (1) JOVE was yet born.

Z 3

(b) Ophion; Lat. from the Gr. i. e. A Serpent. One of the Companions of Cadmus, who fprung out of the Teeth of that Serpent, which Cadmus flew. Others make him to have been one of the Titanes, the Hufband of Eurynome, poffefs'd of the Government of all Things; the antientest of all the Gods, who reign'd on Olympus, long before Saturn and Jupiter dethroned him and his Wife.

(i) Eurynome; Lat. from the Gr. i. e. Ruling wide, encroaching: The Daughter of Oceanus, and Wife of Ophion, which encroach'd on her Hufband, and ruin'd herPofterity. Under this Fable the Heathens couch'd Adam and Eve, and their Expulfion out of Paradise.

(k) Ops: Lat. from the Gr. i. e. Riches. The Daughter of

CHA P.

Heaven and Earth, the Sifter and Wife of Saturn. The Greeks call'd her alfo Rhea, i. e. Flowing with Wealth. Ops is the Earth, out of which all Riches are produc'd. Or Eve, the Sifter and Wife of Adam, the Saturn of the Heathens; for the came out of the fame Womb, i. e. the Earth, and was expell'd Paradise.

(1) Di&ean, of Dictea, Lat. Gr. i. e. A Place of Nets and Fishermen. A City and Mountain in Crete, between Gnofus and Samois, now called Caffiti; where Jupiter was nurfed. It was fo called from Dictymna, one of Diana's Companions in hunting, which first found out Fishing Nets, and was worshipped there; and from the Fishermen who lived there.

The Proceedings of Sin and Death; God foretells the final Victory over them, and the renewing of all Things; but for the prefent commands feveral Alterations to be made in the Elements.

M

EAN while the hellish Offfpring of SATAN arriv'd too foon in PARADISE; SIN, who was there potentially before the Fall, (there being a Poffibility of it, and actually when the Tranfgreffion was) but now appears in Perfon to dwell and take Poffeffion: Behind her came DEATH, (m) following clofe, Step for Step, not yet mounted on his pale Horfe: To whom SIN began to speak thus:

ALL-CONQUERING DEATH! and the fecond that fprung from SATAN! what doft thou now think of our Empire? Though obtain'd with Difficulty, is not it far better than still to have fat watching at Hell's dark Threshold? To be neither nam'd nor fear'd, and thou to remain half-ftarv'd?

To whom the Monster, that SIN brought into the World, foon anfwer'd: Alike to me, who pine with eternal Hunger, is Hell, or PARADISE, or Heaven; that Place is beft for me, where I may meet with most Prey; which here, though plentiful, feems all too little to ftuff this Maw, this vaft Corps, which has been fo long kept hungry, and has Room for all.

To whom SIN, his incestuous Mother, thus reply'd: Do thou therefore feed firft upon these Herbs, and Fruits, and Flowers; next upon every Beaft, and Fish, and Fowl; (and fure these are no coarse Morfels!) and then devour unfpar'd whatever the Scythe of TIME mows down; 'till I, refiding in MA N, quite through the Race, infect all his Thoughts, Looks, Words, and Actions, and season him for thy last and fweetest Prey.

HAVING faid this, they each betook them their feveral Way, both bent to deftroy, or render Things of all Kinds perishable or liable to Mortality; and fooner or later ripen them for Destruction: Which the ALMIGHTY feeing from his bright Throne among the Saints, thus to thofe bright Orders utter'd his Voice:

SEE! with what Fury thefe Dogs of Hell advance, to destroy and ruin yonder World; which I created fo fair and good, and had ftill kept in that State, had not MAN's Folly let in these wafteful Furies, who impute Folly to me: So does SATAN, the Prince of Hell, and his Adherents, that I fuffer them to enter with so much Eafe, and poffefs fo heavenly a Place ; and conniving, feem to gratify my fcornful Enemies, that laugh as if I (tranfported with fome Fit of Paffion) had quitted at Random, and yielded up all to their Mismanagement; and don't know that I call'd and drew them thither, only as my Hell-Hounds, to lick up the Dregs and Filth, which the Pollution of MAN'S Sin had shed with a Taint upon what was pure; 'till cramm'd and gorg'd, and ready to burst, at one Stroke of thy victorious Arm, O my Son, in whom I am well pleas'd! SIN and DEATH at last being flung to the Mouth of Hell, fhall ftop its Mouth for ever and ever, and feal up its ravenous

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Jaws.