Hell scarce holds the wild Uproar: As when HERCULES, (p) crown'd with Conqueft from THESSALY, (9) after he had put on the poifon'd Robe, through Pain tore up Pines by the Roots, and threw LICHAS (r) from OETA (s) into the Black Sea. Others more mild retreated into a filent Valley, and fung to Harps in Angelical Notes their own heroick Deeds and unhappy Fall, by Chance of War, and complain that Fate fhould enflave free Virtue: Their Song was partial, but the Melody fufpended the Pains of Hell, and gave a great Delight to the thronging Audience; what lefs could be, feeing that they were immortal Spirits that fung?

(p) Hercules, the Son of Jupiter and Alcmena, and Grandfon of Alcæus. After many mighty Deeds, called his twelve Labours, he ran mad, by putting on a poisoned Vest, stained with the Blood of Neffus the Centaur, whom he had kill'd with a poifon'd Arrow, for a foul Affront offer'd to his Wife: Neffus in Revenge perfuaded her to put it upon Hercules, as an Antidote to the Love of other Women When he put it on he ran mad, burnt himself to Death, and was afterwards deified.

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(a) Theffaly; Lat. Gr. i. e. Situated upon the Seu; or from The alus, one of the antient Kings; and Pelafgia, when the Pelafgi fettled there. A Country of Greece, having Achaia on the South, Epirus on the Weft, and a Part of Macedonia; very woody and fruitful. The People were given to Horfemanship and the Knowledge of poisonous Herbs, which abounded in it.

IN

(+) Lichas; Lat. Gr. i. e. A Man of Lychia; i. e. A Sta ture: Because it was the Country of the Giants, Men of a large Stature. He was the Servant of Hercules, by whom Dejanira fent him that poison'd Garment, which made him fo outragious, that he threw Lichas headlong into the Sea, where he perished.

(s) Oeta: Lat. from the Gr. i. e. Deftruction: From Oetus, a Giant, who dwelt on it, and destroyed all before him; a very high Mountain, dividing Thef faly from Macedonia, whereon Hercules burnt himself to Death: Hence the Poets call him Oetaus, and from which he threw Lychas into the Sea, tho' many Miles diftant from it, now Bannia. Near it are the famous Straits, call'd Thermopyla, 25 Foot broad.

IN Difcourfe ftill more fweet (for Eloquence charms the Soul, and Song only the Senfe) others fat apart retir'd upon a Hill, in Thoughts more elevated, and they reafon'd high of PROVIDENCE, of FOREKNOWLEDGE, WILL, and FATE; FIX'D FATE, FREE WILL, and ABSOLUTE FORE-KNOWLEDGE; and in these perplexing Contemplations were loft in wandering Mazes, and found no End: Then they argu'd much about Good and Evil, of Happiness, and of eternal Mifery, of the Paffions, of Apathy, and Glory, and Shame; all which was vain Wisdom, and falfe Philofophy; yet with a pleafing Sorcery it could charm Pain and Sorrow of Mind for a Time, and raife deceitful Hope, or arm the harden'd Heart with stubborn Patience, as it were with Steel.

ANOTHER Part bend their flying March four Ways in Squadrons and great Bands, upon a bold Adventure, to make fresh Discoveries in that dismal World, if peradventure any Part of it might yield them a happier Habitation: Their Way was along the Banks of the four Rivers of Hell, that discharge their deadly Streams into the burning Lake; abhorred STYX, (t) the River of Hatred; fad ACHERON; (u) COCYTUS, (x) the River of Lamentation; and fierce PHLEGETON,

(t) Styx I. Lat. Gr. i. e. Hatred and Horror. The Poets feigned four Rivers in Hell, to whom they gave Names from fuch horrible poisonous and deadly Springs as were known to them, to let forth the Dreadfalnefs of future Torments. They fay, this River ran nine Times round Hell.

(u) Acheron, or Acherus; II. Lat. Gr. i. e. Sad, forrowful, and comfortless; Heb. i. e. Out

moft. A poisonous Spring in
Peloponnefus.
Peloponnefus. This Fable im-
plies Death, the King of Ter-

rors.

(a) Cocytus; III. Lat. Gr. i. e. Lamentation, Weeping; for it is faid to have fwell'd with the Tears of the Tormented. Homer places it in Cimmeria (which is Scythia, now Tartary). and makes Hell to be there; because of the Blacknefs and Darkness of that Country.

PHLEGETON, (y) whofe Waves boil with raging Fire. Not far from thefe runs a flow and filent Stream in a watry Labyrinth, (z) call'd LETHE, (a) the River of Oblivion, whereof whoever drinks forgets all his former State and Being, both Joy and Grief, Pleasure and Pain. Beyond this Flood lies a frozen Continent, dark and wild, beat with continual Storms of Whirlwind and Hail, which not thawing on the firm Land, gathers to a Heap, and feems like the Ruins of fome old Building, all befides being deep Snow and Ice; a Gulph as deep as that SERBONIAN (b) Bog, betwixt DAMIATA

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DAMIATA (c) and Mount CASIU's, (d) where whole Armies have funk: The parching Air burns in Frost, and Cold performs the Effect of Fire: Thither at certain Revolutions all the Damn'd are dragg'd by their Tormentors, and by Turns feel the bitter Change of fierce Extreams, which by Change are made more fierce; their foft etherial Warmth forc'd from Beds of raging Fire, to ftarve in Ice, there to pine immoveable, fix'd in and frozen round for Periods of Time, and from thence be hurried back to Fire. They pass over this River LETHE, both to and fro, to heighten their Sorrow, and wish and struggle as they pass to reach the much defir'd Stream; with one Drop of its Water, to lose in fweet Forgetfulness all Sorrow and Pain in one Moment, being fo near the Brink: But Fate oppofes, and Spirits of Horror, like MEDUSA, (e) with GORGONIAN (f) Terror guard

and fo were swallowed up therein and loft. Indeed that large Tract of Land abounds with Quickfands, Mountains and Heaps of Sands, wherein many Travellers have been buried alive, as Cambyfes loft 50,000 Men in the Sands of Lybia. This Lake has been filled up long ago, and is not to be found now.

(c) Damiata, or Damieta; Heb. i. e. Dirt or Mud. A Town in Egypt upon the Mouth of the Miditerranean Sea, and the moft Easterly Bank of the Nile, hear Old Pelufium, which fignifies alfo Dirt; becaufe both are fituated in a dirty, Clay Soil. Thefe Cities were the Key and Bulwark of Egypt. Damiata was founded by Ifis, and deftroyed by the Saracens, in the Holy War; but is now a Flace of great Trade.

the

(d) Cafius, or Caffius; Syr. i. e. A Boundary; because it parts Egypt and Palestine: A fandy Mountain on the farther Side of Pelufium, near the Serbonian Bog, between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, extending Southward to Arabia Petræa: At the Foot of it flood once a Town called Caftum, famous for the Temple of Jupiter Cafius, wherein ftood a Statue of him in full Proportion, ftretching out his Right Hand with a Pomegranate, the Emblem of his being the Terminal God, defending the Borders of that Nation.

(e) Medufa; Lat. Gr. i. e. An imperious Queen, the Daughter of Ceto Phoreas, a King of Corfica and Sardinia; very beautiful, having golden Hair; of which fhe was exceeding proud,

and

the Ford, and the Water of itself flies from the Tafte of all living Creatures, as once it fell from the Lip of TANTALUS. (g) Thus the Fallen Spirits roving on in confus'd March, forlorn and pale, with fhuddering Horror, and with ghaftly Eyes first view'd their lamentable Lot, and found no Reft: They pafs'd along through many a dark and dreary Vale, and many a difmal Region, over many a frozen and many a fiery ALP; (b) Rocks, Caves, Lakes, Fenns, Bogs, Dens, and Shades of Death; a Universe of Death! which GOD created Evil by a Curfe; Good only for Evil, where all Life dies, where Death lives, and Nature breeds perverfely all monftrous and prodigious Things, abominable and beyond all Expreffion; and worse than ever Fables yet have feign'd, or Fear conceiv'd,

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and contended with Minerva, for which the Goddess turned it into Snakes; which were fo terrible, that they turned all that beheld them into Stones. Perfeus cut off her Head, that it might not deftroy the whole Country; and as he carried it thro' Africa, the Drops of Blood became Serpents: Hence they fay, it is infefted with fwarms of Serpents and other venemous Creatures, above other Parts of the World.

(f) Gorgonian, of the Gorgons; Lat. Gr. i. e. Cruelty. The Gorgons were fo called from Gorgon, a venomous Beast in Africa; they were the three Daughters of Phæcus, viz. Medufa, Steno, and Euryale: So called from their Savageness; because they killed at the very Sight.

(g) Tantalus; Gr. Lat. i. e. moft miferable. The Son of Jupiter and Plota. He killed and

dreffed up his Son Pelops to the Gods, at a. Feaft: for which they condemned him to Hell; where he was fet in Water to the Chin, with Apples bobbing at his Lips; yet could taste of neither.

(b) Alp for Alps; by a Fig. of Rhet. Lat. i. e. white: because they are always White with Snow, or high; a long Range of lofty and steep Mountains, which parts Italy and Germany and France: It coft Hannibal the Carthaginian General, nine Days before he got to the Top of them; and 15 in marching over them; wherein he loft vast Numbers both of Men and Beasts, tho' he mollified the Rocks with Vinegar, and cut them down with fron Tools: But Polybius and Livy fay, that the Italians, Gauls, and others past and repait them, long before this famous Expedition of Hannibal.