BOOK TWELFTH
��239
��Is meant thy great Deliverer, who shall
bruise 149
The Serpent's head; whereof to thee anon Plainlier shall be revealed. This patriarch
blest, Whom faithful Abraham due time shall
call,
A son, and of his son a grandchild, leaves, Like him in faith, in wisdom, and renown. The grandchild, with twelve sons increased,
departs
From Canaan to a land hereafter called Egypt, divided by the river Nile; See where it flows, disgorging at seven
months
Into the sea. To sojourn in that land He comes, invited by a younger son 160 In time of dearth a sou whose worthy
deeds
Raise him to be the second in that realm Of Pharaoh. There he dies, and leaves his
race
Growing into a nation, and now grown Suspected to a sequent king, who seeks To stop their overgrowth, as inmate guests Too numerous ; whence of guests he makes
them slaves
Inhospitably, and kills their infant males: Till, by two brethren (those two brethren
call 169
Moses and Aaron) sent from God to claim His people from enthralment, they return, With glory and spoil, back to their promised
land.
But first the lawless tyrant, who denies To know their God, or message to regard, Must be compelled by signs and judgments
dire:
To blood unshed the rivers must be turned ; Frogs, lice, and flies must all his palace fill With loathed intrusion, and fill all the land ; His cattle must of rot and murrain die; 179 Botches and blains must all his flesh imboss, And all his people; thunder mixed with
hail,
Hail mixed with fire, must rend the Egyp- tian sky, And wheel on the earth, devouring where it
rolls ;
What it devours not, herb, or fruit, or grain, A darksome cloud of locusts swarming
down Must eat, and on the ground leave nothing
green; Darkness must overshadow all his bounds,
��Palpable darkness, and blot out three days; Last, with one midnight-stroke, all the first- born
Of Egypt must lie dead. Thus with ten wounds 190
The River-dragon tamed at length submits To let his sojourners depart, and oft Humbles his stubborn heart, but still as ice More hardened after thaw; till, in his rage Pursuing whom he late dismissed, the sea Swallows him with his host, but them lets
pass,
As on dry land, between two crystal walls, Awed by the rod of Moses so to stand Divided till his rescued gain their shore: Such wondrous power God to his Saint will lend, zoo
Though present in his Angel, who shall go Before them in a cloud, and pillar of fire By day a cloud, by night a pillar of fire To guide them in their journey, and remove Behind them, while the obddrate king pur- sues.
All night he will pursue, but his approach Darkness defends between till morning- watch ;
Then through the fiery pillar and the cloud God looking forth will trouble all his host, And craze their chariot- wheels : when, by command, 210
Moses once more his potent rod extends Over the sea; the sea his rod obeys; On their imbattled ranks the waves return, And overwhelm their war. The race elect Safe towards Canaan, from the shore, ad- vance Through the wild Desert not the readiest
way.
Lest, entering on the Canaanite alarmed, War terrify them inexpert, and fear Return them back to Egypt, choosing rather Inglorious life with servitude; for life 220 To noble and ignoble is more sweet Untrained in arms, where rashness leads
not on.
This also shall they gain by their delay In the wide wilderness: there they shall
found Their government, and their great Senate
choose Through the twelve Tribes, to rule by laws
ordained. God, from the Mount of Sinai, whose grey
top Shall tremble, he descending, will himself,
�� �
