143. like glories wearing. The adjective _like_ means nothing without a complement, though the complement sometimes has to be supplied, as in this instance. Fully expressed the passage would be,--_wearing glories like those of Truth and Justice_. The _like_ in such a case as this must be spoken with a fuller tone than when its construction is completely expressed. 155. those ychained in sleep. The poets, in order to gain a syllable, long continued to use the ancient participle prefix _y_. See _yclept_, Allegro 12. 157. With such a horrid clang. See Exodus XIX. 168. The Old Dragon. See Revelation XII 9. 173. Stanzas XIX-XXVI announce the deposition and expulsion of the pagan deities, and the ruin of the ancient religions. In accordance with his custom of grouping selected proper names in abundance, thus giving vividness and concreteness to his story and sonority to his verse, the poet here illustrates the triumph of the new dispensation by citing the names of various gods from the Roman, Greek, Syrian, and Egyptian mythologies. 176. Apollo, the great god, whose oracle was at Delphi, or Delphos. 179. spell, as in Comus 853, and often. 186. Genius. A Latin word, signifying a tutelary or guardian spirit supposed to preside over a person or place. See Lycidas 183, and Penseroso 154. 191. The Lars and Lemures. In the Roman mythology these were the spirits of dead ancestors, worshipped or propitiated in families as having power for good or evil over the fortunes of their descendants. 194. Affrights the flamens. The Roman flamens were the priests of particular gods. 195. the chill marble seems to sweat. Many instances of this phenomenon are reported. Thus Cicero, in his _De Divinatione_, tells us: "It was reported to the senate that it had rained blood, that the river Atratus had even flowed with blood, and that the statues of the gods had sweat." 197. Peor and Baaelim. Syrian false gods. See Numbers XXV 3. 199. that twice-battered god of Palestine. See I Samuel V 2. 200. mooned Ashtaroth. See I Kings XI 33. 203. The Lybic Hammon. "Hammon had a famous temple in Africa, where he was adored under the symbolic figure of a ram." 204. their wounded Thammuz. See Ezekiel VIII 14. 205. sullen Moloch. See Par. Lost I 392-396. 210. the furnace blue. Compare Arcades 52. 212. Isis, and Orus, and the dog Anubis. Egyptian deities, the latter figured as having the head of a dog. 213. Nor is Osiris seen. Osiris was the principal god of the Egyptians, brother and husband of Isis. His highest function was as god of the Nile. He met his death at the hands of his brother Typhon, a deity of sterility, by whom he was torn into fourteen pieces. Thereupon a general lament was raised throughout Egypt. The bull Apis was regarded as the visible incarnation of Osiris.--_Murray's Manual of Mythology_. 215. the unshowered grass. Remember, this was in Egypt.