Page:Paradise lost by Milton, John.djvu/286

280 To hide me, and the dark intent I bring— O foul descent! that I, who erst contended With Gods to sit the highest, am now constrained Into a beast, and, mixed with bestial slime, This essence to incarnate and imbrute, That to the highth of Deity aspired. But what will not ambition and revenge Descend to? Who aspires must down as low As high he soared, obnoxious first or last To basest things. Revenge, at first though sweet, Bitter ere long back on itself recoils.— Let it; I reck not, so it light well amid, Since higher I fall short, on him who next Provokes my envy, this new favorite Of Heaven, this man of clay, son of despite, Whom, us the more to spite, his Maker raised From dust. Spite then with spite is best repaid."
 * So saying, through each thicket, dank or dry,

Like a black mist low-creeping, he held on His midnight search, where soonest he might find The serpent. Him fast sleeping soon he found, In labyrinth of many a round self-rolled, His head the midst, well stored with subtle wiles; Not yet in horrid shade or dismal den, Nor nocent yet; but on the grassy herb, Fearless unfeared, he slept. In at his mouth The Devil entered, and his brutal sense, In heart or head, possessing soon inspired