232 PARADISE LOST. Boole IX: Subje6ted to his fervice Angel-wings, 155 And flaming minifters, to watch and tend Their earthy charge. Of thefe the vigilance I dread, and to elude, thus wiap'd in mill Of midnight vapor glide obfcure, and pry In every bufb, and broke, where hap may find 166 The ferpent fleeping ; in whole mazy folds To hide me, and the dark intent I bring. 0 foul defcent ! that I, who erft contended With Gods to fit the hghefl, am now conflrain'd Into a bead ; and mixt with beflial flume, 165 This effence to incarnate and imbrute ; That to the height of Deity afpir'd ! But what will not ambition, and revenge, Defcend to ? who alpires, mull down as low, As high he foar'd ; obnoxious, firft or laff, 170. To baleft things. Revenge, at firft though Agee, Bitter e'er long back on it felf recoils : Let it ; I reek not, fo it light well aim'd ! Since higher I fall fhort, on him who next Provokes my envy (this new favorite 775 Of heav'n, this man of clay, fon of defpite, Whom, us the more to fpite, his maker rais'd From dull) fpite then with fpite is heft repaid. So Paying, through each thicket, dank or dry, Like a black mill low creeping, he held on i8'© His midnight-fearch, where foonetl he might find The ferpent : him fart-fleeping loon he found, In labyrinth of many a round felf-rowl'd ; His head the midft, well-ftor'd with fubtil wiles : Not yet in horrid (bade, or difmal den, 185 Nor nocent yet ; but, on the graffy herb, Fearlefs un-fear'd he flept. In at his mouth The Devil enter'd ; and his brutal fenfe, (In
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