To which the Fiend thus answered, frowning stern: “Not that I less endure, or shrink from pain, Insulting Angel! well thou know’st I stood Thy fiercest, when in battle to thy aid The blasting vollied thunder made all speed, And seconded thy else not dreaded spear. But still thy words at random, as before, Argue thy inexperience what behoves, From hard assays and ill successes past, A faithful leader; not to hazard all Through ways of danger by himself untried. I therefore, I alone, first undertook To wing the desolate Abyss, and spy This new-created World, whereof in Hell Fame is not silent; here in hope to find Better abode, and my afflicted powers To settle here on Earth, or in mid air; Though for possession put to try once more What thou and thy gay legions dare against; Whose easier business were to serve their Lord High up in Heaven, with songs to hymn his throne, And practised distances to cringe, not fight.”