“Whom the grand Foe, with scornful eye askance, Thus answered: ‘Ill for thee, but in wished hour Of my revenge, first sought for, thou return’st From flight, seditious Angel, to receive Thy merited reward, the first assay Of this right hand provoked, since first that tongue, Inspired with contradiction, durst oppose A third part of the gods, in synod met Their deities to assert; who, while they feel Vigour divine within them, can allow Omnipotence to none. But well thou com’st Before thy fellows, ambitious to win From me some plume, that thy success may show Destruction to the rest. This pause between (Unanswered lest thou boast) to let thee know⁠— At first I thought that liberty and Heaven To heavenly souls had been all one; but now I see that most through sloth had rather serve, Ministering Spirits, trained up in feast and song: Such hast thou armed, the minstrelsy of Heaven, Servility with freedom to contend, As both their deeds compared this day shall prove.’