For now, and since first break of dawn, the fiend, Mere serpent in appearance, forth was come, And on his quest where likeliest he might find The only two of mankind, but in them The whole included race, his purpos’d prey. In bower and field he sought, where any tuft Of grove or garden-plot more pleasant lay, Their tendance or plantation for delight; By fountain or by shady rivulet He sought them both, but wish’d his hap might find Eve separate[.] (IX, 412–422)