First published in 1667.
 
 
 
From Books IV and V of John Milton's Paradise Lost:
 
 
 
 
 
We have known since Genesis and the New Testament's Corinithians that 'the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field' and could transform himself 'into an angel of light' that Satan's rhetorical skills were formidible, and can thank Milton's Abdiel for the scorn he deserves, and for his eloqence as a literary pièce de résistence.

To quote from the Barnes & Noble's notes on the observations that were Inspired by Paradise Lost we have Thomas Hardy's 1897 words on civilisation's fall from grace:
 
 
'Truth like a bastard comes into the world
Never without ill-fame to him who gives her birth.'