Whatever else his faults may be, Milton shows his genius by how aptly he can put such pathos in the mouth of such a monster.

And should I at your harmless innocence
Melt, as I do, yet publick reason just,
Honour and empire with revenge enlarged,
By conquering this new world, compels me now
To do what else, though damned, I should abhor.

Paradise Lost, III.387-391.

This particular passage is not so very far from the speech of the Cyclops to his ram in Odyssey IX.