He prick’d it often with his dagger’s point:
Yet still dropp’d from the flesh the tepid gore,
As if it from a living creature came;
And though the fire he nourish’d more and more,
Heavier and duller burn’d the flame.
Thwarted by such delay, he stands aghast,
And ever and anon consults the sky;
When lo! an eagle of dimensions vast[49]
With threat’ning aspect fix’d his eye,
With outspread wings, as midnight vapours dark,