CII.
When he perceives the first of no avail,
The knight returns to deal a better blow;
The orc, who sees the shifting shadow sail
Of those huge pinions on the sea below[36],
In furious heat, deserts his sure regale
On shore, to follow that deceitful show
And rolls and reels behind it, as it fleets.
Rogero drops, and oft the stroke repeats.
CIII.
As eagle, that amid her downward flight,
Surveys amid the grass a snake unrolled,
Or where she smoothes upon a sunny height,
Her ruffled plumage, and her scales of gold,
Assails it not where prompt with poisonous bite
To hiss and creep; but with securer hold
Gripes it behind, and either pinion clangs,
Lest it should turn and wound her with its fangs[37];
CIV.
So the fell orc Rogero does not smite
With lance or faulchion where the tushes grow,
But aims that ’twixt the ears his blow may light;
Now on the spine, or now on tail below.
And still in time descends or soars upright,
And shifts his course, to cheat the veering foe:
But as if beating on a jasper block,
Can never cleave the hard and rugged rock.
