In days of yore, the poet's pen
From wing of bird was plundered.
Perhaps of goose, but now and then,
From Jove's own eagle sundered.
But now, metallic pens disclose
Alone the poet's numbers;
In iron inspiration glows,
Or with the poet slumbers. [ John Quincy Adams ]

Next, over his books his eyes began to roll,
In pleasing memory of all he stole.
How here he sipped, how there he plundered snug,
And sucked all over, like an industrious bug. [ Pope ]

A town, before it can be plundered and deserted, must first be taken; and in this particular Venus has borrowed a law from her consort Mars. A woman that wishes to retain her suitor must keep him in the trenches; for this is a siege which the besieger never raises for want of supplies, since a feast is more fatal to love than a fast, and a surfeit than a starvation. Inanition may cause it to die a slow death, but repletion always destroys it by a sudden one. [ Colton ]