Have cut him off— Cut him down. Virgil has a like comparison with respect to the fall of Troy:
Ac veluti summis antiquam in montibus ornum Quum ferro accisam crebrisque bipennibus instant Eruere agricolae certatim; illa usque minatur, Et tremefacta comam concusso vertice nutat: Vulneribus donec paulatim evicta, supremum Congemuit, traxitque jugis avulsa ruinam. AEN. ii. 626.
So when an aged ash, whose honour's rise From some steep mountain tow'ring to the skies, With many an axe by shouting swains is ply'd, Fierce they repeat the strokes from ev'ry side; The tall tree trembling as the blows go round, Bows the high head, and nods to ev'ry wound: At last quite vanquish'd with a dreadful peal, In one loud groan rolls crashing down the vale, Headlong with half the shatter'd mountain flies, And stretch'd out huge in length th' unmeasur'd ruin lies. PITT.