Take the Pharian realm Sought by no bloodshed, take the rule of Nile, Take all that thou would'st give for Magnus' life: And hold him vassal worthy of thy camp To whom the fates against thy son-in-law Such power entrusted; nor hold thou the deed Lightly accomplished by the swordsman's stroke, And so the merit.

Guest ancestral he Who was its victim; who, his sire expelled, Gave back to him the sceptre.

For a deed So great, thou'lt find a name -- or ask the world.
If 'twas a crime, thou must confess the debt To us the greater, for that from thy hand We took the doing." Then he held and showed Unveiled the head.

Now had the hand of death Passed with its changing touch upon the face: Nor at first sight did Caesar on the gift Pass condemnation; nor avert his gaze, But dwelt upon the features till he knew The crime accomplished.

Then when truth was sure The loving father rose, and tears he shed Which flowed at his command, and glad in heart Forced from his breast a groan: thus by the flow Of feigned tears and grief he hoped to hide His joy else manifest: and the ghastly boon Sent by the king disparaging, professed Rather to mourn his son's dissevered head, Than count it for a debt.