Though he deserved it well for being so backward,

The cutting off his head was not the art

Most likely to attain her aim—his heart.

CXLI.

Juan was moved: he had made up his mind

To be impaled, or quartered as a dish

For dogs, or to be slain with pangs refined,

Or thrown to lions, or made baits for fish,

And thus heroically stood resigned,

Rather than sin—except to his own wish: