They put arsenic in his meat
And stared aghast to watch him eat;
They poured strychnine in his cup
And shook to see him drink it up;
They shook, they stared as white’s their shirt:
Them it was their poison hurt.
– I tell the tale that I heard told.
Mithridates, he died old.
– A. E. HOUSMAN
A Shropshire Lad