His figure such as might his soul proclaim; One eye was blinking, and one leg was lame; His mountain shoulders half his breast o'erspread, Thin hairs bestrewed his long misshapen head. Spleen to mankind his envious heart possest, And much he hated all, but most the best. Ulysses or Achilles still his theme; But royal scandal his delight supreme.[1] Him Ulysses hearing rebukes, raising his scepter to strike: "Peace, factious monster, born to vex the state, With wrangling talents formed for foul debate.... Have we not known thee, slave of all our host, The man who acts the least, upbraids the most?..." He said, and cowering as the dastard bends, The weighty scepter on his back descends: On the round bunch the bloody tumors rise; The tears spring starting from his haggard eyes: Trembling he sat, and, shrunk in abject fears, From his wild visage wiped the scalding tears.[285] The revolt is thus stayed. A banquet of the Greek chieftains is then held, merely of the greatest--Nestor, Idomeneus of Crete, Ajax the son of Telamon and cousin of Achilles, and Ajax the less, son of Oïleus, Ulysses, also, and Agamemnon himself. Menelaüs comes, unbid but not unwelcome. Sacrifices are offered, but in vain; Jove heeds them not. Finally, a muster of the Greek troops, by nations and by kings, is determined upon; and so the army is set in array. =203. Paris plays the Champion.= Likewise the army of the Trojans; and battle is about to be joined when forth from the Trojan ranks steps Paris himself to challenge some champion of the opposing host to single combat,--the beauteous Paris, In form a god! The panther's speckled hide Flowed o'er his armor with an easy pride,-- His bended bow across his shoulders flung, His sword beside him negligently hung, Two pointed spears he shook with gallant grace, And dared the bravest of the Grecian race.[1] Him, Menelaüs whom he had betrayed, Menelaüs loved of Mars, raging like a lion, swift espies and, leaping from his chariot, hastens to encounter. But Paris, smitten with a sense of his own treachery, fearful, trembling, pale at sight of the avenger, betakes himself to his heels and hides in the thick of the forces behind. Upbraided, however, by the generous Hector, noblest of Priam's sons, the handsome Trojan recovers his self-possession and consents to meet Menelaüs in formal combat between the opposing hosts: Helen and the wealth she brought to be the prize; and, thus, the long war to reach its termination. The Greeks accept the proposal, and a truce is agreed upon that sacrifices may be made on either side for victory, and the duel proceed.