This bitter check at him; “Accurs’d, made but in beauty’s scorn, Impostor, woman’s man! O heav’n, that thou hadst ne’er been born, Or, being so manless, never liv’d to bear man’s noblest state, The nuptial honour! Which I wish, because it were a fate Much better for thee than this shame. This spectacle doth make A man a monster. Hark! how loud the Greeks laugh, who did take Thy fair form for a continent of parts as fair. A rape Thou mad’st of nature, like their queen. No soul, an empty shape, Takes up thy being; yet how spite to ev’ry shade of good Fills it with ill! for as thou art, thou couldst collect a brood Of others like thee, and far hence fetch ill enough to us, Ev’n to thy father; all these friends make those foes mock them thus In thee, for whose ridiculous sake so seriously they lay All Greece, and fate, upon their necks. O wretch! Not dare to stay Weak Menelaus? But ’twas well; for in him thou hadst tried What strength lost beauty can infuse, and with the more grief died To feel thou robb’dst a worthier man, to wrong a soldier’s right. Your harp’s sweet touch, curl’d locks, fine shape, and gifts so exquisite, Giv’n thee by Venus, would have done your fine dames little good, When blood and dust had ruffled them, and had as little stood Thyself in stead; but what thy care of all these in thee flies We should inflict on thee ourselves. Infectious cowardice In thee hath terrified our host; for which thou well deserv’st A coat of tombstone, not of steel in which, for form, thou serv’st.” To this thus Paris spake, (for form, that might inhabit heav’n) “Hector, because thy sharp reproof is out of justice giv’n, I take it well; but though thy heart, inur’d to these affrights, Cuts through them as an axe through oak, that more us’d more excites The workman’s faculty, whose art can make the edge go far, Yet I, less practis’d than thyself in these extremes of war, May well be pardon’d, though less bold; in these your worth exceeds, In others mine. Nor is my mind of less force to the deeds Requir’d in war, because my form more flows in gifts of peace. Reproach not, therefore, the kind gifts of golden Cyprides. All heav’n’s gifts have their worthy price; as little to be scorn’d As to be won with strength, wealth, state; with which to be adorn’d, Some men would change state, wealth, or strength. But, if your martial heart Wish me to make my challenge good, and hold it such a part Of shame to give it over thus, cause all the rest to rest, And, ’twixt both hosts, let Sparta’s king and me perform our best For Helen and the wealth she brought; and he that overcomes, Or proves superior any way, in all your equal dooms, Let him enjoy her utmost wealth, keep her, or take her home; The rest strike leagues of endless date, and hearty friends become; You dwelling safe in gleby Troy, the Greeks retire their force T’ Achaia, that breeds fairest dames, and Argos, fairest horse.” He said, and his amendsful words did Hector highly please,