beast—a horned stag Or mountain goat—rejoices, and with speed Devours it, though swift hounds and sturdy youth Press on his flank, so Menelaus felt Great joy when Paris, of the godlike form, Appeared in sight, for now he thought to wreak His vengeance on the guilty one, and straight Sprang from his car to earth with all his arms.
But when the graceful Paris saw the chief Come toward him from the foremost ranks, his heart Was troubled, and he turned and passed among His fellow-warriors and avoided death. As one, who meets within a mountain glade A serpent, starts aside with sudden fright, And takes the backward way with trembling limbs And cheeks all white—the graceful Paris thus Before the son of Atreus shrank in fear, And mingled with the high-souled sons of Troy. Hector beheld and thus upbraided him Harshly: “O luckless Paris, nobly formed, Yet woman-follower and seducer! Thou Shouldst never have been born, or else at best Have died unwedded; better were it far, Than thus to be a scandal and a scorn To all who look on thee. The long-haired Greeks, How they will laugh, who for thy gallant looks Deemed thee a hero, when there dwells in thee No spirit and no courage? Wast thou such When, crossing the great deep in thy stanch ships With chosen comrades, thou didst make thy way Among a stranger-people and bear off A beautiful woman from that distant land, Allied by marriage-ties to warrior-men— A mischief to thy father and to us And all the people, to our foes a joy, And a disgrace to thee? Why couldst thou not Await Atrides? Then hadst thou been taught From what a valiant warrior thou didst take His blooming spouse. Thy harp will not avail, Nor all the gifts of Venus, nor thy locks, Nor thy fair form, when thou art laid in dust. Surely the sons of Troy are faint of heart, Else hadst thou, for the evil thou hast wrought, Been laid beneath a coverlet of stone.”
Then Paris, of the godlike presence, spake In answer: “Hector, thy rebuke is just; Thou dost not wrong me. Dauntless is thy heart; ’Tis like an axe when, wielded by the hand That hews the shipwright’s plank, it