250 But when both sat, Ulysses in his air Had more of state and dignity than he.  In the delivery of a speech address’d To the full senate, Menelaus used Few words, but to the matter, fitly ranged, 255 And with much sweetness utter’d; for in loose And idle play of ostentatious terms He dealt not, though he were the younger man.  But when the wise Ulysses from his seat Had once arisen, he would his downcast eyes 260 So rivet on the earth, and with a hand That seem’d untutor’d in its use, so hold His sceptre, swaying it to neither side, That hadst thou seen him, thou hadst thought him, sure, Some chafed and angry idiot, passion-fixt. 265 Yet, when at length, the clear and mellow base Of his deep voice brake forth, and he let fall His chosen words like flakes of feather’d snow, None then might match Ulysses; leisure, then, Found none to wonder at his noble form. 270
  The third of whom the venerable king
Inquired, was Ajax.—­Yon Achaian tall, Whose head and shoulders tower above the rest, And of such bulk prodigious—­who is he? 
  Him answer’d Helen, loveliest of her sex. 275
A bulwark of the Greeks.  In him thou seest Gigantic Ajax.  Opposite appear The Cretans, and among the Chiefs of Crete stands, like a God, Idomeneus.  Him oft From Crete arrived, was Menelaues wont 280 To entertain; and others now I see, Achaians, whom I could recall to mind, And give to each his name; but two brave youths I yet discern not; for equestrian skill One famed, and one a boxer never foiled; 285 My brothers; born of Leda; sons of Jove; Castor and Pollux.  Either they abide In lovely Sparta still, or if they came, Decline the fight, by my disgrace abash’d And the reproaches which have fallen on me.[14] 290
  She said; but they already slept inhumed
In Lacedemon, in their native soil. 
  And now the heralds, through the streets of Troy
Charged with the lambs, and with a goat-skin filled With heart-exhilarating wine prepared 295 For that divine solemnity, return’d.  Idaeus in his hand a beaker bore Resplendent, with its fellow cups of gold, And thus he summon’d ancient Priam forth. 
  Son of Laoemedon, arise.  The Chiefs 300
Call thee, the Chiefs of Ilium and of Greece.  Descend into the plain.  We strike a truce, And need thine oath to bind it.  Paris fights With warlike Menelaues for his spouse; Their spears decide the strife.  The conqueror wins 305 Helen and all her treasures.  We, thenceforth, (Peace sworn and amity) shall dwell secure In Troy, while they to Argos shall return And to Achaia praised for women fair. 
  He spake, and Priam, shuddering, bade his train 310
Prepare his steeds; they sedulous obey’d.  First, Priam mounting, backward stretch’d the reins; Antenor, next, beside him sat, and through