Valence was a tall lad of seventeen, having already, like certain precocious natures, a beard and mustache; he appeared at least twenty.
He was, moreover, a head taller than the boy he had insulted.
Valence replied that Louis had pulled his queue as if it were a bell-cord (queues were then in vogue)--that he had warned him twice to desist, but that Louis had repeated the prank the third time, whereupon, considering him a mischievous youngster, he had treated him as such.
Valence's answer was reported to Louis, who retorted that pulling a comrade's queue was only teasing him, whereas a blow was an insult.
Obstinacy endowed this child of thirteen with the logic of a man of thirty.
The modern Popilius to Valence returned with his declaration of war.

The youth was greatly embarrassed; he could not fight with a child without being ridiculous.

If he fought and wounded him, it would be a horrible thing; if he himself were wounded, he would never get over it so long as he lived.
But Louis's unyielding obstinacy made the matter a serious one.

A council of the Grands (elder scholars) was called, as was usual in serious cases.

The Grands decided that one of their number could not fight a child; but since this child persisted in considering himself a young man, Valence must tell him before all his schoolmates that he regretted having treated him as a child, and would henceforth regard him as a young man.
Louis, who was waiting in his friend's room, was sent for.