Thereon Paris with a hearty laugh sprang forward from his hiding-place, and taunted him saying, "You are wounded--my arrow has not been shot in vain; would that it had hit you in the belly and killed you, for thus the Trojans, who fear you as goats fear a lion, would have had a truce from evil." Diomed all undaunted answered, "Archer, you who without your bow are nothing, slanderer and seducer, if you were to be tried in single combat fighting in full armour, your bow and your arrows would serve you in little stead.

Vain is your boast in that you have scratched the sole of my foot.

I care no more than if a girl or some silly boy had hit me.

A worthless coward can inflict but a light wound; when I wound a man though I but graze his skin it is another matter, for my weapon will lay him low.

His wife will tear her cheeks for grief and his children will be fatherless: there will he rot, reddening the earth with his blood, and vultures, not women, will gather round him." Thus he spoke, but Ulysses came up and stood over him.