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PARIS I have no use, Athena, for war and battle. As you see, peace reigns at present over Phrygia and Lydia, and my father’s realm is free from wars. But have no fear; you shall not be treated unfairly, even if my judgement is not to be influenced by gifts. Dress yourself now, and put on your helmet, for I have seen enough. It is time for Aphrodite to appear.
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APHRODITE Here I am close by; examine me thoroughly, part by part, slighting none, but lingering upon each. And if you will be so good, my handsome lad, let me tell you this. I have long seen that you are young and more handsome than perhaps anyone else whom Phrygia nurtures. While I congratulate you upon your beauty, I find’ fault with you because, instead of abandoning these crags and cliffs and living in town, you are letting your beauty go to waste in the solitude. What joy can you get of the mountains? What good can your beauty do the kine? Moreover, you ought to have married by this time— not a country girl, however, a peasant, like the women about Ida, but someone from Greece, either from Argos or Corinth or a Spartan like Helen, who is young and beautiful and not a bit inferior to me, and above all, susceptible to love. If she but saw you, I know very well that, abandoning everything and surrendering without conditions, she would follow you and make her home with you. No doubt you yourself have heard something of her. PARIS Nothing, Aphrodite, but I should be glad to hear you tell all about her now.
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APHRODITE In the first place, she is the daughter of that lovely Leda to whom Zeus flew down in the form of a swan.
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PARIS What is her appearance?
