THE TROJAN SAGA AND THE ILIAD^441
at you, I know very well that she would leave everything behind, succumb to
you completely, follow you home in surrender to live with you as your wife. Of
course, you have heard at least something about her?
PARIS: Not a thing, Aphrodite, but it would be my pleasure to hear you tell
me everything about her.
APHRODITE: She is actually the daughter of beautiful Leda, whom Zeus se-
duced after flying down to her in the form of a swan.
PARIS: What does she look like?
APHRODITE: As fair as you would expect the daughter of a swan to be, and
soft and delicate, since she was hatched from an eggshell, but yet very athletic
too—so sought-after, in fact, that even a war has already been waged over her,
because Theseus carried her off when she was still quite young. Furthermore,
when she reached the peak of her present perfection, all the best of the Achaeans
gathered to seek her hand in marriage. Menelaiis, of the family of Pelops, was
the one chosen. If you'd like, I'll arrange her marriage to you.
PARIS: What are you saying? Me with a married woman?
APHRODITE: You are young and naive, but I know how this kind of thing
must be managed.
PARIS: How? I want to know too.
APHRODITE: You will take a trip, ostensibly a tour of Greece, and when you
come to Sparta, Helen will see you. From then on, it will be up to me to man-
age how she will fall in love and follow you home.
PARIS: This is the very thing that seems so incredible to me, that she would
want to leave her husband and sail away with a foreigner she doesn't know.
APHRODITE: Don't fret about it, for I have two beautiful children, Desire
(Himeros) and Love (Eros). I shall give them to you as guides for your journey.
Love will insinuate himself completely into her very being and compel the woman
to love you. Desire will make you desirable and irresistible by suffusing you with
the very essence of his being. I'll be there myself, too, and I'll ask the Graces to
accompany me. In this way, all of us together will persuade her to submit.
PARIS: It is not in the least clear to me how this will all turn out, Aphrodite.
But I am already in love with Helen. I seem to see her now—I'm sailing straight
for Greece—I'm visiting Sparta—I'm returning home holding the woman in my
arms! I am very upset that I am not doing all this right now.
APHRODITE: Hold on, Paris! Don't fall in love until you have rewarded me
with your decision—me, the one who is fixing the marriage and giving away
the bride. It would be only fitting that I, your helper, be the winner of the prize,
and that we celebrate at the same time both your marriage and my victory. For
it is up to you. You can buy everything—love, beauty, marriage—the cost is this
apple.
PARIS: I am afraid that you will forget about me after my decision.
APHRODITE: And so you want me to swear an oath?
PARIS: Not at all, only promise me again.
APHRODITE: I promise to give you Helen as your wife and that she herself
will follow and come with you to your family in Troy. I shall be at your side
myself, and I shall help accomplish everything.
PARIS: And you will bring Love, Desire, and the Graces?