Paris

After a while Helen's father died, and her husband became king of Sparta.

The two lived happily together, till there came to Sparta a young prince, Paris by name, who was son of Priam, king of Troy.

This Paris carried off the fair Helen, and with her much gold and many precious stones.

Menelaus and his brother Agamemnon sent to the princes of Greece and said, Now you must keep your oath and help us to get back the fair Helen.

so they all came to a place called aulus with many ships and men others also who had not taken the oath came with them the greatest of these chiefs were these diomed son of tydus ajax the greater and ajax the less Antusa, the archer, who was brother of Ajax the greater, Nestor, who was the oldest man in the world, the wise Ulysses, Achilles, who was the bravest and strongest of all the Greeks, and with him his dear friend Petrolicus.

End of what Vetus did for her son.

THE DUEL OF PARIS AND MENDELEUS on the day after the false dream had come to him agamemnon called all his army to go out to battle all the chiefs were glad to fight for they thought that at last the long war was coming to an end Only Achilles and his people stopped behind, and the Trojans, on the other hand, set their army in order.

Before they began to fight, Paris, who had been the cause of all the trouble, came out in front of the line.

Troilus, his son, read by Thomas Peter.

Paris, his son, read by Craig Franklin.

Deiphobus, his son, read by Thomas

Peter.

Alexander, servant to Cressida, read by Brad.

Servant to Troilus, read by Thomas Peter.

Servant to Paris, read by Brad.

Servant to Diomedes, read by Sonia.

But suppose a war.

Is Paris not a champion? Is Hector not his brother? And should her beauty launch a thousand ships in a world conflict, think what her fame would be throughout all time.

Oh, why not obey the gods and open her arms to the delights awaiting her who would resist such rhetoric not helen a little while she strove and much repented and whispering i will ne'er consent consented helen's answer is as delicately contrived as paris's appeal the opening lines tell the story could i unread o paris what i read chaste should i be as chaste i once was bred but as my eyes are stained by reading through twere idle vengeance not to answer you this is surrender the rest is apology it is a long apology with twists and turns backings and fillings defiance and remorse and absolute capitulation she begins in a blaze of indignation the taunt of rusticity is the first to be answered she admits that her looks do not suggest the puritan her mood then softens to one of astonishment and that to one of incredulity how did he dare few wives are chaste perhaps but might she not be an exception heredity counts for little she labours the point triumphantly ovid's women are often victorious in skirmishes before the great defeat still she owns that it is a minor argument could she consent it would be only for love she had noticed his doings at table she dwells on them with a certain fondness particularly the greedy look in the rascal's eyes he would have made a fine lover for some other woman or for helen at some other time why was he not among her early suitors it is wrong it is cruel to urge her now the heart may yield but duty opposes and that contest of the goddesses a pretty myth indeed, to think that she, Helen of Troy, should be named by Venus as the prize, preposterous, and yet it is a pretty compliment for Paris to pay.

After all, who knows? It were dangerous to offend the gods.

Perhaps, perhaps, she might love if only she knew the way, if someone had only instructed her in Arzamandi.

What could the Trojan styles be like? No, it is all false.

Jason made such promises to Medea.

There is something to apprehend from the wrathful goddesses whom Paris rejected.

Pandarus, read by Ted Garvin.

Paris, read by Matthew Rees.

Patroclus, read by Timothy Ferguson.

Priam, read by Rick F.

Narrated by Elizabeth Klett.

Prologue

in troy there lies the scene from isles of greece the princes augulus their high blood-chafed have to the port of athens sent their ships fraught with the ministers and instruments of cruel war sixty and nine that wore their crownets regal from the athenian bay put forth towards phrygia and their vow is made to ransack Troy, within whose strong immures the ravished Helen, Menelaus' queen, with wanton Paris, sleeps.

And that's the quarrel.

Read by Robin in Baton Rouge.

Hecuba, Queen of Troy, wife of Priam, mother of Hector and Paris.

Read by Ruth Golding.

Cassandra,

He is a prey to violent and conflicting emotions.

How bright the face of heaven, and how sweet the air this day, That layeth at my feet, the woman that I— Nay, t'was not for her I came, t'was for the man, The cozener and thief that ate with me, and stole away my bride.

But Paris lieth this long day, by God's grace, Under the horse-horse of the Greek, and round him all his land.

And now I seek— curse her i scarce can speak the name she bears that was my wife here with the prisoners they keep her in these huts among these hordes of numbered slaves the host whose labouring swords won her have given her up to me to fill my pleasure perchance kill her or not kill but lead her home methinks i have foregone the slaying of helen here in ilion over the long seas i will bear her back and there there cast her out to whatso wrack of angry death they may devise who know their dearest dead for her in ilion ho ye soldiers up into the chambers where she croucheth grip the long blood-reaking hair and drag her to mine eyes controlling himself and when there come fair breezes my long ships shall bear her home