Reader

PANOPE Did you see, Galene, what Discord did yesterday at the banquet in Thessaly, because she wasn’t invited? GALENE I wasn’t with you people in person at the banquet. For Poseidon had told me, my dear Panope, to keep the sea calm while it lasted. But what did the absent Discord do? PANOPE Thetis and Peleus had already left and gone to their chamber, escorted by Amphitrite and Poseidon. Meanwhile Discord had crept in unseen by all—that was easy enough, with the guests drinking, applauding, or listening to Apollo’s playing or the Muses’ singing—and she threw a beautiful apple amongst the guests—an apple of solid gold, my dear, with the inscription “For the queen of Beauty”. The apple rolled, as if aimed, to where Hera, Aphrodite and Athena were at table.

PANOPE Then Hermes picked it up, and read out the inscription, but we Nereids held our tongues. What could we do when such august ladies were present? Each of them laid claim to the apple, insisting it should rightly be hers, and it would have come to blows, if Zeus hadn’t parted them, saying, “I won’t judge this matter myself”,—though they kept insisting he should—“but you go to Priam’s son Paris. on Ida. He knows how to decide between beauties, for he’s a connoisseur of beauty; his verdict is bound to be right.” GALENE And what have the goddesses done, Panope? PANOPE They’ll be going to Ida today, I believe, and we’ll soon have a messenger with news of the winner. GALENE I can tell you that now. Only Aphrodite can win, if she competes—unless the umpire is very short-sighted.