[11,50] τῶν μὲν γὰρ ἄλλων ἁπάντων ἔλεγεν αὐτὸς ἄρχειν ἀρξάμενος ἀπὸ Τροίας μέχρι Αἰθιοπίας· καὶ γὰρ Αἰθιόπων βασιλεύειν τὸν αὑτοῦ ἀνεψιὸν Μέμνονα, ἐκ Τιθωνοῦ ὄντα τοῦ Πριάμου ἀδελφοῦ. καὶ ἄλλα πολλὰ ἔλεγεν ἐπαγωγά, καὶ δῶρα ἐδίδου τῇ τε Λήδᾳ καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις τοῖς προσήκουσιν, ὅσα οὐδὲ ξύμπαντες οἱ Ἕλληνες ἐδύναντο. ἔφη δὲ καὶ ξυγγενὴς εἶναι τῆς Ἑλένης καὶ αὐτός· ἀπὸ γὰρ Διὸς εἶναι τὸν Πρίαμον· πυνθάνεσθαι δὲ κἀκείνους καὶ τὴν ἀδελφὴν αὐτῶν Διὸς ὄντας. τῷ δὲ Ἀγαμέμνονι καὶ τῷ Μενελάῳ μὴ προσήκειν ὀνειδίζειν αὐτῷ τὴν πατρίδα· καὶ γὰρ αὐτοὺς εἶναι Φρύγας ἀπὸ Σιπύλου. πολὺ δὴ κρεῖττον τοῖς βασιλεῦσι κηδεύειν τῆς Ἀσίας ἢ τοῖς ἐκεῖθεν μετανάσταις. καὶ γὰρ Λαομέδοντα Τελαμῶνι δοῦναι τὴν ἑαυτοῦ θυγατέρα Ἡσιόνην· ἐλθεῖν γὰρ αὐτὸν εἰς Τροίαν μνηστῆρα {μετὰ Ἡρακλέους}, ἄγειν δὲ καὶ τὸν Ἡρακλέα φίλον ὄντα καὶ ξένον Λαομέδοντι. (51) πρὸς οὖν ταῦτα ὁ Τυνδάρεως ἐβουλεύετο μετὰ τῶν παίδων. καὶ ἐδόκει αὐτοῖς σκοποῦσιν οὐ χεῖρον εἶναι προσλαβεῖν τοὺς ἐκ τῆς Ἀσίας βασιλέας. τὴν μὲν γὰρ Πελοπιδῶν οἰκίαν ἔχειν Κλυταιμνήστραν συνοικοῦσαν Ἀγαμέμνονι· λοιπὸν δέ, εἰ Πριάμῳ κηδεύσειαν, καὶ τῶν ἐκεῖ πραγμάτων κρατεῖν καὶ μηδένα αὐτοὺς κωλύειν τῆς Ἀσίας καὶ τῆς Εὐρώπης ἄρχειν ἁπάσης. πρὸς δὲ ταῦτα ἠγωνίζετο μὲν ὁ Ἀγαμέμνων, ἡττᾶτο δὲ τοῖς δικαίοις. (52) ἔφη γὰρ ὁ Τυνδάρεως ἱκανὸν εἶναι αὐτῷ κηδεύσαντι· καὶ ἅμα ἐδίδασκεν ὅτι οὐδὲ συμφέροι τὸν ἀδελφὸν αὐτοῦ τυγχάνειν τῶν ἴσων· οὕτω γὰρ μᾶλλον ἐπιβουλεύσειν· οὐδὲ γὰρ Ἀτρεῖ Θυέστην εὔνουν γενέσθαι. μάλιστα δ´ ἔπειθε λέγων {αὐτὸν} ὅτι οὐκ ἀνέξονται οἱ ἄλλοι μνηστῆρες τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἀποτυχόντες, οὔτε Διομήδης οὔτε Ἀντίλοχος οὔτε Ἀχιλλεύς, ἀλλὰ πολεμήσουσι· καὶ ὅτι κινδυνεύσει τοὺς δυνατωτάτους ποιῆσαι τῶν Ἑλλήνων πολεμίους. (53) κρεῖττον οὖν εἶναι μὴ καταλιπεῖν ἀρχὴν πολέμου καὶ στάσεως ἐν τοῖς Ἕλλησι. τὸν δὲ ἄχθεσθαι μέν, οὐκ ἔχειν δὲ ὅπως κωλύσῃ τὸν Τυνδάρεων· κύριον γὰρ εἶναι τῆς αὑτοῦ θυγατρός· καὶ ἅμα φοβεῖσθαι τοὺς παῖδας αὐτοῦ. καὶ οὕτως δὴ λαβεῖν Ἀλέξανδρον τὴν Ἑλένην ἐκ τοῦ δικαίου, πείσαντα τοὺς γονεῖς αὐτῆς καὶ τοὺς ἀδελφούς, καὶ ἀφικέσθαι ἄγοντα μετὰ πολλοῦ ζήλου καὶ χαρᾶς· καὶ τόν τε Πρίαμον καὶ τὸν Ἕκτορα καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους ἅπαντας ἥδεσθαι τῷ γάμῳ, καὶ τὴν Ἑλένην ὑποδέχεσθαι μετὰ θυσιῶν καὶ εὐχῶν. (54) Σκόπει δέ, ἔφη, τὴν εὐήθειαν τοῦ ἐναντίου λόγου, εἴ σοι δοκεῖ δυνατὸν εἶναι πρῶτον μὲν ἐρασθῆναί τινα γυναικός, ἣν οὐπώποτε εἶδεν· ἔπειτα καὶ πεῖσαι καταλιποῦσαν τὸν ἄνδρα καὶ τὴν πατρίδα καὶ πάντας τοὺς ἀναγκαίους, ἔτι δὲ οἶμαι θυγατρίου γεγονυῖαν μητέρα, συνακολουθῆσαι ἀνδρὶ ἀλλοφύλῳ. διὰ ταύτην γὰρ τὴν ἀλογίαν συνέπλασαν τὸν περὶ τῆς Ἀφροδίτης μῦθον πολὺ τούτων ἀποπληκτότερον.

[11,50] As for himself, he said that he was king of all other peoples from Troy to Ethiopia, for the Ethiopians were under the sway of his cousin, Memnon, who was the son of Tithonus, Priam's brother. Many other enticements did he mention and he offered to Leda and the rest of the farnily gifts such as all the Greeks together could not have matched. " He urged also that he himself was of the same stock as Helen, since Priam was descended from Zeus and he had been told that she and her brothers were also his offspring; that it did not lie with Agamemnon and Menelaus to taunt him on his origin, for they themselves were Phrygians from Mount Sipylus ; Tyndareüs might much better ally his family with the ruling kings of Asia than with immigrants from that country. For Laomedon too had given his daughter, Hesione, to Telamon, who came with Heracles to Troy to sue for her hand, bringing the latter along also because he was the friend and ally of Laomedon. And so Tyndareüs consulted with his sons regarding these matters, and after due consideration they decided that it was not such a bad policy to ally themselves with the kings of Asia. For they saw that the house of Pelops had Clytemnestra, who was the wife of Agamemnon, and besides, if they became allied by marriage with Priam's house, they would have control of affairs there too and nobody would stand in the way of their governing all Asia and Europe." Agamemnon opposed all this, but the weight of the argument was too strong for him. (52) For Tyndareüs assured him that it was quite enough for him to have become his son-in-law and warned him that it was not at all advisable for his brother to have power equal to his own, since he might thus the more easily undermine him. Thyestes, for example, had not been loyal to Atreus. He dissuaded him most effectively, however, by urging that the other suitors from Greece would not tolerate their own rejection in his interest, neither Diomede nor Antilochus nor Achilles, but would take up arms, and so he would be in danger of making the strongest men among the Greeks his foes. (53) It would, therefore, be better not to leave any cause for war and dissension among the Greeks. This, however, so the priest said, angered Agamemnon, but he was unable successfully to oppose Tyndareüs, who was master of his own daughter ; and at the same time lie stood in awe of Tyndareüs' sons. Thus it was that Paris took Helen as his lawful wife after gaining the consent of her parents and brothers, and took her home with him amid great enthusiasm and rejoicing. And Priam, Hector, and all the others were delighted with the union and welcomed Helen with sacrifices and prayers. (54) " Then see," continued the priest, " how foolish the opposite story is. Can you imagine it possible for anyone to have become enamoured of a woman whom he had never seen, and then, that she could have let herself be persuaded to leave husband, fatherland, and all her relatives—and that too, I helieve, when she was the mother of a little daughter —and follow a man of another race ? It is because this is so improbable that they got up that cock-and-bull story about Aphrodite, which is still more preposterous.