rather to the dainty folk in towns. As for me, I have the art to judge between goat and goat, as between heifer and heifer, in point of beauty. But these ladies are beautiful alike. I do not know how a man could drag his sight from one to rest it on another. Wherever my eye falls first, there it clings and approves what it finds. I am fairly bathed in their beauty. It surrounds me altogether. I wish I were all eyes like Argus. I think I should judge wisely if I gave the apple to all. And here is something to consider too: one of them is sister and wife of Zeus, while the others are his daughters. Doesn't this make the decision hard?

11

Hermes. I can't say. I only know that you can't shirk what Zeus commands.

Paris. Make them promise one thing, Hermes: that the losers will not be angry with me, but only consider my sight defective.

Hermes.

They say they will do so; but it is time you made your decision.

Paris. —I will try; for what else can I do? Good heavens, what a sight! What beauty! What delight! How fair the maiden goddess is! and how queenly, glorious, and worthy of her station is the wife of Zeus! And how sweet is Aphrodite's glance, with her soft, winning smile! - Bah! I can hold no more pleasure. If you please, I should like to study each separately; as it is, I look two ways at once.

Aphrodite. Yes, let us do it that way.
Paris. Go off, then, two of you.

-

Hera. I will; and when you have

Hera, do you stay. considered me carefully you had better consider something else, whether you like the results of a verdict in my favor. For if you decide, Paris, that I am the fairest, you shall be lord of all Asia.

Paris. My justice is not for sale. Go now, I am satisfied. Come next, Athena.

Athena. Here I am, Paris; and if you decide that I am fairest, you shall never be beaten in battle. I will make you a victorious warrior.

Paris. I have no use for war and battle, Athena. Peace reigns, as you see, in Phrygia and Lydia, and my father's realm is undisturbed. But cheer up: you shall not suffer for it, even if my justice is not for sale. I have finished with you; it is Aphrodite's turn.

Aphrodite. At your service, Paris, and I shall bear careful

inspection. And if you like, my dear lad, listen to me too. I have had an eye on you for some time; and seeing you so young and handsome does Phrygia hold such another? I congratulate you on your looks, but I blame you for not leaving these rocks and living in the city. Why do you waste your beauty in the desert? What good do you get of the mountains? How are your cattle the better because you are handsome? You ought to have had a wife before this; not a wild country girl like the women of Ida, but a queen from Argos or Corinth, or a Spartan woman like Helen, for instance. She is young and lovely, in no way inferior to me, and what is most important, made for love. If that woman should but see you, I know she would surrender herself, and leave everything to follow you and be your wife; but of course you have heard about her yourself.

Paris. Not a word. But I should love to listen if you will tell me the whole story.

Aphrodite. She is the daughter of that fair Leda whom Zeus loved.

Paris. And what does she look like?

-

Aphrodite. She is blond, soft, and delicate, yet strong with athletic sports. She is so sought after that men fought for her sake when Theseus stole her, yet a little girl. And when she was grown up, all the noblest of the Greeks came courting her; and Menelaus was chosen, of the family of Pelops. But if you like, I will make her your wife.

Paris. What do you mean? She is married already.
Aphrodite. You are a young provincial, to be sure.

know how to manage an affair like that.

Paris. How? I should like to know myself.

But I

Aphrodite. You will set out on your travels, ostensibly to see Greece; and when you come to Lacedæmon, Helen will see you. The rest shall be my affair, to arrange that she shall fall in love with you and follow you.

Paris. Ah, that is what seems impossible to me, — that a woman should be willing to leave her husband and sail away with a stranger to a strange land.

Aphrodite. Don't about that. worry I have two fair children, Longing and Love, whom I shall give you as guides on your journey. And Love shall enter into the woman and compel her to love, while Longing shall invest you with charm in her eyes. I will be there myself, and I will ask the Graces to come too, so that we may make a joint attack upon her.

Paris.

How all this is to come about remains to be seen; but I am already in love with Helen. Somehow or other I see her with my mind's eye, and my voyage to Greece and my visit to Sparta and my return with her. It oppresses me that I am not carrying it out this minute.

Aphrodite. Don't fall in love, Paris, until you have given me the matchmaker's fee in the shape of a verdict. It would be nice if we could have a joint festival in honor of your marriage and my victory. It all rests with you. You can buy love, beauty, a wife, with that apple.

Paris. — I am afraid you will forget me after the award is made.

Paris. By no means; only your promise.

Aphrodite. I promise that I will give you Helen to be your wife, that she shall follow you to Troy, and that I will attend in person and help you in every way.

Paris.

Graces?

And you will bring Love and Longing and the

Aphrodite. Trust me, and I will have Desire and Hymen there into the bargain.

Paris. On these conditions I award the apple to you. Take it!

THE AMATEUR OF LYING.

Persons: TYCHIades, PHILOCLES.

Tychiades.I have just come from a visit to Eucrates everybody knows Eucrates—and at his house I heard a lot of incredible fables. Indeed, I came away in the middle because I could not stand the extravagance of what I heard. I fled from the tale of portents and wonders as though the Furies were at my heels.

Philocles. What were they, in Heaven's name? I should like to know what form of folly Eucrates devises behind that impressive beard of his.

Tychiades. I found at his house a goodly company, including Cleodomus the Peripatetic, and Deinomachus the Stoic, and Ion; - you know Ion, who thinks himself an authority on the writings of Plato, believing himself the only man who has exactly understood the master's meaning so as to interpret him to the world. You see what sort of men were there, of wisdom