ῥεῖα μάλ' ὥς τε θεὸς: ἐκάλυψε δ' ὰρ ἠέρι πολλῇ:
καδ δ' εἷς' ἐν θαλάμῳ εὐώδεϊ κηώεντι:
αὐτὴ δ' αῦθ' Ἑλένην καλέους' ΐε: την δ' ἐκιχανε
πύργῳ ἐφ' ὑψηλῷ: περὶ δὲ Τρῳαὶ ἅλις ἦσαν:
χειρὶ δὲ νεκταρέου ἑανοῦ ἐτίναξε λαβοῦσα:
γρηῒ δέ μιν εἰκυῖα παλαιγενέϊ προσέειπεν
εἰροκόμῳ: ἥ οἱ Λακεδαίμονι ναιεταώσῃ
ἤσκειν εἴρια καλὰ. μάλιστα δέ μιν φιλέεσκε:
τῇ μιν ἐεισαμένη προσεφώνεε δῖ' Ἀφροδίτη:
δεῦρ' ΐθ': Ἀλεξανδρός σε καλεῖ οἶκον δὲ νέεσθαι:
κεῖνος ὅ γ' ἐν θαλάμῳ καὶ δεινωτοῖσι λέχεσσι
κάλλεΐ τε στίλβων καὶ εἵμασιν: οὐδέ κε φαίης
ἀνδρὶ μαχεσσάμενον τόν γ' ἐλθεῖν: ἀλλὰ χορὸν δε
ἔρχεσθ': ἠὲ χοροῖο νέον λήγοντα καθίζειν:
But him Aphrodite snatched up, full easily as a goddess may, and shrouded him in thick mist, and set him down in his fragrant, vaulted chamber, and herself went to summon Helen. Her she found on the high wall, and round about her in throngs were the women of Troy. Then with her hand the goddess laid hold of her fragrant robe, and plucked it, and spake to her in the likeness of an ancient dame, a wool-comber, who had been wont to card the fair wool for her when she dwelt in Lacedaemon, and who was well loved of her; in her likeness fair Aphrodite spake: "Come hither; Alexander calleth thee to go to thy home. There is he in his chamber and on his inlaid couch, gleaming with beauty and fair raiment. Thou wouldest not deem that he had come thither from warring with a foe, but rather that he was going to the dance, or sat there as one that had but newly ceased from the dance."
