The Private Life of Helen of Troy

The point of the story is that Paris gave the prize to Aphrodite,
not because she bribed him, but because she was beautiful. After
all, it was a contest in beauty, though Athena and Hera started a
discussion about wisdom and power. It was they who tried to bribe
him. They had their merits and they had arguments, but Aphrodite
was the thing itself.

Her remark, that he would some day marry Helen, interested him as a
divine experiment in prophecy. It might happen or it might not.
Very likely the goddess did not mean it as he thought; a wise man,
even though he believed the oracle, would always wait and see.

Meanwhile he did wonder what Helen looked like. He needed travel.
He might as well visit Sparta as any other place. Cassandra told
him not to, but she always did. OEnone warned him, but she was his
wife.

When he came to the house of Menelaus, the gatekeeper let him in,
and since he was a stranger they wouldn't ask his name nor his
errand till he had had food and rest. Menelaus put off a journey
he had thought of, and practised the sacrament of hospitality. But
when he found out who it was, he told Paris to make himself free in
the house, and after polite excuses went down to Crete, as he had
planned.

So they all intended well. But Paris saw Helen, face to face.