{"product_id":"2940013693500","title":"The Private Life of Helen of Troy","description":"The point of the story is that Paris gave the prize to Aphrodite,\u003cbr\u003enot because she bribed him, but because she was beautiful.  After\u003cbr\u003eall, it was a contest in beauty, though Athena and Hera started a\u003cbr\u003ediscussion about wisdom and power.  It was they who tried to bribe\u003cbr\u003ehim.  They had their merits and they had arguments, but Aphrodite\u003cbr\u003ewas the thing itself.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHer remark, that he would some day marry Helen, interested him as a\u003cbr\u003edivine experiment in prophecy.  It might happen or it might not.\u003cbr\u003eVery likely the goddess did not mean it as he thought; a wise man,\u003cbr\u003eeven though he believed the oracle, would always wait and see.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMeanwhile he did wonder what Helen looked like.  He needed travel.\u003cbr\u003eHe might as well visit Sparta as any other place.  Cassandra told\u003cbr\u003ehim not to, but she always did.  OEnone warned him, but she was his\u003cbr\u003ewife.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhen he came to the house of Menelaus, the gatekeeper let him in,\u003cbr\u003eand since he was a stranger they wouldn't ask his name nor his\u003cbr\u003eerrand till he had had food and rest.  Menelaus put off a journey\u003cbr\u003ehe had thought of, and practised the sacrament of hospitality.  But\u003cbr\u003ewhen he found out who it was, he told Paris to make himself free in\u003cbr\u003ethe house, and after polite excuses went down to Crete, as he had\u003cbr\u003eplanned.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSo they all intended well.  But Paris saw Helen, face to face.","brand":"WDS Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47069083173104,"sku":"2940013693500","price":3.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013693500_p0.jpg?v=1763584460","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013693500","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}