Translated by Jim Powell (1993)

Some say thronging cavalry, some say foot soldiers,

others call a fleet the most beautiful of

sights the dark earth offers, but I say it's what-

ever you love best.

And it's easy to make this understood by

everyone, for she who surpassed all human

kind in beauty, Helen, abandoning her

husbandCthat best of

menCwent sailing off to the shores of Troy and

never spent a thought on her child or loving

parents: when the goddess seduced her wits and

left her to wander,

she forgot them all, she could not remember

anything but longing, and lightly straying

aside, lost her way. But that reminds me

now: Anactoria,

she's not here, and I'd rather see her lovely

step, her sparkling glance and her face than gaze on

all the troops in Lydia in their chariots and

glittering armor.