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Your Choice?


A correspondent sent me a link to the amusing Under Odysseus, a blog telling about the Trojan war, a day at a time.

That got me thinking about the Judgement of Paris. Assuming you were able to, in fact, keep your judgement and not be overwhelmed by Aphrodite, which gift would you choose? Why?

Hera's Gift of wealth and power - to rule over the greatest nation on earth?

Athena's Gift of victory in all battles, glory and wisdom?

Or Aphrodite's gift:

‘Give me the apple and in return I will give you the gift of love. You will possess the most beautiful woman in the land, a woman equal to me in perfection of form. With her you will experience the greatest delights of love-making. Choose me, Paris, and she will be yours.’

(Or, the most beautiful man in the world, if that's your preference)

Power, prowess and wisdom, or love?


Ian Welsh March 11, 2006 - 4:50pm
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a no brainer...

ruling a nation must be nothing but a royal headache. look at how horribly each president ages while in office.. and wisdom (along with intelligence in general) is, perhaps, the most overrated quality in the history of man. the world is filled with miserable smartie pants..

i'd go with the babe, a no brainer...

flambeee March 11, 2006 - 5:15pm
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I'll take what's behind curtain #2

Speaking for my ownself I'd rather Ms. Hera dumped a little more wisdom my way. Given that, I'd be better equipped to handle what's behind curtain #3...erotic, sublime or otherwise.

"Lord! What fools these Mortals be!"

Doug Richardson March 11, 2006 - 10:34pm
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I'd have to re-read that part, in Greek...

to see if Paris was offeres 'eros' or 'agape'.....If her were offered 'agape', I could understand his decision. Eros, to me, is overrated, fleeting, and can cause later problems (as he found). At that point, Hera's gift would probably be better....IMO, Wisdom would be like his sister Cassandra's gift of foresight.....respected but ignored.

Wealth/Power, Wisdom, Love.....Excuse me, ladies, but is there another choice you can offer me? None of these appeals, sorry......

-5.75,-4.05 "The invisible hand of Adam Smith seems to offer an extended middle finger to an awful lot of people"---George Carlin

justadood March 11, 2006 - 8:21pm
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