And I hold you, whom we thought to have gone to Ida’s city and the unhappy towers of Ilion.By the gods, how were you taken from my home?HelenAh! ah! You are setting out on a bitter beginning. Ah! ah! You are asking about a bitter tale.MenelaosSpeak; all gifts from the gods should be heard.HelenI detest the story I am now to introduce.MenelaosTell it anyway. It is sweet to hear of troubles.HelenNot to the bed of the young barbarian, on the wings of oars, on the wings of desire for lawless marriage—MenelaosWhat god or fate tore you from your country?HelenAh, my husband! The son of Zeus, of Zeus, brought me to the Nile.MenelaosAmazing! Who sent you there? O dreadful story!HelenI have wept bitterly, and my eyes are wet with tears; the wife of Zeus ruined me.MenelaosHera? Why did she want to bring trouble to the two of us?HelenAlas for my terrible fate, the baths and springs, where the goddesses brightened the beauty from which the judgment came.MenelaosRegarding the judgment, Hera made it a cause of these troubles for you?HelenTo take me away from Paris—