§1Κόσμος πόλει μὲν εὐανδρία, σώματι δὲ κάλλος, ψυχῇ δὲ σοφία, πράγματι δὲ ἀρετή, λόγῳ δὲ ἀλήθεια· τὰ δ᾿ ἐναντία τούτων ἀκοσμία.
Order for a city is goodly manpower, for a body beauty, for a soul wisdom, for an action virtue, for a speech truth; and the contraries of these are disorder.
ἄνδρα δὲ καὶ γυναῖκα καὶ λόγον καὶ ἔργον καὶ πόλιν καὶ πρᾶγμα χρὴ τὸ μὲν ἄξιον ἐπαίνου ἐπαίνῳ τιμᾶν, τῷ δὲ ἀναξίῳ μῶμον ἐπιτιθέναι· ἴση γὰρ ἁμαρτία καὶ ἀμαθία μέμφεσθαί τε τὰ ἐπαινετὰ καὶ ἐπαινεῖν τὰ μωμητά.
And for a man, a woman, a speech, a deed, a city, and an action, one must honor with praise what is worthy of praise, and lay blame upon what is unworthy; for it is an equal error and ignorance to blame what is praiseworthy and to praise what is blameworthy.
§2τοῦ δ᾿ αὐτοῦ ἀνδρὸς λέξαι τε τὸ δέον ὀρθῶς καὶ ἐλέγξαι. . . . . . ἐλέγξαι τοὺς μεμφομένους Ἑλένην, γυναῖκα περὶ ἧς ὁμόφωνος καὶ ὁμόψηφος γέγονεν ἥ τε τῶν ποιητῶν. . . . ἥ τε τῶν ἀκουσάντων πίστις, ἥ τε τοῦ ὀνόματος φήμη τῶν συμφορῶν μνήμη γέγονεν.
It is the part of the same man both to speak what is required correctly and to refute... to refute those who blame Helen, a woman about whom there has arisen a unanimous and single-minded belief of the poets... and the belief of those who heard, and the fame of her name has become a memory of disasters.
ἐγὼ δὲ βούλομαι λογισμόν τινα τῷ λόγῳ δοὺς τὴν μὲν κακῶς ἀκούουσαν παῦσαι τῆς αἰτίας, τοὺς δὲ μεμφομένους ψευδομένους ἐπιδείξας καὶ δείξας τἀληθὲς παῦσαι τῆς ἀμαθίας.
But I want, by giving a certain reasoning to my speech, to free her who is ill-spoken of from the accusation, and, by showing that those who blame her are lying and by showing the truth, to free them from their ignorance.
§3Ὅτι μὲν οὖν φύσει καὶ γένει τὰ πρῶτα τῶν πρώτων ἀνδρῶν καὶ γυναικῶν ἡ γυνὴ περὶ ἧς ὅδε ὁ λόγος, οὐκ ἄδηλον οὐδ᾿ ὀλίγοις.
That the woman about whom this speech is, is by nature and descent the first among the first men and women, is not unclear, not even to a few.
δῆλον γὰρ ὡς μητρὸς μὲν Λήδας, πατρὸς δὲ τοῦ μὲν γενομένου θεοῦ, λεγομένου δὲ θνητοῦ, Τυνδάρεω καὶ Διός, ὧν ὁ μὲν διὰ τὸ εἶναι ἔδοξεν, ὁ δὲ διὰ τὸ φάναι ἐλέχθη, καὶ ἦν ὁ μὲν ἀνδρῶν κράτιστος, ὁ δὲ πάντων τύραννος.
For it is clear that her mother was Leda, and her father was in fact a god, though said to be a mortal—Tyndareus and Zeus; of whom the one, because of being, was thought to be, while the other, because of saying, was reported to be; and the one was the strongest of men, the other the ruler of all.
§4ἐκ τοιούτων δὲ γενομένη ἔσχε τὸ ἰσόθεον κάλλος, ὃ λαβοῦσα [καὶ] οὐ λαθοῦσα ἔσχε, πλείστας δὲ πλείστοις ἐπιθυμίας ἔρωτος ἐνειργάσατο, ἑνὶ δὲ σώματι πολλὰ σώματα συνήγαγεν ἀνδρῶν ἐπὶ μεγάλοις μεγάλα φρονούντων, ὧν οἱ μὲν πλούτου μεγέθη, οἱ δὲ εὐγενείας παλαιᾶς εὐδοξίαν, οἱ δὲ ἀλκῆς οἰκείας εὐεξίαν, οἱ δὲ σοφίας ἐπικτήτου δύναμιν ἔσχον, καὶ ἧκον ἅπαντες ὑπ᾿ ἔρωτός τε φιλονίκου φιλοτιμίας τε ἀνικήτου.
Born from such ancestors, she possessed godlike beauty, which she took and possessed without escaping notice. She inspired the greatest desires of love in the greatest number of people, and with one body she brought together many bodies of men who prided themselves on great things. Of these, some possessed greatness of wealth, some the glory of ancient nobility, some the vigor of their own strength, and some the power of acquired wisdom; and they all came under the influence of a love that loved victory and an unconquerable desire for honor.
§5ὅστις μὲν οὖν καὶ δι᾿ ὅ τι καὶ ὅπως ἀπέπλησε τὸν ἔρωτα τὴν Ἑλένην λαβών, οὐ λέξω· τὸ γὰρ τοῖς εἰδόσιν ἃ ἴσασι λέγειν πίστιν μὲν ἔχει, τέρψιν δὲ οὐ φέρει.
Who, then, and for what reason, and how he satisfied his love by taking Helen, I will not say; for to tell those who know what they already know brings belief, but does not carry pleasure.
τὸν χρόνον δὲ τῷ λόγῳ τὸν τότε τῷ νῦν ὑπερβὰς ἐπὶ τὴν ἀρχὴν τοῦ μέλλοντος λόγου προβήσομαι, καὶ προθήσομαι τὰς αἰτίας δι᾿ ἃς εἰκὸς ἦν γενέσθαι τὸν τῆς Ἑλένης εἰς τὴν Τροίαν στόλον.
Having bypassed the time of then with the present time in my speech, I will proceed to the beginning of the speech that is to come, and I will propose the causes for which it was likely that Helen's voyage to Troy took place.
§6Ἢ γὰρ τύχης βουλήμασι καὶ θεῶν βουλεύμασι καὶ ἀνάγκης ψηφίσμασιν ἔπραξεν ἃ ἔπραξεν, ἢ βίᾳ ἁρπασθεῖσα, ἢ λόγοις πεισθεῖσα, ἢ ἔρωτι ἁλοῦσα.
For either she did what she did by the wills of Fortune, the decrees of gods, and the votes of Necessity, or ravished by force, or persuaded by words, or captured by love.
Εἰ μὲν οὖν διὰ τὸ πρῶτον, ἄξιος αἰτιᾶσθαι ὁ αἰτιώμενος· θεοῦ γὰρ προθυμίαν ἀνθρωπίνῃ προμηθείᾳ ἀδύνατον κωλύειν.
If, then, on account of the first, the one who accuses her deserves to be accused; for it is impossible to prevent a god's eagerness by human foresight.
πέφυκε γὰρ οὐ τὸ κρεῖσσον ὑπὸ τοῦ ἥσσονος κωλύεσθαι, ἀλλὰ τὸ ἧσσον ὑπὸ τοῦ κρείσσονος ἄρχεσθαι καὶ ἄγεσθαι, καὶ τὸ μὲν κρεῖσσον ἡγεῖσθαι, τὸ δὲ ἧσσον ἕπεσθαι.
For it is natural not for the stronger to be prevented by the weaker, but for the weaker to be ruled and led by the stronger, and for the stronger to lead, and the weaker to follow.
θεὸς δ᾿ ἀνθρώπου κρεῖσσον καὶ βίᾳ καὶ σοφίᾳ καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις.
And a god is stronger than a man both in force and wisdom and in other things.
εἰ οὖν τῇ τύχῃ καὶ τῷ θεῷ τὴν αἰτίαν ἀναθετέον, τὴν Ἑλένην τῆς δυσκλείας ἀπολυτέον.
If, then, the cause must be attributed to Fortune and to the god, Helen must be released from her ill repute.