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The Judgment of Paris Was a Rhetorical Exercise: John Tzetzes, Allegories of the Iliad, Prolegomena 241-5

“He became an orator and wrote many various treatises, in one of which he judged the three goddesses: Athena (that is, wisdom), Hera (that is, bravery), and finally Aphrodite (that is, desire), to whom he gave the apple, which is the victory…”

Καὶ ῥήτωρ μὲν γενόμενος γράφει πολλὰ μὲν ἄλλα,
εἰς ἔν δὲ τούτου σύγγραμα τὰσ τρεῖς θεὰς συγκρίνει,
τὴν Ὰθηνᾶν, τὴν φρόνησιν, τὴν Ἥραν, τὴν ἀνδρεῖαν,
τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν δέ, φημί, τὴν Ὰφροδίτην,
ᾖ καὶ τὸ μῆλον δέδωκε, τὴν νίκην…

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