Themis, in turn, after having convinced all those present that everyone had their own good reasons and that nobody there was able to judge objectively because, for one reason or another, they were emotionally involved, acting on the assignment received, she ruled: "The choice touches Paris of Mount Ida, who is the most beautiful among men".
Only then, Zeus, who could not wait to rest to rid himself of his accursed hangover, expressed his paternal approval of the sentence and decreed the matter definitively closed.
So, after several years, when Paris achieved his maximum youthful beauty, the three candidate goddesses, preceded by Hermes, in their turn departed for Mount Ida.
Paris' judgment and return to Troy
During the journey Aphrodite, unbeknownst to the other goddesses, managed to seduce Hermes and steal the secret of Paris from him, revealed that night to the god by his son Pan: the young shepherd was actually Alexander, prince of Troy, son of Priam and Hecuba. His parents had abandoned him at birth on Mount Ida, as an oracle had prophesied their son would cause the fall of the entire kingdom of Troy. King Priam, unable to be the cause of his sons death, had ordered that he be left on that mountain known to all for the harsh winters and the presence of wild beasts.
The little boy, sent to meet his certain death, was nursed and protected by a large bear and then cared for and raised until he was strong and beautiful by a family of shepherds who, following the bear, had discovered the den and fortuitously also the newborn in the basket.
When Hermes and the three goddesses joined Paris, he was in the shade of an oak tree playing his fistula of seven canes, watching over his flock with satisfaction, unaware of the incredible visitation.
Having revealed herself to the young man, Hera began by saying that, being that it was her privilege to dispense wealth and power to mortals, if she received that prize she would make Paris the richest and most powerful of men.
Athena, on the other hand, in exchange for the apple offered intelligence, wisdom and valor in life and war.
Finally Aphrodite appeared, more beautiful than ever; explained to Paris that he already possessed all that her competitors offered him because he was actually already the son of a rich and powerful father and he already had all the promised gifts and his noble origin soon would be revealed to him. Aphrodite, on the other hand, offered him the love of the most beautiful mortal woman that no man's eyes could resist.
Paris half-closed his eyes, in his mind he saw wealth and power, he was fascinated by the highest wisdom, but with the image of Helen, the woman promised by Aphrodite, he could not help but instantly fall in love and all else dissolved like clouds in the sun; he then opened his eyes and, now blinded by love, without hesitation handed the apple into Aphrodite's hands, disregarding the scorn and threats of Hera and Athena who, defeated, withdrew.
Hermes immediately ran to inform Zeus of the choice Paris had made, while Aphrodite promised the young shepherd that he would soon know his noble lineage and love; however, he would have to race to retrieve the robe that wrapped his infant body in the basket and leave for Ilion as quickly as possible, the splendid capital also called Troy; there he would be registered in the games in the kingdom, where a fat bull was the prize, that days before the king's soldiers had confiscated the livestock from the one who believed to be his father.
Paris, bewitched and dreamily obeyed without delay and, with a rough spear, a bow and its characteristic fistula, finally reached Troy, the "city with golden walls". It stood on a pleasant hill between the Hellespont and the Aegean Sea. At the foot of the hill flowed two rivers, the Scamander to the west and the Simoenta to the north.
There, with Aphrodite at his side, he beat all the participants in the tournament, one after the other, under the eyes of the rulers and Prince Hector, the strongest and most valiant Trojan hero.
At the time of the award ceremony, the winner approached the royal stage to receive Priam's investiture and blessing, but, when he was about ten paces from the king's seat, Princess Cassandra let out a shrill cry of distress; Priam and his lady froze, recognizing only in that moment the clothes the young man wore; only then did they realize that the battered shepherd from Mount Ida, armed with humble weapons but capable of beating all the strongest Trojan nobles, could only be their beloved son Alexander, abandoned tearfully twenty years earlier.
There were festivities in Troy for another 7 days and 7 nights and, despite the initial envy and the dull grudge held by his fifty brothers, twelve sisters and young Trojan nobles, Paris soon managed to be valued and loved by everyone, especially by Hector, his older brother. Only Cassandra continued to distrust and curse whenever she had the occasion to meet up with him, inciting his father and his people several times to ban him from the city before the fatal prophecy could be fulfilled: Troy would be destroyed and his family exterminated in the flames. Cassandra, in fact, at a young age, for having refused to return the love of the god Apollo, had been condemned by divine will that no one would ever believe the prophecies her divine lover inspired in her. The unhappy princess was able to predict all the disasters that affecter her people in time but every time no one trusted her or accorded her their trust, in fact everyone avoided her and considered her not quite sane.
The abduction of Helen
Some time later, Aphrodite, appearing in a dream of the newfound Trojan prince, ordered her protégé: Take a ship and go towards the south, you will round the island of Tenedos, you will go down along the wooded sides of Lesbos, you will pass between Pseira and Chios and there you will see two white doves meet, and fly away together; follow them and stop your ship only where they land; in that land you will find the woman I promised you and who disturbs your dreams every night.
Paris, after telling Priam of his vision, gathered fifty young people of his age and, despite Cassandra imploring him and admonishing him innumerable times, he managed to sail with the blessing of his father and the approval of Neptune, who calmed the waters, and of Aeolus, who released favorable winds for sailing.
So the Trojan ship left the homeland and traveled for days until it met up with the doves and lapped the kingdom of Sparta on which, after the death of Tyndareus, young Menelaus reigned.
And the Trojan strangers, who had just landed, came across, precisely, the young king at the head of a garrison ready for war; Paris met him and reported the reason for his pilgrimage to the lord of Sparta.
Menelaus welcomed him as was due a foreign prince and according to what was foreseen by the law of Zeus regarding the sacredness of guests; he had the Trojans escorted and placed at court and asked Paris to remain in Sparta at least until he and his army returned from the expedition that he was preparing to lead against Crete; on his return Menelaus would help Paris with all his power to seek what the goddess Aphrodite had promised him.
Paris and Menelaus were immediately in agreement; almost instantaneously a certain complicity was created between the two, corroborated mostly by the fact that the two regal young men were more or less peers and that Menelaus had certainly not had a happy adolescence, having always grown up in the shadow of his older brother Agamemnon, who, on the other hand, had never known friendship.
On the evening of his departure for Crete, during the banquet, the Spartan king called his bride to entrust the young guests to her during his absence. The order created amazement among the servants; the presence of Queen Helen was in fact very unusual, indeed quite exceptional, given Menelaus' justified jealousy in showing his beautiful wife in public.