another advertising the play with (a scantily clad Helen) and the quote: ‘I was sold for my beauty’ (lines 935-6). I have also one famous classical image: Helen seems to be in control (especially with her little helper).
Worman notes interestingly that the organizing principle of Helen’s speech are the desirable bodies of Paris, of Aphrodite, and of course herself. 18 However Gorgianic she is, it just may be that the most persuasive thing about Helen is the way she looks; not only persuasive, but destructive as well, as Hecuba says (892-4):
αἱρεῖ γὰρ ἀνδρῶν ὄμματ᾽, ἐξαιρεῖ πόλεις, πίμπρησιν οἴκους: ὧδ᾽ ἔχει κηλήματα. ἐγώ νιν οἶδα, καὶ σύ, χοἱ πεπονθότες.
So how are we to explain the presence of this debate scene, which Gellie calls ‘eccentric’ and ‘played to special rules’ 19 , another critic ‘baffling’ 20 and which I have referred to as anomalous?
18 Worman 1997: 180. Seneca Troades 882ff. has Helen talking about the benefits both of dressing up and being a captive. 19 Gellie 1986: 114, 117. 20 Amerasinghe 1973: 99.
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