ABSTRACT
The double Heroides are more complex than the single ones because they interlock, and the second in each pair responds to the first and adds to it- clarifying, correcting, providing a different perspective, bringing out new aspects etc. Within these doublets there are correspondences, to bring the two poems neatly together, and also differences, making for enlivening variety. By way of a change from 16 this epistle is much shorter; this time the writer is calm, sensible and realistic; she is trying to cool down rather than fire up the addressee; and she argues against going off together to Troy rather than for it. Helen is not only more shrewd than Paris but also makes a much better job of achieving her aims in her letter, using some excellent psychology. The Homeric epics encapsulate the very essence of Helen's story and the outcome of her elopement.
