Helen and Paris pupils of the praeceptor amoris (Ovid, her. 16-17)

The letter exchange between Helen and Paris in Ovid’s Heroides is a new step in the longstanding reception of the mythical episode of the abduction of Helen. Ovid re-writes the story of the two lovers according to the elegiac code, focusing specifically on the moment of the seduction by Paris and re-shaping the roles of the raptor and the seduced woman in the light of both the Ars amatoria and the juridical tradition. Helen’s innocence and her role of victim – and not accomplice – of the raptus are granted by the use of vis on behalf of Paris, even if – as the poet teaches in his Ars – the violence is just simulated and, most of all, grata puellis.