Heroides

Books

• 1
  Book 1

  Penelope to Ulysses. She has waited twenty years. Troy fell long ago. Everyone else has come home.

  116 lines
• 2
  Book 2

  Phyllis to Demophoon. He promised to return from Athens. She is still waiting. The trees she planted for their reunion are fully grown.

  148 lines
• 3
  Book 3

  Briseis to Achilles. She begs him to reclaim her from Agamemnon — or at least to want her back.

  154 lines
• 4
  Book 4

  Phaedra to Hippolytus. A stepmother confesses her love for her husband's son, knowing it is wrong, unable to stop.

  176 lines
• 5
  Book 5

  Oenone to Paris. His first wife, the nymph he abandoned for Helen, reminds him of what they had in the mountains above Troy.

  150 lines
• 6
  Book 6

  Hypsipyle to Jason. The queen of Lemnos whom Jason left for Medea. She knows what Medea is. She warns him.

  166 lines
• 7
  Book 7

  Dido to Aeneas. She knows he is leaving. She is already planning her death. The letter is a suicide note disguised as a plea.

  198 lines
• 8
  Book 8

  Hermione to Orestes. Stolen by Neoptolemus, she begs her promised husband to reclaim her before it is too late.

  120 lines
• 9
  Book 9

  Deianira to Hercules. She has heard about Iole. The robe she sent him was meant to win back his love. She does not yet know it is poisoned.

  168 lines
• 10
  Book 10

  Medea to Jason. She catalogues everything she has done for him — murdered her brother, betrayed her father, used her magic. And now he wants a new wife.

  152 lines
• 11
  Book 11

  Laodamia to Protesilaus. Her husband was the first Greek to land at Troy — and the first to die. She writes to a man already dead.

  130 lines
• 12
  Book 12

  Hypermnestra to Lynceus. The only one of the fifty Danaids who refused to murder her husband on their wedding night. She is in prison for her mercy.

  214 lines
• 13
  Book 13

  Sappho to Phaon. The poet of Lesbos writes to the young man who has abandoned her. She considers the cliff at Leucas.

  160 lines
• 14
  Book 14

  Helen to Paris. An exchange of letters begins. Helen insists she is virtuous while revealing how flattered she is.

  130 lines
• 15
  Book 15

  Paris to Helen. He makes his case: he is a prince, he crossed the sea for her, the gods are on their side.

  220 lines
• 16
  Book 16

  Leander to Hero. He swims the Hellespont every night to reach her. A storm is keeping him on shore. He writes instead.

  378 lines
• 17
  Book 17

  Hero to Leander. She waits with her lamp in the tower at Sestos. The sea has been rough for days. She begs him not to risk it.

  268 lines
• 18
  Book 18

  Acontius to Cydippe. He tricked her into an oath by throwing an apple inscribed with a marriage vow into the temple of Artemis. She read it aloud.

  218 lines
• 19
  Book 19

  Cydippe to Acontius. She is ill — Artemis enforces the oath every time she tries to marry another man. She is furious and fascinated.

  210 lines
• 20
  Book 20

  Paris to Oenone (double letter). The correspondence between Paris and his abandoned first wife continues.

  244 lines
• 21
  Book 21

  Oenone to Paris (double letter). She reminds him of the prophecy: only she can heal his wound when the time comes.

  250 lines