She [Aphrodite] spoke and loosened from her bosom the embroidered girdle of many colors into which all her allurements were fashioned. In it was love and in it desire and in it blandishing persuasion which steals the mind even of the wise.

The lines come from the “Deception of Zeus” episode in the Iliad, when Hera plots to distract Zeus so the Greeks can gain the upper hand in battle. To accomplish this, Hera enlists Aphrodite’s help, asking for the power of erotic attraction. Aphrodite removes her enchanted girdle (kestos himas), described as richly embroidered and containing the forces of love, desire, and persuasive charm. Hera borrows it to heighten her allure, then proceeds to seduce Zeus, lulling him into sleep and enabling Poseidon to intervene more freely in the fighting below.

The passage crystallizes Homeric ideas about eros as a quasi-magical, external force that can override rational judgment—“stealing the mind even of the wise.” By locating love, desire, and persuasion in a tangible object, the poem treats attraction as something that can be transferred, deployed, and weaponized. In context, the girdle is not merely decorative: it is a strategic instrument in divine politics, showing how persuasion and sexuality function as forms of power parallel to brute strength. The phrase also underscores a recurring epic theme: even the most authoritative figures (gods or heroes) remain vulnerable to impulses that cloud deliberation.