There is a story - legend or myth - of a test called the path of roses.

Prince Nessel had fallen in love with the widowed Queen of Abes. The Queen had made mistakes before in the choosing of her consort, and the gods were not about to let her make another. So they devised a test.
In the form of dreams they showed the Queen the possibilities, good and bad. And they showed her good and bad what it was, is, and might be, that makes up the person of Prince Nessel.

But such dreams would not work to test the Prince. For he did not put any store in dreams.

It so happened, that upon his travels to Abes, the Prince had to pass through a strange forest. The forest was dark and dense. Yet, white roses bloomed among the undergrowth. That is where the gods would challenge Prince Nessel.

Not far into the forest, at the first crossways, the Prince came upon a woman so beautiful and alluring to take one's breath away. She also looked in need of aid and protection.

"Which way to the market?" she asked of him. The directions he gave her apparently were not clear to her. Which she let him know in her most seductive way. She let him know, beyond a doubt, to escort her out of the woods would be rewarded with nights of bliss.

But in his heart he held the image of the woman he had come to love. He did not want to be delayed however pleasant the delay might be. He devised an escort for the woman of his own men. As Venus was satisfied that he truly knew his heart's desire she ceased her assault upon his senses and let him travel on with her blessing.

Athena was the last of the gods to test the mortal Prince. Hers was the most difficult, and the cruelest of all. She appeared to Prince Nessel as a dear friend, wise, knowledgeable in all things, and worthy of his trust.

"Turn around, my friend. This is not where you should want to go. You are blinded by what you have seen so far to what your eyes have missed. There is much you do not yet know. Certainly there are others you could come to love and have more of a chance to be happy with than the Queen of Abes."

The prince answered in the negative.

"She has had husbands and loves before you. She has not yet told you all."

Athena grasped the Prince's hands and gave him visions of the Queen's previous relationships. Those known to histories and those not known. Athena is cruel in her showing of what was. And does not temper the truth in any way.

But in his soul Prince Nessel held the soul of the woman he had come to love. With that he was able to understand only better why he loved the one he did.

"Your visions only make me desire her more."

Athena shrugged, "She will not bear you children, or die trying."

The next visions made him experience what may be. He saw his Love's longing for a child and then his Queen dead and a mewling babe for him to raise alone. He also saw life with children adoring their parents and the woman at his side one he could love but not his Queen.

But in his soul he held the image of the woman he had come to love. Rather than turn his mind, the visions only strengthened his resolve to make a life with his Queen.

Athena assaulted Prince Nessel a third time with visions showing the one he came to love signing order-scrolls. The scrolls themselves showed scenes of the Queen's people dying horrible deaths in battle. And he is made to know his Love has given those orders fully knowing the consequences while she sat behind her desk far from the battlefields.

But in his soul he held the image of the woman he had come to love. And he knew she had no better choices and made the best she could. And he admired the Queen for her rulership skills.

Athena read his mind and was satisfied that he truly knew his soul's desire and let him pass with her blessing and the knowledge that visions of what might be may not turn out that way.

So Prince Nessel passed the test and path of roses and went on to make the Queen of Abes his wife and consort.