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The Odyssey Book VIII: 256-366 – Demodocus sings of Ares

and Aphrodite

The herald rose at godlike Alcinous’ words and brought the

hollow lyre from the king’s hall. Then nine elected
officials, who organized the games, cleared a space, and
marked out a wide arena for the dance. Next, the herald
came forward carrying Demodocus’ ringing lyre. The bard
stood in the center, and round him were a group of dancers,
boys in the first flush of youth, skilled in dancing, and
Odysseus marveled as he gazed at their flashing feet,
striking the sacred dancing floor.
Then the bard struck the chords that began his sweet
song, and told of the love of Ares and Aphrodite of the
lovely crown, how they lay together in secret in
Hephaestus’ house, and how Ares gave her a host of gifts
while dishonoring the Lord Hephaestus’ bed. But Helios,
the sun god, who had spied them sleeping together, came to
tell Hephaestus. When Hephaestus had heard the sour tale,
he went to his workshop with his heart set on evil, and set
up his huge anvil on its block, and forged a net of chains,
firm and unbreakable. And when, furious with Ares, he had
made the snare, he went to his room and marriage bed, and
fastened the netting to its posts, and hung its links above
from the roof beams, fine as a spider’s web, and so
cunningly made it was invisible even to the blessed gods.
When he had spread his net over the bed, he
pretended to leave for Lemnos, that well-ordered citadel,
dearest of all the islands. Nor was Ares of the Golden Reins
blind to the master-craftsman Hephaestus’ departure, but he
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went straight to Hephaestus’ house, hot for the love of

Aphrodite of the lovely crown. She had scarcely left her
father’s presence, that of mighty Cronos’ son, and seated
herself on arriving, when Ares entered and took her hand
and spoke to her: “Sweetheart, come, let us go to bed, and
take delight in mutual love. Hephaestus has left, for
Lemnos no doubt, to visit the barbarously spoken Sintians.”
As he spoke it seemed a pleasant thing to her to lie
with him. So they went to the bed and lay down. Then
clever Hephaestus’ clever net fell all around them, and they
were unable to move or raise themselves. They soon
realized there was no escape. Now the great lame god
approached, for Helios had kept watch and carried the
word, and Hephaestus returned before ever reaching
Lemnos. He came home, troubled in mind, and as he stood
in the gateway a terrible anger seized him. And he cried out
fiercely to all the gods:
“Father Zeus, and all you other blessed and immortal
gods, come, see something laughable and intolerable, how
Aphrodite, daughter of Zeus, scorning me for my lameness,
makes love with hateful Ares because he is straight-limbed
and handsome while I was born crooked. My parents alone
are to blame for that: I wish they had never made me! Look
how these two usurp my bed and sleep together, while I am
filled with pain to see it. Yet they won’t want to lie like this
much longer, I think. No, not for an instant, however much
they are in love. They’ll soon lose their urge for bed, the
net and its links will hold them instead till her father repays
me all the gifts I gave him while wooing this shameless
hussy, a beautiful daughter indeed but faithless.”
At this the gods came crowding the bronze threshold:
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Poseidon, Earth-Bearer, Hermes the messenger, and Lord

Apollo who strikes from afar. The goddesses stayed at
home from modesty, but those deathless ones, givers of
good, stood in the entrance, and when they saw clever
Hephaestus’ snare, unquenchable laughter flowed from the
blessed gods. One would glance at his neighbor and say:
“Bad deeds don’t prosper. The slow catch the swift, as
Hephaestus here, slow as he is, has netted Ares the swiftest
of all the Olympian gods. He has trapped him by cunning,
though lame. Ares must pay the fine for adultery.”
Such were the comments, then Lord Apollo, son of
Zeus, said to Hermes: “Guide and Giver of Good Things,
Hermes, Zeus’ son, would you not care to lie in bed beside
golden Aphrodite, even though you were snared by
unbreakable chains?”
The Messenger-God, Slayer of Argus, replied: “Lord
Apollo, Far-Shooter, three times as many inescapable links
could hold me, and you gods could be watching, and yes,
all the goddesses too, if only I might sleep with golden
Aphrodite.”
At this, laughter rose from the group of immortal
gods. But Poseidon was unsmiling, and kept begging
Hephaestus, the master craftsman, to set Ares free,
speaking with winged words: “Set him free, and I promise
what you ask, that he’ll pay what’s owed in the presence of
the deathless gods.”
The illustrious lame god replied: “Poseidon, Earth-
Bearer, don’t ask this of me. It’s a sad mistake for sure, to
stand surety for a sad rogue. Will I bind you with chains,
in the presence of the deathless gods, if Ares shrugs off
both chains and debt, and escapes?”
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But Poseidon, said again: “If Ares shrugs off the debt
and escapes, Hephaestus, I will pay it myself.”
To this, the illustrious lame god replied: “Well, I
can’t refuse you, it wouldn’t be right.” And he loosened the
net, and the two of them, free of the chains, leaped up in a
trice and fled. Ares headed for Thrace, but laughter-loving
Aphrodite went to Paphos in Cyprus, where she has a
sanctuary and fragrant altar. There the Graces bathed her,
and anointed her with such heavenly oil as gleams on the
limbs of the gods who live forever. And they dressed her in
beautiful clothes, marvelous to behold.