Odyssey 8.295 · Book 8, lines 295–300
Sprung: no moving a limb
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ὣς φάτο, τῇ δʼ ἀσπαστὸν ἐείσατο κοιμηθῆναι. τὼ δʼ ἐς δέμνια βάντε κατέδραθον· ἀμφὶ δὲ δεσμοὶ τεχνήεντες ἔχυντο πολύφρονος Ἡφαίστοιο, οὐδέ τι κινῆσαι μελέων ἦν οὐδʼ ἀναεῖραι. καὶ τότε δὴ γίγνωσκον, ὅ τʼ οὐκέτι φυκτὰ πέλοντο. ἀγχίμολον δέ σφʼ ἦλθε περικλυτὸς ἀμφιγυήεις,
So he spoke, and to her it seemed welcome to lie down. So the two went into the bed and lay down; and around them the cunning bonds poured down of skilled Hephaestus, and it was not possible at all to move a limb nor to lift one. And then indeed they knew that no longer were things escapable. And close at hand came to them the famed god strong-on-both-sides,
Word by word
The setting
Aphrodite consents; the two lie down together. The instant they do, the invisible net drops and closes. They cannot stir. And at that moment the trapper is already coming back.
A note on this passage
The trap does exactly what it was built to do. The two lie down, and the artful bonds of “crafty Hephaestus” pour over them; they cannot move a limb or lift themselves, and only then do they understand there is no escape. The moment of pleasure and the moment of capture are the same instant.
The undercurrent is the timing of the last line. “And close at hand came the far-famed god strong-on-both-sides” — the lame smith arrives at the very second the net holds, because he never truly left. The scene is engineered as farce: the pratfall lands, the lovers are pinned mid-embrace, and the wronged husband walks back in on cue to an audience of gods he is about to summon.
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Odyssey 8.295 — The Great Library Project interlinear edition · greatlibraryproject.com/book/odyssey/8.295/