Odyssey 8.306 · Book 8, lines 306–309
Come, gods, and see
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Hephaestus — Ζεῦ πάτερ ἠδʼ ἄλλοι μάκαρες θεοὶ αἰὲν ἐόντες, δεῦθʼ, ἵνα ἔργα γελαστὰ καὶ οὐκ ἐπιεικτὰ ἴδησθε, ὡς ἐμὲ χωλὸν ἐόντα Διὸς θυγάτηρ Ἀφροδίτη αἰὲν ἀτιμάζει, φιλέει δʼ ἀίδηλον Ἄρηα,
Father Zeus, and you other blessed gods who are forever, come, so that you may see deeds to laugh at and not to be borne: how Zeus's daughter Aphrodite forever dishonors me, lame as I am, and loves ruinous Ares.
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The setting
Inside Demodocus's song. Hephaestus, having trapped Ares and Aphrodite in his bed, stands in his doorway and calls the gods of Olympus to witness his wife's betrayal.
A note on this passage
Hephaestus opens his complaint by calling the gods to a spectacle — deeds 'to laugh at and not to be borne' — and names the grievance at once: Aphrodite, daughter of Zeus, forever slights her lame husband and loves Ares instead.
He frames his own shame as public comedy before anyone else can. Notice the pairing he chooses for the affair: 'laughable' and 'unendurable' in the same breath. The song will make good on both — the gods do laugh — and Hephaestus, by naming the laughter first, half-directs it, turning the joke on himself into the charge against them.
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