Odyssey 8.315 · Book 8, lines 315–320
The snare will hold — give back the bride-price
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Hephaestus — οὐ μέν σφεας ἔτʼ ἔολπα μίνυνθά γε κειέμεν οὕτως καὶ μάλα περ φιλέοντε· τάχʼ οὐκ ἐθελήσετον ἄμφω εὕδειν· ἀλλά σφωε δόλος καὶ δεσμὸς ἐρύξει, εἰς ὅ κέ μοι μάλα πάντα πατὴρ ἀποδῷσιν ἔεδνα, ὅσσα οἱ ἐγγυάλιξα κυνώπιδος εἵνεκα κούρης, οὕνεκά οἱ καλὴ θυγάτηρ, ἀτὰρ οὐκ ἐχέθυμος.
But I no longer expect them to lie like this even a little while, however much in love; soon the two will not both want to sleep; but a snare and a bond will hold the two fast, until her father gives me back every last bride-gift, all that I handed over to him for the dog-eyed girl's sake, since his daughter is beautiful, but has no self-control.
Word by word
The setting
Hephaestus states his terms for releasing the pair: Zeus, Aphrodite's father, must repay the bride-price. The ἔεδνα were the gifts a suitor gave to win a bride.
A note on this passage
Hephaestus lays out his terms. He does not expect the pair to lie there long, however much in love — soon they will not even want to — but his snare will hold them until Zeus refunds every bride-gift he paid for a daughter who is beautiful and shameless.
The complaint turns, revealingly, into a bill. His remedy is not blood but property law: return the ἔεδνα, the courtship-price, and cancel the bad bargain. He calls Aphrodite 'dog-eyed,' the hardest word in the song, and in the same breath prices her — the marriage was a purchase, and he wants his money back.
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