Odyssey 8.334 · Book 8, lines 334–337
Apollo's teasing question to Hermes
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Ἑρμῆν δὲ προσέειπεν ἄναξ Διὸς υἱὸς Ἀπόλλων·
Apollo — Ἑρμεία, Διὸς υἱέ, διάκτορε, δῶτορ ἑάων, ἦ ῥά κεν ἐν δεσμοῖς ἐθέλοις κρατεροῖσι πιεσθεὶς εὕδειν ἐν λέκτροισι παρὰ χρυσέῃ Ἀφροδίτῃ;
And to Hermes spoke the lord Apollo, son of Zeus: Hermes, son of Zeus, guide, giver of good things — truly, then, would you be willing, pressed in strong bonds, to sleep in bed beside golden Aphrodite?
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The setting
The gods have gathered to see Ares and Aphrodite caught in Hephaestus's net. Apollo now turns, in jest, to Hermes.
A note on this passage
Apollo turns to Hermes with mock gravity, stacking the messenger-god's full titles — son of Zeus, guide, giver of good things — before he asks his leering question: would Hermes accept being pinned in those unbreakable chains, if the price were a night at Aphrodite's side?
The comedy is in the decorum. The ceremonial vocatives belong to hymn and prayer, and Apollo drapes them over a dare. For the Olympians the trapped lovers are pure entertainment; the scandal that would ruin a mortal house is, on the divine level, a good laugh passed between two young gods. The solemn formula and the smutty question rub together on purpose.
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