Odyssey 8.349 · Book 8, lines 349–353
Hephaestus refuses: no pledge for the worthless
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τὸν δʼ αὖτε προσέειπε περικλυτὸς ἀμφιγυήεις·
Hephaestus — μή με, Ποσείδαον γαιήοχε, ταῦτα κέλευε· δειλαί τοι δειλῶν γε καὶ ἐγγύαι ἐγγυάασθαι. πῶς ἂν ἐγώ σε δέοιμι μετʼ ἀθανάτοισι θεοῖσιν, εἴ κεν Ἄρης οἴχοιτο χρέος καὶ δεσμὸν ἀλύξας;
Him in turn answered the far-famed god of both arms: Do not bid me these things, Poseidon, earth-holder. Sorry, you know, are the sureties even pledged for sorry men. How could I bind you among the immortal gods, if Ares should slip away, his debt and his bond escaped?
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The setting
Poseidon has asked Hephaestus to free Ares, promising the war-god will pay what he owes. Hephaestus, the wronged husband, replies.
A note on this passage
Hephaestus refuses, and does it with a proverb: worthless are the pledges one gives on behalf of worthless men. If he frees Ares on Poseidon's word and Ares bolts, his debt and his chains escaped, then Hephaestus would be left binding Poseidon in his place — an absurdity among the immortals.
The whole exchange runs on the law of pledges. Hephaestus's line is folk-wisdom, a surety taken for a good-for-nothing is itself good for nothing, and he applies it coldly: he will not swap a runaway debtor for a bound guarantor. The wronged smith argues suretyship like a magistrate, and the bawdy song turns, for a moment, into a courtroom over who is good for Ares' debt.
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