Odyssey 8.354 · Book 8, lines 354–356
Poseidon: then I will pay the debt myself
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τὸν δʼ αὖτε προσέειπε Ποσειδάων ἐνοσίχθων·
Poseidon — Ἥφαιστʼ, εἴ περ γάρ κεν Ἄρης χρεῖος ὑπαλύξας οἴχηται φεύγων, αὐτός τοι ἐγὼ τάδε τίσω.
Then him in turn answered Poseidon the earth-shaker: Hephaestus, if indeed Ares should go off in flight, his debt escaped, then I myself will pay you these things.
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The setting
Hephaestus has refused to free Ares on a mere promise, fearing the debt will go unpaid. Poseidon answers with a firmer guarantee.
A note on this passage
Poseidon closes the deal. If Ares slips off in flight with his debt unpaid, then he, Poseidon, will pay it himself. The guarantee is now explicit and personal: the earth-shaker makes himself the backstop.
The small comedy of the negotiation is that a quarrel over caught lovers has become a matter of formal liability, settled god to god like a contract. Poseidon does not argue the smith's logic; he simply assumes the risk. It is a glimpse of how the Olympians handle each other — not by force, which would wreck heaven, but by the same pledges and payments that hold a human community together.
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