Alkinoös calls an assembly of men. They agree to help Odysseus get home. They have games in his honor. One guy starts talking badly about Odysseus, and Odysseus shuts them all up by showing them up in the games. Back to the king's palace for some feasting and singing. Not bad.
This chapter was a lot more fun than it sounded. In my "summary" I did skip some details. The was an amazing singer named Demodokos. He sang beautiful songs of the Trojan War and the lustful affair of Ares and Aphrodite. Which brings me to my favorite part of the chapter.
The affair between the two is definitely interesting. Ares picked the wrong goddess to cheat with because her husband is Hephaistos. After he finds out, he constructs an elaborate trap for the two lovers. After Hephaistos feigns a trip away from his house the two almost instantly spring his beautifully wrought device. Then Hephaistos invites all the gods and goddess to laugh at them as they're caught in his inescapable trap. And there is much laughter. How embarrassing.
It was quite interesting what happened after the affair had been revealed in such a beautiful fashion. There was talk of Ares paying the "adulterer's damage." Now there's something we could use nowadays. When spouses cheat, there should be a form of recompense. Is there no honor? Probably not. Especially not in adultery.
The government treats it as a contracted business deal anyway. Where are the damages when the contract is breached?!?! Probably won't happen though. If it did, there would be more cases than you could shake the Supreme Court at. And there would be a good number of broke men.
And just to clear it up. Some might argue that there is recompense when the contract is "breached," but I'm not speaking of settlements in divorce courts. The couple stays together and the "outsider" pays the damages-fee. I wonder if that system would start to boarder on prostitution? Hmmm... Whatever. Let me know what you think. Do you like the recompense idea? I hope you enjoyed that rousing tale as much as I did. Goodnight. And Good Bye.
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