Helios’ Wrath

32“Just then the gentle slumber left my lids.
I hurried to the shore and my good ship,
And, drawing near, perceived the savory steam
From the burnt-offering. Sorrowfully then
I called upon the ever-living gods: —

33“ ‘O Father Zeus, and all you blessed gods,
Who live forever, it was a cruel sleep
In which you lulled me to my grievous harm;
My comrades here have done a fearful wrong.’

34“Lampetia, of the trailing robes, in haste
Flew to Helios, who journeys round the earth,
To tell him that my crew had slain his beeves,
And thus in anger he bespoke the gods: —

35“ ‘O Father Zeus, and all you blessed gods
Who never die, avenge the wrong I bear
Upon the comrades of Laertes’ son,
Odysseus, who have foully slain my beeves,
In which I took delight whenever I rose
Into the starry heaven, and when again
I sank from heaven to earth. If for the wrong
They make not large amends, I shall go down
To Hades, there to shine among the dead.’

36“The cloud-compelling Zeus replied: —
‘Still shine, O Helios! among the deathless gods
And mortal men, upon the nourishing earth.
Soon will I cleave, with a white thunderbolt,
Their galley in the midst of the black sea.’

37“This from Calypso of the radiant hair
I heard thereafter; she herself, she said,
Had heard it from the herald Hermes.