Poseidon’s Complaint

13“O Father Zeus! I shall no more be held
In honor with the gods, since mortal men,
The people of Phaeacia, though their race
Is of my lineage, do not honor me.
I meant Odysseus should not reach his home
Save with much suffering, though I never thought
To hinder his return, for you had given
Your promise and your nod that it should be.
Yet these Phaeacians, in a gallant barque,
Have borne him over the deep, and while he slept,
Have laid him down in Ithaca, and given
Large gifts, abundant store of brass and gold,
And woven work, more than he could have brought
From captured Ilium, if he had returned
Safely, with all his portion of the spoil.”

14Then cloud-compelling Zeus replied:
“Earth-shaker, ruler of a mighty realm!
What have you said? The gods deny you not
Due honor; perilous it were for them
To show contempt for one who stands in age
And might above them all. But if among
The sons of men be one who puts such trust
In his own strength as not to honor you,
Do as seems good to you, and as you will.”

15Promptly the god who shakes the shores replied;
“What you do bid me I would do at once,
But that I fear and would avoid your wrath.
I would destroy that fair Phaeacian barque
In its return across the misty sea
From bearing home Odysseus, that no more
May the Phaeacians lend an escort thus
To wandering men, and I would also cause
A lofty mount to rise and hide their town.”

16Then spoke again the Cloud-compeller Zeus:
“Thus were it best, my brother: when the crowd
Of citizens already see the ship
Approaching, then transform it to a rock
In semblance of a galley, that they all
May gaze in wonder; thus will you have caused
A lofty mount to stand before their town.”

17This when the shaker of the shores had heard,
He flew to Scheria, the Phaeacian isle,
And stood, until that galley, having crossed
The sea, came swiftly scudding. He drew near
And smote it with his open palm, and made
The ship a rock, fast rooted in the bed
Of the deep sea, and then he went his way.