Cockiness Turns to Panic

Yet now, my hands tremble and the reins slip like flames from my fingers. Father's horses defy me, and the sky reels beneath me. Beneath my trembling feet the chariot glows with fury, the steeps gallop madly, unchained by my divine hands. Those fearful beasts I once mocked, now circle cruelly, stars turning to monsters and my arrogance to dread. A horned Bull, Lion roaring with flame and a scorpion poised with dripping venom. My breath chokes with terror; regret pierces me like arrows of fire. Father, was it my ego that blinded me to truth? The heavens spin wildly. Oh, Apollo, why did I not believe you?

Phaethon, Gustave Moreau