Then let him come back safe to me by the side of my vessels,
Unhurt bringing me home my arms and all my companions.
So in his prayer he spoke; and the Zeus, the Counsellor, heard him:
Granted him half his desire; but half the Father denied him;
Granted him that his friend should drive the war and the onset
Back from the galleys; denied him his safe return from the battle.
Here, in a milder mood, the poet, for the conclusion of his first book, describes the ‘easy living’ gods:—
So the live-long day they thus were unto the sunset
Feasting; neither did heart lack ever a portion of banquet,
Nor lack ever the lyre, sweet-toned, in the hand of Apollo,