The Argonautica

There the wave rose like a high, sheer-sided mountain

before them, borne like some swift attacker leaping forward,

lifted forever above the clouds; you would not say

they could escape grim doom, for over the vessel's middle

it hung in fury, just like a cloud; yet even this wave

lay smoothed if it met with a noble helmsman's craft.

So these men sailed by Tiphys' practiced skill in steering,

unharmed, but sorely struck with fear. Upon the next day

across from Bithynian land they tied the ship's cables.

There Phineus, Agenor's son, kept his house by the shore,

and of all men endured the most ruinous sufferings

because of prophecy, Apollo's great gift, once granted to him

by Leto's son; yet Phineus showed no reverence,

not even for Zeus, but revealed his sacred purpose to mortals.

Therefore Zeus sent old age to linger long upon him,

and took the sweet light from his eyes, nor let him delight

in countless dishes, all the food the neighbors always

gathered into his house after asking heaven's signs.

But suddenly, close through the clouds, they came darting down,

the Harpies, using hooked beaks at his mouth and hands;

unceasingly they snatched the food. Sometimes they left scraps

not one morsel, sometimes a little, to live on in grief.

They poured a dank and moldy stench; no one could bear it,

not merely carrying a meal toward his very throat,