Welcome! Imagine this. Someone you love asks you to keep a secret. You agree. Then you learn enough to fear what your silence might cost them. Speaking up could damage their trust. Staying silent could put them in danger. What does loyalty require of you now? That’s what we’ll look at today.
The sun god knew that keeping his promise could kill his son. He begged the boy to ask for something else.
In Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Phaethon visits his father seeking proof of his parentage. His father embraces him and swears to grant him whatever he desires- the young man asks to drive the chariot that carries the sun across the sky.
His father immediately regrets the oath. He explains the horses’ strength and the dangers of the journey- even he struggles to control them.
But the boy insists.
His father…