The Fall of Phaeton by Peter Paul Rubens, 1605, now in the National Gallery of Art, Washington DC
赫利俄斯，是駕太陽車的太陽神。他高大魁偉，身披紫袍頭，戴光芒萬丈的金冠。他每天駕駛著四匹火馬拉的太陽車劃過天空，給世界帶來光明。他情人眾多，子女也眾多，其中最有名的是其熊兒子法厄童（Phaethon）。
法厄童的媽媽是水神俄刻阿諾斯的三千女兒之一可萊美，爸爸是偉大的太陽神赫利俄斯。作為一個神二代，法厄童沒什麽驚人本領但好虛榮愛吹噓。每當跟人提起自己的豪出身，特別是豪爸太陽神赫利俄斯，同伴們總是持著懷疑。這也不能怪他們，因為法厄童雖也氣宇非凡，但比起獨一無二的赫利俄斯，人們在他身上看不到任何太陽神的氣概和神彩。終於有一天，法厄童再也無法忍受別人的懷疑，找到媽媽可萊美(Clymene)並討要自己身為神二代的證據，下麵是其母子對話：
Clymene: Son, I've never lied to you. The sun god once told me, he'll grant you any wish, but only one. And if you get what you want from him, you are his son; if you don't, then I am a liar.
Phaethon: How can I get near the warm abode of the Sun?
Clymene: He will make sure not to harm you.
Phaethon: If he is really my father, you don't speak wrong.
Clymene: Rest assured that this is the case: you will truly know it in time.
Phaethon: Enough; I am convinced that you are not telling lies.
法厄童隨後來到太陽神殿並對神爸說明來意。赫利俄斯當然記得當初對可萊美的許諾，問法厄童有什麽願望。法厄童小腦瓜一晃，想了想，能證明自己神二代最好的辦法當然是炫耀神爸那世間唯一的太陽戰車。赫利俄斯聽罷陷入萬般為難。他一麵深知自己是這世上唯一能駕禦太陽戰車的。可另一方麵天神是不可違背諾言的。赫利俄斯萬分後悔自己怎麽會有這麽個熊孩子的同時，也隻好讓法厄童試駕太陽戰車。
剛剛坐進車內的一刻，法厄童就開始後悔自己的選擇，因為他驚詫地發現駕車的四匹天宮火馬的無比神力。車內的他幾乎無法守在座位上，慌亂之即他失去了對火馬的控製。太陽車先是升得太高，並在星空衝出個大洞。然後又突然降低到離大地萬分危險的成度，所經之處燒焦了草木，燒幹了湖泊，連非洲的大片森林也變為沙漠，並把當地居民原本白晰的皮膚也烤成了黝黑。大地之母痛苦難當地向神帝宙斯呼救，宙斯應求並拔出神電擊碎了太陽戰車，同時也擊死了熊孩子法厄童。
法厄童的屍體掉進伊利得奈斯河。沼澤女神可憐他那麽年輕地死去，於是埋葬了他。他的姐妹們傷心地來到墓前哀悼，最後化作岸邊的楊樹。
Phaethon was the son of a water nymph, Clymene, and the sun god Helios. In order to confirm that he really was his father, Helios promised by the river Styx to grant Phaeton any wish. Phaeton asked to drive the sun god’s chariot. According to Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Helios tried to dissuade him, warning his son that not even Jupiter (or Zeus), king of the gods, could not control the fiercely hot chariot pulled by fire-breathing horses. But Phaeton was adamant in his demands and Helios finally granted him his wish.
When Phaeton stepped into the chariot, the horses, used to the great weight of the sun god, thought it empty. Confused, they reared and Phaeton lost control. The horses, driven wild, scorched the earth, reducing Africa to a desert. Mother Earth, in danger of burning up, appealed in desperation to Zeus for help. In order to preserve her, Zeus struck the chariot with a thunderbolt.
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