When Idas asked to marry Marpessa, Evenus refused his request. Idas went to Poseidon and begged for the use of a winged chariot. Poseidon consented to his use of the chariot, and Idas stole Marpessa away and fled. Her father, after chasing the couple for a long time and realizing he could not catch up to them, killed his horses and then drowned himself in a nearby river, which took his name. "And thou beautiful god, in that far time, When in thy setting sweet thou gazest down On this grey head, wilt thou remember then That once I pleased thee, that I once was young?"