Oxen of the Sun

I can't help but wonder what the lesson of this episode is, given that Odysseus' men were starving when they were forced to eat the oxen belonging to the sun god, Helios Hyperion. To make matters worse, Odysseus failed to share with them some crucial information before landing on Thrinacia - namely, the prophecy given to him by Teiresias, the blind seer, that foretold their doom. One assumes that some of the men might have shown more restraint if they had known ahead of time that such sacrilege against the god was predicted in advance. As with the prior calamity involving Scylla and Charybdis, there are no easy solutions to certain, messy situations. Given the rift that has emerged between Odysseus and his crew, he has reason to be careful about the information he shares with them, lest by telling them all the bitter truth, he incite them to mutiny and parricide. They have learned the hard way, and perhaps hold this fact against him that Odysseus cannot always guarantee his crew's safety and well-being; his needs, desires, inclinations run contrary to theirs - even to the point of making their lives expendable.