Saw the dire, blinding wound,
That smote the twin-born sons
Of Phineus by relentless step-dame's hand,—
*Dark wound, on dark-doomed eyes,
*Not with the stroke of sword,
But blood-stained hands, and point of spindle sharp.
Antistroph. II.
And they in misery, miserable fate,
Wasting away, wept sore,
Born of a mother wedded with a curse.980
And she who claimed descent
From men of ancient fame,
The old Erechtheid race,
Amid her father's winds,
Daughter of Boreas, in far distant caves
Was reared, a child of Gods,
Swift moving as the steed
O'er lofty crag, and yet
The ever-living Fates bore hard on her.
Enter Teiresias, guided by a Boy.
Teir. Princes of Thebes, we come as travellers joined,
One seeing for both, for still the blind must use
A guide's assistance to direct his steps.990
Creon. And what new thing, Teiresias, brings thee here?
Teir. I 'll tell thee, and do thou the seer obey.
Creon. Of old I was not wont to slight thy thoughts.
Teir. So did'st thou steer our city's course full well.
Creon. I bear my witness from good profit gained.
Teir. Know, then, thou walk'st on fortune's razor-edge.
Creon. What means this? How I shudder at thy speech!
Teir. Soon shalt thou know, as thou dost hear the signs
Of my dread art For sitting, as of old,
