66 Ernest Heinrich Klotsche 



The oracle contained in vv. 409 ff. is an example that oracles 

 present an inevitable future in terms that are dim, ambiguous, 

 equivocal, ironical : 



Phoen. 409 and 411 : 



expr]'^' 'ASpdcrrcp Aortas XP'JO'MO'' TLva. 

 Kairpcfi \tovTl J?' dpfiocraL Traidcop yaixovs. 



" To Adrastus Loxias spake an oracle : 

 ' Thy daughters wed to a Hon and a boar.' " 



Eteocles who formerly had mocked at the seer Teiresias admits 

 that he cannot dispense with the seer's advice concerning an im- 

 portant undertaking : 



Phoen. 766 : 



€1' 5' earlv rijj.lv apyov, e'l tl ^k(j<f)aTOV 

 OMVo/jLavTis Teipeaias exft (ppaaai, 

 ToiiS' kianf&kad^aL ravr'- ... 

 kjcb Se rkxvtiv fxavriKriv eixep.-ipaiJ.-qv k. t. X. 



" One thing abides undone, to ask the seer 

 Teiresias touching this, if aught he hath 

 Of oracles to tell. ... 



But the seer's art in time past have I mocked 

 Unto his face ; so he may bear me grudge." 



The aged seer Teiresias led by his daughter enters the stage 

 saying : 



Phoen. 838-40: 



KXripovs re p.0L (f)vXaaae -Kap&axj^ x^Ph '^'- ''"• ^■ 

 " Guard in thy maiden hand the augury-lots 

 Which, when I marked the bodings of the birds, 

 In the holy seat I took, where I divine." . 



The " augury-lots " (kXtjpovs) are the notes which the seer had 

 written down after having observed the flight of the birds. 



Teiresias claims to have secured through the art of divination 

 the victory for Athens over Eleusis and displays as his reward a 

 golden crown, the first-fruits of the spoil : 



Phoen. 854-58: 



. . . Kal Tovbe xP^<^ovv <jTk4>avov, cos opgs, exco 

 Xa/Sd!!' a,7rapxas iroXefxioiv aKv\evp.a.T(jiv. 



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