[希臘神話]泰瑞西斯

Tiresias

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Tiresias was a blind，darkseeing prophet of Thebes．Hewas struck with blindness
in his youth，because he had spied unwittingly on the goddess Athena．He was wandering in the woods one day when quite unexpectedly he saw anaked maiden bathing in a placid lake ．Little did he know that he had offended the virgin goddess．Taken unaware and scarlet with wrath，the goddess exclaimed that whoever had the boldness to steal a glance at her naked body was doomed to perpetual blindness．But when she learned later that the offence was unintentional ，it was too late for her to take back what she had said．Taking pity on the poor youth for the loss of his sight，she obtained from Zeus an exceptional long life for him，and from Apollo a divine power of prophecy．Besides，she provided him with a marvellous sharpness of ear，so that he could under stand the voices of all birds．And she filled his mind with mystic knowledge of things past and of things to come．In short shegave him quite an amount of her own wisdom．He was the firstto recognise and welcome Dionysus，god of feast and wine，on the The ban land．When the infant Heracles caught Hera's two serpents in its hands，it was Tiresias who cast the child's fortune and revealed the divine origin and destiny of the boy ．When Oedipus abused Tiresias as having had a hand in themurder of Laius，Tiresias had the fearless courage to tell thetruth that Oedipus was the murderer．Even in the lower world he continued to prophesy．There he helped Odysseus when the hero came to him for advice．Alive，he was highly respected byall；dead，he enjoyed the generous air and rosy light in the land of the Blest．

泰瑞西斯是位只能看見黑暗的底比斯先知。由於他年輕時不小心窺見了女神雅典娜，他的雙目失明。一天，他在森林裏漫步時，意外地看見一位全身裸露的仙女正在平靜的湖水中沐浴。他不知道他已經冒犯了這位貞潔的女神。因莫名其妙地被人看了個一清二楚，女神勃然大怒。她詛咒道：誰膽敢偷看她的玉體，誰就必將永遠變瞎。但當後來她得知泰瑞西斯並非有意冒犯她時，再想收回她的咒語已經不可能了。出於憐憫，她從宙斯那裏替這位貧窮的，喪失了視力的年輕人爭取到了長壽；又從阿波羅那裏要來了神聖的預言本領；並且，她賦予他神奇敏銳的雙耳，這樣他就可以明白各種鳥語。此外，雅典娜給了他魔術般的本領，使他既知過去，也能預測未來。總而言之，她使他擁有了她自身智慧中的很大一部分。在底比斯，是泰瑞西斯第一個認出了宴會神、也是酒神的狄俄尼索斯，並向他表示歡迎。當海格克斯還是個嬰兒，用手抓起赫拉的兩條毒蛇時，也正是泰瑞西斯卜算出了這個孩子的未來並預示出他的出身及其命運。當奧狄浦斯指責泰瑞西斯參與謀殺了拉伊俄斯時，泰瑞西斯勇敢地講出了事實真相：奧狄浦斯纔是兇手。即使到了地獄，他依然預測未來。在那兒，當奧德修斯前去徵求他的意見時，泰瑞西斯幫助了他。活着的時候，他受到人們的普遍敬重；死後，在不萊斯特這塊土地上，他享受着無比清新的空氣和玫瑰般絢麗多彩的陽光。