Tiresias was a blind, darkseeing prophet（先知） of Thebes. He was 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 maiden1 bathing in a placid2 lake. Little did he know that he had offended the virgin3 goddess. Taken unaware4 and scarlet5 with wrath6（愤怒） , the goddess exclaimed that whoever had the boldness to steal a glance at her naked body was doomed7 to perpetual（永久的） 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 pine（神圣的） power of prophecy. Besides, she provided him with a marvellous sharpness of ear, so that he could understand the voices of all birds. And she filled his mind with mystic knowledge of things past and of things to come. In short she gave him quite an amount of her own wisdom. He was the first to recognise and welcome Dionysus, god of feast and wine, on the The ban land. When the infant Heracles caught Hera's two serpents（巨蛇） in its hands, it was Tiresias who cast the child's fortune and revealed the pine origin and destiny of the boy. When Oedipus abused Tiresias as having had a hand in the murder of Laius, Tiresias had the fearless courage to tell the truth that Oedipus was the murderer. Even in the lower world he continued to prophesy8. There he helped Odysseus when the hero came to him for advice. Alive, he was highly respected by all；dead, he enjoyed the generous air and rosy9 light in the land of the Blest.
泰瑞西斯是位只能看见黑暗的底比斯先知。因为他年轻时不小心窥见了女神雅典娜，他的双目失明。一天，他在森林里漫步时，意料之外地看见一位全身裸露的仙女正在平静的湖水中沐浴。他不了解他已经冒有这位贞洁的女神。因莫名其妙地让人看了个一目了然，女神勃然大怒。她诅咒道：哪个胆敢偷窥她的玉体，哪个就势必永远变瞎。但当后来她得知泰瑞西斯并不是有意冒犯她时，再想收回她的咒语已经不可能了。出于怜悯，她从宙斯那里替这位贫穷的，丧失了视力的青年争取到了长寿；又从阿波罗那里要来了神圣的预言本领；并且，她赋予他神奇敏锐的双耳，如此他就能了解各种鸟语。除此之外，雅典娜给了他魔术般的本领，使他既知过去，也能预测将来。总而言之，她使他拥有了她自己智慧中的非常大一部分。在底比斯，是泰瑞西斯第一个认出了宴会神、也是酒神的狄俄尼索斯，并向他表示欢迎。当海格克斯还是个婴儿，用手抓起赫拉的两条毒蛇时，也正是泰瑞西斯卜算出了这个孩子的将来并预示出他的出身及其命。当奥狄浦斯指责泰瑞西斯参与谋杀了拉伊俄斯时，泰瑞西斯勇敢地讲出了事实真相：奥狄浦斯才是凶手。即便到了地狱，他依旧预测将来。在那儿，当奥德修斯前去征求他的建议时，泰瑞西斯帮助了他。活着的时候，他遭到大家的常见敬重；死后，在不莱斯特这块土地上，他享受着无比清爽的空气和玫瑰般绚丽多彩的阳光。
