There Phineus, son of Agenor, had his home by the sea, Phineus who above
all men endured most bitter woes because of the gift of prophecy which
Leto's son had granted him aforetime. And he reverenced not a whit even
Zeus himself, for he foretold unerringly to men his sacred will.
Wherefore Zeus sent upon him a lingering old age, and took from his eyes
the pleasant light, and suffered him not to have joy of the dainties
untold that the dwellers around ever brought to his house, when they
came to enquire the will of heaven. But on a sudden, swooping through
the clouds, the Harpies with their crooked beaks incessantly snatched
the food away from his mouth and hands. And at times not a morsel of
food was left, at others but a little, in order that he might live and
be tormented. And they poured forth over all a loathsome stench; and no
one dared not merely to carry food to his mouth but even to stand at a
distance; so foully reeked the remnants of the meal. But straightway
when he heard the voice and the tramp of the band he knew that they were
the men passing by, at whose coming Zeus' oracle had declared to him
that he should have joy of his food. And he rose from his couch, like a
lifeless dream, bowed over his staff, and crept to the door on his
withered feet, feeling the walls; and as he moved, his limbs trembled
for weakness and age; and his parched skin was caked with dirt, and
naught but the skin held his bones together. And he came forth from the
hall with wearied knees and sat on the threshold of the courtyard; and a
dark stupor covered him, and it seemed that the earth reeled round
beneath his feet, and he lay in a strengthless trance, speechless. But
when they saw him they gathered round and marvelled. And he at last drew
laboured breath from the depths of his chest and spoke among them with
prophetic utterance:

"Listen, bravest of all the Hellenes, if it be truly ye, whom by a