Chapter 14: Thebes
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♠ fr 275 MW – Hesiod, Melampodia – Fragmenta Hesiodea, pp. 134-36, ed. R. Merkelbach and M.L. West. Oxford 1967.
♠ Σ Od 10.494 – Scholia to Homer, Odyssey – Scholia Graeca in Homeris Odysseam 2, p. 475, ed. W. Dindorf. Oxford 1855.
♠ Tzetzes Σ Lyk 683 – Scholia to Lykophron, Alexandra – Isaakiou kai Iōannou tou Tzetzou Scholia eis Lykophrona, pp. 737-38, ed E. Scheer. Lipzig 1811.
♠ fr 276 MW – Hesiod, Melampodia – Fragmenta Hesiodea, p. 136, ed. R. Merkelbach and M.L. West. Oxford 1967.
♠ FGrH 257F36 Phlegon – Die Fragmente der griechischen Historiker, ed. F. Jacoby. 2d ed. Leiden 1957.
♠ Met 3.322-38 – Ovid, Metamorphoses
Wherefore ’twas agreed
to ask Tiresias to declare the truth,
than whom none knew both male and female joys:
for wandering in a green wood he had seen
two serpents coupling; and he took his staff
and sharply struck them, till they broke and fled.
‘Tis marvelous, that instant he became
a woman from a man, and so remained
while seven autumns passed. When eight were told,
again he saw them in their former plight,
and thus he spoke; “Since such a power was wrought,
by one stroke of a staff my sex was changed—
again I strike!” And even as he struck
the same two snakes, his former sex returned;
his manhood was restored.—
as both agreed
to choose him umpire of the sportive strife,
he gave decision in support of Jove;
from this the disappointment Juno felt
surpassed all reason, and enraged, decreed
eternal night should seal Tiresias’ eyes.—
immortal Deities may never turn
decrees and deeds of other Gods to naught,
but Jove, to recompense his loss of sight,
endowed him with the gift of prophecy.
Tiresias’ fame of prophecy was spread
through all the cities of Aonia,
for his unerring answers unto all
who listened to his words. Latin Text
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Edited by Elena Bianchelli, Senior Lecturer of Classical Languages and Culture, University of Georgia, March 2020
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