Tiresias was one of the most celebrated soothsayers of the early ages
of Greece. He lived in the times of Oedipus, and the war of the seven
chiefs against Thebes. He was afflicted by the Gods with blindness, in
consequence of some displeasure they conceived against him; but in
compensation they endowed him beyond all other mortals with the gift
of prophecy. He is said to have understood the language of birds. He
possessed the art of divining future events from the various
indications that manifest themselves in fire, in smoke, and in other
ways, [34] but to have set the highest value upon the communications
of the dead, whom by spells and incantations he constrained to appear
and answer his enquiries; [35] and he is represented as pouring out
tremendous menaces against them, when they shewed themselves tardy to
attend upon his commands. [36]