There was a prophecy that the Harpies should perish by the hands of the sons of Boreas, but that the latter themselves must die if they should be unable to overtake the Harpies. In this condition the unfortunate man was found by the Argonauts, whom he promised to instruct respecting their voyage, if they would deliver him from the monsters.Ī table accordingly was laid out with food, and when the Harpies appeared they were forthwith attacked by Zetes and Calais, the brothers of Cleopatra, who were provided with wings. 14 Whenever Phineus wanted to take a meal the Harpies came, took away a portion of his food, and soiled the rest, so as to render it unfit to be eaten. His second wife charged them with having behaved improperly to her, and Phineus punished them by putting their eyes out, 12 or, according to others, by exposing them to be devoured by wild beasts, 13 or by ordering them to be half buried in the earth, and then to be scourged. He is most celebrated in ancient stories on account of his being exposed to the annoyances of the Harpies, who were sent to him by the gods for his cruelty towards his sons by the first marriage. 8 The cause of his blindness is not the same in all accounts according to some he was blinded by the gods for having imprudently communicated to mortals the divine counsels of Zeus about the future 9 according to others Aeëtes, on hearing that the sons of Phrixus had been saved by Phineus, cursed him, and Helios hearing the curse, carried it into effect by blinding him 10 others again relate, that Boreas or the Argonauts blinded him for his conduct towards his sons. Phineus was a blind soothsayer, who had received his prophetic powers from Apollo. Afterwards he was married to Idaea (some call her Dia, Eurytia, or Eidothea 6), by whom he again had two sons, Thynus and Mariandynus. 4 He was first married to Cleopatra, the daughter of Boreas and Orithyia, by whom he had two children, Oryithus (Oarthus) and Crambis (some call them Parthenius and Crambis 5). 3 Some accounts, moreover, make him a king in Paphlagonia or in Arcadia. 1 Some traditions called him a son of Phoenix and Cassiopeia, and a grandson of Agenor, 2 while others again call him a son of Poseidon. A son of Agenor, and king of Salmydessus in Thrace.
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