person
Tiresias
Blind Theban seer of legend, said by Homer to keep his wisdom even among the dead while others flit as shadows. Cicero ranks him with Amphiaraus among the great diviners.
Reading notes
- On Divination §2.9 as Tiresias was
The blind Theban seer of Greek myth, the archetypal prophet. Cicero argues that, blinded, even Tiresias could not tell white from black, so divination supplies nothing the senses give.
- Tusculan Disputations §5.115 the augur Tiresias, whom the poets imagine as a wise man
Tiresias, the blind seer of Theban myth, who in poetry is never shown bewailing his blindness. Cicero contrasts the wise blind seer with the savage Cyclops Polyphemus.