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A plague has beset the city of Thebes because, as the oracle of Phoibos says, the guilt of blood is blasting all the state. Teiresias the seer is the one who knows the secret and can point out the murderer of Laios. These are his first words when he appears on the scene (315):
Ah me, ah me, how dread is wisdom's giftWhen no good issue waiteth on the wise!I know it all too well and then forgotOr else I had not on this journey comeOedipusWhat means this? How despondingly thou com'st.TeiresiasLet me go home! for thus thy lot shalt thouAnd I mine own, bear easiest if thou yield. (62)