“You know the story of the famous seer Phineus whom the Argonauts consulted when they stopped in Salmydessos in Thrace on their way to Colchis to get the golden fleece. He was blind, but not entirely blind - he could see just enough to see that he could not see. And the little flickering spots of light that forced themselves on him were wind-harpies trying to steal from him his prophetic power. So he would beg everyone to make him blind, to rid him of the harpies. But people laughed at him because, so far as they could tell, he was as blind as any man needed to be. Only Hercules understood, because his spirit extended into the divine shadows. Only Hercules had the courage to make the blind Phineus blind.”

— Laura Riding Jackson

Cassandra in A Trojan Ending (London: Constable, 1937)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

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Laura Riding Jackson 42

poet, critic, novelist, essayist and short story writer 1901–1991

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