Having been deprived of his sight by the gods for his ill-treatment of his sons by his first wife (or for having revealed the future to mortals), he was condemned to be tormented by two Harpies, who carried off whatever food was placed before him.
His oracular reserve, personal honesty and consistency of aim had gained him the suffrages of all who hoped to save France from the harpies of the Directory and the violent rhetoricians of the now reconstituted Jacobin Club.
At the entrance to the Euxine, at Salmydessus on the coast of Thrace, they met Phineus, the blind and aged king whose food was being constantly polluted by the Harpies.
He knew the course to Colchis, and offered to tell it, if the Argonauts would free him from the Harpies.
The mythological enemies include Cyclops, gorgons, minotaurs, undead warriors, and winged harpies.