讀西蒙娜‧薇依 (Simone Weil): The Iliad or the Poem of Force (21-22)

十分瀑布 (2013春)

薇依談到，奴隸再也不會失去任何東西，因為內心已被掏空。歷史的暴力與殘忍，心傷，悲痛欲絕，極致，內心全然被掏空。

efface toute vie intérieure

閱讀The Iliad第二十四卷，Achilles對Priam說的一段話，主題是: 悲傷與厭食症。神話故事中的Niobe， 因為對Apollo與Artemis不敬，失去12個小孩。痛失孩子的母親，憂傷不已，終日不食，最後變成石頭，傳說中母親的淚水還是滾滾流下。就是著名的流淚的岩石(Weeping Rock)的典故。Pausanias (1.21.3)也提到這個地理典故。


以下圖片資料出處: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niobe
The Weeping Rock in Mount Sipylus, Manisa,Turkey, has been associated with Niobe's legend since Antiquity

Niobe 的故事大綱

以下內容出處:

 http://www.pantheon.org/articles/n/niobe.html 
Niobe is one of the more tragic figures in Greek myth. She was the daughter of Tantalus and either Euryanassa, Eurythemista, Clytia, or Dione (no one seems to know for sure) and had two brothers, Broteas and Pelops. Niobe was the queen of Thebes (the principle city in Boetia), married to Amphion, King of Thebes. 

Niobe and Amphion had fourteen children (the Niobids), and in a moment of arrogance, Niobe bragged about her seven sons and seven daughters at a ceremony in honor ofLeto, the daughter of the titans Coeus and Phoebe. She mocked Leto, who only had two children, Apollo, god of prophecy and music, and Artemis, virgin goddess of the wild. Leto did not take the insult lightly, and in retaliation, sent Apollo and Artemis to earth to slaughter all of Niobe's children. Apollo killed the seven sons while they practiced their athletics. The last son begged to be spared, but the arrow had already left Apollo's bow, and the boy was struck dead. Artemis killed the seven daughters with her lethal arrows. (Some versions have a few of the children being spared.)
At the sight of his dead sons, Amphion either committed suicide or was also killed by Apollo for wanting to avenge his children's deaths. In any event, Niobe's entire family was dead in a matter of minutes. In shock, she cradled the youngest daughter in her arms, then fled to Mt. Siplyon in Asia Minor. There she turned to stone and from the rock formed a stream (the Achelous) from her ceaseless tears. She became the symbol of eternal mourning. Niobe's children were left unburied for nine days because Zeus had turned all of the people of Thebes into stone. Only on the tenth day did the gods have pity and entomb her children.

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以下圖片資料出處: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niobe
A 1772 painting by Jacques-Louis David depicting Niobe attempting to shield her children from Artemis and Apollo.

不過荷馬史詩的描述，雖以神話故事為本(mythological paradigm)，卻有創新多處細節，以配合史詩情節:

Iliad 24. 596-613

希臘文本引用出處:

 http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0133%3Abook%3D24%3Acard%3D596

ἦ ῥα, καὶ ἐς κλισίην πάλιν ἤϊε δῖος Ἀχιλλεύς,

ἕζετο δ᾽ ἐν κλισμῷ πολυδαιδάλῳ ἔνθεν ἀνέστη

τοίχου τοῦ ἑτέρου, ποτὶ δὲ Πρίαμον φάτο μῦθον:

υἱὸς μὲν δή τοι λέλυται γέρον ὡς ἐκέλευες,

κεῖται δ᾽ ἐν λεχέεσσ᾽: ἅμα δ᾽ ἠοῖ φαινομένηφιν

ὄψεαι αὐτὸς ἄγων: νῦν δὲ μνησώμεθα δόρπου.

καὶ γάρ τ᾽ ἠΰκομος Νιόβη ἐμνήσατο σίτου,

τῇ περ δώδεκα παῖδες ἐνὶ μεγάροισιν ὄλοντο

ἓξ μὲν θυγατέρες, ἓξ δ᾽ υἱέες ἡβώοντες.

τοὺς μὲν Ἀπόλλων πέφνεν ἀπ᾽ ἀργυρέοιο βιοῖο

χωόμενος Νιόβῃ, τὰς δ᾽ Ἄρτεμις ἰοχέαιρα,

οὕνεκ᾽ ἄρα Λητοῖ ἰσάσκετο καλλιπαρῄῳ:

φῆ δοιὼ τεκέειν, ἣ δ᾽ αὐτὴ γείνατο πολλούς:

τὼ δ᾽ ἄρα καὶ δοιώ περ ἐόντ᾽ ἀπὸ πάντας ὄλεσσαν.

οἳ μὲν ἄρ᾽ ἐννῆμαρ κέατ᾽ ἐν φόνῳ, οὐδέ τις ἦεν

κατθάψαι, λαοὺς δὲ λίθους ποίησε Κρονίων:

τοὺς δ᾽ ἄρα τῇ δεκάτῃ θάψαν θεοὶ Οὐρανίωνες.

ἣ δ᾽ ἄρα σίτου μνήσατ᾽, ἐπεὶ κάμε δάκρυ χέουσα.

英文翻譯引用出處: http://records.viu.ca/~johnstoi/homer/iliad24.htm

Godlike Achilles spoke,

then went back once more into the hut and sat

on the richly decorated chair he’d left   

by the opposite wall. Then he spoke to Priam:

“Old man, your son has been given back,

as you requested. He’s lying on a bier. 

You’ll see him for yourself at day break,

when you take him. We should think of eating.

Even fair-haired Niobe remembered food,

with twelve of her own children murdered in her home,

her six young daughters and her six strong sons.

Apollo was so enraged at Niobe,

with his silver bow he killed the sons. The daughters                 

Artemis the Archer slaughtered, for Niobe

had compared herself to lovely Leto,

saying the goddess only had two children,

while she had given birth to many. Even so,

though only two, those gods killed all her children.

For nine days they lay in their own blood— 

there was no one there to give them burial.

Cronos’ son had turned the people all to stone.

      The tenth day, the gods in heaven buried them.

吃是大事，也有很多象徵意義。當Achilles邀請Priam一起用餐，就表示和他和解(reconciliation)。別忘了Achilles到此刻都還不能原諒Agamemnon，拒絕和希臘將領一起吃飯，總是獨自一人在他的軍營吃喝。
     荷馬改寫神話故事，第一，Niobe並非不吃不喝，而是儘管如此傷悲，為了愛小孩，還是吃飯。因為Achilles是要勸Priam 吃飯。
     倒是第十天才埋葬小孩的屍體，Niobe的故事和荷馬的引用是平行的，雖然神話故事中，Zeus在第十天把小孩變成石頭，而Hector的埋葬是第十天舉行。
     有些學者認為Iliad 24.614-617能是後來添加的(post-Homeric addition)，這幾行多加了後人看到流淚的岩石 ，聯想Niobe傷痛至極的景像。



西蒙娜‧薇依 (Simone Weil): The Iliad or the Poem of Force: 目錄