讀西蒙娜‧薇依 (Simone Weil): The Iliad or the Poem of Force (23)

該如何形容悲傷與不幸的極致? 薇依用她非常切身的經歷說明: 飢餓。被暴力操縱的受難者，承受無法平息的羞辱與難過，就像飢餓的苦楚。

這裡，我們回頭讀一段The Iliad:

Iliad 24. 527-533

希臘文本引用出處:

http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0133%3Abook%3D24%3Acard%3D507

δοιοὶ γάρ τε πίθοι κατακείαται ἐν Διὸς οὔδει

δώρων οἷα δίδωσι κακῶν, ἕτερος δὲ ἑάων:

ᾧ μέν κ᾽ ἀμμίξας δώῃ Ζεὺς τερπικέραυνος,

ἄλλοτε μέν τε κακῷ ὅ γε κύρεται, ἄλλοτε δ᾽ ἐσθλῷ:

ᾧ δέ κε τῶν λυγρῶν δώῃ, λωβητὸν ἔθηκε,

καί ἑ κακὴ βούβρωστις ἐπὶ χθόνα δῖαν ἐλαύνει,

φοιτᾷ δ᾽ οὔτε θεοῖσι τετιμένος οὔτε βροτοῖσιν.

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

On Zeus’ floor stand two jars which hold his gifts—                     

one has disastrous things, the other blessings.

When thunder-loving Zeus hands out a mixture,

that man will, at some point, meet with evil,  

then, some other time, with good. When Zeus’ gift

comes only from the jar containing evil,

he makes the man despised. A wicked frenzy

drives him all over sacred earth—he wanders
without honour from the gods or mortal men.

提到宙斯的禮物，當然最有名的典故就是潘朵拉的盒子，這個故事可參考Hesiod, Works and Days, II. 69-104。或參考維基百科的介紹。雖然中文翻譯成盒子，其實古希臘文用πίθοι，是指甕 (urns)。
       Achilles此刻是悲觀的。Achilles提到兩種禮物，第一種是福禍參半(mixture of blessings and evils)，另一種全然是禍(evils)。而第二種，就像被惡鬼追殺，流離失所，顛沛逃難。史詩中的英雄大多接到第二種禮物，詩人洞悉自古豪傑多磨難。而薇依為此下一註腳:

L'homme qui se trouve partout le plus faible est au cœur des cités aussi seul, plus seul que ne peut l'être l'homme perdu au milieu d'un désert.

孤零游離在城市之心，憂傷寂寞迷失在沙漠曠野。宙斯的大禮? 力越大，責任越大，盡是孤單受苦。



以下圖片資料出處: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandora

This is an engraving of Pandora trying to close the box that she had opened out of curiosity. At left, the evils of the world taunt her as they escape. The engraving is based on a painting by F. S. Church.

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