日期:
2014年5月 18日
Odyssey 18. 1-49
ἦλθε δ᾽ ἐπὶ πτωχὸς πανδήμιος,
ὃς κατὰ ἄστυ
πτωχεύεσκ᾽ Ἰθάκης, μετὰ δ᾽ ἔπρεπε γαστέρι μάργῃ
ἀζηχὲς φαγέμεν καὶ πιέμεν: οὐδέ οἱ ἦν ἲς
οὐδὲ βίη, εἶδος δὲ μάλα μέγας ἦν ὁράασθαι.
Ἀρναῖος δ᾽ ὄνομ᾽ ἔσκε: τὸ γὰρ θέτο πότνια μήτηρ
ἐκ γενετῆς: Ἶρον δὲ νέοι κίκλησκον ἅπαντες,
οὕνεκ᾽ ἀπαγγέλλεσκε κιών, ὅτε πού τις ἀνώγοι:
ὅς ῥ᾽ ἐλθὼν Ὀδυσῆα διώκετο οἷο δόμοιο,
καί μιν νεικείων ἔπεα πτερόεντα προσηύδα: (Odyssey
18. 1-9)
Then a vagrant from the community arrived,
who used to beg through all the town of Ithaca,
a man celebrated for his gluttonous stomach,
with an incessant appetite for food and drink.
He looked huge, but had little energy or strength.
He was called Arnaeus—his honoured mother
had given him that name when he was born, but now
all young men called him Irus, because
he ran around
carrying messages for anyone who asked
him
At this point he arrived and tried to drive
Odysseus
away from his own home by shouting out abuse—
his words had wings: (Odyssey 18. 1-9)
第十八卷可以說是一個喜劇插曲，來了個「大乞丐」，或說是「公共乞丐」(public beggar, πτωχὸς πανδήμιος)，這個詞也算是個矛盾修辭，πανδήμιος 就是屬於全人民的，乞丐無家可歸到處流浪，卻是公眾人物。
πανδήμιος of or
belonging to all the people,
ἦλθε δ᾽ ἐπὶ πτωχὸς π. public beggar, Od.18.1。
Odysseus本想對Irus曉以大義，其實都是乞丐，應該互相同情，共生在同一處。但是，Irus不領情，還破口大罵，當然用的字彙也都是一班常用的，例如貪心的傢伙，油嘴滑舌，像廚房裡的老女人，蠢豬等等。
μολοβρός a greedy fellow
ἐπιτροχάδη trippingly, fluently, glibly
這時，那群追求者等著看好戲，其中Antinous又出奇招，宣布讓這兩人比賽，贏的可獲他正在烤的肥滋滋還帶血的羊肉一大塊，而且可以榮獲和他們永遠一起飲宴的殊榮，輸的就要離開這裡。(Odyssey 18. 40-49) 這一個比賽，是模仿史詩的競技 (epic games)，原本嚴肅的場合 (參考Iliad 23)，變成荒腔走板的乞丐之爭，不過，英雄不論出生地，既然是比賽，Odysseus也會全力以赴。
下面的圖，Marc Chagall畫，依據本卷的故事。Combat Between Ulysses and Irus
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