Odyssey 18. 117-157 Odysseus警告Amphinomus

日期: 2014年5月 21日

Odyssey 18. 117-157

http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0135%3Abook%3D18%3Acard%3D124

οὐ μὲν γάρ ποτέ φησι κακὸν πείσεσθαι ὀπίσσω,

ὄφρ᾽ ἀρετὴν παρέχωσι θεοὶ καὶ γούνατ᾽ ὀρώρῃ:

ἀλλ᾽ ὅτε δὴ καὶ λυγρὰ θεοὶ μάκαρες τελέσωσι,

καὶ τὰ φέρει ἀεκαζόμενος τετληότι θυμῷ:

τοῖος γὰρ νόος ἐστὶν ἐπιχθονίων ἀνθρώπων

οἷον ἐπ᾽ ἦμαρ ἄγησι πατὴρ ἀνδρῶν τε θεῶν τε.

καὶ γὰρ ἐγώ ποτ᾽ ἔμελλον ἐν ἀνδράσιν ὄλβιος εἶναι,

πολλὰ δ᾽ ἀτάσθαλ᾽ ἔρεξα βίῃ καὶ κάρτεϊ εἴκων,

πατρί τ᾽ ἐμῷ πίσυνος καὶ ἐμοῖσι κασιγνήτοισι.  (Odyssey 18.132-140)

http://records.viu.ca/~johnstoi/homer/odyssey18.htm

He thinks he’ll never suffer any harm  

in days to come, as long as gods provide

prosperity and his knees stay supple.

But when blessed gods bring on misfortunes,

he bears those, too, though much against his will.

The father of gods and men brings men the days

which shape the spirit of earth’s inhabitants.

Among men I was set to be successful, too,

but, yielding to my strength and power,

I did many reckless things. I trusted

my father and my family. So no man

should ever practise any lawlessness. (Odyssey 18.132-140)

打敗那個年輕的乞丐Irus，老乞丐Odysseus內心還是有點喜悅，還好，為了大局，他先掩飾一下。這時，Antinous給他一塊肉，Amphinomus也給他麵包，舉杯祝賀，並鼓勵Odysseus，雖然現在難熬，但相信有一天時來運轉，他會有機會改善目前的狀況。

Odysseus看眼前這位追求者比較也禮貌，想給他一些警告，在此發表一段演說，也是他的人生哲學。萬物生靈中，人類最可悲，因為他們總以為災難不會發生在自己身上，以為自己可以永遠擁有成功(prosperity，ἀρετὴν)，殊不知大難早已臨頭。希臘文ἀρετή 是goodness, excellence，prowess, prosperity, success等概念的總稱，有點類似Simone Weil談的「力」，或是基督教文化中談的「禮物」，一般人口中說的「才」，這些都是老天爺賦予每一個人的，但是，來自上天的禮物，也隨時會被取回。

說白一點，Odysseus認為眼前這些追求者的荒誕不經，自大狂妄一定會遭到報應，所以勸Amphinomus最遠離此地，遠離他們。

說完後，Odysseus舉杯敬酒，Amphinomus獨自思量，心中已有不祥之感。可惜，雖然當初他阻止Antinous殺Telemachus，史詩在此預告Amphinomus最後死在Telemachus手中，又會開啟另一惡的循環。

維基百科介紹: Amphinomus In Greek mythology, Amphinomus, also Amphínomos (Ἀμφίνομος; literally "grazing all about"), was the son of King Nisos and one of the suitors of Penelope that was killed by Telemachus. Amphinomus was considered the best-behaved of the suitors. Despite Odysseus's warning, he was compelled by Athena to stay, as he had been a suitor nonetheless. He was killed by a spear thrown by Telemachus during the murder of the suitors; ironically, Amphinomous had twice tried to dissuade the suitors from killing him. In other books Amphinomus heeds Odysseus' warning when he has a vision that the halls were filled with blood. He ran just in time out of the hallway before the slaughtering of the suitors begin.