Odyssey 18. 50-116 天天練習基本功

日期: 2014年5月 20日

Odyssey 18. 50-116

http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0135%3Abook%3D18%3Acard%3D50

ὣς ἔφαθ᾽, οἱ δ᾽ ἄρα πάντες ἐπῄνεον: αὐτὰρ Ὀδυσσεὺς

ζώσατο μὲν ῥάκεσιν περὶ μήδεα, φαῖνε δὲ μηροὺς

καλούς τε μεγάλους τε, φάνεν δέ οἱ εὐρέες ὦμοι

στήθεά τε στιβαροί τε βραχίονες: αὐτὰρ Ἀθήνη

ἄγχι παρισταμένη μέλε᾽ ἤλδανε ποιμένι λαῶν.

μνηστῆρες δ᾽ ἄρα πάντες ὑπερφιάλως ἀγάσαντο:

ὧδε δέ τις εἴπεσκεν ἰδὼν ἐς πλησίον ἄλλον:

ἦ τάχα Ἶρος Ἄϊρος ἐπίσπαστον κακὸν ἕξει,

οἵην ἐκ ῥακέων ὁ γέρων ἐπιγουνίδα φαίνει. (Odyssey 18.66-74)

Telemachus spoke,

and everyone endorsed his words. Then Odysseus,

while hitching up the rags around his private parts,

exposed his fine large thighs, and they could also see

his wide shoulders and his chest and powerful arms.

Athena came up close beside that shepherd of his people

and enlarged his limbs. Each suitor, quite astonished,

would glance at the man beside him and then mutter

words like these:

“Irus will soon be in trouble,

something he brought on himself—he won’t be

Irus any more, judging from the thighs

that old man shows under those rags of his.”

大乞丐，年輕，但是狂妄無知，喬裝老乞丐的Odysseus故意說自己怎麼可能贏年輕人，讓對方輕敵，並說明要比賽，還是先立約，這時在一旁的Telemachus也附議，還諷刺兩位追求者Antinous和Eurymachus為人謹慎，一定贊成這作法。

大家都同意。此刻，Odysseus撩起破衣，露出矯健的體魄，結結實實的大腿，有力的臂膀，看了大家目瞪口呆! 我相信Odysseus在離家的二十年，還是常常練身體，就像習武的人，每天都反覆演習基本功，這是為什麼他保持這樣的強壯身體，也是為什麼之後他能拉動那弓箭，並擊退這群追求者。

當然雅典娜又助Odysseus一臂之力，讓這位人民的領羊人 (ποιμένι λαῶν, the herdsman of people)四肢更有力。大家看了，就知道那位大乞丐完蛋了，Ἶρος Ἄϊρος，Irus un-Irused，典型的希臘修辭，表示他要被打被了!

Antinous見風轉舵，馬上說Irus 輸了，要把他送去king Echetus那兒，就 Antinous來看，這國王室真像「人類終結者」 (the destroyer of all mortals)，去那兒必定被活活整死。

不過，Odysseus出手前先想想，不要太用力，因為為了長遠計畫，要保留實力。即使是輕輕一揮，Odysseus還是勝出。

 http://www.catherinesvehla.com/my_weblog/2013/11/odyssey-book-18-the-beggar-king-of-ithaca.html

ECHETUS   ΕΧΕΤΟΣ A cruel king of Epeirus, who was the terror of all mortals. He was a son of Euchenor and Phlogea. His daughter, Metope or Amphissa, who had yielded to the embraces of her lover Aechmodicus, was blinded by her father, and Aechmodicus was cruelly mutilated. Echetus further gave his daughter iron barleycorns, promising to restore her sight, if she would grind them into flour. (Hom. Od. xviii. 83, &c., xxi. 307 ; Apollon. Rhod. iv. 1093; Eustath. ad Hom. p. 1839.) http://www.mythindex.com/greek-mythology/E/Echetus.html