Odyssey 22. 241-309 神力相助是一時的

Bk XXII:241-309 The fighting continues

Odysseus雖然佔優勢，但還是得仰賴雅典娜的大力相挺，終於，種追求者開始害怕，驚慌失措，下面用兩個比喻形容這群追求者的害怕：

http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0135%3Abook%3D22%3Acard%3D292

ἦ ῥα βοῶν ἑλίκων ἐπιβουκόλος: αὐτὰρ Ὀδυσσεὺς

οὖτα Δαμαστορίδην αὐτοσχεδὸν ἔγχεϊ μακρῷ.

Τηλέμαχος δ᾽ Εὐηνορίδην Λειώκριτον οὖτα

δουρὶ μέσον κενεῶνα, διαπρὸ δὲ χαλκὸν ἔλασσεν:

ἤριπε δὲ πρηνής, χθόνα δ᾽ ἤλασε παντὶ μετώπῳ.

δὴ τότ᾽ Ἀθηναίη φθισίμβροτον αἰγίδ᾽ ἀνέσχεν

ὑψόθεν ἐξ ὀροφῆς: τῶν δὲ φρένες ἐπτοίηθεν.

οἱ δ᾽ ἐφέβοντο κατὰ μέγαρον βόες ὣς ἀγελαῖαι:

τὰς μέν τ᾽ αἰόλος οἶστρος ἐφορμηθεὶς ἐδόνησεν

ὥρῃ ἐν εἰαρινῇ, ὅτε τ᾽ ἤματα μακρὰ πέλονται.

οἱ δ᾽ ὥς τ᾽ αἰγυπιοὶ γαμψώνυχες ἀγκυλοχεῖλαι,

ἐξ ὀρέων ἐλθόντες ἐπ᾽ ὀρνίθεσσι θόρωσι:

ταὶ μέν τ᾽ ἐν πεδίῳ νέφεα πτώσσουσαι ἵενται,

οἱ δέ τε τὰς ὀλέκουσιν ἐπάλμενοι, οὐδέ τις ἀλκὴ

γίγνεται οὐδὲ φυγή: χαίρουσι δέ τ᾽ ἀνέρες ἄγρῃ:

ὣς ἄρα τοὶ μνηστῆρας ἐπεσσύμενοι κατὰ δῶμα

τύπτον ἐπιστροφάδην: τῶν δὲ στόνος ὤρνυτ᾽ ἀεικὴς

κράτων τυπτομένων, δάπεδον δ᾽ ἅπαν αἵματι θῦε.

http://records.viu.ca/~johnstoi/homer/odyssey22.htm

That’s what the herder of the bent-horned cattle said.

At close range Odysseus wounded Damastor’s son

with his long spear, and Telemachus injured

Leocritus, son of Evenor—he struck him

with his spear right in the groin and drove the bronze 

straight through—so Leocritus fell on his face,

his whole forehead smashing down onto the ground.

Then Athena held up her man-destroying aegis

from high up in the roof.3 The suitors’ minds panicked,

and they fled through the hall, like a herd of cattle

when a stinging gadfly goads them to stampede, 

in spring season, when the long days come. Just as

the falcons with hooked talons and curved beaks

fly down from mountains, chasing birds and driving them

well below the clouds, as they swoop along the plain,

and then pounce and kill them, for there’s no defence,

no flying away, while men get pleasure from the chase,

that’s how Odysseus and his men pursued the suitors

and struck them down, one by one, throughout the hall.

As they smashed their heads in, dreadful groans arose,

and the whole floor was awash in blood.

αἰγίς goatskin; the skin shield of Zeus

ὀροφή roof of a house

πτοιέω were dismayed

φέβομαι to be put to flight, flee in terror

βοῦς bullock, bull, ox

ἀγελαῖος belonging to a herd

αἰόλος quick-moving, nimble

οἶστρος gadfly, breese, Tabanus bovinus

第一個比喻，驚惶竄逃的追求者像牛群， 被敏捷的牛虻(gadfly)蜇刺，有痛又亂。不過，被亂箭射到，比被牛虻蜇到恐怖，因為最終這群追求者血流滿地，景象十分可怕。第二個比喻，像是一群柔弱鳥被突鷹圍剿。這個比喻出現多次，這裡總算應驗前面的預言。

力，過度使用的結果就是橫屍滿地。然而，Odysseus真的是有用不完的力嗎? 錯，史詩一再強調，這些英雄總是有「神力」相助，善變的神，翻臉比翻書的速度還快，此刻，雅典娜出手相助，下一刻呢？有智慧的Odysseus怎麼沒想到他現在的力量，也是一種借貸，終究需要償還？還有，一個人的聰明才智也是老天爺借給我們的，或許二十年後，Odysseus得了老人癡呆症，今天他殺光追求這，得罪大家，明天也將無處可去。