Odyssey 7.208-225

主題: 吃飯與說故事

我喜歡讀史詩的細節與小地方。

很多人都注意到Odysseus到Alcinous皇宮的盛事，我覺得最有趣的一段文字是Odysseus說出人類的心聲：我是人，不是神；人，歷經千辛萬苦；人，肚子餓了要吃飯；人，吃飽了，再講故事。

  神，ἀθανάτοισιν，不死的存在，拖住宇宙蒼穹。Odysseus說到，他是會死的人(θνητοῖσι βροτοῖσιν)，不論形式和外觀都和神差點很遠。古希臘以人類的思維想像與刻畫眾神，所以，眾神的心性外觀不免都參著人的樣式，只是，神是不死的存在，不朽，不變。或許，神明，是人在無常與變化中期待與瞥見的永恆。

   人會經歷許多苦難 (ὀιζύς misery; ἄλγος pain)，有一堆不幸的故事(μνήσασθαι ἀνάγκῃ)，但是講故事前，先填飽肚子。人，會肚子餓。Odysseus說，沒有任何一件事比飢餓更令人難以忍受!

http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0135%3Abook%3D7%3Acard%3D198

‘Ἀλκίνο᾽, ἄλλο τί τοι μελέτω φρεσίν: οὐ γὰρ ἐγώ γε

ἀθανάτοισιν ἔοικα, τοὶ οὐρανὸν εὐρὺν ἔχουσιν,

οὐ δέμας οὐδὲ φυήν, ἀλλὰ θνητοῖσι βροτοῖσιν.

οὕς τινας ὑμεῖς ἴστε μάλιστ᾽ ὀχέοντας ὀιζὺν

ἀνθρώπων, τοῖσίν κεν ἐν ἄλγεσιν ἰσωσαίμην.

καὶ δ᾽ ἔτι κεν καὶ μᾶλλον ἐγὼ κακὰ μυθησαίμην,

ὅσσα γε δὴ ξύμπαντα θεῶν ἰότητι μόγησα.

ἀλλ᾽ ἐμὲ μὲν δορπῆσαι ἐάσατε κηδόμενόν περ:

οὐ γάρ τι στυγερῇ ἐπὶ γαστέρι κύντερον ἄλλο

ἔπλετο, ἥ τ᾽ ἐκέλευσεν ἕο μνήσασθαι ἀνάγκῃ

καὶ μάλα τειρόμενον καὶ ἐνὶ φρεσὶ πένθος ἔχοντα,

ὡς καὶ ἐγὼ πένθος μὲν ἔχω φρεσίν, ἡ δὲ μάλ᾽ αἰεὶ

ἐσθέμεναι κέλεται καὶ πινέμεν, ἐκ δέ με πάντων

ληθάνει ὅσσ᾽ ἔπαθον, καὶ ἐνιπλησθῆναι ἀνώγει.

ὑμεῖς δ᾽ ὀτρύνεσθαι ἅμ᾽ ἠοῖ φαινομένηφιν,

ὥς κ᾽ ἐμὲ τὸν δύστηνον ἐμῆς ἐπιβήσετε πάτρης

καί περ πολλὰ παθόντα: ἰδόντα με καὶ λίποι αἰὼν

κτῆσιν ἐμήν, δμῶάς τε καὶ ὑψερεφὲς μέγα δῶμα.

(Odyssey 7. 208-225)

ὀιζύς misery

ἄλγος pain

http://records.viu.ca/~johnstoi/homer/odyssey7.htm

“Alcinous, you should not concern yourself

about what you’ve just said—for I’m not like

the immortal gods who hold wide heaven,

not in my form or shape. I’m like mortal men. 

If, among human beings, you know of some

who bear a really heavy weight of trouble,    

I might compare myself with them for grief.

Indeed, I could recount a longer story—

all those hardships I have had to suffer

from the gods. But let me eat my dinner,

though I’m in great distress. For there’s nothing

more shameless than a wretched stomach,

which commands a man to think about its needs,

even if he’s really sad or troubles

weigh down his heart, just the way my spirit

is now full of sorrow, yet my belly              

is always telling me to eat and drink,  

forgetting everything I’ve had to bear,

and ordering me to stuff myself with food.

But when Dawn appears, you should stir yourselves

so you can set me in my misery

back on my native soil, for all I’ve suffered.

If I can see my goods again, my slaves,

my large and high-roofed home, then let life end.”

下面圖片出處:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odysseus
Head of Odysseus from a Roman period Hellenistic marble group representing Odysseus blinding Polyphemus, found at the villa of Tiberius at Sperlonga

Head of Odysseus wearing pileusdepicted on a 3rd-century BC coin from Ithaca

下面圖片出處:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pileus_(hat)#mediaviewer/File:Rhesos_MNA_Naples.jpg

Odysseus wearing the pilos. Ancient Greek red-figure situla from Apulia, ca. 360 BC, Museo Nazionale Archaeologico, Naples.

Odysseus (wearing the pilos hat) and Diomedes stealing the horses of Thracian king Rhesus they have just killed. Apulian red-figure situla, from Ruvo.