Odyssey 10.1-27 windbag

Odyssey: Book X

本卷故事大綱

l   Odysseus continues his narrative: he and his ships reach Aeolia, home of Aeolus, god of the winds;

l   Aeolus welcomes them and gives Odysseus a bag with all the winds tied up inside it;

l   Odysseus sails from Aeolia, but his men open the bag, bringing on a storm which drives them back to Aeolia; Aeolus refuses Odysseus’ request for further help and orders him off the island;

l   Odysseus and his men reach the land of the Laestrygonians, who attack them and destroy all the ships except Odysseus’ vessel; that one ship sails to the island of Aeaea, land of Circe;

l   Odysseus kills a stag for a meal; half the men go to Circe’s house and are changed into pigs;

l   Eurylochus brings the news to Odysseus; Odysseus meets Hermes, who gives him an antidote to Circe’s spells; Circe tries to bewitch Odysseus and fails; they go to bed together;

l   Circe changes the men back to human beings; they stay there one year, and then sail on, heading for Hades’ home.

主題: 風袋 windbag

《奧德賽》第十卷Odysseus繼續描述他們的奇幻之旅，逃開獨眼巨人，幾個同伴喪生，海上漂泊，到了風神Aeolus住的島Aeolia，Aeolus是Hippotas的兒子，他住的島是漂浮的(πλωτός: floating)，傳說中Delos也是漂浮的島。Odysseus抵達時，風神家正在舉辦婚禮，他們有12個小孩，六男六女，正好配成六對結婚。Aeolus熱情招待Odysseus，而Odysseus又發揮本行，講故事給風神聽。

   Odysseus詢問歸程的事，並尋求協助。風神致贈一口非常特別的袋子，用九歲大的牛皮製作，裡面裝著各種方向呼嘯的風，他把風袋放在船，用光亮銀線綁住袋口，不讓一點風露出。還派最好的西風(Ζέφυρος)助行，如果一切順利真的可以「一路順風」，可惜，人性的愚昧與貪婪，還是壞了大事。

  這樣順利航行九天九夜，第十天時都看見故鄉的土地了，Odysseus已經疲憊，應該是打瞌睡了吧! 他的同伴們開始議論紛紛，猜想袋子裡裝的是甚麼金銀財寶，就打開偷看，這一打開所有的狂風又吹起，他們又被吹回Aeolia。風神發現原來Odysseus是神所憎惡的，才會如此，不可能再幫他一次，所以，海上苦難之旅又繼續。
今天英文中windbag，吹牛的意思。(Informal. an empty, voluble, pretentious talker.)

字彙

ναίω: dwell, abide

πλωτός: floating

ἐκδέρω: strip off the skin from

ἀσκός: skin, hide

βοῦς: bullock, bull, ox

ἐννέωρος: in the ninth season

μέρμις: cord, string, rope

Ζέφυρος: westerly wind

http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0135%3Abook%3D10%3Acard%3D1

‘Αἰολίην δ᾽ ἐς νῆσον ἀφικόμεθ᾽: ἔνθα δ᾽ ἔναιεν

Αἴολος Ἱπποτάδης, φίλος ἀθανάτοισι θεοῖσιν,

πλωτῇ ἐνὶ νήσῳ: πᾶσαν δέ τέ μιν πέρι τεῖχος

χάλκεον ἄρρηκτον, λισσὴ δ᾽ ἀναδέδρομε πέτρη.

τοῦ καὶ δώδεκα παῖδες ἐνὶ μεγάροις γεγάασιν,

ἓξ μὲν θυγατέρες, ἓξ δ᾽ υἱέες ἡβώοντες:

ἔνθ᾽ ὅ γε θυγατέρας πόρεν υἱάσιν εἶναι ἀκοίτις.

οἱ δ᾽ αἰεὶ παρὰ πατρὶ φίλῳ καὶ μητέρι κεδνῇ

δαίνυνται, παρὰ δέ σφιν ὀνείατα μυρία κεῖται,

κνισῆεν δέ τε δῶμα περιστεναχίζεται αὐλῇ

ἤματα: νύκτας δ᾽ αὖτε παρ᾽ αἰδοίῃς ἀλόχοισιν

εὕδουσ᾽ ἔν τε τάπησι καὶ ἐν τρητοῖσι λέχεσσι.

καὶ μὲν τῶν ἱκόμεσθα πόλιν καὶ δώματα καλά.

μῆνα δὲ πάντα φίλει με καὶ ἐξερέεινεν ἕκαστα,

Ἴλιον Ἀργείων τε νέας καὶ νόστον Ἀχαιῶν:

καὶ μὲν ἐγὼ τῷ πάντα κατὰ μοῖραν κατέλεξα.

ἀλλ᾽ ὅτε δὴ καὶ ἐγὼν ὁδὸν ᾔτεον ἠδ᾽ ἐκέλευον

πεμπέμεν, οὐδέ τι κεῖνος ἀνήνατο, τεῦχε δὲ πομπήν.

δῶκε δέ μ᾽ ἐκδείρας ἀσκὸν βοὸς ἐννεώροιο,

ἔνθα δὲ βυκτάων ἀνέμων κατέδησε κέλευθα:

κεῖνον γὰρ ταμίην ἀνέμων ποίησε Κρονίων,

ἠμὲν παυέμεναι ἠδ᾽ ὀρνύμεν, ὅν κ᾽ ἐθέλῃσι.

νηὶ δ᾽ ἐνὶ γλαφυρῇ κατέδει μέρμιθι φαεινῇ

ἀργυρέῃ, ἵνα μή τι παραπνεύσῃ ὀλίγον περ:

αὐτὰρ ἐμοὶ πνοιὴν Ζεφύρου προέηκεν ἀῆναι,

ὄφρα φέροι νῆάς τε καὶ αὐτούς: οὐδ᾽ ἄρ᾽ ἔμελλεν

ἐκτελέειν: αὐτῶν γὰρ ἀπωλόμεθ᾽ ἀφραδίῃσιν. (Odyssey 1-27)

http://records.viu.ca/~johnstoi/homer/odyssey10.htm

“Next we reached Aeolia, a floating island,

where Aeolus lived, son of Hippotas,

whom immortal gods hold dear.1 Around it,

runs an impenetrable wall of bronze,

and cliffs rise up in a sheer face of rock.

His twelve children live there in the palace,

six daughters as well as six full-grown sons.

He gave the daughters to the sons in marriage,

and they are always at a banquet feasting,

beside their dear father and good mother, 

with an infinite supply of tasty food

set out before them. The smells of cooking

fill the house all day. The courtyard echoes

to the sounds of celebration. At night,

they go to sleep beside their faithful wives,

on coverlets and beds well strung with cord.

“We reached the splendid palace in the city,

and for one whole month he entertained me,

always asking questions about everything—

Troy, Argive ships, how Achaeans made it home—

and I told him all from start to finish.

When, for my part, I asked to take my leave

and told him he should send me on my way,

he denied me nothing and helped me go.

He gave me a bag made out of ox-hide,

flayed from a creature nine years old,

and tied up in it all the winds that blow 

from every quarter, for Cronos’ son

has made Aeolus keeper of the winds,

and he could calm or rouse them, as he wished.

With a shining silver cord he lashed that bag

inside my hollow ship, so as to stop

even the smallest breath from getting out.

He also got a West Wind breeze to blow

to carry ships and men on their way home.

But that’s not how things happened to turn out—

we ruined everything with our own folly.

下面圖片與資料出處: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeolis 伊奧利亞(古希臘語: Αἰολίς, Aiolís)，古希臘一個地域的稱呼，範圍為小亞細亞西北部與西部地區。這一地區濱臨地中海，建有許多伊奧利亞人城邦。北部與米西亞南部連接，南鄰伊奧尼亞，東臨呂底亞。

下面圖片與資料出處: https://www.flickr.com/photos/23227570@N07/2224330035/ Æolus (son of Hippotes) This Æolus is most frequently conflated with Æolus, the son of Poseidon. It is difficult to delineate this Æolus from the second Æolus, as their identities seem to have been merged by many ancient writers. The father of this third Æolus is given as Mimas, a son of the first Æolus (son of Hellen). According to some accounts, Mimas married the same Melanippe who was the mother of Arne. This Æolus lived on the floating island of Aeolia and was visited by Odysseus and his crew in the Odyssey. He gave hospitality for a month and provided for a west wind to carry them home. Unfortunately he also provided a gift of a bag containing each of the four winds, which Odysseus's crew members opened just before their home was reached. They were blown back to Aeolia, where Æolus refused to provide any further help. This Æolus was perceived by later authors (i.e., after Homer) as a god, rather than as a mortal and simple Keeper of the Winds (as in the Odyssey). In the Aeneid by Virgil, Juno offers Aeolus the nymph Deiopea as a wife if he will release his winds upon the fleet of Aeneas.

下面圖片與資料出處: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeolus Aeolus by Alexandre Jacovleff shows Aeolus as an embodiment of Wind himself.