Odyssey 9.177-192: the Cyclops

主題: 奇幻之旅--獨眼巨人

《奧德賽》第九卷第105-566行說的就是很有名的故事：Odysseus遇見獨眼巨人(Cyclopes)，以智取勝，但又因為驕傲惹一身禍的故事。Κύκλωψ，本指圓的眼睛(round eye)，荷馬史詩中，特指獨眼的。

  獨眼巨人(the Cyclops)， 瘋狂野蠻，不文明，不耕種，但是靠天然資源，就有小麥大麥和葡萄等果實。他們沒有議事集會，也沒法律，居住在高拔的山峰或是山洞之中。

  Odysseus和他的同伴們島上信步漫遊，山野間的很多羊群，他們打獵，捕獲很多羊，每艘船分九隻，Odysseus自己分得十隻。之後大家一起享用豐盛的羊肉與甜酒。

   他們登上船，準備打探島上居民情況的策略。第177-192行描述船划到一島嶼附近，島嶼邊緣有一高大的山洞，山頂覆蓋許多桂樹，可以看見山羊和綿羊也在洞裡過夜，高高的庭園有石牆包圍，許多高大的松樹與橡樹。巨人出現了，一個龐然大物，不向食穀物的凡人，比較像一座高峰。

字彙:

πολιός: grey, grizzled, grisly

ἅλς: sea

ἐρετμόν: oar

ὑψηλός: high, lofty

σπέος: cavern, grotto

δάφνη: sweet bay, Laurus nobilis

κατηρεφής: covered over, vaulted, overhanging

κατῶρυξ: dug out, quarried

πίτυς: pine, Aleppo pine, Pinus halepensis or Pinus Laricio, Corsican pine

ὑψίκομος: with high-bound tresses

http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0135%3Abook%3D9%3Acard%3D161

ὣς εἰπὼν ἀνὰ νηὸς ἔβην, ἐκέλευσα δ᾽ ἑταίρους

αὐτούς τ᾽ ἀμβαίνειν ἀνά τε πρυμνήσια λῦσαι.

οἱ δ᾽ αἶψ᾽ εἴσβαινον καὶ ἐπὶ κληῖσι καθῖζον,

ἑξῆς δ᾽ ἑζόμενοι πολιὴν ἅλα τύπτον ἐρετμοῖς.

ἀλλ᾽ ὅτε δὴ τὸν χῶρον ἀφικόμεθ᾽ ἐγγὺς ἐόντα,

ἔνθα δ᾽ ἐπ᾽ ἐσχατιῇ σπέος εἴδομεν ἄγχι θαλάσσης,

ὑψηλόν, δάφνῃσι κατηρεφές. ἔνθα δὲ πολλὰ

μῆλ᾽, ὄιές τε καὶ αἶγες, ἰαύεσκον: περὶ δ᾽ αὐλὴ

ὑψηλὴ δέδμητο κατωρυχέεσσι λίθοισι

μακρῇσίν τε πίτυσσιν ἰδὲ δρυσὶν ὑψικόμοισιν.

ἔνθα δ᾽ ἀνὴρ ἐνίαυε πελώριος, ὅς ῥα τὰ μῆλα

οἶος ποιμαίνεσκεν ἀπόπροθεν: οὐδὲ μετ᾽ ἄλλους

πωλεῖτ᾽, ἀλλ᾽ ἀπάνευθεν ἐὼν ἀθεμίστια ᾔδη.

καὶ γὰρ θαῦμ᾽ ἐτέτυκτο πελώριον, οὐδὲ ἐῴκει

ἀνδρί γε σιτοφάγῳ, ἀλλὰ ῥίῳ ὑλήεντι

ὑψηλῶν ὀρέων, ὅ τε φαίνεται οἶον ἀπ᾽ ἄλλων. (Odyssey 9. 177-192)

http://records.viu.ca/~johnstoi/homer/odyssey9.htm

“I said these words, then went down to my ship and told my crew

to loose the cables lashed onto the stern

and come onboard. They embarked with speed,

and, seated at the oarlocks in their rows,

struck the grey sea with their oars. And then, 

when we’d made the short trip round the island,

on the coast there, right beside the sea,

we saw a high cave, overhung with laurel.

There were many flocks, sheep as well as goats,

penned in there at night. All around the cave

there was a high front courtyard made of stones

set deep into the ground, with tall pine trees  

and towering oaks. At night a giant slept there,

one that grazed his flocks all by himself,

somewhere far off. He avoided others

and lived alone, away from all the rest,

a law unto himself, a monster, made

to be a thing of wonder, not like man

who lives by eating bread, no, more like

a lofty wooded mountain crag, standing there

to view in isolation from the rest.

下面圖片與資料出處: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclops

The Cyclops, gouache and oil by Odilon Redon, undated (Kröller-Müller Museum)

下面圖片與資料出處: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclops

Cyclopean walls at Mycenae.

After the "Dark Age", when Hellenes looked with awe at the vast dressed blocks, known as Cyclopean structures, which had been used in Mycenaean masonry (at sites such as Mycenae and Tiryns or on Cyprus), they concluded that only the Cyclopes had the combination of skill and strength to build in such a monumental manner.