Iliad 16.777-867

主題: Patroclus之死

Iliad 16. 777-867

《伊利亞特》第十六卷終結在帕特羅克洛斯之死。而且，就在一瞬間，情勢丕變。

第777行起，原本希臘人還佔上風，搶Cebriones的屍體。時間點，太陽西下耕牛下軛時(Iliad 16.779)，是一天三分之二的時間，通常指傍晚，Patroclus大展身手，每一次出手都殺九人，連續三次，但第四次出手時，Apollo出現，奪走Patroclus的戰袍，鋼盔落入Hector手中，長矛粉碎；瞬間Patroclus頭昏腦脹，往後退，Hector當機立斷，拿起大刀砍Patroclus的腹部。史詩用的比喻是: 兇猛的獅子總算戰勝不知疲憊的野豬，這兩頭兇猛的野獸搶甚麼? 水。獅子和野豬的高下早已分曉，水是有限的，非全力以赴，難以奪得。

臨死之前， Patroclus還是嗆聲，預告Hector會死在Achilles的手下。Hector最後還用腳踹Patroclus 的屍體，此刻Automedon 騎快馬運走屍體。這些神馬大有來頭，是眾神送給Peleus，作為他和Thetis結婚的賀禮。

http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0133%3Abook%3D16%3Acard%3D818   Ἕκτωρ δ᾽ ὡς εἶδεν Πατροκλῆα μεγάθυμον ἂψ ἀναχαζόμενον βεβλημένον ὀξέϊ χαλκῷ, ἀγχίμολόν ῥά οἱ ἦλθε κατὰ στίχας, οὖτα δὲ δουρὶ νείατον ἐς κενεῶνα, διὰ πρὸ δὲ χαλκὸν ἔλασσε: δούπησεν δὲ πεσών, μέγα δ᾽ ἤκαχε λαὸν Ἀχαιῶν: ὡς δ᾽ ὅτε σῦν ἀκάμαντα λέων ἐβιήσατο χάρμῃ, ὥ τ᾽ ὄρεος κορυφῇσι μέγα φρονέοντε μάχεσθον πίδακος ἀμφ᾽ ὀλίγης: ἐθέλουσι δὲ πιέμεν ἄμφω: πολλὰ δέ τ᾽ ἀσθμαίνοντα λέων ἐδάμασσε βίηφιν: ὣς πολέας πεφνόντα Μενοιτίου ἄλκιμον υἱὸν Ἕκτωρ Πριαμίδης σχεδὸν ἔγχεϊ θυμὸν ἀπηύρα, καί οἱ ἐπευχόμενος ἔπεα πτερόεντα προσηύδα: Πάτροκλ᾽ ἦ που ἔφησθα πόλιν κεραϊξέμεν ἁμήν, Τρωϊάδας δὲ γυναῖκας ἐλεύθερον ἦμαρ ἀπούρας ἄξειν ἐν νήεσσι φίλην ἐς πατρίδα γαῖαν νήπιε: τάων δὲ πρόσθ᾽ Ἕκτορος ὠκέες ἵπποι ποσσὶν ὀρωρέχαται πολεμίζειν: ἔγχεϊ δ᾽ αὐτὸς Τρωσὶ φιλοπτολέμοισι μεταπρέπω, ὅ σφιν ἀμύνω ἦμαρ ἀναγκαῖον: σὲ δέ τ᾽ ἐνθάδε γῦπες ἔδονται. ἆ δείλ᾽, οὐδέ τοι ἐσθλὸς ἐὼν χραίσμησεν Ἀχιλλεύς, ὅς πού τοι μάλα πολλὰ μένων ἐπετέλλετ᾽ ἰόντι: μή μοι πρὶν ἰέναι Πατρόκλεες ἱπποκέλευθε νῆας ἔπι γλαφυρὰς πρὶν Ἕκτορος ἀνδροφόνοιο αἱματόεντα χιτῶνα περὶ στήθεσσι δαΐξαι. ὥς πού σε προσέφη, σοὶ δὲ φρένας ἄφρονι πεῖθε. (Iliad 16. 818-842) http://records.viu.ca/~johnstoi/homer/iliad16.htm But when Hector noticed brave Patroclus going back, wounded by sharp bronze, he moved up through the ranks, stood close to Patroclus and struck him with his spear,  low in the stomach, driving the bronze straight through. Patroclus fell with a crash, and Achaea’s army was filled with anguish. Just as a lion overcomes a tireless wild boar in combat, when both beasts fight bravely in the mountains over a small spring where they both want to drink, and the lion’s strength brings down the panting boar—that’s how Hector, moving close in with his spear, destroyed the life   of Menoetius’ noble son, who’d killed so many men. Then Hector spoke winged words of triumph over him: “Patroclus, you thought you’d raze our city,   robbing our women of their life of freedom, taking them in ships to your dear native land. You fool! In front of them, Hector’s horses, swift of foot, came out to fight. With the spear I’m the very best war-loving Trojan, and I’ve saved them from their fatal day. Now vultures will eat you here. You poor wretch,  even Achilles, for all his courage, was no use to you. Though he stayed behind, he must have given you strict orders as you left, ‘Don’t return to me, horseman Patroclus, at the hollow ships, until you’ve slashed blood  all over man-killing Hector’s tunic from his own chest.’

以下圖片與資料出處: http://www.mfa.org/collections/object/automedon-with-the-horses-of-achilles-31014

Automedon with the Horses of Achilles

Regnault’s painting illustrates a story from Homer’s Iliad. Automedon, chariot driver for the Greek warrior Achilles, restrains the horses Xanthos (behind) and Balios, two beasts who could predict the future. As Regnault wrote, “the horses, aware that their master link is taking them into combat, and that this combat will be the last and will cost him his life, struggle and wrest with the groom who has come to take them from their pasture. One of them, chestnut brown, rises like a great dark phantom, outlining himself against the sky. I wanted to give the picture a foretaste of disaster.”

Inscription

Lower left: H. Regnault / Rome. / 1868

Provenance

By 1872, acquired in France by Levi Parsons Morton (b. 1824 - d. 1920), New York [see note 1]; March 1, 1882, Morton sale, George A. Leavitt and Co., New York, lot 157, to Samuel A. Coale, St. Louis, MO [see note 2]; 1890, sold by Coale to the MFA for $1000. (Accession Date: June 17, 1890) NOTES: [1] The painting was executed in Rome in 1867/1868 and sent by the artist to Paris. Notes in the curatorial file indicate that Morton acquired it in France, where he served as U.S. Minister, though how and when is not known. It was first published as being in his possession by Henri Cazalès, "Henri Regnault: sa vie et son oeuvre" (Paris, 1872), p. 141. [2] In 1883, Coale exhibited the painting at William and Everett Gallery, Boston. It was on loan to the MFA from 1884 until 1890, during which time funds were raised for its purchase. See Walter Muir Whitehill, "Museum of Fine Arts Boston: A Centennial History" (Cambridge, MA, 1970), vol. 1, pp. 78–81.