20180206 Iliad 24. 457-461

δή ῥα τόθ᾽ Ἑρμείας ἐριούνιος ᾦξε γέροντι,

ἐς δ᾽ ἄγαγε κλυτὰ δῶρα ποδώκεϊ Πηλεΐωνι,

ἐξ ἵππων δ᾽ ἀπέβαινεν ἐπὶ χθόνα φώνησέν τε:

“ὦ γέρον ἤτοι ἐγὼ θεὸς ἄμβροτος εἰλήλουθα

Ἑρμείας: σοὶ γάρ με πατὴρ ἅμα πομπὸν ὄπασσεν….”

Then the helper Hermes opened the door for the old man, and brought in the glorious gifts for the swift-footed son of Peleus; and from the chariot he stepped down to the ground and spoke, saying, “Old Sir, I who have come to you an immortal god, Hermes; for my father sent me to guide you on your way…”

Hermes護送老人Priam到敵營，到了Achilles的營帳外面，也完成使命，這時，他才告訴老人家他其實是不朽之神Hermes，奉天神宙斯之命一路引領與保護他到這裡。

    Hermes扮演的腳色就是: ἐριούνιος，是幫助者、幸運使者，也就是「小天使」。在我們困頓之際，身邊常常出現這樣的「小天使」或是「貴人」相助，也就是來自上蒼一種神聖不朽(ἄμβροτος immortal, divine)之力量，藉由不同型式出現，史詩的描述用具體的人物表達此「小天使」，簡單卻貼切。

  

下圖出處:　 http://elfinspell.com/MurrayMyth/Hermes.html  

20180201 Iliad 24. 411-421

ὦ τέκος, ἦ ῥ᾽ ἀγαθὸν καὶ ἐναίσιμα δῶρα διδοῦναι

ἀθανάτοις, ἐπεὶ οὔ ποτ᾽ ἐμὸς πάϊς, εἴ ποτ᾽ ἔην γε,

λήθετ᾽ ἐνὶ μεγάροισι θεῶν οἳ Ὄλυμπον ἔχουσι:

τώ οἱ ἀπεμνήσαντο καὶ ἐν θανάτοιό περ αἴσῃ.

My Child, a good thing truly is it to give to the immortals such as are due them; far never did my son—if ever in fact he was—forget in our halls the gods hold Olympus; so they have rememnbered this for him, even though he is in the doom of death.

慢慢讀荷馬史詩《伊里亞德》最後一卷，聆聽人與人之間的對話、觀察天地神之奧妙、以及思考生與死的意義。老國王Priam在喪子之痛的悲傷情緒中，堅持諸般應盡禮儀，得到神祗幫助，Hermes扮成年輕人安慰與鼓勵Priam，當Priam知道長子Hector之屍首仍完好，感謝眾神之眷顧—看顧兒子之生死。

若只在意失去的，擔心沒有擁有的，就會放不下生死；但是若是感謝遇到的每一件事、珍惜現在擁有的一切，就不會害怕失去。

欣賞這位特洛伊老國王的雍容大度、修養與智慧。

下面圖文出處:　 http://www.towntopics.com/nov1605/art.html

VERY HUMAN ARM: Priam kissing the hand that killed his son in Joseph Wencker's "Priam at the Feet of Achilles," which can be seen at the Princeton Art Museum's current exhibition, "The Legacy of Homer: Four Centuries of Art from the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris." Presented in collaboration with the Dahesh Museum of Art in New York City, the show will run through January 15, 2006. It was organized by École curator Emmanuel Schwartz and coordinated at Princeton by Betsy Rosasco, research curator of later Western art.

20180130 Iliad 24. 411-421

20180130  Iliad 24. 411-421

 ‘ὦ γέρον οὔ πω τόν γε κύνες φάγον οὐδ᾽ οἰωνοί,

ἀλλ᾽ ἔτι κεῖνος κεῖται Ἀχιλλῆος παρὰ νηῒ

αὔτως ἐν κλισίῃσι: δυωδεκάτη δέ οἱ ἠὼς

κειμένῳ, οὐδέ τί οἱ χρὼς σήπεται, οὐδέ μιν εὐλαὶ

ἔσθουσ᾽, αἵ ῥά τε φῶτας ἀρηϊφάτους κατέδουσιν.

ἦ μέν μιν περὶ σῆμα ἑοῦ ἑτάροιο φίλοιο

ἕλκει ἀκηδέστως ἠὼς ὅτε δῖα φανήῃ,

οὐδέ μιν αἰσχύνει: θηοῖό κεν αὐτὸς ἐπελθὼν

οἷον ἐερσήεις κεῖται, περὶ δ᾽ αἷμα νένιπται,

οὐδέ ποθι μιαρός: σὺν δ᾽ ἕλκεα πάντα μέμυκεν

ὅσσ᾽ ἐτύπη: πολέες γὰρ ἐν αὐτῷ χαλκὸν ἔλασσαν.

Old sir, not yet have dogs and birds devoured him, but he still lies there beside the ship of Achilles among the huts as he was at the first; and this is now the twelfth day that he lies there, yet his flesh decays not at all, nor do worms coonsume it, such as feed on men slain in battle. To be sure Achilles drags him ruthlessly about the mound of his dear comrades, but he mars him not; you would yoursled marvel, were you to come and see how dew-fresh he lies, and is washed clean of blood, not is he anywhere stained; and all the wounds are closed with which he was struck, for many there were who drove the bronze into his flesh.

老人家問眼前的這位帥哥—其實是Hermes假扮的—唯一的問題，也是他此刻出現在敵營的目的: Hector的屍體狀況。Hermes既然是神，地上發生的事都倆若指掌，提供十分完善資訊：

時間—Hector死後第十二天。

地點—在Achilles營帳旁邊。

狀況—完好如初。沒成被野狗或是飛鳥吃掉，身體也沒被蟲蛀蝕。

細節—儘管每天白天Achilles拖著Hecot屍體示威，但是Hector沒被解體、也沒變形。身上的血已經洗乾淨、被無數銅製兵器擊傷的傷口也都癒合。

這是神蹟? 還是因為當時天氣狀況，屍體歷經12天都不會發臭或腐爛? 還是古代有特殊方法保存屍體?

下面圖文出處:　 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hector#/media/File:Hector_brought_back_to_Troy.jpg　

Hector brought back to Troy, from a Roman sarcophagus of c. 180–200 AD