Iliad
21. 205-327
主題: 大河也怒吼
Achilles的殘忍行為，猛殺特洛伊的英雄，把一對死屍丟到河裡，終於大河Scamandros憤怒了，出面幫助特洛伊人，大戰Achilles，第233-264行總算讓我們看到Achilles的窘境，大河大水滔滔，Achilles驚慌，抓住河邊的榆樹，十分驚險。Scamandros像是園丁，努力把護他的花園，Achilles大輸，畢竟他鬥不過河神。只是，Achilles沒有認輸，倒是呼叫宙斯與海神相助。
榆樹(πτελέα，elm, Ulmus glabra)，危急中，Achilles緊抓不放的支撐。
ἦ, καὶ Ἀχιλλεὺς μὲν δουρικλυτὸς ἔνθορε μέσσῳ
κρημνοῦ ἀπαΐξας: ὃ δ᾽ ἐπέσσυτο οἴδματι θύων,
πάντα δ᾽ ὄρινε ῥέεθρα κυκώμενος, ὦσε δὲ νεκροὺς
πολλούς, οἵ ῥα κατ᾽ αὐτὸν ἅλις ἔσαν, οὓς κτάν᾽ Ἀχιλλεύς
τοὺς ἔκβαλλε θύραζε μεμυκὼς ἠΰτε ταῦρος
χέρσον δέ: ζωοὺς δὲ σάω κατὰ καλὰ ῥέεθρα,
κρύπτων ἐν δίνῃσι βαθείῃσιν μεγάλῃσι.
δεινὸν δ᾽ ἀμφ᾽ Ἀχιλῆα κυκώμενον ἵστατο κῦμα,
ὤθει δ᾽ ἐν σάκεϊ πίπτων ῥόος: οὐδὲ πόδεσσιν
εἶχε στηρίξασθαι: ὃ δὲ πτελέην ἕλε χερσὶν
εὐφυέα μεγάλην: ἣ δ᾽ ἐκ ῥιζῶν ἐριποῦσα
κρημνὸν ἅπαντα διῶσεν, ἐπέσχε δὲ καλὰ ῥέεθρα
ὄζοισιν πυκινοῖσι, γεφύρωσεν δέ μιν αὐτὸν
εἴσω πᾶσ᾽ ἐριποῦσ᾽: ὃ δ᾽ ἄρ᾽ ἐκ δίνης ἀνορούσας
ἤϊξεν πεδίοιο ποσὶ κραιπνοῖσι πέτεσθαι
δείσας: οὐδέ τ᾽ ἔληγε θεὸς μέγας, ὦρτο δ᾽ ἐπ᾽ αὐτῷ
ἀκροκελαινιόων, ἵνα μιν παύσειε πόνοιο
δῖον Ἀχιλλῆα, Τρώεσσι δὲ λοιγὸν ἀλάλκοι.
Πηλεΐδης δ᾽ ἀπόρουσεν ὅσον τ᾽ ἐπὶ δουρὸς ἐρωή,
αἰετοῦ οἴματ᾽ ἔχων μέλανος τοῦ θηρητῆρος,
ὅς θ᾽ ἅμα κάρτιστός τε καὶ ὤκιστος πετεηνῶν:
τῷ ἐϊκὼς ἤϊξεν, ἐπὶ στήθεσσι δὲ χαλκὸς
σμερδαλέον κονάβιζεν: ὕπαιθα δὲ τοῖο λιασθεὶς
φεῦγ᾽, ὃ δ᾽ ὄπισθε ῥέων ἕπετο μεγάλῳ ὀρυμαγδῷ.
ὡς δ᾽ ὅτ᾽ ἀνὴρ ὀχετηγὸς ἀπὸ κρήνης μελανύδρου
ἂμ φυτὰ καὶ κήπους ὕδατι ῥόον ἡγεμονεύῃ
χερσὶ μάκελλαν ἔχων, ἀμάρης ἐξ ἔχματα βάλλων:
τοῦ μέν τε προρέοντος ὑπὸ ψηφῖδες ἅπασαι
ὀχλεῦνται: τὸ δέ τ᾽ ὦκα κατειβόμενον κελαρύζει
χώρῳ ἔνι προαλεῖ, φθάνει δέ τε καὶ τὸν ἄγοντα:
ὣς αἰεὶ Ἀχιλῆα κιχήσατο κῦμα ῥόοιο
καὶ λαιψηρὸν ἐόντα: θεοὶ δέ τε φέρτεροι ἀνδρῶν.
The river spoke. Then famous spearman Achilles
jumped from the bank into the middle of the
stream.
The river attacked him with a rising flood,
stirring all his waters into seething turmoil,
sweeping up many corpses crowded in the shoals,
men slaughtered by Achilles. Roaring like a bull,
the river hurled these bodies up onto the shore,
preserving in its lovely stream those still alive
by hiding them in deep wide pools. Around
Achilles,
huge waves towered threateningly, beating down
his shield. The breaking waters pushed him
backwards.
Achilles lost his footing. His hand reached out to
grab
a large elm tree, fully grown, but the tree came
loose,
roots and all, tearing the whole river bank away.
As it fell in the river, its thick branches
blocked
that lovely stream, damming its flow. In terror,
Achilles scrambled up out of the raging waters,
trying on his swift feet to run out to the plain.
But the great god wasn’t done. With a dark
wave,
he went after godlike Achilles, to prevent
the killing and to rescue Trojans from
destruction.
Peleus’ son ran off as far as one spear throw,
moving as fast as a black eagle plummets,
the hunting bird which is the strongest and the
fastest
of all flying things—that’s how Achilles ran.
The bronze armour on his chest was clanging
fearfully
as he swerved out from underneath the flooding
river,
desperate to escape. But with a tremendous roar,
Scamander’s flood rushed on in pursuit behind
him.
Just as a man laying out a ditch from a dark
spring
to his plants and gardens digs a water channel,
mattock in hand, removing what obstructs the flow,
and the water, as it starts to run, pushes
aside
the pebbles, and then, gaining momentum, flows
down
and overtakes the man who’s guiding it—
that’s how the flooding wave kept clutching at
Achilles
for all his speed, since gods have much more
strength than men.
Scamander fought on the side of the Trojans during
the Trojan War (Iliad XX, 73/74; XXI), after the Greek hero Achilles insulted
him. Scamander was also said to have attempted to kill Achilles three times,
and the hero was only saved due to the intervention of Hera, Athena and
Hephaestus. In this context, he is the personification of the Scamander River
that flowed from Mount Ida across the plain beneath the city of Troy, joining
the Hellespont north of the city. The Achaeans, according to Homer, had set
up their camp near its mouth, and their battles with the Trojans were fought
on the plain of Scamander. In Iliad XXII (149ff), Homer states that the river
had two springs: one produced warm water; the other yielded cold water,
regardless of the season.
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