reflections on the odyssey
So, I'm finally reading The Odyssey. It took me a little while to find a translation I actually enjoyed reading; Fitzgerald and Wilson both failed me, which was deeply surprising as I enjoyed Fitzgerald's translation of The Iliad and Wilson's I had heard was good. But thankfully Fagles' translation caught my fancy and now I'm having a splendid time.
I've just finished Book 9, within which Odysseus recounts his encounter with Polyphemus. And I was a little stunned by the level of violence described within that encounter. I had known what happened. I just did not know the graphic level of description. Perhaps I should not have been surprised. I've read The Iliad and that doesn't hold back either.
But I have to linger on a section from Book 8. It's another simile, much like the ones that fascinated me from The Iliad, where the emotional depth of these Greek heroes is being highlighted.
ταῦτ᾽ ἄρ᾽ ἀοιδὸς ἄειδε περικλυτός: αὐτὰρ Ὀδυσσεὺς
τήκετο, δάκρυ δ᾽ ἔδευεν ὑπὸ βλεφάροισι παρειάς.
ὡς δὲ γυνὴ κλαίῃσι φίλον πόσιν ἀμφιπεσοῦσα,
ὅς τε ἑῆς πρόσθεν πόλιος λαῶν τε πέσῃσιν,
ἄστεϊ καὶ τεκέεσσιν ἀμύνων νηλεὲς ἦμαρ:
ἡ μὲν τὸν θνήσκοντα καὶ ἀσπαίροντα ἰδοῦσα
ἀμφ᾽ αὐτῷ χυμένη λίγα κωκύει: οἱ δέ τ᾽ ὄπισθε
κόπτοντες δούρεσσι μετάφρενον ἠδὲ καὶ ὤμους
εἴρερον εἰσανάγουσι, πόνον τ᾽ ἐχέμεν καὶ ὀιζύν:
τῆς δ᾽ ἐλεεινοτάτῳ ἄχεϊ φθινύθουσι παρειαί:
ὣς Ὀδυσεὺς ἐλεεινὸν ὑπ᾽ ὀφρύσι δάκρυον εἶβεν.
These things the renowned bard was singing. But Odysseus
was deeply moved, and tears wet the cheeks below his eyes.
Just as a wife cries out, falling upon her beloved husband,
who has fallen before his people and soldiers,
striving to keep away a ruthless day from his town and children.
Seeing him dying, gasping out life,
she wraps herself around him and wails loudly, but from behind,
striking her with their spears on her back and shoulders,
they lead her into servitude to bear toil and misery,
and with most pitiful grief her cheeks are withered,
so did Odysseus let fall pitiful tears from below his brow.
(Homer, The Odyssey, Book 8, lines 521-531)
This simile does make me insane, and I knew as soon as I read it, I had to translate it for myself. A part of me would have liked to preserve the basic meanings of τηκετο and χυμενη ('melt' and 'pour'), but sometimes sacrifices must be made for clarity's sake.
~nan