24 Poppy

Iliad 8. 300-308

罌粟花 μήκων poppy

Papaver somniferum

ἦ ῥα καὶ ἄλλον ὀϊστὸν ἀπὸ νευρῆφιν ἴαλλεν

Ἕκτορος ἀντικρύ, βαλέειν δέ ἑ ἵετο θυμός:

καὶ τοῦ μέν ῥ᾽ ἀφάμαρθ᾽, ὃ δ᾽ ἀμύμονα Γοργυθίωνα

υἱὸν ἐῢν Πριάμοιο κατὰ στῆθος βάλεν ἰῷ,

τόν ῥ᾽ ἐξ Αἰσύμηθεν ὀπυιομένη τέκε μήτηρ

καλὴ Καστιάνειρα δέμας ἐϊκυῖα θεῇσι.

μήκων δ᾽ ὡς ἑτέρωσε κάρη βάλεν, ἥ τ᾽ ἐνὶ κήπῳ

καρπῷ βριθομένη νοτίῃσί τε εἰαρινῇσιν,

ὣς ἑτέρωσ᾽ ἤμυσε κάρη πήληκι βαρυνθέν.

He spoke, and shot another arrow from the string straight against Hector; and his heart was eager to strike him. Him he missed, but incomparable Gorgythion he struck in the chest with his arrow, Priam's mighty son, whom a wedded mother from Aesyme had borne, fair Castianeira, in form like the goddesses. And his head bowed to one side like a poppy that in a garden is heavy with its fruit and the rains of spring; so his head bowed to one side, weight down by his helmet.



在寫這段筆記時，正好收到好友提醒之前的另一則閱讀筆記 (Iliad 5.554-560)，那段文字形容兩位壯勇倒死在埃內阿斯手下，宛如兩棵被伐的希臘冷杉，撞倒在地上。好友建議將Grecian fir (Abies cephalonica)翻譯成希臘冷杉，總算排除我心中的一小謎團。

這兒，也是形容英雄倒地的情境，用的比喻很妙，Gorgythion戴重重的頭盔，壓力使他的頭下，向花園裡的罌粟花，果實纍纍，或著雨水的重量，低垂凋零。如果前面的希臘冷杉比喻是壯烈景象，這裡則是淒涼不已。這千金重的盔甲不就是應驗Simone Weil談的「力」，具體看見英雄們成為武力的奴役，背著它，直到垮下一刻!


κῆπος: garden, orchard，花園，這裡的罌粟花是種植在花園裡的，雖是個比喻，但不言而喻，古希臘花園應該常有罌粟花。

下面圖片與資料來源: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papaver_somniferum
Use of the opium poppy predates written history. Images of opium poppies have been found in ancient Sumerian artifacts (circa 4000 BC). The making and use of opium was known to the ancient Minoans. Its sap was later named opion by the ancient Greeks, from whence it gained its modern name of opium.

下面圖片與資料來源: http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%BD%8C%E7%B2%9F
罌粟（學名：Papaver somniferum）是罌粟科植物，是製取鴉片的主要原料，同時其提取物也是多種鎮靜劑的來源，如嗎啡、蒂巴因、可待因、罌粟鹼、那可丁。學名「somniferum」的意思是「催眠」，反映出其具有麻醉性。罌粟的種子罌粟籽是重要的食物產品，其中含有對健康有益的油脂，廣泛應用於世界各地的沙拉中，而罌粟花絢爛華美，是一種很有價值的觀賞植物。因罌粟擁有製作毒品的危險性，卻又有製作藥物及生產罌粟籽的價值，故在世界很多國家被規範化地種植。