DEATHS IN THE ILIAD
INTRO
At the University of Minnesota, on another spring day, I heard the poet John Berryman fail to lecture on The Iliad to a room jammed with students. He sat down at a table, as was his custom, put on his reading glasses, lit a cigarette, which he held at bottom of the space between his trembling index and middle fingers in the way that drunks do, and began to read to us from the poem in his dark voice, oddly powerful coming from such a frail man, paying as much attention to the stops in the lines as to the accents. He read to us the scene in which Hector and Andromache say farewell to each other. Hector is destined to die and Andromache to be hauled into slavery, and both know this by premonition. When he came to the end of the scene, Berryman was weeping and so, unexpectedly, were we. He made no effort to hide his grief, running from an ancient pen across the long centuries through a modern language into our hearts. He did not even brush away his tears. We sat, stunned, until he got up and left the room without another word, and then we, too, gathered up our books and emerged into the cruel sunshine. I hurried to my office (I was editor of the student newspaper) and locked myself in, and it was an hour or two before I could see anybody. It was the first time, I think, that any of us had ever been taught what literature is all about. (1)
Nå! — sentimentalitet og nostalgi er ikke mit ærinde og jeg gør mig (næsten) fri af lysten til at namedroppe de undervisere, som yderst kompetente skilte sig ud på hver deres passionerede men underligt livsfjerne måde, så man undertiden tænkte at deres livsduelighed ville være begrænset, bortfjernet fra forelæsningsens element og sluppet løs i den virkelige verden; de gjorde en kæmpe forskel, dog ikke altid med Homer, men det var ikke kun deres skyld.
Erik Stenz (Ikast Gymnasium) var absolut ikke den ringeste indgang til oldtidskundskab og en af de kun to lærere, som jeg husker for noget positivt fra min tid på gymnasiet — for restens vedkommende er selv navnet forlængst blevet opslugt af glemslens tåger. Retfærdigvis skal det siges, at de sikkert har været dygtige og kompetente lærere (med undtagelser), men indtrykket har ikke hængt ved. Det var eksempelvis heller ikke hvad vi læste i dansk, der blev hængende: — ærligt, jeg husker ikke noget specifikt, selvom klassikerne sikkert har været på pensum.
Vi læste i øvrigt ikke engang Iliaden i Oldtidskundskab og jeg forstod allerede dengang ikke, hvorfor det var Odysseen som var fast pensum.
There are few books which are fit to be remembered in our wisest hours, but the Iliad is brightest in the serenest days, and embodies still all the sunlight that fell on Asia Minor. No modern joy or ecstasy of ours can lower its height or dim its lustre, but there it lies in the east of literature, as it were the earliest and latest production of the mind. The ruins of Egypt oppress and stifle us with their dust, foulness preserved in cassia and pitch, and swathed in linen; the death of that which never lived. But the rays of Greek poetry struggle down to us, and mingle with the sunbeams of the recent day. The statue of Memnon is cast down, but the shaft of the Iliad still meets the sun in his rising.(2)
DEATHS IN THE ILIAD — Men det skal slet ikke handle om hverken tårevædet afsked eller ancient sunbeams; den er et på mange måder fascinerende emne og Iliaden kan noget helt særligt på en moderne meget cinematografisk måde.
Jeg skal ikke føre andet bevis for påstanden end denne passage fra Iliadens fjerde sang:
But while he strove to tug the inserted dart,
Agenor’s javelin reach’d the hero’s heart.
His flank, unguarded by his ample shield,
Admits the lance: he falls, and spurns the field;
The nerves, unbraced, support his limbs no more;
The soul comes floating in a tide of gore.
Det kan, når man tænker på antallet af Homeroversættelser, forekomme som en ret kæk påstand, at der ikke er noget som kommer tæt på Popes oversættelse ... gendigtning af Iliaden, når det gælder poetisk drama og æstetisk beskrivelse af døden.
Man kan så mene hvad man vil, i forhold til at være tro mod originalen, om sammenhængen mellem form og indhold og alt det der og det er fair nok, det har andre også gjort i forhold til Popes oversætteles (se fx ...but you must not call it Homer.), men så kommer man heller ikke udenom at ingen kan læse Due efter at have læst Wilster og at man i øvrigt befinder sig i langt bedre selskab med Gelsted end Due og derfor er der intet argument for ikke også at elske Pope. Vel?
Nedenstående er et en ongoing project i forhold til at samle alle dødsfald i Iliaden, som gengivet af Pope og måske enkelte steder supplere med Wilster og andre oversættelser efter behov.
Listen over dødsfald er taknemmeligt hugget herfra Ian Johnston: Deaths in the Iliad og referencerne til vers er følgelig til Ian Johnstons online oversættelse af Iliaden, som jeg endnu ikke har læst; jeg bruger listen fordi det er nemt.
Teksten er som sagt The Iliad of Homer - Translated by Alexander Pope. Popes oversættes kan findes her: The Iliad (Pope) at Project Gutenberg
(1) Paul Gruchow: The Necessity of Empty Places, New York 1988, s. 255. (via laudator temporis acti)
(2) Henry David Thoreau, Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers. Mandag.
DITI
Her følger så, engang påbegyndt aldrig afsluttet, turen gennem Iliaden, betragtet som et litterært bodycount. Der er virkelig ikke nogen fornuftig grund til at foretage sig noget sådant, men det skal ikke afholde mig fra at gøre det alligevel, da jeg heller ikke kan komme på en fornuftig grund til at lade være.
4. Sang • bodycount: 7
5. Sang • bodycount: 42
6. Sang • bodycount: 15
• • •
7. Sang • Bodycount: 3
8. Sang • Bodycount: 13
10. Sang • Bodycount: 2
11. Sang • Bodycount: 38
12. Sang • Bodycount: 11
13. Sang • Bodycount: 18
14. Sang • Bodycount: 14
15. Sang • Bodycount: 18
16. Sang • Bodycount: 40
17. Sang • Bodycount: 9
20. Sang • Bodycount: 14
21. Sang • Bodycount: 9
22. Sang • Bodycount: 1
TEKST
Dansk, Wilsters oversættelse. Den bedste oversættelse til dansk. Nutidige læsere vil måske opfatte den som relativt svær at læse, men alternetivet - Otto Steen Dues oversættelse - kan ikke anbefales. Wilsters oversættelse kan finde på Kaliope, som anbefales af mange indlysende grunde.
Engelsk, Popes oversættelse. Dette er den absolut mest læseværdige oversættelse af Iliaden, hvilket skyldes det faktum at Pope ikke er oversætter, men digter og at en gendigtning til enhver tid er at foretrække, såfremt der er en kvalificeret person til at foretage den. Det var Pope og denne udgave af Iliaden er, til trods for at den er 300 år gammel, langt mere frisk i udtrykket end de fleste nyere oversættelser.
Pope's Preface • Pope's Concluding Note • Intro (Buckley)
Engelsk, Samuel Butlers oversættelse, “rendered into English Prose for the use of those who cannot read the original”. Altså ikke bare rendered into english, men også — og det vil nogen nok mene er nærmest blasfemisk — rendered into prose og man kan med en vis ret indvende, at læse Homer oversat til prosa svarer til at tage en uge til Mallorca eller Barcelona og tro at man har været i Spanien.(*) Jeg kan ikke translokere til Hellas og har således kun en meget lille kuffert at pakke mit snobberi i og vælger i stedet ikke at være puritansk på det område. Jeg mener oprigtigt at Gelsted er langt bedre end Due og at Butler heller ikke er så ringe endda.
BOOK 1 — The quarrel between Agamemnon and Achilles—Achilles withdraws from the war, and sends his mother Thetis to ask Jove to help the Trojans—Scene between Jove and Juno on Olympus.
Butler 1 • Pope 1
BOOK 2 — Jove sends a lying dream to Agamemnon, who thereon calls the chiefs in assembly, and proposes to sound the mind of his army—In the end they march to fight—Catalogue of the Achaean and Trojan forces.
Butler 2 • Pope 2
BOOK 3 — Alexandria, also called Paris, challenges Menelaus—Helen and Priam view the Achaeans from the wall—The covenant—Paris and Menelaus fight, and Paris is worsted—Venus carries him off to save him—Scene between him and Helen.
Butler 3 • Pope 3
BOOK 4 — A quarrel in Olympus—Minerva goes down and persuades Fandarus to violate the oaths by wounding Menelaus with an arrow—Agamemnon makes a speech and sends for Machaon—He then goes about among his captains and upbraids Ulysses and Sthenelus, who each of them retort fiercely—Diomed checks Sthenelus, and the two hosts then engage, with great slaughter on either side.
Butler 4 • Pope 4
BOOK 5 — The exploits of Diomed, who, though wounded by Pandarus, continues fighting—He kills Pandarus and wounds AEneas—Venus rescues AEneas, but being wounded by Diomed, commits him to the care of Apollo and goes to Olympus, where she is tended by her mother Dione—Mars encourages the Trojans, and AEneas returns to the fight cured of his wound—Minerva and Juno help the Achaeans, and by the advice of the former Diomed wounds Mars, who returns to Olympus to get cured.
Butler 5
BOOK 6 — Glaucus and Diomed—The story of Bellerophon—Hector and Andromache.
Butler 6
BOOK 7 — Hector and Ajax fight—Hector is getting worsted when night comes on and parts them—They exchange presents—The burial of the dead, and the building of a wall round their ships by the Achaeans—The Achaeans buy their wine of Agamemnon and Menelaus.
Butler 7
BOOK 8 — Jove forbids the gods to interfere further—There is an even fight till midday, but then Jove inclines the scales of victory in favour of the Trojans, who eventually chase the Achaeans within their wall—Juno and Minerva set out to help the Trojans: Jove sends Iris to turn them back, but later on he promises Juno that she shall have her way in the end—Hector’s triumph is stayed by nightfall—The Trojans bivouac on the plain.
Butler 8
BOOK 9 — The Embassy to Achilles.
Butler 9
BOOK 10 — Ulysses and Diomed go out as spies, and meet Dolon, who gives them information: they then kill him, and profiting by what he had told them, kill Rhesus king of the Thracians and take his horses.
Butler 10
BOOK 11 — In the forenoon the fight is equal, but Agamemnon turns the fortune of the day towards the Achaeans until he gets wounded and leaves the field—Hector then drives everything before him till he is wounded by Diomed—Paris wounds Diomed—Ulysses, Nestor, and Idomeneus perform prodigies of valour—Machaon is wounded—Nestor drives him off in his chariot—Achilles sees the pair driving towards the camp and sends Patroclus to ask who it is that is wounded—This is the beginning of evil for Patroclus—Nestor makes a long speech.
Butler 11
BOOK 12 — The Trojans and their allies break the wall, led on by Hector.
Butler 12
BOOK 13 — Neptune helps the Achaeans—The feats of Idomeneus—Hector at the ships.
Butler 13
BOOK 14 — Agamemnon proposes that the Achaeans should sail home, and is rebuked by Ulysses—Juno beguiles Jupiter—Hector is wounded.
Butler 14
BOOK 15 — Jove awakes, tells Apollo to heal Hector, and the Trojans again become victorious.
Butler 15
BOOK 16 — Fire being now thrown on the ship of Protesilaus, Patroclus fights in the armour of Achilles—He drives the Trojans back, but is in the end killed by Euphorbus and Hector.
Butler 16
BOOK 17 — The fight around the body of Patroclus.
Butler 17
BOOK 18 — The grief of Achilles over Patroclus—The visit of Thetis to Vulcan and the armour that he made for Achilles.
Butler 18
BOOK 19 — Achilles is reconciled with Agamemnon, puts on the armour which Vulcan had made him, and goes out to fight.
Butler 19
BOOK 20 — The gods hold a council and determine to watch the fight, from the hill Callicolone, and the barrow of Hercules—A fight between Achilles and AEneas is interrupted by Neptune, who saves AEneas—Achilles kills many Trojans.
Butler 20
BOOK 23 — The fight between Achilles and the river Scamander—The gods fight among themselves—Achilles drives the Trojans within their gates.
Butler 21
BOOK 22 — The death of Hector.
Butler 22
BOOK 23 — The funeral of Patroclus, and the funeral games.
Butler 23
BOOK 24 — Priam ransoms the body of Hector—Hector’s funeral.
Butler 23