第 11 节
作者:希望之舟      更新:2021-02-19 01:13      字数:9322
  Trojan prisoners of war; meaning to burn them with Patroclus to do
  him honour。  This was a deed of shame; for Achilles was mad with
  sorrow and anger for the death of his friend。  Then they drenched
  with wine the great pile of wood; which was thirty yards long and
  broad; and set fire to it; and the fire blazed all through the
  night and died down in the morning。  They put the white bones of
  Patroclus in a golden casket; and laid it in the hut of Achilles;
  who said that; when he died; they must burn his body; and mix the
  ashes with the ashes of his friend; and build over it a chamber of
  stone; and cover the chamber with a great hill of earth; and set a
  pillar of stone above it。  This is one of the hills on the plain of
  Troy; but the pillar has fallen from the tomb; long ago。
  Then; as the custom was; Achilles held gameschariot races; foot
  races; boxing; wrestling; and archeryin honour of Patroclus。
  Ulysses won the prize for the foot race; and for the wrestling; so
  now his wound must have been healed。
  But Achilles still kept trailing Hector's dead body each day round
  the hill that had been raised for the tomb of Patroclus; till the
  Gods in heaven were angry; and bade Thetis tell her son that he
  must give back the dead body to Priam; and take ransom for it; and
  they sent a messenger to Priam to bid him redeem the body of his
  son。  It was terrible for Priam to have to go and humble himself
  before Achilles; whose hands had been red with the blood of his
  sons; but he did not disobey the Gods。  He opened his chests; and
  took out twenty…four beautiful embroidered changes of raiment; and
  he weighed out ten heavy bars; or talents; of gold; and chose a
  beautiful golden cup; and he called nine of his sons; Paris; and
  Helenus; and Deiphobus; and the rest; saying; 〃Go; ye bad sons; my
  shame; would that Hector lived and all of you were dead!〃 for
  sorrow made him angry; 〃go; and get ready for me a wain; and lay on
  it these treasures。〃  So they harnessed mules to the wain; and
  placed in it the treasures; and; after praying; Priam drove through
  the night to the hut of Achilles。  In he went; when no man looked
  for him; and kneeled to Achilles; and kissed his terrible death…
  dealing hands。  〃Have pity on me; and fear the Gods; and give me
  back my dead son;〃 he said; 〃and remember thine own father。  Have
  pity on me; who have endured to do what no man born has ever done
  before; to kiss the hands that slew my sons。〃
  Then Achilles remembered his own father; far away; who now was old
  and weak:  and he wept; and Priam wept with him; and then Achilles
  raised Priam from his knees and spoke kindly to him; admiring how
  beautiful he still was in his old age; and Priam himself wondered
  at the beauty of Achilles。  And Achilles thought how Priam had long
  been rich and happy; like his own father; Peleus; and now old age
  and weakness and sorrow were laid upon both of them; for Achilles
  knew that his own day of death was at hand; even at the doors。  So
  Achilles bade the women make ready the body of Hector for burial;
  and they clothed him in a white mantle that Priam had brought; and
  laid him in the wain; and supper was made ready; and Priam and
  Achilles ate and drank together; and the women spread a bed for
  Priam; who would not stay long; but stole away back to Troy while
  Achilles was asleep。
  All the women came out to meet him; and to lament for Hector。  They
  carried the body into the house of Andromache and laid it on a bed;
  and the women gathered around; and each in turn sang her song over
  the great dead warrior。  His mother bewailed him; and his wife; and
  Helen of the fair hands; clad in dark mourning raiment; lifted up
  her white arms; and said:  〃Hector; of all my brethren in Troy thou
  wert the dearest; since Paris brought me hither。  Would that ere
  that day I had died!  For this is now the twentieth year since I
  came; and in all these twenty years never heard I a word from thee
  that was bitter and unkind; others might upbraid me; thy sisters or
  thy mother; for thy father was good to me as if he had been my own;
  but then thou wouldst restrain them that spoke evil by the courtesy
  of thy heart and thy gentle words。  Ah! woe for thee; and woe for
  me; whom all men shudder at; for there is now none in wide Troyland
  to be my friend like thee; my brother and my friend!〃
  So Helen lamented; but now was done all that men might do; a great
  pile of wood was raised; and Hector was burned; and his ashes were
  placed in a golden urn; in a dark chamber of stone; within a hollow
  hill。
  HOW ULYSSES STOLE THE LUCK OF TROY
  After Hector was buried; the siege went on slowly; as it had done
  during the first nine years of the war。  The Greeks did not know at
  that time how to besiege a city; as we saw; by way of digging
  trenches and building towers; and battering the walls with machines
  that threw heavy stones。  The Trojans had lost courage; and dared
  not go into the open plain; and they were waiting for the coming up
  of new armies of alliesthe Amazons; who were girl warriors from
  far away; and an Eastern people called the Khita; whose king was
  Memnon; the son of the Bright Dawn。
  Now everyone knew that; in the temple of the Goddess Pallas Athene;
  in Troy; was a sacred image; which fell from heaven; called the
  Palladium; and this very ancient image was the Luck of Troy。  While
  it remained safe in the temple people believed that Troy could
  never be taken; but as it was in a guarded temple in the middle of
  the town; and was watched by priestesses day and night; it seemed
  impossible that the Greeks should ever enter the city secretly and
  steal the Luck away。
  As Ulysses was the grandson of Autolycus; the Master Thief; he
  often wished that the old man was with the Greeks; for if there was
  a thing to steal Autolycus could steal it。  But by this time
  Autolycus was dead; and so Ulysses could only puzzle over the way
  to steal the Luck of Troy; and wonder how his grandfather would
  have set about it。  He prayed for help secretly to Hermes; the God
  of Thieves; when he sacrificed goats to him; and at last he had a
  plan。
  There was a story that Anius; the King of the Isle of Delos; had
  three daughters; named OEno; Spermo; and Elais; and that OEno could
  turn water into wine; while Spermo could turn stones into bread;
  and Elais could change mud into olive oil。  Those fairy gifts;
  people said; were given to the maidens by the Wine God; Dionysus;
  and by the Goddess of Corn; Demeter。  Now corn; and wine; and oil
  were sorely needed by the Greeks; who were tired of paying much
  gold and bronze to the Phoenician merchants for their supplies。
  Ulysses therefore went to Agamemnon one day; and asked leave to
  take his ship and voyage to Delos; to bring; if he could; the three
  maidens to the camp; if indeed they could do these miracles。  As no
  fighting was going on; Agamemnon gave Ulysses leave to depart; so
  he went on board his ship; with a crew of fifty men of Ithaca; and
  away they sailed; promising to return in a month。
  Two or three days after that; a dirty old beggar man began to be
  seen in the Greek camp。  He had crawled in late one evening;
  dressed in a dirty smock and a very dirty old cloak; full of holes;
  and stained with smoke。  Over everything he wore the skin of a
  stag; with half the hair worn off; and he carried a staff; and a
  filthy tattered wallet; to put food in; which swung from his neck
  by a cord。  He came crouching and smiling up to the door of the hut
  of Diomede; and sat down just within the doorway; where beggars
  still sit in the East。  Diomede saw him; and sent him a loaf and
  two handfuls of flesh; which the beggar laid on his wallet; between
  his feet; and he made his supper greedily; gnawing a bone like a
  dog。
  After supper Diomede asked him who he was and whence he came; and
  he told a long story about how he had been a Cretan pirate; and had
  been taken prisoner by the Egyptians when he was robbing there; and
  how he had worked for many years in their stone quarries; where the
  sun had burned him brown; and had escaped by hiding among the great
  stones; carried down the Nile in a raft; for building a temple on
  the seashore。  The raft arrived at night; and the beggar said that
  he stole out from it in the dark and found a Phoenician ship in the
  harbour; and the Phoenicians took him on board; meaning to sell him
  somewhere as a slave。  But a tempest came on and wrecked the ship
  off the Isle of Tenedos; which is near Troy; and the beggar alone
  escaped to the island on a plank of the ship。  From Tenedos he had
  come to Troy in a fisher's boat; hoping to make himself useful in
  the camp; and earn enough to keep body and soul together till he
  could find a ship sailing to Crete。
  He made his story rather amusing; describing the strange ways of
  the Egyptians; how they worshipped cats and bulls; and did
  everything in just the opposite of the Greek way of doing things。
  So Diomede let him have a rug and blankets to sleep on in the
  portico of the hut; and next day the old wretch went begging about
  the camp and talking with the soldiers。  Now he was a most impudent
  and annoying old vagabond; and was always in quarrels。  If there
  was a disagreeable story a