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(reminder: all quotes here are fiddled, probably.)

Odyssey 1.1--40


呂健忠譯 (略修):

有個人善於看風轉舵,繆思啊請告訴我,
他撲破聖城特洛伊之後漂泊波路,
許多聚落先後流寓,見識遍人間智謀,
許多磨難動心忍性,在海域流離失所
奮力要保存靈氣,把軍中伙伴都帶回家。
儘管他費盡心思,伙伴生還卻沒有一個,
可憐見他們莽撞斷送了自己的生路,
傻呼呼狼吞虎噬了太陽神許佩瑞翁的牛,
好一個返鄉的日子就這樣永遠剝奪。
宙斯的神女啊,起個頭請為我們開講!

Emily Wilson, trs:

Tell me about a complicated man.
Muse, tell me how he wandered and was lost
when he had wrecked the holy town of Troy,
and where he went, and who he met, the pain
he suffered in the storms at sea, and how
he worked to save his life and bring his men
back home. He failed to keep them safe; poor fools,
they ate the Sun God’s cattle, and the god
kept them from home. Now goddess, child of Zeus,
tell the old story for our modern times.
Find the beginning.”

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墜茵落溷


梁書, 卷四八, 儒林傳范縝

初,縝在齊世,嘗侍竟陵王 子良。子良精信釋教,而縝盛稱無佛。子良問曰:「君不信因果,世間何得有富貴,何得有貧賤?」縝答曰:「人之生譬如一樹花,同發一枝,俱開一蔕,隨風而墮,自有拂簾幌墜於茵席之上,自有關籬牆落於糞溷之側。墜茵席者,殿下是也;落糞溷者,下官是也。貴賤雖復殊途,因果竟在何處?」子良不能屈,深怪之。縝退論其理,著《神滅論》。

Seneca


Emily Wilson trs.

Oedipus
Creon: If the cure is bad, better to be sick. (3.517)

Creon: Kings hate to hear the things they order spoken. (3.520)

Hercules Furens
Chorus: The Fates come at a fixed time.
Nobody gets the dally when they call,
nobody can postpone the written day.
(1.187--190)

閻王要你三更死, 誰敢留人到五更.

Love of honour leads a man
to travel the world. (1.192)

大丈夫立身揚名, 自當縱橫四海.

Unambitious people live to white old age;
the unimpressive fortune of a tiny house
is humble but it stands on solid ground.
Impetuous courage falls from a great height.
(1.198--201)

沖淡無求, 壽越期頤.
小門第 雖無堆金積玉的家底, 始終根基厚實.
逞一時之勇, 跌得最狠.

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三角關係


Euripides (Emily Wilson tr.)

語帶相關, 話中有話

Helen, line 1285--1300:
Theoclymenos: (to Helen) And you, I'm sorry for your loss. But do not waste
your life on useless mourning. Menelaus,
has passed away, and grief won't bring him back.

Menelaus: (to Helen) Your job, young lady, is to let go the husband
who isn't here, and love the one who is.
That's best for you, given the situation.
If I survive and make my way go Greece,
I'll stop them blaming you, if you can treat
the man who shares you bed the way you should.

Helen: I will. I'll never speak ill of my husband.
You'll be beside me and you'll know the truth.
But you, poor traveller, go in and wash,
and change your clothes. I want, without delay,
to do you favours, since you will perform
the duties owned to darling Menelaus
more lovingly if I've done rightly by you.


Theoclymenos 以為抱得美人歸, 誰知海倫原來與丈夫 Menelaus 夾計, 企圖騙他一艘船回國. Menelaus 話中似乎有些醋意. 至於海倫, 對白每一句眼神到底望向誰, 倒是耐人尋味.

Euripides


(Emily Wilson tr.)

Helen, line 1102--1106:
(to Aphrodite (Venus))
Why are you never sated
with wickedness: deceit and tricks and lust,
and charms that spill the blood of families!
You'd be the sweetest of the gods to humans
if you were less excessive. That's the truth.


Helen, line 1138--1142:
What mortal can think it all through and explain
what is god, what is not god, and what's in between?
The most one can hope is to glimpse how their works
leaps around, back and forth and around,
in a world of surprises and self-contradiction.

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鴟鴞與貓咪


The Owl and the Pussycat
(Edward Lear's Nonsense songs)

鴟鴞與貓咪 (tsi1 hiu1)
夜貓子與俏貓兒
夜貓子與貓娘子

貓頭鷹與鷹頭貓
貓頭鷹與貓盈盈 (形影, 令狐沖與任盈盈)
貓頭鷹與貓麗影 (雙雙)
貓頭鷹與貓娘子

鵂鶹郎與貓嬌娘 (yau1 lau4)
鵂鶹與喵咪

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哈里斯說


董橋, 燈影 (克雷莫納的月光):

上個月哈里斯和羅瑟琳去了一趟北京上海台北繞來香港看我. 好多年不見羅瑟琳老了還很秀麗, 哈里斯發胖了,禿頭了, 說舊貨店歸了兒子經營, 貨源不足, 生意沒有從前好做:「舊東西都在舊派人家裏, 都捨不得放, 市場上懷舊的人再多也沒用, 他們照不到老歲月的燈影了」, 哈里斯說.

最後四個字, 論意思可有可無, 論節奏論氣韻, 似不能少. 前邊的長句沒有哈里斯說這個四字短句壓軸, 就沒有收束. 最後這一頓, 好比定鏡, close up 在哈里斯面上, 味道滄桑. 若真要刪去, 得把引語末句略改為: 老歲月的燈影他們照不到了. 勉強將就過去.

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