（二）史诗英雄是渣男
荷马曾经提到，古希腊的战士在打仗前用香芹来喂战马，马儿食用香芹后体力和精力大增，可以跑得更快。
荷马的《奥德赛》第五卷中，香芹生长在女神卡吕普索（Calypso）居住的奥杰吉厄岛（Ogygia）。这个岛是虚构的，像个美妙的仙境，被限制在那里的女神卡吕普索所受到的惩罚就是：命运女神每过一段时间就送一个需要帮助的英雄，卡吕普索每次都陷入爱河，但送来的英雄都不可能留下。
她救了不幸沉船的奥德修斯（（Odysseus），与他在岛上过着天堂一般的生活，用魔力诱惑他，还为他生了一个儿子。他们一起生活了七年，可奥德修斯一心想离开，回到妻子的身边。卡吕普索想尽一切办法留住他，最后雅典娜女神看不下去了，到宙斯那儿告状，要求他干预。宙斯给赫尔墨斯下了命令。现将部分诗文翻译如下：
“宙斯说罢。他的信使，杀死百眼巨人阿尔戈斯的赫尔墨斯
谨遵不违。他立刻系好那双可爱的永不过时的
金色凉鞋的鞋带，穿着它们，快如暴风，
跨过海洋和无边无际的土地。
他拿着蛇杖，只要他愿意，
可让任何一个人闭眼或睁眼。
手握这根蛇杖，杀死阿尔戈斯的威武的赫尔墨斯
飞奔而去- 在皮埃里亚上空飞速前进，
然后从高空跃入大海，
疾驰于波浪中，像鱼鹰一样
在危险的海湾的水面下捕鱼，
浓密的羽毛被海水打湿 – 赫尔墨斯在波峰里如是穿行。
当他到达那座遥远的岛屿时，站了起来，
踏出蓝紫色的海面，走向陆地，
来到一个巨大的岩洞里，那是
金发女神卡吕普索的家。他在那儿找到她，
炉膛里燃着熊熊柴火，
劈开的雪松和燃烧的檀香木的香气，
弥漫在整座岛屿。卡吕普索用迷人的嗓音
在岩洞里唱着歌，走来走去，
在布机前，她用一支金梭在纺织。
洞穴内开花的树环绕在她四周，还有桤木，
白杨和芳香的柏树，长着修长翅膀的鸟在树上筑巢，
有猫头鹰，鹰和叽叽喳喳的海鸟
在水上消磨时间。洞穴的四周爬满
成熟的青藤，上面挂着串串葡萄。
四口泉水成排挨连，
朝着不同的方向流出清澈的水，
四周柔软的草地上满是
盛开的嫩紫香堇和香芹。即使
永生的神来到此地，也会赞赏
此情此景，内心充满愉悦。
阿尔戈斯的杀手，神的信使，站在那儿，
惊叹于奇景。但他
饱览了所有美妙的景象后，
走进了宽敞的洞穴。可爱的女神卡吕普索
一眼望见，马上认出他来。
众神能够互相辨识，
即使一些仙人的家可能相隔遥远。
但是赫尔墨斯没有在洞穴里找到奥德修斯-
那个高尚勇敢的男人正坐在沙滩上哀叹，
和以前一样，心碎流泪痛苦低吟，
当他望着不平静的海洋时，充满了悲伤，
泪流满面。”
（Once Zeus finished speaking. The killer of Argus,
his messenger, obeyed him. At once he laced up
on his feet those lovely golden ageless sandals
which carry him as fast as stormy blasts of wind
across the ocean seas and boundless tracts of land.
He took with him the wand he uses to put to sleep
or wake up the eyes of anyone he chooses.
With this in hand, the mighty killer of Argus
flew away—speeding high above Pieria,
then leaping from the upper sky down to the sea.
Across the waves he raced, just like a cormorant,
a bird which hunts for fish down in the perilous gulfs
below the restless sea, soaking his thick plumage
in the brine—that how Hermes rode the crowded waves.
But when he reached the distant island, he rose up,
above the violet sea, and moved in onshore,
until he came to an enormous cave, the home
of the fair-haired nymph Calypso. He found her there,
a huge fire blazing in her hearth—from far away
the smell of split cedar and burning sandal wood
spread across the island. With her enchanting voice
Calypso sang inside the cave, as she moved round
back and forth, before her loom—she was weaving
with a golden shuttle. All around her in the cave
trees were in bloom, alder and sweet-smelling cypress,
and poplar, too, with long-winged birds nesting in them—
owls, hawks, and chattering sea crows, who spend their time
out on the water. A garden vine, fully ripe
and loaded with rich grapes, trailed through the hollow cave.
From four fountains, close to each other in a row,
clear water streamed out in various directions,
and all around soft meadows spread out in full bloom
with fresh violets and parsley. Even a god,
who lives forever, coming there, would be amazed
to gaze at it, and his heart would fill with pleasure.
The killer of Argus, god’s messenger, stood there,
marvelling at the sight. But after his spirit
had contemplated all these things with wonder,
he went inside the spacious cave. And Calypso,
that lovely goddess, when she saw him face to face,
was not ignorant of who he was, for the gods
are not unknown to one another, even though
the home of some immortal might be far away.
But Hermes did not find Odysseus in the cave—
that great-hearted man sat lamenting on the shore,
just as before, breaking his heart with tears and groans,
full of sorrow, as he looked out on the restless sea
and wept.）
（注：诗文中的Argus即百眼巨人，有一百只眼，这些眼睛遍布浑身上下，即便在睡着的时候，也有两只眼始终警惕地睁着。赫尔墨斯诱其入睡并割下他的头颅，宙斯之妻赫拉把他的眼睛剜出，安在孔雀的尾部，所以孔雀才会有如此美丽的尾巴。）
当赫尔墨斯当着卡吕普索的面宣布宙斯的命令时，女神狂怒，对男神们随意与凡间女子发生关系、却限制女神与凡间男子的交往表示了强烈的不满。荷马是这样描述的：
“赫尔墨斯说完这番话，可爱的女神卡吕普索
浑身颤抖，开口答他- 用长了翅膀的言语：
‘你们这些男神残酷，无比嫉妒-
比任何的生灵都善妒。你们不乐意
女神和凡间男子交往，
并带他们上床。当拥有玫瑰色手指的黎明女神
选配了俄里翁，你们这些生活得悠闲自在的男神嫉妒她，
直到享用金宝座的圣洁的阿耳忒弥斯
来到奥提伽，用她的温柔羽箭
射死了他。同样的，
当金发的得墨忒耳在激情驱使下，
与伊阿西翁在耕过三次的田里
做爱，宙斯很快听说此事，
扔出闪亮的霹雳
把他炸死。
现在你们这些男神又嫉妒了，
因为一个凡间男人与我同居。
是我救了他，当他孤立无援，独自骑在船的龙骨上-
他的快船被宙斯熊熊的闪电击毁了，
在酒绿色的海中央，
他的所有勇敢的同伴葬身海底，
风浪把他送到了这里。
这是一个我珍惜和爱护的男人，
我会让他长生不老，
在未来所有的日子里永恒不灭。
然而没有一个神灵可以改变
或取消宙斯的计划，
让他在动荡不安的海上航行吧，
如果这是宙斯的意愿和命令。
而我无法护送他离开这里，
我既没有带桨的海船，
也没有什么伙伴帮他跨越宽阔的海面，
但我会给他真诚的建议，
绝无保留，使他平平安安，
回到自己的家园。’”
（Hermes finished. Calypso, the lovely goddess,
trembled as she replied to him—her words had wings:
“The gods are cruel and far too jealous—
more so than others. They are unhappy
if goddesses make mortal men their partners,
taking them to bed for sex. That’s how it was
when rose-fingered Dawn wanted Orion—
you gods that live at ease were jealous of her,
until golden-throned sacred Artemis
came to Ortygia and murdered him
with her gentle arrows. In the same way,
when fair-haired Demeter was overcome
with passion and had sex with Iasion
in a thrice-ploughed fallow field, soon enough
Zeus heard of it and utterly destroyed him
by throwing down his dazzling lightning bolt.
Now once again you gods are envious,
because a mortal man lives here with me.
I saved him when he was all by himself,
riding his ship’s keel—his swift ship was smashed
by a blow from Zeus’s flaming lightning,
while in the middle of the wine-dark sea,
where all his other brave companions died.
Wind and waves brought him here. This is a man
I cherished and looked after, and I said
I would make him ageless and immortal
for all days to come. But since there’s no way
another god can override the plans
of aegis-bearing Zeus or cancel them,
let him be off across the restless seas,
if Zeus has so commanded and decreed.
But I’ll have no part of escorting him
away from here—I have no ships with oars
nor any crew to take him on his way
across the broad back of the sea. But still,
I can make sincere suggestions to him
and keep nothing hidden, so he can reach
his native land and get back safe and sound.”）
在这段愤怒的言语反击中，卡吕普索举了两个男神嫉妒女神的例子。第一个例子：阿波罗的孪生姐姐阿耳忒弥斯（Artemis）恋上了年轻英俊的猎人俄里翁（Orion），为了保住姐姐的贞洁，阿波罗对俄里翁起了杀意。有一次，阿波罗见到俄里翁在水中行走，水面上只浮出了他的头顶。他就指着俄里翁的头顶和阿耳忒弥斯打赌说，她一定无法射中漂在水面上的这个东西。阿耳忒弥斯不服气，射出了万无一失的致命一箭，命中了目标。随即波浪将俄里翁的尸体冲到了岸边。阿耳忒弥斯发现后，悲痛欲绝，知道自己犯下了无法挽回的过失。为了赎罪，她把俄里翁安置到了天上，成为了猎户座。第二个例子：宙斯的儿子伊阿西翁（Iasion ）与农业女神得墨忒耳（宙斯的姐姐和妻子之一）在耕过三次的田地里性交，结果生出了财神普路托斯（Plutus，意为“财富”）。宙斯出于嫉妒用闪电将伊阿西翁劈死。
这里再给大家补充两个知识点。诗文中的Ortygia（奥提伽岛）是希腊一个著名的小岛，荷马史诗说到提洛的阿波罗时，说女神勒托停留在奥提伽岛，先生下了阿耳忒弥斯，然后阿耳忒弥斯帮助勒托穿过海洋，到提洛岛，勒托在那里生下了阿波罗。《奥德赛》第11卷第572行，来到冥府的奥德修斯见到了俄里翁，“在他（米诺斯）之后，我见着了硕大的俄里翁，赶着他在荒僻的山上杀死的野兽，穿过水仙花平原，手握一根永远不会断裂的青铜棍棒”。（And after him I marked huge Orion driving together over the field of asphodel wild beasts which he himself had slain on the lonely hills, and in his hands he held a club all of bronze, ever unbroken.）
《奥德赛》第五卷，卡吕普索在宙斯的命令下不得已放走了奥德修斯。她给奥德修斯提供工具和自己亲手纺的布，奥德修斯只用五天时间就造成了小船，扬帆离开了小岛。他的精湛的造船工艺和独自航海的能力都是令古希腊人佩服的。
值得一提的是，奥德修斯的性格比任何刻板的史诗英雄都复杂的多，而且现代读者（特别是女性读者）对史诗中明显的男女双重道德标准可能感到强烈的不满。奥德修斯的妻子佩内洛普（Penelope）最大的价值体现在她的忠贞痴情，守身如玉苦等丈夫二十年，拒绝了所有的追求者。而奥德修斯在归程中至少与两位女神同居过，一位是卡吕普索，一位是瑟西，还分别同她们生了孩子。他的私生活并不检点，却被荷马塑造成了英雄。这个故事如果发生在当今社会，当一个男人对妻子说：“我离家二十年，在外面睡了几个女人，还有一堆私生子，可我最爱的还是你，最后战胜各种情欲诱惑回到你和嫡子身边”，妻子会原谅他吗？
你认为奥德修斯是个渣男吗？
