qx-0074 · 古希腊
奥德修斯归乡
只有一条老狗和一道旧伤认得他
原文影录
原文已校照录公版文本，不改一字。异体字与阙文一仍其旧。
出 奥德赛 · 《奥德赛》第十七至二十三卷 · 译者 塞缪尔·巴特勒（Samuel Butler, 1900） · 核校出处
底本为古腾堡所收 Samuel Butler 1900 年英译散文体《奥德赛》，照录原译文，仅略去脚注号与行末断行；…… 表示删节。
该译本沿用拉丁化的名字：Ulysses 即奥德修斯，Jove 即宙斯，Minerva 即雅典娜。
第十七卷 老狗阿尔戈斯
As they were thus talking, a dog that had been lying asleep raised his head and pricked up his ears. This was Argos, whom Ulysses had bred before setting out for Troy, but he had never had any work out of him. In the old days he used to be taken out by the young men when they went hunting wild goats, or deer, or hares, but now that his master was gone he was lying neglected on the heaps of mule and cow dung that lay in front of the stable doors till the men should come and draw it away to manure the great close; and he was full of fleas. As soon as he saw Ulysses standing there, he dropped his ears and wagged his tail, but he could not get close up to his master. When Ulysses saw the dog on the other side of the yard, he dashed a tear from his eyes without Eumaeus seeing it, and said:
“Eumaeus, what a noble hound that is over yonder on the manure heap: his build is splendid; is he as fine a fellow as he looks, or is he only one of those dogs that come begging about a table, and are kept merely for show?”
“This hound,” answered Eumaeus, “belonged to him who has died in a far country. If he were what he was when Ulysses left for Troy, he would soon show you what he could do. There was not a wild beast in the forest that could get away from him when he was once on its tracks. But now he has fallen on evil times, for his master is dead and gone, and the women take no care of him. Servants never do their work when their master’s hand is no longer over them, for Jove takes half the goodness out of a man when he makes a slave of him.”
As he spoke he went inside the buildings to the cloister where the suitors were, but Argos died as soon as he had recognised his master.
……
Immediately afterwards Ulysses came inside, looking like a poor miserable old beggar, leaning on his staff and with his clothes all in rags. He sat down upon the threshold of ash-wood just inside the doors leading from the outer to the inner court, and against a bearing-post of cypress-wood which the carpenter had skilfully planed, and had made to join truly with rule and line.
第十九卷 洗脚与伤疤
Then the old woman took the cauldron in which she was going to wash his feet, and poured plenty of cold water into it, adding hot till the bath was warm enough. Ulysses sat by the fire, but ere long he turned away from the light, for it occurred to him that when the old woman had hold of his leg she would recognise a certain scar which it bore, whereon the whole truth would come out. And indeed as soon as she began washing her master, she at once knew the scar as one that had been given him by a wild boar when he was hunting on Mt. Parnassus with his excellent grandfather Autolycus—who was the most accomplished thief and perjurer in the whole world—and with the sons of Autolycus.
……
As soon as Euryclea had got the scarred limb in her hands and had well hold of it, she recognised it and dropped the foot at once. The leg fell into the bath, which rang out and was overturned, so that all the water was spilt on the ground; Euryclea’s eyes between her joy and her grief filled with tears, and she could not speak, but she caught Ulysses by the beard and said, “My dear child, I am sure you must be Ulysses himself, only I did not know you till I had actually touched and handled you.”
第二十一卷 那张弓
At this moment the bow was in the hands of Eurymachus, who was warming it by the fire, but even so he could not string it, and he was greatly grieved. He heaved a deep sigh and said, “I grieve for myself and for us all; I grieve that I shall have to forgo the marriage, but I do not care nearly so much about this, for there are plenty of other women in Ithaca and elsewhere; what I feel most is the fact of our being so inferior to Ulysses in strength that we cannot string his bow. This will disgrace us in the eyes of those who are yet unborn.”
……
But Ulysses, when he had taken it up and examined it all over, strung it as easily as a skilled bard strings a new peg of his lyre and makes the twisted gut fast at both ends. Then he took it in his right hand to prove the string, and it sang sweetly under his touch like the twittering of a swallow. The suitors were dismayed, and turned colour as they heard it; at that moment, moreover, Jove thundered loudly as a sign, and the heart of Ulysses rejoiced as he heard the omen that the son of scheming Saturn had sent him.
He took an arrow that was lying upon the table—for those which the Achaeans were so shortly about to taste were all inside the quiver—he laid it on the centre-piece of the bow, and drew the notch of the arrow and the string toward him, still seated on his seat. When he had taken aim he let fly, and his arrow pierced every one of the handle-holes of the axes from the first onwards till it had gone right through them, and into the outer courtyard. Then he said to Telemachus:
“Your guest has not disgraced you, Telemachus. I did not miss what I aimed at, and I was not long in stringing my bow. I am still strong, and not as the suitors twit me with being.”
第二十二卷 欧律马科斯
“Dogs, did you think that I should not come back from Troy? You have wasted my substance, have forced my women servants to lie with you, and have wooed my wife while I was still living. You have feared neither God nor man, and now you shall die.”
……
“If you are Ulysses,” said he, “then what you have said is just. We have done much wrong on your lands and in your house. But Antinous who was the head and front of the offending lies low already. It was all his doing. It was not that he wanted to marry Penelope; he did not so much care about that; what he wanted was something quite different, and Jove has not vouchsafed it to him; he wanted to kill your son and to be chief man in Ithaca. Now, therefore, that he has met the death which was his due, spare the lives of your people. We will make everything good among ourselves, and pay you in full for all that we have eaten and drunk. Each one of us shall pay you a fine worth twenty oxen, and we will keep on giving you gold and bronze till your heart is softened. Until we have done this no one can complain of your being enraged against us.”
Ulysses again glared at him and said, “Though you should give me all that you have in the world both now and all that you ever shall have, I will not stay my hand till I have paid all of you in full. You must fight, or fly for your lives; and fly, not a man of you shall.”
Their hearts sank as they heard him, but Eurymachus again spoke saying:
“My friends, this man will give us no quarter. He will stand where he is and shoot us down till he has killed every man among us. Let us then show fight; draw your swords, and hold up the tables to shield you from his arrows. Let us have at him with a rush, to drive him from the pavement and doorway: we can then get through into the town, and raise such an alarm as shall soon stay his shooting.”
As he spoke he drew his keen blade of bronze, sharpened on both sides, and with a loud cry sprang towards Ulysses, but Ulysses instantly shot an arrow into his breast that caught him by the nipple and fixed itself in his liver. He dropped his sword and fell doubled up over his table. The cup and all the meats went over on to the ground as he smote the earth with his forehead in the agonies of death, and he kicked the stool with his feet until his eyes were closed in darkness.
第二十三卷 那张床
“My dear,” answered Penelope, “I have no wish to set myself up, nor to depreciate you; but I am not struck by your appearance, for I very well remember what kind of a man you were when you set sail from Ithaca. Nevertheless, Euryclea, take his bed outside the bed chamber that he himself built. Bring the bed outside this room, and put bedding upon it with fleeces, good coverlets, and blankets.”
She said this to try him, but Ulysses was very angry and said, “Wife, I am much displeased at what you have just been saying. Who has been taking my bed from the place in which I left it? He must have found it a hard task, no matter how skilled a workman he was, unless some god came and helped him to shift it. There is no man living, however strong and in his prime, who could move it from its place, for it is a marvellous curiosity which I made with my very own hands. There was a young olive growing within the precincts of the house, in full vigour, and about as thick as a bearing-post. I built my room round this with strong walls of stone and a roof to cover them, and I made the doors strong and well-fitting. Then I cut off the top boughs of the olive tree and left the stump standing. This I dressed roughly from the root upwards and then worked with carpenter’s tools well and skilfully, straightening my work by drawing a line on the wood, and making it into a bed-prop. I then bored a hole down the middle, and made it the centre-post of my bed, at which I worked till I had finished it, inlaying it with gold and silver; after this I stretched a hide of crimson leather from one side of it to the other. So you see I know all about it, and I desire to learn whether it is still there, or whether any one has been removing it by cutting down the olive tree at its roots.”
When she heard the sure proofs Ulysses now gave her, she fairly broke down. She flew weeping to his side, flung her arms about his neck, and kissed him. “Do not be angry with me Ulysses,” she cried, “you, who are the wisest of mankind. ……”
“Now, however, that you have convinced me by showing that you know all about our bed (which no human being has ever seen but you and I and a single maidservant, the daughter of Actor, who was given me by my father on my marriage, and who keeps the doors of our room) hard of belief though I have been I can mistrust no longer.”
白话直译
逐句对应的现代汉语直译，力求不增益、不修饰。
第十七卷。他们正这样说着，一条一直躺在那儿睡觉的狗抬起头，竖起了耳朵。这就是阿尔戈斯（Argos），奥德修斯去特洛伊之前养大的，却从没让它派上过用场。从前年轻人出去猎野山羊、鹿或是野兔，总把它带出去；如今主人不在了，它就被丢在牲口棚门前那堆骡粪牛粪上没人管，要等人来把粪运走，去肥那片大围场；它身上全是跳蚤。它一看见奥德修斯站在那里，就垂下耳朵，摇起尾巴，可是它已经凑不到主人跟前了。奥德修斯在院子这一边看见那条狗，背着欧迈俄斯（Eumaeus）抹掉一滴眼泪，说：
「欧迈俄斯，粪堆上远远的那条狗真不错：体格好得很；它是像看上去那么出色，还是那种只在桌边讨食、养着摆样子的狗？」
「这条狗，」欧迈俄斯回答，「属于一个死在远方的人。要是它还是奥德修斯离开去特洛伊时的样子，你很快就会知道它能干什么。只要它盯上林子里的哪头野兽，没有一头跑得掉。可它如今落到这般地步：主人死了，走了，女人们也不管它。主人一只手不再压在上头，仆人就不肯好好干活；因为宙斯让人做奴隶的时候，先从他身上取走了一半的成色（原文作 Jove）。」
他这么说着，就进屋到求婚者待的那圈回廊里去了；而阿尔戈斯刚一认出主人，就死了。
……
随后奥德修斯也走了进来，一副穷苦可怜的老乞丐的样子，拄着拐杖，衣服全是破的。他在从外院通内院的门里侧、那根柏木承重柱旁边的白蜡木门槛上坐下；那根柱子是木匠用规矩和墨线细细刨出来、接得严丝合缝的。
第十九卷。然后老妇人把要给他洗脚的那口锅端来，倒进许多冷水，又兑上热水，直到水够温。奥德修斯坐在火边，可是不多久他就把身子从火光那边转开，因为他想到：老妇人一抓住他的腿，就会认出一条伤疤，那时全部的真相就要露出来。果然，她刚开始给主人洗，就认出了那道疤——那是他在帕尔纳索斯山上跟着他高明的外祖父奥托吕科斯（Autolycus）打猎时，被一头野猪留下的（奥托吕科斯是全世界最有本事的小偷和发假誓的人），当时同去的还有奥托吕科斯的儿子们。
……
欧律克勒亚（Euryclea）把那条带疤的腿拿到手里、牢牢抓住，就认了出来，立刻把脚一放。腿掉进盆里，盆响了一声翻倒了，水全洒在地上；欧律克勒亚又喜又悲，眼里满是泪，说不出话，只抓住奥德修斯的胡子说：「我的孩子，我敢说你就是奥德修斯本人，只是我先前没有真正摸到你、碰到你，才没有认出你。」
第二十一卷。这时弓正拿在欧律马科斯（Eurymachus）手里，他正就着火烤它，可即使这样他也上不了弦，心里非常难受。他深深叹了口气说：「我为自己，也为我们大家难过；我难过的是不得不放弃这门婚事，但这一点我倒不太在乎，因为伊塔卡和别处还有的是女人；我最难受的是，我们比起奥德修斯的力气差得这么远，竟拉不开他的弓。这会让还没有出生的后人看不起我们。」
……
可是奥德修斯把弓拿起来、通体看过之后，上弦就像熟练的乐师给竖琴上一根新弦、把绞好的肠线两端系紧一样容易。然后他右手拿弓，试了试弦，弦在他手下响得很好听，像燕子啁啾。求婚者们听了大惊失色，脸色都变了；就在这时，宙斯（原文作 Jove）大声打了个雷，作为兆头，奥德修斯听见这声由工于心计的克洛诺斯之子送来的预兆，心里高兴。
他从桌上拿起一支箭——因为阿卡亚人不久就要尝到滋味的那些箭，全都还在箭袋里——把箭搭在弓的中央处，仍旧坐在座位上，把箭尾的缺口和弦一起往自己这边拉。他瞄准之后放了出去，箭射穿了每一柄斧头把手上的孔，从第一柄一直穿过去，穿到外院里。然后他对忒勒马科斯说：
「你的客人没有给你丢脸，忒勒马科斯。我没有射偏我要射的东西，上这张弓也没费多少工夫。我力气还在，不像求婚者们嘲笑的那样。」
第二十二卷。「狗东西，你们以为我从特洛伊回不来了吧？你们耗我的家产，强逼我的女仆跟你们睡觉，我人还活着就追求我的妻子。你们既不怕神，也不怕人，现在你们得死。」
……
「如果你是奥德修斯，」他说，「那你说得有理。我们在你的田地和你的家里做了许多错事。可是罪魁祸首安提诺俄斯已经倒下了。都是他干的。他要的不是娶佩涅洛佩；他并不太在乎这个；他要的是完全另一件事，而宙斯（原文作 Jove）没有赏给他：他要杀死你的儿子，自己做伊塔卡的主事人。如今他已经受到应得的死，就饶了你这些人的命吧。我们彼此之间会把一切赔补清楚，把吃喝掉的全部照价赔给你。我们每人赔你值二十头牛的罚金，还会一直送你黄金和青铜，直到你的心软下来。在我们做到这些之前，谁也不能怪你对我们发怒。」
奥德修斯又瞪着他，说：「哪怕你把现在所有的、将来会有的一切都给我，我也不肯住手，直到把你们全都清算完。你们要么打，要么逃命；可逃，你们一个也逃不掉。」
他们听了，心都沉下去，欧律马科斯又说：
「朋友们，这个人不会给我们留活路。他会站在那里把我们一个个射倒，直到把我们杀光。那我们就动手打；拔出剑来，举起桌子挡他的箭。我们一起冲上去，把他从地面上和门口赶开：这样我们就能冲进城里，一闹起来，他很快就会停止放箭。」
他说着就拔出两面开刃的青铜利剑，大叫一声朝奥德修斯扑过去；奥德修斯立刻一箭射进他的胸口，射中乳头，扎在肝上。他的剑掉了，人蜷着扑倒在桌子上。在他垂死的抽搐里，额头撞在地上，杯子和肉都翻到地上，他两脚踢着凳子，直到眼睛被黑暗合上。
第二十三卷。「我亲爱的，」佩涅洛佩回答，「我既不想抬高自己，也不想贬低你；只是你的样子并没有打动我，因为我很记得你从伊塔卡出海时是什么模样。不过，欧律克勒亚，把他自己造的那张床搬出卧房去。把床搬出这间屋子，在上面铺上羊毛褥子、好被子和毯子。」
她这样说是在试他，奥德修斯却非常生气，说：「妻子，你刚才说的话让我很不高兴。谁把我留下的床搬离了原位？不管他手艺多好，也一定觉得这是件难事，除非有哪个神帮他挪。没有一个活人，再怎么强壮、正当壮年，能把它从原处挪开，因为这是我自己亲手做的一件奇妙东西。院子里长着一棵小橄榄树，长势正旺，粗得像一根承重柱。我在它周围用坚固的石墙围出这间屋子，又盖上屋顶，装上结实合缝的门。然后我砍掉橄榄树的顶枝，留下树桩。我从根部往上把它粗粗修整，再用木匠的工具又好又巧地加工，在木头上画线取直，做成床的支柱。我又在中间钻了个孔，把它做成我床的中心柱，一直做到完工，嵌上金银；之后我又在它两边绷上一张深红色皮革。所以你看，这些我都知道；我想弄清楚的是，它是否还在原处，还是有人把它的橄榄树从根上砍掉，把床挪走了。」
她听到奥德修斯现在给出的这些确凿证据，整个人就垮了。她哭着扑到他身边，搂住他的脖子吻他。「别生我的气，奥德修斯，」她喊道，「你是人里最聪明的。……」
「可是现在，你已经让我信服了，因为你把我们的床知道得清清楚楚（这张床除了你、我和一个侍女，从没有别人见过——她是阿克托尔的女儿，我父亲在我出嫁时给我的，由她管着我们房间的门）——我虽然一直不肯信，现在再也怀疑不下去了。」
AI 重述
以原文为骨架的文学重述。情节与结局依原典，仅语言与叙事视角重写。
他回到家门口的时候，没有人认出他。
船是别人送的。他在自己的海滩上醒过来，雾罩着岛，他以为又是一块陌生的地方，直到女神把雾拨开，他跪下去吻了这片土地。
然后他把自己弄成一个老头子：破衣服、拐杖、一身脏。他先去养猪人的棚子；儿子从海外回来，也到了那里——父子相认的时候，旁边没有别人。第二天他往城里走，走到自己的大门口，粪堆上有一条狗抬起了头。
那是他出发去特洛伊以前养大的狗，名字叫阿尔戈斯。它已经老得爬不起来，趴在骡粪牛粪上，身上全是跳蚤。它认出了他，垂下耳朵，摇了摇尾巴。它拼不出力气走到他跟前。他背过脸去，抹掉一滴眼泪，问养猪人这是谁的狗。养猪人说，是一个死在远方的人的。
阿尔戈斯刚认出主人，就死了。
他进了自己的厅堂，坐在门槛上。求婚者在这里吃了不知道多少年，盘算着怎么娶他的妻子。他们骂他，用脚凳砸他。只有老乳母欧律克勒亚认出了他——她替他洗脚，手摸到他腿上的那道旧疤，那是他年轻时在帕尔纳索斯山打野猪留下的。铜盆翻在地上，水洒了一地。他掐住她的喉咙，不准她说。
佩涅洛佩一直不肯认。她把丈夫的弓拿出来，说谁能上弦、让箭穿过一排斧头孔，她就嫁给谁。求婚者一个接一个试，谁也拉不开。那个乞丐走过去，像乐师给琴上新弦一样把弓上了弦，弦响得像燕子叫。宙斯打了一声雷。他一箭穿过所有的斧孔，然后转过身，把门里的人堵在里面。
欧律马科斯先开口。他说罪在已经死掉的安提诺俄斯身上，他们愿意把吃掉喝掉的照价赔出来，连金子一起。他回的是：你们要么打，要么逃命；可逃，一个也逃不掉。箭穿过欧律马科斯的胸口。
人都倒下以后，佩涅洛佩还是不肯认。她吩咐把那张床搬出卧房。他动了怒，说出床的来历：院子里长着一棵橄榄树，他围着树砌墙盖屋，砍掉顶枝，把树桩刨成床柱，嵌上金银。谁要挪这张床，就得先把树从根上砍断。她听到这里，哭着搂住了他的脖子。
按语
编纂者就该条所见母题、异文与流传所作的说明。
本条与日本浦岛子（qx-0075）同期入库，两条是本目在全站最早的条目。H05 此前全站空缺，没有更早的兄弟条目可援，所以这里先与同目新入库的浦岛子对看——那是唯一一条严格意义上的同母题对勘——再与相邻母题和相关条目比。
这一场归乡被写成三次辨认，每一次用的凭据都不一样。老狗阿尔戈斯靠本能：它先认出主人，随即死去，连一声都没有叫。老乳母欧律克勒亚靠身体上的印记：她替他洗脚，摸到野猪留下的伤疤，水盆当场翻倒。妻子佩涅洛佩靠的却是一件只有两个人知道的东西——那张以橄榄树树桩为床柱的床。第一次辨认发生在畜生身上，最后一次发生在只有夫妻共有的知识里；中间隔着二十年，也隔着奥德修斯一路丢掉的东西：同伴、船、衣服、名字。第二十三卷里佩涅洛佩对那个乞丐说得很清楚：「有一些凭记是我们两个人才知道的，别人都不知道。」她要的不是看见，而是被说服。
同母题对勘：日本浦岛子（qx-0075）。 两条都写「回来的人与家乡不再匹配」，失配的原因却正好相反。浦岛子失去的是坐标：他在海神之宫里不老不死地住着，自觉离家不过三年，回到住吉一看，家看不见了，村子也看不见了，没有一个活人能替他作证；他打开那只被再三叮嘱不许开的玉匣，白云散去，连自己剩下的那点时间也一并交了出去，当场老死。奥德修斯失去的是可见性：伊塔卡还在，房子还在，妻子和儿子都还在，只是没有一个人肯相信门槛上这个乞丐。于是两条故事给出的解法也相反：日本那一条里没有任何凭据可用，辨认无处发生，归来者最后被时间吞掉；希腊这一条里凭据多到可以分三层——本能、伤疤、只有夫妻知道的一张床——他靠这些一层层把自己赎回来。两条还有一个共同的岔口：异界的女人都留过他。常世留过浦岛子，卡吕普索也留过奥德修斯，许他不死（第七卷他向腓尼基人自述「她想让我长生不老，只是说服不了我」）。他拒绝了，于是回到一个有活人、但需要证明的家；浦岛子回去了，却发现已经没有人记得他。诱惑是同一个，代价分别落在拒绝的人和接受的人身上。
与 H03 预言宿命（qx-0052 俄狄浦斯）的分野。 俄狄浦斯的问题是躲不掉：神谕是一句判词，他每一步规避都把自己送回句子里，最后挖掉眼睛，因为看清身世就等于失去身世。奥德修斯的问题是回得去却认不出：预知在《奥德赛》里更像一张行程表——他会孤身回家、家中有人耗他的家产、日后还要扛着一支船桨走到不认识海的地方去（第十一卷忒瑞西阿斯所说，第二十三卷他自己复述）。判词的前提是人无从逃避，行程表的前提是人得活着走完。所以俄狄浦斯的故事以一次「知道」收束，奥德修斯的故事以一次「证明」收束。H03 里没有证物，只有因果；H05 里因果早就走完了，剩下的全是证物。
与 qx-0061 董永与织女（G03 仙凡别离）对看，可以对出「归」的两种写法。 董永那一条里，来的是外面的人，走的也是她：她织满一百匹缣，出门报出身份，「凌空而去，不知所在」。家在原地没有动过，董永不需要证明自己是谁，他只是这场差事的收件人。奥德修斯这一条反过来：回来的人先在自家门口做一个谁也不认得的乞丐，家被别人占了二十年，妻子正在合法地准备改嫁。仙凡别离的难处在于两个世界的身份不能通融，期限一到就必须走；归乡母题的难处在于身份根本没有变，却拿不出证据。前者的分离由天定，后者的重逢要靠人证。
再与 qx-0041 伊邪那岐与伊邪那美（E01 入冥之旅、E03 亡者归来）并看。 伊邪那岐从黄泉回来，带回来的是污秽、决裂和一条不许回头的路：他违约看了一眼，从此与妻子、也与人世都断了。从冥界回来的人，损失不可逆，归来本身就是代价；从战场回来的奥德修斯要做的恰恰相反，是把损失藏起来——改名换姓、编造家世、忍受脚凳砸在身上。两个故事都问「回来的还是不是原来那个人」，但冥界神话把这个疑问交给禁令去回答，荷马把它交给凭据去回答。
文本问题。 本条用的是 Samuel Butler 1900 年的散文译本（古腾堡第 1727 号），它把希腊名字写成拉丁名：奥德修斯作 Ulysses，宙斯作 Jove，雅典娜作 Minerva。换用更贴近希腊原文的译本（Butcher & Lang 1879、Pope 1725），措辞与此不同；本站「原文影录」一律以 original_url 所记页面为准。另外，副母题 H01「斩妖除怪」在这一条上挂得并不严：第二十二卷确实有一场一对多的对决和全胜，但 H01 的说明要求「有怪物、有对决、有胜负」，而求婚者是人不是妖，这一处归类还需要在母题页上再斟酌。至于故事本身，历来有人主张全诗到第二十三卷的相认就该收束、第二十四卷是后添的续篇；本条所引文字止于夫妻相认，不涉及这一争论。