Estas palavras, desconhecidas da maioria dos amantes das coisas clássicas (parecemos perseverar no erro de ignorar o segundo grande filão mitológico da Europa, como os deuses fossem uma criação grega - Ódin nos perdoe a hamartia), quando bem pesadas, não podem senão provocar uma alteração profunda no nosso modo de olhar a mitologia grega.
…we may with some truth contrast the 'inhumanness' of the Greek gods, however antropomorphic, with the 'humanness' of the Northern, however titanic. In the southern myths there is also a rumour of wars with giants and great powers not Olympian [...]. But this war is differently conceived. It lies in a chaotic past. The ruling gods are not besieged, not in ever-present peril or under future doom. Their offspring on earth may be heroes or fair women; it may also be the other creatures hostile to men. The gods are not the allies of men in their war against these or other monsters. The interest of the gods is in this or that man as part of their individual schemes, not as part of a great strategy that includes all good men, as the infantry of the battle. In Norse, at any rate, the gods are within Time, doomed with their allies to death. Their battle is with monsters and the outer darkness. They gather heroes for the last defence. [...] When Baldr is slain and goes to Hel he cannot escape thence any more than mortal man. This may make the southern gods more godlike - more lofty, dread, and inscrutable. They are timeless and do not fear death.
…we may with some truth contrast the 'inhumanness' of the Greek gods, however antropomorphic, with the 'humanness' of the Northern, however titanic. In the southern myths there is also a rumour of wars with giants and great powers not Olympian [...]. But this war is differently conceived. It lies in a chaotic past. The ruling gods are not besieged, not in ever-present peril or under future doom. Their offspring on earth may be heroes or fair women; it may also be the other creatures hostile to men. The gods are not the allies of men in their war against these or other monsters. The interest of the gods is in this or that man as part of their individual schemes, not as part of a great strategy that includes all good men, as the infantry of the battle. In Norse, at any rate, the gods are within Time, doomed with their allies to death. Their battle is with monsters and the outer darkness. They gather heroes for the last defence. [...] When Baldr is slain and goes to Hel he cannot escape thence any more than mortal man. This may make the southern gods more godlike - more lofty, dread, and inscrutable. They are timeless and do not fear death.
J. R. R. Tolkien, Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics
(disponível aqui).
imagem: Odin's Last Words To Baldr, de W.G. Collingwood
em The Elder or Poetic Edda. Edited and translated
with introduction and notes by Olive Bray (1908).
(disponível aqui).
imagem: Odin's Last Words To Baldr, de W.G. Collingwood
em The Elder or Poetic Edda. Edited and translated
with introduction and notes by Olive Bray (1908).
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