Hobbes, Tradutor de Homero

From time to time the translator reveals certain personal prejudices. Like Thucydides, whom he admired enough to translate into English, Hobbes minimizes anything to do with gods or women. Where Homer says, "Now the goddess, grey-eyed Athene, put it into the heart of the daughter of Icarius, wise Penelope, to set the bow and the axes of grey iron" (Butcher-Lang), Hobbes makes Penelope act entirely without any such divine instigation (Od. 21. 1 ff.). It is true that the mortal thus given prominence happens to be a woman; as a rule Hobbes avoids emphasizing the female element, whether human or divine. Where Homer speaks of some god or mortal as born of such and such a mother, Hobbes mentions rather the father who begat him, as we see in the narration of Jupiter's amours (Iliad 14. 296 ff.). The materialist side of Hobbes' nature appears in a few places: for instance, he turns Homer's words, "Even as when the mind of a man darts speedily, of one that hath travelled over far lands, and considers in his wise heart, 'Would that I were here or there,' and he thinketh him of many things" (Butcher-Lang), into something much more suggestive of the purely physical: As when a man looks o'er an ample plain, To any distance quickly goes his eye (Od. 15. 70-71). Ethical cynicism appears in the mention of Democoon, whom Homer simply calls the bastard son of Priam but whom the author of Leviathan declares to be "a lawful son where nature is the law" (Iliad 4. 465). 

[…] Pedantry, however, is less obtrusive in these versions than undignified colloquialism. When the Archer-God Apollo walks in anger, "the arrows chink as often as he jogs" (Iliad 1. 50): Diomedes speaks of Mars as a "blockhead" (5. 774); the coward who trembles in an ambush "dances on his hams" (13. 262); the heroes who exult over fallen adversaries "crow" (13. 389, 417); in Juno's angry clutch Diana is shown "wriggling" (21. 458); Hector in his flight is not able, like a hare, "to double or to squat" (22. 185); his mother, lamenting his death, is said to "squeal" (22. 403); and other Trojan women are represented as "howling" for their slain menfolk (24. 154); Helen deprecatingly refers to herself as "this monkey me" (Od. 4. 146), and calls Ulysses' adventures "pranks" (4. 245); Penelope addresses her depraved serving-women as "sluts" (4. 685), and tearfully remarks, concerning the voyage that Telemachus is making to Pylos, "And now my son at sea is in a tub" (4. 817); Ulysses swimming for dear life raises his head "above the pickle" (5. 301), and elsewhere it is said of him that he "roll'd by Neptune always was in souse" (8. 431). But the supreme example of bad taste occurs in the description of the inexhaustible riches of Alcinous and the other Phaeacians: "his riches was a never-dying teat" (7. 88).

G. B. Riddehough, Thomas Hobbes' Translations of Homer

Phoenix 12.2: 58-62 (1958)

O Monte Cáucaso, Um Lugar de Ampla Perspectiva [Símile]

Os dois primeiros motivos dão origem à ansiedade. Pois quando se está certo de que existem causas para todas as coisas que aconteceram até agora, ou no futuro virão a acontecer, é impossível a alguém que constantemente se esforça por se garantir contra os males que receia, e por obter o bem que deseja, não se encontrar em eterna preocupação com os tempos vindouros. De modo que todos os homens, sobretudo os que são extremamente previdentes, se encontram numa situação semelhante à de Prometeu. Porque tal como Prometeu (nome que quer dizer homem prudente) foi acorrentado ao monte Cáucaso, um lugar de ampla perspectiva, onde uma águia se alimentava do seu fígado, devorando de dia o que tinha voltado a crescer durante a noite, assim também o homem que olha demasiado loge, preocupado com os tempos futuros, tem durante todo o dia o seu coração ameaçado pelo medo da morte, da pobreza e de outras calamidades, e não encontra repouso nem paz para a sua ansiedade a não ser no sono.

[The two first make anxiety. For being assured that there be causes of all things that have arrived hitherto, or shall arrive hereafter, it is impossible for a man, who continually endeavoureth to secure himself against the evil he fears, and procure the good he desireth, not to be in a perpetual solicitude of the time to come; so that every man, especially those that are over-provident, are in an estate like to that of Prometheus. For as Prometheus (which, interpreted, is the prudent man) was bound to the hill Caucasus, a place of large prospect, where an eagle, feeding on his liver, devoured in the day as much as was repaired in the night: so that man, which looks too far before him in the care of future time, hath his heart all the day long gnawed on by fear of death, poverty, or other calamity; and has no repose, nor pause of his anxiety, but in sleep.]

Thomas Hobbes, Leviatã XII 

INCM, Lisboa: 1995 (trad.: João Monteiro e Nizza da Silva)

'Andrómeda', de Eurípides

Andrómeda, de Tamara Lempicka (1929)

Estava a ler o Leviatã de Hobbes, quando, no oitavo capítulo, em que, discutindo as virtudes intelectuais e o contrário destas, o filósofo se debruça sobre a loucura, encontro a seguinte anedota:

Houve uma vez uma grande afluência de gente em Abdera, cidade da Grécia, por causa da representação da tragédia de Andrómeda, num dia extremamente quente. Em resultado disso, uma grande parte dos espectadores foi acometida de febres, sendo este acidente devido ao calor e à tragédia conjuntamente, e os doentes limitavam-se a recitar iambos com os nomes de Perseu e Andrómeda. O que foi curado, juntamente com a febre, pela chegada do inverno. Esta loucura foi atribuída às paixões suscitadas pela tragédia. (trad.: João Paulo Monteiro e Maria Beatriz Nizza da Silva; INCM, Lisboa: 1995) 

[There was once a great conflux of people in Abdera, a city of the Greeks, at the acting of the tragedy of Andromeda, upon an extreme hot day: whereupon a great many of the spectators, falling into fevers, had this accident from the heat and from the tragedy together, that they did nothing but pronounce iambics, with the names of Perseus and Andromeda; which, together with the fever, was cured by the coming on of winter: and this madness was thought to proceed from the passion imprinted by the tragedy.]

Curioso com o episódio, resolvi investigar (uma boa edição do Leviatã teria estas informações em nota). Com a ajuda da rede, localizei a fonte da estória, narrada no começo do Como Deve a História Ser Escrita [Πῶς δεῖ Ἱστορίαν συγγράφειν], de Luciano:

There is a story of a curious epidemic at Abdera, just after the accession of King Lysimachus. It began with the whole population's exhibiting feverish symptoms, strongly marked and unintermittent from the very first attack. About the seventh day, the fever was relieved, in some cases by a violent flow of blood from the nose, in others by perspiration not less violent. The mental effects, however, were most ridiculous; they were all stage-struck, mouthing blank verse and ranting at the top of their voices. Their favourite recitation was the Andromeda of Euripides; one after another would go through the great speech of Perseus; the whole place was full of pale ghosts, who were our seventh-day tragedians vociferating, O Love, who lord’st it over Gods and men, and the rest of it. This continued for some time, till the coming of winter put an end to their madness with a sharp frost. I find the explanation of the form it took in this fact: Archelaus was then the great tragic actor, and in the middle of the summer, during some very hot weather, he had played the Andromeda there; most of them took the fever in the theatre, and convalescence was followed by a relapse--into tragedy, the Andromeda haunting their memories, and Perseus hovering, Gorgon's head in hand, before the mind's eye. (trad.: Fowler & Fowler, Loeb Classical Library)

[Ἀβδηρίταις φασὶ Λυσιμάχου ἤδη βασιλεύοντος ἐμπεσεῖν τι νόσημα, ὦ καλὲ Φίλων, τοιοῦτο· πυρέττειν μὲν γὰρ τὰ πρῶτα πανδημεὶ ἅπαντας ἀπὸ τῆς πρώτης εὐθὺς ἐρρωμένως καὶ λιπαρεῖ τῷ πυρετῷ, περὶ δὲ τὴν ἑβδόμην τοῖς μὲν αἷμα πολὺ ἐκ ῥινῶν ῥυέν, τοῖς δ' ἱδρὼς ἐπιγενόμενος, πολὺς καὶ οὗτος, ἔλυσεν τὸν πυρετόν. ἐς γελοῖον δέ τι πάθος περιίστα τὰς γνώμας αὐτῶν· ἅπαντες γὰρ ἐς τραγῳδίαν παρεκίνουν καὶ ἰαμβεῖα ἐφθέγγοντο καὶ μέγα ἐβόων· μάλιστα δὲ τὴν Εὐριπίδου Ἀνδρομέδαν ἐμονῴδουν καὶ τὴν τοῦ Περσέως ῥῆσιν ἐν μέλει διεξῄεσαν, καὶ μεστὴ ἦν ἡ πόλις ὠχρῶν ἁπάντων καὶ λεπτῶν τῶν ἑβδομαίων ἐκείνων τραγῳδῶν, σὺ δ' ὦ θεῶν τύραννε κἀνθρώπων Ἔρως, καὶ τὰ ἄλλα μεγάλῃ τῇ φωνῇ ἀναβοώντων καὶ τοῦτο ἐπὶ πολύ, ἄχρι δὴ χειμὼν καὶ κρύος δὲ μέγα γενόμενον ἔπαυσε ληροῦντας αὐτούς. αἰτίαν δέ μοι δοκεῖ τοῦ τοιούτου παρασχεῖν Ἀρχέλαος ὁ τραγῳδός, εὐδοκιμῶν τότε, μεσοῦντος θέρους ἐν πολλῷ τῷ φλογμῷ τραγῳδήσας αὐτοῖς τὴν Ἀνδρομέδαν, ὡς πυρέξαι τε ἀπὸ τοῦ θεάτρου τοὺς πολλοὺς καὶ ἀναστάντας ὕστερον ἐς τὴν τραγῳδίαν παρολισθαίνειν, ἐπὶ πολὺ ἐμφιλοχωρούσης τῆς Ἀνδρομέδας τῇ μνήμῃ αὐτῶν καὶ τοῦ Περσέως ἔτι σὺν τῇ Μεδούσῃ τὴν ἑκάστου γνώμην περιπετομένου.] 

A Andrómeda parece, de facto, ter sido uma peça popular, como o atesta o seguinte episódio narrado por Ateneu (12.53.7):

And Nicobule says that during dinner every sort of contestant exerted their efforts to entertain the king, and that in the course of his last dinner Alexander in person acted from memory a scene from the Andromeda of Euripides, and pledging toasts in unmixed wine with zest compelled the others also to do likewise. (trad.: Gulick, Loeb Classical Library) 

[Νικοβούλη δέ φησιν ὅτι παρὰ τὸ δεῖπνον πάντες οἱ ἀγωνισταὶ ἐσπούδαζον τέρπειν τὸν βασιλέα καὶ ὅτι ἐν τῷ τελευταίῳ δείπνῳ αὐτὸς ὁ Ἀλέξανδρος ἐπεισόδιόν τι ἀπομνημονεύσας ἐκ τῆς Εὐριπίδου Ἀνδρομέδας ἠγωνίσατο καὶ τὸν ἄκρατον προθύμως προπίνων καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους ἠνάγκαζεν.] 

Já Aristófanes, nas Rãs (52-54), confirma o apreço em que a peça era tida: é ao lê-la que desperta em Diónisos o desejo de descer aos infernos, para visitar Eurípides. Transcrevo, por fim, apenas o que nos chegou do coro a que Luciano alude (frg. 136, ed. & trad.: Collard & Cropp, Loeb Classical Library).

And you, Eros, tyrant over gods and men — either they don't teach us to see beauty in what is beautiful, or help those who are in love to succeed in their efforts as they suffer the toils that you yourself have crafted. If you do this, you will be honoured by mortals, but if you do not, their learning to love will itself deprive you of the thanks with which they honour you.

A Honra & O Poder

o bebé hermes e maia; do outro lado, o gado roubado

Não altera o caso da honra que uma acção (por maior e mais difícil que seja, e consequentemente sinal de muito poder) seja justa ou injusta, porque a honra consiste apenas na opinião do poder. Por isso, os antigos pagãos não pensavam que desonravam, mas que grandemente honravam os deuses, quando os introduziam nos seus poemas cometendo violações, roubos e outras grandes mas injustas e pouco limpas acções. Por nada é Júpiter tão celebrado como pelos seus adultérios, ou Mercúrio pelas suas fraudes e roubos. E o maior elogio que lhe é feito num hino de Homero é que, tendo nascido de manhã, inventou a música ao meio-dia e antes do anoitecer roubou o gado de Apolo aos seus pastores.

[Nor does it alter the case of honour whether an action (so it be great and difficult, and consequently a sign of much power) be just or unjust: for honour consisteth only in the opinion of power. Therefore, the ancient heathen did not think they dishonoured, but greatly honoured the gods, when they introduced them in their poems committing rapes, thefts, and other great, but unjust or unclean acts; in so much as nothing is so much celebrated in Jupiter as his adulteries; nor in Mercury as his frauds and thefts; of whose praises, in a hymn of Homer, the greatest is this, that being born in the morning, he had invented music at noon, and before night stolen away the cattle of Apollo from his herdsmen.]

Thomas Hobbes, Leviatã X

INCM, Lisboa: 1995 (trad.: João Monteiro e Nizza da Silva).

Hobbes, O Classicista

The last major controversy of his [Hobbes'] life came in 1666 when the parliament introduced a bill criminalizing atheism. While Hobbes explicitly distanced himself from atheism in Leviathan, many parts of it were contrary to established religious doctrine (Catholic or not). The bill was never passed, but Hobbes was no longer allowed to publish anything concerning man or religion. Hobbes then lived out his last days writing his autobiography and returning to his Classical studies. In 1675 he published an English translation of Homer's Odyssey, and a year later one of the Iliad. He worked until his last days, promising his publisher another work in English shortly before he died in 1679.

retirado daqui.

Sê Rebelde: Lê Tucídides & Lívio!

And as to rebellion in particular against monarchy, one of the most frequent causes of it is the reading of the books of policy and histories of the ancient Greeks and Romans; from which young men, and all others that are unprovided of the antidote of solid reason, receiving a strong and delightful impression of the great exploits of war achieved by the conductors of their armies, receive withal a pleasing idea of all they have done besides; and imagine their great prosperity not to have proceeded from the emulation of particular men, but from the virtue of their popular form of government not considering the frequent seditions and civil wars produced by the imperfection of their policy. From the reading, I say, of such books, men have undertaken to kill their kings, because the Greek and Latin writers in their books and discourses of policy make it lawful and laudable for any man so to do, provided before he do it he call him tyrant. For they say not regicide, that is, killing of a king, but tyrannicide, that is, killing of a tyrant, is lawful. From the same books they that live under a monarch conceive an the opinion that the subjects in a popular Commonwealth enjoy liberty, but that in a monarchy they are all slaves. I say, they that live under a monarchy conceive such an opinion; not that they live under a popular government: for they find no such matter. In sum, I cannot imagine how anything can be more prejudicial to a monarchy than the allowing of such books to be publicly read, without present applying such correctives of discreet masters as are fit to take away their venom: which venom I will not doubt to compare to the biting of a mad dog, which is a disease that physicians call hydrophobia, or fear of water. For as he that is so bitten has a continual torment of thirst, and yet abhorreth water; and is in such an estate as if the poison endeavoured to convert him into a dog; so when a monarchy is once bitten to the quick by those democratical writers that continually snarl at that estate, it wanteth nothing more than a strong monarch, which nevertheless out of a certain tyrannophobia, or fear of being strongly governed, when they have him, they abhor.

Hobbes, Leviathan II.29