史詩常用的是破題法，開宗明義，點出全書的主題。讀《奧德賽》開場，推敲這部史詩的主題是關於這位足智多謀的英雄漂流的故事：
(LOEB的希臘文原典)
ἄνδρα μοι ἔννεπε, μοῦσα,
πολύτροπον, ὃς μάλα πολλὰ
πλάγχθη, ἐπεὶ Τροίης ἱερὸν πτολίεθρον ἔπερσεν:
πολλῶν δ᾽ ἀνθρώπων ἴδεν ἄστεα
καὶ νόον ἔγνω, (Od. 1.1-3)
(LOEB的英文譯文)
Tell me, Muse, of the man of many devices, driven far astray after he had sacked the sacred citadel of Troy. Many were the men whose cities he saw and whose minds he learned....
(Alexander Pope的譯本)
The man for wisdom’s various arts
renown’d,
Long exercised in woes, O Muse! resound;
Who, when his arms had wrought the destined fall
Of sacred Troy, and razed her heaven-built wall....
Long exercised in woes, O Muse! resound;
Who, when his arms had wrought the destined fall
Of sacred Troy, and razed her heaven-built wall....
(王煥生的中譯本)
請為我敘說，謬斯啊，那位機敏的英雄，
在摧毀特洛亞的神聖城堡後又到處漂泊，
見識過不少種族的城邦和他們的思想；
之前閱讀比較注意的關鍵字是πολύτροπον: 指的是“much-turned, i.e. much-travelled, much-wandering”，是形容Odysseus的專用詞(epithet)。πολύτροπον出現在不同英文譯本的翻譯有：many devices, wisdom’s various arts, many turns,
wide-ranging spirit, versatile, ingenious等，王煥生譯為機敏的。形容奧德修斯的詞還有: 苦命的 [δαίφρων, of battle, ill-fated, 此形容詞較少用來形容奧德修斯] (Od. 1.48); 多謀的[πολύφρων, ingenious, inventive, of many ideas] (Od. 1.83); 如神一般[θεῖος, godlike] (Od. 1.65); 堅忍不拔的[ταλασίφρων, patient of mind, stout-hearted,
steadfast] (Od. 1.87, 1.129)。
另一關鍵詞是「μάλα πολλὰ πλάγχθη」，中譯本翻譯成「到處漂泊」，是不錯的翻譯，除此之外，πλάγχθη是πλάζω的被動語態，意味被轉到一旁，所以「μάλα πολλὰ πλάγχθη」隱約告訴聽眾這位機敏的大英雄，其實被眾神捉弄、命運多舛、迷航多次。
πλάζω turn aside
πλάγχθη † verb
3rd sg aor ind pass homeric ionic unaugmented
《奧德賽》中的最基本比喻：人生如旅行或是航海，我們或許不像奧德修斯歷經大風大浪、恣意遊蕩地中海、穿梭人與眾神之際，但是，我們的人生也是充滿轉折，沿途的風景也是千變萬化，如果謬思降臨，我們的人生也可以是另一部傳奇的史詩!
圖: Muse reading a scroll, perhaps Clio (Attic red-figure lekythos, Boeotia,
c. 430 BC)
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