Re: Ignatius to Polycarp 2.3

Carl W. Conrad (cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu)
Sun, 13 Jul 1997 12:58:48 -0400

At 10:04 AM -0400 7/13/97, dmills@creighton.edu wrote:
>I am having some trouble understanding this sentence: hO KAIROS APAITEI
>SE, hWS KYBERNHTAI ANEMOUS KAI hWS CEIMAZOMENOS LIMENA, EIS TO QEOU
>EPITUXEIN. I have translated as follows: The time demands you, as pilots
>[demand] winds and one tossed by storms [demands] a harbor, in order to
>attain God. Is Polycarp being compared to favorable winds and a harbor?
>What attains to God? KAIROS? If so, I find it a little puzzling how "the
>time" would attain God.

Reminds me of Horace 2.16 OTIUM DIVOS ROGAT IN PATENTI/PRENSUS AEGAEO ...

Perhaps KAIROS here has more the sense of "this moment," this critical
moment in time's long passage", and maybe hO here has demonstrative force.
Then, "This moment cries out for you, as pilots cry out for winds and the
storm-tossed (sailor) at sea cries out for harbor, in order to attain God."
Perhaps (but I donn't know the context) "this moment" means something like
"the world today"?

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics/Washington University
One Brookings Drive/St. Louis, MO, USA 63130/(314) 935-4018
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