> 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
> Summer: 1647 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(704) 675-4243
> cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu OR cconrad@yancey.main.nc.us
> WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/
>
Actually the context isn't very helpful here because the sentence is a
rather isolated saying. If hO KAIROS means something like "the world
today," it seems to be a rather innovative metaphorical use (or is it?) of
hO KAIROS. Of course, part of vocabulary learning is learning which words
are used metaphorically and how they are used metaphorically. For
instance, we often speak of time in terms of money -- waste time, spend
time, etc. So, more specifically, is "the season" often used to refer to
the people living at that season? If hO KAIROS were left out, I would
expect to find something like hH hAUTH GENEA.
David R. Mills
ESL Instructor
Creighton University
dmills@creighton.edu