From: Carl W. Conrad (cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu)
Date: Fri Dec 10 1999 - 08:29:42 EST
At 11:28 AM -0500 12/9/99, Bart Ehrman wrote:
> Another tough nut in 1 Clement: ANEMWN STAQMOI KATA TON IDION KAIRON
>THN LEITOURGIAN AUTWN APROSKOPWS EPITELOUSIN: The XXX of the winds
>complete their service in their own proper season, without faltering. The
>problem is STAQMOI. It's sometimes used of "standing stations" (e.g. a
>rest stop for weary travelers), and so maybe it means something like the
>"quarters" of the winds. But the problem is that it's the *action* of the
>winds, not their "resting from action" or their "place of residence" that
>"completes their service."
>
> The term STAQMOI can also mean "weights." Could the sentence mean,
>then, something like "the forces of the winds complete their service..."?
>
> Or something else?
Certainly the root syllable does derive from hISTHMI/hISTAMAI. Nothing more
than a "stab in the dark"--but when little else is available, perhaps worth
considering: in Homer STAQMOI is used not uncommonly of "standing pillars",
so that it strikes me one possibility might be that the winds are conceived
as not in motion into they enter into "service" (on the other hand, an
unshakable image for anyone familiar with it is Vergil's account of the
cave of the winds in Aeolia [Aeneid 1] wherein the winds chafe indignantly
at their confinement but are kept under lock and key and tight control by
their master Aeolus--who on this occasion yields to the whim of Juno and
lets them fly out free). I am really more open to the alternative Bart
suggests: as STAQMOS means "balance beam," so it is frequently used by
metonymy for the 'pulling weight' or 'momentum' of anything measured on the
balance beam. For that reason I'd think that "full force" or "momentum"
would serve rather well in the context of this passage: perhaps "blasts"
will serve to indicate the momentum of the winds: "The blasts of the winds
each in their own season perform their function without fail."
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics/Washington University
One Brookings Drive/St. Louis, MO, USA 63130/(314) 935-4018
Home: 7222 Colgate Ave./St. Louis, MO 63130/(314) 726-5649
cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu
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