Saturday, October 13, 2018

 

Don't Take a Cab to Cithaeron

Euripides, Bacchae 191-192 (tr. David Kovacs):
                        CADMUS
No chariot then will take us to the mountains.

                        TEIRESIAS
No, for then the god would be less honored.

                        ΚΑΔΜΟΣ
οὔκουν ὄχοισιν εἰς ὄρος περάσομεν.

                        ΤΕΙΡΕΣΙΑΣ
ἀλλ᾿ οὐχ ὁμοίως ἂν ὁ θεὸς τιμὴν ἔχοι.
The title is adapted from E.R. Dodds, commentary on Euripides, Bacchae, 2nd ed. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1960), p. 90, who speaks of "taking a cab to Cithaeron." The lines bring to mind the scene I often used to see at the start of Shabbat at the lower, southern end of Fairview Avenue in Saint Paul, Minnesota, where the sidewalks were thronged with worshippers walking up the hill. It was an inspiring sight.



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