The dangers of doing a regular series without having a backlog: last week was super busy and I didn’t have time to write this up! Argh! Anyway. Back on track this week:
This week’s maxim is Θεους σεβου, translated in the source I’m using as “worship the gods.”
So we have two words:
- Θεους -This is the plural accusative. of Θεος, god. So, the gods are the object of the sentence. Makes sense.
- σεβου – This appears to be the singular aorist (ie, the imperative) of Σεβω, to worship, honor, be religious. Also as passive, to be reverenced. There’s a related word, σεβομαι, to feel awe or fear, to feel shame, be ashamed, be afraid, to worship; pay high regard or respect to.
So once again, I think the translation in my source is pretty solid. There’s the added connotation of honoring the gods in a religious fashion.
Personally, I don’t think it’s necessary to do this to live a good life. I know plenty of atheists and irreligious people who are awesome. I also have run across plenty of douchecanoes who worship their god(s) very intensely and regularly.
However: I also know a lot of religious folks for whom deity worship is a major part of their lives. I’d put myself in this category — I have small shrines to various gods in different parts of my home, I do devotional work on a near-daily basis, and so on.
I would say that working with the deities I do improves my life dramatically, so if you’re looking to the maxims as a way to make your life better, I’d say give this one a try! But I certainly wouldn’t automatically say anybody who doesn’t worship the gods (presumably in this case specifically those of classical Greece) is a bad person.
As general maxims go, this one’s a dud for me.
