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Prayers to the Manes

8 prayers

The Manes are the collective dead of one household, and the formula that names them — Dis Manibus, to the spirits of the departed — heads thousands of Roman gravestones. The texts here are inscriptions: short, formulaic, and addressed by the living to their own.

What is asked
Fontes · Sources
  • Anonymous · Carmina Latina Epigraphica2
  • Anonymous · CIL2
  • Livy · Ab Urbe Condita1
  • Macrobius · Saturnalia1
  • Ovid · Fasti1
  • Virgil · Aeneid1
In the sources
Di Manes · Manes
The name as each source prints it.
Orationes · The texts
  1. 001

    The devotio of Decius Mus

    Livy · Ab Urbe Condita · 8.9.6-8

    Janus, Jupiter, Father Mars, Quirinus, Bellona, Lares, You divine Novensiles and You divine Indigetes, deities whose power extends over us and over our foes, and to You, too, Divine Manes, I pray, I do You reverence, I crave Your grace and favour will bless the Roman People, the Quirites, with power and victory, and will visit fear, dread and death on the enemies of the Roman People, the Quirites. In like manner as I have uttered this prayer so do I now on behalf of the commonwealth of the Quirites, on behalf of the army, the legions, the auxiliaries of the Roman People, the Quirites, devote the legions and auxiliaries of the enemy, together with myself to Tellus and the Divine Manes.

    RomanDedicationOath
  2. 002

    The devotio of Carthage

    Macrobius · Saturnalia · 3.9.10-11

    Dis Pater, Veiovis, and Di Manes, or with any other name by which it is proper to call You, since all in this city of Carthage and its army, who, I feel, fled before me in terror only because you filled them with alarm and fright, everyone who opposes our legions and the wall of shields of our army, and our missiles are carried forward on them by your hand, in this way you led away the enemy army and their soldiers. Their city and fields, and those who are in this place and this region, the lands and cities that they inhabit, you have now deprived them of the supreme light, their hostile army, their city and their lands. I feel to say that it was you who has devoted and consecrated this city and its lands, from the beginning and all time, that by law, who and when are made over and devoted as the highest sacrifices. Therefore, I who am victorious, by my faith as a magistrate of the people of Rome, and as commander of the armies, I give this vow on behalf of the people of Rome, our armies and legions, that you may retain everything born to this land and that grew in healthy by your aid. If you will make this happen, so that I may know, sense and derive that this has happened, then by whatever vow will have been made, wherever it will have been made, may it be properly made with sheep sacrificed upon the tribal altars. I call upon Tellus, Mother Earth, and You mighty Jupiter, to act as witnesses to my vow.

    RomanDedicationOath
  3. 003

    The oath of Aeneas and Latinus

    Virgil · Aeneid · 12.176-82; 197-211

    May the Sun now bear witness, and so too the Earth, I pray, for whom I have been able to endure these many labors, and you, Almighty Father, and you his consort (Juno), daughter of Saturnus, at one time more beneficial, at another kinder, be so now as I pray to you, O Goddess, and to you, too, Father Mavors, who wields all warfare under your powers, and on all the springs and rivers of this land I invoke as witnesses, and all the powers of the high heavens and those of the deep blue seas on whom it is proper to call. By these same deities I, Aeneas, swear, by the Earth and the Sea, by the stars and Latona's twin children, and dual-faced Janus, and the powers of the gods below, and the harsh shrines of Father Dis. May the Great Father hear my vow, he that sanctions alliances with his thunderbolt. I touch the altars, and by the fires and by the divine powers who I have called to witness, I so swear, that never shall I breach this alliance or the peace of Italy, no matter what or how things happen, nothing shall divert my will, not even if waves would cover the earth, plunging all into deluge, and the Heavens fell into deepest Tartarus.

    RomanOathInvocation
  4. 004

    Prayer to the Manes

    Ovid · Fasti · 5.435-443

    After he has cleansed his hands with pure fountain water, he takes up the black beans in his mouth and turns, casting them back over his shoulder as he says, 'This I send to you, Manes, with these beans I redeem me and mine.' When nine times he has said this, then he says, 'Manes of my forefathers, leave this place.'

    RomanProtection
  5. 005

    Prayer to the Manes

    Anonymous · CIL · CIL VI 18817

    Whole-heartedly I pray to you, most holy Manes, may you admit my dear husband among you, and, may you want to be most indulging in this, that in the hours of the night I may see him and also be advised by him on what to do, in order that I may be able to swiftly and sweetly come stand by his side.

    RomanPetition
  6. 006

    Prayer to Mother Earth and the Manes

    Anonymous · Carmina Latina Epigraphica · II.1029.5-6

    Now, Manes, I call you to witness, on these bones I leave behind, may the earth put atop them lie gently.

    RomanPetition
  7. 007

    Prayer to the Manes

    Anonymous · Carmina Latina Epigraphica · II.1147.3-4

    Now if virtue is rewarded among the Manes, within the changeable shadows, then I pray that the Mother may give honor and gratitude to you.

    RomanPetition
  8. 008

    Prayer to Mother Earth and the Manes

    Anonymous · CIL · CIL III 3989

    Therefore I pray to you Gods of the Underworld, into whose arms I am compelled headlong by the Gods above, that you admit me into your realm with the least amount of torment.

    RomanPetition
Invoked alongside
Earth3Jupiter3Dis Pater2Janus2Mars2Mother Earth2Apollo1Bellona1Diana1Juno1Quirinus1Sol1the Di Indigetes1the Di Novensiles1the Lares1Veiovis1
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