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Prayers to Venus

10 prayers

Venus is a political goddess in Latin poetry before she is an erotic one. Lucretius opens On the Nature of Things by asking her for peace in the Roman world; Virgil makes her the ancestress of the Julian house. The private prayers — the vows of the Veneralia, the epigrams — sit beside that and do not resemble it.

What is asked
Fontes · Sources
  • Horace · Carmina2
  • Julius Agathemerus (dedicator) · Hymn to Priapus, CIL XIV 35651
  • Laevius · Carmina1
  • Lucretius · De Rerum Natura1
  • Martial · Epigrammata1
  • Ovid · Amores1
  • Ovid · Fasti1
  • Plautus · Rudens1
  • Virgil · Catalepton1
Orationes · The texts
  1. 001

    Prayer to Priapus

    Julius Agathemerus (dedicator) · Hymn to Priapus, CIL XIV 3565

    Hail, holy Priapus, father of all things, hail! Give me a flourishing youth so that, be it boys be it girls, I can please them with my horny phallus, and with frequent games and jokes, I may dissipate the worries that vex the mind and not fear heavy old age too much, that I not be vexed with terror of miserable death, which will drag me to the jealous mansions of Avernus where their king holds sway over the fabled Manes and the fates deny anyone a return. Hail, holy father Priapus, hail! Come gather at once, however many you all are, you girls who tend the sacred grove, you girls who tend the sacred waters, come gather, however many you are, and with a pleasing voice, speak to beautiful Priapus: Hail, holy Priapus, father of all things! Next, place a thousand kisses on his crotch, gird his phallus well with fragrant wreaths, and once more all say to him: Hail, holy Priapus, father of all things! For warding off evil, blood-stained people, he grants you to go through the woods and through the unbloodied shady silences. He also wards off wrongdoers from the springs, who with illicit foot would walk across the sacred waters and disturb them, who wash their hands and do not first with many a prayer invoke you, you girlish goddesses. All say: O Priapus, be favorable, father, hail, holy father Priapus, hail! O Priapus, potent friend, hail, whether you wish to be called the father and creator of this sphere, or Nature herself and the Universe, hail! For it is by your vigor that everything is conceived which fills the earth, aether and sea. So hail, Priapus, hail, holy one! Jupiter himself, when you wish it, puts down his thunderbolts at once and in his lust leaves his bright dwellings behind. Good Venus, glowing Cupid, the Grace and her twin sisters worship you, as does Lyaeus, the giver of joy. For without you Venus is little regarded, and the Grace, Cupid and Bacchus are without charm. O Priapus, potent friend, hail! Chaste virgins call on you in prayer that you may open their long fastened girdle, and the bride calls you, so that her husband may often have a hard and always a potent member. Hail, holy father Priapus, hail!

    RomanInvocationPetitionDedication
  2. 002

    Prayer to Venus

    Lucretius · De Rerum Natura · 1.1-9

    Venus Genetrix, charmer of gods and mankind, nurturing Mother, beneath the starry signs that glide through the night, You enliven the ship-bearing seas and the fruitful earth, since it is through You that all things are conceived and animated into life to behold the Light of Day. Goddess, for You the winds make way, the heavenly clouds open at Your coming, the miraculous earth greets You with sweet scented flowers, for You the surface of the seas laugh, and the peaceful heavens glisten in luminescence.

    RomanInvocationPraise
  3. 003

    Prayer to Vulcan

    Martial · Epigrammata · 5.7.5-8

    Soon, I pray, Vulcan, memories of whispered rumors of disgrace and loud quarrels of complaint You will no longer hold against the children of Mars; we are also the children of Your sweet wife Venus, spare us, Father.

    RomanPetition
  4. 004

    Prayer to Venus

    Horace · Carmina · 1.30.1-8

    Come to us Venus, O Queen of Cnidos and Paphos, leave Cyprus, though the isle is dear to You, come instead to where the incense is thick and Glycera sings to You, that you may transfer Your home to a new shrine among us. Bring along for Your company desirous Cupid, loose-girdled Graces and Nymphs, youthful Juventus and Mercury, who without You are graceless.

    RomanInvocationPetition
  5. 005

    Prayer to Venus

    Horace · Carmina · 4.1.1-2

    After so long a time, do You once more disturb my peace of mind with desires? Spare me, Venus, I pray, I beg of You!

    RomanPetition
  6. 006

    Prayer to Venus

    Ovid · Amores · 1.3.1-6

    My prayer is just. May Venus hear all our many prayers. Take one who would serve You through long years, accept one who knows how to love with a pure heart.

    RomanPetition
  7. 007

    Prayer to Venus

    Plautus · Rudens · 694-701

    Kind Venus, tearfully we plead to You, as we kneel and clasp this your altar, receive us into Your safekeeping and watch over us. Take vengeance on the wicked who have belittled your sanctuary, and in Your goodness let us remain at this altar as a refuge from our suffering. Be not offended with us, nor hold us at fault, if there be anything about us that to you is unclean.

    RomanPetitionProtection
  8. 008

    Prayer to Venus

    Ovid · Fasti · 4.1

    Nurturing Venus, Mother of the twin Loves, favour me.

    RomanInvocation
  9. 009

    Prayer to Venus

    Virgil · Catalepton · 14

    If I am to further my undertaking, to traverse all the world, O Venus, who dwells in Paphos and in Idalian groves, so that Trojan Aeneas is thought worthy at last to sail with You in song through Roman towns, not only with incense or painted tablet shall I adorn Your temple, and with pure hands bring You garlands, but a humble offering of a horned ram and a bull, the greatest sacrifice, their blood a priest shall sprinkle into the fire of an altar erected in Your honor.

    RomanPetitionDedication
  10. 010

    Prayer to Diana and Venus

    Laevius · Carmina · fr. 26; p. 292

    Therefore adoring You as though You were nurturing Venus Herself, whether You are female, or whether You are male, even so, Illuminating the Night, You are a nurturing Moon.

    RomanPraiseInvocation
Invoked alongside
Cupid1Diana1Jupiter1Liber1Mars1Priapus1the Graces1the Nymphs1Vulcan1
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