Prayer to the Muse

Two lines from the same panegyric of Claudian, a little further on: the poet breaks off his narrative and asks to be taught.

The move is standard epic — the singer declares himself ignorant and asks the Muse which god is responsible for the event. But "so great a gift" here is a consulship handed to two young men of the Anician house. The machinery of divine inspiration is set going for a piece of court news, and Claudian is not in the least embarrassed by it: panegyric works precisely by presenting the ordinary as cosmic.

Divergence from the English. Parnasia is feminine — it addresses the Muse — and vatem means "the poet". In the card's English translation they have become "Apollo of Mount Parnassus" and "the pythia". The deities field has been corrected from the Latin; the translation is left as it stands.