Prayer to Apollo
ApolloMay Myrina's richness ever You hold, Apollo, thus always the swan song, too, may You enjoy, may the well versed sisters ever serve You, the Delphic Pythia ever reveal any of Your oracles, may the Palatia ever love and revere You. Were You ever to ask, and Caesar grant, that he should invest Stella with consular powers, then gladly would I by vow become indebted to You.
Martial asks Apollo to secure a consulship for his patron Stella.
The epigram is built as a classic sic … ut bargain: first a chain of blessings wished upon the god — may you hold the fields of Myrina, may the learned sisters serve you, may the Palatine love you — and all of it set out as the price of a single favour. The god is being bribed with good wishes.
And the ending is pure Martial: "The victim is already born, Phoebus; why do you delay?" The calf promised for fulfilment is already in the world — so the god had better hurry before it grows up. A vow with an expiry date.
The card's English breaks off at the request and conveys neither the bullock nor the joke.
Fons · Source
AuthorMartial
WorkEpigrammata
Section9.42
Period1st c. AD
Classificatio · Taxonomy