literary · Roman

Prayer to Apollo and Hecate

O Phoebus Apollo, who always pitied Troy of its grave hardship, you who guided the hand of Paris and his Dardanian missile to the body of Acacus' son, You who led me to penetrate all the seas that wash upon mighty shores — let Troy's ill fortune have followed us thus far (and no further). You most holy Diviner of future events, I ask only for what fate has allotted me, grant that the sons of Teucria with their wandering gods and storm tossed spirits of Troy may settle in Latium. Then to Apollo and Hecate I shall erect temples in marble and establish feast days celebrated in Apollo's name. Do not commit your songs only to the leaves, that they may swirl about as the sport of whirling winds, but sing them, I pray, with your own lips for us.

Commentarius · Commentary

Aeneas' long prayer at the cave of the Cumaean Sibyl, before the descent to the underworld.

It opens by reminding Apollo of a service that from the Trojan side looks like an atrocity: "you who guided the Dardan shafts and the hand of Paris into the body of Aeacus' son". Aeneas thanks the god for the killing of Achilles — the one Trojan success of the whole war — and builds his right to ask upon it.

The next move is stronger still: "let the fortune of Troy have followed us this far and no further". He asks the gods to consider the sentence served. Not to pardon, but to acknowledge that the term has expired.

And at the end a request to the Sibyl herself, an entirely practical one: do not commit your songs to leaves, lest the wind scatter them — sing them yourself. The famous defect of the Cumaean oracle, lettered leaves disordered by a draught, is here forestalled in advance.

Fons · Source

AuthorVirgil

WorkAeneid

Section6.55-77

PeriodAugustan

Classificatio · Taxonomy

CultureRoman

Formliterary

DeitiesApollo, Hecate

FunctionsPetition · Dedication · Invocation

SphereCivic · Military