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ritual · Roman

Prayer to Carmenta

Carmenta
Draw near, Carmentis, and expel the illness from this tender girl. Come quickly, Carmentis. Believe me, never shall You regret at having laid Your healing hand upon this comely girl. Do not allow her form to languish pale and thin, nor disfiguring hue to mark her feeble limbs, and whatever ill has come upon her, whatever dread things we fear, may the rushing river-waters carry them away to the sea. Come, Holy Mother, and bring with You soothing herbs and healing songs as will ease her wearied body.
Commentarius · Commentary

A healing prayer of the modern Carmentalia order; for the general explanation see carmenta-001.

The first sentence is Tibullus verbatim. Huc ades et tenerae morbos expelle puellae opens the elegy on the sick Sulpicia (apollo-025); only there it is Phoebus who is called, and here Carmentis has been substituted. A genuine line has been taken, the divine name replaced, and the result passed off as an ancient prayer.

This is no longer substitution within a transferable formula, as in carmenta-002, but the appropriation of another poet's verse. The difference matters: the Romans did indeed move formulae from god to god, but not lines of Tibullus.

The card's English text further expands the whole Tibullan passage — the wasting, the disfiguring colour, the river carrying the trouble out to sea — although there is no Latin here for any of it.

Fons · Source
AuthorAnonymous
WorkRitus Carmentis
Sectionhealing prayer
Periodmodern reconstruction (Nova Roma)
Occasionhealing of a sick woman
Classificatio · Taxonomy
CultureRoman
Formritual
DeitiesCarmenta
FunctionsPetition · Invocation
SphereHealing · Family