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Prayer to Carmenta

Carmenta · Porrima · Postvorta
O Carmenae, may you bring better dreams than this evil vision that has awakened me from a peaceful sleep; let it not be a prophetic vision. Cast far away from me this vain and false vision, and cease plucking my intestines with your zealous inquiries. Carmenae, I pray, turn this cruel dream to good, as night is turned into day, and bid the warm South wind to carry it away.
Commentarius · Commentary

A prayer for good dreams in the modern order; for the general explanation see carmenta-001.

It is addressed not to Carmentis but to the Camenae, in the plural. This is not a slip. The Camenae, Roman goddesses of springs and of song, were early identified with the Muses, and Carmentis was counted among them. The link runs through carmen — a word meaning both "song" and "spell", the very word from which her name comes.

Hence the logic of the request: a prophetic dream and a prophetic verse belong to one order for the Romans, and she who gives the song gives the dream too.

The card's English text expands this single line into a whole paragraph — an evil vision, a south wind to carry the dream away, a wish that the vision not prove prophetic. None of that is in the Latin, where the request is for exactly the opposite: dreams that are true.

Fons · Source
AuthorAnonymous
WorkRitus Carmentis
Sectiondream prayer
Periodmodern reconstruction (Nova Roma)
Occasionbad dream / nightmare
Classificatio · Taxonomy
CultureRoman
Formpersonal
FunctionsPetition · Protection
SpherePersonal