public · Roman

Prayer to Ceres and Libera

O Ceres and Libera, whose sacred worship is contained in the most important and most abstruse mysteries; You, by whom the principles of life and food, the examples of laws, customs, humanity, and refinement are said to have been given and distributed to nations and to cities; You, again and again I implore and appeal to, most holy Goddesses, who dwell around those lakes and groves of Enna, and who preside over all Sicily — You whose invention and gift of corn, which You have distributed over the whole earth, inspires all nations and all races of men with reverence for Your divine power.

Commentarius · Commentary

The conclusion of the fifth book of the Verrines: Cicero, having finished his indictment, turns to the gods whose temples Verres had stripped.

This is not a prayer within a rite but a rhetorical device — though a device that works by ritual rules. Cicero names the goddesses with their domains ("who dwell about those lakes and groves of Henna"), recalls their benefactions to mankind (grain, laws, gentleness, civilisation), and only then comes to the point. The same order as in a real prayer: name, justify, ask.

And what he asks for is not victory in court but punishment — turning the close of a speech into a curse. The case had in fact already been won: Verres fled Rome without waiting for the verdict, and the fifth book was never delivered. The prayer was written for a reader.

The book has been corrected: the card had the fourth, but §187 stands in the fifth.

Fons · Source

AuthorCicero

WorkIn C. Verrem

SectionII.5.187-188

Period1st c. BC

Classificatio · Taxonomy

CultureRoman

Formpublic

DeitiesCeres, Libera

FunctionsInvocation · Praise

SphereCivic