personal · Roman

Prayer to Diana and Eileithyia

Ilithyia, You who are compassionate towards women in labor, who suffer with great pains in their womb, their bodies strained in slow birth of the hidden child, gently attend to her, Ilithyia, and favor my prayers. She is worthy of Your aid, reward her with life, I will myself, dressed in pure white robes offer frankincense upon Your altar, I will myself carry votive gifts to lay at Your feet. And to Your altar's inscription I shall add, 'By Naso, for Corinna saved.' Act in this manner, and receive the legend inscribed and the gifts in Your sanctuary.

Commentarius · Commentary

Ovid prays to Ilithyia for Corinna, who has nearly died after a failed abortion.

The prayer is formally impeccable: address, epithet by office, promise of incense and a votive tablet. But the promised inscription gives everything away: "Naso, for Corinna saved". Ovid composes in advance the text he will hang in the temple, and composes it so that his own name stands first.

More precisely still — ipse ego, "I myself", twice over. He stresses that he will bring the offerings with his own hand, not by a slave; in votive practice this was indeed valued more highly.

The neighbouring elegy (2.14) is a denunciation of abortion itself. Together they form a pair, and the prayer reads differently if one remembers why Corinna is dying.

The reference has been corrected: the card pointed to 2.14, but the prayer stands in 2.13.

Fons · Source

AuthorOvid

WorkAmores

Section2.13.19-26

PeriodAugustan

Occasiondifficult childbirth

Classificatio · Taxonomy

CultureRoman

Formpersonal

DeitiesDiana, Eileithyia

FunctionsPetition · Dedication

SphereFamily · Personal