Prayer to Diana

Parthenopaeus, the Arcadian youth from Atalanta's following, prays to Diana before a contest at the funeral games.

The ground of his request is material: "to you, to you these locks are owed in honour". He has let his hair grow by a vow, and that is his contribution, now presented for payment. The custom is genuine: young men dedicated their first cutting to a god and left the hair untouched until the appointed time.

Hence the aside eque tuo venit haec iniuria voto — "and from your own vow this injury comes": long hair hinders running, and it was promised to her. The vow has become an obstacle in the very undertaking for which help is being asked.

What he asks for is not victory but that an evil omen should not come true: "do not let me go to Thebes under such a sign". The youth will die at Thebes in the ninth book.