literary · Roman

Prayer to Minerva

Diana, skillful in arms, leader in battle and guardian of soldiers, with Your hand, Tritonian Virgin, shatter the spear of this Phrygian pirate; throw him to the ground and stretch him out prostrate beneath our high gate.

Commentarius · Commentary

The Latin matrons in the temple of Pallas pray for deliverance from Aeneas as he approaches the city.

The address is purely martial: "mighty in arms, president of war, Tritonian maiden". The women ask the goddess not to protect their homes but to break the enemy's spear and lay him flat on the ground. A mothers' prayer sounds like a soldiers' prayer.

Virgil's move is cruel and deliberate. The Trojan women prayed to the same goddess in the sixth book of the Iliad — and Athena turned away; here the Latin women pray, with the same outcome. The reader recognises the scene and knows in advance how it ends.

The address is to Minerva, not to Diana. Tritonia virgo is Minerva; "Diana" occurs only in the card's English translation, and the name is not in the Latin. The reference (which read 11.583-585) and the deities field have been corrected.

Fons · Source

AuthorVirgil

WorkAeneid

Section11.483-485

PeriodAugustan

Classificatio · Taxonomy

CultureRoman

Formliterary

DeitiesMinerva

FunctionsPetition · Protection

SphereMilitary