literary · Roman

Prayer to Diana

Gracious Diana, virgin daughter of Latona, who inhabits sacred groves and nurtures woodlands, I, her father, vow this child into service as Your handmaiden. Holding Your weapons before all others, Your suppliant flees on the wind from the enemy. Bear witness to my vow, I pray, O Goddess, and accept her as Your own, whom I now commit to a precarious breeze.

Commentarius · Commentary

Metabus, an exiled king, is fleeing with his infant daughter and comes up against a flooded river. Binding the girl to the shaft of his spear, he vows her to Diana — and hurls the spear across the torrent.

The vow is made at the very moment when the spear is already in his hand. The whole prayer lasts one swing: name the goddess, declare the daughter her handmaid, call her to witness, ask her to accept. Then he throws.

Tua prima per auras tela tenens — "holding your weapon, her first": the child flies bound to the javelin, and Metabus calls the javelin the goddess's weapon in order to make her an accomplice in the throw. Vow and flight coincide in time.

This is how Camilla came to be — the warrior who dies in the same book by Arruns' spear (apollo-032). Her father dedicated her to Diana; Diana will avenge her in the end, but will not be able to save her.

Fons · Source

AuthorVirgil

WorkAeneid

Section11.557-560

PeriodAugustan

Classificatio · Taxonomy

CultureRoman

Formliterary

DeitiesDiana

FunctionsDedication · Oath

SphereFamily · Military