Ares, exceeding in strength, chariot-rider, golden-helmed, doughty in heart, shield-bearer, saviour of cities, harnessed in bronze, strong of arm, unwearying, mighty with the spear, O defender of Olympos, father of warlike Nike, ally of Themis, stern governor of the rebellious, leader of the righteous men, scepted King of manliness, who whirl your fiery sphere among the planets in their sevenfold courses through the aither wherein your blazing steeds ever bear you above the third firmament of heaven; hear me, helper of men, giver of dauntless youth! Shed down a kindly ray from above upon my life, and strength of war, that I may be able to drive away bitter cowardice from my head and crush down the deceitful impulses of my soul. Restrain also the keen fury of my heart which provokes me to tread the ways of bloodcurdling strife. Rather, O blessed one, give you me boldness to abide within the harmless laws of peace, avoiding strife and hatred and the violent fiends of death.
Commentarius · Commentary
The eighth Homeric Hymn is the odd one out in the whole collection.
It opens with eight lines of unbroken martial epithets: shield-bearing, bronze-harnessed, man-slaying, wall-battering. And then it turns a hundred and eighty degrees. Victory is not what is asked for. What is asked for is the strength not to fight: "restrain the keen fury of my heart which provokes me to tread the path of chilling strife; but give me courage, blessed one, to abide within the harmless ordinances of peace". The god of war is being begged to disarm the man praying to him.
In the middle stands a detail impossible in archaic epic: Ares wheels his "fire-bright circle among the seven-pathed stars of the aether", and his horses bear him "above the third rim". This is the planet Mars, the third sphere, not the god of the Iliad.
Hence the dating: the hymn is markedly later than the rest of the collection, and is usually associated with Proclus or his circle, that is with the fifth century AD. It stands under Homer's name by accident — it simply ended up in the same manuscript gathering.
Fons · Source
AuthorAnonymous (Homeric corpus)
WorkHomeric Hymns
Section8
Periodlate antique (Homeric corpus, hymn 8 is post-classical)
OccasionHomeric Hymn to Ares — invocation of the war-god as both warrior and restrainer of fury, asking for courage in war and self-mastery in peace
