Prayer to Juno
JunoAfter Lake Trasimene the Roman matrons carry to Juno a robe they have woven themselves. The scene is modelled on the sixth book of the Iliad, where the Trojan women carry a peplos to Athena — and, as there, the goddess will not grant the request.
The whole edge of it lies in whom they are addressing. Juno is the patron of Carthage; Roman women are asking the Carthaginian goddess to drive off the "Marmaric cloud", that is, Hannibal. The prayer invites the deity to change sides, and in the Punica this is deliberate: Silius builds the whole poem on the winning-over of Juno.
Gens casta and digno quaecumque est nomine — only women of unblemished name may take part. Purity here is not a moral distinction but a qualification for the rite: an ineligible participant would spoil the offering.
The payment is split in two. The robe is handed over at once — "while the mothers' fear subsides, this shall be your veil in the meantime"; the jewelled crown is promised afterwards, "if you grant that we drive off". A deposit and a balance on performance: a Roman vow is structured as a contract by instalments.