literary · Roman

Prayer to Juno

Almighty Queen of Heaven, remember when Jupiter made the skies grow wild with black clouds and sheets of rain; remember when Thundering Jupiter commanded Your return to the marriage bed, and how You, frightened with sudden capture and at being left destitute following Your rape, sought only how to flee; remember how it was I who carried You upon my shoulders across the storm swollen Enipeus. Grant, Juno, that I may arrive safely to Scythia where the Phasis flows.

Commentarius · Commentary

Jason prays to Juno and Pallas before sailing. His grounds for asking are extraordinary: he once carried this goddess in his arms across the flooded Enipeus, not knowing who she was.

Nec credere quivi ante deam quam te tonitru nutuque reposci coniugis … vidi — "nor could I believe you a goddess until I saw your husband demanding you back with thunder and a nod". The service was rendered not to a goddess but to an old woman at a river; her divinity was established afterwards. Jason submits his disinterestedness for payment: he helped when there was nothing to be gained, and therefore asks as of right.

This is a Roman reworking of the famous test — in the usual version of the myth Jason loses a sandal at the crossing, and it is by the sandal that Pelias recognises him. Valerius Flaccus removes the omen and keeps only the debt.

The request is short and geographical: "give me Scythia and the Phasis" — that is, let me arrive. And immediately a vow: the fleece he brings back will go to their own temples. He promises the goddesses a prize he has not won and which so far exists only in their power to grant.

Fons · Source

AuthorValerius Flaccus

WorkArgonautica

Section1.80-90

Period1st c. AD

Classificatio · Taxonomy

CultureRoman

Formliterary

DeitiesJuno

FunctionsPetition

SphereNavigation · Personal