ritual · Roman

The devotio of Decius Mus

Janus · Jupiter · Mars · Quirinus · Bellona · the Lares · the Di Novensiles · the Di Indigetes · the Manes · Earth

Janus, Jupiter, Father Mars, Quirinus, Bellona, Lares, You divine Novensiles and You divine Indigetes, deities whose power extends over us and over our foes, and to You, too, Divine Manes, I pray, I do You reverence, I crave Your grace and favour will bless the Roman People, the Quirites, with power and victory, and will visit fear, dread and death on the enemies of the Roman People, the Quirites. In like manner as I have uttered this prayer so do I now on behalf of the commonwealth of the Quirites, on behalf of the army, the legions, the auxiliaries of the Roman People, the Quirites, devote the legions and auxiliaries of the enemy, together with myself to Tellus and the Divine Manes.

Commentarius · Commentary

The devotio is a rite with no parallel in any other religion of the Mediterranean. A consul devotes to the gods below both himself and the enemy army, then rides into the enemy line and dies. A pontifex dictates the words and the consul repeats them: in the bordered toga, head veiled, standing on a spear.

The list of deities is the longest in Latin: Janus, Jupiter, Mars, Quirinus, Bellona, the Lares, the Novensiles, the Indigetes, "gods in whose power we and our enemies are", and the Manes. The order is ritual, running from the god of entrance to the dead, and is composed so that no one is left unmentioned. Divi Novensiles and Di Indigetes — new gods and native gods: the pair by which the formula covers both incomers and its own.

Vos precor veneror, veniam peto feroque — the same insurance by doubled verbs as in other archaic formulae: I pray and revere, I seek and accept.

The force of the rite lies in its irreversibility. Livy specifies separately what to do if the man who has devoted himself does not die: bury an image of him seven feet deep and offer an expiatory sacrifice — because the man has already been handed over and cannot be taken back.

A historical caution. Tradition ascribes the devotio to three Decii of one family, father, son and grandson. Repetition across three generations looks like a family legend projected backwards, and historians take it cautiously; the ritual formula itself is genuinely ancient.

Fons · Source

AuthorLivy

WorkAb Urbe Condita

Section8.9.6-8

Periodlate 1st c. BC (recording events of 340 BC)

Occasiondevotio of Publius Decius Mus at the Battle of Veseris (340 BC) — consul's self-sacrifice, devoting himself together with the enemy legions to the gods of the underworld for Roman victory

Classificatio · Taxonomy

CultureRoman

Formritual

DeitiesJanus, Jupiter, Mars, Quirinus, Bellona, the Lares, the Di Novensiles, the Di Indigetes, the Manes, Earth

FunctionsDedication · Oath

SphereMilitary · Civic