public · Roman

Scipio's prayer before sailing to Africa

Gods and Goddesses who inhabit the land and sea, to You I pray and ask that whatsoever has been done under my auspices and my command, is now being done or shall be done, may prove beneficial for me, for the people of Rome and their children, and for our allies and the Latins, who joined with the Roman army under my auspices in waging war on land and sea. May Your good counsel and assistance be with me and may You bless all our endeavors with rich increase. May You guard the welfare and sustenance of our soldiers, allow the victors to return home healthy and safe, and laden with the spoils of victory. May they bring back honors and plunder to share in my triumphal procession after defeating our enemy. Grant to me and to the Roman people the power of vengeance and the opportunity and means to inflict on our enemies the same as the Carthaginians have striven to inflict against the people of Rome and thereby an example shall be set for others.

Commentarius · Commentary

Scipio at dawn, before the army embarks for Africa. Custom required the commander to pray aloud on behalf of everyone, and Livy gives the formula in full.

The technique is the opposite of the devotio's (livy-deciusmus-001): there the gods were named one by one, here they are not named at all — "gods and goddesses who dwell in the seas and lands". When the list would be too long, it is replaced by coverage. No deity can consider itself passed over, because none is mentioned.

The same completeness in time: "what has been done, is being done, and will hereafter be done under my command". Three tenses in a row, so that no act of the campaign falls outside the cover. And in space — "by land, by sea and by rivers": the third term is added for this expedition.

Everyone prayed for is enumerated too: people and plebs separately, the allies, the Latin name. The legal classes of citizens are set out as though a deed were being drawn up rather than a prayer said — and in Roman terms there is indeed no difference.

Bene verruncent — "may they turn out well". The verb verrunco was already dead by Livy's day and survived only in this formula; words of that kind are a reliable sign that a text is being reproduced rather than composed.

Fons · Source

AuthorLivy

WorkAb Urbe Condita

Section29.27.1 ff.

Periodlate 1st c. BC (describing events of 204 BC)

OccasionScipio Africanus's public prayer at dawn before sailing from Sicily to Africa against Carthage (204 BC) — general's invocation at the start of a campaign

Classificatio · Taxonomy

CultureRoman

Formpublic

FunctionsPetition · Invocation

SphereMilitary · Civic