Index orationum

All Prayers

Found 227 / 320

The complete list of the collection's prayers, hymns, vows and inscriptions — from the Homeric hymns of the seventh century BC to votive inscriptions from the Roman provinces. Every text carries the original in Greek or Latin, a translation, an exact reference to the edition, and a commentary.

001
Prayer to Bacchus
SENECA · OEDIPUS · 403-441; 503-508
Let the people's hymn sound with the praise of Bacchus. Bind your streaming locks with the nodding ivy, and in your soft hands grasp the Nysaean thyrsus! Bright glory of the sky, come hither to the prayers which thine own illustrious Thebes, O Bacchus, offers to thee with suppliant hands. Hither turn with favour thy virginal face; with thy star-bright countenance drive away the clouds, the grim threats of Erebus, and greedy fate. Thee it becomes to circle thy locks with flowers of the springtime, thee to cover thy head with Tyrian turban, or thy smooth brow to wreathe with the ivy's clustering berries; now to fling loose thy lawless-streaming locks, again to bind them in a knot close-drawn; in such guise as when, fearing thy stepdame's wrath, thou didst grow to manhood with false-seeming limbs, a pretended maiden with golden ringlets, with saffron girdle binding thy garments. So thereafter this soft vesture has pleased thee, folds loose hanging and the long-trailing mantle. Seated in thy golden chariot, thy lions with long trappings covered, all the vast coast of the Orient saw thee, both he who drinks of the Ganges and whoever breaks the ice of snowy Araxes. On an unseemly ass old Silenus attends thee, his swollen temples bound with ivy garlands; while thy wanton initiates lead the mystic revels. Along with thee a troop of Bassarids in Edonian dance beat the ground, now on Mount Pangaeus' peak, now on the top of Thracian Pindus; now midst Cadmean dames has come a maenad, the impious comrade of Ogygian Bacchus, with sacred fawn-skins girt about her loins, her hand a light thyrsus brandishing. Their hearts maddened by thee, the matrons have set their hair a-flowing;
Roman · hymn
Bacchus, Liber, Phoebus, Ariadne, Palaemon
InvocationPraise
1st c. AD
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002
Prayer to Priapus
JULIUS AGATHEMERUS (DEDICATOR) · HYMN TO PRIAPUS, CIL XIV 3565
Hail, holy Priapus, father of all things, hail! Give me a flourishing youth so that, be it boys be it girls, I can please them with my horny phallus, and with frequent games and jokes, I may dissipate the worries that vex the mind and not fear heavy old age too much, that I not be vexed with terror of miserable death, which will drag me to the jealous mansions of Avernus where their king holds sway over the fabled Manes and the fates deny anyone a return. Hail, holy father Priapus, hail! Come gather at once, however many you all are, you girls who tend the sacred grove, you girls who tend the sacred waters, come gather, however many you are, and with a pleasing voice, speak to beautiful Priapus: Hail, holy Priapus, father of all things! Next, place a thousand kisses on his crotch, gird his phallus well with fragrant wreaths, and once more all say to him: Hail, holy Priapus, father of all things! For warding off evil, blood-stained people, he grants you to go through the woods and through the unbloodied shady silences. He also wards off wrongdoers from the springs, who with illicit foot would walk across the sacred waters and disturb them, who wash their hands and do not first with many a prayer invoke you, you girlish goddesses. All say: O Priapus, be favorable, father, hail, holy father Priapus, hail! O Priapus, potent friend, hail, whether you wish to be called the father and creator of this sphere, or Nature herself and the Universe, hail! For it is by your vigor that everything is conceived which fills the earth, aether and sea. So hail, Priapus, hail, holy one! Jupiter himself, when you wish it, puts down his thunderbolts at once and in his lust leaves his bright dwellings behind. Good Venus, glowing Cupid, the Grace and her twin sisters worship you, as does Lyaeus, the giver of joy. For without you Venus is little regarded, and the Grace, Cupid and Bacchus are without charm. O Priapus, potent friend, hail! Chaste virgins call on you in prayer that you may open their long fastened girdle, and the bride calls you, so that her husband may often have a hard and always a potent member. Hail, holy father Priapus, hail!
Roman · hymn
Priapus, the Nymphs, Jupiter, Venus, Cupid, the Graces, Liber
InvocationPetitionDedication
early 1st c. AD (ca. 1-50 AD)
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003
Carmen Arvale
FRATRES ARVALES · CARMEN ARVALIUM (CIL VI 2104)
Lasas assist us, Lasas delight us, Lasas come to our aid! Neither plague nor ruin, Marmor, allow to be visited on us. But if however we are invaded, like Mars we shall leap across our borders to sate you with the blood of our enemies and stay the barbarians. Marmor assist us, Marmor defend us, Marmor come to our aid. Triumph, triumph, triumph, triumph, triumph!
Roman · ritual
Mars, the Lares
PetitionProtection
archaic Latin (preserved in inscription of 218 AD)
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004
The devotio of Decius Mus
LIVY · AB URBE CONDITA · 8.9.6-8
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.
Roman · ritual
Janus, Jupiter, Mars, Quirinus, Bellona, the Lares, the Di Novensiles, the Di Indigetes, the Manes, Earth
DedicationOath
late 1st c. BC (recording events of 340 BC)
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005
Scipio's prayer before sailing to Africa
LIVY · AB URBE CONDITA · 29.27.1 ff.
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.
Roman · public
PetitionInvocation
late 1st c. BC (describing events of 204 BC)
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006
The devotio of Carthage
MACROBIUS · SATURNALIA · 3.9.10-11
Dis Pater, Veiovis, and Di Manes, or with any other name by which it is proper to call You, since all in this city of Carthage and its army, who, I feel, fled before me in terror only because you filled them with alarm and fright, everyone who opposes our legions and the wall of shields of our army, and our missiles are carried forward on them by your hand, in this way you led away the enemy army and their soldiers. Their city and fields, and those who are in this place and this region, the lands and cities that they inhabit, you have now deprived them of the supreme light, their hostile army, their city and their lands. I feel to say that it was you who has devoted and consecrated this city and its lands, from the beginning and all time, that by law, who and when are made over and devoted as the highest sacrifices. Therefore, I who am victorious, by my faith as a magistrate of the people of Rome, and as commander of the armies, I give this vow on behalf of the people of Rome, our armies and legions, that you may retain everything born to this land and that grew in healthy by your aid. If you will make this happen, so that I may know, sense and derive that this has happened, then by whatever vow will have been made, wherever it will have been made, may it be properly made with sheep sacrificed upon the tribal altars. I call upon Tellus, Mother Earth, and You mighty Jupiter, to act as witnesses to my vow.
Roman · ritual
Dis Pater, Veiovis, the Manes, Earth, Jupiter
DedicationOath
late 4th / early 5th c. AD (preserving archaic Roman formula)
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007
The evocatio of Carthage
MACROBIUS · SATURNALIA · 3.9.7-8
Whether you are a god or a goddess of these people who defend this city of Carthage, and you Most High, take back your favor in defense of this city and these people whom I attack. I pray, I beseech, I ask your indulgence, that you withdraw and desert these people and this city of Carthage, and that you relinquish the temples and sacred precincts of this city, go away without them, and incite these people and their city into fear of oblivion. Come then to favor Rome by crossing over to me and my army, and with our city tried and accepted as the location for your sacred precincts and holy rites, be propitious to me and the people of Rome, and my soldiers. If you make this happen, with clear and recognizable signs, I vow to erect temples for you and to initiate games in your honor.
Roman · ritual
PetitionDedication
late 4th / early 5th c. AD (preserving archaic Roman formula)
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008
Prayer to Aesculapius
OVID · METAMORPHOSES · 15.677-678
Behold the God! It is the God. Think holy thoughts and walk in reverent silence, all who are present. Oh, most Beautiful, let us behold you to our benefit, and give aid to this people that performs your sacred rites.
Roman · public
Aesculapius
PetitionInvocation
early 1st c. AD
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009
Prayer to Mars
OVID · FASTI · 3.73-76
Arbiter of arms, from whose blood I am believed to have been born, and many the proofs I will give that are accepted, after You we will begin the Roman year, from Your name, Father, we will name the first month of the year.
Roman · personal
Mars
Dedication
early 1st c. AD
→
010
Prayer to Jupiter
OVID · FASTI · 4.827-832
As I found this city, be present, Jupiter, Father Mars, and Mother Vesta, and all gods who it is pious to summon, join together to attend. Grant that my work may rise with Your auspices. Grant that it may for many years hold dominion on earth, and assert its power over the east and west.
Roman · public
Jupiter, Mars, Vesta
PetitionInvocation
early 1st c. AD
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011
Prayer to Mars
OVID · FASTI · 5.573-577
If, Father, my war is authorized by Vesta's priestess, and whenever I prepare to take divine vengeance, Mars, be by my side and satiate cold steel with guilt's blood, and lend Your favour to the better side. If I am victorious for You I'll build a shrine and call You Ultor, Mars the Avenger.
Roman · public
Mars
PetitionOath
early 1st c. AD
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012
Prayer to Terminus and Jupiter
OVID · FASTI · 2.659-684
You set bounds to peoples, cities, great kingdoms: without you every field would be disputed. You curry no favour: you aren't bribed with gold, guarding the land entrusted to you in good faith. If you'd once marked the bounds of Thyrean lands, three hundred men would not have died, nor Othryades' name be seen on the pile of weapons. O how he made his fatherland bleed! What happened when the new Capitol was built? The whole throng of gods yielded to Jupiter and made room: but as the ancients tell, Terminus remained in the shrine where he was found, and shares the temple with great Jupiter. Even now there's a small hole in the temple roof, so he can see nothing above him but stars. Since then, Terminus, you've not been free to wander: stay there, in the place where you've been put, and yield not an inch to your neighbour's prayers, lest you seem to set men above Jupiter: and whether they beat you with rakes, or ploughshares, call out: 'This is your field, and that is his!' The lands of other races have fixed boundaries: the extent of the City of Rome and the world is one.
Roman · hymn
Terminus, Jupiter
PraiseInvocation
early 1st c. AD
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013
Prayer to Venus Verticordia and Fortuna Virilis
OVID · FASTI · 4.133-162
Duly do you worship the goddess, you Latin mothers and brides, and you too who wear not the fillets and long robe. Take off the golden necklaces from the marble neck of the goddess; take off her gauds; the goddess must be washed from top to toe. Then dry her neck and restore to it her golden necklaces; now give her other flowers, now give her the fresh-blown rose. You too she herself bids bathe under the green myrtle, and there is a certain reason for her command; learn what it is. Naked, she was drying on the shore her oozy locks, when the satyrs, a wanton crew, espied the goddess. She perceived it, and screened her body by myrtle interposed: that done, she was safe, and she bids you do the same. Learn now why you give incense to Virile Fortune in the place which reeks of warm water. All women strip when they enter that place, and every blemish on the naked body is plain to see; Virile Fortune undertakes to conceal the blemish and to hide it from the men, and this she does for the consideration of a little incense. Nor grudge to take poppy pounded with snowy milk and liquid honey squeezed from the comb; when Venus was first escorted to her eager spouse, she drank that draught: from that time she was a bride. Propitiate her with supplications; beauty and virtue and good fame are in her keeping. In the time of our forefathers Rome had fallen from a state of chastity, and the ancients consulted the old woman of Cumae. She ordered a temple to be built to Venus, and when that was duly done, Venus took the name of Changer of the Heart from the event. Fairest of goddesses, ever behold the sons of Aeneas with look benign, and guard your offspring's numerous wives.
Roman · ritual
Venus Verticordia, Fortuna Virilis
InvocationPetition
early 1st c. AD
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014
Prayer to Priapus
PETRONIUS · SATYRICON · 133
Companion of Bacchus and the Nymphs, to whom lovely Dione gave power over the woodland, whom famed Lesbos and green Thasos obey, whom gold-bearing Lydia worships, whose temple you sited in your very own city of Hypaepa: be with me, O protector of Bacchus, delight of the Dryads, and hear my humble prayer. I do not come to you stained with dark blood, I've not laid hands like some vile enemy on your shrine, but when I was poor, oppressed with want, I committed sin, yet not with my whole body: less guilty he who commits a sin when he's poor. Here's my prayer: unburden my spirit, and forgive the lightest of offences and, whenever some hour of good fortune smiles on me, I'll not suffer your glory to go unhonoured. Sacred one, a horned goat, shall see your altars, the sire of the herd, and a sow's suckling brood of squealers too, in sacrifice. You'll know this year's vintage, and all the young men, tipsy, will tread thrice round your sanctuary, joyously.
Roman · personal
Priapus
PetitionDedicationatonement
mid 1st c. AD
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015
The oath of Aeneas and Latinus
VIRGIL · AENEID · 12.176-82; 197-211
May the Sun now bear witness, and so too the Earth, I pray, for whom I have been able to endure these many labors, and you, Almighty Father, and you his consort (Juno), daughter of Saturnus, at one time more beneficial, at another kinder, be so now as I pray to you, O Goddess, and to you, too, Father Mavors, who wields all warfare under your powers, and on all the springs and rivers of this land I invoke as witnesses, and all the powers of the high heavens and those of the deep blue seas on whom it is proper to call. By these same deities I, Aeneas, swear, by the Earth and the Sea, by the stars and Latona's twin children, and dual-faced Janus, and the powers of the gods below, and the harsh shrines of Father Dis. May the Great Father hear my vow, he that sanctions alliances with his thunderbolt. I touch the altars, and by the fires and by the divine powers who I have called to witness, I so swear, that never shall I breach this alliance or the peace of Italy, no matter what or how things happen, nothing shall divert my will, not even if waves would cover the earth, plunging all into deluge, and the Heavens fell into deepest Tartarus.
Roman · public
Sol, Earth, Jupiter, Juno, Mars, Janus, Apollo, Diana, Dis Pater, the Manes
OathInvocation
late 1st c. BC
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016
Prayer to Aesculapius
MARTIAL · EPIGRAMMATA · 9.17
Latona's grandson, revered Aesculapis, by whose mild herbal remedies too briefly are the Fates beguiled, from Rome this child sends You his golden locks, that were once his lord's delight, and along with these the mirror that often assured him he was fair. He hastens to sacrifice these tresses that once circled his shining face, happily to serve, in payment for a vow, if You judge that out of danger he will be. Preserve his youthful grace, though his hair is now shortened, and long may You keep him handsome.
Roman · personal
Aesculapius
DedicationPetition
late 1st c. AD
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017
Formula spoken at sowing
PLINY THE ELDER · NATURALIS HISTORIA · 24.116
I sow this rape seed for myself and for my neighbors.
Roman · ritual
PetitionDedication
1st c. AD (Pliny preserving a rural ritual formula)
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018
Formula for the Meditrinalia
VARRO · DE LINGUA LATINA · 6.21
Wine new and old I drink, of illness new and old I am cured.
Roman · ritual
Protection
1st c. BC (Varro preserving an archaic formula)
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019
The Vestal Aemilia's prayer
DIONYSIUS OF HALICARNASSUS · ROMAN ANTIQUITIES · II.68.3-5
O Vesta, guardian of the Romans' city, if, during the space of nearly thirty years, I have performed the sacred offices to thee in a holy and proper manner, keeping a pure mind and a chaste body, do thou manifest thyself in my defence and assist me and do not suffer thy priestess to die the most miserable of all deaths; but if I have been guilty of any impious deed, let my punishment expiate the guilt of the city.
Roman · personal
Vesta
PetitionOath
1st c. BC (describing an earlier Republican event of uncertain date)
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020
Charm for a dislocation
CATO · DE AGRICULTURA · 160
Any kind of dislocation may be cured by the following charm: Take a green reed four or five feet long and split it down the middle, and let two men hold it to your hips. Begin to chant: "motas uaeta daries dardares astataries dissunapiter" and continue until they meet. Brandish a knife over them, and when the reeds meet so that one touches the other, grasp with the hand and cut right and left. If the pieces are applied to the dislocation or the fracture, it will heal. And none the less chant every day: "huat haut haut istasis tarsis ardannabou dannaustra."
Roman · ritual
Protection
2nd c. BC
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021
Prayer to Mars
CATO · DE AGRICULTURA · 141
Father Mars, I pray and beseech thee that thou be gracious and merciful to me, my house, and my household; to which intent I have bidden this suovetaurilia to be led around my land, my ground, my farm; that thou keep away, ward off, and remove sickness, seen and unseen, barrenness and destruction, ruin and unseasonable influence; and that thou permit my harvests, my grain, my vineyards, and my plantations to flourish and to come to good issue, preserve in health my shepherds and my flocks, and give good health and strength to me, my house, and my household. To this intent, to the intent of purifying my farm, my land, my ground, and of making an expiation, as I have said, deign to accept the offering of these suckling victims; Father Mars, to the same intent deign to accept the offering of these suckling victims.
Roman · ritual
Mars
PetitionProtectionDedication
2nd c. BC
→
022
Prayer for thinning a sacred grove
CATO · DE AGRICULTURA · 139
Whether thou be god or goddess to whom this grove is dedicated, as it is thy right to receive a sacrifice of a pig for the thinning of this sacred grove, and to this intent, whether I or one at my bidding do it, may it be rightly done. To this end, in offering this pig to thee I humbly beg that thou wilt be gracious and merciful to me, to my house and household, and to my children. Wilt thou deign to receive this pig which I offer thee to this end.
Roman · ritual
PetitionDedication
2nd c. BC
→
023
Prayer to Jupiter
CICERO · IN CATILINAM · 1.33
Then do you, O Jupiter, who were consecrated by Romulus with the same auspices as this City, whom we rightly call the stay of this city and empire, repel this man and his companions from your altars and from the other temples, from the houses and walls of the city, from the lives and fortunes of all the citizens; and overwhelm all the enemies of good men, the foes of the republic, the robbers of Italy, men bound together by a treaty and infamous alliance of crimes, dead and alive, with eternal punishments.
Roman · public
Jupiter
PetitionProtection
1st c. BC
→
024
Prayer to Jupiter
ANONYMOUS · CIL, ACTA LUDORUM SAECULARIUM · VI 32323, Iuppiter O.M.
Jupiter Optimus Maximus, as it is prescribed for you in the Sibylline Oracles, let sacrifice be made to you with this fine bull. I beg you and pray that you may increase the power and majesty of the Roman people, the Quirites, in war and peace; and that the Latins may always be obedient; and that you may grant eternal safety, victory and health to the Roman people, the Quirites.
Roman · ritual
Jupiter
PetitionDedication
Augustan
→
025
Prayer to Jupiter
LIVY · AB URBE CONDITA · 1.12.4-7
O Jupiter, it was through Your omen that I was led while I laid here upon the Palatine Hill, to establish the very first foundations of the city of Rome. Already the Arx, that fortress wickedly bought, is seized by the Sabines. But if You, Father of the Gods and of men, hold back our enemies, at least from this spot, delivering the Romans from their terror, and stay their shameful retreat, then this I vow to You, Jupiter Stator, that a holy precinct and shrine will be built in Your honor as a memorial to remind our descendents of how once the city of Rome was saved by Your aid.
Roman · public
Jupiter
PetitionOathDedication
Regal period (recorded by Livy)
→
026
Prayer to Jupiter
LIVY · AB URBE CONDITA · 1.24.7-9
Hear, o Jupiter; hear me, too, Pater Patratus of the people of Alba! As these provisions have been written in good faith and publicly read from beginning to end from these tablets, and inasmuch as they have today been most clearly understood, so the People of Rome will not be the first to withdraw from these treaty provisions. If, in their public council, they were to do so, with false and malicious intent break this treaty, then, Dispater, on that day, may You bring ruin on the People of Rome, even as today I shall strike this swine.
Roman · public
Jupiter
Oath
Regal period (recorded by Livy)
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027
Prayer to the Lares
TIBULLUS · ELEGIAE · 1.1.19-24
Lares, and you gods also, who earlier made our household fruitful and fortunate, may you guard and bless the little that remains today on our farm. Lares, accept what your kindred present to you. For you a lamb shall be offered when around your altar you'll hear rustic boys shouting, 'Io! Give us fine harvests and fruitful vines!'
Roman · personal
the Lares
PetitionDedication
1st c. BC
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028
Prayer to the Lares
TIBULLUS · ELEGIAE · 1.10.15-25
Lares, gods of my fathers, preserve me! While young and still nursing, you guided me when I played at your feet. Let none profane your antique images: rough-hewn wooden statues set upon altars of upturned sod then dwelled among our grandfathers. In those days humble reverence provided you with sweet honey alone, you stayed in meager shrines made of twigs, in tattered robes the gods were pleased with offerings of grapes and wreathes of wheat set upon carved heads. Lares, turn away from us those who scheme against us with their bronze weapons.
Roman · personal
the Lares
PetitionProtectionPraise
1st c. BC
→
029
Prayer to the Manes
OVID · FASTI · 5.435-443
After he has cleansed his hands with pure fountain water, he takes up the black beans in his mouth and turns, casting them back over his shoulder as he says, 'This I send to you, Manes, with these beans I redeem me and mine.' When nine times he has said this, then he says, 'Manes of my forefathers, leave this place.'
Roman · ritual
the Manes
Protection
Augustan
→
030
Prayer to Mercury
HORACE · CARMINA · 1.10.1-8; 17-20
Mercurius, by Atlas born to Maia, God who fashioned our uncivilized ancestors into cultured men of urbane speech and athletic bearing, to You I sing, Messenger of the Gods and of mighty Jove, inventor of the curved lyre, it pleases You to compose secret jokes and play pranks skillfully. Gladly You restore pious souls to their proper places and by the golden staff confine the trivial quarrel. Dear are You to the Gods above and below.
Roman · literary
Mercury
PraiseInvocation
Augustan
→
031
Prayer to Mercury
OVID · FASTI · 5.681-690
O Mercury, whether I have falsely called You to bear witness in the past, or deceitfully called upon Jupiter not to hear my empty promises, wash away my past perjuries, wash away yesterday's perfidious words, and allow me new perjuries to make when the new day dawns, and make the gods be indifferent to my lies. Grant that I may profit, grant joy in making a profit, grant that I may enjoy once more swindling my customers with deceitful words.
Roman · literary
Mercury
Petition
Augustan
→
032
Prayer to Neptune
ANONYMOUS · DEFIXIO / CURSE TABLET · AE 1997.977, Hamble, Britannia
Lord Neptune, I commend to You the fellow who pounced upon what rightfully belongs to Muconus and therefore I remit to You the six silver coins along with the one who stole them. May You ensnare this thief who violated me in this way; may You attack him and consume his blood, Lord Neptune.
Roman · personal
Neptune
Petition
→
033
Prayer to Pales
OVID · FASTI · 4.747
Pray to Pales with warm milk, say: 'Be equally mindful of sheep and their masters, Pales. May my stables escape from harm. If I have grazed my flock in sacred pastures, or sat beneath a sacred tree, if unknowingly my sheep plunked their fodder from gravesites, if I have entered a sacred grove forbidden to men, and the nymphs and the half goat gods fled in fear at the sight of me, if my knife has pruned a shady bough to give a basket of leaves to an ailing sheep, grant indulgence of my offenses. May I never herd home less than were counted in the morning. May I never bewail the torn fleece of my sheep carried off by a wolf. May unjust famine remain.'
Roman · ritual
Pales
PetitionProtection
Augustan
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034
Prayer to Robigo
OVID · FASTI · 4.911-926
Spare Ceres grain, O scabby Robigo, let the tips of sprouting shoots gently quiver above rich soil. Let the crops grow, nurtured in turn as each star passes through the heavens, until full and ripe they are readied for the scythe. Your power is not light. What grain You touch, the farmer notes as lost. Spare them, I pray. May You not grasp the crops, but embrace hard iron. Destroy first whatever else is able to destroy. Better to seize the destructive spear and sword. Do not violate Ceres, but allow the farmer time to fulfill his vows for Your absence.
Roman · ritual
Robigo
PetitionProtection
Augustan
→
035
Prayer to Silvanus
TITUS POMPONIUS VICTOR · CIL · XII.103
Silvanus, high guardian of other gardens as well, we offer you this holy ash tree on the forest's edge with songs of thanks. We dedicate this for our fields and Alpine mountain, and may it be acceptable as a shrine for yourself. While I discharge the law and perform Caesar's duties should your shrine favorably safeguard and prosper me and mine, men returned to Rome, and grant safekeeping of the Italian land we cherish, then to you I will indeed dedicate a thousand great trees.
Roman · personal
Silvanus
DedicationPetitionGratitude
Imperial
→
036
Prayer to the Manes
ANONYMOUS · CIL · CIL VI 18817
Whole-heartedly I pray to you, most holy Manes, may you admit my dear husband among you, and, may you want to be most indulging in this, that in the hours of the night I may see him and also be advised by him on what to do, in order that I may be able to swiftly and sweetly come stand by his side.
Roman · personal
the Manes
Petition
→
037
Prayer to Earth
ANTONIUS MUSA · PRECATIO TERRAE
Holy Goddess, Tellus, Mother of all Nature, engendering all things and regenerating them each day, as You alone bring forth from Your womb all things into life. Heavenly Goddess, overseeing all things on earth and throughout the seas, in whatever by silent nature is restored in sleep and in death, in the same way that You put to flight the Night with the Light You restore each day. Earth, Enricher of Life, You dispel the dark shadow of death and the disorder of vast endless Chaos. You hold back the winds and storms, the rain showers and tempests. You alone regulate the weather cycles. You give the Food of Life unfailingly, in fidelity, and when the soul by necessity departs, in You alone do we find refuge. Thus, whatever You give, in You all will be returned. Deservedly are You called Great Mother of the Gods. You are the Great Goddess, the Queen of Heaven. You, Goddess, I adore. I call upon Your power, come. Make what I ask to be readily and easily accomplished.
Roman · ritual
Earth
InvocationPraisePetition
1st c. BC - 1st c. AD
→
038
Prayer to Earth
ANTONIUS MUSA · PRECATIO TERRAE · 23-29
Hear me, please, and favor me. This I ask of You, Holy Mother, and may You willingly give answer to me: May whatever herbs grow by Your providence bring health to all humankind. May You now send these forth to me as Your medicines. May they be filled with Your healing virtues. May everything that I prepare from these herbs have good result, each and every one in the same way.
Roman · ritual
Earth
Petition
1st c. BC - 1st c. AD
→
039
Prayer to Earth
ANONYMOUS · CIL, ACTA LUDORUM SAECULARIUM · VI 32323, Terra Mater
Terra Mater, as it is prescribed for you in those books, let sacrifice be made to you with a pregnant sow of your own, as a whole burnt offering. I beg and pray that you may increase the sovereign power and majesty of the Roman people, the Quirites, in war and peace; as you have always watched over us among the Latins. Forever may you grant safety, victory and health to the Roman people, the Quirites.
Roman · ritual
Earth
PetitionDedication
Augustan
→
040
Prayer to Earth
STATIUS · THEBAID · 8.303-324
O eternal Creatrix of Gods and men, who animates forest and stream with soul, and joins seeds of life together throughout the world, and You bear the stones of Pyrrha that were enlivened into men by the hand of Prometheus. Hungry men You were first to give nourishment with a variety of foods. You encircle and carry the sea within You. Under Your power are the gentleness of domesticated herds and the ferocity of wild beasts and the repose from flight of birds. Firm and immobile, unsetting power of the earth suspended in the vacuum of space, You are the center around which the rapid heavens revolve. Therefore are You the Bountiful who nourishes so many nations. I pray You allow that those warriors who spend their last breath in the battle will have their souls return once more into the heavens.
Roman · literary
Earth
InvocationPraisePetition
1st c. AD
→
041
Prayer to Earth and the Penates
VIRGIL · AENEID · 7.120-122
Hail, O Mother Tellus, for whom I am destined, and you, too, faithful Gods of Troy, hail O Penates. This is our home; this, our homeland.
Roman · literary
Earth, the Penates
InvocationGratitude
Augustan
→
042
Prayer to Venus
LUCRETIUS · DE RERUM NATURA · 1.1-9
Venus Genetrix, charmer of gods and mankind, nurturing Mother, beneath the starry signs that glide through the night, You enliven the ship-bearing seas and the fruitful earth, since it is through You that all things are conceived and animated into life to behold the Light of Day. Goddess, for You the winds make way, the heavenly clouds open at Your coming, the miraculous earth greets You with sweet scented flowers, for You the surface of the seas laugh, and the peaceful heavens glisten in luminescence.
Roman · literary
Venus
InvocationPraise
1st c. BC
→
043
Prayer to Vesta
CICERO · DE DOMO SUA AD PONTIFICES · 144-145
Mother Vesta, I pray to You, whose most chaste Vestales I have defended against pillage and desecration by demented men; for their eternal flame I could not allow to pass, extinguished in the blood of citizens, or Your pure flame be intermingled with a conflagration sweeping the entire city. I call You as witness, I place myself and my family in Your hands, in these struggles I devoted myself and my life, while consul and before, without regard for my own interests, or for profit, but strove in all my actions and thoughts with vigilance for the safety and health of all my fellow citizens. When by Your favor my home is restored to me, may I at long last be allowed to consider it demonstrated that this devotion of my life has met with the approval of the Gods.
Roman · personal
Vesta
PetitionOath
1st c. BC
→
044
The ordeal of the Vestal Tuccia
VALERIUS MAXIMUS · FACTA ET DICTA MEMORABILIA · 8.1.5
O Vesta, if I have always brought pure hands to your secret services, make it so now that with this sieve I shall be able to draw water from the Tiber and bring it to Your temple.
Roman · personal
Vesta
PetitionOath
3rd c. BC (recorded 1st c. AD)
→
045
Prayer to Carmenta
ANONYMOUS · RITUS CARMENTIS · Hail prayer
Hail, Carmentis, Goddess of song and prophecy. From Your father Sebathus, Telon, king of the Taphonians, took You away from the river shores of Naples to the isle of Capree, there as Bateia, wife of Oebalus, to become mother to Spartans and Sabines alike. From Campania You set sail with Your son Evander up the River Tiber, showing him where to make land, and teaching him the songs by which to found Paletum. In Your sacred grove beneath the Palatine Hill You sang as Nicostrate the rites by which Hercules was to honor His Father Jupiter. There, too, You met with Dardanian Aeneas, singing for him the vision of Rome that his generations would found upon the Septimonium. There in Your sacred grove you sang to the infant twins as they were nurtured by a she-wolf.
Roman · ritual
Carmenta
PraiseInvocation
modern reconstruction (Nova Roma)
→
046
Prayer to Carmenta
ANONYMOUS · RITUS CARMENTIS · childbirth prayer
Grant her the strength, Carmentis, to whom I ask, to whom I pray; extend your assistance to her. Bring with you every herb for ending pain, and soothing songs to sing over her; from across the ocean, from distant shores, bear such herbs as will cure her most severe ills, or whatever else she may most fear. Rack this girl no longer with pain, nor cruelly delay her birthing.
Roman · personal
Carmenta
PetitionInvocation
modern reconstruction (Nova Roma)
→
047
Prayer to Carmenta
LIVIUS ANDRONICUS · ODISIA / EQUOS TROIANOS · 1.1
Carmena, in hot pursuit of virtuous men, come to me. Before wise Minerva invented Roman numerals, before any Greek inscribed the words of Homer, Latin letters You taught to Eulina of Gabii. Maenelian Voice carried from across the sea, inspire us with song that we may address the Gods, bring charms to teach our children their letters, that they may carry on as pious Romans.
Roman · literary
Carmenta
InvocationPetition
3rd c. BC
→
048
Prayer to Janus
CATO · DE AGRICULTURA · 134
Father Janus, to You I pray with good prayers, offering You this pile of cakes, so that You might willingly be favorable to me and my children, to my home and household. Father Janus, for the same reasons given in the good prayers I prayed while offering You piled cakes, may You accept and be honored by this portion of wine I pour.
Roman · ritual
Janus
PetitionDedication
2nd c. BC
→
049
The fetial declaration of war
LIVY · AB URBE CONDITA · 1.32.10
Hear, o Jupiter, and You Janus Quirinus, and all You heavenly Gods, and You gods of earth and of the lower world, hear me! I call You to witness that this people is unjust and does not fulfill its sacred obligations.
Roman · public
Janus, Jupiter
OathPetition
Regal period (recorded by Livy)
→
050
Prayer to Janus
OVID · FASTI · 1.65-70
Biformed Janus, source of years gliding by in silence, who alone among the immortal celestials sees his own back, come, attend our nobles as Your guests, those whose labors secure delightful pastimes for the earth, and peace on earth, peace on the seas. Attend and bless Your Senators and those of the people of Rome, the Quirites, and with a nod open Your gleaming gates onto peaceful precincts.
Roman · literary
Janus
InvocationPetition
Augustan
→
051
The Salian Hymn
VARRO · LINGUA LATINA / CARMEN SALII · 7.26
Arise, O Consus, arise. All things, truly, I entrust to Patulcium the Opener. Now You are Janus the Gatekeeper, now Cerus the Good Creator, now Janus the God of Good Beginnings. Come, now most especially, You who are the better of these kings.
Roman · ritual
Janus, Consus
Invocation
Archaic
→
052
Prayer to Juno
APULEIUS · METAMORPHOSES · 6.4
O spouse and sister of Mighty Jupiter, whether You are worshipped and adored in the public rites of the temples of Samos, or whether You are called upon singularly by women in their tearful moment of giving birth, Your glory is nourished. Famous among the Argives whose walls You defend, You who all the east venerates as Life-giving Zygia, who all the west names Lucina, may You be an advocate for me against my utter downfall, Juno Sospita, and endure until the end in all my weary labors, exhausted as I am, deliver me from imminent peril and free me from my fears, for I know You are accustomed to come of Your own accord to the assistance of such women who are pregnant and in danger.
Roman · literary
Juno
PetitionInvocation
2nd c. AD
→
053
Prayer to Juno
ANONYMOUS · CIL, ACTA LUDORUM SAECULARIUM · VI 32323, Iuno Regina
Juno Regina, as it is prescribed for you in those books, let sacrifice be made to You with a fine cow. I beg and pray that You may increase the sovereign power and majesty of the Roman people, the Quirites, in war and peace; as You have always watched over us among the Latins. Forever may You grant safety, victory and health to the Roman people, the Quirites.
Roman · ritual
Juno
PetitionDedication
Augustan
→
054
Prayer to Juno
ANONYMOUS · CIL, ACTA LUDORUM SAECULARIUM · VI 32323, CX matres familias
Juno Regina, if there is any better fortune that may attend the Roman people, the Quirites, we one hundred and ten mistresses of households of the Roman people, the Quirites, married women on bended knee, pray that You bring it about, we beg and beseech that You increase the power and majesty of the Roman people, the Quirites in war and peace; and that the Latins may always be obedient; and that You may grant eternal safety, victory and health to the Roman people, the Quirites.
Roman · public
Juno
Petition
Augustan
→
055
Prayer to Juno
SILIUS ITALICUS · PUNICA · 7.78-85
Be present O Queen of the Heavenly Gods, we Your chaste daughters pray and bring forth this venerable gift, we, all the Roman women of noble name, have woven this mantle with our own hands, embroidered it for You with threads of gold. This veil You shall wear for now, Juno, until we mothers grow less tearful for our sons. But if You will grant that we may repel these African storm clouds from our land, we shall set upon You a flashing crown of diverse gems set in gold.
Roman · public
Juno
PetitionDedication
1st c. AD
→
056
Prayer to Mother Earth
ANONYMOUS · CIL · VI.9204
Mother Earth, indeed to You I pray, settle lightly on these bones, as she knew that piety is the reward of she who merits it, and whoever sincerely stands out in performing her own pious duties may be carried on that happy path to the Gods above.
Roman · personal
Mother Earth
Petition
→
057
Prayer to Carmenta
ANONYMOUS · RITUS CARMENTIS · healing prayer
Draw near, Carmentis, and expel the illness from this tender girl. Come quickly, Carmentis. Believe me, never shall You regret at having laid Your healing hand upon this comely girl. Do not allow her form to languish pale and thin, nor disfiguring hue to mark her feeble limbs, and whatever ill has come upon her, whatever dread things we fear, may the rushing river-waters carry them away to the sea. Come, Holy Mother, and bring with You soothing herbs and healing songs as will ease her wearied body.
Roman · ritual
Carmenta
PetitionInvocation
modern reconstruction (Nova Roma)
→
058
Prayer to Bacchus and Liber
OVID · METAMORPHOSES · 4.11-17; 31
Bacchus they call you, and Bromius, and Lyaeus, born in fire, and Savior also, who alone was born of two mothers. Revered as a God in Nyseus, unshorn Thyoneus, joyful Lenaeus, the sower of grapes, Lord of Nocturnal Revelries, the Bullroarer, and by many more names, Liber, are You known among the Greeks. Adored for your eternal youth, a youth everlasting, you the most beautiful among the celestial Gods high above, to You are sacrifices made when You, without horns upon Your most virgin head, are near and lend us Your assistance. Arising victorious in the East, illuminating those distant lands faded in memory, to outermost India as far as the banks of the Ganges. Calm and mild, may you come to us.
Roman · literary
Bacchus, Liber
InvocationPraise
Augustan
→
059
Prayer to Bacchus
PROPERTIUS · ELEGIAE · 3.17.1-10
O Bacchus, humbly now I approach Your altar. Grant tranquil seas for me, Father, and a fair wind in my sails. You are able to tame even the rages of Venus; Your wine a cure for our sorrows. By You are lovers bound to one another; by You are their bonds dissolved.
Roman · literary
Bacchus
PetitionDedicationInvocation
Augustan
→
060
Prayer to Bacchus and Ceres
TIBULLUS · ELEGIAE · 2.1.3-4; 17-20
Come to us, Bacchus, with clusters of grapes dangling from your horns, and you, too, Ceres, a wreath of newly ripened wheat for your temples, come! Gods of our fathers, we purify our farmers and our fruitful fields; we ask that you drive away harm from our borders. Let not the now sprouting plants succumb before harvest, let not the timid lambs be outrun by swift wolves.
Roman · ritual
Bacchus, Ceres
InvocationPetitionProtection
1st c. BC
→
061
Prayer to Ceres
VIRGIL · GEORGICS · 1.338-350
Before all else, worship the Gods, and to great Ceres pay Her annual due upon the happy sward with sacrifice, at the utmost end of winter, when spring begins to smile. Then are the lambs fat, and the wines most mellow, then is sleep sweet, and dark the shadows fall upon the mountains. Let your rustic youth do obedience to Ceres, one and all; and for Her pleasure mix honeycombs in milk, and offer Liber's ripe produce. Thrice for luck around the young grain let the offerings travel, and all the choir, a joyful company, attend it, and with shouts bid Ceres come to be their house-mate. Let no man dare put sickle to ripened ears until, with woven oak his temples wreath, he foot the rugged dance and chant the lay.
Roman · ritual
Ceres
InvocationDedicationPraise
Augustan
→
062
Prayer to Ceres
APULEIUS · METAMORPHOSES · 6.2
O merciful Mother, I pray You avert my sorrow, by Your generous and temperate right hand, by the joyful harvest festival, by Your mysteries kept in silent secrecy, by Your winged servants, the dragons who serve Your chariot as You go about, and by the furrows in Sicilian clods of earth, and the plow-wheels that churn them from firm soil, by the marriage of Proserpina that You discovered through diligently seeking after Your daughter, and by the mysteries held in silent secrecy within the Attic temple of Eleusis, halt the misery of Your servant Psyche. Among this piled wheat let me be concealed, if only for a few days, until the ire of so great a Goddess passes, or at least give me a quiet interval that I might rest from my great labour and travail.
Roman · literary
Ceres
PetitionInvocation
2nd c. AD
→
063
Prayer to Ceres and Isis
APULEIUS · METAMORPHOSES · 11.2
O blessed Queen of Heaven, whether you are the Lady Ceres who is the original and motherly source of all fruitful things in earth, who after finding Your daughter Proserpina, through the great joy which You did presently conceive, made barren and unfruitful ground to be plowed and sown — You which nourishes all the fruits of the world by Your vigor and force; with whatsoever name or fashion it is lawful to call upon You, I pray You end my great travail and misery, and deliver me from the wretched fortune, which has for so long a time pursued me. Grant peace and rest if it please You to reply to my entreaties, for I have endured too much labor and peril. Remove from me this misshapen form, and return me to my pristine form, and if I have offended in any way the divine Majesty, let me rather die than live, for I am fully weary of my life.
Roman · literary
Ceres, Isis
PetitionInvocation
2nd c. AD
→
064
Prayer to Ceres
CATO · DE AGRICULTURA · 134
Ceres Mater, to You I pray with good prayers, offering You this pile of cakes, so that You might willing be favorable to me and my children, to my home and household. Ceres Mater, for the same reasons given in the good prayers I prayed while offering You piled cakes, may You accept and be honored by this portion of wine I pour.
Roman · ritual
Ceres, Janus, Jupiter, Juno
PetitionDedication
2nd c. BC
→
065
Prayer to Ceres and Libera
CICERO · IN C. VERREM · II.5.187-188
O Ceres and Libera, whose sacred worship is contained in the most important and most abstruse mysteries; You, by whom the principles of life and food, the examples of laws, customs, humanity, and refinement are said to have been given and distributed to nations and to cities; You, again and again I implore and appeal to, most holy Goddesses, who dwell around those lakes and groves of Enna, and who preside over all Sicily — You whose invention and gift of corn, which You have distributed over the whole earth, inspires all nations and all races of men with reverence for Your divine power.
Roman · public
Ceres, Libera
InvocationPraise
1st c. BC
→
066
Prayer to Ceres and Earth
OVID · FASTI · 1.671-704
O Mothers of Fruitfulness, Earth and Ceres, please, with salted spelt cakes offered for Your mother's woe, in kind service have Earth and Ceres nurtured wheat, She who gave grain life, She who gave us room to grow. May You grant tender seed abundant increase. Let not icy cold enwrap our new shoots with snow, while we sow let cloudless skies and fair winds blow. When the seed lies sprouting, sprinkle with gentle rains, may You ward off the feasting by birds from our grains.
Roman · ritual
Ceres, Earth
PetitionProtection
Augustan
→
067
Prayer to Ceres
M. HORATIUS PISCINUS · HARVEST PRAYER TO CERES (MODERN RECONSTRUCTION)
O most holy Ceres, nurturing Mother, whose sacred womb gave birth to both Gods and men; You, Vervactor, who first yoked the oxen and placed the ploughshare to virgin soil; You, Reparator, who first prepared furrows in fallow land; You, Imporcitor, who first made wide our furrows; You, Insitor, who first cast Your bounty on the earth and taught the seed to grow; Obarator, Sarritor, Subruncinator, and You, Sterculinia, who first cared for crops; You, Flora, who make the grain to bear fruit; You, Messitor, who first set scythe to grain stalks; You, Convector, who first spread grain on the sacred harvest floor; You, Noduterentor, who first showed us how to thresh, and You, most holy Ceres, whose very breath separates the white chaff from the golden grain; You, Conditor and Tutilina, who guard the grain in storage; You, Promitor, who first milled the grain and distributed its flour for our daily bread; You, eternal savior, Ceres, lavishing Your bounty upon me and mine, to You, flaxen-haired Ceres, gladly I give thanks and praise, and, from the little I have, to You I willingly make an offering. Accept these, the first fruits of my fields. May my offering incline You more towards me. May You ever nourish me and mine with Your bounty, O most holy and nurturing Mother, gentle Ceres.
Roman · ritual
Ceres, Flora, Earth
InvocationGratitudeDedicationPraise
→
068
Prayer to Diana
CATULLUS · CARMINA · 34
Diana, in faith, we are pure girls and boys, allow us to sing to You. Diana, magnificent child of still greater Jove, whose mother Latona gave You birth in an olive grove on Delos. Lady of the Mountains who runs over hills and through dark forests, over the wild rough hill country and through the tall grass of hidden valleys, in mountain pastures cut by roaring streams. Women in the pain of childbirth call you Lucina. You are Trivia, goddess of witches. You are Luna, the luminous moon. Monthly is measured the progress of Your journey through the year while You fill the rustic homes of good farmers with the fruits of the earth. By whatsoever holy name it pleases You, from antiquity have You accepted our customary offerings, preserve in good faith the children of Romulus as ever You graced our ancestors.
Roman · ritual
Diana
PraiseInvocationPetition
1st c. BC
→
069
Prayer to Diana
HORACE · CARMINA · 3.22.1-8
Guardian of hills and forest groves, Virgin, whom young mothers thrice invoke at childbirth, listen and deliver them from death. Triple goddess, to You I dedicate this pine tree that now overhangs my villa and each year the blood of a wild boar, who ponders an oblique thrust, I will gladly give to its roots as drink.
Roman · personal
Diana
InvocationDedicationPetition
Augustan
→
070
Prayer to Diana and Apollo
HORACE · CARMEN SAECULARE · 1-4; 13-16; 69-72
O shining Phoebe and forest Diana, Lucidum, shining ornaments of the sky, ever gentle and refined, O sacred brows, give us what we pray for now. Gentle Moon, Ilithyia, Lucina, by whatever name you wish to be called, Gentalis, watch over mothers, may You give them gentle deliveries.
Roman · ritual
Diana, Apollo
PetitionInvocationPraise
Augustan
→
071
Prayer to Diana and Eileithyia
OVID · AMORES · 2.13.19-26
Ilithyia, You who are compassionate towards women in labor, who suffer with great pains in their womb, their bodies strained in slow birth of the hidden child, gently attend to her, Ilithyia, and favor my prayers. She is worthy of Your aid, reward her with life, I will myself, dressed in pure white robes offer frankincense upon Your altar, I will myself carry votive gifts to lay at Your feet. And to Your altar's inscription I shall add, 'By Naso, for Corinna saved.' Act in this manner, and receive the legend inscribed and the gifts in Your sanctuary.
Roman · personal
Diana, Eileithyia
PetitionDedication
Augustan
→
072
Prayer to Diana
STATIUS · THEBAID · 9.608-635
Virgin Goddess of the sacred groves, whose unkind banners and fierce battle cries I follow, scorning my sex in a manner unlike the Greeks. If ever did I not boldly enter Bacchic revelries of the night, and even after I married, though my virgin purity was soiled, in my heart of hearts I remained a virgin huntress. I took no care to hide my fault from You in some secret cave, but held out my son to You, confessed my shame and trembling laid him at Your feet. He was not of degenerate blood, not weak or mild, but straightaway he crawled to my bow and as a babe cried for my arrow. For him I pray — whose fate causes me these restless nights and threatening dreams — for him, who now audaciously goes too boldly off to war, I pray to You that I may see him victorious, or, if I pray for too much, grant at least that I may see him once more. I pray, merciful Dictynna, by Your mother's labors and Your brother's glory, with all Your arrows pierce deeply this unhappy womb, and let him first hear of his wretched mother's death.
Roman · literary
Diana
PetitionOath
1st c. AD
→
073
Prayer to Diana
VIRGIL · AENEID · 11.557-560
Gracious Diana, virgin daughter of Latona, who inhabits sacred groves and nurtures woodlands, I, her father, vow this child into service as Your handmaiden. Holding Your weapons before all others, Your suppliant flees on the wind from the enemy. Bear witness to my vow, I pray, O Goddess, and accept her as Your own, whom I now commit to a precarious breeze.
Roman · literary
Diana
DedicationOath
Augustan
→
074
Prayer to Diana
VIRGIL · ECLOGUES · 4.8-10
Only do You, at the boy's birth, in whom a golden race now arises the world over, and the men of iron first begin to pass away, You alone favor him, chaste Lucina; indeed Your own Apollo reigns.
Roman · literary
Diana
PetitionInvocation
Augustan
→
075
Prayer to Apollo
ANONYMOUS · CIL, ACTA LUDORUM SAECULARIUM · VI 32323 (Apollini et Dianae)
Apollo, as it is prescribed for you in those books — and for this reason may every good fortune attend the Roman people, the Quirites — let sacrifice be made to you with nine popana, and nine cakes, and nine phthoes. I beg and pray that you may increase the sovereign power and majesty of the Roman people, the Quirites, in war and peace; as you have always watched over us among the Latins. Forever may you grant safety, victory and health to the Roman people, the Quirites. May you bestow your favor on the Roman people, the Quirites, and on the legions of the Roman people, the Quirites. May you preserve the health and welfare of the people of Rome, the Quirites, and may you always remain willingly favorable and propitious to the people of Rome, the Quirites, to the college of the quindecimviri, to me, to my house and household.
Roman · ritual
Apollo
PetitionProtectionDedication
Augustan
→
076
Prayer to Apollo
HORACE · CARMINA · 1.31.1-4; 17-20
What may a poet ask in his prayers of You, Apollo? What can he say as he pours a libation of new wine to You? May Apollo grant that I enjoy good health and a sound mind, and, I pray, when I grow old, may He grant me a strife-free life, a clear mind and a lyre beside me with which to sing His praises.
Roman · literary
Apollo
Petition
Augustan
→
077
Prayer to Apollo and Juno
LIVY · AB URBE CONDITA · 5.21.2-3
Pythian Apollo, inspired by You and Your guiding influence I go forth to destroy the city of Veii. A tenth part of its spoils I devote to You. Likewise for You, Juno Regina, who in Veii now dwells, I pray, that after our victory You will follow us to our City, that soon will become Your City as well, where a holy precinct worthy of Your dignity will be built to receive You.
Roman · public
Apollo, Juno
PetitionDedicationOath
4th c. BC (recorded by Livy, 1st c. BC)
→
078
Prayer to Apollo and Aesculapius
QUINTUS SERENUS SAMMONICUS · LIBER MEDICINALIS · Praefatio
Phoebus Apollo, bearer of health, for You we compose our song, and favorably promote Your discoveries. With Your healing arts, You lead life back when it is withdrawn from us and recall us from joining the Manes in Heaven. You who formerly dwelt in the temples of Aegea, Pergamum, and Epidaurum, and who drove off the Python from Your peaceful house at Delphi, sought a temple at Rome to Your glory, by expelling the foul presence of illness. Come to me now as each time You have fondly strengthen me when often You were called, and may You be present in all that is set out in this book.
Roman · ritual
Apollo, Aesculapius
InvocationPetitionPraise
2nd-3rd c. AD
→
079
Prayer to Apollo
TIBULLUS · ELEGIAE · 3.10.1-10; 25-26
Draw near, Apollo, and expel the illness from this tender girl, come, draw near. Phoebus of flowing hair unshorn, hear me and hasten. If, Phoebus, You apply Your healing hand to her, You will not regret saving her. Allow not that she should waste away emaciated, or that her color should wane to pallor, or that her limbs should lose their strength, and do not wait until her white limbs turn to a hideous color. Whatsoever this illness may be, whatever sorrow we may fear it will bring, carry it off with the waters of a swift running stream to the seas. Holy one, come! And bring with You all Your delicacies, all Your songs, and all else that will soothe the sick.
Roman · personal
Apollo
PetitionProtection
1st c. BC
→
080
Prayer to Apollo
VIRGIL · AENEID · 3.85-89
Grant us our own, Lord of Thymbra, grant the tired and worn, and their children, a city behind defensive walls in a tamed land. Safeguard a new Troy, built by those Trojan sons who escaped the Greeks and severe Achilles. Who now must I follow? Where do you urge me to go? Grant, Father, a sign, and flow into our souls.
Roman · literary
Apollo
PetitionInvocation
Augustan
→
081
Prayer to Apollo and Hecate
VIRGIL · AENEID · 6.55-77
O Phoebus Apollo, who always pitied Troy of its grave hardship, you who guided the hand of Paris and his Dardanian missile to the body of Acacus' son, You who led me to penetrate all the seas that wash upon mighty shores — let Troy's ill fortune have followed us thus far (and no further). You most holy Diviner of future events, I ask only for what fate has allotted me, grant that the sons of Teucria with their wandering gods and storm tossed spirits of Troy may settle in Latium. Then to Apollo and Hecate I shall erect temples in marble and establish feast days celebrated in Apollo's name. Do not commit your songs only to the leaves, that they may swirl about as the sport of whirling winds, but sing them, I pray, with your own lips for us.
Roman · literary
Apollo, Hecate
PetitionDedicationInvocation
Augustan
→
082
Prayer to Ceres
OVID · METAMORPHOSES · 5.341-343
Ceres first turned the earth with the curved plough; she first gave corn and crops to bless the land; she first gave laws; all things are Ceres' gift. Of Ceres I must sing. Oh that my song may hymn the goddess' praise as she deserves, a goddess who deserved high hymns of praise.
Roman · hymn
Ceres
InvocationPraise
early 1st c. AD
→
083
Prayer to Mars
CLAUDIAN · IN RUFINUM · 1.334-348
Mars, whether you rush down from the cloud-capped Mount Haemus, whether on the frosty white mountains of Thrace, whether stirring on Monte Santo in Macedonia with the black boots of soldiers stationed on all the lands they hold, to make ready with me, and defend your Thrace, if it is made happy, the campaign coming into glory, the sacred oak will be dressed with an offering of spolia.
Roman · personal
Mars
PetitionDedication
late 4th / early 5th c. AD
→
084
Prayer to Neria and Mars
AULUS GELLIUS · NOCTES ATTICAE · 13.23.13
Neria, wife of Mars, I appeal to you, give peace. May you use your own favored position with your husband; counsel Him to partake in this plan. In the same way as we reconcile ourselves to those who carried off our daughters, may you now join with Him for all times in favoring His.
Roman · public
Neria, Mars
Petition
2nd c. AD (preserving archaic formula)
→
085
Prayer to Vulcan
GRATTIUS FALISCUS · CYNEGETICA · 437-442
Holy Vulcanus, foremost of those who cherish this place, to You we pray for peace. Grant Your ultimate assistance to the tired and worn, and, if no one here merits punishment for some noxious crime, may You have mercy on all their souls and allow them to reach Your purifying fountains. Three times they invoke Your name, three times they pour rich incense upon the focal fire, and strew the altar with auspicious boughs in Your honor.
Roman · ritual
Vulcan
PetitionProtection
late 1st c. BC / early 1st c. AD
→
086
Prayer to Mars
HORACE · CARMINA · 1.2.35-40
Father Mars, too long have You neglected to look upon Your nation and upon Your grandchildren. Alas, for too long have You been absent in the game of war. Recall Your delight in the clash of battle; come, Mars, take pride once more in the sight of polished Roman helmets gleaming, and how the battle hardened legions meet the grimacing Maurians in battle. Come now, we pray.
Roman · personal
Mars
PetitionInvocation
late 1st c. BC
→
087
Prayer to Bellona
LIVY · AB URBE CONDITA · 10.19.17-18
If today, Bellona, You grant us victory, a new temple I vow.
Roman · ritual
Bellona
OathDedication
late 1st c. BC (recording events of 296 BC)
→
088
A prayer for war against strangers
LUCAN · DE BELLO CIVILI (PHARSALIA) · 2.47-49
Gods above, we do not pray for peace. Grant rage onto the nations. May You now arouse the cities; bring forth the whole world in arms to war.
Roman · public
Petition
mid 1st c. AD
→
089
Prayer to Vulcan
MARTIAL · EPIGRAMMATA · 5.7.5-8
Soon, I pray, Vulcan, memories of whispered rumors of disgrace and loud quarrels of complaint You will no longer hold against the children of Mars; we are also the children of Your sweet wife Venus, spare us, Father.
Roman · personal
Vulcan, Venus, Mars
Petition
late 1st c. AD
→
090
Prayer to Mars
OVID · FASTI · 3.1-2
Bellicose Mars, lay aside for awhile Your round bronze shield and spear. Mars, be present and let loose from its helmet Your sleek, shining hair.
Roman · personal
Mars
Invocation
early 1st c. AD
→
091
Prayer to Priapus
ANONYMOUS · CARMINA PRIAPEA · 37
Give assistance, Priapus, to the part of which you, father, seem to be a part yourself! If it is made healthy without surgery, a painted one, its equal in size, shape and color, shall be dedicated to you.
Roman · personal
Priapus
PetitionDedication
1st c. AD
→
092
Prayer to Mars
SILIUS ITALICUS · PUNICA · 3.126-127
But You, O Mars, Father of Warfare, have pity on us, turn evil aside from us and preserve my husband's life as inviolable to all Trojan assaults.
Roman · personal
Mars
PetitionProtection
late 1st c. AD
→
093
Prayer to Mars
SILIUS ITALICUS · PUNICA · 10.553-554
Father Mars, You who were not at all deaf to my vows, these men, survivors of the battle, dedicate to You the choicest armour of our victory trophies.
Roman · public
Mars
GratitudeDedication
late 1st c. AD
→
094
Prayer to Aesculapius and Salus
TERENCE · HECYRA · 328
I'm sadly afraid Philumena's illness is getting worse. Aesculapius, I do entreat thee, and thee, Salus, that it may not be so.
Roman · personal
Aesculapius, Salus
Petition
2nd c. BC
→
095
Prayer to Mars Gradivus
VALERIUS FLACCUS · ARGONAUTICA · 5.250-252
Mars Gradivus, hear me, on whose sacred oak which fleece glitters. Protect it and keep it safe always, your arms prepared to clash at the clarion's sound to which your voice responds, ringing out in the darkness.
Roman · personal
Mars Gradivus
PetitionProtection
late 1st c. AD
→
096
Prayer to Jupiter Capitolinus
VELLEIUS PATERCULUS · HISTORIAE ROMANAE · II.131
Jupiter Capitolinus, Mars Gradivus called progenitor and aide of the Romans, Vesta, perpetual guardian of fire, and whatever divine powers in this greatness of Roman sovereignty, the largest empire on earth, exulted to the highest dignity, to You the public voice calls to witness and to pray: guard, preserve, and protect this state, this peace, this prince, and those who succeed to the Senate, by their long standing, determined worthy to consider the most grave matters among mortals.
Roman · public
Jupiter Capitolinus, Mars Gradivus, Vesta
PetitionProtection
early 1st c. AD
→
097
Prayer to Bacchus and Liber
OVID · FASTI · III.713-714
There's a popular festival of Bacchus, on the third day after the Ides. Bacchus, favour the poet who sings your feast.
Roman · personal
Bacchus, Liber
Petition
early 1st c. AD
→
098
Prayer to Bacchus and Liber
OVID · FASTI · 3.789-790
Father, turn your mild head here, and gentle horns, and spread the sails of my art to a favourable breeze.
Roman · personal
Bacchus, Liber
Petition
early 1st c. AD
→
099
Prayer to Flora
OVID · FASTI · V.377-378
That Naso's lay may bloom for aye, O strew, I pray thee, goddess, thy boons upon my breast!
Roman · personal
Flora
Petition
early 1st c. AD
→
100
Prayer to Mars
CATO · DE AGRICULTURA · 141
Father Mars, if aught hath not pleased thee in the offering of those sucklings, I make atonement with this pig.
Roman · ritual
Mars
PetitionDedication
2nd c. BC
→
101
Prayer to Faunus
HORACE · CARMINA · 3.18.1-8
Amorous Faunus, from whom the Nymphs flee, step lightly across my boundaries and sunny fields, and soon depart, leaving your blessing on my young lambs and kids, and leveled tender shoots. If gentle, at year's end a plumb kid I'll offer, with wine libations liberally poured from the cups of Venus' devotees, and many sweet, fragrant herbs I'll burn on your ancient altar.
Roman · personal
Faunus
PetitionDedication
Augustan
→
102
Prayer to Faunus and Mother Earth
VIRGIL · AENEID · 12.777-779
Faunus, have pity, I pray, and you, opulent Earth, hold fast this weapon, if always I have honored your worship in good faith.
Roman · literary
Faunus, Mother Earth
Petition
Augustan
→
103
Prayer to Hecate
VIRGIL · AENEID · 4.609-612
Nocturnal Hecate, who is called at the crossroads throughout the City, and Avenging Dirae, and Elissa's gods of the dying, hear our prayers, heed them, and direct your awful powers against those who deserve it.
Roman · literary
Hecate
PetitionInvocation
Augustan
→
104
Prayer to Jupiter
CATO · DE AGRICULTURA · 132
Jupiter Dapalis, it is a tradition in my family that a cup of wine be offered to You in thanksgiving for the sacred feast. For this reason may You accept this feast offering. Jupiter Dapalis, may You be strengthened by this feast, may You be warmed by this small portion of our wine that I offer.
Roman · ritual
Jupiter
DedicationGratitude
2nd c. BC
→
105
Prayer to Jupiter
CICERO · DE DOMO SUA AD PONTIFICES · 144
Jupiter Capitolinus, to You I pray, I entreat You, who the Roman people have named Optimus after Your kindness and Maximus after Your great power.
Roman · public
Jupiter
InvocationPetition
1st c. BC
→
106
The oath at Canusium
LIVY · AB URBE CONDITA · 22.53.10-11
I swear with a deep conviction of mind that I shall never allow myself to desert the Republic of the people of Rome. If I should willfully break my oath, may Jupiter Optimus Maximus inflict upon me the worst, most shameful ruin, and on my house, my family, and all I possess.
Roman · public
Jupiter
Oath
3rd c. BC (recorded by Livy)
→
107
Prayer to Jupiter
VIRGIL · AENEID · 5.687-693
Jupiter Almighty, if You do not yet detest every Trojan to a man, if You still regard our pious acts of old, Father, grant that the flames will now avoid our fleet, and may You pull the diminished people of Troy away from destruction. Or else, if I so deserve, then send forth Your thunderbolt from above and cast those who remain into death, and by Your power rightly bury them.
Roman · literary
Jupiter
Petition
Augustan
→
108
Prayer to Jupiter
STATIUS · THEBAID · 3.470-476
Almighty Jupiter, You are He who imparts counsel to swift wings, and You who fills birds with foreknowledge of the future, and brings to light the omens and causes that lurk within the heavens. More enriched in mind is he, for whom You, O Dictaean Jupiter, announce Your will in the favoring flights of birds. May You allow that, guided by the skies, we shall have foreknowledge of the assembly of Argive forces and their initial movements in the fight ahead.
Roman · literary
Jupiter
PetitionInvocation
1st c. AD
→
109
Prayer to the Lares
ENNIUS · ANNALES · I fr. 141
And you Lares, care for our house that you established.
Roman · personal
the Lares
Petition
3rd-2nd c. BC
→
110
Prayer to the Penates
PLAUTUS · MERCATOR · 834-835
Divine Penates of our ancestors, to you I commend the good fortune of my parents, and to you, Spiritual Father of our family, that you safeguard them well.
Roman · personal
the Penates
PetitionDedication
2nd c. BC
→
111
Prayer to the Lares
PLAUTUS · MERCATOR · 865
Lares of the roadside, I call upon you to kindly protect me.
Roman · personal
the Lares
PetitionProtection
2nd c. BC
→
112
Prayer to the Penates and Vesta
VIRGIL · GEORGICS · 1.498-501
Gods of our Fathers, Indigetes, heroes native to this land, Romulus and Mother Vesta, who preserve Etruscan Tiber and Roman Palatine, in this at least do not prohibit, a young savior come to the aid of a generation decimated by war.
Roman · literary
the Penates, Vesta
Petition
Augustan
→
113
Prayer to Mercury
HORACE · SATIRES · 2.6.4-5
It is well. Nothing more ample do I pray, O Maia's son, save that You will make these my gifts last throughout my life.
Roman · personal
Mercury
Petition
Augustan
→
114
Prayer to Mercury
HORACE · SATIRES · 2.6.14-15
May You, Mercurius, make plump the riches of my house and all else there, spare my natural talents in any case, and as usual, may You remain the primary guardian over me.
Roman · personal
Mercury
Petition
Augustan
→
115
Prayer to Mercury
MANILIUS · ASTRONOMICON · 1.30ff
Mercurius Cyllenius, principle author of all sacred knowledge, at times within Heaven, at other times travelling within the starry signs to open the celestial paths to the highest parts above and the lowest paths beneath the earth. You stitch together the stars in the empty void of space into constellations, name them and determine their course; may it have been for us to reverently use the greater powers of the universe that You make.
Roman · literary
Mercury
InvocationPraise
Augustan
→
116
Prayer to Perfidia
PLAUTUS · ASINARIA · 545-546
Praise and thanks we ought justly to give to the great god of treachery, Mercurius, for surely there is no end in sight to our own slanderous ways, our deceitfulness or our slyness.
Roman · literary
Perfidia
GratitudePraise
2nd c. BC
→
117
Prayer to Minerva
CICERO · DE DOMO SUA AD PONTIFICES · 144
O Minerva, You have always come to my aid with Your counsels, witness to the existence of my works.
Roman · personal
Minerva
GratitudeInvocation
1st c. BC
→
118
Prayer to Minerva
SENECA · HERCULES FURENS · 900
To you, you alone, O warlike Pallas Minerva, I pray, friend and companion in all my toils; Tamer of Lycurgus, ivy wreathed you crossed the eastern seas, bearing the Thyrsus in your hand; and you divine twins, Apollo and Diana, hear my prayer.
Roman · literary
Minerva, Apollo, Diana
InvocationPetition
1st c. AD
→
119
Prayer to Minerva
STATIUS · THEBAID · 2.715-729
Proud, warlike Goddess, great honor and wisdom of Your Father, powerful in war are You, on whom the grim helmet is borne with its frightful decoration, speckled with the Gorgon's blood that glows more violent with increasing rage. May You with Your nod accept this sacrificial offering. Should I return to my Parthaonian fields, then amid her hills I shall dedicate to you a golden temple where a hundred Calydonian virgins will serve in devotions at your altar.
Roman · literary
Minerva
PetitionDedicationOath
1st c. AD
→
120
Prayer to Minerva
OVID · FASTI · 6.652
Come now, golden haired Minerva, to favor the task I've begun.
Roman · literary
Minerva
Invocation
Augustan
→
121
Prayer to Jupiter
LIVY · AB URBE CONDITA · 6.16.1
Jupiter Optimus Maximus, Juno Regina, Minerva, and all you other gods and goddesses who dwell upon the Capitolium and the Arx, is this how you allow your defender, the protector of your shrines, to be treated, to be vexed and harassed by his enemies in this manner? Shall this right arm which drove the Gauls headlong from your shrines now be bound and chained?
Roman · public
Jupiter, Juno, Minerva
PetitionOath
4th c. BC (recorded by Livy)
→
122
Prayer to Neptune
ARNOBIUS · ADVERSUS NATIONES · III.43
Come, Dii Penates, come Apollo and Neptune and all You Gods, and by Your powers may You mercifully turn aside this ill disease that violently twists, scorches and burns our city with fever.
Roman · public
Neptune, Apollo, the Penates
PetitionProtection
3rd-4th c. AD
→
123
Prayer to Neptune
OVID · METAMORPHOSES · 8.595-598
O Neptune, who reigns over the realm of wandering waves, Bearer of the Trident, come to our aid, I pray, and undo her father's savagery. Neptune, grant her a safe haven, or else allow her to become a place herself, to live forever as one of Your nymphs.
Roman · literary
Neptune
PetitionInvocation
Augustan
→
124
Prayer to Neptune
PLAUTUS · RUDENS · 906-910
Thanks be to Neptune my patron, who dwells in the fish-teeming salt sea, for speeding me homeward from his sacred abode, well laden and in a good hour.
Roman · literary
Neptune
Gratitude
2nd c. BC
→
125
Prayer to Neptune
PLAUTUS · TRINUMMUS · 819-830
O Neptunus, brother of Jove and Nereus, heartily and gladly I give you praise and grateful thanks. And to you, Neptunus, before all other gods I offer and accord you the highest thanks. I give you praise, for you know how to treat men fairly; this befits the gods.
Roman · literary
Neptune
GratitudePraise
2nd c. BC
→
126
Prayer to Neptune
SILIUS ITALICUS · PUNICA · 15.159-162
Neptune, divine Lord of the Trident, on whose high seas we begin to cross, if my preparations are made justly, grant our fleet to sail safely, Father, and do not scorn to aid our labors. The war I now draw across the sea is a just war.
Roman · literary
Neptune
Petition
1st c. AD
→
127
Prayer to Neptune
STATIUS · SILVAE · 3.2.1-12
O Neptune, grand and rare is the pledge we make to You, and in what we commend into the depths of the sea. Father of the mighty Deep, grant that the benign stars, the Spartan brothers, Castor and Pollux, sit upon the horns of the yard arm. Let your light illuminate sea and sky. Drive off your sister Helen's stormy star, I pray, and expel it from all the heavens.
Roman · literary
Neptune
PetitionDedication
1st c. AD
→
128
Prayer to Priapus
TIBULLUS · ELEGIAE · 1.1.17-18
Red guardian, Priapus, placed within this fruitful garden, with your fierce scythe frighten off the birds from this crop.
Roman · personal
Priapus
PetitionProtection
1st c. BC
→
129
Prayer to Silvanus
ANONYMOUS · CIL · III.5561
Happiness dwells in here, where nothing evil may enter.
Roman · personal
Silvanus
Protection
→
130
Prayer to Venus
HORACE · CARMINA · 1.30.1-8
Come to us Venus, O Queen of Cnidos and Paphos, leave Cyprus, though the isle is dear to You, come instead to where the incense is thick and Glycera sings to You, that you may transfer Your home to a new shrine among us. Bring along for Your company desirous Cupid, loose-girdled Graces and Nymphs, youthful Juventus and Mercury, who without You are graceless.
Roman · literary
Venus
InvocationPetition
Augustan
→
131
Prayer to Venus
HORACE · CARMINA · 4.1.1-2
After so long a time, do You once more disturb my peace of mind with desires? Spare me, Venus, I pray, I beg of You!
Roman · literary
Venus
Petition
Augustan
→
132
Prayer to Venus
OVID · AMORES · 1.3.1-6
My prayer is just. May Venus hear all our many prayers. Take one who would serve You through long years, accept one who knows how to love with a pure heart.
Roman · literary
Venus
Petition
Augustan
→
133
Prayer to Venus
PLAUTUS · RUDENS · 694-701
Kind Venus, tearfully we plead to You, as we kneel and clasp this your altar, receive us into Your safekeeping and watch over us. Take vengeance on the wicked who have belittled your sanctuary, and in Your goodness let us remain at this altar as a refuge from our suffering. Be not offended with us, nor hold us at fault, if there be anything about us that to you is unclean.
Roman · literary
Venus
PetitionProtection
2nd c. BC
→
134
Prayer to Venus
OVID · FASTI · 4.1
Nurturing Venus, Mother of the twin Loves, favour me.
Roman · literary
Venus
Invocation
Augustan
→
135
Prayer to Venus
VIRGIL · CATALEPTON · 14
If I am to further my undertaking, to traverse all the world, O Venus, who dwells in Paphos and in Idalian groves, so that Trojan Aeneas is thought worthy at last to sail with You in song through Roman towns, not only with incense or painted tablet shall I adorn Your temple, and with pure hands bring You garlands, but a humble offering of a horned ram and a bull, the greatest sacrifice, their blood a priest shall sprinkle into the fire of an altar erected in Your honor.
Roman · literary
Venus
PetitionDedication
Augustan
→
136
Prayer to Vesta
OVID · FASTI · 3.425-428
Vesta, watch over him whose hand tends the Holy Fire. Live well, fires. O live, I pray, undying flames.
Roman · literary
Vesta
Petition
Augustan
→
137
Prayer to Vesta
OVID · FASTI · 6.249-250
Vesta favor me. To You now our voices lift in praise as by this rite it is allowed that we may approach You.
Roman · ritual
Vesta
PetitionPraise
Augustan
→
138
Prayer to Carmenta
ANONYMOUS · RITUS CARMENTIS · petition prayer
Mother, on You I call, come, stand by me, stay, and listen to my pleas. Speak to me once again, in Your own words, as You did before. I pray You put an end now to my harsh hardship, declare an end to ruinous fortune, in whose cruel snare so long have I endured, and bestow upon me peace and rest from my labors and perils.
Roman · personal
Carmenta
PetitionInvocation
modern reconstruction (Nova Roma)
→
139
Prayer to Carmenta
ANONYMOUS · RITUS CARMENTIS · popana offering
In You, dearest Mother, in Your hands we place our safekeeping. Carmentis, in offering to You this cake of cheese I pray good prayers in order that, pleased with this offering of popana cake, You may be favorable towards our children and to us, towards our homes and our households.
Roman · ritual
Carmenta
DedicationPetition
modern reconstruction (Nova Roma)
→
140
Prayer to Carmenta
ANONYMOUS · RITUS CARMENTIS · matrons' prayer
Accept, O Carmentis, this offering of incense. Cheerfully have Your daughters come to adorn Your shrine of matrons. Come, most venerable Goddess, appear in flowing robes and nod Your assent to the milk that is poured in your honor and the cakes piled high to await you. Bring with You every soothing song to sing; every charm to bring peace and solace. Across the seas, from distant shores, bear with You the words by which we may praise the Gods. O most merciful Mother, we pray for a blessing from Your generous and temperate right hand.
Roman · public
Carmenta
InvocationPetition
modern reconstruction (Nova Roma)
→
141
Prayer to Carmenta
ANONYMOUS · RITUS CARMENTIS · dream prayer
O Carmenae, may you bring better dreams than this evil vision that has awakened me from a peaceful sleep; let it not be a prophetic vision. Cast far away from me this vain and false vision, and cease plucking my intestines with your zealous inquiries. Carmenae, I pray, turn this cruel dream to good, as night is turned into day, and bid the warm South wind to carry it away.
Roman · personal
Carmenta, Porrima, Postvorta
PetitionProtection
modern reconstruction (Nova Roma)
→
142
Prayer to Hercules
ANONYMOUS · CIL · VI.312
Invincible Alcides, I pray to You joyfully bringing deserved gifts after duly performing Your sacred rites.
Roman · personal
Hercules
DedicationGratitude
→
143
Prayer to Hercules
LUCIUS AUFIDIUS · CIL · CIL IX 3569
Lucius Aufidius, son of Decius, deservedly devotes this gift to you, Hercules, to pay an annual tithe for the upkeep of your shrine. At the same time he asks of You, You who are a holy God, to help him and give him Your peace.
Roman · personal
Hercules
DedicationPetition
→
144
Prayer to Hercules
OVID · METAMORPHOSES · 15.39-40
O Hercules, to whom twelve labors was given, help me, I pray, since you are witness to the accusations made against me.
Roman · literary
Hercules
PetitionInvocation
Augustan
→
145
Prayer to Hercules
PROPERTIUS · ELEGIAE · 4.9.71-74
Because Your hands have purified the Earth, the Sabines of Cures called You Sancus, The Holy One. Hail Father Sancus, whom austere Juno now favors. O Sancus, may You wish to be with me and Your spirit be in my books.
Roman · literary
Hercules
PraisePetition
Augustan
→
146
Prayer to Hercules
SILIUS ITALICUS · PUNICA · 1.505-507
Hercules, Founder of our city Saguntum, you who are called Alcidus, in whose footsteps we now reside on this hallowed earth, avert the threatening storms from our land.
Roman · literary
Hercules
PetitionProtection
1st c. AD
→
147
Prayer to Hercules
STATIUS · SILVAE · 3.1.23-28
Come hither, Hercules, who, now free of your obligations, may choose whether to live in your native Argos and spurn death as Eurystheus buried in his tomb, or whether your virtue has won you a place among the stars beneath the throne of your father Jupiter, and Hebe, better than Phrygian Ganymede, with her robe girded, offers you a cup of blessed nectar to drink, come hither, and grace this newly dedicated temple with the presence of your genius.
Roman · literary
Hercules
InvocationDedication
1st c. AD
→
148
Prayer to Hercules
VIRGIL · AENEID · 8.301-302
Hail, Hercules, true son of Jove, an added Glory for the Gods are you. Come now, and dance at your holy rites with skillful feet.
Roman · literary
Hercules
InvocationPraise
Augustan
→
149
Prayer to Hercules
NUMISIA AFRODITE · CIL · CIL VI 286
I, Numisia Afrodite, gave this gift to Hercules on behalf of my son and family.
Roman · personal
Hercules
Dedication
→
150
Prayer to Janus
AUSONIUS · PRECATIONES · Precatio consulis designati, 1-2
Janus, come! The New Year is here, come and renew the sun.
Roman · personal
Janus
Invocation
4th c. AD
→
151
Prayer to Janus
HORACE · SATIRES · 2.6.20-21
Father Matutinus, or else Janus, if You so prefer to hear, regarded by men as the beginning of works and life's labors, so does it please the Gods, may You begin my song.
Roman · literary
Janus
Invocation
Augustan
→
152
Prayer to Janus
MARTIAL · EPIGRAMMATA · 8.2.8
May You give, Father Janus, what we ask of You.
Roman · literary
Janus
Petition
1st c. AD
→
153
Prayer to Janus
OVID · FASTI · 1.172
Janus, though I propitiate other Gods, I do offer wine and cakes to You first, so that I may obtain access through You, Janus, to any of the other Gods I may call upon.
Roman · literary
Janus
DedicationPetition
Augustan
→
154
Prayer to Janus
OVID · FASTI · 1.287
Janus, make peace and the servants of peace eternal. Grant that the author of peace may not desert his work.
Roman · literary
Janus
Petition
Augustan
→
155
Alcmena's oath
PLAUTUS · AMPHITRYON · 831-834
By the Highest Gods ruling in the heavens, by Juno, too, She whom most of all I fear and venerate, I swear that no mortal man has ever come near enough to touch me or in any way impugn upon my chastity or has given me cause for shame.
Roman · literary
Juno
Oath
2nd c. BC
→
156
Prayer to Juno
SENECA · HERCULES ON OETA · 256-262
Wherever You may be in the ethereal regions, O wife of Jupiter Tonans, send a wild beast against Alcides as may satisfy my need. If a serpent moves through the marsh with a fruitful head, more vast than all others born in this region, if a feral beast lives that is so immense, so dire, so horrible that Hercules Himself would avert His eye, let this beast come forth from some vast cave.
Roman · literary
Juno
Petition
1st c. AD
→
157
Prayer to Juno
VALERIUS FLACCUS · ARGONAUTICA · 1.80-90
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.
Roman · literary
Juno
Petition
1st c. AD
→
158
Prayer to Jupiter
CATO · ORIGINES · 1 fr. 12
The Latins vowed: Jupiter, if it is greatly pleasing to You, that we, rather than Mezentium, should give offerings to You, accordingly may You make us victorious.
Roman · public
Jupiter
OathPetition
2nd c. BC
→
159
Prayer to Mother Earth and the Manes
ANONYMOUS · CARMINA LATINA EPIGRAPHICA · II.1029.5-6
Now, Manes, I call you to witness, on these bones I leave behind, may the earth put atop them lie gently.
Roman · personal
Mother Earth, the Manes
Petition
→
160
Prayer to the Manes
ANONYMOUS · CARMINA LATINA EPIGRAPHICA · II.1147.3-4
Now if virtue is rewarded among the Manes, within the changeable shadows, then I pray that the Mother may give honor and gratitude to you.
Roman · personal
the Manes
Petition
→
161
Prayer to Mother Earth
ANONYMOUS · CIL · III.1760
To You I pray, Mother Earth, may You settle lightly on her remains, she who knew the reward of piety and merits it.
Roman · personal
Mother Earth
Petition
→
162
Prayer to Mother Earth and the Manes
ANONYMOUS · CIL · CIL III 3989
Therefore I pray to you Gods of the Underworld, into whose arms I am compelled headlong by the Gods above, that you admit me into your realm with the least amount of torment.
Roman · personal
Mother Earth, the Manes
Petition
→
163
Prayer to Earth
ANONYMOUS · CIL · VI.18149
Goddess Tellus, I pray, may You eternally embrace the holy remains of those named on this tombstone.
Roman · personal
Earth
Petition
→
164
Prayer to Mother Earth
ANONYMOUS · CIL · VIII.9473
Fertile Terra, I pray, You may settle lightly on these remains, not harshly on the cremated remains of this infant.
Roman · personal
Mother Earth
Petition
→
165
Prayer to Mother Earth
JUVENAL · SATIRES · 7.207-208
Grant, O Gods, that the earth may lie soft and light upon the shades of our forefathers, may the sweet scented crocus and perpetual spring bloom over their ashes.
Roman · personal
Mother Earth
Petition
1st-2nd c. AD
→
166
Prayer to Proserpina and Dis Pater
PROPERTIUS · ELEGIAE · 2.28c.1-2
O Proserpina, may Your clemency remain merciful on the souls You keep, and may You Dis Pater, Proserpina's consort, not desire to be stern.
Roman · literary
Proserpina, Dis Pater
Petition
Augustan
→
167
Prayer to Jupiter
TACITUS · ANNALES · 16.35
We pour out a libation to Jupiter the Liberator. Observe, discover, and may the Gods avert the omen from you, my son, but you are born into a time when it is expedient to fortify your spirit with examples of courage and firmness of mind in the face of adversity.
Roman · personal
Jupiter
DedicationPetition
1st c. AD
→
168
Prayer to Carmenta
ANONYMOUS · RITUS CARMENTIS · incense offering
Carmentis, I make this offering of incense to You and pray with good prayers that You will look kindly and favorably upon our children and upon us, on our homes and on our households.
Roman · ritual
Carmenta
DedicationPetition
modern reconstruction (Nova Roma)
→
169
Prayer to Carmenta
ANONYMOUS · RITUS CARMENTIS · milk libation
Carmentis, may You be strengthened by this libation, may You be honored by this portion of milk.
Roman · ritual
Carmenta
Dedication
modern reconstruction (Nova Roma)
→
170
Prayer to Carmenta
ANONYMOUS · RITUS CARMENTIS · ritual opening
Come, be present, Carmentis. May Your sisters Porrima and Postvorta attend You. With joyful mind come, Mother of Arcadian Evander.
Roman · ritual
Carmenta, Porrima, Postvorta
Invocation
modern reconstruction (Nova Roma)
→
171
Prayer to Bacchus
OVID · METAMORPHOSES · 11.131-132
Forgive me, Father Bacchus, I was mistaken, but have pity, I pray, and command that I should be torn from your beauty!
Roman · literary
Bacchus
Petition
Augustan
→
172
Prayer to Bacchus
TIBULLUS · ELEGIAE · 3.6.1-4
Splendid Liber, draw near to me! With your forever mystical vine, and your ivy bound head, carry off my sorrows, in the same manner as you have so often used wine's healing powers to overcome the pangs of love.
Roman · literary
Bacchus
PetitionInvocation
1st c. BC
→
173
Prayer to Bacchus
VIRGIL · GEORGICS · 2.2-8
Now shall I sing of you, Bacchus. Without you there would be no woodland or thicket, or slow growing olive grove. Come hither, O Lenaean Father, all things here beckon to be nurtured by your many gifts, the autumn vineshoots laden the countryside with blossoms, the vintage grape harvest foams plentiful to the lips of the wine vats. Hasten, O Lenaean Father, come and, stripped down, tinge your naked feet in new wine must with me.
Roman · literary
Bacchus
InvocationPraise
Augustan
→
174
Prayer to Ceres and Libera
CAESIUS BASSIUS / PHILICUS · HYMN TO CERES AND LIBERA
Fertile Goddesses, wives of Jove, may the mystic rite that You cherish not be defiled.
Roman · ritual
Ceres, Libera
PetitionProtection
→
175
Prayer to Ceres
LIVIUS ANDRONICUS · EQUOS TROIANOS
Grant me the strength, Goddess, to whom I ask, to whom I pray; extend your assistance to me.
Roman · literary
Ceres
Petition
3rd c. BC
→
176
Prayer to Ceres and Proserpina
LIVY · AB URBE CONDITA · 24.38.8
Mother Ceres and Proserpina and all You Gods above and below who inhabit the city, these hallowed lakes and groves, I pray that You attend us with Your favor and support, if it should be that we are taking this initial step for the purpose of guarding against treacherous falsehood, not practicing it.
Roman · public
Ceres, Proserpina
OathPetition
3rd c. BC (recorded by Livy)
→
177
Prayer to Ceres
OVID · AMORES · 3.10.3-14; 43-48
Flaxen-haired Ceres, Your fine tresses wreathed with ears of wheat, why must your sacred rites inhibit our pleasures? Goddess, people everywhere praise your munificence. No other goddess so lavishes men and women with everything good. In earlier times the uncouth peasant never roasted grains of wheat, never knew a threshing floor, but oak trees, those first oracles, provided them with gruel. Acorns, tender roots and herbs made their meal then. Ceres first taught seeds to ripen in the fields, taught how to follow Her with scythe against their golden hair, first broke the oxen to yoke and reveal the fertile earth beneath its curved blade.
Roman · literary
Ceres
PraisePetition
Augustan
→
178
Prayer to Ceres
SENECA · HERCULES FURENS · 229
For you, Goddess of the Fruits of the Earth, your secret rites I will fund; in your shrine at Eleusis shall burn the sacred flame in celebration of your mysteries.
Roman · literary
Ceres
DedicationOath
1st c. AD
→
179
Prayer to Ceres
TIBULLUS · ELEGIAE · 1.1.15-16
Golden-haired Ceres, bless this our farm; a crown of wheat I shall hang before your altar.
Roman · personal
Ceres
PetitionDedication
1st c. BC
→
180
Prayer to Ceres
VIRGIL · GEORGICS · 1.7-12
Liber and gentle Ceres, if by your gifts the earth once changed, exchanging Chaonian acorns for rich heads of grain, and receiving your invention of wine from Acheloian cups, and you Fauns, your divine presence an aid for rustics, bring dancing feet, as when Dryad girls frolic with Fauns, of your gifts I sing.
Roman · literary
Ceres, Bacchus, the Fauns
InvocationPraise
Augustan
→
181
Prayer to Diana and Isis
APULEIUS · METAMORPHOSES · 11.2
Diana, who are the sister of the God Phoebus, who nourishes so many people by the generation of beasts, and are now adored at the sacred places of Ephesus — You who is worshipped in divers manners, and does illuminate all the borders of the earth by Your feminine shape, You which nourishes all the fruits of the world by Your vigor and force; with whatsoever name or fashion it is lawful to call upon You, I pray You end my great travail and misery, and deliver me from the wretched fortune, which has for so long a time pursued me. Grant peace and rest if it please You to reply to my entreaties, for I have endured too much labor and peril.
Roman · literary
Diana, Isis
PetitionInvocation
2nd c. AD
→
182
Prayer to Diana
ANONYMOUS · CIL · CIL III 8298
Virgin Goddess of Delia, known for Your favoring grace, what offerings You demand I happily give.
Roman · personal
Diana
DedicationPetition
→
183
Prayer to Diana
ANONYMOUS · CIL · CIL X 3796
Resident of Tifata, Glorious Virgin of hunters, in this place, Daughter of Latona, was Your temple established, renowned by the whole of mankind, Dweller of the Forest, and here as well, an unending praise of life for You who preserves honor.
Roman · personal
Diana
PraiseDedication
→
184
Prayer to Diana
GRATTIUS FALISCUS · CYNEGETICA · 1-2
I sing in thanks for the gifts of the Gods, and for those gifts, O Diana, which are under Your auspices, for those skills in which hunters delight.
Roman · literary
Diana
GratitudePraise
Augustan
→
185
Prayer to Diana
HORACE · CARMINA · 1.21.1; 5-8
Tender virgins recite their prayers to You, Diana, You who delight in dark rivers and quivering forest foliage, wherever You may be, atop the chilly height of Algidus, or in the Erymanthic woods, or verdant Cragus.
Roman · literary
Diana
InvocationPraise
Augustan
→
186
Prayer to Diana and Venus
LAEVIUS · CARMINA · fr. 26; p. 292
Therefore adoring You as though You were nurturing Venus Herself, whether You are female, or whether You are male, even so, Illuminating the Night, You are a nurturing Moon.
Roman · literary
Diana, Venus
PraiseInvocation
2nd-1st c. BC
→
187
Prayer to Diana
OVID · FASTI · 2.449-452
Thanks be to You, Lucina, who are named for this sacred grove, or else because it is You, Goddess, who brings life into the light of day. Kind Lucina, I pray that You spare pregnant girls from labor's hardship, and gently birth ripened infants from their wombs.
Roman · personal
Diana
GratitudePetition
Augustan
→
188
Prayer to Diana
OVID · FASTI · 3.255-256
Diana Lucina, You have given us light, attend our birthing prayers.
Roman · personal
Diana
PetitionInvocation
Augustan
→
189
Prayer to Diana
OVID · METAMORPHOSES · 5.618-620
Help me, Diana, for I am overwhelmed. Diana, I am Your servant, Your arms-bearer, to whom You have often given Your bow to carry, and who filled Your quiver with arrows.
Roman · literary
Diana
PetitionInvocation
Augustan
→
190
Prayer to Diana
OVID · METAMORPHOSES · 6.327-328
Favour me, Goddess, lead me, and lend me your support.
Roman · literary
Diana
Petition
Augustan
→
191
Prayer to Diana
VIRGIL · AENEID · 1.329-330
Whoever you may be, whether Diana or a Nymph, may You favor us and lighten our labors.
Roman · literary
Diana
PetitionInvocation
→
192
Prayer to Diana
SILIUS ITALICUS · PUNICA · 13.136
Come favorably, Diana, daughter of Latona, onto our undertaking.
Roman · literary
Diana
InvocationPetition
1st c. AD
→
193
Prayer to Diana
STATIUS · THEBAID · 4.752-770
Potent Goddess of sacred groves — for by your noble appearance and modesty I think You are not born of mortals — look with favor upon a tired army on the march. We determined that Thebes deserves to be destroyed with the sword brought forward, but now severe drought makes us no longer war-like, it bends our hearts, and weakens us into idleness. Grant drink to those who are weary, whether you hold a babbling brook or stagnant pool. This will bring no shame or desecration to your place. Winds, you now are asked along with Jove for rain, may you refresh our virile and bellicose hearts and replenish our lifeless spirits. Only Jupiter may grant that we will return with plunder, but if so, O Goddess, war gained riches we will pile as offerings of thanks to you. For your sanctuary, Goddess, a great altar we will build, and wash it in the blood of numerous Boeotian cattle to repay your kindness.
Roman · literary
Diana
PetitionDedicationOath
1st c. AD
→
194
Prayer to Diana
STATIUS · THEBAID · 6.633-637
Goddess, divine power of woodland groves, to You and to Your honour, these locks of my hair are owed, and by the vow made to You also comes this wrong. If my mother or I merited your good assistance in the hunt, I ask You not allow me to go to Thebes under foreboding signs, nor allow Arcadia to plunge into so much shame.
Roman · literary
Diana
PetitionDedication
1st c. AD
→
195
Prayer to Diana
STATIUS · THEBAID · 10.360-370
By these wandering stars I swear, by the shade of my leader, who is to me a divine power, that like the depth of my grief so is my deep resolve. Cynthia, mistress of arcane mysteries of the night, if Your divine power is threefold and You descend into the forest each time with a different appearance, it was he who recently was Your companion, and whose honor was nurtured in Your sacred grove. At least consider now to lend me Your aid, for it is this boy, Diana, for whom I search.
Roman · literary
Diana
OathPetition
1st c. AD
→
196
Prayer to Diana
TERENTIUS · ANDRIA · 232
I pray, You Gods, grant an easy delivery to this girl, and assign to someone else the ill fate that awaits the day when the midwife makes her mistakes.
Roman · literary
Diana
PetitionProtection
2nd c. BC
→
197
Prayer to Diana and Juno
TIBULLUS · ELEGIAE · 3.12.1-8
Accept, O natal Juno, this offering of incense. Cheerfully, O Lucina, she has come to adorn Your shrine of matrons. Come, most chaste Queen of Heaven, appear in royal robes and nod Your assent to the wine that is poured and the cakes piled high to await You. With You bring every herb for ending pain, and soothing songs to sing; across the ocean from distant shores bear such herbs as will cure our most severe ills, or whatever else we most fear. Rack this girl no more with pain, or cruelly delay her birthing.
Roman · personal
Diana, Juno
PetitionInvocationDedication
1st c. BC
→
198
Prayer to Diana
VIRGIL · AENEID · 9.404-405
You, O divine daughter of Latona, Glory of the Stars and Guardian of the Sacred Groves, be present, Diana, that You may succor us who labor.
Roman · literary
Diana
InvocationPetition
Augustan
→
199
Prayer to Minerva
VIRGIL · AENEID · 11.483-485
Diana, skillful in arms, leader in battle and guardian of soldiers, with Your hand, Tritonian Virgin, shatter the spear of this Phrygian pirate; throw him to the ground and stretch him out prostrate beneath our high gate.
Roman · literary
Minerva
PetitionProtection
Augustan
→
200
Prayer to Apollo
ANONYMOUS · CARMINA LATINA EPIGRAPHICA · 2.1841
Phoebus Tirynthia, I pray, please accept this offering on my behalf. This gift I offer in thanks to You for the good health and strength that I have had.
Roman · personal
Apollo
GratitudeDedication
late 2nd c. AD
→
201
Prayer to Sol and Apollo
CLAUDIUS CLAUDIANUS · IN OLYBII ET PROBINI FRATRES CONSULES PANEGYRICUS · 1-7
O Sol, whose light embraces the world, you orbit inexhaustible, forever returning, your face glowing on each day, your horses harnessed as a team to drive your chariot, with manes braided pleasantly they rise high, passing over rose-red clouds as you rein their frothing fires. Already yet another year begins, measured by the footsteps of brothers, who as new consuls gladly offer their prayers and vows.
Roman · public
Sol, Apollo
InvocationPraise
4th-5th c. AD
→
202
Prayer to the Muse
CLAUDIUS CLAUDIANUS · IN OLYBII ET PROBINI FRATRES CONSULES PANEGYRICUS · 71-72
To you I pray, Apollo of Mount Parnassus, that you may inspire the pythia with so important knowledge, as to whom between us, O God, you will reward with authority.
Roman · public
the Muse
Petition
4th-5th c. AD
→
203
Prayer to Apollo
MARTIAL · EPIGRAMMATA · 4.45.1-2
An offering I gladly give You, Phoebus, a box of fragrant incense, from Palatinu Parthenius on behalf of his son.
Roman · personal
Apollo
Dedication
1st c. AD
→
204
Prayer to Apollo
MARTIAL · EPIGRAMMATA · 9.42
May Myrina's richness ever You hold, Apollo, thus always the swan song, too, may You enjoy, may the well versed sisters ever serve You, the Delphic Pythia ever reveal any of Your oracles, may the Palatia ever love and revere You. Were You ever to ask, and Caesar grant, that he should invest Stella with consular powers, then gladly would I by vow become indebted to You.
Roman · literary
Apollo
PetitionPraise
1st c. AD
→
205
Prayer to Apollo
OVID · REMEDIA AMORIS · 75-76
From the very outset I pray to You, Apollo, inventor of music and of all the healing arts, come to my aid and this undertaking; bless it with Your laurel.
Roman · literary
Apollo
InvocationPetition
Augustan
→
206
Prayer to Apollo
OVID · REMEDIA AMORIS · 704
Come, health-bearing Apollo, come favoring my undertaking.
Roman · literary
Apollo
Invocation
Augustan
→
207
Prayer to Sol
PACUVIUS · MEDUS · fr. 2
Sol, I call to You that You may guide me on my search for my parents.
Roman · literary
Sol
Petition
2nd c. BC
→
208
Prayer to Apollo and Diana
PETRONIUS ARBITER · CARMINA · 94 PLM
God of Delphi, I have dedicated to You a temple made of fine Sicilian marble, spoken aloud Your praises while accompanied by the sweet sounds of the calamus reeds. If ever You hear our prayers, Apollo, and if indeed You are divine, tell me now, by what means does a man without money seek to find it?
Roman · literary
Apollo, Diana
PetitionDedication
1st c. AD
→
209
Prayer to Apollo
PLAUTUS · AULULARIA · 394-396
Apollo, please, help me, and with your arrows slay these treasure-laden thieves. As you have done before, swiftly come to my aid and draw your bow.
Roman · literary
Apollo
PetitionProtection
2nd c. BC
→
210
Prayer to Apollo
PLAUTUS · MERCATOR · 678-680
Apollo, I beseech you, graciously grant peace, prosperity, safety and sound health to our family, and spare my son by your gracious favour.
Roman · literary
Apollo
PetitionProtection
2nd c. BC
→
211
Prayer to Apollo
SENECA · HERCULES FURENS · 592
Your pardon I do desire, Apollo, if you see in my actions what is forbidden; for it was by the will of another that I revealed hidden things of the earth.
Roman · literary
Apollo
Petition
1st c. AD
→
212
Prayer to Apollo
STATIUS · ACHILLEIS · 1.9-10
Grant me, O Phoebus, new fonts of inspiration and weave fortune's garland as a crown upon my head.
Roman · literary
Apollo
Petition
1st c. AD
→
213
Prayer to Apollo
STATIUS · THEBAID · 1.693-697; 715-717
Pour wine on the altar's fire as we sing our vows again and again to Leto's son, the Preserver of our forefathers. Father Phoebus, whether it is the snowy slopes of Lycia or the thorny slopes of Patara that perpetually keep you busy, or if it pleases you to merge your golden hair in Castalia's chaste moisture — come now, remembering our hospitality, and bless once more the fertile fields of Juno.
Roman · literary
Apollo
InvocationPetitionDedication
1st c. AD
→
214
Prayer to Apollo
STATIUS · THEBAID · 7.786-788
Now my last words before I depart, if any gratitude I owe to your prophet, O Phoebus, I commend my home and family shrines to You, and leave to You the punishment of my faithless wife and my beautiful son's impassioned furor.
Roman · literary
Apollo
PetitionDedication
1st c. AD
→
215
Prayer to Apollo
STATIUS · THEBAID · 8.91-94
O great Surveyor of all men, You who know the causes and principles of our actions, and who is a Father to me and Savior as well, I pray, lessen Your resolve against me and still Your angry heart, do not think me worthy of Your wrath one who is but a man and who fears Your laws.
Roman · literary
Apollo
Petition
1st c. AD
→
216
Prayer to Apollo
STATIUS · THEBAID · 10.337-345
To You, Phoebus Apollo, go these spoils, prizes of the night, taken from distinguished nobles, not yet washed clean of their blood. I trust that truly I have offered You an acceptable sacrifice. I, Your faithful priest and defender of Your sacred tripod against uncivilized enemies, commit these to You. If I have not disgraced Your traditional rites and strictly kept Your rule, come often to me, think me worthy to often enter into my thoughts and seize my mind. Although now crude honors are offered You — these broken arms stained with blood of honorable men — if ever, Paean, You will grant the return of my native home and the temples I long for, God of Lycia, remember my vows, and however many rich gifts and as many bulls as I have promised, demand they be fulfilled.
Roman · literary
Apollo
DedicationPetitionOath
1st c. AD
→
217
Prayer to Apollo
TIBULLUS · ELEGIAE · 2.5.1-4; 122-123
Give your favour, Phoebus, to a new priest who enters your temple. Be gracious, and with songs and lyre, come! When your fingers pluck the chords, and you give voice to song, I pray you may inspire my words into your praises. May your hair be ever flowing, Phoebus; may your sister be forever chaste.
Roman · literary
Apollo
PetitionInvocationPraise
1st c. BC
→
218
Prayer to Apollo
VALERIUS FLACCUS · ARGONAUTICA · 1.5-7
Advise me, Phoebus Apollo, if ever You inspired the Sibyl of Cumae to see visions waft from a kettle in Your sacred house, if ever a chaplet of fresh laurel dignified a worthy brow, and O You whose great fame opened many a sea.
Roman · literary
Apollo
PetitionInvocation
1st c. AD
→
219
Prayer to Apollo
VALERIUS FLACCUS · ARGONAUTICA · 5.17-20
Turn to us now, Mighty Archer, I pray that finally now, Apollo, You will come to our aid! Father, revive the life of this man. If You approve of what we do, then stir back to life he who is of the utmost importance for the success of our venture; and so from this one does the fate of all hands depends.
Roman · literary
Apollo
PetitionInvocation
1st c. AD
→
220
Prayer to Apollo
VALERIUS FLACCUS · ARGONAUTICA · 5.244-249
Father Apollo, I pray to You, all-seeing guardian God, be gracious to me and protect me, watching over my kingdom. Be ever vigilant and warn me what strangers or what subjects of mine conspire against me. Whatever treacherous plots there may be, keep me alert and prepared.
Roman · literary
Apollo
PetitionProtection
1st c. AD
→
221
Prayer to Apollo
VIRGIL · AENEID · 11.785-793
Apollo Soranus, Highest of the Gods, Holy Guardian of Mount Soracte, we who are foremost among Your worshippers, for You we set to flame the piled pine-wood, and Your worshippers, piously trusting our faith in You among the fires, press our step across the glowing embers. Grant, Father Almighty, that by our arms we may erase this disgrace. No plunder did I seek, no trophy to win from virgins, or any spoils; my fame shall follow from my feats.
Roman · literary
Apollo
PetitionOathDedication
Augustan
→
222
Prayer to Bacchus
CAESIUS BASSIUS · HYMN OF CALLIMACHUS
Come, O Lyaeus, bihorned Bassareus, two-mothered Maenalius, come into this place I prepare with sleek, shiny hair. May You arouse with a crown of ivy and golden clusters of grapes, and bear shaft of new green wood, O Gentle One, may You come to this altar, Bacchus, Bacchus, Bacchus.
Roman · ritual
Bacchus
Invocation
→
223
Prayer to Bacchus
ANONYMOUS · FLORES CARMINA · 2
Bacchus, inventor of vines, may you arrive full of wines, may you pour forth the sweet liquid, to be compared with nectar, and make the old pleasant, and turned to another use, may it not lead harsh flavor to our spiteful veins.
Roman · ritual
Bacchus
InvocationPetition
→
224
Prayer to Bacchus
GRATTIUS · CYNEGETICA · 475-476
Liber expels light cares from the heart, Liber brings soothing relief from distress. Liber expels pains from the chest, Liber bears medicine to soothe a fever.
Roman · literary
Bacchus
Praise
Augustan
→
225
Prayer to Bacchus
HORACE · CARMINA · 2.19.7-8
Euhoe! Save me Liber, spare me grave master of the fearful ivy-rod.
Roman · literary
Bacchus
PetitionInvocation
Augustan
→
226
Prayer to Bacchus
HORACE · CARMINA · 3.25.18-20
In spring, O Lenaeus Bacchus, I follow You, a god wreathed with ivy.
Roman · literary
Bacchus
PraiseInvocation
Augustan
→
227
Prayer to Silvanus
ANONYMOUS · CARMINA LATINA EPIGRAPHICA · 2.250.12
Come, O God, kind patron, come! May you favor us in your presence.
Roman · personal
Silvanus
InvocationPetition
2nd c. AD
→

All Prayers

Prayer to Bacchus

Prayer to Priapus

Carmen Arvale

The devotio of Decius Mus

Scipio's prayer before sailing to Africa

The devotio of Carthage

The evocatio of Carthage

Prayer to Aesculapius

Prayer to Mars

Prayer to Jupiter

Prayer to Mars

Prayer to Terminus and Jupiter

Prayer to Venus Verticordia and Fortuna Virilis

Prayer to Priapus

The oath of Aeneas and Latinus

Prayer to Aesculapius

Formula spoken at sowing

Formula for the Meditrinalia

The Vestal Aemilia's prayer

Charm for a dislocation

Prayer to Mars

Prayer for thinning a sacred grove

Prayer to Jupiter

Prayer to Jupiter

Prayer to Jupiter

Prayer to Jupiter

Prayer to the Lares

Prayer to the Lares

Prayer to the Manes

Prayer to Mercury

Prayer to Mercury

Prayer to Neptune

Prayer to Pales

Prayer to Robigo

Prayer to Silvanus

Prayer to the Manes

Prayer to Earth

Prayer to Earth

Prayer to Earth

Prayer to Earth

Prayer to Earth and the Penates

Prayer to Venus

Prayer to Vesta

The ordeal of the Vestal Tuccia

Prayer to Carmenta

Prayer to Carmenta

Prayer to Carmenta

Prayer to Janus

The fetial declaration of war

Prayer to Janus

The Salian Hymn

Prayer to Juno

Prayer to Juno

Prayer to Juno

Prayer to Juno

Prayer to Mother Earth

Prayer to Carmenta

Prayer to Bacchus and Liber

Prayer to Bacchus

Prayer to Bacchus and Ceres

Prayer to Ceres

Prayer to Ceres

Prayer to Ceres and Isis

Prayer to Ceres

Prayer to Ceres and Libera

Prayer to Ceres and Earth

Prayer to Ceres

Prayer to Diana

Prayer to Diana

Prayer to Diana and Apollo

Prayer to Diana and Eileithyia

Prayer to Diana

Prayer to Diana

Prayer to Diana

Prayer to Apollo

Prayer to Apollo

Prayer to Apollo and Juno

Prayer to Apollo and Aesculapius

Prayer to Apollo