Pagan Prayers of
Q. Horatius Flaccus
Translated by
Moravius Piscinus
Satires
II 6.20-3
Father
Matutinus, or else Janus, if You would 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.
Matutine pater, seu Jane, libentius audis, / unde homines operum primos vitaeque labores / instituunt, sic dis placitum, tu caminis esto / principium.
Jupiter
Epistles
I 18.107-12
May I have what I have now, and also a little more, that, the Gods willing, I may yet live what remains of a lifetime. May I have enough books and provisions to last the year, and not wallow in doubts with hopes wavering each hour.
It is enough to pray, Jupiter, who gives and takes away;
may You grant me life; may You grant me the means, and I shall provide a
balanced mind myself.
Sit mihi quod nunc est, etiam minus, et mihi vivam / quod superest aevi, si quid superesse volunt di; / sit bona librorum et provisae frugis in annum / copia, neu fluitem dubiae spe pendulus horae.
Sed satis est orare Jovem, qui ponit et aufert, / Det vitam. Det opes; aequum mi animum ipse parabo.
Satires II 3.281-4
Early
each morning a freedman, very much up in age, made his circuit of neighborhood
shrines, fasting and with washed hands praying to each in turn,
“Spare me alone; it is but a little thing to ask,” he would add,
“Spare me alone from death. Truly, for the Gods it is something easily done.”
Libertinus erat, qui circum compitia siccus / lautis mane senex manibus currebat et, “Unum,” / quid tam magnum,” addens, “unum me surpite morti / dis etenim facile est!”
Satires II 3.288-92
For a child lying sick in bed for five long months, a mother calls out, “O Jupiter, who gives and takes away great anguish, if the quartan ague leaves my child, then on the day You indicate to hold a fast, nude he shall stand in the Tiber River.
“Iuppiter, ingentis qui das adimisque dolores,” / mater ait pueri mensis iam quinque cubantis, / “frigida si puerum quaranta reliquerit, illo / mane die, quo tu indicis ieiunia, nudus / in Tiberi stabit.”
Neptune
Carminum Liber I v
...stare in wondering
shock
At winds gone wild on
blackening seas!
...how false the breeze
can blow.
Pity all those who have
not found out
Your glossy sweetness! My
shipwreck's tale
Hangs, told in colours,
on Neptune's temple wall, a votive
Plaque, with salvaged
clothes
Still damp, vowed to the
sea's rough lord.
Carminum Liber I v 35-40; 49-52
Father of our nation, recall your neglected grandchildren. We pray You return. Alas, too long have You grown weary of the game; its din of battle, the gleaming helmets, the legions and bloodthirsty Mauri grimacing upon each other as enemies.
Rather
may You love once more to be called Father and Prince, carried in great
triumphal processions, and not allow the Medes to ride away unavenged. Lead Caesar to You
Venus
Carminum Liber I v 33-4
Glad Venus of Erycina, (we pray You may come), with Laughter and Cupid attending.
(Venias
precamur) Erycina ridens, quam Iocus circum volat et Cupido.
Carminum Liber
I: xxx.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 your 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
O Venus, regina Cnidi Paphique, sperne dilectam Cypron et
vocantis ture te multo Glycerae decoram transfer in aedem. Fervidus tecum puer
et solutis Gratiae zonis properentque Nymphiae et parum comis sine te Juventas
Mercuriusque.
.
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.
Si tener pleno cadit haedus anno, larga nec desunt Veneris
sodali vina craterae, verus ara multo fumat odore.
Carmina Liber III.xxii.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 .
Montium custos nemorumque, Virgo, quae laborantis utero
puellas ter vocata audis adimisque leto, diva triformis, imminens villae tua
pinus esto, quam per exactos ego laetus annos verris obliquum meditantis ictum
sanguine donem.
Carminum Liber I ii 30-3
Pray now, come, augur Apollo, we pray You may come with shining shoulders shrouded in clouds.
Tandem venias precamur / nube candentis umeros amictus, / augur Apollo
Liber
Carminum Liber II: xix.7-8
Euhoe! Save me Liber, spare me grave master of the fearful
ivy-rod.
Euhoe, parce Liber, parce gravi metuende thyrso!
Satres
II 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.
Bene est. Nil amplius oro, Maia nate, nisi ut propria haec mihi munera faxis.
Satires II 6.14-5
May
You make plump the riches of my house and all else there, save my natural
talents in any case, and as usual, may You remain the primary guardian over me.
Pinque pecus domino facias et cetera praeter / ingenium, utque soles, custos mihi maximus adsis!
Satires
II 6.8
O
if only this nearby corner of land would fall to my share, which squares the
little field I now have.
O si angulus ille proximus accedat, qui nunc denormat agellum!
O si urnam argenti fors quae mihi monstret , ut illi, / thesauro invento qui mercennarius agrum / illum ipsum mercatus aravit, dives amico / Hercule!
Note: Compare to Persius Satires II 11, “O if only favoring Hercules would set an urn of silver beneath my serrated hoe.”
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