Tuesday, July 28, 2015
A Prayer to Artemis
Theognis 11-14 (tr. Douglas E. Gerber):
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Artemis, slayer of wild beasts, daughter of Zeus, for whom Agamemnon set up a temple when he was preparing to sail on his swift ships to Troy, give ear to my prayer and ward off the evil death-spirits. For you, goddess, this is a small thing, but for me it is critical.Carolus Ausfeld, "De Graecorum Precationibus Quaestiones," Jahrbüch für classische Philologie, Suppl. 28 (1903) 503-547, recognized three parts of Greek prayers, which he called invocatio, pars epica, and precatio. Theognis' prayer to Artemis is a succinct example of this tripartite form:
Ἄρτεμι θηροφόνη, θύγατερ Διός, ἣν Ἀγαμέμνων
εἵσαθ᾿ ὅτ᾿ ἐς Τροίην ἔπλεε νηυσὶ θοῇς,
εὐχομένῳ μοι κλῦθι, κακὰς δ᾿ ἀπὸ κῆρας ἄλαλκε·
σοὶ μὲν τοῦτο, θεά, σμικρόν, ἐμοὶ δὲ μέγα.
- Invocatio: Artemis, slayer of wild beasts, daughter of Zeus (Ἄρτεμι θηροφόνη, θύγατερ Διός)
- Pars epica: for whom Agamemnon set up a temple when he was preparing to sail on his swift ships to Troy (ἣν Ἀγαμέμνων / εἵσαθ᾿ ὅτ᾿ ἐς Τροίην ἔπλεε νηυσὶ θοῇς)
- Precatio: give ear to my prayer and ward off the evil death-spirits. For you, goddess, this is a small thing, but for me it is critical (εὐχομένῳ μοι κλῦθι, κακὰς δ᾿ ἀπὸ κῆρας ἄλαλκε· / σοὶ μὲν τοῦτο, θεά, σμικρόν, ἐμοὶ δὲ μέγα)