Oh, Jupiter, who dost cherish and nurture the human race,A general purpose prayer up to this point. The rest of the prayer relates to Hanno's specific circumstances.
through whom we live and draw the breath of being,
in whom rest the hopes and lives of all mankind,
I beg thee grant that this day may prosper
that which I have in hand...
Iuppiter, qui genus colis alisque hominum,
per quem vivimus vitalem aevom,
quem penes spes vitae sunt hominum
omnium, da diem hunc sospitem, quaeso,
rebus meis agundis...
1189 rebus meis agundis del. Geppert, meis rebus agundis Mueller
"A peculiar anthologic maze, an amusing literary chaos, a farrago of quotations, a mere olla podrida of quaintness, a pot pourri of pleasant delites, a florilegium of elegant extracts, a tangled fardel of old-world flowers of thought, a faggot of odd fancies, quips, facetiae, loosely tied" (Holbrook Jackson, Anatomy of Bibliomania) by a "laudator temporis acti," a "praiser of time past" (Horace, Ars Poetica 173).
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Monday, June 12, 2017
A Prayer
Plautus, Poenulus 1187-1189 (Hanno speaking; tr. Paul Nixon):