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| − | [[Category:Roman religion]]
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| − | '''Prayers to Mars and the Gods of War'''
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| − | ==M. Porcius Cato De Agricultura 141==
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| − | "Father Mars, I pray and beseech You, to be willing and propitious to
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| − | me, to our household and to our family, for which I have ordered this
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| − | suovitaurilia to be driven around my grain fields, my land, and my
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| − | estate, in order that You may prevent, repel, and avert, seen and
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| − | unseen <decay and> disease, deprivation, desolation, calamities, and
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| − | intemperate weather; I pray You allow the fruits, the grain, the
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| − | vines, and the bushes, to grow strong and well and be brought to the
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| − | storage pit. May You also keep the shepherds and their flocks safe,
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| − | and give good health and vigor to me, to the household, and to our
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| − | family. To this end it is, as I have said - namely, for the
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| − | purification and lustration of my estate, my land, and my grain
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| − | fields, cultivated and uncultivated - that I pray You may be honored
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| − | and strengthened by this suovitaurilia, these suckling sacrificial
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| − | victims. O Father Mars, to this same end I pray that You bless these
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| − | sucklings in sacrifice."
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| − | ==Claudius Claudianus In Rufinum 1.334-48 ==
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| − | "Mars, whether you rush down from the cloud-capped Mount Haemus,
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| − | whether on the frosty white mountains of Thrace, whether stirring on
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| − | Monte Santo in Macedonia with the black boots of soldiers stationed
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| − | on all the lands they hold, to make ready with me, and defend your
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| − | Thrace, if it is made happy, the campaign coming into glory, the
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| − | sacred oak will be dressed with an offering of spolia."
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| − | Hearing his prayer, Father Mars arose from the snow-topped crag of
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| − | Mount Haemus exhorting His swift ministers: "Bellona, bring my
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| − | helmet; attend me, Pavor, fasten the wheels upon my war chariot;
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| − | Formido, bridle my swift horses in harness. Hastily press forward on
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| − | your work. See, (he) makes ready himself for war; Stilicho whose
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| − | habit it is to load me with rich trophies and hang upon the oak the
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| − | plumed helmets of his enemies. For us together the trumpets ever
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| − | sound the call to battle; yoking my chariot I follow wheresoever he
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| − | pitches his camp."
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| − | ==Corpus Inscriptiones Latinae VI 2104, Rome, Carmen Fratrum Arvalium ==
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| − | Lasas assist us, Lasas delight us, Lasas come to our aid!
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| − | Neither plague nor ruin, Marmor, allow to be visited on us.
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| − | But if however we are invaded, like Mars we shall leap across our
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| − | borders
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| − | To sate you with the blood of our enemies and stay the barbarians.
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| − | Marmor assist us, Marmor defend us, Marmor come to our aid.
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| − | Triumph, triumph, triumph, triumph, triumph!
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| − | ==Gellius Noctes Atticae 13.23.13==
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| − | When Titus Tatius spoke in favor of peace, among his words was this
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| − | prayer, Neria, wife of Mars, I appeal to you, give peace. May you
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| − | use your own favored position with your husband; counsel Him to
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| − | partake in this plan. In the same way as we reconcile ourselves to
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| − | those who carried off our daughters, may you now join with Him for
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| − | all times in favoring His.
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| − | ==Horace Carmina 1.2.35-40==
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| − | Father Mars, too long have You neglected to look upon Your nation and
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| − | upon Your grandchildren. Alas, for too long have You been absent in
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| − | the game of war. Recall Your delight in the clash of battle; come,
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| − | Mars, take pride once more in the sight of polished Roman helmets
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| − | gleaming, and how the battle hardened legions meet the grimacing
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| − | Maurians in battle. Come now, we pray.
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| − | ==Livy 8.9.6-8 ==
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| − | Janus, Jupiter, Father Mars, Quirinus, Bellona, Lares, You divine
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| − | Novensiles and You divine Indigetes, deities whose power extends over
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| − | us and over our foes, and to You, too, Divine Manes, I pray, I do You
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| − | reverence, I crave Your grace and favour will bless the Roman People,
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| − | the Quirites, with power and victory, and will visit fear, dread and
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| − | death on the enemies of the Roman People, the Quirites. In like
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| − | manner as I have uttered this prayer so do I now on behalf of the
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| − | commonwealth of the Quirites, on behalf of the army, the legions, the
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| − | auxiliaries of the Roman People, the Quirites, devote the legions and
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| − | auxiliaries of the enemy, together with myself to Tellus and the
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| − | Divine Manes.
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| − | ==Livy 10.19.17-18 ==
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| − | If today, Bellona, You grant us victory, a new temple I vow.
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| − | ==Livy 19.27.1 ff. ==
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| − | When dawn arrived Scipio emerged from his headquarters in ritual
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| − | decorum to pray before the advance guard. He prayed, Gods and
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| − | Goddesses who inhabit the land and sea, to You I pray and ask that
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| − | whatsoever has been done under my auspices and my command, is now
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| − | being done or shall be done, may prove beneficial for me, for the
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| − | people of Rome and their children, and for our allies and the Latins,
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| − | who joined with the Roman army under my auspices in waging war on
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| − | land and sea. May Your good counsel and assistance be with me and
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| − | may You bless all our endeavors with rich increase. May You guard
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| − | the welfare and sustenance of our soldiers, allow the victors to
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| − | return home healthy and safe, and laden with the spoils of victory.
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| − | May they bring back honors and plunder to share in my triumphal
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| − | procession after defeating our enemy. Grant to me and to the Roman
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| − | people the power of vengeance and the opportunity and means to
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| − | inflict on our enemies the same as the Carthaginians have striven to
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| − | inflict against the people of Rome and thereby an example shall be
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| − | set for others.
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| − | ==Lucan De Bello Civili: Pharsalia 2.47-49==
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| − | Gods above, we do not pray for peace. Grant rage onto the nations.
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| − | May You now arouse the cities; bring forth the whole world in arms to
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| − | war.
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| − | ==Macrobius Saturnalia 3.9.7-8: Scipio Africanus' evocation of the Gods of Carthage.==
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| − | Whether you are a god or a goddess of these people who defends this
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| − | city of Carthage, and you Most High, take back your favor in defense
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| − | of this city and these people whom I attack. I pray, I beseech, I
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| − | ask your indulgence, that you withdraw and desert these people and
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| − | this city of Carthage, and that you relinquish the temples and sacred
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| − | precincts of this city, go away without them, and incite these people
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| − | and their city into fear of oblivion. Come then to favor Rome by
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| − | crossing over to me and my army, and with our city tried and accepted
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| − | as the location for your sacred precincts and holy rites, be
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| − | propitious to me and the people of Rome, and my soldiers. If you
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| − | make this happen, with clear and recognizable signs, I vow to erect
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| − | temples for you and to initiate games in your honor.
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| − |
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| − | ==Macrobius Saturnalia 3.9.10-11: The devotio of Carthage to the Gods of the Underworld==
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| − | Dis Pater, Veiovis, and Di Manes, or with any other name by which it
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| − | is proper to call You, since all in this city of Carthage and its
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| − | army, who, I feel, fled before me in terror only because you filled
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| − | them with alarm and fright, everyone who opposes our legions and the
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| − | wall of shields of our army, and our missiles are carried forward on
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| − | them by your hand, in this way you led away the enemy army and their
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| − | soldiers. Their city and fields, and those who are in this place and
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| − | this region, the lands and cities that they inhabit, you have now
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| − | deprived them of the supreme light, their hostile army, their city
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| − | and their lands. I feel to say that it was you who has devoted and
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| − | consecrated this city and its lands, from the beginning and all time,
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| − | that by law, who and when are made over and devoted as the highest
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| − | sacrifices. Therefore, I who am victorious, by my faith as a
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| − | magistrate of the people of Rome, and as commander of the armies, I
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| − | give this vow on behalf of the people of Rome, our armies and
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| − | legions, that you may retain everything born to this land and that
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| − | grew in healthy by your aid. If you will make this happen, so that
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| − | I may know, sense and derive that this has happened, then by whatever
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| − | vow will have been made, wherever it will have been made, may it be
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| − | properly made with sheep sacrificed upon the tribal altars. I call
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| − | upon Tellus, Mother Earth, and You mighty Jupiter, to act as
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| − | witnesses to my vow.
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| − | ==Ovid Fasti 3.1-2==
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| − | Bellicose Mars, lay aside for awhile Your round bronze shield and
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| − | spear. Mars, be present and let loose from its helmet Your sleek,
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| − | shining hair.
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| − | ==Ovid Fasti 3.73-6==
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| − | Arbiter of arms, from whose blood I am believed to have been born,
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| − | and many the proofs I will give that are accepted, after You we will
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| − | begin the Roman year, from Your name, Father, we will name the first
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| − | month of the year.
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| − | ==Ovid Fasti 4.827==
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| − | Then king Romulus said, As I found this city, be present, Jupiter,
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| − | Father Mars, and Mother Vesta, and all gods who it is pious to
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| − | summon, join together to attend. Grant that my work may rise with
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| − | Your auspices. Grant that it may for many years hold dominion on
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| − | earth, and assert its power over the east and west.
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| − | ==Ovid Fasti 5.573-77==
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| − | If, Father, my war is authorized by Vesta's priestess, and whenever I
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| − | prepare to take divine vengeance, Mars, be by my side and satiate
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| − | cold steel with guilt's blood, and lend Your favour to the better
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| − | side. If I am victorious for You I'll build a shrine and call You
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| − | Ultor, Mars the Avenger.
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| − | ==Plautus Bacchides 847-48==
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| − | Mars and Bellona, never trust me again, if I do not make him
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| − | breathless, if ever I should meet him once more and not take away his
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| − | vital breath.
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| − | ==Silius Italicus Punica 3.126-27==
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| − | But You, O (Mars) Father of Warfare, have pity on us, turn evil aside
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| − | from us and preserve (my husband's) life as inviolable to all Trojan
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| − | assaults.
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| − | ==Silius Italicus Punica 10.553-54==
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| − | Father Mars, You who were not at all deaf to my vows, these men,
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| − | survivors of the battle, dedicate to You the choicest armour of our
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| − | victory trophies.
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| − | ==Valerius Flaccus Argonautica 5.250-52==
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| − | Mars Gradivus, hear me, on whose sacred oak which fleece glitters.
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| − | Protect it and keep it safe always, your arms prepared to clash at
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| − | the clarion's sound to which your voice responds, ringing out in the
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| − | darkness.
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| − | ==Vellius Paterculus II 131==
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| − | Jupiter Capitolinus, Mars Gradivus called progenitor and aide of the
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| − | Romans, Vesta, perpetual guardian of fire, and whatever divine powers
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| − | in this greatness of Roman sovereignty, the largest empire on earth,
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| − | exulted to the highest dignity, to You the public voice calls to
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| − | witness and to pray: guard, preserve, and protect this state, this
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| − | peace, this prince, and those who succeed to the Senate, by their
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| − | long standing, determined worthy to consider the most grave matters
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| − | among mortals.
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| − | ==Virgil Aeneid 12.176-82; 197-211==
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| − | May the Sun now bear witness, and so too the Earth, I pray, for whom
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| − | I have been able to endure these many labors, and you, Almighty
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| − | Father, and you his consort, (Juno), daughter of Saturnus, at one
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| − | time more beneficial, at another kinder, be so now as I pray to you,
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| − | O Goddess, and to you, too, Father Mavors, who wields all warfare
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| − | under your powers, and on all the springs and rivers of this land I
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| − | invoke as witnesses, and all the powers of the high heavens and those
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| − | of the deep blue seas on whom it is proper to call.
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| − | By these same deities I, Aeneas, swear, by the Earth and the Sea, by
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| − | the stars and Latona's twin children, and dual-faced Janus, and the
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| − | powers of the gods below, and the harsh shrines of Father Dis. May
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| − | the Great Father hear my vow, he that sanctions alliances with his
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| − | thunderbolt. I touch the altars, and by the fires and by the divine
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| − | powers who I have called to witness, I so swear, that never shall I
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| − | breach this alliance or the peace of Italy, no matter what or how
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| − | things happen, nothing shall divert my will (to keep my vow), not
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| − | even if waves would cover the earth, plunging all into deluge, and
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| − | the Heavens fell into deepest Tartarus. (By this vow I swear to be
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| − | bound), even as this scepter, (the scepter that he now held up in his
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| − | right hand), shall never bud new foliage, or branch out to lend
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| − | shade, once it was cut deep in the forest, seized from its mother
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| − | tree, its leaves and branches now encased in steel; once a tree, now
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| − | an artifact turned by hand, decorated with bronze, and given to the
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| − | Latin fathers to bear.
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