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| − | [[Category:Roman religion]]
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| − | ==Apuleius Metamorphoses 6.2==
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| − | Then Psyche fell down upon Ceres' feet, sweeping the hard earth with
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| − | her hair and greatly weeping at Her footsteps, mingled her prayers
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| − | for forgiveness with claims of her innocence, O merciful Mother, I
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| − | pray You avert my sorrow, by Your generous and temperate right hand,
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| − | by the joyful harvest festival, by Your mysteries kept in silent
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| − | secrecy, by Your winged servants, the dragons who serve Your chariot
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| − | as You go about, and by the furrows in Sicilian clods of earth, and
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| − | the plow-wheels that churn them from firm soil, by the marriage of
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| − | Proserpina that You discovered through diligently seeking after Your
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| − | daughter, and by the mysteries held in silent secrecy within the
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| − | Attic temple of Eleusis, halt the misery of Your servant Psyche.
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| − | Among this piled wheat let me be concealed, if only for a few days,
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| − | until the ire of so great a Goddess passes, or at least give me a
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| − | quiet interval that I might rest from my great labour and travail.
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| − | ==Apuleius Metamorphoses 11.2==
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| − | O blessed Queen of Heaven, whether you are the Lady Ceres who is the
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| − | original and motherly source of all fruitful things in earth, who
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| − | after finding Your daughter Proserpina, through the great joy which
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| − | You did presently conceive, made barren and unfruitful ground to be
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| − | plowed and sown, and now You inhabit in the land of Eleusis; or
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| − | whether You are … Proserpina, by reason of the deadly howling to
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| − | which You yield, that has power to stop and put away the invasion of
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| − | the hags and Ghosts which appear unto men, and to keep them down in
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| − | the closures of the earth; You who is worshipped in divers manners,
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| − | and does illuminate all the borders of the earth by Your feminine
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| − | shape, You which nourishes all the fruits of the world by Your vigor
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| − | and force; with whatsoever name or fashion it is lawful to call upon
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| − | You, I pray You end my great travail and misery, and deliver me from
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| − | the wretched fortune, which has for so long a time pursued me. Grant
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| − | peace and rest if it please You to reply to my entreaties, for I have
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| − | endured too much labor and peril. Remove from me this misshapen form
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| − | from me, and return me to my pristine form, and if I have offended in
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| − | any way the divine Majesty, let me rather die then live, for I am
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| − | fully weary of my life.
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| − | ==Caesius Bassius Hymn to Ceres and Libera by Philicus==
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| − | Fertile Goddesses, wives of Jove, may the mystic rite that You
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| − | cherish not be defiled.
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| − | ==Cato De Agricultura 134==
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| − | It is fitting to offer the porca praecidanea (to Ceres) prior to the
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| − | time of reaping. For Ceres offer a sow as Her porca praecidanea
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| − | before you store these fruits of the earth: spelt, wheat, barley,
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| − | beans, and the seeds of field mustard. With wine and frankincense
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| − | pray to Janus, Jupiter and Juno before sacrificing the sow. Offer
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| − | piled cakes to (Ceres) while saying, "(Ceres Mater), to You I pray
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| − | with good prayers, offering You this pile of cakes, so that You might
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| − | willing be favorable to me and my children, to my home and
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| − | household." ... Afterwards give an offering of wine to
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| − | (Ceres), "(Ceres Mater), for the same reasons given in the good
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| − | prayers I prayed while offering You piled cakes, may You accept and
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| − | be honor by this portion of wine I pour."
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| − | ==Cicero In C. Verrem IV.72. 187-8==
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| − | O Ceres and Libera, whose sacred worship, as the opinions and
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| − | religious belief of all men agree, is contained in the most important
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| − | and most abstruse mysteries; You, by whom the principles of life and
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| − | food, the examples of laws, customs, humanity, and refinement are
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| − | said to have been given and distributed to nations and to cities;
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| − | You, whose sacred rites the Roman people has received from the Greeks
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| − | and adopted, and now preserves with such religious awe, both publicly
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| − | and privately, that they seem not to have been introduced from other
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| − | nations, but rather to have been transmitted from hence to other
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| − | nations. You, again and again I implore and appeal to, most holy
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| − | Goddesses, who dwell around those lakes and groves of Enna, and who
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| − | preside over all Sicily,… You whose invention and gift of corn, which
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| − | You have distributed over the whole earth, inspires all nations and
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| − | all races of men with reverence for Your divine power;--And all the
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| − | other Gods, and all the Goddesses, do I implore and entreat.
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| − | ==Livius Andronicus Equos Troianos==
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| − | Grant me the strength, Goddess, to whom I ask, to whom I pray; extend
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| − | your assistance to me.
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| − | Da mihi hasce opes, quas peto, quas precor porrige opitula
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| − | ==Livy 24.38.8==
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| − | Mother Ceres and Proserpina and all You Gods above and below who
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| − | inhabit the city, these hallowed lakes and groves, I pray that You
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| − | attend us with Your favor and support, if it should be that we are
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| − | taking this initial step for the purpose of guarding against
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| − | treacherous falsehood, not practicing it.
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| − | Vos, Ceres Mater ac Proserpina, precor, ceteri superi infernique Di,
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| − | qui hanc urbem, hoc sacratos lacus locosque colitis, ut ita nobis
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| − | volentes propitii adsitis, si vitandae, non inferendae fraudis causa
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| − | hoc consilii capimu.
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| − |
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| − | ==Ovid Fasti I.671-704: Paganalia Prayer to Ceres and Tellus==
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| − | O Mothers of Fruitfulness, Earth and Ceres, please,
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| − | With salted spelt cakes offered for Your mother's woe,
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| − | In kind service have Earth and Ceres nurtured wheat,
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| − | She who gave grain life, She who gave us room to grow.
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| − | Pray then before the sheep are shorn their winter's fleece.
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| − | Consorts in labour who antiquity reformed,
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| − | Oaken acorn have You replaced by useful meal,
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| − | With boundless crops satisfy those who fields farmed,
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| − | O that they may by their tillage their reward seal.
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| − | May You grant tender seed abundant increase.
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| − | Let not icy cold enwrap our new shoots with snow,
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| − | While we sow let cloudless skies and fair winds blow.
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| − | When the seed lies sprouting, sprinkle with gentle rains,
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| − | May You ward off the feasting by birds from our grains.
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| − | You also, little ants, spare the grain we have sown,
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| − | More abundant will be your harvest when 'tis grown.
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| − | Meanwhile may our grain not blight by rough mildew,
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| − | Nor foul weather our seed blanch to a sickly hue.
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| − | Never may our grain be shriveled nor may it swell,
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| − | Without eye-stinging cockle, not by wild oats held.
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| − | Crops of wheat, of barley, of spelt grow on the farm,
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| − | Look now, Good Mothers, guard well the field,
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| − | The seasons change, the earth by Your breath grows warm,
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| − | With Your gentle touch may You increase our yield.
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| − | By Peace Ceres nursed, Her foster-child live in peace.
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| − | ==Ovid Amores III 10. 3-14; 43-8==
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| − | Flaxen haired Ceres, Your fine tresses wreathed with ears of wheat,
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| − | why must your sacred rites inhibit our pleasures? Goddess, people
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| − | everywhere praise for your munificence. No other goddess so lavishes
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| − | men and women with everything good. In earlier times the uncouth
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| − | peasant never roasted grains of wheat, never knew a threshing floor,
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| − | but oak trees, those first oracles, provided them with gruel.
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| − | Acorns, tender roots and herbs made their meal then. Ceres first
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| − | taught seeds to ripen in the fields, taught how to follow Her with
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| − | scythe against their golden hair, first broke the oxen to yoke and
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| − | reveal the fertile earth beneath its curved blade.
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| − | ++++
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| − | O golden haired Ceres, just because lying apart was so sad for You.
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| − | must I now, too, suffer so on Your holy day? Why must I be sad when
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| − | You rejoice at the return of Your daughter whose realm is the lesser
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| − | only to Juno's? A festival calls for singing and drinking and
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| − | lovemaking. These are fit gifts to carry to the temples and please
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| − | the gods.
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| − | ==Ovid, Ibis 419-20==
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| − | May the son of Ceres be forever sought by you in vain; and may you
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| − | always remain destitute, your prayers for wealth and fortune
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| − | frustrated by Him.
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| − | ==Seneca, Hercules Furens 229==
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| − | For you, Goddess of the Fruits of the Earth, your secret rites I will
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| − | fund; in your shrine at Eleusius shall burn the sacred flame in
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| − | celebration of your mysteries.
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| − | ==Servius Honoratus, On the Georgics 1.21==
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| − | Fabius Pictor enumerates these lesser gods, who the flamen Cerealis
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| − | invokes when offering sacrifice to Tellus and Ceres: Vervactor,
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| − | Reparator, Imporcitor, Insitor, Obarator, Occator, Sarritor,
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| − | Subruncinator, Messor, Convector, Conditor, and Promitor.
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| − | ==Harvest Prayer to Ceres (modern reconstruction by M Moravius Piscinus)==
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| − | O most holy Ceres, nurturing Mother, whose sacred womb gave birth to
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| − | both Gods and men; You, Vervactor, who first yoked the oxen and
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| − | placed the ploughshare to virgin soil; You, Reparator, who first
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| − | prepared furrows in fallow land; You, Imporcitor, who first made wide
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| − | our furrows; You, Insitor, who first cast Your bounty on the earth
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| − | and taught the seed to grow; Obarator, Sarritor, Subruncinator, and
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| − | You, Sterculinia, who first cared for crops; You, Flora, who make the
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| − | grain to bear fruit; You, Messitor, who first set scythe to grain
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| − | stalks; You, Convector, who first spread grain on the sacred harvest
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| − | floor; You, Noduterentor, who first showed us how to thresh, and You,
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| − | most holy Ceres, whose very breath separates the white chaff from the
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| − | golden grain; You, Conditor and Tutilina, who guard the grain in
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| − | storage; You, Promitor, who first milled the grain and distributed
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| − | its flour for our daily bread; You, eternal savior, Ceres, lavishing
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| − | Your bounty upon me and mine, to You, flaxen-haired Ceres, gladly I
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| − | give thanks and praise, and, from the little I have, to You I
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| − | willingly make an offering. Accept these, the first fruits of my
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| − | fields. May my offering incline You more towards me. May You ever
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| − | nourish me and mine with Your bounty, O most holy and nurturing
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| − | Mother, gentle Ceres.
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| − | ==Tibullus I.1.15-6==
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| − | Golden-haired Ceres, bless this our farm; a crown of wheat I shall
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| − | hang before your altar.
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| − | ==Tibullus II.1.3-4; 17-20==
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| − | Come to us, Bacchus, with clusters of grapes dangling from your
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| − | horns, and you, too, Ceres, a wreath of newly ripened wheat for your
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| − | temples, come!
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| − | Gods of our fathers, we purify our farmers and our fruitful fields;
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| − | we ask that you drive away harm from our borders. Let not the now
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| − | sprouting plants succumb before harvest, let not the timid lambs be
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| − | outrun by swift wolves.
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| − | ==Virgil Georgics I.7-12: ==
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| − | Liber and gentle Ceres, if by your gifts the earth once changed,
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| − | exchanging Chaonian acorns for rich heads of grain, and receiving
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| − | your invention of wine from Acheloian cups, and you Fauns, your
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| − | divine presence an aid for rustics, bring dancing feet, as when Dryad
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| − | girls frolic with Fauns, of your gifts I sing.
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