Prayers to Juno
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Apuleius Metamorphoses 6.4
Then kneeling, Psyche embraced the altar of Juno and, wiping at her tears, once more prayed. "O spouse and sister of Mighty Jupiter, whether You are worshipped and adored in the public rites of the temples of Samos, or whether You are called upon singularly by women in their tearful moment of giving birth, Your glory is nourished. You dwell in ancient temples, whether at haughty Carthage, whose temples You frequently bless when they celebrate Your journey from heaven on the back of a lion, or whether in Your temple beside the riverbank of Inachus where You are celebrated as the wife of thundering Jupiter Tonans and as Queen of the Gods. Famous among the Argives whose walls You defend, You who all the east venerates as Life-giving Zygia, who all the west names Lucina, may You be an advocate for me against my utter downfall, Juno Sospita, and endure until the end in all my weary labors, exhausted as I am, deliver me from imminent peril and free me from my fears, for I know You are accustomed to come of Your own accord to the assistance of such women who are pregnant and in danger."
Corpus Inscriptiones Latinae VI 32323, Acta Sacrorum Saecularium, Rome, Lines l21-22; ref. 92-99
Juno Regina, as it is prescribed for you in those books – and for this reason may every good fortune attend the Roman people, the Quirites – let sacrifice be made to You with a fine cow. I beg and pray [that You may increase the sovereign power and majesty of the Roman people, the Quirites, in war and peace; as You have always watched over us among the Latins. Forever may You grant safety, victory and health to the Roman people, the Quirites. May You bestow Your favor on the Roman people, the Quirites, and on the legions of the Roman people, the Quirites. May You preserve the health and welfare of the people of Rome, the Quirites, and may You always remain willingly favorable and propitious to the people of Rome, the Quirites, to the college of the quindecimviri, to me, to my house and household. May You accept [this sacrifice of (a fine cow), to be burnt whole for You in sacrifice. For these reasons may You be honored and strengthened with the sacrifice of this female (cow), and become favorable and propitious to the Roman people, the Quirites, to the college of the quindecimviri, to myself, to my house, and to my household.]
Corpus Inscriptiones Latinae VI 32323, Acta Sacrorum Saecularium, Rome, 17 BCE Lines 125-31
Juno Regina, if there is any better fortune that may attend the Roman people, the Quirites, we one hundred and ten mistresses of households of the Roman people, the Quirites, married women on bended knee, pray that You bring it about, we beg and beseech that You increase the power and majesty of the Roman people, the Quirites in war and peace; and that the Latins may always be obedient; and that You may grant eternal safety, victory and health to the Roman people, the Quirites; and that You may protect the Roman people, the Quirites, and the legions of the Roman people, the Quirites; and that You may keep safe and make greater the state of the Roman people, the Quirites; and that You may be favorable and propitious to the Roman people, the Quirites, to the quindecimviri sacris faciundis, to us, to our houses, to our households. These are the things that we one hundred and ten mistresses of households of the Roman people, the Quirites, married women on bended knee, pray, beg, and beseech.
Corpus Inscriptiones Latinae VI 32329. 10 sqq. Acta Sacrorum Saecularium addition
Juno Regina, we, one hundred and ten the mothers of the families of the people of Rome, the Quirites, pray You allow what is now beneficial to the people of Rome, the Quirites, may then be made better, and we brides implore You to aid and increase the sovereign power and majesty of the people of Rome, the Quirites, in war and peace, and always to watch over the fame of the Latins. And may You favor the people of Rome, the Quirites, and the legions of the people of Rome, the Quirites, and preserve the republic of the people of Rome, the Quirites, and may You willingly favor and prosper us, our homes, and our families. This is what the one hundred and ten mothers of the families of the people of Rome, the Quirites, we brides of our families, pray, entreat, and implore (You to grant.)
Livius Andronicus Equos Troianos
Grant me the strength, Goddess, to whom I ask, to whom I pray; extend your assistance to me.
Da mihi hasce opes, quas peto, quas precor porrige opitula
Plautus Amphitryon 831-834
By the Highest Gods ruling in the heavens, by Juno, too, She whom most of all I fear and venerate, I swear that no mortal man has ever come near enough to touch me or in any way impugn upon my chastity or has give me cause for shame.
Seneca Hercules on Oeta 256-62
Wherever You may be in the ethereal regions, O wife of Jupiter Tonans, send a wild beast against Alcides as may satisfy my need. If a serpent moves through the marsh with a fruitful head, more vast than all others born in this region, if a feral beast lives that is so immense, so dire, so horrible that Hercules Himself would avert His eye, let this beast come forth from some vast cave.
Silius Italicus Punica 7.78-85
Be present O Queen of the Heavenly Gods, we Your chaste daughters pray and bring forth this venerable gift, we, all the Roman women of noble name, have woven this mantle with our own hands, embroidered it for You with threads of gold. This veil You shall wear for now, O Juno, until we mothers grow less fearful for our sons. But if You will grant that we may repel these African storm clouds from our land, we shall set upon You a flashing crown of diverse gems set in gold.
Statius Thebaid 10.67-69
Look, O Juno, upon the sacrilegious citadel of the Cadmean whore, and cast asunder that rebel mound. O Queen of Heaven, who rules the stars circling about the northern pole, with another thunderbolt, for You have the power, drive out Thebes as well.
Tibullus 4.6.1 ff.
Accept, O Juno Lucina, this offering of incense. Cheerfully, O Lucina, she has come to adorn your shrine of matrons...
Come, most chaste Queen of Heaven, appear in royal robes and nod your assent to the wine that is poured and the cakes piled high to await you. With you bring every herb for ending pain, and soothing songs to sing; across the ocean from distant shores bear such herbs as will cure our most severe ills, or whatever else we most fear. Rack this girl no more with pain, or cruelly delay her birthing.
Valerius Flaccus Argonautica 1.80-90
Almighty Queen of Heaven, remember when Jupiter made the skies grow wild with black clouds and sheets of rain; remember when Thundering Jupiter commanded Your return to the marriage bed and how You, frightened with sudden capture and at being left destitute following Your rape, sought only how to flee; remember how it was I who carried You upon my shoulders across the storm swollen Enipeus, when it carried away its banks to flood the Thessalian plane, and all were carried before its torrents. Grant, Juno, that I may arrive safely to Scythia where the Phasis flows. And You, virgin Minerva, snatch me away from harm. I, even I then, will set that plucked fleece in your shrine, and my father, relieved and grateful, will dedicate snow- white cattle from herds and lead them to Your altar with gilded horns.
Virgil Aeneid 6.195-98
Be my guide, if there is any way, and make Your course from the sky above into this grove, where rich boughs shade fertile land. And you, Holy Mother, do not desert us in our hour of indecision.
