Watkins Mars Prayer
Jonathan Slocum and Carol Justus
Poetic Analysis of Cato's Mars Prayer
In chapter 17 of How to Kill a Dragon: Aspects of Indo-European Poetics (New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995 & 2001, pp. 199 ff.), Calvert Watkins analyzes Cato's Mars Prayer as an old form of Indo-European poetic language; as an old IE poem, this text would fall into four strophes, held together with synonymous doubling, repetition, and nesting conventions. His translation and spacing emphasize this:
1 I Mars pater te precor quaesoque 2 uti sies uolens propitius 3 mihi domo familiaeque nostrae: 4 quoius rei ergo 5 agrum terram fundumque meum 6 suouitaurilia circumagi iussi 7 II uti tu 8 morbos uisos inuisosque 9 uiduertatem uastitudinemque 10 calamitates intemperiasque 11 prohibessis defendas auerruncesque 12 III utique tu 13 fruges frumenta uineta uirgultaque 14 grandire (du)eneque euenire siris 15 pastores pecuaque salua seruassis 16 duisque (du)onam salutem ualetudinemque 17 mihi domo familiaeque nostrae 18 IV harunce rerum ergo 19 fundi terrae agrique mei 20 lustrandi lustrique faciendi ergo 21 sicuti dixi 22 macte hisce suouitaurilibus lactentibus inmolandis esto 23 Mars pater eiusdem rei ergo 24 macte hisce suouitaurilibus lactentibus esto
N.B. Watkins restores Old Latin 'u' for instances of the more modern letter 'v'; also, in (du)ene [line 14] and (du)onam [line 16], Watkins restores "the Old Latin form of later bene, bonam."
Watkins' English translation, as he formats it, is:
1 I Father Mars, I pray and beseech you 2 that you befavorable (and) propitious 3 to me, my house, and our household: 4 to which end 5 I have ordered the suouitaurilia to be driven around 6 my field, land, and farm; 7 II that you 8 forbid, ward off, and brush aside 9 diseases seen and unseen, 10 depopulation and devastation, 11 storms and tempests; 12 III and that you 13 let grow tall and turn out well 14 grains (and) corn and vineyards (and) shrubwork 15 and keep safe shepherds (and) cattle 16 and give good health and soundness 17 to me, my house, and our household. 18 IV To these ends, 19 to purify and perform the purification 20 of my farm, land, and field 21 so as I spoke 22 be magnified by these suckling suouitaurilia to be sacrificed; 23 Father Mars, to that same end, 24 be magnified by these suckling suouitaurilia.
Watkins cites numerous poetic devices, including the doubling or tripling of figures (A and B, or A and B and C); the reader is referred to How to Kill a Dragon: Aspects of Indo-European Poetics for extensive discussion.</p