Related voices Athenians

Athenian prayer for rain

Meditations 5.7

Original text

Greek

The ancient words

Εὐχὴ Ἀθηναίων· ὗσον, ὗσον, ὦ φίλε Ζεῦ, κατὰ τῆς ἀρούρας τῆς Ἀθηναίων καὶ τῶν πεδίων. ἤτοι οὐ δεῖ εὔχεσθαι ἢ οὕτως ἁπλῶς καὶ ἐλευθέρως.

Modern rendering

Close to the words

Literal English · editorial draft

Prayer of the Athenians: “Rain, rain, dear Zeus, on the Athenians’ plowed land and on their plains.” Either one should not pray, or one should pray so simply and freely.

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Historical translation

1634 · Source edition ↗

The form of the Athenians’ prayer did run thus: ‘O rain, rain, good Jupiter, upon all the grounds and fields that belong to the Athenians.’ Either we should not pray at all, or thus absolutely and freely; and not every one for himself in particular alone.

Text matched to linked transcription; typography normalized.

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Sources & notes

Historical editions may include surrounding context or use different phrasing. Parallel columns compare passages; their lines are not word-for-word alignments.

The source review is selective. Additional prototype transcriptions are preserved in the repository pending verification. Editorial method →