Prayers and hymns Cleanthes

Prayer to Zeus and Destiny

Enchiridion 53.1; Letters 107.11

Original text

Greek & Latin

Two ancient witnesses

Greek · Enchiridion 53.1

ἄγου δέ μ᾽, ὦ Ζεῦ, καὶ σύ γ᾽ ἡ Πεπρωμένη, ὅποι ποθ᾽ ὑμῖν εἰμι διατεταγμένος· ὡς ἕψομαί γ᾽ ἄοκνος· ἢν δέ γε μὴ θέλω, κακὸς γενόμενος, οὐδὲν ἧττον ἕψομαι.

Latin adaptation · Letters 107.11

Duc, o parens celsique dominator poli, quocumque placuit: nulla parendi mora est. Adsum impiger. Fac nolle: comitabor gemens malusque patiar facere quod licuit bono. Ducunt volentem fata, nolentem trahunt.

Modern rendering

Close to the words

Literal English · editorial draft

Lead me, Zeus, and you too, Destiny, wherever I have been assigned by you. I shall follow without hesitation. But if I am unwilling, becoming base, I shall follow no less. Seneca’s Latin version: Lead me, father and ruler of the lofty sky, wherever it has pleased you; there is no delay in obeying. I am present and ready. Make me unwilling: I shall follow groaning and, as a bad man, suffer to do what I was free to do as a good one. The fates lead the willing; they drag the unwilling.

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Historical translation

1614 · Source edition ↗

O soueraiene Father, and eternall Lord | of higheit heanens, condutt me at thy pleasure, | Vnto thy powerfull will I slraight accord, | Make me not will, yet mourning without measure, | lie waite pon thee, andin being bad Saffer all that, which if my minde were init, | 1 might endure with al! the strength 1 had, | Whither thou wilt, O God, 1 will and must : | I flie delayes, both heart and feete are willing, | The Fateseondutt, the forward draw the wiline.

Text matched to linked transcription; typography normalized.

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Sources & notes

The four Greek lines and Seneca’s five-line Latin adaptation are distinct witnesses. The final Latin line, “The fates lead the willing; they drag the unwilling,” has no corresponding line in the preserved Greek quotation.

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 →