While all of the prayers previously considered were spoken by an individual
Roman, sometimes on his own behalf, sometimes on behalf of a community, the
category of prayer here classified as hymns is distinguished through their performance
by a group. The body singing a Roman hymn did not consist of the entire congre-
gation of worshipers, but rather of a select group of priests or a citizen chorus, who
addressed the gods on behalf of the larger community. For the performance of this
hymn, the priests recited words from rolls kept by public slaves and brought out just
for the occasion. While singing, they also performed a three-step dance. Like most
other Roman hymns, the primary objective of this hymn was apotropaic. It is char-
acteristic of many Roman deities that they possessed power for both good and ill
and therefore had to be placated as Mars is here. First the priests address the Lares,
protective spirits of the land, then Mars in his guise as a wild and potentially destruct-
ive power, who can afflict crops with disease. The series of petitions is interrupted
by what appears to be an instruction to the priests to invoke by turns the Semones,
agricultural spirits. In the last full verse, the priests again request Mars’ favor. Finally,
the hymn concludes with a fivefold repetition of the word “triumph,” possibly a prayer
for divine manifestation (Versnel 1970: 11–55).
This hymn contains many features characteristic of other prayers, but adapted and
magnified for its particular purposes. Most striking is the redundancy, which appears
frequently in other prayers, but not to this extent, namely that the priests repeat
each of the verses three times and the lines themselves are written out three times
in the inscription. Similarly the hymn concludes with repetitions of a single word,
again repeated in the inscription. What appears in the text as three divine names
(Marmar, Mars, Marmor) are actually variants on the name of a single deity.
Furthermore, there is considerable recurrence of consonantal and vocalic sounds such
as lue rue(“disease and destruction”). Finally, the Arval hymn employs repetition
in a metrical sense, a simple form of verse based on lines with a fixed number of
syllables. The impression is unavoidable that the structure and wording themselves
are considered powerful and effective devices in the achievement of the petition.
In addition to the regular performance of hymns by priestly groups, the Romans
also commissioned hymns to be composed for extraordinary occasions and sung by
non-priestly choruses. We know of several occasions when consultation of priestly
experts following an androgynous birth resulted in ritual expiations including the
performance of hymns by choruses of unmarried girls. The first known occurrence
of such an event took place in 207 bc; the pontiffs advised that 27 maidens process
through the city to the temple of Juno Regina singing a hymn composed by the
poet Livius Andronicus (Livy 27.37.5–15). There are at least another seven
instances recorded (MacBain 1982: 127–32).
Other occasions for hymns included the Secular Games, intended originally to occur
only once in the memory of any living person. The only extant choral hymn from
the pre-Christian era is that of the Secular Games presented by Augustus in 17 bc;
the lyric poet Horace composed the hymn, which was inscribed together with an
account of other ritual activities (Hor. Carmen Saeculare, Schnegg-Köhler 2002).
The lengthy hymn, sung by a chorus of boys and girls, begins thus:
244 Frances Hickson Hahn