the axe, prayed ‘Come, Sanda, and let the Innarawantes come with you...
Come and eat, and we will take the oath.’^21
A couple of examples from the many to be found in the Vedic hymns will
suffice.
Va ́ ̄yav, a ̄ ya ́ ̄hi dars ́ata,
imé sóma ̄áram
̇kr
̇ta ̄h
̇:
tés
̇
a ̄m pa ̄hi, s ́rudhí hávam.
Va ̄yu, come, beautiful one;
these Somas are prepared;
drink of them, hear our invocation. (RV 1. 2. 1)
pu ̄rn
̇
ám
̇
rátham
̇
vahethe mádhva a ̄citam ́
̇
:
téna da ̄s ́va ̄m ́
̇sam úpa ya ̄tho As ́vina ̄!
You ride the car full-laden with sweetness:
on it come to the sacrificer, As ́vins! (1. 182. 2)Cf. 1. 85. 6, 135. 2 f., 183. 5, 184. 5; 3. 58. 2; 4. 4. 1, 44. 4; 5. 83. 6; 7. 71. 2–4; 10.
- 4 f. Sometimes the third-person imperative (or subjunctive or injunctive)
is used, as in 1. 35. 10 híran
̇
yahasto ásurah
̇... ya ̄tu arva ̄ ́n ̇, ‘let the golden-
handed divinity... come hither’; 1. 1. 2, 5; 5. 11. 2.
There are several instances in the Ga ̄tha ̄s, and others in the Younger Avesta:
Y. 28. 3 a ̄ mo ̄i rafəδra ̄i zavə ̄ n
̇
g jasata ̄, ‘come to my calls for support’; 29. 11
Ahura ̄, nu ̄ nå avarə ̄,ə ̄ hma ̄.ra ̄to ̄is ˇ y u ̄sˇm a ̄vata ̨m, ‘Lord, now (come) down to us
on account of our liberality, your followers’ ’; 49. 1 Vaŋvhı ̄ A ̄da ̄, gaidı ̄ mo ̄i, a ̄
mo ̄i rapa ̄, ‘O Good Apportionment, come to me, support me’; 68. 9 ‘Hear our
prayer, may it please you, fulfil it, come to our aid’; Yt. 10. 32 = 57 ‘Hear
our prayer... come to our libations’; with third-person imperative, Y. 54. 1
‘Let Airyaman the desired come (a ̄ ... jan
̇
tu ̄) to the aid of Zarathushtra’s men
and women’.
From Greek we may quote, for example, Odysseus’ prayer to Athena in the
last lap of the foot-race, Il. 23. 770 κλυ
θι θεα ́,qγαθ μοι $πρροθο $λθC ποδοι
ιν,
‘hear, goddess, come as a good helper for my legs’; Alc. 34. 1–4δευ
τ μοι να
σον
Πλοπο λποντε[, | παι
δε Aφθ]ιμοι ∆[ο](δC Λ δα, | [ –– ∪ω]ι θ3[μ]ωι
προ[φα ́]νητε,Κα ́ στορ κα? Πολ3δε[υ]κε, ‘hither to me from Pelops’ isle,
doughty sons of Zeus and Leda, with [willing] heart appear, Castor and
Polydeuces’; Anacr. PMG 357 pναξ ... γουνου
μαι σε,σ7 δ, ε1μεν^ #λθ, kμιν,
κεχαρισμνη δ, ε1χωλη
$πακο3ειν, ‘Lord... I supplicate thee, come with
good will and hear our acceptable prayer’.^22 Here, as in the Homeric example,
(^21) CTH 757; Gurney (1977), 29 f. Cf. also CTH 422, 483 ii (trs. A. Goetze in ANET 355, 352).
(^22) Cf. also Hes. Op. 2; Sappho 1. 5/25 (quoted below), 2. 1, 53, 128; Soph. Aj. 697, El. 115, OT
163–6, Phil. 829; id., PMG 737. 7; Anon. PMG 871, 934. 19, 935. 2, etc.; Norden (1913), 148; West
(1978), 138.
- Hymns and Spells 319