sám
̇
hí dr ́
̇ks
̇ase, ‘so mayest thou (Su ̄ rya) appear together with Indra’. Similarly
in the Ga ̄tha ̄s: Y. 28. 6 Vo h u ̄ gaidı ̄ Manaŋha ̄, da ̄idı ̄, Asˇ
̇
a ̄, då darəga ̄yu ̄,‘come
with Good Thought, give, O Truth, thy enduring gift’; 33. 7 a ̄ ma ̄ idu ̄m,
vahisˇt a ̄, a ̄ xvaiθya ̄ca ̄, Mazda ̄, darəsˇa t
̃
ca ̄ | Asˇ
̇a ̄ Vohu ̄ Manaŋha ̄, ‘come to me, Best
ones, come, Wise One, in thine own person and confidently, with Truth and
Good Thought’; cf. 50. 4, 7. In Greek the instrumental was merged in the
dative, and in this usage it is typically reinforced by the preposition σ3ν:
Hymn. Hom. 29. 7–11κα? σ3 μοι ,Αργειφο ́ ντα ... | λαο ν $πα ́ ρηγε σ7ν
α!δοηι τε φληι τε | ΙU στηι, ‘and you, Argus-slayer... be favourable and assist
together with Hestia whom you love and revere’; Pind. Pae. 6. 1 f. πρ:
,Ολυμπου ∆ιο ́ σε,χρυσα κλυτο ́ μαντι Πυθοι
, | λσσομαι Χαρτεσσν τε κα? σ7ν
,Αφροδται, ‘by Olympian Zeus, O golden Pytho famed for prophecy, I pray
you together with the Charites and Aphrodite’;PMG 871 #λθ, ρ, p ∆ιο ́ νυσε |
fαλεων $ να:ν | >γν:ν σ7ν Χαρτεσσι, ‘come to the ceremony, Dionysus, to
the Eleans’ holy temple, with the Graces’.^27
Some of the prayed-for visitations, if implemented, would have caused
devastation on a regional or cosmic scale. At RV 7. 53. 2 Heaven and Earth
are urged to come, with the whole divine race in train: a ̄ ́ no Dya ̄va ̄pr
̇
thivı ̄
daíviyena | jánena ya ̄tam! And at 10. 64. 9 three great rivers: Sárasvatı ̄ Saráyuh
Síndhur u ̄rmíbhir ... a ̄ ́ yantu, ‘let the Sarasvati, the Sarayu, (and) the Indus ̇
come with their waves’. The instrumental u ̄rmíbhih
̇
shows that it is not just
disembodied river goddesses that are being invited but their waters too. One
might take this as a flight of Indian extravagance, were it not that it has an
exact parallel in an old Roman prayer recorded by Servius, adesto Tiberine
cum tuis undis.^28 In the Avesta too we find a prayer for a river to come to the
sacrificer (Yt. 5. 132).
Finding range and directionIt makes no difference whether the deity is near by or far away; gods hear as
well, and come as readily, from any distance. ‘We would voice a mantra to
Agni, who hears us even from afar’ (RV 1. 74. 1); ‘the god Savitr
̇
comes from
afar, banishing all difficulties’ (1. 35. 3); ‘if ever at another time too you heard
my voice far off and hearkened’ (Sappho 1. 5–7); Aesch. Eum. 297 ‘a god hears
even from afar’, cf. 397; the Dioskouroi ‘easily rescue men from chilly death,
(^27) Likewise in statements of gods’ powers and activities, as Hes. Th. 253, 347, 444, 936,
Alc. 364. 2, Pind. Ol. 6. 81.
(^28) Serv. Aen. 8. 72; cf. Enn. Ann. 26 teque pater Tiberine tuo cum flumine sancto, imitated by
Virgil l.c.; Eduard Norden, Aus altrömischen Priesterbüchern (Lund–Leipzig 1939), 178.
- Hymns and Spells 321