Games of Venus: An Anthology of Greek and Roman Erotic Verse from Sappho to Ovid

by Peter Bing

For instance, Anacreon PMG 357 “Dionysus, get Kleoboulos to receive my love” would count as a wooing poem. One might be tempted to group these poems according to the carrier, assuming that the primary situation is that existing between the speaker and the deity invoked. In erotic poetry, however, the request to the deity always reveals an intention within the sphere of amorous activity, so we would always treat the prayer as a carrier and the kind of utterance revealed in the request as the governing speech-action. The prayer typically conforms to the following simple pattern: 1) A deity is named; 2) attributes and/or powers of the deity are described, by means of adjectives and/or relative clauses; 3) the speaker makes a request. In addition, one often finds a reference to a prior relationship between the deity and the speaker—expressed through an “if-clause” (e.g.” if ever you helped me before”).