Spare Us, Earth!

Statius, Thebaid 8. 303-328

O eternal creator of humans and gods, who give birth to the rivers and forests and the seeds of everything in the world and the Promethean hands and Pyrrha’s rocks, who first gave and transformed nourishment for men, who circle and carry the sea: under your power lie the gentle flocks and the repose of birds; firm and immovable strength of the eternal world, the swift machine of the sky and both nocturnal and diurnal chariots circle you hanging in the empty air, o you center of things undivided by the great brothers! You have nourished so many races, so many lofty cities and great people, you who alone are enough both below and above, you who with no effort carry star-sustaining Atlas striving to bear the celestial realm – do you refuse to carry only us? Are we alone oppressive to you? What crime are we ignorant wretches paying for? Is it because we, a foreign people, came here from the shores of Inachus? Every soil is native to all people, nor is it right for you to distinguish your people with such a savage, grounded boundary all around. May you remain common to all, and bear your arms from here and there. May it be granted, I beg, in the order of war to puff up our pugnacious spirits and return them to the heavens. Don’t snatch away breathing bodies from such sudden pyres – don’t hurry! We will come, at that point at which all arrive, on that road which we all go down. Having been implored thus, please set a light field for the Pelasgians, and don’t rush the swift Fates.