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This short invocation in elegiac couplets by Hrotsvit of Gandersheim (c. 935–after 973) introduces her poem on the life of the Virgin Mary. Hrotsvit addresses Mary as the only hope of the world, glorious lady of heaven, holy mother of the King and bright star of the sea, who as a virgin restored to the world the life that the ancient virgin Eve had lost. She asks Mary to come graciously to the aid of her servant Hrotsvit and her new verses, as with her womanly Muse she sings in dactylic measures, wishing to touch at least the smallest part of Mary’s praise.
Hrotsvit acknowledges that it exceeds her frail powers to sing worthily of one whom the whole world cannot praise as she deserves, who shines above the praises of angels; but she trusts in the God who once made an ass speak in praise of his name and who caused the Virgin to conceive by the Holy Spirit. The prayer is a brief but characteristic expression of Hrotsvit’s humility formulas and Marian devotion, and it frames the narrative poem that follows.
About this edition. The Latin text comes from Corpus Corporum, the Latin text repository of the University of Zurich (edition: Jacques-Paul Migne, Patrologia Latina, vol. 137, Parisiis 1853), reused with attribution for non-commercial purposes (CC BY-NC-SA). Every word has been analyzed with LatinCy, a neural language model for Latin — click or tap any word for its dictionary form, part of speech, and complete morphology, together with the full entry from Lewis & Short’s A Latin Dictionary.