Prayer

Category:

Contents

  1. Introduction : some differences between pagan and Jewish, Islamic or Christian prayer
  2. What is prayer? : philosophical and commonsensical definitions of prayer
  3. How to pray simply :
    1. Rain, o Zeus! :
    2. I pray to the gods :
  4. When to pray, to whom, and for what :
  5. How to pray formally :
  6. Making vows and fulfilling them : some niceties of the obligations connected to prayer
  7. …

1 Introduction

In Judaism, Christianity and Islam, there is a common tradition of set prayers with fixed wording, such as the obligatory daily prayers observed by Jews and Muslims, respectively, or the Lord’s Prayer in Christianity. Nothing of this sort existed among ancient pagans, although regular worship – by Hesiod’s recommendation, twice daily (Works and Days 339) – was of course observed with the same devotion.

Not that there were no fixed prayers at all, to be clear, but they were bound to specific rituals and festivals, and from the available evidence, it seems very doubtful that they were part of the most common (household) observances – even those which had some regularity and fixity to them, such as the Noumenia. Plausibly, a given family or even city might have had firmly established things to be spoken, but that is unclear.

What we know to have existed, however, are certain formulaic expressions and rules of composition, some of them broadly shared, others language-specific, still others particular to a narrow context. There are also a few model prayers surviving, although these seem to have been meant more for emulation, not regular use along the lines of the Lord’s Prayer.

This page, once with the grace of the gods it will be completed, is going to be a comprehensive practitioner’s guide to pagan Greco-Roman prayer in theory and practice, covering the rules of composition, preeminent examples, and philosophical as well as literary theory. In the future, I may also integrate information about prayers from other ancient contexts.

2 What is prayer?

“All things pray, except the First”, wrote the Neoplatonic philosopher Theodorus. Proclus would later elaborate on this in an essay On the Hieratic Art, explaining that “all things pray according to their respective order, and they hymn the rulers of their whole series, either by thoughts, or words, by nature or the senses. Even the heliotrope (‘turning-towards-the-Sun’) plant, insofar as it has any freedom, moves because of this, and if we could hear how the air is struck by its rotation, we would perceive a kind of hymn in that sound offered to its Emperor, to the extent that a plant is able to hymn.”

Analogously, the philosopher–orator Themistius praises one Roman emperor’s conduct by saying that “your whole rule has been like a prayer. For prayer is not words and phrases, but piety, justice and gentleness, by which it is evident you are always turning towards the deity” (Oration 16, 212c). In a close parallel, Themistius elsewhere opines that it is “gentleness, justice, piety and the leader of these (virtues), love of humanity (philanthrōpía), through which alone an Emperor can become like a god” (Oration 19, 226d).

In this heady philosophical sense, then, there is really no distinction between a prayer, a hymn and philosophy itself, which the Platonists sometimes define as “becoming like a god to the extent possible for a human” (e.g., Ammonius, On the Isagoge, p. 3). They all demand we turn towards and approach the gods. Yet this abstract understanding, in itself, contributes nothing to the practice of prayer. So, let us turn towards more concrete definitions.

In the Platonic Definitions, we read that “prayer is a request by people for good things, or what seem to be good things, from the gods” (415b2). Manifestly, this definition fails to encompass such things as the motion of flowers and the justice of a ruler, but let us value its precision – which also allows us to differentiate the prayer from the hymn.

There are indeed precatory (‘prayer-’) hymns, and baring a few exceptions, “all who hymn the gods close their speeches with prayers” (Menander Rhetor, Division of Epideictic Speeches, p. 342). But a hymn is a speech in praise of the gods (Menander Rhetor, ibid., p. 331), be that in prose or in verse, in which the precatory element rarely plays a central role, whereas a prayer will often include no element of praise at all – although it certainly can. The overlap explains why ‘prayer’ and ‘hymn’ are often used near-synonymously, but they are still meaningfully distinct.

In any case, here is not the space to explain Hymns. In the following sections, I will describe prayer in a concrete and practical manner; after that, we will return to high-minded philosophical interpretations of its meaning.

3 How to pray simply

Rain, o Zeus!

Let us begin with the simplest prayers, which the lay Stoic Marcus Aurelius, for one, thought were the best:

“A prayer of the Athenians:

“Rain, rain, o dear
Zeus, over the fields
Of the Athenians
And their meadows!”

“Either do not pray at all or in this way, with simplicity and freedom.”

(Marcus Aurelius, To Himself 5.7.1. The Greek prayer runs: Ὗσον, ὗσον, ὦ φίλε / Ζεῦ, κατὰ τῆς ἀρούρας / τῆς Ἀθηναίων / καὶ τῶν πεδίων.)

This prayer, when we set aside the slight poetic elaboration, consists of two elements: the invocation “o dear Zeus” and the request “rain over our fields”. I say ‘request’ although the imperative mood is being used, because as the grammarian Priscian explains, this mood is by no means limited to commands, as its Latin (and English) name would suggest:

“In Greek, imperatives are called hypothetiká, that is, ‘exhortatives’ (hortativa), because verbs of this mood are commonly addressed to peers and equals, while imperatives would be addressed by the more eminent to their subjects – which is hardly the case, since we use the imperative mood very frequently even in supplications and invocations to the gods, as well as kings and emperors, as for instance: ‘Muse, recall the causes for me!’ (Vergil, Aeneid 1.8), and: ‘Throw open now the Helicon, goddesses, and begin your song!’ (Aeneid 7.641 = 10.163)”

(Priscian, Institutions or Art of Grammar 18; see also book 8.)

So much for the “imperative”. As for the invocation, the use of interjections (like “o”) and epithets (like “dear”) or bynames is very common, but not strictly necessary. A bare name (or byname) is sufficient.

Although I have not yet come across a prayer that consists of just one name in the vocative and one verb in the imperative, some come exceedingly close to this:

“Father Bacchus, give help!”

(Ovid, Metamorphoses 13.669. The Latin reads: Bacche pater, fer opem.)

“Euhoi, be gracious, Liber!”

(Horace, Odes 2.19.7. The Latin reads: Euhoe, parce Liber. Gr. ‘euhoi’, lat. ‘euhoe’, is a Bacchic interjection.)

But after all, simplicity is only one of the virtues of a good prayer mentioned by Marcus Aurelius; the other is freedom, which allows us a degree of redundancy:

“Juno Lucina, give help! Save me, I adjure you!”

(Terence, Andria 473 = Adelphoe 487. The Latin is: Iuno Lucina, fer opem. Serva me, obsecro. The line is frequently quoted by ancient Latin grammarians.)

“You, holy Apollo – give help! –, and you, river-ruling Neptune, I invoke, and you I address, Winds!”

(A quotation from a lost tragedy, given in Cicero, Tusculan Disputations 4.73. The Latin runs: Te, Apollo sancte, fer opem, teque, amnipotens Neptune, invoco, / vosque adeo, Venti.)

I pray to the gods

The last two examples I gave also include a different kind of precatory speech alongside the imperative, which in modern theory is called ‘performative’. I mean expressions along the lines of “I invoke you”, “I adjure you”, and indeed “I pray to you”, where the declaration that one is doing something constitutes doing it. (Or at least co-constitutes it.)

This kind of prayer can also be very simple, beginning with a simple “I pray to X”, and very free, since it can continue in any way convenient to the speaker. The Athenian orator Demosthenes, for instance, incorporates such a prayer into the opening of his most famous speech, On the Crown (lat. De corona):

“First, o men of Athens, I pray to the gods, all masculine and all feminine ones (toîs theoîs eúkhomai pâsi kaì pásais), that there will be as much goodwill from you towards me in this court case as I have always had for this city and all of you.”

(Demosthenes, On the Crown 1.)

Several ancient rhetoricians analyze this passage, but the most useful comment for us is found in the Scholia on Demosthenes: “Now, the first proem is precatory, and in terms of arrangement, it is placed to create goodwill (from the audience), which we (orators) need most in the occasion. And it is said in imitation of Homer: ‘Hear me, all gods and all goddesses’ (Kéklyté meu pántes te theoì pâsaí te théanai; Iliad 8.5), and it carries an emphasis to inspire goodwill, because the whole kind of gods would not have been invoked if it had not been set out this way.”

Although the rhetoricians are interested in the effect of prayer on a human audience, not on its function vis a vis the gods, we may nevertheless take up “emphasis” as a third concern to balance simplicity and freedom. It explains why the Athenian prayer has the duplicated “rain, rain!”, and “the fields of the Athenians and their meadows”; why simple imperatives are reinforced with ‘performative’ statements; and why prayers divide the gods precisely when the point is to invoke them collectively:

In such cases, clarity of expression, and force of meaning, are better served by some degree of repetition or superfluity than they would be by absolute simplicity.

further freedoms: no named god, no invocation(?), different moods, etc.

w Zeus, didoihs …
Didoih de o qeos …

Ultimately, how much weight is carried by each of these virtues of composition (simplicity and emphasis, freedom and clarity, etc.) cannot be prescribed. It is impossible to balance them perfectly, and so, to cultivate simplicity and freedom is a good approach, since it places no difficult obligations on the practitioner. But neither should those be faulted who develop complex, highly elaborate prayers. These are different methods which cannot be measured according to a single standard.

am I misrepresenting the simple prayers at all?

4 When to pray, to whom, and for what

euxontai men gar eudaimonein

12 A prayer for a community (Athens), [Pseudo?]-Demosthenes, Letter 1.1

Παντὸς ἀρχομένῳ σπουδαίου καὶ λόγου καὶ ἔργου ἀπὸ τῶν θεῶν ὑπολαμβάνω προσήκειν πρῶτον ἄρχεσθαι. εὔχομαι δὴ τοῖς θεοῖς πᾶσι καὶ πάσαις, ὅ τι τῷ δήμῳ τῷ Ἀθηναίων ἄριστόν ἐστι καὶ τοῖς εὐνοοῦσι τῷ δήμῳ καὶ νῦν καὶ εἰς τὸν ἔπειτα χρόνον, τοῦτ‘ ἐμοὶ μὲν ἐπὶ νοῦν ἐλθεῖν γράψαι, τοῖς δ‘ ἐκκλησιάσασιν Ἀθηναίων ἑλέσθαι. εὐξάμενος δὲ ταῦτα, τῆς ἀγαθῆς ἐπινοίας ἐλπίδ‘ ἔχων παρὰ τῶν θεῶν, τάδ‘ ἐπιστέλλω.

I believe that, when beginning any good deed or speech, one must first begin from the gods. So, I pray to the gods, all male and all female ones, that it may come to my mind to write whatever is best for the people of Athens and those well-disposed towards it, both now and in the time coming, and that the councilmen of the Athenians may adopt it. Having made this prayer, and in hopes of good inspiration from the gods, I write this letter.

13 A prayer for peace in a community (Nicaea), Dion Chrysostomus, Oration 39.8

Τὸν οὖν βραχύτατον καὶ ἀνυσιμώτατον λόγον καταλείπεται εἰπεῖν τὸν πρὸς τοὺς θεούς. οὗτοι γὰρ καὶ τῶν μικρὸν φθεγγομένων ἃ διανοοῦνται ἴσασιν. ἴσως γὰρ καὶ τοῦτο τοῦ σφόδρα εὐνοοῦντός ἐστιν· ὥσπερ οἱ χρηστοὶ πατέρες τοῖς παισὶν ἃ μὲν δύνανται παραινοῦσιν, ἃ δ‘ ἂν μὴ πείθωσιν, εὔχονται τοῖς θεοῖς ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν.

εὔχομαι δὴ τῷ τε Διονύσῳ τῷ προπάτορι τῆσδε τῆς πόλεως καὶ Ἡρακλεῖ τῷ κτίσαντι τήνδε τὴν πόλιν καὶ Διὶ Πολιεῖ καὶ Ἀθηνᾷ καὶ Ἀφροδίτῃ Φιλίᾳ καὶ Ὁμονοίᾳ καὶ Νεμέσει καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις θεοῖς ἀπὸ τῆσδε τῆς ἡμέρας τῇδε τῇ πόλει πόθον ἑαυτῆς ἐμβαλεῖν καὶ ἔρωτα καὶ μίαν γνώμην καὶ ταὐτὰ βούλεσθαι καὶ φρονεῖν, στάσιν δὲ καὶ ἔριδα καὶ φιλονικίαν ἐκβαλεῖν, ὡς ἂν ἐν ταῖς εὐδαιμονεστάταις καὶ ἀρίσταις ᾖ πόλεσι τὸ λοιπόν.

Now, It remains to speak a very short and very effective address to the gods. For they know what is meant even when little is said. And perhaps this too is something that those who are very well-disposed do: just as good parents give advice to their children as far as possible, but when they cannot persuade them, they pray to the gods about them.

So, I pray to Dionysus, the forefather of this city, and to Heracles, who founded this city, and to Zeus Polieus (‘of the city’), Athena, Aphrodite Philia (‘of friendship’), Homonoia (‘Concord’), Nemesis and the other gods, that from this day onward, they may bring to this city a desire and love for it, one mind, and to wish and think the same things, but that they may expel strife, discord and factionalism, so that from now on it may be among the happiest and best of cities.

times of day, etc.?

Orphic Hymns! (other hymns. Maximus of Tyre on who prays to whom etc.)

6 A group prayer comically interrupted, from a fragment of Menander, Colax

σπονδή· δίδου σὺ σπλάγχν‘ ἀκολουθῶν. ποῖ βλέπεις;
σπονδή. φέρ‘ ὦ παῖ Σωσία. σπονδή. καλῶς
ἔχει. θεοῖς Ὀλυμπίοις εὐχώμεθα
Ὀλυμπίασι, πᾶσι πάσαις – λάμβανε
τὴν γλῶτταν ἐν τούτωι – διδόναι σωτηρίαν,
ὑγίειαν, ἀγαθὰ πολλά, τῶν ὄντων τε νῦν
ἀγαθῶν ὄνησιν πᾶσι. ταῦτ‘ εὐχώμεθα.

A libation! Now, give me the intestines (of the sacrificial animal). Where are you looking?
A libation! Come, boy, Sosias, a libation! Well
Done. Let us pray to the Olympian gods
And Olympian goddesses, all male, all female ones – take
The (victim’s) tongue in the meanwhile! – that they may give salvation,
Health, many goods, and profit to all
From the good things present. Let us pray for these things!

7 A prayer for health, or rather for support in the art of healing, from Sopater, Division of Subjects 8.58

τὴν κατάστασιν πρὸς τοὺς θεοὺς τοῦ ἰατροῦ, καθάπερ εὐχήν· οἷον ὅτι “ὑμεῖς, Ἀσκληπιὲ καὶ Ἄπολλον, τῆς τέχνης ταύτης ὄντες προστάται, πάντας εὐποιεῖν ἀνθρώπους προείλεσθε, τὰς νόσους ἰώμενοι, τὰ βλάπτοντα προμηνύοντες· δότε τοίνυν κἀμοὶ προχείρως εὐεργεῖν, σώζειν, ἰᾶσθαι τοὺς κάμνοντας,” καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα.

(If you are writing a speech in praise of medicine, include) an address of a doctor to the gods, such as a prayer, for example that “You, o Asclepius and Apollon, who are the rulers of this art (i.e., medicine), undertook to benefit all people, by healing diseases and presaging harm; so also grant me that I may readily benefit, save and heal my patients!” And the like.

8 A prayer for ethical improvement, from Libanius, Oration 58.50

Εὔχομαι δὲ τοῖς θεοῖς πεπλῆχθαί τε τὰς ψυχὰς ὑμῖν ὑπὸ τῶν εἰρημένων καὶ γενέσθαι καλλίους.

I pray to the gods that your souls are struck by what has been said and made nobler.

9 A prayer against arousing jealousy, from the Scholia on Pindar, Olympian Ode 8.113

εὔχομαι δὲ τῷ αὐτῷ Διὶ ἐπὶ τῇ τῶν καλῶν μοίρᾳ νέμεσιν καὶ βασκανίαν μὴ ἐπιβαλεῖν.

I pray to Zeus, that he may not affix indignation and jealousy (or ‘the evil eye’) upon my good fortune.

10 A prayer for goodwill of one person (Modestus) towards another (Calliopius), Libanius, Letter 220.3–4

εἰ δ‘ οὖν οὐκ ἔξεστιν εὐνοίας πρὸς σὲ μνησθῆναι, ἀλλ‘ εὔξασθαί γε τοῖς θεοῖς ὑπὲρ τοῦ σε ποιῆσαι τοιοῦτον ἔξεστι. καὶ δὴ καὶ εὔχομαι· “Ζεῦ Μειλίχιε καὶ πατέρων ἀνθρώποις ἡμερώτερε, κατάστησον ἵλεων Καλλιοπίῳ τὸν γενναῖον Μόδεστον καὶ σαυτῷ προσόμοιον.” καὶ μεμνήσθω δικάζων τοῦ Μειλιχίου Διός.

But if I may not speak to you of goodwill, still I may pray to the gods to make you favorable. And so I pray: “Zeus, Meilichios (‘auspicious’) and most gentle of all parents towards humans, make the noble Modestus gracious towards Calliopius and likewise towards yourself.” So remember Zeus Meilichios when you give your sentence.

11 A prayer for a community (Athens), from Demosthenes, Against Leptines 25

Εὔχομαι τοῖς θεοῖς, μάλιστα μὲν ἡμῖν καὶ χρήματα πολλὰ γενέσθαι, εἰ δὲ μή, τό γε πιστοῖς εἶναι καὶ βεβαίοις δοκεῖν διαμεῖναι.

I pray to the gods, firstly that we may have great wealth, but if not, that we continue to be regarded as trustworthy and constant.

5 How to pray formally

Homer
Cato

3 Generic openings for a prayer, from Scholia on Aratus 1 (=Crates, fr. 52 Kock & Sophron, fr. 42 Kaib.)

Ἐξ Ἑστίας ἀρχόμενος εὔχομαι θεοῖς.

Beginning from Hestia, I pray to the gods.

Ἐξ Ἑστίας ἀρχόμενος καλῶ Δία πάντων ἀρχηγέτην.

Beginning from Hestia, I call Zeus, the principal ruler of all things.

4 Extended invocation, from Livy, History of Rome 1.32.9

Audi, Iuppiter, et tu, Iane Quirine, dique omnes caelestes, vosque terrestres vosque inferni, audite.

Hear you, Jupiter, and you Janus Quirinus;* and celestial gods, you earthly gods and you underworld gods, hear you all!

(*Quirinus here serves as a byname of Janus, meaning ‘warlike, martial’ or perhaps ‘Roman’; it can be omitted or replaced.)

14 Prayer against the military invasion of a community (Thebes), from the Scholia on Aeschylus, Seven Against Thebes 626

ὦ θεοί, κλύοντες καὶ ἀκούοντες δικαίους λιτὰς ἡμετέρας τελεῖτε καὶ εἰς τέλος ἄγετε ταύτας, ἵνα ἡ πόλις εὐτυχῇ, ἐκ τῆς ἡμετέρας πόλεως τρέποντες καὶ κινοῦντες καὶ ἄγοντες τὰ ἀπὸ τοῦ πολέμου κακὰ πρὸς τοὺς ἐπιμόλους καὶ ἀπὸ ξένης γῆς παραγενομένους ἐνταῦθα·

O gods, who hear and attend our just prayers, fulfill them and lead them to fulfilment, so that the city fare well, by turning, moving and driving the evils of war away from our city and against the invaders, who come here from a foreign land.

15 Prayer at the end of a long lament, from Dionysius of Halicarnassus, De compositione verborum 26 (=Simonides fr. 37 Bergk)

Μεταβουλία δέ τις φανείη,
Ζεῦ πάτερ, ἐκ σέο·
ὅ τι δὴ θαρσαλέον ἔπος εὔχομαι
νόσφι δίκας, σύγγνωθί μοι.

May some change come,
Father Zeus, from you!
Yet if I am praying for anything too bold,
Overstepping justice, forgive me!

6 Making vows and fulfilling them

“Three things which pertain to worship (religio): pray, vow, fulfill” (Servius auctus, On the Aeneid 3.438). Prayer and vow have distinct names in Latin – precātio and vōtum –, but share one designation in Greek: eukhḗ. This is because any prayer includes, implicitly or explicitly, an acknowledgement that divine assistance will place a debt of gratitude on the worshipper. While people cannot exactly repay divine grace (gr. kháris, lat. grātia), they can still express their gratitude (also called kháris / grātia) by means of appropriate sacrifices or dedications (see my page on Kharis & “Do ut des”). To make a vow is simply to enter into the obligation to make such an offering, on the condition that the prayer is heard. To fulfill the vow is to meet that obligation once the gods have answered the request.

At the most overt, someone might pray for healing from a sickness, deliverance from a seastorm, success in some precarious endeavor, etc., and vow to dedicate, for instance, an altar to the deity they are appealing to. We know that vows of this kind were a regular occurrence from the large number of ancient altars carrying inscriptions to that effect.

At other times, of course, the dedication is made along with the prayer, especially if the worshipper cannot be sure of the outcome. An example of this is the curse tablet Defixio 3.6/1 (ed. Kropp), which seem to record a gift of a mantle and two boots to Nemesis so that she may punish a thief of unknown identity. Although the reasoning behind the practice is essentially the same, it is different enough in practical terms so as not to be called a vow.

In a more diffuse sense, regular quotidian worship also incorporates the dynamic of making and fulfilling a vow, since every offering is a thanksgiving for the blessings already received, and every prayer a promise of future offerings. But again, this is not really talked about in terms of a vow, since that term implies a specific, circumscribed sequence of events, as well as reflecting a particular attitude or expectation.

As an example of the practice, we have a clear record of a vow written out in a Latin curse tablet from from Roman Britain, surely based on a formulary of some kind:

“Memorandum to the god Mercury, from the woman Saturnina, about the linen cloth which she lost. May the one who stole it not be released (from this binding curse) until they shall bring the aforementioned things to the aforementioned temple, whether they are man or woman, whether a slave or free. She gives a third part to the aforementioned god, so that he may reclaim those things which are aforementioned and which she lost. A third part is given to the god Silvanus, so that he may reclaim this (object), whether (the thief) be a man or a woman, whether slave or free, [lost text]” (Defixio 3.22/3 ed. Kropp).

Commonitorium deo Mercurio a Saturnina muliere de lintiamine, quod amisit. Ut ille, qui hoc circumvenit non ante laxetur, nis{s}i quando res ssdictas ad fanum ssdictum attulerit, si vir si mulier, si servus si liber. Deo ssdicto tertiam partem donat, ita ut ex{s}igat istas res, quae ss‹dic›ta‹e› [sic] sunt ac {a} quae per‹d›it. Deo Silvano tertia pars donatur, ita ut hoc ex{s}igat, si vir si femina, si servus si liber [lost text]. (ss = supra-.)

Although this is somewhat ambiguous, from parallel texts (e.g., Defixio 3.2/76 ed. Kropp), it seems most likely that the “parts” being promised here, whether they are literal thirds of the cloth or the equivalent monetary value, were only intended to be given to the god (i.e., his temple) if the cloth was recovered.

Homer

apprecatory / deprecatory (Menander)

defixiones

More from Servius.
Seneca: Desine fata deum flecti sperare precando.
‚prec-‚ in Seneca, De beneficiis.
Cicero ‚prec-‚.
Cato, Ludi Saeculares, devotio (Livy) and evocatio (Macrobius), Iguvine tablets.

ei oi qeoi xairousi tais proskunhsesi kai euxais.
Favorinus on prayer?

Simplicius: iketeuw se, despota. Proclus‘ prayers. Etc.
Epictetus 53 (+commentaries. Simplicius: euxetai de outos. Cf. Seneca?.)
Epictetus Discourses (1.6.37, 2.22.14, 2.23.42, 3.22.95, 4.1.131, 4.4.34, 4.6.32)

Aelian’s fragments (euxh)

Dousareios (in Ammonius); disagreement between Iamblichus (1.15, 5.26) and Prayer.

euxou dunata. (Arist. kat‘ euxhn, mhden mentoi adunaton). barbarikon to euxesqai ta adunata.
o autos euxomenous men efh dein aitesqai ta megista twn agaqwn, bouleuomenous de zhtein dunata.
Ammonius: uper uetou tuxon h swthrias karpwn h nikhs.
Simplicius: metapeiqesqai to qeion.

Zeu basileu, ta men esqla …
(Orion)

agaqos gar euxomai einai.
euxontai tois qeois uper tou kallion fronhsai.
tois qeois d‘ euxou / otan ti poihs kautos, h mathn euch.
euxou d‘ exein ti, kan exhs, eceis filous.
qew proseuxou phmatwn labein lusin.

kai tois qeois eutuxein euxontai.
euxontai … ouk anwfelh … oude adiafora alla pros eudaimonian xrhsima.
euxetai oun ta dwra epi eudaimonia autw genesqai.
Scholia in Demosthenem: en ois d‘ ou dunameqa, dei euxesqai.
Alexander: ai pros tous qeous euxai.
Arethn oun tois pasi mallon eukteon h plouton.

Xenophon Mem. 1.3.2
Plato, Symp. 175a & Phdr. 257ab (ô Pan, ô file Pan, epigraph.)
Iamblichus 5.26
Marcus Aurelius 5.7.1, 9.40
Seneca Ep. 1.10.4
Plato, Laws 888bc (906ab?), Critias 106ab, Laws 716d-717a & 801ab, 687c
Persius, Sat. 2
? Plotinus 3.2-3 (3.2.9.10-15), 2.9.14.2-9
Maximus of Tyre 5 (and 7 and 22?)
Menander Rhetor(!)
Porphyry: anqrwpos de amaqhs kai euxomenos kai quwn miainei to qeion. eukteon qew ta acia qeou. euxh h men meta faulwn ergwn akarqatos.
(Sallustius on prayer, Plotinus 4.4.26;40-42, Proclus In Crat. 73)

Olympiodorus: dei euxesqai, h gar euxh shmeion ginetai, etc.
II Alcibiades; DL calls it peri euxhs; Procl. In Remp. 1.187.25

? anti twn ponwn didousin hmin panta ta agaqa oi qeoi
? ponos … twn kalwn xarin ginomenos airetos

? Oti kaq ous monon to kalon agaqon estin, ouden oi qeoi tois anqrwpois parexousin agaqon

Demosthenes‘ pasi kai pasais prayer, quoted frequently.

euxomenoi eis ouranon enteinomen.
oudeis estin os ouk anateinei men eis ouranon tas xeiras euxomenos.
ekteinasin eautous eis euxhn.