ἀφώνως. The ancient custom was to pray aloud, partly from a feeling that one ought not to make any prayer which might not be heard by all mortals. Pythagoras in Clemens Alex. Strom. 4. 26 § 173 (it is usual μετὰ φωνῆς εὔχεσθαι) “ἐμοὶ δοκεῖ, οὐχ ὅτι τὸ θεῖον ᾤοντο μὴ δύνασθαι τῶν ἡσυχῇ φθεγγομένων ἐπαΐειν, ἀλλ᾽ ὅτι δικαίας ἐβούλοντο εἶναι τὰς εὐχάς, ἃς οὐκ ἄν τις αἰδεσθείη ποιεῖσθαι πολλῶν συνειδότων”.
Lucan 5. 104 “tacito mala vota susurro Concipiunt.”“Haud cuivis promptum est murmurque humilesque susurros
Tollere de templis et aperto vivere voto.
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