Very rarely we find a representation of the Genius of the mistress of the house. In one painting she appears with the attributes of Juno; the Genius of a woman was often called Juno, as in the inscription on the bust stone of Tyche, the slave of Julia Augusta ([p. 418]). As a man might swear in the name of his Genius, so a woman's oath might be 'By my Juno.'
The Lares and the Genius are often found together both in the hearth paintings, and in the groups of little bronze images frequently placed in the shrines. They are associated also in an inscription on the shrine in the house of Epidius Rufus: Genio M[arci] n[ostri] et Laribus duo Diadumeni liberti,—'To the Genius of our Marcus and the Lares; (dedicated by) his two freedmen with the name of Diadumenus.' Marcus was the first name of the head of the household.
In a few cases the Genius of the emperor seems to have been revered at a house shrine. Horace (Od. IV. v. 34) speaks distinctly of the worship of the tutelary divinity of Augustus in connection with that of the Lares,—et Laribus tuum Miscet numen. On the rear wall of a little chapel in a garden is a painted altar at the right of which stands Jupiter, at the left a Genius, each pouring a libation. We can scarcely believe that the Genius of an ordinary man would thus be placed as it were on an equality with the ruler of heaven; more likely the Genius of an emperor is represented, perhaps that of Claudius. The face is not unlike the face of Claudius, and the painting is on a wall decorated in the third style (Ins. VII. xi. 4).
In another house (IX. viii. 13) two Genii are painted, and under one of them is scratched in large letters EX SC, undoubtedly for ex senatus consulto,—'in accordance with a decree of the Senate.' We are probably safe in assuming that the decree referred to is that of the reign of Augustus, by which the worship of the Lares was regulated (Dio Cass. LI. xix. 7); if so, the figure is intended to represent the Genius of that emperor.
Fig. 127.—Shrine in the house of Vettii.
In the middle the Genius, with libation saucer and box of incense; at the sides, the two Lares, each with a drinking horn and pail; below, a crested serpent about to partake of the offerings.
The face of the Genius in the house of the Vettii ([Fig. 127]) bears a decided resemblance to that of Nero. Here the shrine was placed in the rear wall of the smaller atrium. It consists of a broad, shallow niche, the front of which is elaborately ornamented to give the appearance of a little temple, while on the back are painted the household divinities. The Genius stands with veiled head between the two Lares, holding in his left hand a box of incense and pouring a libation with the right. In the original painting the features were unusually distinct.
The Penates were the protecting divinities of the provisions or stores, penus, and the storerooms of the house; under this name were included various gods to whom the master and the household offered special worship. At Pompeii the Penates, as the Lares and the Genius, appear in paintings, and are also represented by bronze images placed in the shrines. In the shrine of the house of Lucretius were diminutive bronze figures of the Genius and of Jupiter, Hercules, Fortuna, and another divinity that has not been identified. Statuettes of Apollo, Aesculapius, Hercules, and Mercury were found, together with those of the two Lares, in another house; in a third, Fortuna alone with the Lares.