POLYTHEISM OF ROME.
Not only were the superior deities and invisible genii blended in one invocation, but mortal men were not unfrequently associated with the greatest of the gods on the same altar. This is the case in one already described (p. [63]). Quintus Verius, on an altar found at Housesteads, calls upon Jupiter, the best and greatest, together with ‘the deities of Augustus.’ The emperor himself is probably intended by this phrase, not the gods whom the emperor worshipped. The use of the noun in the plural number, numina, is not opposed to this view. Horsley remarks that numina is frequently, in classical writers, applied to a particular deity; thus we have numina Dianæ in Horace, and numina Phœbi in Virgil. The emperors, we know, were frequently worshipped as gods. The Mantuan bard, addressing Augustus, has no doubt of his divinity, though he knows not what region to assign to his especial care;
... urbesne invisere, Cæsar,
Terrarumque velis curam;...
An deus immensi venias maris, ac tua nautæ
Numina sola colant....
Georg. I. 25.
MARYPORT ALTAR.
An altar, which is not less remarkable for the ornate character of its decorations, than for the striking display which it affords of the polytheism of the Romans, was found in the camp at Maryport, and is now in the possession of the earl of Lonsdale, at Whitehaven Castle. An accurate representation is given of it in the preceding engraving.