That the stone was regarded as the dwelling-place of a numen is proved by the fact that it was sprinkled with blood and garlanded[[1473]]; and the development of a god Terminus is perfectly in keeping with Roman religious ideas. It is more difficult to determine what was the relation of this Terminus to the great Jupiter who was so intimately associated, as we have seen[[1474]] with the idea of keeping faith with your neighbours. Was he the numen originally thought to occupy the stone, and is the name Terminus, as marking a distinct deity, a later growth? I am disposed to think that this was so; for we saw that there is some reason to believe that Jupiter did not disdain to dwell in objects such as trees and stones, and there is no need to look to Greece for the origin of his connexion with boundaries[[1475]]. But Jupiter and Terminus remained on the whole distinct; and a Jupiter Terminus or Terminalis is first found on the coins of Varro the great scholar, probably in B.C. 76[[1476]].
The close connexion of the two is seen in the legend that when Jupiter was to be introduced into the great Capitoline temple, from the Capitolium vetus on the Quirinal, all the gods made way for him but Terminus[[1477]].
Quid nova cum fierent Capitolia? nempe deorum
Cuncta Iovi cessit turba, locumque dedit.
Terminus, ut veteres memorant, inventus in aede
Restitit, et magno cum love templa tenet.
This, as Preller truly observes, is only a poetical way of expressing his stubbornness, and his close relation to Jupiter, with whom he continued to share the great temple. It seems certain that there was in that temple a stone supposed to be that of Terminus, over which there was a hole in the roof[[1478]]: for all sacrifice to Terminus must be made in the open air.
Nunc quoque, se supra ne quid nisi sidera cernat,
Exiguum templi tecta foramen habent[[1479]].
Precisely the same feature is found in the cult of Semo Sancus or Dius Fidius[[1480]], who was concerned with oaths and treaties; and of Hercules we are told that the oath taken in his name must be taken out of doors[[1481]].