ties who may be classed as
follows:--

I. Gods representing the powers of nature:--

1. SOL, the Sun. A Sabine deity. In later times the poets attributed to
him all the characters of Helios; but as a Roman god, he never emerged
into his own daylight.

2. LUNA, the Moon. Also regarded as of Sabine origin.

3. MATER MATUTA. Mother of Day, that is, the dawn. Worshipped at the
Matronalia in June, as the possessor of all motherly qualities, and
especially as the protector of children from ill-treatment. As the storms
were apt to go down at morning, she was appealed to to protect mariners
from shipwreck. The consul Tib. Semp. Gracchus dedicated a temple to her
B.C. 176.

4. TEMPESTATES, the tempests. A temple was dedicated to the storms, B.C.
259.

5. VULCANUS. This name is supposed to be from the same root as "fulgeo,"
_to shine_. He was an old Italian deity. His temple is mentioned as
existing B.C. 491.

6. FONTUS, the god of fountains. The Romans valued water so highly, that
they erected altars and temples to this divinity, and had a feast of
fountains (Fontinalia) on October 13th. There were also goddesses of
fountains, as Lynapha Juturna, the goddess of mineral springs. Egeria is
the only nymph of a fountain mentioned in Roman mythology.

7. DIVUS PATER TIBERINUS, or Father Tiber, was of course the chief river
god. The augurs called him Coluber, the snake, from his meandering and
bending current.

8. NEPTUNUS. The origin of this word has been a great puzzle to the
learned, who, however, connect it with nebula, a cloud, as the clouds come
from the sea. He had his temple and his festivals at Rome.

Other deities connected with the powers of nature were PORTUNUS, the god
of harbors; SALACIA, a goddess of the salt sea; TRANQUILLITAS, the goddess
of calm weather.

II. Gods of human relations:--

1. VESTA, an ancient Latin goddess, and one of the oldest and most
revered. She was the queen of the hearth and of the household fire. She
was also the protector of the house, associated with the Lares and
Penates. Some offering was due to her at every meal. She sanctified the
home.

Afterward, when all Rome became one vast family, Vesta became the goddess
of this public home, and her temple was the fireside of the city, in which
burned always the sacred fire, watched by the vestal virgins. In this
worship, and its associations, we find the best side of Roman
manners,--the love of home, the respect for family lif