ip to abound and multiply. The Roman Church of to-day
still shows this tendency in its elaborate invocation of the Virgin.

With the old Romans the common method of elaboration lay in the
invention of cult-titles, of which the different kinds have been
distinguished and explained by Dr. J. B. Carter in his treatise "de
Deorum Romanorum cognominibus."[310] Most of them are suggestive of
function or character, as, _e.g._, Janus Patulcius Clusivius, or Jupiter
Lucetius, Ops Opifera; sometimes they doubled the idea, as in Aius
Locutius, or Anna Perenna, or Fors Fortuna; and in one or two cases
they seem to have combined two deities together in rather puzzling
conjunctions, which usually, however, admit of some possible
explanation, as Janus Junonius, or Ops Consiva (_i.e._ Ops belonging to
Consus).[311] In the Iguvian ritual, which is the highly-elaborated work
of a priesthood as active as the Roman, we find combinations of not less
than four names:[312] Cerfe Martie, Praestita Cerfia Cerfi Martii, Tursa
Cerfia Cerfi Martii, which may perhaps be rendered "Spirit of Mars,
protecting (female) spirit of the (male) spirit of Mars, fear-inspiring
(female) spirit of the (male) spirit of Mars."

Such strange multiple combinations as these suggest that expressions
like Moles Martis or Virites Quirini are only another form of the usual
cult-title, expressing adoration of the power of the deity addressed;
and it is only reasonable to explain the others of the same group on the
same principle. As we have seen, Roman scholars themselves explained
Nerio Martis as equivalent to Virtus Martis; Herie Iunonis probably
means something of the same kind; the others are not so easily
explained, and guesswork about them is unprofitable. But I hope I have
said enough to show that there is absolutely no good ground for
supposing that these combinations of names in nominative and genitive
indicate a relationship of any kind except a qualitative one. Abstract
qualities, let us note, are usually feminine in Latin, and I think it is
not improbable that abstractions such as Fides and Salus, which were
deified at a very early period at Rome, may have reached divinity by
attachment to some god from whom they subsequently became again
separated.[313] And lastly, we can trace the same tendency to combine
names and ideas together far down the course of Roman history; witness
the combination of Genius with cities, legions, gods, etc., as well as
with the in