Nor was the marriage state without its peculiar defenders. Five deities were esteemed so necessary, that no marriages were solemnized without asking their favours; these were Jupiter-Perfectus, or the Adult, Juno, Venus, Suadela,[61] and Diana. Jugatinus tied the nuptial knot; Domiducus ushered the bride home; Domitius took care to keep her there, and prevent her gadding abroad; Maturna preserved the conjugal union entire; Virginensis[62] loosed the bridle zone or girdle; Viriplaca was a propitious goddess, ready to reconcile the married couple in case of any accidental difference. Matuta was the patroness of matrons, no maid being suffered to enter her temple. The married was always held to be the only honourable state for woman, during the times of pagan antiquity. The goddess Vacuna,[63] is mentioned by Horace (Lib. 1. Epist. X. 49.) as having her temple at Rome; the rustics celebrated her festival in December, after the harvest was got in (Ovid. Fast. Lib. XI). The ancients assigned the particular parts of the body to particular deities; the head was sacred to Jupiter; the breast to Neptune; the waist to Mars; the forehead to Genius; the eye-brows to Juno, the eyes to Cupid; the ears to Memory; the right hand to Fides or Veritas; the back to Pluto; the knees to Misericordia or mercy; the legs to Mercury; the feet to Thetis; and the fingers to Minerva.[64] The goddess who presided over funerals was Libitina,[65] whose temple at Rome, the undertakers furnished with all the necessaries for the interment of the poor or rich; all dead bodies were carried through the Porto Libitina; and the Rationes Libitinae mentioned by Suetonius, very nearly answer to our bills of mortality. FOOTNOTES: [39] Either from _pilum_, a pestle; or from _pello_, to drive away; because he procured a safe delivery. [40] She taught the art of cutting wood with a hatchet to make fires. [41] The inventress of brooms. [42] From casting out the birth. [43] Aulus Gellius. [44] Aelian. [45] From _erritor_, to struggle. See Ausonius, Idyll 12. [46] Some make her the same with Rhea or Vesta. [47] Among the Romans the midwife always laid the child on the ground, and the father or somebody appointed, lifted it up; hence the expression of _tollere liberos_, to educate children. [48] This goddess had a temple at Rome, and her offerings were milk. [49] On the Kalends of June, sacrifices were offered to Carna, of bacon and bean flour cakes; whence they were called Fabariae. [50] Boys were named always on the ninth day after the birth, and girls on the eighth. [51] From Pavorema vertendo. [52] She had a temple at Home which always stood open. [53] She had a temple without the walls. [54] Murcia had her temple on Mount Aventine. [55] From _abeo_, to go away; and _adeo_, to come. [56] The festival of this goddess was in September, when the Romans drank new wine mixed with old, by way of physic. [57] From _vitulo_, to leap or advance.