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 Ph[oe]bi_ 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. [Illustration: Altar, Genio Loci, etc.] [Sidenote: 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. GENIO LOCI FORTVNÆ REDVCI ROMÆ AETERNÆ ET FATO BONO G[AIVS] CORNELIVS PEREGRINVS TRIB[VNVS] COHOR[TIS] EX PROVINCIA MAVR[ITANIÆ] CÆSA[RIENSIS] DOMOS E . . . . . . . . To the Genius of the place, To returning Fortune, To eternal Rome, And to propitious fate, Gaius Cornelius Peregrinus, Tribune of a cohort, From the province of Mauritania Cæsariensis, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .