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Juventas was an old Roman goddess, one of those abstract deities which had been produced by the breaking off and becoming independent of a cult-title. She was intimately associated with Juppiter, and had a special shrine in the Capitoline temple. Juventas was the divine representative of the putting away of childish things and the assumption of the responsibilities and privileges of young manhood.
Venus, among the ancients, was synonymous with the Graces, who were always supposed to accompany her; and Horace tells us that even Youth and Mercury, the god of Arts and Eloquence, would not do without her: 'Parum comis sine to Juventas Mercuriusque. They are not inexorable Ladies, and may be had if properly, and diligently pursued. Adieu. BATH, October 29, O. S. 1748.
Surely they are things than which nothing greater can be conceived in a God! For I do not imagine the Gods to be delighted with nectar and ambrosia, or with Juventas presenting them with a cup; nor do I put any faith in Homer, who says that Ganymede was carried away by the Gods on account of his beauty, in order to give Jupiter his wine. Too weak reasons for doing Laomedon such injury!
But this was not the goddess in whose honour the temple vowed at Siena was built at the Circus Maximus and dedicated B.C. 191. This Juventas was nothing more or less than the Greek Hebe, the female counterpart of Ganymedes, as cupbearer to the gods.
Venus, among the ancients, was synonymous with the Graces, who were always supposed to accompany her; and Horace tells us that even Youth and Mercury, the god of Arts and Eloquence, would not do without her: 'Parum comis sine to Juventas Mercuriusque. They are not inexorable Ladies, and may be had if properly, and diligently pursued. Adieu. BATH, October 29, O. S. 1748.
'Fervidus tecum Puer, et solutis Gratiae zonis, properentque Nymphae, Et parum comis sine te Juventas, Mercuriusque. Hor. 'ad Venerem. A friend of mine has two Daughters, whom I will call Laetitia and Daphne; The Former is one of the Greatest Beauties of the Age in which she lives, the Latter no way remarkable for any Charms in her Person.
Here is the Capitol, where, a human head being found, it was foretold that in that place would be the head of the world, and the chief seat of empire. Here, when the Capitol was to be freed by the rites of augury, Juventas and Terminus, to the very great joy of our fathers, suffered not themselves to be moved.
If we look at the temples which were built in the years following the Second Punic War, we shall have no difficulty in finding examples of the introduction of Greek gods under Roman names. During the war itself in the year B.C. 207 a Roman general had vowed a temple to Juventas on the occasion of a battle near Siena.
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