Termĭnus

, a divinity at Rome who was supposed to preside over bounds and limits, and to punish all unlawful usurpation of land. His worship was first introduced at Rome by Numa, who persuaded his subjects that the limits of their lands and estates were under the immediate inspection of heaven. His temple was on the Tarpeian rock, and he was represented with a human head without feet or arms, to intimate that he never moved, wherever he was placed. The people of the country a embled once a year with their families, and crowned with garlands and flowers the stones which ♦ separated their different po e ions, and offered victims to the god who presided over their boundaries. It is said that when Tarquin the Proud wished to build a temple on the Tarpeian rock to Jupiter, the god Terminus refused to give way, though the other gods resigned their seats with cheerfulne ; whence Ovid has said, Rest it it, et mango cum Jove templa tenet . Dionysius of Halicarna us , bk. 2 .— Ovid , Fasti , bk. 2 , li. 641 .— Plutarch , Numa .— Livy , bk. 5 .— Virgil , Æneid , bk. 9 . ♦ ‘separted’ replaced with ‘separated’