This is a survival of the ancient belief that the deity resided in the pillar or stone-heap, and that the fugitive was placing himself under the protection of the local numen by seeking sanctuary.
Astra castra, numen lumen=--The stars my camp, the deity my light.
Nullum numen abest si sit prudentia=--Where there is prudence, a protecting divinity is not far away.
Thus, when o'er deluged earth her Numen stood, The tost ark bounding on the shoreless flood, The sacred treasure fixt his guardian view, While climes unnoticed in the wave withdrew.
Does the existence of such priests come into relation with the development of the idea of a deus out of a numen or a spirit?
Lastly, when the deus is complete, the functions of the former numen become attributes or qualities, traces of which we find in the pairs of deities in Gellius, xiii.
I do not say that he or any other numen was the better for the change.
Nullum numen abest: the gods are all on the side of the provident.
Hither Numa came to visit the forest-gods Faunus and Picus at their sacred fountain: Lucus Aventino suberat niger ilicis umbra, Quo posses viso dicere, numen inest.
It would seem that every region in Italy had such a numen loci (naturally mainly agricultural).
The god who is said to have appeared to Moses in a burning bush, and is described as dwelling in the bush, is a local deity, the numen loci later identified with Yahweh, or called an angel.
When a deity has become the numen of a tribe, his worship will naturally coalesce with the veneration felt by the tribe for some tree, which will then be conceived of as sacred to the god.
We frequently meet with the quotation, "Nullum numen abest, si sit prudentia," with a reference to Juvenal.
The above list will hopefully give you a few useful examples demonstrating the appropriate usage of "numen" in a variety of sentences. We hope that you will now be able to make sentences using this word. Other words: angel; control; daemon; familiar; genius; gift; guardian; guide; totem; tutelary
