VENUS is perhaps the most singular example from among the divinized abstractions that make up the Roman pantheon. The word venus, in its origin, is a neuter noun of the same kind as genus or opus. It is discernible in the derived verb venerari (*venes-ari), which is confined to religious usage by all the authors of the republican period, especially Plautus. The Plautinian construction (not maintained by classic use) is of particular interest: veneror … ut, which can be translated, "I work a charm [upon such-and-such a divinity] in order to [obtain a result]." This notion of charm or seduction that defines the word venus is represented in Hittite (wenzi) and in the language of the Veneti (wontar). Yet the root ven- did not produce a divinity anywhere except in Latin. It is significant that, in the Oscan region (where is recorded a form that is probably borrowed from...