LAVERNA  , an old

Italian divinity, originally one of the spirits of the underworld . A cup found in an Etruscan tomb bears the inscription " Lavernai Pocolom," and in a fragment of Septimius Serenus Laverna is expressly mentioned in connexion with the di inferi . By an easy transition, she came to be regarded as the protectress of thieves, whose operations were associated with darkness . She had an altar on the Aventine hill, near the gate called after her Lavernalis, and a grove on the Via Salaria . Her aid was invoked by thieves to enable them to carry out their plans successfully without forfeiting their reputation for piety and honesty (Horace, Ep. i . 16, 6o) . Many explanations have been given of the name : (1) from latere (Schol. on Horace, who gives laternio as another form of lavernio or robber); (2) from lavare (Acron on Horace, according to whom thieves were called lavatores, perhaps referring to bath thieves); (3) from levare (cf. shop-lifters) . Modern etymologists connect it with lu-cruet, and explain it as meaning the goddess of gain .