Patience is a virtue. Quite literally.
Back in the day of ancient Roman times, Patience was Patientia, the personification of endurance, patience, the ability to weather storms.
Patientia appeared seated on an old Roman coin of Hadrian’s, a denarius to be precise. She didn’t appear on many, as she wasn’t very popular with the folk back then, wasn’t Patientia, and her name was quickly replaced by Indulgentia.
Indulgentia, I must add, doesn’t appear to be a virtue, but she appears to have been well used on a lot of coins featuring different Roman Emperors. I was guided by Patientia to find the two images above on- line – at first I couldn’t find a single one. They’re not very clear, but Patientia’s name can just be made out.
Needless to say, with a little patience my search brought me the result I was looking for.
Patientia is also a minor planet within our Solar System. An asteroid to be precise, which measures approximately 180 miles in diameter. It can be found in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, where it orbits the Sun. Patientia is one of the larger asteroids in the belt.
Patientia, the asteroid, was discovered on December 4th 1899 by Auguste Honoré Charlois, a French astronomer who discovered a further 98 asteroids in his lifetime.
On the Patientia coins above, around the right-hand side, is the inscription AVGVSTI; or Augusta, the female equivalent to the male Augustus, or Emperor. Meaning, basically, Empress, it was also used for other female members of the royal Roman households back in the day, and for the odd female deity or two.
And, temporarily it seems, the Augusta title was also awarded to Patientia.
To me, it stands to reason that the Patientia asteroid should be discovered by someone called Auguste. But then again, I’m always looking for links, especially where history is concerned. It may just be one of those strange coincidences over time, but I like the link.
And all discovered whilst looking for patience.
A deity. An asteroid. And a virtue.
The Mansionic Perspective 
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