In ancient Roman culture, liberalitas was the virtue of giving freely (from liber, "free"), hence generosity.
[1] The goddess Liberalitas appears on coinage issued under the emperors Gordian III Trajan, Antoninus Pius[2] and Septimius Severus,[3] sometimes designated as Augusta or Augusti in association with Imperial cult.
On one example, a Roman holds out his toga to receive coins poured by Liberalitas, as Antoninus looks on from an elevated seat.
[4] The divine Virtues are sometimes associated with a particular activity or function performed by the emperor—in the case of Liberalitas, the congiarium or giving of gifts by the emperor directly to individuals.
[5] The enacting of the particular virtue was considered an epiphany of the goddess or miraculum: Liberalitas was thought to have manifested herself when Trajan distributed cash gifts to the populace during his formal arrival ceremony (adventus) in 99 AD.