A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

LA-R.'LARES; 721
LAPHY'STIUS (.AaporTos). - 1.'A surnmme we'read of -Lar" Herminius, who -ivas con'sul B. c;
of Zeus, which was derived either from Mount 448. This word is supposed by many to have
Laphystius in Boeotia, or from the verb:aqcbo- signified "Lord" in the Etruscan. (Val. Max.
eLrv, to flee, so that it would be synonymous with De Nomin. et Praenom.; Liv. ii. 9, iv. 17, iii 65.)
6'g~o5s: a third opinion is, that it signified " the LARES. The worship of the Lares at Rome
voracious," in reference to the human sacrifices was closely connected with that of the Manes, and
which were.offered to him in early time. (Paus. that of both was analogous to the hero worship of
i. 24. ~ 2, ix. 34. ~ 4.) the Greeks. The name Lar is Etruscan, and signifies
2. A surname of Dionysus, from the Boeotian lord, king, or hero. The Lares may be divided
mountain Laphystius, whence the female Bac- into two classes, the Lares domestici and Lares
chantes were called, in the Macedonian dialect, publici, and the former were the Manes of a house
Laphystiae. (Tzetz. ad iLycoph. 1236; Miiller, raised to the dignity of heroes. So long as the house
Orchoes. p. 168, 2d edit.) [L. S.] was the place where the dead were buried (Serv.
LAPIS, the stone, a surname of Jupiter at ad Aen. v. 64, vi. 152), the Manes and Lares must
Rome, as we see from the expression Jovem La- have been more nearly identical than afterwards,
pidem jurare. (Cic. ad Farn. vii. 12; Gell. i. 21; although the Manes were more closely connected
Polyb. iii. 26.) It was formerly believed that with the place of burial, while the Lares were more
Jupiter Lapis was a stone statue of the god, or particularly the divinities presiding over the hearth
originally a rude stone serving as a symbol, around and the whole house. According to what has here
which people assembled for the purpose of wor- been said, it was not the spirits - of all the dead
shipping Jupiter. But it is now generally acknow- that were honoured as Lares, but only the spirits
ledged that the pebble or flint stone was regarded of good men. It is not certain whether the spirits of
as the symbol of lightning, and that, therefore, in women could become Lares; but from the sugruna
some representations of Jupiter, he held a stone in daria in Fulgentius (De Prise. Sernz. p. xi. ed.
his hand instead of the thunderbolt. (Arnob. adv. Lersch.), it has been inferred that children dying beGent. iv. 25.) Such a stone (lapis Capitolinus, Au- fore they were 40 days old might become Lares.
gust. De Civ. Dei, ii. 29) was even set up as a (Comp. Nonius, p. 114; Diomed. i. p. 379.) All the
symbolic representation of the god himself. (Serv. domestic Lares were headed by the Lar familiaris,
ad Aen. viii. 641.) When a treaty was to be who was regarded as the first originator of the
concluded, the sacred symbols of Jupiter were family, corresponding in some measure with the
taken from his temple, viz. his sceptre, the pebble Greek Jipws er c6vvtos, whence Dionysius (iv. 2)
and grass from the district of the temple, for the calls him d tcKat oblcav, pws. (Comp. Plut. De
purpose of swearing by them (per Jovens Lapidem Fort. Rom. 10; and more especially Plin. H. N.
jurare; Liv. i. 24, xxx. 43; Fest. s. v. Feretrius). xxxvi. 70; Plant. Auzlul. Prolog.) The Lar famiA pebble or flint stone was also used by the Ro- liaris was inseparable from the family; and when
mans in killing the animal, when an oath was to the latter changed their abode, the Lar went with
be accompanied by a sacrifice; and this custom them. (Plaut. Trin. 39, &c.)
was, probably a remnant of very early times, The public Lares are expressly distinguished by
when metal instruments were not yet used for Pliny (H. N. xxi. 8) from the domestic or private
such purposes. (Fest. s. v. Lapidem Silicem; ones, and they were worshipped not only at Rome,
comp. Liv. i. 24, ix. 5; Polyb. iii. 26; Plut. Sull. but in all the towns regulated according to a
10.) [L. S.] Roman or Latin model. (Hertzberg, Do Diis Rom.
LA'PITHES (AacriOns), a son of Apollo and Patr. p. 47.) Among the Lares publici we have
Stilbe, the brother of Centaurus, and husband of mention of Lares praestites and Lares compitales,
Orsinome, the daughter of Eurynomus, by whom who are in reality the same, and differ only in
he became the father of Phorbas, Triopas, and regard to the place or occasion of their worship.
Periphas. He was regarded as the ancestor of the Serv'us Tullius is said to have instituted their
Lapithae in the mountains of Thessaly. (Hom. worship (Plin. H. N. xxxvi. 70); and when AuII. xii. 128; Diod. iv. 69, v. 61.) They were gustus improved the regulations of the city made
governed by Peirithous, who being a son of Ixion, by that king, he also renewed the worship of the
was a half-brother of the Centaurs. The latter, public Lares. Their name, Lares praestites, chatherefore, demanded their share in their father's racterises them as the protecting spirits of the city
kingdom, and, as their claims were not satisfied, a (Ov. Fast. v. 134), in which they had a temple in
war arose between the Lapithae and Centaurs, the uppermost part of the Via Sacra, that is, near a
which, however, was terminated by a peace. But compitum, whence they might be called compitales.
when Peirithous married Hippodameia, and invited (Solin. 1; Ov. Fast. v..128; Tacit. Ann. xii. 24.)
the Centaurs to the solemnity, a bloody war, stirred This temple (Sacelluns Larum or aedes Larums)
by' Ares, broke out between the Lapithae and Cen- contained two images, which were probably those
taurs, in which the latter were defeated; but the of Romulus and Remus, and before them stood a
Lapithae were afterwards humbled by Heracles. stone figure of a dog, either the symbol of watch(Hom. Od. xxi. 295,11. xii. 128, 181; Orph. Argon. fulness, or because a dog was the ordinary sacrifice
413; Diod. iv. 70; Paus. i. 7. ~ 2, v. 10. ~ 8; offered. to the Lares., Now, while these Lares
Strab. ix. p. 439; Ov. jlfet. xii. 210, &c.; Horat. were the general protectors of the whole city, the
Carm. i. 18. 5; Plin. H. N. iv. 8, 15, xxxvi. Lares compitales must be regarded as those who
5, 4.) [L. S.] presided over the several divisions of the city,
LARA. [LARUNDA.] which were marked by the compita -or the points
LARE'NTIA. [ACCA LARENTIA.] where two or more streets crossed each other, and
LAR or LARS(Adpas, Plut. Poplic. 16, Adpos, where small chapels (aediculae) were erected to
Dionys. v. 21), was an Etruscan praenomen, borne those Lares, the number of which must have been
for instance by Porsena and Tolumnius, and from very great at Rome. As Augustus wished to be
the Etruscans passed over to the Romans; hence regarded as the second founder of the city, the
VOL. if. 3 a,