THE LARES AND THE PENATES.
The Lares were the household divinities who presided over the interests of private families. Their worship is supposed to have
arisen from the ancient custom among the Romans and other nations, of burying their dead within their houses, and the belief that the spirits of the departed continually hovered over their former dwellings, for the protection of the inhabitants. Their statues were placed in a niche behind the doors of the houses, or around the hearths; while at their feet was placed a dog barking, to intimate the watchfulness they exhibited. Their festivals were observed at Rome in the month of May, when their statues were crowned with garlands of flowers, and fruit offerings presented to them.
The Penates also closely resembled the Lares, and presided over houses and the domestic affairs of families. It was at the option of every master of a family to choose his Penates, and therefore Jupiter and some of the superior gods, are often invoked as domestic divinities.
They were originally the manes of the dead, but when mankind had been taught by superstition to pay deep reverence to the statues or images of their deceased friends, that reverence was soon changed for a more regular worship, and they were admitted by their votaries to share immortality and power, with the remainder or the Gods.
The statues of the Penates were generally formed of wax, silver, ivory, or earthenware, according to the poverty or riches of the worshipper.
When offerings were made to them, their shrines were crowned with garlands, and besides one day in every month set apart for their homage, their festivals were celebrated during the Saturnalia.
HYMN TO THE PENATES.
"Yet one song more! one high and solemn strain,
Ere, Phœbus! on thy temples ruined wall
I hang the silent harp: one song more!
Penates! hear me! for to you I hymn
The votive lay. Venerable powers!
Hearken your hymn of praise. Though from your rites
Estranged, and exiled from your altars long,
I have not ceased to love you, Household Gods!
O ye whom youth has 'wildered on your way,
Or vice with fair mask'd foulness, or the lure
Of Fame that calls ye to her crowded path
With folly's rattle, to your Household Gods
Return: for not in Vice's gay abodes,
Not in the unquiet, unsafe halls of Fame
Doth Happiness abide!"
————————-"To your Household Gods
Return, for by their altars, Virtue dwells,
And Happiness with her; hearken your hymn of praise,
Penates! to your shrines I come for rest,—
There only to be found. Household Deities,
There only shall be Happiness on earth
When man shall feel your sacred power, and love
Your tranquil joys; then shall the city stand
A huge, void sepulchre, and rising fair
Amid the ruins of the palace pile,
The olive grow, there shall the tree of peace
Strike its roots deep, and flourish."
Southey.