204 A NATURAL HISTORY 



Images, endued with the Gift of Predidlion j fo far from being 

 mere Idols, that they gave out Oracles, and foretold Things to 

 come. 



Some think Laban's Teraphim to be fuch, and that Rachel^ 

 having obferved how her Father did divine by them, and fearing, 

 by confulting with them, he might know which way Jacob went, 

 and follow after and murder him j to prevent fo fatala Cataflrophe, 

 fhe took away his Oracles. 



Those lacred Images might, at firft, be made in honour of 

 departed Relatives, or illuftrious Perfons ; but by degrees dege- 

 nerated into religious Adoration. Thus the Manes of the Dead 

 •were woifliip'd by them under the Figure of their Teraphim, in 

 fome place of the Houfe, and probably where they had depofited 

 the Remains of their Anceflors, as fome think. 



The Lares were alfo called Penates : To thefe they paid re- 

 ligious Homage with Sacrifices ; fo the Roman Satiriji fays, and 

 calls thefe images his dear little Houfe-Gods ; and then obferves, 

 that they were crown'd with Garlands of Flowers in Summer, 

 and in Winter with Shaving of Horns colour'd. To thefe JVaxen~ 

 Gods the Romans addrefi: themfelves with Offerings of Frankin- 

 cenfe and Cakes *. . . . 



They were fuppofed to be the Spirits of fuch, who had lived 

 well on the Earth, and in confequence of it, were happy; fo on 

 the other hand, thofe who lived ill here, did after Death wander 

 up and down in Horror, and were fuppofed, by the Vulgar, to 

 be Hobgoblins, call'd LemureSy i, e. refllefs Ghofts of departed 

 Spirits, who return to the Earth to terrify the Living. 



These are the fame with Z/^r-u,^, which the Antients irha- 

 gined to wander round the World, to frighten good People, and 

 plague the bad.. All thefe were imagin'd to be the Ghofts of the 

 Dead : They pray'd to the Good for Protection, and facrificed to 

 the Evil to pacify their Rage: For this reafon they had their 

 Lemur ia or Lemur alia at Rome, where on the 9 th of May, a Feaft 

 was folemnized in honour of the Leviures, and to pacify the 

 Manes of the Dead, efpecially thofe who died without Burial, to 

 prevent their giving difturbance to the Living. 



The; 



* Oh parvi noftrique Lares quos thure minuto 

 Hie iioftriim placabo, Jovem Laribufque paternis 

 [ Tbura daboj a que omnes viote jactabo colores 



Cuiida nicent— Juvenal. Sat. \\. ^•. 137. & 5<*^. xii. "v. 89. 



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