Ancient legends of Roman history . il the legend givenby Ovid. Lara, or Larunda, was originally the motherof the Lares,—divinities which constantly preserved theirchthonic character, and which were ever considered the godsof the soil, of the ways and of the subterraneous world. 52 ANCIENT LEGENDS OF ROMAN HISTORY Lara was later transformed into Lala, by derivation fromXaXeTv. This explains why the Lares or Larvae (the shadesof the dead) were called silentes, and why Muta or Tacitawas said to be their mother. Lara or Lala, in fact, is merelythe mother of the Lares and the nurse of Romulus andRe
Ancient legends of Roman history . il the legend givenby Ovid. Lara, or Larunda, was originally the motherof the Lares,—divinities which constantly preserved theirchthonic character, and which were ever considered the godsof the soil, of the ways and of the subterraneous world. 52 ANCIENT LEGENDS OF ROMAN HISTORY Lara was later transformed into Lala, by derivation fromXaXeTv. This explains why the Lares or Larvae (the shadesof the dead) were called silentes, and why Muta or Tacitawas said to be their mother. Lara or Lala, in fact, is merelythe mother of the Lares and the nurse of Romulus The cult of the public Lares, whose altar wassituated not far from the Porta Mugonia (a site even laterconsidered one of the corners of the city of Romulus33),was soon associated with that of Romulus and , the Twins were themselves considered Lares, andconsequently Cassius Hemina, the early annalist, affirmsthat on the miraculous parturition of the sow Romulushimself erected the temple of the Lares *. We can, therefore, readily comprehend the scene in ourpainting by considering that it represents the above-namedfusion of cults. We are to recognize in the group in ques-tion Mercury accompanying Lala, or better, Acca cult of the latter (as we are explicitly told by theauthors) was located at the end of the Nova Via, and atthe foot of the Velabrum. In other words, it was situatedby the side of the Porta Romanula and of the Lupercal,—in the region within which were worshipped the divinitiesVolusia and This mingling of cults is notsurprising; for both Angerona and Acca Larentia werechthonic deities connected with the death of the Sun. Theformer, indeed, was represented with closed lips as thegoddess of Death and of Silence. Her image, ore obligatoatque signato, stood in the sacellum of the goddess Volusia,which was near the Porta Romanula, the Lupercal and thesepulchre of Acca Larentia. This fact naturally explainswhy some sh
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