His miraculous birth, commemorated by Servius himself in the festival established by him in honour of the Lares, recalls that of Romulus.
The Revolution of 1868 in Spain promised such salutary changes for the Antilles as the introduction of political parties, the restoration of representation in the Spanish Cortes, and the enfranchisement of the slaves; but the imprudent "Insurrection of Lares," and other outbreaks of 1867-68, delayed these anticipated reforms. The reactionaries feared separation from the mother country.
The Lar familiaris has been regarded' as the embodiment of all the family dead and his cult as a consummation of ancestor-worship, but a more probable explanation regards him as one of the Lares (q.v.; numina of the fields worshipped at the compita, the places where properties marched) who had special charge of the house or possibly of the household servants (familia); for it is significant that his worship was committed to the charge of the vilica.
As the palace cults became national, the worship of the Genius was bound to spread, and ultimately Augustus sanctioned its celebration at the compita together with the worship of the old Lares.
The attempt to harmonize the Stoic demonology with Roman religion led to the Lares being compared with the Greek "heroes" during the period of Greco-Roman culture, and the word is frequently translated ilpcoEs.
