god
Lares et Penates
household gods
also: household gods, family Lares, Penates, di penates
The household and ancestral gods of a Roman family, whose shrine stood within the home and embodied its continuity. Cicero makes the restoration of his own Penates and family Lares to his Palatine house the emotional center of De Domo Sua.
Reading notes
- On His House §143 in regaining home, seats, altars, hearths, household gods
Cicero defines true return (reditus) as the recovery of one's domestic religion --- the Lares and Penates, hearth and altar of the home. The restoration of his house is thus the completion of his restoration as a citizen, which is why the pontiffs' verdict is the climax of the whole exile drama.