Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary/Larva

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Rich, Anthony (1849). The illustrated companion to the Latin dictionary, and Greek lexicon. p. vi. OCLC 894670115. https://archive.org/details/illustratedcompa00rich. 

LARVA. A ghost or spectre; i. e. according to the religious belief of the Romans, an evil spirit, supposed to be the soul of a departed being, which, in consequence of crimes committed during life, was deprived of repose in death, and left to wander about the world without any fixed abode, tormenting, frightening, and injuring mankind. Its influence, however, only extended to evil-doers, being innoxious to those who were themselves innocent (Plaut. Amph ii. 2. 154. Id. Capt. iii. 4. 66. Apul. Deo Socrat. p. 689. Augustin. Civ. Dei, ix. 11.); nor was it supposed to be possessed of any corporeal substance, beyond the frame of a skeleton. Seneca, Ep. 24.

2. (μορμολυκεῖον). A bug-bear or hobgoblin, to scare and frighten children; consisting of a mask for the face; but differing from persona, because it is only applied to those which possess unsightly features. (Hor. Sat. i. 5. 64.) The illustration (Larva/2.1), taken from a painting found in an excavation at Resina, represents one genius frightening another with a larva of this description.

3. An artificial figure of a skeleton, which the ancients were fond of introducing at entertainments, as a memento of the uncertainty and shortness of life, and consequent inducement to make the most of the present hour (Pet. Sat. xxxiv. 8. Apul. Apol. p. 507.); a custom which originated with the Egyptians (Herod. ii. 78.), from whom it passed to the Greeks and Romans. Zonar. iii.

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  Larva/2.1