Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary/Lemures

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. 

LEM'URES. A general name for the departed spirits of men. According to the religious belief of the Romans, the soul was converted after death into a spirit, either beneficent or malign, as the actions of the individual had been good or bad during his lifetime. The good spirit then became a protecting angel, and was properly termed lar; the evil one a spectre, or hobgoblin, properly designated larva. But altough some passages plainly imply that the term lemures meant departed spirits generally, and without reference to any particular disposition, yet a number of others lead to the conclusion that in the popular belief, and in the language of the common people, they were confounded with the larvae, and regarded as spectres of evil omen and of malicious propensities. Ov. Fast. v. 483. Apul. Deo Socrat. p. 689. Augustin. Civ. D. ix. 11. Pers. v. 185. Hor. Ep. ii. 2. 209. Varro, ap. Non. s. v. p. 135.