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 THE ROMAN GODS 145 I. DIVINITIES NOT REDUCED TO A UNIFORM CONCEPTION 188. In studying the beliefs of the Romans we find side by side with the regular deities a series of divinities who, without being reduced to a uniform conception or perfected to the point of enjoying a complete personality, continued to occupy the position of deified ancestors and of spirits (daimones). (1) First among these should be mentioned the divini- ties representing souls : the Manes, Lemures, and Larvae. Closely akin to these were the Genii, who represented the vital force and power of procreation in men, and the Junoiies of women, spirits corresponding in their nature to the Genii. They were supposed to enter the body at birth, and leave it at death ; then they became Manes. Like the souls of the dead, the Genii were supposed to have the form of serpents. But the Genius and the Juno were also worshiped as the tutelary spirits of men and women, by whom oaths were ratified, and to whom sacri- fices were offered on birthdays. , Starting from this idea of a tutelary spirit, conceived of as a person endowed with procreative power, the Eomans afterwards came to attribute Genii to the family also, to the city, to the State, and at pleasure to every local- ity where a creative activity might manifest itself, and by this process made them practically representatives of the real divinities of nature. 189. An intermediate position like that of these Genii was occupied by a class of divinities essentially similar to them, the Lares, who were regarded as tutelary spirits of fields, vineyards, roads, and groves, and at the same