LĂQUĔUS, a rope, was used to signify the punishment of death by
strangling. This mode of execution was never performed in public,
but only in prison and generally in the Tullianum. Hence we find the
words _carcer_ and _laqueus_ frequently joined together. Persons
convicted of treason were most frequently put to death by strangling,
as for instance the Catilinarian conspirators (_laqueo gulam
fregere_).
LĂRĀRĬUM, a place in the inner part of a Roman house, which was
dedicated to the Lares, and in which their images were kept and
worshipped. It seems to have been customary for religious Romans in
the morning, immediately after they rose, to perform their prayers in
the lararium.
LĀRENTĀLĬA, sometimes written LĀRENTINĀLIA and LAURENTĀLIA, a Roman
festival in honour of Acca Larentia, the wife of Faustulus and the
nurse of Romulus and Remus. It was celebrated in December, on the
10th before the calends of January.