manes

pl. [Lat., prob. from * manis, *manus =good; the first form survives in immanis = huge, immense; the second in Genita Mana the good mother, to whom, Pliny says, the Romans used to sacrifice a puppy.] Roman Myth.: The Good Ones, a euphemistic expre ion for the infernal deities (as benevolent opposed to larvæ and lemures (q. v.). In the description of the funeral rites of Polydorus, Virgil ( Æn . iii. 62-68) has a noted pa age on the ceremonies with which the Manes were worshiped. The term was also applied to shades not yet deified. The Manes might be called up by magic ( ib. iv. 490), they were invoked to be present at funeral rites (v. 99), and from them came deceptive dreams (vi. 897). Tylor ( Prim . Cult., 1872, ii. 120), mentioning that the Romans inscribed on their tombs "D. M." ( Diis Manibus ), remarks that "the occurrence of this D. M.' in Christian epitaphs is an often noticed case of religious survival." manes-gods, s. pl. Comparative Religions: The Dii Manes of the Romans. [MANES.] "The early Romans, ascribing to their manes - gods a love of human blood, duly administered to it."-Herbert Spencer: Prin. of Sociol ., i. manes-worship, s. Anthrop.: The term adopted by Tylor to denote the worship of the dead, whether of an ancestor of the particular worshiper, or of some deified hero of his race. It has a very wide range both in time and space. Herbert Spencer ( Prim . Sociol ., vol. i., ch. xx.) thinks it developed from the universal-or almost universal-belief in an other-self, which survived after death, and that manes-worship was the outcome of a desire and endeavor to propitiate the ghost. He brings forward evidence as to its existence among Turanians and Aryans, and notes that among the Jews the offerer of first-fruits to Jehovah was required to say that he had not "given thereof for the dead." (Deut. xxvi. 14; cf. Eccles. vii. 33; Tobit iv. 17.) Sir John Lubbock ( Orig . of Civil., 1882, p. 318) says of manes-worship that it "is a natural development of the dread of ghosts," and both Tylor ( Prim . Cult ., 1873, ii. 120) and Spencer ( loc . cit .) see in the cultus of saints in the Roman Church" a survival of the manes-worship of a le advanced age." [HAGIOLATRY.] manes-worshiper, s. One who worships the spirits of the departed; one who practices manes worship (q. v.). "The Chinese manes- worshiper may see the outer bar. barians come back into sympathy with his time honored creed." -Tylor: Prim. Cult. (1873), i. 143. A copious bibliography will be found in Lub bock and Tylor.