Inferiae

2 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Inferiae \In*fe"ri*[ae]\, n. pl. [L., fr. inferus underneath.]
     (Rom. Antiq.)
     Sacrifices offered to the souls of deceased heroes or
     friends.
     [1913 Webster]



From THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY ((C)1911 Released April 15 1993) [devils]:

  INFERIAE,n.  [Latin]  Among the Greeks and Romans, sacrifices for
  propitation of the _Dii Manes_, or souls of the dead heroes; for the
  pious ancients could not invent enough gods to satisfy their spiritual
  needs, and had to have a number of makeshift deities, or, as a sailor
  might say, jury-gods, which they made out of the most unpromising
  materials.  It was while sacrificing a bullock to the spirit of
  Agamemnon that Laiaides, a priest of Aulis, was favored with an
  audience of that illustrious warrior's shade, who prophetically
  recounted to him the birth of Christ and the triumph of Christianity,
  giving him also a rapid but tolerably complete review of events down
  to the reign of Saint Louis.  The narrative ended abruptly at the
  point, owing to the inconsiderate crowing of a cock, which compelled
  the ghosted King of Men to scamper back to Hades.  There is a fine
  mediaeval flavor to this story, and as it has not been traced back
  further than Pere Brateille, a pious but obscure writer at the court
  of Saint Louis, we shall probably not err on the side of presumption
  in considering it apocryphal, though Monsignor Capel's judgment of the
  matter might be different; and to that I bow -- wow.