Prayer to the Lares
the LaresTibullus asks the Lares of his fathers for protection in a war he does not want to go to. His argument is biographical: "you fed me too, when I ran as a little boy before your feet".
This is the central move of Roman household religion: the god is obliged not by sacrifices but by length of shared residence. The Lares stood in this house in the grandfather's day, raised the grandson, and are therefore answerable for him as kin are.
Neu pudeat prisco vos esse e stipite factos — "do not be ashamed that you are made from an old stump". The poet apologises to the gods for their own cheapness and at once turns it into praise: "they kept faith better then, when a wooden god stood in a cramped shrine". The poverty of the rite is offered as evidence of its authenticity.
Then a picture of what that looked like: a cluster of grapes, a wreath of corn-ears on the wooden idol's hair, a cake from a man whose vow was granted, and his small daughter behind him with clean honeycomb. Religion is described through who carries what, and the whole family takes part, the child included.