Lara (Lala; Larunda; The talker) Roman Originally, a Sabine goddess who presided over houses.

Lara (Lala; Larunda; The talker) Roman Originally, a Sabine goddess who presided over houses. Later a nymph, a daughter of the river Tiber or the river Almo, known for her inability to keep a secret. Little information remains about the Sabine goddess, but her story as a nymph lives on in the works of Roman poets. Lara suffered a price for her chatter. When Jupiter, who was married to Juno, wanted the help of the nymphs to seduce the goddess Juterna, he swore them all to silence then told them of their roles in his plans to capture Juterna, who kept avoiding him. Since childhood, Lara had been unable to keep a secret, so she spread word of the great god's plans. She told Juno and Juterna. Some sources say that telling both the wife and the love interest was a sign of Lara's great disapproval of Jupiter's actions. Others say she was essentially a gossip. Jupiter avenged himself against Lara by pulling out her tongue and sentencing her to life in the silence of the Underworld. He charged his son Mercury with delivering the nymph, but Mercury fell in love with her on the way and made love to her--some sources say he raped her--and hid her in a grove of trees where she bore him twin sons.