352 LELIA. 



321 Heathen and Christian are equally open to the reproach of abandoning at these 

 periods all those who are usually dear to man ; and for whom, under ordinary cir- 

 cumstances, no sacrifice is too great to be paid. Guido Cauliacus informs us, that 

 during the plague which raged in 1348, the infected were entirely abandoned : " In 

 tantumque gentes moriebantur sine famulis, et sepeliebantur sine sacerdotibus. Pater 

 non visitabat filium, nee filius patrem : caritas erat mortua, et spes prostrata." 



322 In the funeral rites of the Greeks and Latins, tears for the dead formed one 

 very striking feature; and the absence of the usual lamentations was accounted 

 the heaviest misfortune which could possibly befall a family. Ovid even calls 

 up the drowned Ceyx, in order to implore that the usual rites might be paid to his 

 memory : 



" Surge, age : da 1 aery mas ; lugubriaque indue : nee me 

 Indeploratum sub inania Tartara mitte." 



Metam. xi. 



323 All the ceremonies and decencies attendant upon death were neglected, 

 and even the passionate sorrow of woman was silenced by terror ; and the beautiful 

 dirges, which they were in the habit of singing, were no longer heard. The following 

 <Urge from Lucretius is most exquisitely pathetic : 



" At jam non domus accipiet te Iseta, neque uxor 



Optima ; nee dulces occurrent oscula nati 



Praeripere, et tacita pectus dulcedine tangent : 



Non poteris factis tibi fortibus esse, tuisque 



Praesidio. Miser, o miser, omnia ademit 



Una dies infesta tibi tot praemia vitae." 



Dryden's translation of this passage, though conveying the sense of the original pretty 

 correctly, can give the mere English reader but a slight conception of its real 

 beauties. 



Ovid has a beautiful passage in the seventh book of his Metamorphoses, on the over- 

 whelming violence of a pestilence, and the consequences produced on the social and 

 moral habits of the sufferers : 



*' Ante sacros vidi projecta cadavera postes : 

 Ante ipsas, quo mors foret invidiosior, aras. 

 Pars animam laqueo claudunt, mortisque timorem 

 Morte fugant : ultroque vocant venientia fata. 

 Corpora missa neci nullo de more feruntur 

 Funeribus : neque enim capiebant funera portae. 

 At inhurnata premunt terras ; aut dantur in altos 

 Indotata rogos. Et jam revereulia nulla est : 

 Deque rogis pugnant, alienisque ignibus ardent. 

 Qui lacryment, desunt ; indefletaeque vagantur 

 Natorumque virumque animae, juvenumque senumque : 

 Nee locus in tumulos, nee sufficit arbor in ignes." 



Boccacio too gives a somewhat similar tragic detail when describing the plague which 

 visited Florence in 1348 : " Et erano radi caloro, i corpi de i quali fosser' piu che 

 da un' dieci, o dodici de suoi vicini alia chiesa accompagnati, de quali non gPhorre- 

 voli, e cari cettadini, ma una maniera di beccamorti^sopravenuta di minuta gente, che 

 chiamar si facevano Becchini, la quale queste scruigi prezzolata faceva, sottentravano 

 alia bara, e quella con frettolosi passi; non a quella chiesa, che esso haveva anzi la 

 morte disposto, ma alia piu vicina, le piu volte il portavano, dietro a quattro, 6 chei 

 clerici con poco lume, e tal fiata senz' alcuno, li quali con 1'aiuto di detti Becchini, 

 senza fategarsi in troppo lungo ufficio, 6 solenne in qualunque sepultra disoccupata 

 trovavano, piu tosto il mettevano." 



Boccacio, in Proem. Decam. 



