OR THE BURNING OF THE DEAD. 101 
as one reason for the general reception of this custom in 
Greece. ‘ There was,” he says, “ a certain purification by the 
“* consumption of fire, because fire is a purificator; wherefore 
“ purifications were made by fire.” And Evuripines gives a si- 
milar statement, when he says, “ that the body of CrvremMnes- 
“« pra was purified,” literally, ‘« sanctified by fire*.” The idea 
of pollution by the dead seems to have been early diffused : 
and this idea presupposes that of the body, as separated from 
the soul, being itself unclean. 
_ “ Not the Jews only,” says the accurate and learned Por- 
TER, “ but the greatest part of the heathen world, thought 
“« themselves polluted by the contact of a dead body ; death 
“‘ being contrary to nature, and therefore abhorr’d by every 
“ thing endued with life .” Among the Greeks, as long as 
there was a corpse in any house, a vessel of water was placed 
before the door, that those who had had any communication 
with the dead body, might, before their departure, purify them- 
selves by washing. Hence Evuririprs makes the chorus call in 
question the death of AucrsteEs, because this customary signal 
was not exhibited. 
TlvAwv ragoiber 0 ovy’ oga 
TInydésov, we vomiCerat 
Te, yzenS ai xecbvea avrous: 
Alcestid, vers. 69. 
aa 
_' They supposed that even the house in which the corpse lay 
‘was not free from pollution. The same poet therefore intro-’ 
pit uae} ¥. xy : 
4a duces 
* Aynops 08 rig Hv H Dict wvgos Damedyn TOU vengabevros. art xul To wie cyvisixoy dio xcel ot xee- 
decgpess Dice mugs eywovro. soe Eveimidns 92 tosovroy 7 exPavor, are ov Qnow ove To 745 Kavranmmrens 
Dinas, wes xeelnynsat  Kustatu. in Iliad, A. ver. 52. 
+ Archeolog. ii. p. 188. 
