OR THE BURNING OF THE DEAD. 103 
ly, that they purified themselves, first by washing their heads, 
and then by burning hemp-seed on red-hot stones, with which 
they produced a powerful fumigation *. 
It is well known that the Romans viewed fire and water as 
the two great principles of purification, and that with this de- 
sign they applied them to things of every description. Hence 
Ovip, when describing the Palilia ; 
ew, 
Certe ego transilui positas ter in ordine flammas ; 
Virgaque roratas laurea dedit aquas. 
Fast. lib. iv. v. 727. 
They extended the purifying virtue of fire not only to their 
flocks, but to the owners of them. 
—Per flammas saluisse pecus, saluisse colonos. 
Ibid. v. 805. 
He proceeds to enumerate the different theories which had 
been formed, in order to account for the use of fire and water 
with this view. The variety of these, he says, caused hesita- 
tion as to the real origin. By some it was supposed, that as. 
fire purified every thing, particularly metallic substances, it 
would have the same effect on the shepherd and his flock. 
Omnia purgat edax ignis, vitiumque metallis 
Excoquit. Idcirco cum duce purgat oves. 
Ibid. v. 785. 
ting | 
~~ Others imagined, that as all things had their origin from fire 
and water, their ancestors had conjoined these elements in their 
rites of purification; while there were some who traced this 
practice to a conviction that in these existed the principle of 
life. 
* Melpom. c, 73. 75. 
