120 ON THE ORIGIN OF CREMATION, 
“ ris carcerem effugerit, et exonerata membris mortalibus levi 
“ se igne lustraverit, petere sedes inter astra *.” 
Servius, when explaining the language of Virert, 
Aliw panduntur inanes 
Suspense ad ventos: aliis sub gurgite vasto 
Infectum eluitwr scelus: aut exuritur igni 
remarks, that he “ speaks poetically concerning the purgation 
“of souls ; for he alludes to what the philosophers said.” He 
then proceeds to shew, that there was a threefold purification 
of man, by earth, by water, and by air ; that the earthy purifica- 
tion denoted that which was made by fire, which has its origin 
from earth; and that this was necessary for those whe had in~ 
dulged in sensual enjoyments }. 
As it was accounted unlawful for Christians to burn their 
dead, TerruLuian assigns as one reason for their rejection of 
this practice, that they had already received the benefit of a pu- 
rification far superior. “ Et cremabitur,” he inquires, “ ex dis- 
“ ciplina castrensi Christianus, cui cremare non licuit, cui — 
Christus merita ignis indulsit ? {” 
it is well known that the Platonists denominated the end of 
the present state of this world ayarvegacis, as believing that it 
should be purified and refined by fire; and that to this change 
the Stoics gave the name of ézzvgasig. As it is equally certain 
that many of the dogmas of the Oriental, of the Platonic, 
and 
* QerntiniaN. Declam.*x. 
+ Loquitur quidem poétice de purgatione animarum: tangit tamen quod phi- 
tosophi dicunt. Nam triplex ‘est hominis purgatio. Aut in terra purgantur : 
que nimis oppress sordide fuerunt, dedite scilicet corporalibus blandimentis, 
enim transeunt in corpora terrena; et hec igni dicuntur purgari. Ignis enim 
ex terra est, quo exuruntur omnia, nam ccelestis nihil perurit. Serv. in 4- 
neid. Vi. ver. 742. 
+t Tertunitan. de Corona Militis, p. 292. 
