210 PLINTHS NATURAL HISTORY. [Book VII. 



CHAP. 53. (52.) PERSONS WHO HATE COME TO LIFE AGAIN 



AFTER BEING LAID OUT FOR BURIAL. 



Aviola, 93 a man of consular rank, came to life again when 

 on the funeral pile ; but, by reason of the violence of the flames, 

 no assistance could be rendered him, in consequence of which 

 he was burnt alive. The same thing is said to have happened 

 to L. Lamia, a man of praetorian rank. Messala, Bufus, 94 and 

 many other authors, inform us, that C. JBlius Tubero, who had 

 filled the office of praetor, was also rescued from the funeral pile. 

 Such then is the condition of us mortals : to these and the like 

 vicissitudes of fortune are we born ; so much so, that we cannot 

 be sure of any thing, no, not even that a person is dead. With 

 reference to the soul of man, we find, among other instances, 

 that the soul of Hermotinus of Clazomense was in the habit of 

 leaving his body, and wandering into distant countries, whence 

 it brought back numerous accounts of various things, which 

 could not have been obtained by any one but a person who was 

 present. The body, in the meantime, was left apparently life- 

 less. 95 At last, however, his enemies, the Cantharidae, 96 as they 

 were called, burned the body, so that the soul, on its return, was 

 deprived of its sheath, as it were. It is stated also, that in Pro- 



93 We have an account of the death of Aviola, in Valerius Maximus, 

 B. i. c. 8. This name occurs in the Consular Fasti, A.U.C. 806 ; hut it 

 could not be that of the person referred to by Valerius Maximus, as his 

 work was published under the reign of Tiberius, who died A,U.C. 789. "We 

 have also an account of the death of Lamia in Valerius Maximus, as oc- 

 curring under the same circumstances with that of Aviola. B. 



94 Poinsinet, vol. iii. pp. 251, 252, supposes, that Messala and Eufus are 

 the names of two writers, and not, as usually supposed, of one only. The 

 conjecture appears not improbable. B. 



95 Plutarch, " De Deo Socratis," gives us the same account of Hermo- 

 tinus. Ajasson has remarked, not inaptly, that this story is very similar 

 to the modern statements as to the effect of animal magnetism, Lemaire, iii. 

 207. B. Apuleius, in his " Defence," has a passage which is remarkable 

 as clearly bearing, .reference to the doctrines inculcated by the mesmerists of 

 modern times ; he says, " Quin et illud mecum reputo, posse animum huma- 

 num, prcesertim puerilem et simplicem sen carminum avocamento, sine odo- 

 rum delenimento, soporari et ad oblivionem prsesentium externari ; et pau- 

 lisper remota corporis memoria, redigi et redire ad naturam suam quae est 

 immortalis scilicet et divina ; atque ita veluti quodam sopore futura rerum 

 proesagire." 



96 We have no notice of any people, under this appellation, in Greece ; 

 Cantharus, however, occurs as the name of an individual, and possibly 

 these may have been his descendants, or the members of his family. B. 



