116 



B U R I A L. 



Burial, ber of flute-players at a funeral was restricted to 

 ten, by the laws of the twelve tables. Next came 

 players and buffoons, who danced and sung ; while 

 one of them, called Archimimus, supported the cha- 

 racter of the deceased, imitating his words and ac- 

 tions when alive. Then followed the freedmen of 

 the deceased. Before the corpse were carried the 

 images of the deceased, and of his ancestors, on 

 long poles or frames. After the funeral, these ima- 

 ges were again set up in the hall, where they were 

 preserved. If the deceased had distinguished him- 

 self in war, the crowns and rewards which he had 

 received for his valour were displayed, together with 

 the spoils and standards which he had taken from the 

 enemy. The lictors attended with their fasces in- 

 verted ; and sometimes the officers and troops, with 

 their spears pointing to the ground, or laid entirely 

 aside. Behind the corpse walked the friends of the 

 deceased in mourning ; the magistrates without their 

 badges, and the nobility without their ornaments. 

 At the funeral of an illustrious citizen, the corpse 

 was carried through the forum ; where the proces- 

 sion stopped, and a funeral oration was pronounced 

 in praise of the deceased from the rostra, by some 

 near relation or friend, or by a magistrate. From 

 the forum, it was carried to the place of burning or 

 burial. If the corpse was to be burnt, it was placed, 

 along with the couch, on the funeral pile ; which 

 was built in the form of an altar, with four equal 

 sides, of such kind of wood as might easily take 

 fire. The nearest relations kissed the body with 

 tears, and then set fire to the pile with a lighted 

 torch, turning away their faces to shew that they 

 did it reluctantly. Various perfumes, &c. were 

 thrown into the fire ; and animals, especially such as 

 the deceased had been fond of, were laughtered at 

 the pile, and thrown into it. When the pile was 

 burnt down, the fire was extinguished, and the- em- 

 bers were soaked with wine ; the bones were then 

 gathered by the nearest relations. The bones and 

 ashes, after having been besprinkled with the richest 

 perfumes, were put into an urn, made of earth, brass, 

 marble, silver or gold, according to the rank and 

 fortune of the deceased ; and along with them, some- 

 times, a vial full of tears, called by the moderns a 

 lachrymatory. The uru was then solemnly deposit- 

 ed in the sepulchre. 



When the body was not burnt, it was put into a 

 coffin, usually made of stone, which was laid in the 

 tomb on its back. Some time after the funeral, the 

 family were occupied with the ceremonies of mourn- 

 ing and purification. Oblations, or sacrifices to the 

 dead, were afterwards performed. The sepulchre 

 was then bespread with flowers, and covered with 

 crowns and fillets ; and before it there was a little 

 altar, on which libations were made, and incense 

 burnt. A keeper was appointed to watch the tomb, 

 which was frequently illuminated with lamps. 



At the funerals of the emperors, and other illus- 

 trious persons, whq were deified after death, the 

 real body was burnt, and the remains buried in the 

 usual manner. But a waxen image of the deceased 

 was made to the life, which, after a variety of ridi- 

 culous ceremonies, was carried on a couch in solemn 

 procession on the shoulders of young men of eques- 

 trian rank, first to the forum, where the dirge was 



sung by a choir of boys and girls of the most noble Burial, 

 descent ; then to the campus martins, where it was 

 burnt, with a vast quantity of the richest perfumes, 

 on a lofty and magnificent pile ; from the top of 

 which, an eagle let loose, was supposed to convey 

 the prince's soul to heaven. See Adams' Roman 

 Antiquities. 



A very interesting account of the funeral cere- 

 monies observed among the Hindus, has been given 

 us by Mr Colebrooke, in his ingenious essays " On 

 the Religious Ceremonies of the Hindus, and of the 

 Brahmans especially" (See Essay ii. Asiatic Re- 

 searches, vol. vii.) A dying man, when no hopes of 

 his surviving remain, should be laid upon a bed of 

 cusa grass, in the open air ; his head should be 

 sprinkled with water drawn from the Ganges, and 

 smeared with clay brought from the same river. A 

 Salagrama stone should be placed near him, holy 

 strains from the Veda, or from sacred poems, repeat- 

 ed aloud in his ears, and leaves of holy basil scatter- 

 ed over his head. When he expires, the body must 

 be washed, perfumed, and decked with wreathes of 

 flowers ; a bit of tutanag, another of gold, a gem 

 of some sort, and a piece of coral, should be put 

 into the mouth of the corpse, and bits of gold in 

 both nostrils, both eyes, and both ears. A cloth, 

 perfumed with fragrant oil, must be thrown over the 

 body, which is then carried, by the nearest relations, 

 to some spot in the forest, or near water. The corpse 

 is carried out by the southern gate of the town, if 

 the deceased were a Sudra; by the western, if a 

 Brahmana ; by the northern, if he belonged to the 

 military class ; and by the eastern, if he sprung from 

 the mercantile tribe. When the procession has reach- 

 ed its destination, the corpse must be gently laid, 

 with the head towards the south, on a bed of cusa y 

 the tips of which are pointed southward. The sons, 

 or other relations of the deceased, having bathed in 

 their clothes, must next prepare the funeral pile, on 

 a clean spot of earth, after marking lines thereon, 

 to consecrate it. They must afterwards wash the 

 body, meditating on all the holy places on the face 

 of the earth, as well as the four oceans. After being 

 washed, clothed in clean apparel, and rubbed with 

 perfumes, the relations of the deceased place the 

 corpse supine, with its head towards the north, (or 

 resupine, if it be the body of a woman), on the fu- 

 neral pile, which is previously decorated with flowers. 

 A cloth must then be thrown over it, and a relation 

 of the deceased, taking up a lighted brand, after 

 some ceremonies and invocations, applies the fire to 

 the pile, saying, " Namo ! Namah !" while the at- 

 tending priests recite an appropriate prayer. They 

 then walk in procession, according to seniority, to 

 a river or other running water ; and, after bathing, 

 present oblations of water from the joined palms of 

 their hands. If it be intended to show particular 

 honour to the deceased, three offerings of water may 

 be thus made. After finishing the usual libations of 

 water, and shifting their wet clothes, they sit down 

 on the 'soft turf, and recite certain suitable moral 

 sentences. During ten days, funeral cakes, toge- 

 ther with libations of water and ilia, must be offered 

 as on the first. On the last day of mourning, the 

 nearest kinsman of the deceased gathers his ashes, af- 

 ter offering a straddha singly for him. After ob- 



