They discouraged interments within the limits of 

 their cities ; and consigned their reliques to shady 

 groves, in the neighborhood of murmuring streams 

 and mossy fountains, close by the favorite resorts of 

 those, who were engaged in the study of philoso- 

 phy and nature, and called them, with the elegant 

 expressiveness of their own beautiful language, Ceme- 

 teries,* or " Places of Repose." The Romans, 

 faithful to the example of Greece, erected the mon- 

 uments to the dead in the suburbs of the eternal city, 

 (as they proudly denominated it,) on the sides of their 

 spacious roads, in the midst of trees and ornamental 

 walks, and ever-varying flowers. The Appian way 

 was crowded with columns, and obelisks, and ceno- 

 taphs to the memory of her heroes and sages ; and, 

 at every turn, the short but touching inscription met 

 the eye, — Siste Viator, — Pause Traveller, — inviting 

 at once to sympathy and thoughtfulness. Even the 

 humblest Roman could read on the humblest grave- 

 stone the kind offering — " May the earth lie lightly on 

 these remains !"t And the Moslem Successors of the 

 emperors, indifferent as they may be to the ordinary 

 exhibitions of the fine arts, place their burying-grounds 

 in rural retreats, and embellish them with studious 

 taste as a religious duty. The cypress is planted at 

 the head and foot of every grave, and waves with a 

 mournful solemnity over it. These devoted grounds 

 possess an inviolable sanctity. The ravages of war 

 never reach them ; and victory and defeat equally re- 

 spect the limits of their domain. So that it has been 



* ;^o('/(£repia — literally, places of sleep. f " Sit tibi terra levis." 



2 



