ROMAN TOMBS. 319 



were killed by lightning 1 , were forbidden by law to be 

 burned. , - 



MRS. F. 



Hercules is said to have been the first who introduced the 

 custom of burning the dead. Having promised to take back 

 Argaeus, who was killed in the Trojan war, to his father 

 Licymnius (the uncle of Hercules), and being unable to 

 restore him alive, Hercules burnt his body, and carried back 

 his ashes, in order not to fail in his engagement to the father. 



HENRIETTA. 



Then there was no regular rule observed with regard to the 

 interment of the dead'? 



No; it would appear, that both means being equally acces- 

 sible, the survivors were free either to burn or bury the bodies 

 of their departed relatives as they preferred. 



MRS. F. 



To judge from the results of the researches in Magna 

 Graeeia, it seems that the proportion of bodies interred to 

 those burned was among the Italo-Greeks, as one to ten; 

 whereas among the Romans, it was totally the reverse. 



ESTHER. 



The Greeks used to conceal their tombs, and placed them 

 on the north side of their town; the Romans, on the contrary, 

 liked to exhibit their sepulchres. 



As Madame de Stael observes, " Loin que 1'aspect des 

 tombeaux decourageat les vivans, on croyait inspirer une 

 emulation nouvelle en plagant ces tombeaux sur les routes 

 publiques, afin que, retragant aux jeunes gens le souvenir des 

 hommes illustres, ilsinvitassentsilencieusementales imiter." 

 This observation is made when visiting the Appian way, the 



