i 



\ 



401 Pf^of. ^Everett o?i an Inscinptionfrom the Columbarium 



at home.* Such a gradual destruction will account for the scatter- 



r 



ing^ in the adjacent fields and vineyards^ of many of the inscribed 

 tablets/which the Columbarium contained ; one of which has fur- 

 nished the occasion of this memoir. 



With regard to the word Columbai'ium^ by which these and 

 other similar sepulchral monuments are designated^ it is well known 

 that its primitive meanings is that of sl pigeon house^ and di pigeon 

 hole. From the similarity of the form^ the nichesj in the walls of 

 the sepulchre-, nearly closed in front; in which the cinerary urns were 

 deposited; were called Columbaria^ or pigeon holes ; and thence the 

 word was transferred to the sepulchre itself. This meaning is not 

 recognized by the lexicographers ; but la ascertained from an in- 

 scription preserved by F^bretti^ and quoted by Gori as follows : 



EX. TESTAMENTO. Q 



ERUCL MONTANI. LEGATUM. 



C. QUINTIO. BATHYLLO. COLUM 



BARI. ITUM. AMBITUM. DEBETUR.f 



In this inscription. Columbarium cannot well be understood but 

 Ckf a place of burial, admitting of a path to It, and round it, and 

 of course could not have been applied to a small niche in a wall. 

 It was in these small niches that were deposited the urns to con- 

 tain the ashes of the common freedmen and slaves, often two and 

 two, the urns for instance of husband and wife, in the same niche. 

 These urns wese built into the wall, and the ashes of course 



po 



.' 



ed into them. Over the aperture, by which this was done^ a small 

 marble tablet was let into the wall, on which the name and office of 



I 



* For a verj learned and judicious dissertation on the causes of the destruc- 

 tion of the works of ancient art, in Rome, see tlie third volume of the Italian 



W 



Fabretti 



