Architecture in the United States. 27 1 



thoughts to another world, not to make us more m love with this one 

 and with ourselves. Let us then build over our deceased friends, 

 monuments lasting and neat, rather than showy and expensive : let 

 us keep the sod around well shorn and clean : let the tree that waves 

 over it be trimmed and neat; let the spot bear witness to our 

 frequent visits ; and we honor the dead more than if we gave them 

 a Mausoleum, or inclosed them in prophyry or gold ; while at the 

 same time we benefit the living. 



Nothing is more difficult than to write a good monumental inscrip- 

 tion : yet there is no kind of writing for the public more universally 

 tried. I always reverence the language of sorrow and affection, 

 whatever it may be, and shall treat it mildly, yet I wish to be plain. 

 Such inscriptions should always be brief and simple, yet expressive. 

 What is beyond mere name and date, is meant to be the language 

 of deep grief or warm affection, or of both. The language of 

 such passions is always brief, yet touching and powerful. When 

 therefore I see an inscription very long, or labored, with swelling; 

 words and sentences neatly rounded, I think that the writer would 

 have us admire himself rather than the dead, and turn disgusted 

 away. How well the ancients understood this subject. The fol-* 

 lowing is an inscription from a monument found at Delos : I premise 

 that the marble represents two female figures, one seated, the other 

 facing her and with arms crossed on the breast : both are of exquisite 

 sculpture : beneath is in Greek letters, 



Agathoclea 



DAUGHTER OF AnTIPATER 



thotj good member of the sacred city. 

 Farewell. 



The inscriptions on the tombs of the ancient Romans were equally 

 brief and equally beautiful. 



To THE GODS Manes.* Ser. Valerius 



The FATHER Severianus 



HAS erected this HAS ERECTED THIS 



TO HIS EXCELLENT SoN TO HIS MUCH LOVED SON 



C— B— . B— M— . 



He lived XI Ys. 7Ms. XI Ds. He lived XL Ys. 



* This word had various applications among the ancients. When used on their 

 tombs it seemed to have meant a kind of genii, who were supposed to take charge of 

 the body at birth, and to watch over it after death: he who violated the tomb offered 

 insult to the Manes. 



