38 The Roman Cemetery of JJriconium. 



scription, preserved by Griiter, speaks of some persons whose 

 property was only sufficient to pay for the funeral pile and the 

 pitch to burn their bodies — nee ex eorum bonis plus inventum 

 est quam quod sufficeret ad emendam pyram et picem quibus 

 corpora cremarentur. It had been ordered by a law of the 

 Twelve Tables, that the funeral pile must be formed of timber 

 which was rough, and untouched by the axe, but this rule was 

 perhaps not very closely adhered to in later times. When the 

 body was laid on the pile, the latter was sprinkled with wine 

 and other liquors, and incense and various unguents and odori- 

 ferous spices were thrown upon it. It was now, according to 

 some accounts, that the naulum, or the coin for the payment 

 of the passage over the Styx, was placed in the mouth of the 

 corpse, and at the same time the eyes were opened. Fire was 

 applied to the pile by the nearest relatives of the deceased, 

 who, in doing this, turned their faces from it while it was 

 burning; the relatives and friends often threw into the fire 

 various objects such, as personal ornaments, and even favourite 

 animals and birds. When the whole was reduced to ashes, 

 these were sprinkled with wine (and sometimes with milk), 

 accompanied with an invocation to the manes, or spirit of the 

 deceased. The reader will call to mind the lines of Virgil 

 (Mn. di. 226) :— 



Postquam collapsi cineres, et flamma quievit, 

 Relliquias vino et bibulam lavere favillam, 

 Ossaque lecta cado texit Corynseus aeno. 



The next proceeding, indeed, was to collect what remained 

 of the bones from the ashes, which was the duty of the mother 

 of the deceased, or, if the parents were not living, of the chil- 

 dren, and was followed by a new offering of tears. Some of the 

 old writers speak of the difficulty of separating the remains of 

 the burnt bones from the wood ashes, and we accordingly find 

 them usually mixed together. When collected, the bones were 

 deposited in an urn, which was made of various materials. The 

 urn, in Virgil, was made of brass, or perhaps bronze. Instances 

 are mentioned of silver, and even gold, being used for this 

 purpose, as well as of marble, and those found in Britain are 

 often of glass ; but the more common material was earthenware. 

 One of the performers in the ceremony, whose duty this was, then 

 purified the attendants by sprinkling them thrice with water, 

 with an olive branch (if that could be obtained), and the prob- 

 Jico3 pronounced the word Ilicet (said to be a contraction of Ire 

 licet, you may go). Those who had attended the funeral, thrice 

 addressed the word Vale (farewell) to the manes of the dead, 

 and departed. A sumptuous supper was usually given after 

 the funeral to the relatives and friends. 



