OR THE BURNING OF THE DEAD. 103 



ly, that they purified themselves, first by washing their heads, 

 and then by burning hemp-seed on red-hot stones, with which 

 they produced a powerful fumigation *. 



It is well known that the Romans viewed fire and water as 

 the two great principles of purification, and that with this de- 

 sign they applied them to things of every description. Hence 

 Ovid, when describing the Palilia ; 



Certe ego transilui positas ter in ordine flammas ; 

 Virgaque roratas laurea dedit aquas. 



Fast. lib. iv. v. 727. 



They extended the purifying virtue of fire not only to their 

 flocks, but to the owners of them. 



-Per flammas saluisse pecus, saluisse colonos. 



Ibid. v. 805. 



He proceeds to enumerate the different theories which had 

 been formed, in order to account for the use of fire and water 

 with this view. The variety of these, he says, caused hesita- 

 tion as to the real origin. By some it was supposed, that as 

 fire purified every thing, particularly metallic substances, it 

 would have the same effect on the shepherd and his flock. 



Omnia purgat edax ignis, vitiumque metallis 

 Excoquit. Idcirco cum duce purgat oves. 



Ibid. v. 785. 



Others imagined, that as all things had their origin from fire 

 and water, their ancestors had conjoined these elements in their 

 rites of purification ; while there were some who traced this 

 practice to a conviction that in these existed the principle of 



life. 



* Melpom. c. 73. 75. 



