HISTORY AND ETHNOLOGY. 51 



festivals ordered after Trajan's victory over the Dacians, and which lasted 

 123 days, 10,000 men and 11,000 animals were active combatants. 



3. Ludi ^cenici^ dramatic representations, first introduced by the 

 Etruscan players, 364 B.C. More than one hundred years later, Livius 

 Andronicus introduced the Greek drama. 



/■*/. 14 gives illustrations of the principal details of the Circensian games. 

 Fig. 1, procession on horseback round the spina j jig. 2, racing on horse- 

 back ; fi^. 3, chariot races ; fig. 4, ground plan of the Circus Neronis ; fi^. 

 o, elevation of the wing A A ; fig. 6, elevation of the wing BB ; fig. 7, ele- 

 vation of the spina EE, adorned from a to ^, with altars, statues, &c.; 

 pai'ticularly, a^ a temple with an obelisk; &, a temple with seven balls or 

 eggs, dedicated to Castor and Pollux ; <?, pillar with a statue of victory ; ^, 

 central obelisk of the spnna., and answering the purpose of a dial ; fi^. 

 8, metoi., the pillars at the end of the circus ; fig. 9, dial obelisk of the 

 spina on a larger scale ; fig. 10, statue of Mercury marking the commence- 

 ment of the lists in the circus ; fig. 11, a race chariot ; figs. 12, 13, portions 

 of the same ; fi^. 14, banner with a winged victory ; pi. 15, fig. 1, 

 gladiatorial combat with animals in the Coliseum in the reign of Domitian; 

 pi. 13, fig. 2, contest of gladiators in the theatre. 



The Romans, like the Greeks, regarded the burial of the dead as a 

 religious ceremony, and the wealthy spared no cost in the splendor and 

 pageantry of their interments. This went so far, that the law was finally 

 comj^elled to interfere to regulate them. 



Distinguished Romans were buried nearly as follows : After various 

 ceremonies, the corpse w^as publicly exposed for several days. On the 

 eighth day it was folded in the toga, or if the deceased had been a public 

 character, in the official dress, and a small coin, as a fee to Charon, was 

 placed in the mouth. Then followed a solemn funeral. In earlier times 

 funerals took place at night, but the time was afterwards changed to the 

 morning. At the head of the procession marched a band of music, and a 

 number of women, hired as mourners. Then followed several players and 

 mimics, who, concealed by carefully executed masks, represented the deceased 

 and his ancestors. iS^ext came persons carrying the portraits of the 

 ancestors and the decorations of the deceased ; and finally, the corpse upon 

 an open bier, surrounded and carried by relatives and friends in mourning. 

 In the Forum, through which the pageant passed, a funeral address was 

 pronounced, after which the body was borne out of the city to be either 

 burned or interred. In the first century before Christ, the former mode of 

 disposing of the body was prevalent, but after the introduction of Chris- 

 tianity, ceased entirely. The coffin w^as not unfrequently made of stone. In 

 case the body was burnt, the magnitude of the funeral pile varied, of course, 

 with the wealth and position of the deceased. The pile consisted of 

 odoriferous combustibles, or was sprinkled with incense after being lighted 

 by the relatives, with their faces averted. Costly objects, especially the 

 armor, clothing, and industrial implements of the deceased, were usually 

 consumed with the body {pi. 13, fig. 4). In the meantime, the female 

 mourners, joined by the bystanders, sang funeral songs. Occasionally, during 



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