wife, friends of the family are seen partaking of the feast.* As 
a greater variety of accessories were noted, archseologists were 
much perplexed and divided in their explanations. Some still 
adhered to the old notion of a funeral feast—others regarded it 
as emblematic of the feast which awaited the deceased in Hades; 
others as a farewell entertainment to a traveller, about to go on 
his last-journey, of which the horse was the emblem; others 
gave to all a mystical and mythological interpretation, which the 
occasional appearance of a serpent among the accessories seemed 
to countenance. The prevalent opinion at present is, that it is 
simply the representation of a family meal, which, as the 
characteristic act of domestic life, is significantly placed on the 
funeral memorial of one of the departed members of the house¬ 
hold. *f“ 
Viewing it in this light, we should expect that the form 
would vary according to the customs of the country in wdiich 
the memorial was erected, and the circumstances of each family ; 
being sometimes, as in our monument, of the most frugal sim¬ 
plicity, at other times expanding into a luxurious feast. Of the 
latter, Gruter and Montfaucon furnish examples. { In some 
there is not even the actual appearance of a feast, the parents 
reclining as if in preparation for it, Avith nothing set before 
them. The various accessories which appear in the more elab¬ 
orate sculptures receive a natural explanation on the same sup¬ 
position. The dog, Avho is often seen, especially in the Greek 
monuments, made his appearance at meal times, to claim at 
least the crumbs that fell from the table. And here Ave may 
observe a curious illustration of the narrative in Mark vii. .^4-— 
30, the intervieAv of our Lord Avith the Syro-phoenician Avoman, 
Avho besought him to cure her daughter. He at first declined, 
alleging that it Avas not meet to take the children’s bread and 
See a representation of one of these (called by the perideipnoii) in a 
A\'oodciit in Smith’s Dictionary of Greek and Tloman Antiquities, p. 436. 
t See a large collection of monuments and a discussion of the question of 
their import in “Das Fainilien Mahl, auf Alt-griechischen Grabsteinen,” von 
P. Pervanoglu. Leipz. 1872. Also by the same author “ Die Grabsteine der 
alten Greechen,” 1863. Letronne in Eev. ArchEeol. iii., p. 1. 
% Gruter pag. dcccxliii. 5. dccccia'. 13. on a monument erected by a liheria 
to her patron. Montfaucon Eng. Tr. i. 71. A^ 57. 67. Suppl. 499. 
