Page:Wanderings of a Pilgrim Vol 2.djvu/482

 them, because they believed that the souls of the unburied were not admitted into the abodes of the dead; or at least wandered a hundred years along the river Styx, before they were allowed to cross it; for which reason, if the bodies of their friends could not be found, they erected to them an empty tomb (ceno-*taphium), at which they performed the usual solemnities; and to want the due rites was esteemed the greatest misfortune. The nearest relation closed the eyes and mouth of the deceased, and when the eyes were closed they called upon the deceased by name several times at intervals: the corpse was then laid on the ground, bathed, and anointed with perfumes. The body, dressed in the best attire which the deceased had worn when alive, was laid on a couch in the vestibule, with the feet outwards; the couch was sometimes decked with leaves and flowers. A small coin (triens vel obolus) was put in his mouth, which he might give to Charon for his freight. The Romans at first usually interred their dead, which is the most ancient and most natural method. They early adopted the custom of burning (cremandi vel comburendi) from the Greeks, which is mentioned in the laws of Numa, and of the twelve tables, but it did not become general till towards the end of the republic. Numa forbade his own body to be burned, according to the custom of the Romans, but he ordered it to be buried near Mount Janiculum, with many of the books which he had written. Sylla was the first of the Patrician branch of the gens Cornelia that was burnt; which is supposed to have been in accordance with his wishes; for, having ordered the remains of Marius to be taken out of his grave, and thrown into the river Anio, he was apprehensive of the same insult. Sylla died 78. Pliny ascribes the first institution of burning among the Romans to their having discovered that the bodies of those who fell in distant wars were dug up by the enemy. Under the emperors it became almost universal, but was afterwards gradually dropped upon the introduction of Christianity, so that it had fallen into disuse about the end of the fourth century. On the day of the funeral, when the people were assembled, the body was carried out with the feet foremost on a couch, covered with rich cloth, and sup