Page:Wanderings of a Pilgrim Vol 2.djvu/483

 *ported commonly on the shoulders of the nearest relations of the deceased or of his heirs. Poor citizens were carried to the funeral pile in a plain bier or coffin, usually by four bearers: the funeral couches were sometimes open and sometimes covered. Torches were used both at funerals and marriages. The funeral procession was regulated by a person called Designator, attended by lictors, dressed in black, with their fasces inverted; sometimes, also, by the officers and troops, with their spears pointing to the ground. First, went musicians of various kinds,—then, mourning women, hired to lament and sing the funeral song; next came players and buffoons, who danced and sang; one of them, called Archimimus, supported the character of the deceased, imitating his words and actions while alive; then followed the freedmen. Before the corpse were carried images of the deceased, and of his ancestors, on long poles or frames, but not of such as had been condemned for any heinous crime, whose images were broken. Behind the corpse walked the friends of the deceased in mourning,—his sons with their heads veiled, and his daughters with their heads bare, and their hair dishevelled, contrary to the ordinary custom of both; the magistrates without their badges, the nobility without their ornaments. The nearest relations sometimes tore their garments, and covered their hair with dust, or pulled it out; the women, in particular, who attended the funeral, beat their breasts and tore their cheeks, although this was forbidden by the twelve tables. At the funeral of an illustrious citizen the corpse was carried through the forum, where the procession stopped, and a funeral oration (laudatio) was delivered in praise of the deceased from the rostra, by his son, or by some near relation or friend. The honour of a funeral oration was decreed also to women, old or young, married or unmarried. From the forum the corpse was carried to the place of burning or burial, which the law of the twelve tables ordered to be without the city,—Hominem mortuum in urbe ne sepelito, neve urito,—according to the customs of other nations; the Jews, the Athenians, and others. The Romans prohibited burning or burying in the city, both from sacred and civil considerations,