Then thrice around the kindled piles they go,
For ancient custom had ordain'd it so.

Thrice horse and foot about the fires are led,

And thrice with loud laments they hail the dead.

DRYDEN.

During the time the pile was burning, the dead person's friends stood by it, pouring forth libations of wine, and calling upon the deceased. Thus Achilles attended all night at Patroclus's funeral": Καὶ πάννυχος ὠκὺς Αχιλλεὺς

Χρυσίε ἐκ κρητῆρος, ἔχων δέπας αμφικύπελλον,
Οἶνον ἀφυσσάμενος χάμαδις χέε, δεῦς δὲ γαῖαν,
Ψυχὴν κικλήσκων Πατροκλῆος δειλοία.

All night, divine Achilles does attend

At the sad fun'ral of his much-lov'd friend :

A golden cup he bore, that wine contain'd,

Which pouring out, the glutted pavement stain'd;
His pious off'ring thus the hero paid,
Calling upon the manes of the dead.

H. H.

When the pile was burnt down, and the flames had ceased, they extinguished the remains of the fire with wine; which being done, they collected the bones and ashes. Thus Homer relates of the Trojans at Hector's funerale :

Πρῶτον μὲν κατὰ πυρκαϊὴν σβέσαν αἴθοπι οἴνῳ
Πᾶσαν, ὅποσσον ἔπεσχε πυρὸς μένος· αὐτὰρ ἔπειτα
Οσία λευκὰ λέγοντο κασίγνητοι, έταροί τε.

About the pile the thronging people came,

And with black wine quench'd the remaining flame;
His brothers then, and friends, search'd ev'rywhere,
And gather'd up his snowy bones with care.

CONGREVE.

From which words it appears, that this office was performed by near relations to which practice Tibullus likewise alludes:

Non hic mihi mater,

Quæ legat in mæstos ossa perusta sinus.

Nor was my dear indulgent mother by,

Who to her breast my mould'ring bones would lay.

The bones were sometimes washed with wine, and (which commonly followed washing) anointed with oil. Agamemnon is introduced by Homer, informing Achilles how this ceremony has been performed to him f :

Αὐτὰρ ἐπεὶ δή σε φλὸς ἤνυσεν Ηφαίσοιο

Ηῶθεν δή τοι λέγομεν λευκ ̓ ἐςι, Αχιλλεύ,

Οἴνῳ ἐν ἀκρήτῳ ἢ ἀλείφατι

But when the flame your body had consum'd,
With oils and odours we your bones perfum'd,
And wash'd with unmixt wine.-

Patroclus's remains were inclosed in fat 8:

Iliad. '. v. 218. e Iliad. . v. 791.

f Odyss, ú. v. 71.

Iliad. 4. v. 252,

03

Κλαίοντες δ' ετάροιο ἐνηίος ὀσία λευκὰ

*Αλλεγον ἐς χρυσίην φιάλην καὶ δίπλακα δημός.

કે

Then weeping, in a golden urn, with lard

Twice lined, they placed their gentle comrade's bones.

It may here be demanded, how the relics of the body were dis tinguished from those of the beasts and men burnt with it? In answer to this inquiry (omitting those groundless stories of the stone amiadtos, and Indian hemp, which could not be consumed by fire), I shall produce two instances, whereby it appears the method they took to effect this, was by placing the body in the middle of the pile, whereas the men and beasts burnt with it lay on the sides. Thus Achilles tells the Grecians, it would be easy to discover the remains of Patroclus :

h

Πρῶτον μὲν κατὰ πυρκαϊὴν σβέσατ' αίθοπι εἴνῳ
Πᾶσαν, ὅποσσον ἔπεσχε πυρὸς μένος· αὐτὰρ ἔπειτα
Οσία Πατρόκλοιο Μενοιτιάδαο λέγωμεν,
Εὖ διαγιγνώσκοντες, ἀριφραδέα δὲ τέτυκται,
Εν μέσσῃ γὰρ ἔκειτο πυρῆ, τοὶ δ ̓ ἄλλοι ἄνευθεν
Εσχατι, καίοντ ̓ ἐπιμὶξ ἵπποι τε καὶ ἄνδρες.
Ye kings and princes of th' Achaian name,
First let us quench the yet remaining flame
With sable wine; then, (as the rites direct)
The hero's bones with careful view select;
Apart, and easy to be known they lie
Amidst the heap, and obvious to the eye
The rest around the margin may be seen
Promiscuous, steeds and immolated men.

POPE.

Achilles's bones are said to have been distinguished the same

way i:

Δὴ τότε πυρκαϊὴν εἴνῳ σβέσαν, ὀσία δ ̓ αὐτῷ
Φαίνετ' ἀριφραδίως, ἐπεὶ ἐχ ̓ ἑτέροισιν ὅμοια
Ην, ἀλλ ̓ οἷα γίγαντος ἀτειρέος· ἐδὲ μὲν ἄλλα
Συν κείνοις ἐμέμικτο, ἐπεὶ βόες, ἠδὲ καὶ ἵπποι,
Καὶ παῖδες Τρώων μίγδα κταμένοισι καὶ ἄλλοις
Βαιὸν ἄπωθε κίοντο περὶ νίκυν· ὃς δ ̓ ἐνὶ μέσσοις
Ριπῇ ὑφ' Ηφαίτοιο δεδμημένος οἷός ἔκειτο

When the remaining flames they'd quench'd with wine,
Which were the hero's bones was plainly seen;

Nor like the rest which fell his sacrifice,

But of a larger aud gigantic size;

Nor could his bones be with the vulgar mix'd,

Since his rich corse remote from them was fix'd;

The captive Trojans, beasts, and horses slain,

Upon the out-works of the pile had lain,

There burnt some distance from the nobler dead,
Who on the middle of the pile was laid.

Η. Η.

The bones thus discovered, they seem to have gathered the ashes which lay close to them; nor does it appear there was any other way to distinguish the remains of the men from common ashes.

h Loc. cit.

i Quintus Smyrnæus, lib. iii. v. 720,

The bones and ashes thus collected, were reposited in urns called κάλπαι φίλαι, κρόσσοι, λάρνακες, ὁςοθῆκαι, ὀςοδοχεῖα, σοροί, &c. The matter they consisted of was different, either wood, stone, earth, silver, or gold, according to the quality of the deceased. When persons of eminent virtue died, their urns were srequently adorned with flowers and garlands; but the general custom seems to have been to cover them with cloths till they were deposited in the earth, that the light might not approach them.

This is particularly remarked in Homer's funeral, as when he speaks of Hector's bones':

Καὶ τά γε χρυσείην ες λάρνακα θῆκαν ἑλόντες,

Πορφυρίοις πέπλοισι καλύψαντες μαλακοῖσιν.

--an urn of gold was brought,

Wrapp'd in soft purple palls, and richly wrought;

In this the sacred ashes were interr'd.

The same ceremony was performed towards Patroclus's urn in the preceding Iliad :

Ἐν κλισίησι δὲ θέντες ἐανῷ λιτὶ κάλυψαν.
Within the tent his costly urn was laid,
And over it a linen cloth was laid.

Concerning their interment, it may be observed, that their bodies lay in their coffins with the faces upwards, it being thought more proper, and perhaps more conducive to the welfare of the deceased, to have their faces towards heaven, the abode of the celestial gods, and fountain of light, than the dark mansions of the infernal deities whence Diogenes the cynic being asked in what posture he would be interred, answered sis girawo with my face downwards; the reason of which being demanded of him, he replied, that in a short time the world would be turned upside down*; which answer seems designed to ridicule the Grecian superstition in this point.

It may be observed farther, that the heads of the deceased persons were so placed in the grave, that they might look towards the rising sun. Plutarch informs us, indeed, that the Megarensians placed their dead towards the east; and tho Athenians, whose custom seems herein to be the same with the rest of the Greeks, towards the west "; and Elian, as far as concerns the Athenians, agrees with him but it must be considered, that to situate the face so as it should look towards the rising sun, it was necessary the head should lie towards the west; whence also the head or

j Iliad. . fine.

k Laërtius Diogene.

:

1 Thucydides Scholiastes.
m Solone.

n Var. Hist. lib. vii. cap. 19.

uppermost part of the sepulchre, being to face the rising sun, was likewise placed at the west end.

Before I conclude this chapter, it will not be improper to add, that the Megarensians commonly put two, three, or four carcases into the same sepulchre; but at Athens one sepulchre, much less which one coffin or urn, seldom contained above one carcase°; seems to have been commonly observed by the rest of the Greeks; only those that were joined by near relation or affection, were usually buried together, it being thought inhuman to part those in death, whom no accidents of life could separate. Many examples of this nature occur in ancient writers; hence Agathias's epigram concerning two brothers, twins:

Εἷς δύ ̓ ἀδελφὲς ὧδ' ἐπέχει τάφος, ἓν γὰρ ἐπίσχου
Ήμαρ κ γενιῆς οἱ δύο καὶ θανάτε.

Two brothers lie interr'd within this urn,
Both died together, as together born.

Lovers thought this no small accession to their happiness: Thisbe's
last request was, that she might be interred with Pyramus P:
Hoc tamen amborum verbis estote rogati,

O multùm miseri meus illiusque parentes;
Ut, quos certus amor, quos hora novissima junxit,
Componi tumulo non invideatis eodem.

At length, our thrice unhappy parents, hear,
And grant us this our last most earnest pray'r;
That we, whom love and death together join'd,
As both one fate, one, common tomb may find.

H. H.

Admetus in Euripides declares his resolution to lie in the same coffin with his wife Alcestis 9:

Ἐν ταῖσιν αὐταῖς γάρ μ' ἐπισκήψω κέδροις
Σοί τε θῆναι πλευράς.

Close by thy side I'll in thy urn be laid.

Patroclus appearing after death to Achilles, begs of him that he would reposit his bones in the same urn he designed for his own: And when Achilles was dead, we find the Grecians put the ashes of his friend Antilochus into the same urn with his; but those of Patroclus were not only reposited in the same vessel, but mingled together: thus the ghost of Agamemnon tells him at their meeting in the shades below:

Ἐν τῷ τοι κείται λευκ ̓ ὀσία, φαίδιμ Αχιλλεύ,

Μίγδα δὲ Πάτροκλοιο Μενοιτιάδαο θανόντος·
દે

Χωρίς δ' Αντιλόχοιο, τὸν ἔξοχα τῖες ἁπάντων
Τῶν ἄλλων ἑτάρων μετὰ Πατρόκλόν γε θανόντας
Within this urn your sad remains are laid,
Mixt with the bones of your Patroclus dead:

P Ovid. Metam. iv. v. 154.

• Plutarchus Solone.

r Iliad. '.

s Odyss, á. v. 76.

Alcestid, v. 365.

In the same urn Antilochus doth lie,

His bones not mix'd with yours, but plac'd hard by ;
For much you did that worthy chief esteem,
Only Patroclus was preferr'd to him.

H. H.

Halcyone's love carried her still farther; for her husband Ceyx having perished in a tempest at sea, she comforts herself in this, that though his body could not be found, yet their names should be inscribed upon the same monument, and, as it were, embrace each other :

-Crudelior ipso

Sit mihi mens pelago, si vitam ducere nitar
Longius, et tanto pugnem superesse dolori.

Sed neque pugnabo, nec te, miserande, relinquam ;
En tibi nunc saltem veniam comes, inque sepulchro,
Si non urna, tamen junget nos litera, si non
Ossibus ossa meis, at nomen nomine tangam.
But I more cruel than the sea shou'd be,
Cou'd I have thoughts to live depriv'd of thee;
Cou'd I but dare to struggle with my pain,
And fondly hope behind thee to remain ;
Ah! no, dear Ceyx, I'll not leave thee so,
I'll not contend with my too pressing woe,
Where'er you lead, Halcyone will go:
And now at length, my dearest lord, I come,
And though we are deny'd one common tomb,
Though in one urn our ashes be not laid,
On the same marble shall our names be read:
In am'rous folds the circ'ling words shall join,

And shew how much I lov'd, how you was only mine.

CHAP. VII.

Of their Sepulchres, Monuments, Cenotaphia. &c.

THE primitive Grecians were buried in places prepared for that

in their own houses ". The Thebaus had once a law, purpose that no person should build an house without providing a repository for his dead. It seems to have been very frequent, even in later ages, to bury within their cities; the most public and frequented places whereof seem to have been best stored with monuments but this was a favour not ordinarily granted, except to men of great worth, and public benefactors; to such as had raised themselves above the common level, and were examples of virtue to succeeding ages, or had deserved, by some eminent service, to

t Ovidii Met. lib. xi. v. 701.

"Plato Minoe.