Mortem calce premit, colligat atque fodit.
Dumque salutiferam vult mors extinguere vitam,
Infelix hamo deperit illa suo.”
Fac-simile of a Miniature from the “Choir Book” of the Cathedral at Worms.—Manuscript of the Eighth or Ninth Century, in the Library of the Arsenal, Paris.
The direction in which the body was to be buried was, moreover, particularly specified. Thus it was enjoined that it should be laid upon the back “with the head to the west, the feet towards the east,” says the ancient writer John Beleth. Another liturgical writer scarcely less famous, William Durand, Bishop of Mende, adds, in his “Rationale Divinorum Officiorum,” that the body, when placed in this position, seems to be engaged in prayer, and ready to rise when the first rays of the sun shine forth. It must not be supposed, however, that this particular direction of the body (capite versus occidentem et pedibus versus orientem) was rigorously adhered to by the Christians alone, for it is found to have been observed during the second and third centuries, which were assuredly not Christian. The custom of burying the dead, introduced by Christianity, was adopted in Italy long before the Roman provinces were converted to the new faith. Subsequent to the reign of the Antonines, who by edict authorised the burial of the dead, there are numerous instances of pagan burials being conducted in conformity with, this edict, especially in Gaul.
Fig. 345.—The Harvest of Souls: God the Father receiving the souls in his lap.—Miniature in the “Dialogues of St. Gregory,” a Manuscript of the Twelfth Century, in the Burgundian Library, Brussels.
Fig. 346.—Celtic Burial.—The body, bent double, with the head between the knees, and with two vases at the feet, is placed in a grotto or natural cave.
