[Illustration: FIG. 122.—STREET OF TOMBS. (POMPEII.)]

The procession then forms again, and the party proceeds to whatever place outside the walls may contain the family tomb of the Silii. No burial is allowed within the city proper, and for our purposes we will assume that the place is distant nearly a mile along the Appian Way. We will assume also that Silius is to be cremated, and not simply buried in a coffin or a marble sarcophagus. Few persons of the higher classes, except certain of the Cornelii, are buried at this date, although there is nothing in law or custom to prevent the choice. There exists no "crematorium," and the Silii are regularly burned at their own sepulchral allotment beside the "Queen of Roads."

If you were with the procession on this day you would find yourself before one of an almost continuous chain of monuments, built in all manner of shapes and sizes—such as great altars, small shrines, pyramids (like that of Cestius on another road), or round towers like the beautiful tomb of Caecilia Metella. The exterior of these structures is often adorned with commemorative or symbolic carvings, and the inside, which may be wholly above the surface or partly sunk beneath—is a chamber surrounded by niches, in which are placed the urns containing the ashes of the dead. Perhaps an illustration of the present state of the "Street of Tombs" at Pompeii will afford some notion, although the sepulchres of that provincial place by no means matched those upon the various roads outside the Roman gates. Often the monumental chamber stands somewhat back from the road, leaving space for a large semicircular seat of stone open to public use, its back wall being inscribed with some statement of honour to the family. Round the sepulchre—"where all the kindred of the Silii lie" is a space of ground, planted with shrubs and trees, and surrounded by a low wall. Somewhere near, on an open level, the funeral pile has been built of pine-logs, with the interstices stuffed with pitch, brushwood, or other inflammable material. It is natural that the pyre should take the shape of an altar and that cypress branches should lean against the sides.

Upon the summit of this pile is laid Silius on his bier; incense and unguents are shed over him; wreaths and other offerings, often of no little value, are cast upon the heap. While loud cries of lamentation are being raised by the company present, a near kinsman approaches the pile with a torch, and, turning his face away, sets fire to the whole structure. It speedily burns down, the last embers are quenched with wine, the general company thrice cries "farewell," and, except for the nearest relatives, the procession returns to the city. The relatives who stay take off their shoes, wash their hands, and proceed to gather up the bones—which they cleanse in wine and milk—and the ashes, which they mix with perfume. These remains are then placed in the urn of bronze, marble, alabaster, or maybe of coloured glass, and the urn fills one more niche in the chamber of the monument.

[Illustration: FIG. 123.—COLUMBARIUM.]

Now and then there were more magnificent obsequies than those of Silius. A "public" funeral might be decreed to a man who had deserved conspicuously well of the state. On such an occasion the crier would go round, calling "Oyez, come all who choose to the funeral of So-and-So." The invitation meant, not merely participation in a solemn procession, but also in the funeral feast, and probably an exhibition of gladiators. On the other hand the majority of burials were naturally of a far more simple and inexpensive kind. The poor could not afford to use unguents and keep their dead till the third day; they could not afford real cypress trees, but must use cheaper substitutes, if anything at all. They could not afford all the processionists and paraphernalia of the undertaker, but must be satisfied with four commonplace bearers, who hurried away the corpse in the evening, not on a couch but in a cheap box, and carried it out to the common necropolis beyond the Esquiline Gate. Seldom could they afford the fuel to burn the body, and in many cases it must simply be thrown into a pit roughly dug and there left without monument. To secure more respect and decency there were many burial clubs, whether connected with the trade-guilds or not, and these procured a joint tomb of the kind known as a "dovecote," or columbarium, from the resemblance of its niches to so many pigeon-holes. These cooperative sepulchres were underground vaults, and it is perhaps hardly necessary to point out their direct relation to the Christian catacombs. Similar tombs were sometimes used by the great Roman families for the remains of the freedmen and slaves of their house.

[Illustration: FIG. 124.—TEMPLE OF JUPITER ON THE CAPITOL (Platform omitted).]

INDEX

Actors, contempt for, 268 Advertisements, 257 Aemilia, Basilica, 108 Africa, 45 Age, coming of, 332 Agriculture, implements of, 252 Alexander the Great, 34 Alexandria, 14, 25, 34, 44 Amphitheatres, 280 performances, 282 Amulets, 318 Andalusia, 36 Antioch, 14, 43 Appian Way, 22, 118 Aqueducts, 136 Architecture, 112, 422-424 Argiletum, the, 108 Aristocrat, clients of, 206 daily life of, 193 dress of, 196 as pleader in law-courts, 216 social duties of, 217 Army, the, 12, 52, 338-358 artillery, 356 auxiliaries, 352 camping arrangements, 349 cavalry, 339, 353, 356 composition, 339 dress and equipment, 342 Imperial Guards, 353 infantry, 339, 352 legionaries, 339 pay and rations, 344 promotion, 347 terms of service, 340 training, 340, 345 typical soldier's life, 342-350 Art, 416-433 apparent lack of artistic feeling, 429 contempt for professional artists, 428 influence of Greece, 421 profession and quality of, 416-420 statues, 418, 424 wall-paintings, 425-428 Artemis, temple of, 42 Artillery, 356 Asia Minor, towns of, 42 Astronomy, 359 Athens, 40 Athletics, 263 Auctioneers, receipt tablets of, 250 Augustus, title of emperor, 55 Augustus, Forum of, 188 mausoleum of, 120 Authors, amateur, 219, 235

Baetica (see Andalusia)
Bakers, 248
Bandits, 24
Banking, 216, 239
Basilica Aemilia, 108
of Julius, 106
Baths, 122, 124
Beard, method of wearing, 195
Beds, 182
Beggars, 243
Betrothal ceremony, 296
Boadicea, 39
Books, size and shape of, 335-337
Booksellers, 109, 247
Boots (see Shoes)
Boxing-gloves, 265
Breakfast, 200
Britain, 39
Burial, 434-447
funeral rites, 439-445
offerings to the dead, 438
tombs, 444, 446