ristic, and their
effect on emotional admirers of the opposite sex as great, as they are
at the present day. The difference between the two ages consists in
the nature of the music itself, and in the instruments through which
it is respectively delivered; and in these respects the advantage is
entirely with the modern world.

CHAPTER XXIII

THE LAST SCENE OF ALL--BURIAL AND TOMBS

Whatever conceptions may have been entertained as to existence beyond
the grave, there was no doubt in the Roman mind as to the claim of the
dead to a proper burial and a worthy monument. It had once on a time
been a matter of universal belief that the spirit which had departed
from an unburied corpse could find no admittance to the company in the
realms of Hades. It could not join "the majority" below. Originally no
doubt the notion was simply that, as the body had not been consigned
to the earth, the spirit also remained homeless above ground.
Gradually this fancy shifted to the notion that, through neglect of
burial, the dead man was dishonoured--he had no friends--and that his
spirit was thereby disgraced and unworthy of reception by the powers
beneath. It must therefore remain shivering on the near side of the
river across which the grim Charon ferried the more fortunate souls.
Even when the body had been decently buried, the spirit, though
received into the gloomy realm, called for continued respect on the
part of its friends on earth. Unless it received its periodical
honours and was commemorated by a fitting sepulchre, it would meet
with slights from other ghosts and would feel its position keenly.
Naturally it would then do its best, by some form of haunting, to
punish the living for their disregard and forgetfulness. From such
considerations there arose in very ancient days in Italy, as in
Greece, a great anxiety to perform scrupulously "the dues" of the
defunct. Even if the body could not be found, it was obligatory to
perform the obsequies and to build a cenotaph. If a stranger came
across a dead body he must not pass it by without throwing at least
three handfuls of dust or earth upon it and bidding it "Farewell."

Though the burial customs still employed sprang from old fancies like
these, we are not to suppose that such notions were in full life in
the Roman world of our period. Poets might play with them, and some
ignorant folk might still vaguely entertain them. The mere belief in
ghosts was doubtless general, and