into the field against
Philip which he raised by his eloquence. Cicero, on the other hand,
was sent quaestor into Sicily, and proconsul into Cilicia and
Cappadocia, at a time when avarice was at the height, and the
commanders and governors who were employed abroad, as though they
thought it a mean thing to steal, set themselves to seize by open
force; so that it seemed no heinous matter to take bribes, but he that
did it most moderately was in good esteem. And yet he, at this time,
gave the most abundant proofs alike of his contempt of riches and of
his humanity and good nature. And at Rome, when he was created consul
in name, but indeed received sovereign and dictatorial authority
against Catiline and his conspirators, he attested the truth of
Plato's prediction, that then the miseries of states would be at an
end, when by a happy fortune supreme power, wisdom and justice should
be united in one. * *

Finally, Cicero's death excites our pity; for an old man to be
miserably carried up and down by his servants, flying and hiding
himself from that death which was, in the course of nature, so near at
hand, and yet at last to be murdered. Demosthenes, though he seemed at
first a little to supplicate, yet, by his preparing and keeping the
poison by him, demands our admiration; and still more admirable was
his using it. When the temple of the god no longer afforded him a
sanctuary, he took refuge, as it were, at a mightier altar, freeing
himself from arms and soldiers, and laughing to scorn the cruelty of
Antipater.

[This seems to have been Plutarch's views of suicide, and, in fact,
the spirit of the age in which he lived. From the standpoint of the
philosophy of our day, suicide manifests nothing but a weakness and
very generally insanity.]

[Page Decoration]

[Illustration: Engraved & Printed by Illman Brothers.
SCHOOL OF THE VESTAL VIRGINS.
(WALL-PAINTING POMPEII)
FOR THE MUSEUM OF ANTIQUITY]

[Page Decoration]

TOMBS AND CATACOMBS.

TOMBS.

Respect for the dead, and a considerate regard for the due performance
of the rites of burial, have been distinctive features in man in all
ages and countries. Among the Greeks and Romans great importance was
attached to the burial of the dead, as, if a corpse remained unburied,
it was believed that the spirit of the departed wandered for a hundred
years on the hither side of the Styx. Hence it became a religious duty
to scatter earth over