very clear) to have prevailed, until towards the close of the seventh
century of the city, after the death of Sylla, who is said to have
been the first of the patrician Cornelii who was burnt. Thenceforward
corpses were almost universally consumed by fire until the
establishment of Christianity, when the old fashion was brought up
again, burning being violently opposed by the fathers of the church,
probably on account of its intimate connection with Pagan associations
and superstitions. Seven days, we are told, elapsed between death and
the funeral; on the eighth the corpse was committed to the flames; on
the ninth the ashes were deposited in the sepulchre. This probably
refers only to the funerals of the great, where much splendor and
extent of preparation was required, and especially those public
funerals (_funera indictiva_) to which the whole people were bidden by
voice of crier, the ceremony being often closed by theatrical and
gladiatorial exhibitions, and a sumptuous banquet. But we have no
intention to narrate the pomp which accompanied the princely nobles of
Rome to the tomb: it is enough for our purpose to explain the usages
of private life, to which the Street of Tombs owes its origin and its
interest.

In the older times funerals were celebrated at night because the rites
of religion were celebrated by day; and it was pollution for the
ministers, or for anything connected with worship of the deities of
the upper world, even to see, much more to touch, anything connected
with death. From this nightly solemnization many of the words
connected with this subject are derived. Those who bore the bier were
called originally _Vesperones_, thence _Vespillones_, from _Vespera_,
evening; and the very term _funus_ is derived by grammarians, _a
funalibus_, from the rope torches coated with wax or tallow which
continued to be used long after the necessity for using them ceased.
This practice, now far more than two thousand years old, is still
retained in the Roman Church, with many other ceremonies borrowed from
heathen rites. St. Chrysostom assures us that it is not of modern
revival, and gives a beautiful reason for its being retained. "Tell
me," he says, "what mean those brilliant lamps? Do we not go forth
with the dead on their way rejoicing, as with men who have fought
their fight?"

The corpse being placed upon a litter or bier, the former being used
by the wealthy, the latter by the poor, was carried out precede