frequenter Lacrymæ, & Mentem allevant Fletus, refrigerant Pectus, &
Mæstum consolantur: Est quoq; piis Affectibus quædam Flendi Voluptas, &
plerumq; graves Lacrymas evaporat Dolor_. _Tears and Weepings oftentimes
refresh the Mind, and comfort the afflicted Soul: There is a kind of
Pleasure in Godly Passions, for frequently by many Tears Grief
vanishes._ Likewise St. _Chrisostom_ makes this Comparison,
_Quemadmodum_, says he, _per vehementes Imbres, mundus Aer ac purus
efficitur; haud secus post Lacrymarum Pluvias, Serenitas Mentis sequitur
& Tranquilitas_. _In like manner as the Air is purify’d and cleans’d by
vehement Showers, so from a greater Effusion of Tears, a Serenity and
Tranquility of Mind follows._ As for the other Uses of Weeping, see
_Santorellus_ in his _Post-Praxis Medica_, p. 30. who writes
Philosophically of its Nature and Cause.
[Sidenote: _Following_ the _Corps_.]
Besides these Mourners and Relations there follow’d a great number of
Friends and Acquaintance to the Place of Burial; for it was not only
look’d on as a Duty, but a religious Friendship to attend a Corps to its
Grave. Thus we read, _Joseph went up to Bury his Father, and with him
all the Servants of Pharaoh, the Elders of his House, and all the Elders
of Egypt_, Gen. 50. 7. and this even from the Land of _Egypt_ to
_Canaan_. So King _David_ and all his Servants follow’d the Bier of
_Abner_, 2 Sam. 3. 31. and we read in _Luke_ 7. 12. that much People of
the City of _Naim_ follow’d the Widow’s Son.
The Corps being brought forth to the Place of Burial, after the manner
already describ’d, within or without the City, [Sidenote: The _Act_ of
_Burial_.] the next Thing was the _Act_ of _Burial_. This has been
perform’d various ways, but the two most common, were either _Burying_
or _Burning_, whether of which be the most eligible we shall next
enquire into. Burial is the more antient, as having been us’d in the
Primitive Ages by the _Hebrews_, _Greeks_, _Romans_, and most other
Nations, yet the two latter _burn’d_ their Dead, as is pretended on the
following Considerations. _First_, That Worms and such like vile Insects
might be thereby prevented from corroding the noble Bodies of the Dead,
and the Living be freed from the Infection and Stench of Carcasses
rotting in the Earth. _Secondly_, Because Fire purefy’d the Dead, and
was the quickest way of Incineration, or reducing Bodies to their first
Elements, whereby the Soul being set at Liberty, might take its Flight
to the Heavenly Mansions. _Thirdly_, Being so immediately reduc’d to
Ashes, it could not be easily inform’d and mov’d about by the Devil, to
the great Terror and Amazement of all People. And, _Lastly_, they
likewise thought it secur’d them from the Exultation of the Enemy, in
exposing and abusing their Corps, which last I take to be the true
Occasion of Burning their Dead: For as _Pliny_ says, _Lib._ 7. _cap._
54. _Sylla_ having dug up the Body of _Caius Marius_, his mortal Enemy,
and fearing the like Fate, engag’d the People by an express Law, that
they should for the future burn both him and others after they were
dead, and this tho’ none of the _Cornelii_ his Predecessors had ever
been burn’d. From hence it was the _Romans_ brought in the Custom of
_Burning_ their Dead, which was perform’d after the following manner:
[Sidenote: _Burning_ the _Dead_.]
Having erected a _Pile_ in form of an Altar, made either of ordinary
Wood, such as Oak, Ash, Olive, Pine, Fir, and the like resiniferous
Trees, which caus’d it easily to catch Fire, or else of odoriferous,
such as Cedar, Cypress, Mirtle, _&c._ They plac’d the Corps with the
Couch thereon, and then set round about the Arms, Sword, Belt or Spoils
taken in War of the Deceas’d, his best Houshold-Goods and richest
Apparel, his finest Horses, Dogs or the like, and in the more barbarous
Ages his Slaves, all which, having first slain the Beasts, _&c._ they
burn’d together with him. In some Places the Wives flung themselves
alive into the Pile, and were burn’d with their Husbands, and commonly
all such Things as the Deceas’d most valu’d while they liv’d, besides
abundance of rich Presents brought by Relations and Friends, all sorts
of Perfumes and sweet Odours, such as Cinamon, Cassia, Frankinsence,
_&c._ and odoriferous Oils and Ointments were burn’d with them, as we
read the _Israelites_ us’d to do at the Burials of their Kings, as they
did at that of _Asa_, 2 _Chron._ 16. 14. and other Places. When the Pile
was burn’d down, the nearest Relations gather’d up the Ashes and Bones,
[Sidenote: _Ossilegium._] and having wash’d them with Wine, Milk or
Water, put them into Urns made of different kinds of Matter, such as
Gold, Silver, Brass, Marble, Glass, Earthen-Ware, Cedar, and the like;
then they pour’d out Tears upon them, which being catch’d in small
Vessels call’d _Lacrymatoriæ_, were reposited with the Urn in a Tomb.
[Sidenote: Funeral _Oration_.]
An Oration or Funeral-Sermon was likewise solemnly pronounc’d in Praise
of the Deceas’d, by a Person appointed for that purpose by the public
Magistrate. When the Funeral was over, other Ceremonies were perform’d
in Honour of the Dead as Festivals, which may be reduc’d to these three
Heads, _Sacrifices_, _Feasts_ and _Games_.
[Sidenote: _Sacrifices._]
The _Sacrifices_ consisted of Liquors, Victims and Garlands; the Liquors
were Wine, Milk, Water, Blood, Honey and liquid Balsam.
[Sidenote: _Feasts._]
The _Feasts_ were either Publick or Private: The Private were kept about
the Tomb of the Deceas’d by the nearest Relations and Friends only,
being prepar’d both for the Dead and Living. The Repast design’d for the
Dead consisting commonly of Beans, Lettices, Bread and Eggs, or the
like, was laid on the Tomb for the Deceas’d to come out and Eat, as they
fancy’d he would. The Public Feasts were when the Heirs or Friends of
some Rich or Great Dead Person oblig’d the People with a general Treat
to his Honour and Memory.
[Sidenote: _Games._]
The Funeral _Games_ consisted of a great number of Gladiators, fighting
with Beasts, _&c._ the Ancients thinking the Dead delighted in such
bloody Sacrifices; but this Barbarous Custom of burning the Dead
continu’d no longer than the Time of the _Antonines_, who being virtuous
Princes abhorr’d such Cruelties, and therefore brought Burial again into
Practice. Thus it plainly appears, Burial was not only more antient but
more eligible than Burning, since one was admitted upon Choice and the
other by Compulsion; for so soon as such cruel minded Persons were
remov’d, Burial was again introduc’d: Besides, as it appears by Holy
Writ and the Canon-Law, Burning was a most ignominious way of dealing
with the Dead, to which none were expos’d but such as had lain with
Beasts or their own Sex; and we at this Day only burn Female-Traitors,
or such as have kill’d their Husbands, _&c._ thereby to show the
Heinousness of their Crime; on the contrary, Sepulture was always
esteem’d Honourable among GOD’s People. Thus the Patriarchs _Abraham_,
_Isaac_, _Jacob_ and _Joseph_, as also _Moses_ were bury’d, and the last
particularly by GOD himself, _Deut._ 34. 7. Likewise the Holy Fathers,
St. _Austin_, St. _Ambrose_, St. _Gregory_, and most of the _Primitive
Christians_ were for having their Bodies bury’d and not burn’d:
[Sidenote: _Situation_ of the _Dead_ in their _Sepulchres_.] But as for
the manner of Burying or placing them in their Sepulchres, that was
various, according to the different Opinions or Customs of several
Nations, a few of which we shall here relate. The _Egyptians_ set dead
Bodies on their Feet, as _Solinus_ observes:
————_Ægyptia Tellus
Claudit odorato post Funus stantia Busto
Corpora._————
The _Egyptians_, when the Funeral-Pomp was made,
Shut up in odorous Tombs the standing Dead.
The _Phænicians_ bury’d the Dead on their Backs, yet turn’d them to the
West, in Imitation of the Setting-Sun, as the _Athenians_ did to the
East in regard of its Rising. The _Nasamones_, a People of _Africa_, did
not only for the greatest part die sitting, but also bury’d their Dead
in that Posture, and the Inhabitants of _Megara_ plac’d their Dead with
their Faces downwards: So _Diogenes_ desir’d to be bury’d, his Reason
being, that as he believ’d the World would at last be turn’d
topsie-turvy, he then should lye upright: Yet the general way was to lye
with the Face upwards towards the Fountain of Life, and Abodes of the
Celestial Gods, and to be so situated in the Grave, as to see the
Rising-Sun. As for the _Christians_, they bury’d their Dead supine, as
looking towards Heaven, where their sole Hopes were plac’d, and towards
the East as waiting for the Resurrection.
Next let us consider the Places where the Ancients us’d to bury their
Dead, and how they dug their Graves, and erected their Sepulchres and
Monuments. In order to this you must know, _First_, That Sepulchres were
not always of a kind, nor might all People be bury’d in the same Place
of Sepulture, but proper ones were invented for different Degrees and
Ranks, so that some were Public and some Private; some common or
belonging to all, and others peculiar to one Family, and these again
either built by the Persons whilst alive, or order’d by their Wills how
they would have them erected after their Deaths. [Sidenote: _Monuments_
Built during Life.] Thus _Absalom_ in his Life-Time erected a Pillar to
preserve his Memory in case his Issue-Male fail’d, 2 _Sam._ 18. 18.
which Pillar, hewn out of a Rock or Quarry, he intended for his
Sepulchre, and which, according to _Sandys_, is to be seen at this Day.
_Augustus Cæsar_, in the 6th Year of his Consulship, built a
Funeral-Monument for himself and Successors; but that Mausoleum, as
_Xiphilinus_ writes, being full in the Time of _Adrian_, that Emperor
rais’d himself a Tomb or Sepulchre near the _Pons Ælius_. Nay it was
usual for such as were careful of their Burials, to provide their own
Tombs in their Lives Time, and this for their better Satisfactions, with
these or the like Inscriptions:
VIVUS FECIT. VIVUS SIBI POSUIT.
VIVUS FACIENDUM CURAVIT.
For the same Reason King _Henry_ the Seventh built a fair and glorious
Chapel at _Westminster_ as an House of Burial for himself, his Children,
and such only of the Blood-Royal as should descend from his Loins,
forbidding all others of what Degree or Quality soever to be interr’d in
that sacred Mould, as appears by his last Will and Testament, _Weever_
p. 20. Now, as for such as did not build their Monuments themselves, but
only order’d them by their last Wills, it was held such Wills could not
be violated with a safe Conscience, nor might any one change, alienate
or detract from them; for since Monuments were invented as well to
preserve Mens Memories as their Bodies, it would be very hard and
inhuman to deprive them of them, yet has there been such base Heirs, as
appears by the Inscriptions of some Tombs, which give the Reader a
Caution therein, whereof I have inserted two.
_Fallax sæpe Fides, testataq; Vota peribunt;
Constitues Tumulum, si sapis, ipse tuum._
Since Heirs are Faithless and your Wills neglect,
If ye are wise your own Tombs you’ll erect.
On others thus:
_Certa Dies nulli, Mors certa, incerta sequentum:
Constitues Tumulum, si sapis, ipse tuum._
If Life’s uncertain, certain Death, and dubious what’s to come,
You would do well to secure all, by building your own Tomb.
That some Persons were better pleas’d to build their Tombs themselves,
we read in 2 _Chron._ 16. 14. how _King Asa was bury’d in his own
Sepulchre, which he had made for himself in the City of David_: And how
_Shebnah_ had taken care to have a Sepulchre hew’d for himself in
_Jerusalem_. The same is also said of _Joseph_ of _Arimathæa_, Matth.
27. 60. [Sidenote: _Places_ of _Sepulture_.] The Places of Sepulture
were of two kinds, Public and Private. The Public were likewise of two
sorts, _viz._ Such as were allotted the Poor, and others that were us’d
only by the Rich: [Sidenote: The _Puticulæ_.] The poor Servants, and
such like mean Persons, were bury’d in Ditches or Graves call’d
_Puticulæ_ or _Puticuli_, and so nam’d, _A Puteis fossis, vel quod
Corpora ibi putrescerent_. These were Holes in the Earth made like to
Wells, between Mount _Esquiline_, the Walls of the City, and the Street
which leads to the Gate _Querquetulana_; but these Wells infecting all
the neighbouring parts of the City, _Augustus_ for removing thereof,
gave that Place to _Mæcenas_, who built a stately House, and made very
fine Gardens there, as his Favourite _Horace_ informs us. There were
other public Places, in which those that had deserv’d well of the
Common-Wealth had their Monuments, which were chiefly allow’d them as a
Reward of their Virtues. As for the _Roman_ Kings they were bury’d in
the _Campus Martius_, [Sidenote: _Campus Martius._] where the
_Mausolæum_ of _Augustus_ stood, together with a vast number of antient
Sepulchres and Monuments all along the River side.
[Sidenote: Private.]
Private Burying-Places were such as any one had in his own House, Garden
or Fields: Thus we read _Samuel_ was bury’d in his House at _Ramah_,
Sam. 25. 1. and _Joab_ in his House in the Wilderness, 1 _Kings_ 2. 34.
The antient _Grecians_ were also bury’d in Places prepar’d for that
purpose in their own Houses; and the _Thebans_ had once a Law, that no
Person should build a House without providing in it a Repository for the
Dead; but this Custom was afterwards forbidden, as appears by that
Passage in _Isiodorus_, Lib. 14. _Orig._ cap. 11. _Prius autem quisq; in
Domo sua sepeliebatur, postea vetitum est Legibus, ne fætore ipso
Corpora Viventium contactu inficerentur_. _At first every one was bury’d
in his own House, but afterwards it was forbidden by the Laws, lest the
Living might thereby be infected._ _Tolosanus in Syntagm. Juris
universal_, Lib. 33. cap. 23. gives another Reason, _Ne Licentia illa
Sepeliendi familiares daret delinquendi & occisos occultandi
Occasionem_. _Lest such a Liberty of Burying the Family, should give
occasion of committing Murder and afterwards hiding it._
[Sidenote: In _Gardens_.]
Sometimes the Ancients bury’d in their Gardens, as we read _Manasseth
was interr’d in the Garden of his own House, in the Garden of Uzza_, 2
Kings 21. 18. and _Tacitus_ tells us _Galba_’s Body was bury’d by
_Argius_ his Steward, with little or no Ceremony, in his private Garden.
We read also of a Sepulchre in the Garden made by _Joseph_ of
_Arimathæa_ to lay our Saviour’s Body in, _John_ 19. 41.
[Sidenote: In Fields.]
They likewise bury’d in Fields, and so the _Patriarchs_ were said to be
bury’d in a Cave in the Field of _Machpelah_, Gen. 23. 20. also ’tis
related that _Uzziah_ King of _Judah_ _slept with his Fathers, and was
bury’d with them in the Field of Burial which pertain’d to the Kings_, 2
Chron. 26. 23. Tho’ they term’d these two last Private, because they
bury’d in Fields and Gardens belonging only to their own Families, yet,
if it was possible, they always interr’d their Dead in that part of the
Garden or Field which lay nearest the common Road or Highway, thereby to
put Passengers in mind of their Mortality.
[Sidenote: In Highways.]
For this Reason they more frequently bury’d in the Highways and public
Roads, that by seeing the Monuments of the Dead the Memory of them might
not only be excited, but also the Living be encourag’d to imitate the
Virtues of such Great Men as were represented on those stately Tombs,
and likewise to admonish them, that what they were they should also be.
This plainly appears by the Epitaphs and Inscriptions which always spoke
to the Traveller after this manner:
SISTE VIATOR. ASPICE VIATOR. CAVE VIATOR, and the like.
[Sidenote: In Mountains and Hills.]
The Ancients likewise bury’d in Mountains and Hills. _Joshua_, Captain
of the _Hebrews_, and _Eleazar_, Son of _Aaron_, were both bury’d in
Mount _Ephraim_, _Joshua_ 24. 30, 33. _Judges_ 2. 9. and we read in 2
_Kings_ 23. 16. that _as Josiah turn’d himself, he spy’d the Sepulchres
that were in the Mountain_. Likewise the _Grecians_ and _Romans_ bury’d
their Kings and Great Men either on the tops of Mountains, or at their
feet, as _Isiodorus_, Lib. 15. _Etimolog._ cap. 11. observes. Thus
_Aventinus Sylvius_, King of the _Albans_, was interr’d in the Hill that
receiv’d its Name from him, as _Titus Livius_ and _Aurelius de Orig.
Gent. Roman._ testifie. _Virgil_ reports the same thing of King
_Dercennus_, Æn. 11. v. 850.
————_Fuit ingens Monte sub alto,
Regis Dercenni terreno ex aggere Bustum._
A Tomb beneath a mighty Mount they rear’d
For King _Dercennus_.————
Hence likewise appears the Custom of raising a Mount over the Graves of
great Persons, which _Lucan_ Lib. 8. speaking of the _Egyptians_, has
thus express’d:
_Et Regum Cineres extructo Monte quiescunt._
Beneath a Mount their Monarchs Ashes rest.
So also _Weever_ in his Funeral-Monuments, _p._ 6. observes, they were
antiently wont to bury here in _England_ either on ridges of Hills, or
on spacious Plains fortify’d or fenc’d about with Obelisks, pointed
Stones, Pyramids, Pillars, or such like Monuments. For Example,
_England_’s Wonder on _Salisbury-Plain_ call’d _Stonehenge_, the
Sepulchre of so many _Britains_, who, by the Treachery of the _Saxons_,
were slain there at a Parley: That of _Wada_ the _Saxon_ Duke near
_Whitby_ in _Yorkshire_, and those of _Cartigerne_ the _Britain_, and
_Horsa_ the _Saxon_ near _Ailesford_ in _Kent_. It was a thing usual
among our _Saxon_ Ancestors (says _Verstegan_) as by _Tacitus_ it also
seems to have been among the other _Germans_, that the dead Bodies of
such as were slain in the Field, and bury’d there, were not laid in
Graves, but lying on the Ground were cover’d over with Turfs or Clods of
Earth, [Sidenote: In Plains cover’d with Turfs, _&c._] and the more
Reputation they had had, the greater and higher were the Turfs rais’d
over them. This some us’d to term _Byriging_, others _Beorging_, and
some _Buriging_, which we now call _Berying_ or _Burying_, which is
properly a shrouding or hiding the dead Body in the Earth. Of these
kinds of Funeral-Monuments you have many on _Salisbury-Plain_, out of
which the Bones of Bodies thus inhum’d have oftentimes been dug. These
Places the Inhabitants thereabouts call _Beries_, _Baroes_ or
_Burroughs_, which agrees with the words _Byrighs_, _Beorghs_ or
_Burghs_ spoken in the same Sence. From hence the Names of divers Towns
and Cities were originally deriv’d; Places first so call’d having been
with Walls of Turf or Clods of Earth, fenc’d about for Men to shroud
themselves in, as in Forts or Castles: Thus far _Weever_. We shall next
take notice that the _Romans_ antiently made their Graves of Turf, which
they call’d _Injectio Glebæ_, and for the same Reason the Latin word
_Tumulus_, which in its proper Sense imports no more than a Hillock,
came afterwards to signifie a Grave or Tomb. These were compos’d of two
parts, one the Grave or Tomb, and the other the Ground surrounding them,
fenc’d about with Pales, Walls, or the like. Here we may observe that
most of the Ancients Burials were without their Town and Cities, either
for fear the Air might be corrupted thro the stench of Putrefy’d Bodies,
or the Buildings endanger’d by the frequency of Funeral-Fires; wherefore
they made choice of more convenient Places for their Interments in the
Suburbs or Country, such as Mountains, Hills, Woods, Fields or Highways,
which were barren Places; for as _Plato_, Lib. 12. _De Leg._ says, No
Sepulchre was to be made in a fertile Soil or fruitful Field, but that
Place was only to be us’d which was steril and good for nothing else.
Now tho’ it was forbidden both by the _Greek_ and _Roman_ Laws,
[Sidenote: _Burial_ in the _City_.] to bury within the Walls of Cities,
yet was there nevertheless a Reserve made for some particular Persons,
such as Emperors, Vestal-Virgins, and those that had merited Favour by
some extraordinary Action or Virtue. It seem’d likewise an Honour due to
Lawyers, that they who had kept the Citizens in a healthful Concord
whilst alive, might when dead remain in the midst of them. Likewise we
often read of Monuments erected in the _Forum_ or middle of the City,
but that we must look on as a Favour chiefly bestow’d on Men of Worth,
and public Benefactors; nay, sometimes Persons of a more than ordinary
Desert and Excellency were permitted to be bury’d in the Temples of the
Gods; and some are of Opinion, such Honours paid the Dead were the first
Causes of erecting Temples; see _Arnobius_, Lib. 6. _advers. Gentes_,
and _Isiodorus_, Lib. 15. _Origin._ cap. 11. Nor are later Times wholly
destitute of such Examples. We read moreover in the Holy Scripture, that
Persons of eminent Ranks and Quality were bury’d in the City. So _David_
was bury’d in the City call’d after his own Name, where also _Solomon_,
_Abijam_, _Asa_, _Jehosaphat_, _Joram_, _Ahaziab_, _Jehoash_, _Amaziah_,
_Azariah_, _Jothan_, _Ahaz_, _Rehoboam_, _Jehoiada_ and _Joash_ were
bury’d, 1 _Kings_ 2. 10. 11. 43. 15. 8, 24. 22. 50. 2 _Kings_ 8. 24. 9.
28. 12. 21. 14. 20. 15. 7, 38. 16. 20. 2 _Chron._ 12. 16. 16. 14. 24.
16, 25. 27. 9. _Ahab_, _Jehu_, _Jehoahaz_, and the Kings of _Israel_
were interr’d in the City of _Samaria_, and _Amaziah_ in the City of
_Judah_, 1 _Kings_ 22. 27. 2 _Kings_ 10. 35. 13. 9. 14. 16. 2 _Chron._
25. 28. with abundance of other Instances, too many to be related here:
Besides it has long been the Custom of most modern Nations to bury in
their Cities and Churches their Kings, Princes, Nobles, Gentry, Poets,
and Men of the greatest Parts and Merit. The Emperors and Arch-Dukes of
_Austria_ are bury’d at _Vienna_, the Kings of _England_ in
_Westminster-Abbey_, the Kings of _France_ in the Monastery of St.
_Dennis_, the Kings of _Sueden_ at _Stockholm_, the Kings of _Poland_ at
_Cracow_, the Electors of _Saxony_ at _Fridberg_, the Counts Palatine of
the _Rhine_ at _Heydelberg_, and the like, whereof see more Examples in
_Quenstedt_, p. 205. and _Weever_, p. 8. but more especially in
_Panvinus de Rit. Sepeliendi_, who gives a whole Catalogue of such
Kings, Princes and Priests as have been bury’d in Churches. But to
proceed to speak of the Nature and Distinction of such Places of
Sepulture as the Ancients us’d, whether within or without the City, they
were distinguish’d into _Proper_ and _Common_, _Family_ and _Hereditary
Burial-Places_ or _Sepulchres_.
[Sidenote: _Proper Sepulchres._]
_Proper Sepulchres_ were such particular Places as any one reserv’d for
himself, where none had ever been laid before, and from whence he could
by his Will exclude any of his Heirs. To this purpose they inscrib’d on
their Tombs these Letters: H. M. H. N. S. that is, _Hoc Monumentum
Heredes non sequitur_. Or these, H. M. _ad_ H. N. TRANS. _Hoc Monumentum
ad Heredes non transit._ Which Inscriptions are still to be met with in
abundance of Places, and shew the Heir has no Right or Claim to Burial
there.
[Sidenote: _Common Sepulchres._]
_Common Sepulchres_ were such as the _Puticulæ_ for the poorer Sort, the
_Campus Martius_ for Men of Quality, Honour or Merit, the _Ceramnicus_
for such as were slain in War, and other the like Places to bury
Strangers in, call’d _Poluandria_. So we read the chief Priests of the
_Jews_ bought the Potters Field for this Purpose, with Thirty pieces of
Silver, which _Judas_ had taken to betray Christ, _Matth._ 27. 7.
[Sidenote: _Family-Sepulchres._]
_Family-Sepulchres_ were such as were only common to Heirs and
Posterity, who had a right to be bury’d therein: Some again were only
for the Husband and Wife, having this Inscription, _Sibi & Conjugi_;
others for the Children likewise, inscrib’d _Sibi, Conjugi & Liberis_.
[Sidenote: _Hereditary-Sepulchres._]