It was
thus that the bodies of their fathers, _buried at the entrance of the
house_, consecrated the vestibule to their memory, and gave birth to a
host of local deities, who were supposed to hold that part of the
dwelling under their peculiar protection. Removed from the
dwelling-houses to the highways, the tombs of the departed were still
viewed as objects of the highest veneration."[14]
[14] Encyclopaedia of Antiquities, p. 64.
Our readers may remember that the ancient Romans never permitted the
dead to be buried within the city,[15] a practice well worthy the
imitation of its modern inhabitants. One of the Laws of the Twelve
Tables was
Hominem mortuum in urbe ne sepelito, neve urito,
(neither bury nor burn a dead body in the city.) But this law must be
understood with this limitation, that the Senate occasionally granted
exemption from it, to distinguished individuals, though so rarely,
that a tomb within the walls of Rome seems to have been considered a
reward of the most pre-eminent virtue.
[15] See an Interesting Inquiry on Burying in Vaults, by an
esteemed Correspondent, since deceased--in vol. xv. of
_The Mirror_.
The tombs of the Romans were characterized by their impressive
grandeur. The Roman satirists, Juvenal and Horace, censure the pomp
and splendour of the tombs, particularly those on the Via Appia.
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