during the period of mourning, until the interdict
was raised--a longer or shorter time, according to his rank; and
during that time no sound of a blow or other noise might be heard
in any house under penalty of some misfortune. In order to secure
this quiet, the villages on the coast placed a sign on the banks of
the river, giving notice that no one might travel on that stream,
or enter or leave it, under penalty of death--which they forcibly
inflicted, with the utmost cruelty, upon whomsoever should break
this silence. Those who died in war were extolled in their dirges,
and in the obsequies which were celebrated the sacrifices made to
or for them lasted for a long time, accompanied by much feasting and
intoxication. If the deceased had met death by violence, whether in
war or in peace, by treachery, or in some other way, the mourning
habits were not removed, or the interdict lifted, until the sons,
brothers, or relatives had killed many others--not only of the
enemies and murderers, but also other persons, strangers, whoever
they might be, who were not their friends. As robbers and pirates,
they scoured the land and sea, going to hunt man and killing all whom
they could, until they had satiated their fury. When this was done,
they made a great feast for invited guests, raised the interdict,
and, in due time, abandoned their mourning.

In all these practices may be clearly seen traces of the paganism and
of those ancient rites and usages so magnified and recorded by noted
writers, by which many other nations more civilized--and, perchance,
some more barbarous than this one--made themselves famous and deserving
of mention. Certainly balsams, and the perfumes, not only of ointments
and fragrant spices, but of herbs and odoriferous flowers, are all
known to have been in most ancient use among the Greeks and Romans,
and in the Hebrew commonwealth--derived, perhaps, from intercourse
with pagan peoples, as we read of it in the grave and burial of King
Asa. [93] The bathing of the dead and of those who touched them is
also found in Holy Writ; and in accounts of the commonwealths of the
Egyptians and Persians, and is practiced at the present day, among
many nations; also the custom of placing food in their sepulchres,
which is rebuked by St. Augustine. [94]

Who does not know that the men and women hired as mourners are the
mourners and singers whom the sacred authors so repeatedly mention? and
that, even before the commonw