he near relative, was the sole motive that prevailed in the institution
of this solemnity. "That seems to me," says Cicero, "to have been the
most ancient kind of burial, which, according to Xenophon, was used by
Cyrus. For the body is returned to the earth, and so placed as to be
covered with the veil of its mother." Pliny also agrees with Cicero upon
this point, and says the custom of burial preceded that of burning among
the Romans. According to Monfaucon, the custom of burning entirely
ceased at Rome about the time of Theodorius the younger. When cremation
ceased on the introduction of Christianity, the believing Romans,
together with the Romanized and converted Britons, would necessarily, as
it is observed by Mr. Grough, "betake themselves to the use of
sarcophagi (or coffins,) and probably of various kinds, stone, marble,
lead," &c. They would likewise now first place the body in a position
due east and west, and thus bestow an unequivocal mark of distinction
between the funeral deposit of the earliest Roman inhabitants of this
island, and their Christian successors. The usual places of interment
were in fields or gardens,[4] near the highway, to be conspicuous, and
to remind the passengers how transient everything is, that wears the
garb of mortality. By this means, also, they saved the best part of
their land:

--Experiar quid concedatur in illos
Quorum Flaminia tegitur cinis, atque Latina.
_Juv. Sat I._

The Romans commonly built tombs for themselves during their lifetime.
Hence these words frequently occur in ancient inscriptions, V.F. Vivus
Facit, V.S.P. Vivus Sibi Posuit. The tombs of the rich were usually
constructed of marble, the ground enclosed with walls, and planted round
with trees. But common sepulchres were usually built below ground, and
called hypogea. There were niches cut out of the walls, in which the
urns were placed: these, from their resemblance to the niche of a
pigeon-house, were called columbaria.

[4] Our blessed Saviour chose the garden sometime for his
oratory, and, dying, for the place of his sepulture; and we also
do avouch, for many weighty causes, that there are none more fit
to bury our dead in than in our gardens and groves where our
beds may he decked with verdant and fragrant flowers. Trees and
perennial plants, the most natural and instructive hieroglyphics
of our expected resurrection and immortality, besides what they
m