its fusion in the great
totality of things; according to others, it was but a measure in behalf
of public health. However that may be, dead bodies might be either
buried or burned, provided the deposit of the corpse or the ashes were
made outside of the city. A part of the procession enters the
_ustrinum_. Then they are going to burn the duumvir Lucius Labeo.

The funeral pyre is made of firs, vine branches, and other wood that
burns easily. The near relatives and the freedman take the bier and
place it conveniently on the pile, and then the man who closes the eyes
of the dead opens them again, making the defunct look up toward the sky,
and gives him the last kiss. Then they cover the pile with perfumes and
essences, and collect about it all the articles of furniture, garments,
and precious objects that they want to burn. The trumpets sound, and the
freedman, taking a torch and turning away his eyes, sets fire to the
framework. Then commence the sacrifices to the manes, the formalities,
the pantomimic action, the howlings of the mourners, the combats of the
gladiators "in order to satisfy the ceremony closely observed by them
which required that human blood should be shed before the lighted pile;"
this was done so effectually that when there were no gladiators the
women "tore each other's hair, scratched their eyes and their cheeks
with their nails, _heartily_, until the blood came, thinking in this
manner to appease and propitiate the infernal deities, whom they suppose
to be angered against the soul of the defunct, so as to treat it
roughly, were this doleful ceremony omitted and disdained."... The body
burned, the mother, wife, or other near relative of the dead, wrapped
and clad in a black garment, got ready to gather up the relics--that is
to say, the bones which remained and had not been totally consumed by
the fire; and, before doing anything, invoked the deity manes, and the
soul of the dead man, beseeching him to take this devotion in good part,
and not to think ill of this service. Then, after having washed her
hands well, and having extinguished the fire in the brazier with wine
or with milk, she began to pick out the bones among the ashes and to
gather them into her bosom or the folds of her robe. The children also
gathered them, and so did the heirs; and we find that the priests who
were present at the obsequies could help in this. But if it was some
very great lord, the most eminent magistrates of the city