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On this page: Furca

FUNUS.

FURCA.

£62

A sepulchre, or any place in which a person was buried, was religiosus; all things which were left or belonged to the Dii Manes were religiosae ; those consecrated to the Dii Superi were called Sacrae. (Gains, ii. 46.) Even the place in which a slave was buried was considered religiosus. (Dig. 11. tit. 7. s. 2.) Whoever violated a sepulchre was subject to an action termed septil-Cri violati actio. (Dig. 47. tit 12 ; compare Cid Tilsc. i. 12, de Leg. ii. 22.) Those who removed the bodies or bones from the sepulchre were punished by death or deportatio in insulam,, according to their rank ; if the sepulchre was violated in any other way, they were punished by deportatio, or condemna­tion to the mines. (Dig. 47. tit. 12. s. 11.) The title in the Digest (11. tit. 7), " De Religiosis et Sumtibns Funerum," &c., also contains much curi­ous information on the subject, and is well worth perusal.

After the bones had been placed in the urn at the funeral, the friends returned home. They then underwent a further purification called suffitio, which consisted in being sprinkled with water and stepping over a fire. (Festus, s. v. Aqua et igni.} The house itself was also swept with a certain kind of broom ; which sweeping or purification was called exverrae, and the person who did it everria-tor. (Festus, s. v.) The Denicales Feriae were also days set apart for the purification of the family. (Festus, s. v. ; Cic. de Leg. ii. 22.) The mourning and solemnities connected with the dead lasted for nine days after the funeral,, at the end of which time a sacrifice was performed,, called N'oben-diale. (Porphyr. ad Horat. Epod. xvii. 4&)

A feast was given in honour of the dead, but it is uncertain on what day ; it sometimes appears to have been given at the time of the funeral, some­times on the Novendiale, and sometimes later. The name of Silicernium was given to this feast (Festus, s. ?;.) ; of which the etymology is un­known. Among the tombs at Pompeii there is a funeral triclinium for the celebration of these feasts, which is represented in the annexed woodcut. (Mazois, Pomp, i. pi. xx.) It is open to the sky, and the walls are ornamented bjr paintings of ani­mals in the centre of compartments^ which have borders of flowers. The triclinium is made of stone, with a pedestal in the centre to receive the table.

After the funeral of great men, there was, in ad­dition to the feast for the friends of the deceased, a distribution of raw meat to the people, called Visceratio (Liv. viii. 22), and sometimes a public banquet. (Suet. Jul. 26.) Combats of gladiators and other games were also frequently exhibited in

honour of the deceased. Thus at the funeral of P. Licinius Crassus, who had been Pontifex Maxi-mus, raw meat was distributed to the people, a hundred and twenty gladiators fought, and funeral games were celebrated for three days ; at the end of which a public banquet was given in the forum. (Liv. xxxix. 46.) Public feasts and funeral games were sometimes given on the anniversary of fune­rals. Faustus, the son of. Sulla, exhibited in honour of his father a show of gladiators several 3rears after his death, and gave a feast to the people,, according to his father's testament. (Dion Cass. xxxvii. 51 ; Cic. pro Suit. 19.) At all ban­quets in honour of the dead, the guests were dressed in white. (Cic. c. Vatin. 13.)

The Romans, like the Greeks, were accustomed to visit the tombs of their relatives at certain periods, and to offer to them sacrifices and various gifts, which were called Inferiae and Parentalia. The Romans appear to have regarded the Manes or departed souls of their ancestors as gods ; whence arose the practice of presenting to them oblations, which consisted of victims, wine, milk, garlands of flowers, and other things. (Virg. Aen. v. 77, ix. 215, x, 519 ; Tacit, Hist, ii. 9-5 ; Suet. Cat. 15; Ner. 57 ; Cic. Phil. i. 6.) The tombs were some­times illuminated on these occasions with lamps. (Dig. 40. tit. 4. s. 44.) In the latter end of the month of February there was a festival, called Feralia, in which the Romans were accustomed to carry food to the sepulchres for the use of the dead. (Festus, s. v. ; V&rro, de Ling. Led. vi. 13 ; Ovid, Fast. ii. 535—570 ; Cic. ad Ait. viii-. 14.)

The Romans, like ourselves, were accustomed to wear mourning for their deceased friends, which appears to have been black or dark-blue (atra) under the republic for both sexes. (Serv. ad Virg. Aen. xi, 287v) Under the empire the men con­tinued to wear black in mourning (JuV. x. 245), but the women wore white. (Herodian. iv. 2.) They laid aside all kinds of ornaments (Herodian. 1. c.; Terent. Heaut. ii. 3. 47), and did not cut either their hair or beard. (Suet. Jul. 67, Aug. 23, Cal. 24.) Men appear to have usually Worn their mourning for only & few days (Dion Cags. Ivi. 43), but women for a year when they lost a, husband or parent. (Ovid, Fast-, iii. 1B4 ; SeneCi Epist. 63, Consol. ad Helv. 16.)

In a public mourning on account of some signal calamity,, as for instance the loss of a battle or the death of an emperor, there was a total cessation from business, called Justititim. [JtrSTiTiUM.] In a public mourning the senators did not wear the latus clavus and their rings (Liv. ix. 7), nor the magistrates their badges of office. (Tacit. Ann. iii. 4.)

(Meursius. de Funare ; Stackelberg, Die Grfiber der Hellenen, Berlin, 1837 ; Kirchmann, de Funeri-bus Roinanis; Becker, Charihles, vol. ii. pp. 166— 210. Gallus, vol.ii. pp. 271—301.)

FURCA, which properly means a fork, was also