DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.847#0092
84 VEIL
vases are so rare, that one in our possession is supposed
to be unique; it was found at Cervetri, in a tomb
excavated by the Duke of Torlonia, and presented
to us by the amiable and obliging Signor Spada of
Torlonia's bank. Enamelled vases and lachry-
matories are also found in the tombs of Etruria, but
all of them bearing the forms, the colours blue and
yellow, and the character of Egypt; and none of them
those of Rome. Probably the early Romans retained
their Latin modes of sepulture, burning the ashes,
and placing them afterwards in small rude vessels
like huts, the models of which are to be seen
now in the Pope's museum, " Museo Gregoriano."
They are shaped by the hand, and have upon them
some writing not as yet understood. They are said
to have been found in monuments shaped like a vase,
and were taken from under the lava at Alba
Longa. Besides the probability that this was
the manner of interment followed by the Latin
Romans, the very great veneration in which all the
ancient people held their dead, and the customs of
their forefathers respecting them, incline me to
believe that, under the kings, graves were never
violated, and under the republic very rarely; more
particularly as ornaments and gold were forbidden
in Rome, and the buried arms of the conquered not
needed. I am inclined to place the violation and
destruction of all the graves, with the exception of
those magnificent structures belonging to princes,
such as Porsenna and Aruns, at a much later period,
and either under the effeminate barbarians of the
vases are so rare, that one in our possession is supposed
to be unique; it was found at Cervetri, in a tomb
excavated by the Duke of Torlonia, and presented
to us by the amiable and obliging Signor Spada of
Torlonia's bank. Enamelled vases and lachry-
matories are also found in the tombs of Etruria, but
all of them bearing the forms, the colours blue and
yellow, and the character of Egypt; and none of them
those of Rome. Probably the early Romans retained
their Latin modes of sepulture, burning the ashes,
and placing them afterwards in small rude vessels
like huts, the models of which are to be seen
now in the Pope's museum, " Museo Gregoriano."
They are shaped by the hand, and have upon them
some writing not as yet understood. They are said
to have been found in monuments shaped like a vase,
and were taken from under the lava at Alba
Longa. Besides the probability that this was
the manner of interment followed by the Latin
Romans, the very great veneration in which all the
ancient people held their dead, and the customs of
their forefathers respecting them, incline me to
believe that, under the kings, graves were never
violated, and under the republic very rarely; more
particularly as ornaments and gold were forbidden
in Rome, and the buried arms of the conquered not
needed. I am inclined to place the violation and
destruction of all the graves, with the exception of
those magnificent structures belonging to princes,
such as Porsenna and Aruns, at a much later period,
and either under the effeminate barbarians of the