422

POMPEII

More often the connection was made by means of round tiles;
in the case of one urn, three tiles were joined together, making a
tube five feet long. The upper end of the libation tube did not
project from the ground, but was placed just below the surface
and covered with a flat stone; over this was a thin layer of
earth, which the relatives would remove on the feast days of the
dead. Pagan antiquity was never able to dissociate the spirit of
the dead from the place of interment; the worship of ancestors
was in no small degree the product of local associations.
In the vicinity of these remains is a sepulchral monument of
modest dimensions, which, as we learn from the tablet over the
entrance, was erected by Marcus Petasius Dasius in memory of
his two sons, Severus and Communis, and of a freedwoman
named Vitalis. There was no floor in the burial chamber;
the urns were placed in the earth and marked by bust stones,
among which was one set up for Dasius himself, with the
initials M. P. D.
The Stabian Road has been excavated for but a short distance
near the gate. The only monuments completely cleared are two
large, semicircular benches, like those of Veius and Mamia
(p. 401). At the rear of each is a small sepulchral enclosure in
which the urns were buried. The memorial tablet belonging
to the monument nearest the gate has disappeared, but two
boundary stones at the corners of the lot bear the inscription:
M. Tullio M. f. ex d\ecurionum\ d\ecreto\,— ‘To Marcus Tullius
son of Marcus, in accordance with a vote of the city council.’
The Tullius named was perhaps the builder of the temple of
Fortuna Augusta (p. 126).
The inscription of the second bench, like that of Mamia, is
cut in large letters on the back of the seat: M. Alleio M. f.
Men. Minio, II v. i. d.; locus sepulturae pziblice datus ex d. d.,—
‘To the memory of Marcus Alleius Minius son of Marcus, of
the tribe Menenia, duumvir with judiciary authority. The place
of burial was given in the name of the city by vote of the munic-
ipal council.’
A third bench, close to the second, lies under a modern house
and has not been uncovered. Further from the gate a rectan-
gular seat, probably belonging to the same series of monuments,