DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.13851#0587
of the miscellany customs of gkeecl.
reposited in the same vessel, but mingled together : thus the ghosts of
Agamemnon tells him at their meeting in the shades below (1) :
'Ev tgS toi mt-ttt Kiv* ir'i*, ^ctlStfji' A.%i\htu,
M.'j/cT* Js llctTpoxxoio NlsvotTta.S'tto Q-atvoyTOS'
Xmph J" Avrixo^oio, tov X^oya. tjsc dtr&vrw
Td>v si\KCBV Irapaiv [Attn. riaTpoxxov yi &&vov<ra..
Within this urn your sad remains are laid,
Mist with the bones of your Patroclus dead :
In the same urn Antilochus doth lie,
His bones not mix'd with yours, but plac'd hard by :
For much you did that worthy chief esteem,
Only Patroclus was preferr'd to him. n. Hi
Halcyone's love carried her still farther ; for her husband Ceyx having
perished in a tempest at sea, she comforts herself in this, that though
his body could not be found, yet their names should be inscribed upon
the same monument, and, as it were, embrace each other (2).
CHAP VII.
of their sepulchres, monuments, cenotaphia, &c.
The primitive Grecians were buried in places prepared for that pur-
pose in their own houses (3). The Thebans had once a law, that ho
person should build an house without providing a repository for his
dead. It seems to have been very frequent, even in later ages, to bury
within their cities ; the most public and frequented places whereof seem
to have been best stored with monuments : but this was a favour not
ordinarily granted, except to men of great worth, and public benefactors ;
to such as had raised themselves above the common level, and were ex-
amples of virtue to succeeding ages, or had deserved, by some eminent
service, to have their memories honoured by posterity. The Magnesians
raised a sepulchre for Themistocles in the midst of their forum (4) ; Eu-
phron had the same honour at Corinth (5) ; and it appears to have been
common for colonies to have buried their leaders, under whose conduct
they possessed themselves of new habitations, in the midst of their ci-
ties (6).
Temples were sometimes made repositories for the dead, whereof the
primitive ages afford us many instances; insomuch that some have been
of opinion, that the honours paid to the dead were the first cause of
erecting temples (7). Nor were later times wholly void of such exam-
ples, for the Plataeans are said to fiave buried Euclides in the temple of
Diana Euclea, for his pious labour in going a thousand stadia in one day
to fetch some of the hallowed fire from Delphi (8): from which, with
many other instances, it appears that this was looked on as a very great
favour, and granted as a reward to public services. Sometimes it was
desired for protection, as we learn from Medea's case, who interred her
(1) Odyss. to. v. 76. (5) Xenophon. 'EUnviv. lib. vii.
(2) Ovidii Met. lib. xi. v. 701, (6) Pindari Scholiastes.
(3) Plato Minoe. (7) Vide Archa?olo£. nost. lib. ii. cap. 2.
(4) Plutarchus Themistocle. '8) Plutarchus Aristide.
reposited in the same vessel, but mingled together : thus the ghosts of
Agamemnon tells him at their meeting in the shades below (1) :
'Ev tgS toi mt-ttt Kiv* ir'i*, ^ctlStfji' A.%i\htu,
M.'j/cT* Js llctTpoxxoio NlsvotTta.S'tto Q-atvoyTOS'
Xmph J" Avrixo^oio, tov X^oya. tjsc dtr&vrw
Td>v si\KCBV Irapaiv [Attn. riaTpoxxov yi &&vov<ra..
Within this urn your sad remains are laid,
Mist with the bones of your Patroclus dead :
In the same urn Antilochus doth lie,
His bones not mix'd with yours, but plac'd hard by :
For much you did that worthy chief esteem,
Only Patroclus was preferr'd to him. n. Hi
Halcyone's love carried her still farther ; for her husband Ceyx having
perished in a tempest at sea, she comforts herself in this, that though
his body could not be found, yet their names should be inscribed upon
the same monument, and, as it were, embrace each other (2).
CHAP VII.
of their sepulchres, monuments, cenotaphia, &c.
The primitive Grecians were buried in places prepared for that pur-
pose in their own houses (3). The Thebans had once a law, that ho
person should build an house without providing a repository for his
dead. It seems to have been very frequent, even in later ages, to bury
within their cities ; the most public and frequented places whereof seem
to have been best stored with monuments : but this was a favour not
ordinarily granted, except to men of great worth, and public benefactors ;
to such as had raised themselves above the common level, and were ex-
amples of virtue to succeeding ages, or had deserved, by some eminent
service, to have their memories honoured by posterity. The Magnesians
raised a sepulchre for Themistocles in the midst of their forum (4) ; Eu-
phron had the same honour at Corinth (5) ; and it appears to have been
common for colonies to have buried their leaders, under whose conduct
they possessed themselves of new habitations, in the midst of their ci-
ties (6).
Temples were sometimes made repositories for the dead, whereof the
primitive ages afford us many instances; insomuch that some have been
of opinion, that the honours paid to the dead were the first cause of
erecting temples (7). Nor were later times wholly void of such exam-
ples, for the Plataeans are said to fiave buried Euclides in the temple of
Diana Euclea, for his pious labour in going a thousand stadia in one day
to fetch some of the hallowed fire from Delphi (8): from which, with
many other instances, it appears that this was looked on as a very great
favour, and granted as a reward to public services. Sometimes it was
desired for protection, as we learn from Medea's case, who interred her
(1) Odyss. to. v. 76. (5) Xenophon. 'EUnviv. lib. vii.
(2) Ovidii Met. lib. xi. v. 701, (6) Pindari Scholiastes.
(3) Plato Minoe. (7) Vide Archa?olo£. nost. lib. ii. cap. 2.
(4) Plutarchus Themistocle. '8) Plutarchus Aristide.