EENRICR'S ROMAN SEPULCHRAL INSCRIPTIONS. * Li this brief treatise, founded on

two papers originally read be- fore the Yorkshire Philosophical Society, the author of the " Essay on Primeval History" pretty well exhausts the subject of Roman epitaphs, so far as they can be turned to useful account in illustrating the social practices, the habits and feelings of do- mestic life, the state of public opinion, and the progress of the Latin language among the Latin peoples. To say that the book exhibits long and learned research thoughtfully carried on, with a judiciously painstaking elimination of all that is non-essential, only indicates a portion of its merit. The great interest con- sists in the skill by which the quintessence of learning is ap- plied to the illustration of a system of life long since passed away, and the inscriptions to the memory of the dead used to unfold the feelings and ideas of the living. For this purpose, different topics are treated in succession ; the author beginning with the exten- sive geographical range of country—Britain, Gaul, Spain, Africa —within which Latin sepulchral inscriptions are found, making some remarks on their general character, and indicating the Roman modes of sepulture. The inscriptions themselves are next presented according to the nature of the questions they illustrate. The space occupied by the essayist being considered, these ques- tions are numerous. The leading topics exhibit the feelings with which the tomb was regarded by its occupants and their successors ; the last, with the enlightenment of modern utilitarians, some- times thinking and acting upon the notion that the land might be more usefully employed than for purposes of posthumous ostenta- tion. The friendly, confidential, or affectionate feelings shown by masters towards their freedmen or slaves, and the way in which they were reciprocated, is another topic, as is likewise the illus- tration of the family affections. The changes in language which different ages exhibit are noted from the old forms of the republic, till traces of the approximation of the Latin to the Italian become visible. The information as to vocations which tombs furnish is displayed, and among other subjects, an effort is made to extract the opinion which the epitaph writers really entertained of another world. The sense of the duties of this life that the Pagan en- tertained is thus stated by Mr. Kenrick. " In those inscriptions which enter into a fuller enumeration of public services, one difference is striking to a person accustomed to modern ones, namely, the absence in the former of all mention of acts of social benevo- lence. It is true that the erection of a fountain, the construction of a road, the dedication of a temple, the exhibition of gladiatorial and floral games, the bequest of a legacy for an annual feast, and similar acts of popular mu- nificence, are often commemorated, as titles of honour ; but I do not remem- ber to have met with a record, originating in pagan times, of a life devoted to the alleviation of misery, to the relief of indigence, to the removal of igeerance and vice. Such virtues belong especially to the school of Christi- anity. The following inscription would be proved by its tenor to relate to &Christian woman, even if the date did not fix it to the middle of the fifth century of our airs. DEO FIDEL'S, DULCIS YAEITO, NUTRIX FAMTLI/Es, MMUS HUMILIS, FLACATO FURO CORDS, AXATELX PAUPERUM."

The antique Romans dealt with the aspirate something like the Landon cockney.

"'Poor letter H,' was treated with the same barbarous caprice of old as now, being omitted where it should stand, and interpolated where it should not. Thus we meet with ors, ortulus, omo, ospitium, onestus ; and on the other hand, hcedieulus, helsphantus, horiunkus, hordini, Hosiris, and post hobitum. Those who omit the aspirate, however, are always mere nu- merous than those who insert it ; m Italy they ultimately gained the as- cendancy, and it is banished in pronunciation from modern Italian, which follows in this respect the usage of the old Romans, who said ado' and ircos."

The truth is that naturally the aspirate is an expression of earnestness if not of emotion. When people are speaking quickly • Roman Sepulchral Inscriptions: their reledion o Arch000logy, Language, and 24100/1. By John Remick, M.A., P.S.A. Published by Russell Smith, London *hinter, York ; and Sotheran, York.

and eagerly they are apt to breathe upon their vowels. The right use or omission of the aspirate at all times, is a test of good tin. gual training, or of incessant attention. It consists not merely in knowing or remembering what words are to be aspirated, and what are not ; but in distinctly sounding the h, or omitting it, without regard to the mood of the utterer's mind.

Mr. Kenrick observes, and supports his observations by in_ stances, that there was no "false shame" among the ancient Romans in acknowledging their humble station. Did this frankness originate in the " Cinis .Romanus sum" spirit, which, like the citizenship of a model and modern Republic, placed its fortunate owners on a level with kings ? Have the sentiments of feudality and chivalry created for the moderns the point of gen- tility ? Did the broad legal demarcations of classes in old Rome —patricians, knights, plebeians, freedmen, slaves, render men less scrupulous about avowing a vocation appropriate to their caste? Or did the more sonorous Latin veil the meanness of the thing ? How much grander in sound, for example, is " negotiator ae- ries" than " pig-dealer"! "The record of the trades and professions of the deceased, which the Re.. man sepulchral inscriptions contain, often afford a curious insight into the differences of manners and customs between the ancient and the modern world. They supply the deficiencies of the notices in books, or explain ob- scum and solitary passages in the classics. One difference is obvious. There was no false shame in acknowledging the humbleatation which the deceased had filled in life. The dealer in pip is recorded as a 'negotiator suarius; the female greengrocer as a 'negottatrixframentaria et leguminaria,' who kept a stall beside one of the flights of steps descending to the Tiber. It would not be mentioned now on the tomb of a medical practitioner, that he had begun by practising his art in many market-places Vora mune mutat: Perhaps the most remarkable instance of the difference between ancient and modern ideas in this respect is furnished by the tomb of Emilia Irene, whose husband calls himself stupidua gregis urbani,' the clown of the city company of mountebanks. Theprofession still finds candidates, but their vocation would hardly be recorded on their funeral monuments."

The complete absence of genuine religious feeling in later Ro- man times, and, in our author's opinion, of our modern law of consecration, rendered the tomb very insecure against the spolia- tion of cupidity. We do not know that under Christianity the law does much when "interests" are in question. Mere burial- grounds are built upon, either with or against the law. An act of Parliament is always ready to apply a churchyard to secular purposes. Roman manners might render an heir less to be trusted with the family credit than in England ; but the feeling noted by Mr. Kenriok does not speak much for Roman gratitude. " The heir was the object of especial jealousy; noc MONUMENTUM RE- REDEM NON szourrna (n.m.H.N.s.) is a regular formula ; the contrary stipulation, that the monument should go to the heir is most uncom- mon. The prohibition to alienate is expressed with all the fulness of legal phraseology ; Hoc monummarrum, CUM 2EDIFICIO SUPERPOSITO, YEWS MUTABITUR, NEQUE V/ENLET NEQUE DONABITUR NEQUE PIGNORI OBLI- GABITUR, NEQUE ULLO ?SUDO ABALEENAEITITR, NE DE NOMINE EXSAT FA. mitim sum, and is sometimes enforced by a fine to the municipality, to the Roman people or the vestal virgins and the Pontifices, to secure the exaction of which one-fourth is to go to the informer. Legal chicanery was greatly dreaded as the means of defeating the purpose of the builder of the monument : hence we often find the protestation, num monumzem BOLUS MALUS ABESTO ; sometimes with the addition ET JUILISCONSITLTUS, a combination which, in countries where the civil law is practised, is a standing jest against the jurisconsults. To preclude one source of cavil we find a man protesting on his tomb, in an inscription by which he directs a statue to be erected to him, that when he made his will, he had a sound and disposing mind' ; SANUS, SANA QUOQUE MENTE INTEGEOQUE COW- MIEWOR CONDITION'S HUMAN/E, TESTAMENTUM FECI. It is recorded on the pyramid of C. Cestius that the monument had been erected in 330 days, carbitrate Pont ii Cl. Melee heredi8 et Pothi liberti,' the heir not having been trusted alone with the execution.

" Mindus Zosimus Senior tells us plainly on his tomb his reason for not leaving the choice to his heir ; he was afraid of his discharging the dirty in a shabby way. Virus mi feci, ne post me lentius heres. Conderet exiguo busts supreme rogo."

Some reason may be found for secularizing the grave and its accessories when the value of the "building materials" and the extent of ground occupied by the tomb and its appurtenances are considered.

" Besides the monument itself, various appendages to it are mentioned in the Roman sepulchral inscriptions. The area was occupied by building' designed to be used in the annual commemorations of the deceased .for which his will provided. We read of a theta, or summer-house; a solarium or open balcony ; accumbitorium, or entertaining room ; an tippers- torioni, in which the tables and benches used by the guests were kept. The ground annexed to the monument frequently contained a well, a cis- tern, or a piscine, whence water for the funeral rites might be drawn, and a grove, whence wood might be cut for a sacrifice. If situated in a garden, the monument was called cepotaphium. A building was erected, some- times a permanent cedifieium, sometimes a simple nubilare or shed, to re- ceive the person who guarded the tomb {locus habitationis tutelos cause, and this office was generally entrusted to a freedman, who was called edituus. The inscriptions often record the sum which the deceased has bequeathed for an annual celebration at his tomb, commonly on his birth- day. This was variously performed ; sometimes by libations of wipe and milk (profuziones,) or by the scattering of roses on the tomb (rosalus,) se- companied by a feast. L. OGIUS PATROCLUS, HORTUS CUR MDEFICIO SEPULCRO JUNCTO VP/US DONAVIT, UT EX REDITU FORUM LARGIUS ROVE ET ESC25 PATRON() SUO ET QUANDOQUE sIBI PONERMTPTE. We find a testator directing that an annual feast, for which he leaves 125 do- narii, should be held by the papni, or rural inhabitants of the district, on his birthday, or if this condition were neglected, that the building and the legacy should go to the College of Physicians, and to his freedmen, that they might feast OR that day. QUOD SI FACTUM NON Burr, TUM 1110 LOCUS, UT SUPRA SCREPTUM EST CUM ARMY'S CXXV. (demaims) IN TER- PETULTM AD COLLEGIUM MEDIOORUM ET AD LIBERTOS MEOS PERTH/EAT, UT DIE NATALE AfE0 EPULENTUR, 'We must not attach ideas of too great dignity to the College of Physicians.' Every legal incorporation among, the Romans was a college, and the medical body included practitioners 01 every grade, even to the veterinary surgeon and the midwife."

The author's researches have led him to the conclusion that the

nature of their social and domestic affections was, on the whole creditable to the Romans ; but one peculiarity of loose manners

occasionally speaks from the tomb.

e We find traces, however, of the effects of the facility of divorce. Northern superstition has represented a mother as dispieted in her grave by the ill- ae of her children, and coming in nightly visions to terrify their stepmother into better treatment of them ; but a Roman mother lived to record on the tomb of her son that he had been poisoned by his stepmother. D. M. L. ROSTILI TER SILVAN' ANN. XXIV. M. II. D. XV. MATER FILIO P11581350. =num ET IN LIICTII IETERNALI BENEPICIO (VENEFICIO) NOVERC/E. Another conjugal tribute discloses a singular result of the same state of the law. T. Sentum Januarius and L. Terentius Trophimns jointly raise a memorial to Hostilia Capriole. She must have been married to the one after having been divorced from the other ; and as they agree in calling her OONJUGI BENS YERENTL, .we must suppose the first marriage to have been dissolved without criminality on her part. Such an association would seem savage, even in those continental countries, where a divorced wife may sit at table between her first and second husband."

" There is nothing new under the sun." A long inscription published by Henzen contains the laws and regulations of a burial

dub in the time of Hadrian, of which Mr. Kenrick gives a brief account in an appendix. The rules are strict but more widely liberal perhaps than those of our day.