This latter view seems to have become the official theory, at least in Italy, in classical days. In the gloomy, horrible Etruscan religion, the shades were supposed to be in charge of the Conductor of the Dead—a repulsive8 figure, always represented with wings and long, matted hair and a hammer, whose appearance was afterwards imitated in the dress of the man who removed the dead from the arena9. Surely something may be said for Gaston Boissier's suggestion that Dante's Tuscan blood may account to some extent for the gruesome imagery of the Inferno10.
Cicero[1] tells us that it was generally believed that the dead lived on beneath the earth, and special provision was made for them in every Latin town in the "mundus," a deep trench11 which was dug before the "pomerium" was traced, and regarded as the particular entrance to the lower world for the dead of the town in question. The trench was vaulted13 over, so that it might correspond more or less with the sky, a gap being left in the vault12 which was closed with the stone of the departed—the "lapis manalis." Corn was thrown into the trench, which was filled up with earth, and an altar erected14 over it. On three solemn days in the year—August 25, October 5, and November 8—the trench was opened and the stone removed, the dead thus once more having free access to the world above, where the usual offerings were made to them.[2]
These provisions clearly show an official belief that death did not create an impassable barrier between the dead and the living. The spirits of the departed still belonged to the city of their birth, and took an interest in their old home. They could even return to it on the days when "the trench of the gods of gloom lies open and the very jaws15 of hell yawn wide."[3] Their rights must be respected, if evil was to be averted16 from the State. In fact, the dead were gods with altars of their own,[4] and Cornelia, the mother of the Gracchi, could write to her sons, "You will make offerings to me and invoke17 your parent as a god."[5] Their cult18 was closely connected with that of the Lares—the gods of the hearth19, which symbolized20 a fixed21 abode in contrast with the early nomad22 life. Indeed, there is practically no distinction between the Lares and the Manes, the souls of the good dead. But the dead had their own festival, the "Dies Parentales," held from the 13th to the 21st of February, in Rome;[6] and in Greece the "Genesia," celebrated23 on the 5th of B?dromion, towards the end of September, about which we know very little.[7]
There is nothing more characteristic of paganism than the passionate24 longing25 of the average man to perpetuate26 his memory after death in the world round which all his hopes and aspirations27 clung. Cicero uses it as an argument for immortality28.[8]
Many men left large sums to found colleges to celebrate their memories and feast at their tombs on stated occasions.[9] Lucian laughs at this custom when he represents the soul of the ordinary man in the next world as a mere29 bodiless shade that vanishes at a touch like smoke. It subsists30 on the libations and offerings it receives from the living, and those who have no friends or relatives on earth are starving and famished31.[10] Violators of tombs were threatened with the curse of dying the last of their race—a curse which Macaulay, with his intense family affection, considered the most awful that could be devised by man; and the fact that the tombs were built by the high road, so that the dead might be cheered by the greeting of the passer-by, lends an additional touch of sadness to a walk among the crumbling32 ruins that line the Latin or the Appian Way outside Rome to-day.
No one of the moderns has caught the pagan feeling towards death better than Giosuè Carducci, a true spiritual descendant of the great Romans of old, if ever there was one. He tells how, one glorious June day, he was sitting in school, listening to the priest outraging33 the verb "amo," when his eyes wandered to the window and lighted on a cherry-tree, red with fruit, and then strayed away to the hills and the sky and the distant curve of the sea-shore. All Nature was teeming34 with life, and he felt an answering thrill, when suddenly, as if from the very fountains of being within him, there welled up a consciousness of death, and with it the formless nothing, and a vision of himself lying cold, motionless, dumb in the black earth, while above him the birds sang, the trees rustled35 in the wind, the rivers ran on in their course, and the living revelled36 in the warm sun, bathed in its divine light. This first vision of death often haunted him in later years;[11] and one realizes that such must often have been the feelings of the Romans, and still more often of the Greeks, for the joy of the Greek in life was far greater than that of the Roman. Peace was the only boon37 that death could bring to a pagan, and "Pax tecum ?terna" is among the commonest of the inscriptions38. The life beyond the grave was at best an unreal and joyless copy of an earthly existence, and Achilles told Odysseus that he would rather be the serf of a poor man upon earth than Achilles among the shades.
When we come to inquire into the appearance of ghosts revisiting the glimpses of the moon, we find, as we should expect, that they are a vague, unsubstantial copy of their former selves on earth. In Homer[12] the shade of Patroclus, which visited Achilles in a vision as he slept by the sea-shore, looks exactly as Patroclus had looked on earth, even down to the clothes. Hadrian's famous "animula vagula blandula" gives the same idea, and it would be difficult to imagine a disembodied spirit which retains its personality and returns to earth again except as a kind of immaterial likeness39 of its earthly self. We often hear of the extreme pallor of ghosts, which was doubtless due to their being bloodless and to the pallor of death itself. Propertius conceived of them as skeletons;[13] but the unsubstantial, shadowy aspect is by far the commonest, and best harmonizes with the life they were supposed to lead.
Hitherto we have been dealing40 with the spirits of the dead who have been duly buried and are at rest, making their appearance among men only at stated intervals41, regulated by the religion of the State. The lot of the dead who have not been vouchsafed42 the trifling43 boon of a handful of earth cast upon their bones was very different. They had not yet been admitted to the world below, and were forced to wander for a hundred years before they might enter Charon's boat. ?neas beheld44 them on the banks of the Styx, stretching out their hands "rip? ulterioris amore." The shade of Patroclus describes its hapless state to Achilles, as does that of Elpenor to Odysseus, when they meet in the lower world. It is not surprising that the ancients attached the highest importance to the duty of burying the dead, and that Pausanias blames Lysander for not burying the bodies of Philocles and the four thousand slain45 at ?gospotami, seeing that the Athenians even buried the Persian dead after Marathon.[14]
The spirits of the unburied were usually held to be bound, more or less, to the spot where their bodies lay, and to be able to enter into communication with the living with comparative ease, even if they did not actually haunt them. They were, in fact, evil spirits which had to be propitiated46 and honoured in special rites. Their appearances among the living were not regulated by religion. They wandered at will over the earth, belonging neither to this world nor to the next, restless and malignant47, unable to escape from the trammels of mortal life, in the joys of which they had no part. Thus, in the Ph?do[15] we read of souls "prowling about tombs and sepulchres, near which, as they tell us, are seen certain ghostly apparitions48 of souls which have not departed pure ... These must be the souls, not of the good, but of the evil, which are compelled to wander about such places in payment of the penalty of their former evil way of life."
Apuleius[16] classifies the spirits of the departed for us. The Manes are the good people, not to be feared so long as their rites are duly performed, as we have already seen; Lemures are disembodied spirits; while Larv? are the ghosts that haunt houses. Apuleius, however, is wholly uncritical, and the distinction between Larv? and Lemures is certainly not borne out by facts.
The Larv? had distinct attributes, and were thought to cause epilepsy or madness. They were generally treated more or less as a joke,[17] and are spoken of much as we speak of a bogey49. They appear to have been entrusted50 with the torturing of the dead, as we see from the saying, "Only the Larv? war with the dead."[18] In Seneca's Apocolocyntosis,[19] when the question of the deification of the late Emperor Claudius is laid before a meeting of the gods, Father Janus gives it as his opinion that no more mortals should be treated in this way, and that "anyone who, contrary to this decree, shall hereafter be made, addressed, or painted as a god, should be delivered over to the Larv?" and flogged at the next games.
Larva also means a skeleton, and Trimalchio, following the Egyptian custom, has one brought in and placed on the table during his famous feast. It is, as one would expect, of silver, and the millionaire freedman points the usual moral—"Let us eat, drink, and be merry, for to-morrow we die."[20]
The Larv? were regular characters in the Atellane farces51 at Rome, where they performed various "danses macabres." Can these possibly be the prototypes of the Dances of Death so popular in the Middle Ages? We find something very similar on the well-known silver cups discovered at Bosco Reale, though Death itself does not seem to have been represented in this way. Some of the designs in the medieval series would certainly have appealed to the average bourgeois52 Roman of the Trimalchio type—e.g., "Les Trois Vifs et les Trois Morts," the three men riding gaily53 out hunting and meeting their own skeletons. Such crude contrasts are just what one would expect to find at Pompeii.
Lemures and Larv? are often confused, but Lemures is the regular word for the dead not at rest—the "Lemuri," or spirits of the churchyard, of some parts of modern Italy. They were evil spirits, propitiated in early days with blood. Hence the first gladiatorial games were given in connection with funerals. Both in Greece and in Rome there were special festivals for appeasing54 these restless spirits. Originally they were of a public character, for murder was common in primitive times, and such spirits would be numerous, as is proved by the festival lasting55 three days.
In Athens the Nemesia were held during Anthesterion (February-March). As in Rome, the days were unlucky. Temples were closed and business was suspended, for the dead were abroad. In the morning the doors were smeared56 with pitch, and those in the house chewed whitethorn to keep off the evil spirits. On the last day of the festival offerings were made to Hermes, and the dead were formally bidden to depart.[21]
Ovid describes the Lemuria or Lemuralia.[22] They took place in May, which was consequently regarded as an unlucky month for marriages, and is still so regarded almost as universally in England to-day as it was in Rome during the principate of Augustus. The name of the festival Ovid derives57 from Remus, as the ghost of his murdered brother was said to have appeared to Romulus in his sleep and to have demanded burial. Hence the institution of the Lemuria.
The head of the family walked through the house with bare feet at dead of night, making the mystic sign with his first and fourth fingers extended, the other fingers being turned inwards and the thumb crossed over them, in case he might run against an unsubstantial spirit as he moved noiselessly along. This is the sign of "le corna," held to be infallible against the Evil Eye in modern Italy. After solemnly washing his hands, he places black beans in his mouth, and throws others over his shoulders, saying, "With these beans do I redeem58 me and mine." He repeats this ceremony nine times without looking round, and the spirits are thought to follow unseen and pick up the beans. Then he purifies himself once more and clashes brass59, and bids the demons60 leave his house. When he has repeated nine times "Manes exite paterni," he looks round, and the ceremony is over, and the restless ghosts have been duly laid for a year.
Lami? haunted rooms, which had to be fumigated61 with sulphur, while some mystic rites were performed with eggs before they could be expelled.
The dead not yet at rest were divided into three classes—those who had died before their time, the αωροι, who had to wander till the span of their natural life was completed;[23] those who had met with violent deaths, the βιαιοθ?νατοι; and the unburied, the ?ταφοι. In the Hymn62 to Hecate, to whom they were especially attached, they are represented as following in her train and taking part in her nightly revels63 in human shape. The lot of the murdered is no better, and executed criminals belong to the same class.
Spirits of this kind were supposed to haunt the place where their bodies lay. Hence they were regarded as demons, and were frequently entrusted with the carrying out of the strange curses, which have been found in their tombs, or in wells where a man had been drowned, or even in the sea, written on leaden tablets, often from right to left, or in queer characters, so as to be illegible64, with another tablet fastened over them by means of a nail, symbolizing65 the binding66 effect it was hoped they would have—the "Defixiones," to give them their Latin name, which are very numerous among the inscriptions. So real was the belief in these curses that the elder Pliny says that everyone is afraid of being placed under evil spells;[24] and they are frequently referred to in antiquity67.
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1
mythology
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| n.神话，神话学，神话集 | |
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primitive
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| adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物 | |
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3
rites
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| 仪式，典礼( rite的名词复数 ) | |
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cremation
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| n.火葬，火化 | |
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superseded
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| [医]被代替的，废弃的 | |
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abode
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| n.住处，住所 | |
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7
eternity
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| n.不朽，来世；永恒，无穷 | |
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8
repulsive
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| adj.排斥的，使人反感的 | |
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arena
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| n.竞技场，运动场所；竞争场所，舞台 | |
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inferno
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| n.火海；地狱般的场所 | |
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11
trench
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| n./v.(挖)沟，(挖)战壕 | |
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vault
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| n.拱形圆顶，地窖，地下室 | |
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vaulted
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| adj.拱状的 | |
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14
ERECTED
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| adj. 直立的，竖立的，笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立，建立 | |
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jaws
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| n.口部；嘴 | |
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16
averted
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| 防止，避免( avert的过去式和过去分词 )； 转移 | |
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17
invoke
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| v.求助于(神、法律)；恳求，乞求 | |
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cult
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| n.异教，邪教；时尚，狂热的崇拜 | |
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hearth
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| n.壁炉炉床，壁炉地面 | |
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20
symbolized
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| v.象征，作为…的象征( symbolize的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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21
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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nomad
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| n.游牧部落的人，流浪者，游牧民 | |
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23
celebrated
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| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
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24
passionate
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的 | |
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25
longing
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| n.（for）渴望 | |
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perpetuate
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| v.使永存，使永记不忘 | |
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aspirations
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| 强烈的愿望( aspiration的名词复数 )； 志向； 发送气音； 发 h 音 | |
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immortality
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| n.不死，不朽 | |
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29
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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30
subsists
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| v.（靠很少的钱或食物）维持生活，生存下去( subsist的第三人称单数 ) | |
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famished
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| adj.饥饿的 | |
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crumbling
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| adj.摇摇欲坠的 | |
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33
outraging
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| 引起…的义愤，激怒( outrage的现在分词 ) | |
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teeming
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| adj.丰富的v.充满( teem的现在分词 )；到处都是；（指水、雨等）暴降；倾注 | |
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rustled
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| v.发出沙沙的声音( rustle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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revelled
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| v.作乐( revel的过去式和过去分词 )；狂欢；着迷；陶醉 | |
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boon
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| n.恩赐，恩物，恩惠 | |
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inscriptions
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| （作者）题词( inscription的名词复数 )； 献词； 碑文； 证劵持有人的登记 | |
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likeness
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| n.相像，相似（之处） | |
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dealing
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| n.经商方法，待人态度 | |
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41
intervals
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| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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42
vouchsafed
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| v.给予，赐予( vouchsafe的过去式和过去分词 )；允诺 | |
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trifling
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| adj.微不足道的；没什么价值的 | |
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44
beheld
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| v.看，注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
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45
slain
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| 杀死，宰杀，杀戮( slay的过去分词 )； (slay的过去分词) | |
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46
propitiated
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| v.劝解，抚慰，使息怒( propitiate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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47
malignant
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| adj.恶性的，致命的；恶意的，恶毒的 | |
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48
apparitions
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| n.特异景象( apparition的名词复数 )；幽灵；鬼；（特异景象等的）出现 | |
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49
bogey
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| n.令人谈之变色之物；妖怪，幽灵 | |
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50
entrusted
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| v.委托，托付( entrust的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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51
farces
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| n.笑剧( farce的名词复数 )；闹剧；笑剧剧目；作假的可笑场面 | |
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52
bourgeois
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| adj./n.追求物质享受的(人)；中产阶级分子 | |
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53
gaily
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| adv.欢乐地，高兴地 | |
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54
appeasing
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| 安抚，抚慰( appease的现在分词 )； 绥靖（满足另一国的要求以避免战争） | |
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55
lasting
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| adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持 | |
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56
smeared
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| 弄脏； 玷污； 涂抹； 擦上 | |
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57
derives
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| v.得到( derive的第三人称单数 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取 | |
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58
redeem
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| v.买回，赎回，挽回，恢复，履行（诺言等） | |
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59
brass
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| n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器 | |
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60
demons
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| n.恶人( demon的名词复数 )；恶魔；精力过人的人；邪念 | |
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fumigated
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| v.用化学品熏（某物）消毒( fumigate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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62
hymn
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| n.赞美诗，圣歌，颂歌 | |
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63
revels
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| n.作乐( revel的名词复数 )；狂欢；着迷；陶醉v.作乐( revel的第三人称单数 )；狂欢；着迷；陶醉 | |
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64
illegible
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| adj.难以辨认的，字迹模糊的 | |
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65
symbolizing
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| v.象征，作为…的象征( symbolize的现在分词 ) | |
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66
binding
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| 有约束力的，有效的，应遵守的 | |
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antiquity
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| n.古老；高龄；古物，古迹 | |
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