BURIAL, the interment of a deceased person. The rites of burial make the greatest and most necessary care, being looked upon in all countries, and at all times, as a debt so sacred, that such as neglected to discharge it were thought accursed: hence the Romans called them junta, and the Greeks voleapuaixceice,eiTia, &c. words implying the inviolable obliga tions which nature has laid upon the liv ing, to take care of the obsequies of the dead. Nor are we to wonder that the an cient Greeks and Romans were extreme ly solicitous about the interment of their deceased friends,since they were strongly persuaded that their souls could not be admitted into the Elysian fields till their bodies were committed to the earth ; and if it happened that they never obtained the rites of burial, they were excluded from the happy mansions for the term of an hundred years. For this reason it was considered as a duty incumbent upon all travellers, who should meet with a dead body in their way, to cast dust or mould upon it three times, and of these three handfuls one at least was cast upon the head. The ancients likewise consider ed it as a great misfortune, if they were not laid in the sepulchres of their fathers; for which reason, such as died in foreign countries had usually their ashes brought home, and interred with those of their ancestors. But, notwithstanding their great care in the burial of the dead,there were some persons whom they thought unworthy of that last office, and to whom therefore they refused it : such were, 1. Public or private enemies. 2. Such as betrayed or conspired against their coun try. 3. Tyrants, who were always looked upon as enemies to their country 4. Villains guilty of sacrilege. 5. Such as died in debt, whose bodies belonged to their creditors. And 6. Seine particu lar offenders, who suffered capital pun ishment.
Of those who were allowed the rites of burial, some were distinguished by par ticular circumstances of disgrace attend ing their interment : thus persons killed by lightning were buried apart by them selves, being thought odious to the gods; those who wasted their patrimony forfeit ed the right of being buried in the sepul chres of their fathers ; and those who were guilty of self-murder were privately deposited in the ground, without the ac customed solemnities. Among the Jews, the privilege of burial was denied only to self-murderers, who were thrown out to rot upon the ground. In the Christian church, though good men always desired the privilege of interment, yet they were not,. like the heathens, so concerned for
their bodies, as to think it any detriment to them, if either the barbarity of an ene my, or some other accident, deprived them of this privilege. The primitive Christian church denied the more solemn rites of burial only to unbaptised persons, self-murderers,and excommunicated per sons,who continued obstinate and impeni tent, in a manifest contempt of the church's censures.
The place of burial among the Jews was never particularly determined. We find they had graves in the town and country, upon the highways, in gardens, and upon mountains. Among the Greeks, the temples were made repositories for the dead in the primitive ages, yet the general custom in later ages with them, as well as with the Romans and other heathen nations, was, to bury their dead without their cities, and chiefly by the highways. Among the primitive Chris tians, burying in cities was not allowed for the first three hundred years; nor in churches for many ages after, the (lead bodies being first deposited in the atrium or church-yard, and porches and porticos of the church: hereditary burying-places were forbidden till the twelfth century.
Bram.s, in law, persons are to be buri ed in woollen,or their representatives shall forfeit 51. and affidavit is to be made there of before a justice, under a like penalty.
Bulti.ims, as practised by the military, differ in some respects according to the rank of the deceased The funeral of a field-marshal is saluted with three rounds of fifteen pieces of cannon attended by six battalions and eight squadrons : that of a general with three rounds of eleven pieces of cannon, four battalions and six squad rons : and so on, decreasing in honour, till that of a private, which is attended by one serjeant, and thirteen rank and tile, with three rounds of small arms. The pall is to be supported by officers of the Same rank with that of the deceased. The order of march to be observed in military funerals is reversed with respect to rank. For instance, if an officer is buried in a garrison-town, or from a camp, it is cus tomary for the officers belonging to the other corps to pay his remains the com pliment of attendance . in which case the youngest ensign marches at the head, im mediately after the pall, and the general, if there be one, in the rear of the com missioned officers, who take their posts in reversed order, according to seniority. The battalion, troop, or company, follow the same rule.