tions ; they were joined as they went by neighbours and friends, and, if the deceased was of conse quence, by strangers also. The men, girding their dress below their waist, ran through the town, smiting their breast, and throwing mud upon their heads (Herod. ii. 85 ; Diod. Sic. i. 91). The modern lamentations in Cairo seem to resemble the ancient. The mourners are said to parade the streets, crying, Oh, my misfortune !' Oh, my brother !" Oh, my master !" Oh, lord of the house !' etc. The similarity is striking between such exclamations and the following : Jephthah's, Alas, my daughter I' David's, 0 Absalom, my son ; my son Absalom I' (2 Sam. xviii. 33). Alas, my brother !' (1 Kings xiii. 3o). Ah, my brother ! ah, my sister ! ah, Lord, or ah, his glory' (Jer. xxii. 18). See Lane's Modern E:upt ians,ii. 286.
Among other signs of mourning they shaved the head, and even tore off the hair (Amos viii. io ; Micah i. 16 ; Is. xv. 2 ; xxii. 12 ; Jer. vii. 29). Ezra plucked off the hair of his head and of his beard (Ezra ix. 3 ; Joseph. Antiq. xvi. 7. 5). The Jews went up to the house-tops to mourn (Is. xv. 2, 3 ; xxii. 1) ; and so did the Moabites (Jer.
xlviii. 37, 38 ; Judith viii. 5). They also made cuttings in their hands (Jer. xlviii. 37, 38) ; they smote upon the thigh (Jur. xxxi. 19 ; Ezek. xxi. 12) ; on the breast (Nahum ii. 7 ; Luke xviii. 13 ; xxiii. 48) ; they smote both hands together (Num.
xxiv. to), stamped with the foot (Ezek. vi. z), bowed down the head (Lam. ii. to), covered the lips (Micah iii. 7), the face (2 Sam. xix. 4), and the head (2 Sam. xv. 3o), and went barefoot (2 Sam. xv. 30). Neighbours and friends provided food for the mourners (2 Sam. iii. 35 ; Jer. xvi. 7 ; comp. Ezek. xxiv. 17) ; this was called the bread of bitterness,' the cup of consolation.' In later times the Jews had a custom of giving bread to the poor at funerals, and leaving it for their use at tombs, graves, etc., which resembles the Roman visceratio (Tobit iv. 17 ; Ecclus. xxx. 8). Women
went to tombs to indulge their grief (John xi. 31) ; anniversary mournings (, Esdras i. 22). The ex travagance of mourning among the Greeks is ridi culed by Lucian (De Luctu), who describes them as expostulating with the dead for leaving them, etc., and other particulars similar to an Irish wake. It is difficult to ascertain the philosophy of mourn ing. Potter thinks that it consisted in receding as much as possible from ordinary customs and man ners, in token that an extraordinary event had happened, and observes that such is the diversity of human customs that the signs of mourning in some nations coincide with those of joy in others (Archaologia Graca, ii. 194, 195, Loud. 1775). Although, no doubt, many modes of mourning are conventional, and originated in caprice, yet there would seem to be physical reasons for certain forms which have so widely and permanently prevailed. Shaving the head may be a dictate of nature to re lieve the excited brain. Plucking the hair is well calculated to assuage the action of some particular organs, to which the sensations of the individual may be a sufficient guide. Beating the breast may relieve the heart oppressed with a tumultuous circulation. Cutting may be the effect of nature's indication of bleeding. Crying aloud certainly diverts the atten tion from anguish of mind or body. Tearing and rending seem to palliate nervous irritation, etc. (Carpzov, De cinerum ap. Hebr. usu mceroris etque hectus Causa, Rostock ; Kirchmann, Dc Fuller. Roman. ; J. Q. Hedenus, De Scission Vert. Ebrais ac Gentibus usitata, Jen. 1663 ; or in Ugolini, The saurus, xxix. ; Wichmannshausen, De Laceration Vestium ap. Hebr., Viteb. ; also in Ugolini, Thes. xxxiii. ; Wichmannshausen, De Corpore Scissuris figurisque non cruentando, Viteb. ; J. G. Michaelis, De Incisura super mortice's, in Observatt. Sacr.)— J. F. D.