March 07 Essay Entry

[Primus Pilus]

Entry by Decimus Caesar

Decimus_Caesar_Death_and_Burial.doc

Decimus_Caesar___Death_and_Burial.pdf

[Nephele]

My taste for the macabre naturally drew me to your essay, DC. An enjoyable read!

 

I don't know whether any of your sources provided the full quotation for one of those epitaphs you quoted ("I was not, I was, I am not, I don't care") but here it is: "Bathing, wine, and love-affairs -- these hurt our bodies, but they make life worth living. I've lived my days. I revelled, and I drank all that I desired. Once I was not; then I was; now I am not again -- but I don't care!"

 

-- Nephele

[The Augusta]

My taste for the macabre naturally drew me to your essay, DC. An enjoyable read!

 

I don't know whether any of your sources provided the full quotation for one of those epitaphs you quoted ("I was not, I was, I am not, I don't care") but here it is: "Bathing, wine, and love-affairs -- these hurt our bodies, but they make life worth living. I've lived my days. I revelled, and I drank all that I desired. Once I was not; then I was; now I am not again -- but I don't care!"

 

-- Nephele

 

Put that on my gravestone, Nephele!

 

I too enjoyed this Decimus. It's a fascinating topic, and I did not realise that cremations only really came in around the time of Sulla. What a vivid picture you paint of all these different funerary traditions. Personally - and this is certainly not a criticism - I would have liked to have read even more on this, and whilst you did compare the pagan to the Christian Roman attitudes to death, I thought it might have been quite interesting to bring in the Greek attitudes too, and how these perhaps influenced Roman thinking. I especially liked the contrast you brought out between the classes too. A very enjoyable and informative read!