The Opelousas courier., 1885-09-26
SOME FAMOUS FUNERALS.
Magnificent Pageants in Hon.
or Of Departed Heroes.
O~bsequies of Alexander, Julius Caesar, WEI
lington, Napoleon anu Washington.

tHo Aoi ulludO1c pIePdiaVioAo AoA WIZ
funeral of Alexander the Great. Dy-
ing at Babylon, he directed that his
body, which was Immediately embalm-
ed with elaborate care by Egyptian
and Chaldean adopts, should be depos-
tied in the Temple of Jupiter Oh an
Egyptian oasis. Undeterred by the
enormous distance, the procession set
forth, an army of workmen having
been sent forward to repair the roads
and bridges. The funeral-car was
drawn by sixty-four mules, chosen for
their strength and size, splendidly cap
arisoned. The car itself vas Of sur
passing magniicence, the spokes and
naves of the wheels and ends of the
axles being covered with gold. the
platform upholding a royal pavilion
incrusted with gems, supporting a
throne and a coffin, the latter of solid
gold and filled with costly spices. But
the body never reached its destination.
Ptolemy arrested its progress and bur
led it at Alexandria, which city may
be said to have itself proved the en-
during monument of the conqueror.
Very different was the funeral of
julius Caesar. The circumstances Of
his death were so tragic, and such
enormous crowds gathered to the cere-
mony, that they could not be formed
into a procession, and the different
classes of people were accordingly ask
ed to come together under their appro-
pirate insignia in the Field of Mars.
The body of the great Roman was ex-
posed lying upon a gilded bed, covered
with scarlet and a cloth of gold, and
placed under a magnificent canopy in
the form of a temple.
After the funeral ceremonies were
over, a question arose whero they
should burn the body. Some suggest
ed a temple on Capitoline hill, others
suggested the senate-house where he
had fallen. The senate, less willing
to pay him extraordinary honors, pro.
posed a more retired spot. The dis
cusslon was fast becoming a dispute
when two soldiers, with drawn swords
and blazing torches in their hands,
forced their way through the crowd
and set fire to the bed. In a moment
there vas the widest excitement. The
multitude fell to work directly build
ing the funeral enyge upon the spot.
First they brought fagots and then
benches from the neighboring porticos,
and next any combustible material
they could find, and at length, as the
excitement grew. the soldiers threw in
their arms, the musicians their instru-
ments, while others stripped down
and threw upon the flames the trap
pings of the funeral procession. So
fierce was the fire that it spread to the
neighboring houses, and was only
with the greatest difficulty extinguish-
ed. AS a fitting monument, the peo-
pie erected to the Mighty julius" a
lofty column surmounted by a star.
Coming down to modern times. ac-
counts of the obsequies of the "Iron
Duke" perhaps the greatest ever
known in England. and the second flu
neral of Napoleon must still be born
freshly in mind by many of the veter-
ans of to-day. The duke of yelling
ton, after lying in state five days in
Chelsea hospital, was born to his last
resting-place in st. Paurs on a car
drawn by twelve horses, accompanied
by a vast military and civic c%oncourse,
the latter including Prince Albert,
both houses of parliament, judges,
mobiles. public bodies, the mourning
coaches of the queen and royal family,
and an innumerable throng of the
people.
Napoleon's funeral, as a parade, re-
mains unparalleled in our times. The
cherished remains of their hero, hav-
ing been received by the French from
the English nineteen years after his
death. It was not so much a funeral
as a vast triumphal procession that
followed, during Which all France re-
sounded with booming cannon, tolling
bells, and strains of martial music
while the excited people lined the
banks of the Seine and filled the air
with frenzied shouts and cries and
sobs Of joy and graduation. The re-
sources of funeral art were exhausted
upon the pageant, and the magma
tion is unable to distinguish the de.
tails of a procession in which the
catafalco, the central object of inter.
est, was borne On a moving mound Of
gold and velvet drawn by sixteen
black horses and guarded and escort.
ed. it is said, by an army Of 10000
soldiers.
Compare with these splendors the
quiet and simple funeral rites Of ou1
own Washington, so BETTING republic
can simplicity and the character oil
him who was, nevertheless, '.frst in