, 1885-09-08
ruVgRALs OF DEPARTED HEROES.


AfnxuInsent Pageeuts in Honor 81 Gresi
Captains Of History,
Boston Adveri,eri
To a philosopher. oil course, the dis
aasition o. a ~lifeless human body seem.
i matter Of small moment but TO the
great body Of the people the funeral
rites and last resting place of ono OF
is great heroes are matters OF keenest
interest.
Two long years were consumed in the
formi liable preparations for the funeral
of Alexander the Great. Dying at
Baiy OH. he directed that his body,
which was Immediately emEalmed with
elaborate care by gyptian and Chal-
dean adopts, should be deposited in the
temple of jupiter on an Egyptian oasis
tndetcrred hy the enormous distance,
the procession set forth, an army Of
workmen having heen sent forward to
repair the roads and bridges. The flu
neral car was drawn by sixty-fou mules,
chosen for their strength and sic,
splendidly c~aparisoned. The car itself
was Of surprising magniicence, the
spokcs and naVes Of the wheels and end
Of the nXles being covered with
gold. the platform unfolding a royal
pavilion incrusted with gems, support
ing "A throne and n co lin, the latter of
solid gold and filled with costly spices.
But the body never reached its de ,tina-
ton. Ptolemy arrested its progress,
and buried it at Alexandria, which city
may be said to have itself proved the
enduring monument of the conqueror.
cry different was the funeral Of
Julius c. sar. The circumstances of his
death were so tragic, and such enor-
nous crowds gathered to the ceremony
that they could not be formed into n
procession, and the different classes Of
people were accordingly asked to CONT
together under their appropriate insignia
in the Field of Mars. The body of the
great loman was exposed, lying upon a
gilded bed, covered with scarlet and
cloth Of gold, and placed under n mag
nihcent canopy in the form of a temple.
After the funeral ceremonies wero
over, n question arose where they should
burn the body. Some suggested 4 tem
pie on Capitoline hill; others suggested
the senate house where he had fallen,
The senate, less willing to pay him ex-
%traordinary honors proposed n moro re
tired spot. The discussion was fast be-
coming 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 n
moment there was the widest excite
ment. The multitude fell to work
directly building the funeral pyre' upon
the spot. First they brought fagots and
then benches from the neighboring por-
ticos, and next any c%ombustible material
they could find, and at length, as the
excitement grew, tho soldiers threw in
their arms the musicians their instru-
ments, while others stripped down and
threw upon the flames the trappings OF
the funeral procession. 20 Herce was
the fire that il spread To the neigh or
ing houses, and was only with the great
est difficulty extinguishe D.. AS a hitting
monument the people erected TO the
Mighty julius a lofty column sur-
mounted by a star.
Coming down to modern times, the
accounts of tho obse luies of the Iron
Duke perhaps the greatest ever
known in England, and the second fun
eral of Napoleon must still be borne
freshly in mind by many of the seter-
ans of to-day. The duke of Wellington
after lying in state five days at Chelsea
hospital, was borne TO his last resting
place in st. raul 5 on a ear drawn by
twelve horses, accompanied by a vast
military and civic c%oncourse, the latter
including / rince Albert, both houses OF
parliament, judges, mobiles, public
bodies, thu mourning coaches of the
queen and royal family, and an innum-
cradle throng of the people.
Napoleon's funeral, as a parade, re-
mains unparalleled in our times. The
cherished remains of their hero, having
been received by the french from the
lnglish nineteen years after his death,
it was not so much a funeral as a asst
triumphal procession that followed,
during which all France resounded with
booming cannon, tolling bells and
strains of martial music, while the ex-
cited people lined the banks of the
seine and filled the air with fren led
shouts and cries and fohs of oy and
oongratulation. The resourc S O. fun
eral art were exhausted upon The pa
geant, and the Imagination is unable to
distinguish the details of a procession
in which the catafal ne. the central OBJ
ect Of interest, was Lorne on a NOV
ing mound of gold and velvet drawn
by sixteen black horses and guarded
and escorted, il is said, by al army Of
10000 soldiers.
Compare with these splendors the
quiet and simple funeral rites of our
own Washington, so BETTING republi-
can simplicity and the character of him
who was, nevertheless, first in the
hearts of his countrymen.' A gather
ing of the dignitaries Of the neighbor-
ing towns of Alexandria, with the mill
tary and Free Masons, his friends and
neighbors, his W war horse duly ca
%parisoned, led in the midst, one vessel
in the river hard by aring minute guns,
and the whole proce sion confined to his
WAS made and still is.