Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1885-08-13
FAMOUS FUNERALS.
Magnificent PaGeants in Honor or Departed
Heroes.
stOn Advert,

1 --------
Magnificent PaGeants IN Honor or Departed
Heroes
Boston Adyertiserl
To philosopher, of course, the dis
position of the lifeless human body
seems a matter of small moment hut
to the great body of the people the fu-
neral rites and last resting-place Of one
Of its great heroes are matters Of keen
est interest. In view of the late obse-
Quies Of our own great national hero,
it will be interesting to recall the
honors paid after death to the remains
of some Of the great captains Of his
tory.
Two long years were consumed in the
formidable preparations for the funeral
Of Alexander the Great. Dying at
Babylon. he directed that his body,
which was Immediately embalmed with
elaborate care by Egyptian and Chal-
dean adopts, should be deposited in the
Temple of Jupiter, on an Egyptian
oasis. Undeterred., by the enormous
distance, the procession set forth, an
army of workmen having been sent for
ward to repair the roads and bridges.
The funeral-car was drawn by sixty-four
mules, chosen for their strength and size,
splendidly caparisoned. The car itself
was of surprising magniiicence, the
spokes and naves Of the wheels and ends
of the axles being covered with gold,
the platform unfolding a royal pavilion
incrusted with gems, supporting a
throne and coffin, the latter of solid
gold and filled with costly spices. But
the body never reached its destination.
Ptolemy arrested its progress and bu-
ried 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 Ju-
lips Caesar. The circumstances Of his
death were so tragic, and such enormous
crowds gathered to the ceremony, that
they could not be formed into a process
sion, and the different classes of people
were accordingly asked to come to-
gether under their appropriate insignia
in the field Of Mars. The body of the
great Roman was exposed lying upon
a gilded bed, covered with scarlet and
cloth Of gold, and placed under a mag
ni6cent canopy in the form of a
temple.
After the funeral services were over
question arose where they should burn
the body. Some suggested temple on
Capitoline hill; others suggested the
Senate house, where he had fallen. The
Senate, less willing to pay him extra
ordinary honors, proposed a more re-
tired spot. The discussion was fast be-
coming 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 was the swildest ex-
element. The multitude fell to work
directly building the funeral pyre upon
the spot. First they brought fagots
and then benches from the neighboring
porticos, and next any combustiblc
material they could find and at length,
as the excitement grew, the soldiers
threw in their arms, the musicians
their instruments, while others stripped
down the trappings Of the funeral pro-
cessiOn. So fierce was the fire that it
spread to the neighboring houses, and
was only with the greatest difficulty
extinguished. As fitting monument
the people erected to the Mighty
Julius" lofty column surmounted by
q star.
Coming down to modern times, the
accounts Of the obsequies of the - Iron
Duke" perhaps the greatest ever
known in England, and the second
funeral of Napoleon must still be
borne freshly in mind by many of the
veterans 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. Paul's
on a car drawn by twelve horses, &C
companied by vast military and civic
concourse, 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.
Nspoleon'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
English nineteen years after his death,
1t was not so much q funeral as q vast
triumphal procession that followed,
during which all France resounded
wfh booming cannon, tolling bells,
and strains Of martial music, while the
excited people lined the banks of the
Seine and filed the air with frenzied
shouts and cries and sobs of Joy and
graduation. The resources of funeral
art were exhausted upon the pageant,
and the imagination is unable to dis
tinguish the details Of a procession in
which the catafalco, the central object
Of interest, was borne on a moving
mound Of gold and velvet drawn by
sixteen black horses and guarded and
escorted, it is said, by an army Of 1907
600 soldiers.
Compare with these splendors the
quiet and simple funeral rites Of oar
own Washington, so BETTING republican
simplicity and the character Of him who
was, nevertheless, first in the hearts
of his countrymen." A gathering of
the dignitarics Of the neighboring town
OF Alexandria, with the militia and
Freemasons, his friends and neighbors,
his own wsr-horse, duly caparisoned,
led in tie midst, one vessel in the river