Durango semi-weekly herald., 1907-09-02

absolutely necessary. The ordinary
modern care Of the dead and the lay
ing of flowers upon their graves are
prompted by no conscious thought that
they are pleased by the adorned cof,
fms or the fragrance OF the flowers.
Epicurus required the usual funeral
honors for himself and his friends.
Cicero tells us, although he denied
the existence of the soul after death.
Professor Seymour suggests that many
n successor OF Epicurus makes the
same demand and expects a handsome
monument
is the shadow reflection or imitation
OF mans life on earth, according to
Homer. His idea is almost as neutral
as the Hebrew Sheol. Even tho
voices of the dead are but echoes OF
their former selves. although Pindar
describes them as entertaining them
selves with horse races, gymnastic
contests. playing checks and twanging
the Tyre. Evidently in Pindar's time.
Professor Seymour remarks. ghosts
had gained much additional vigor. Ac
dead are as unsubstantial as dreams.
Death and sleep are twin brothers, and
the entrance to the land of shades
lies hard by the country OF dreams
but ghosts in the main pursue OF the
occupations in which they were EN-
ployed while on the earth. Kings re
main kings and hunters follow game
and the daughters OF Danaus were re
quired to carry water to continue the
irrigation operations on which they
were engaged before death. Odyssens
recognizes his mother and Other
| friends Their faces. and forms are
not changed. The shade of Hercules
was found feasting with the immor-
| tai gods, although he carried bow
and appeared ready to shoot, while
| the ghost of the mighty hunter Orion,
with bronze club-donbtless the
! NllHut vi MS iOlultI Clhb sum sii"s
| ing the ghosts of the wild beasts he
slew in the mountains before he died.
If the ghost of Tantalus, Slsyphus
and Tityus are included, Professor
| Seymour says. dead men not only suf-
| fer hunger and thirst, but also physi-
| cal pain and perform physical labor.
l A
| learn about his son Orestes: Achilles
inquired concerning his son Neoptole-
| mus, and evidently had not heard OF
him from any of the newcomers be-
| fore the arrival of Odysseus in Hades.
| Even this shadowy existence of the
souls of the dead was not conceived
by the Greeks as lasting forever. Pro
fessor Seymour says 1t is not immor-
tality in the modern sense. Odysseus
found in Hades no ghost older than
| the second or third generation before
him. That existence In Hades was not
satisfactory to Achilles is shown by
his reply to Odysseus, who congratu-
lates him on his honors In that state
as "A worthy sequence to his glorious
life on earth: Speak not comfort
ably to me OF death. o glorious Odys-
seus. should rather be upon the
field as the servant of another, of one
who had no land and little property
than he the king of all the dead
Professor Seymour says that in gen.
eral men are neither punished in
Hades for their evil deeds done on
EARTH nor rewarded for their good
deeds. Strictly speaking Homer
knows of no instance of reward and
of only one case of punishment after
death. Sisyphus and Tantalus suffer
but for no stated crime Sisyphus, the
old ruler of Corinth, was doing in
Hades just what he had been doing in
life. heaving great stones up n hill
Just as Orion continued his occupa.
tion of hunting.
While the spirits of men after death
were thought to lead shadowy exist
ence, as is indicated for them in the
Homeric poems. there was no need oi
cheering or propitiating them in any
way They passed from the regions
of earth nevermore to return: they
were helpless and powerless. once
admitted to the realms of Hades. a
soul is beyond the reach of friends
and enemies on earth; 1t can receive
no satisfaction; 1t can work neither
veal nor woe.
Upon leaving their old homes and
the graves of their ancestors on the
mainland OF Greece, and in particular
on adopting the custom of burning
the bodies OF the dead. which would
remove the possibility of the souls
return TO its former habltation. the
Greeks who migrated to Asia Minor
left behind them also their belief in
the influence over them of the spirits
of their ancestors. But this is not
wholly satisfactory, for even If they
left their old ghosts behind them,
they could have gained new ones in
l hA