... After the Body of the deceased Emperor had been burnt with the usual Solemnities, they placed an Image of Wax perfectly like him, but of a sickly Aspect, on a large Bed of Ivory, covered with Cloth of Gold, which they exposed to publick View at the Entrance of the Palace-Gate. The greatest Part of the Day the Senate sat ranged on the left side of the Bed, drest in Mourning Robes; the Ladies of the first Rank sitting on the right side, in plain and white Robes, without any Ornaments.... This lasted for seven Days successively; during which, the Physicians came from time to time to visit the Sick, always making their Report that he grew worse, till at length they publish’d it, that he was dead. This done, the _young Senators_ and _Roman Knights_ took the Bed of State upon their Shoulders, carrying it thro’ the _Via sacra_ to the old _Forum_, where the Magistrates used to divest themselves of their Offices: There they let it down between two kinds of Amphitheatres; in the one, were the Youth, and in the other the Maidens of the first Families in _Rome_, singing Hymns set to solemn Airs in praise of the Deceased. Those Hymns ended, the Bed was carried out of the City into the _Campus Martius_, in the middle of which Place was erected a kind of square Pavilion; the Inside thereof was full of combustible Matter, and the Outside hung with Cloth of Gold, and adorned with Figures of Ivory, and various Paintings. Over this Edifice were several others, like the first in Form and Decoration, but less; always diminishing, and growing slenderer towards the Top, and a great many aromatick Perfumes, and odoriferous Fruits and Herbs were thrown all around: After which, the Knights made a Procession in solemn Measures about the Pile; several Chariots ran round it, those who conducted them being clad in purple Robes, and bearing the Images of the greatest _Roman_ Emperors and Generals. This Ceremony ended, the new Emperor came to the _Catafalco_ or Pile with a Torch in his hand, and at the same time Fire was put to it on all sides by the Company, the Spices and all Combustibles kindling all at once. While this was doing, they let fly from the Top of the Building an _Eagle_, which mounting into the Air with a Firebrand, carried the Soul of the dead Emperor along with it into Heaven, as the _Romans_ believ’d; and thenceforward _he was ranked among the Gods_. ’Tis for this Reason that the Medals wherein the _Apotheoses_ are represented, have usually an Altar with Fire upon it, or however an Eagle taking its Flight into the Air, and sometimes two Eagles[409]. Footnote 409: _Herodian_, who writ his History in 8 Books, from whom we have the Ceremonies of the Apotheosis of the _Roman_ Emperors, lib. 4.