Probably burial and cremation stood with the Greeks somewhat in the relation which they seem about to attain with us. Although both methods may exist, the one may hold the supremacy and be, by far, the more frequently employed. Neither custom was ever entirely abandoned by the Hellenes, until the influence of the early Christian church was felt favoring interment after the Jewish practice. At present, there is a shrinking from cremation on the part of the great body of the civilized world, but who can tell what may be brought about when we have had such advocates of burning as Sir Thomas Browne, Dr. Lord, and Sir Henry Thompson? Our great countryman, Hawthorne, too, has given evidence of a predisposition, on his part, toward incineration although there is a touch of humor in his final suggestion. In his “English sketches,” he, characteristically, says “Among the classic marbles, I peeped into an urn that once contained the ashes of dead people, and the bottom still had an ashy hue. I like this mode of disposing of dead bodies, but it would be still better to burn them and scatter the ashes, instead of hoarding them up--to scatter them over wheat-fields or flower-beds.” Most of the accounts which we have of the details of cremation are found in Homer. That great bard gives some idea of the minor customs which found place about the funeral pyre. From the account given to Achilles by Agamemnon, as being a later arrival in the land of shades, the Greeks were wont, it would seem, to sacrifice “fat sheep and crooked-horned oxen” about the pyre and cover the deceased with unguents and honey[179]. Costly garments were also burned together with the corpse. In a play of Euripides, Hector tries to console the Muse-mother of Rhesus, by promising to burn with that departed warrior, “the splendor of ten thousand robes[180].” This custom of burning with the deceased the garments most esteemed in life is mentioned by Lucian as one of the weaknesses that “mortal flesh is heir to[181].” With a great soldier, such as Eetion or Elpenor, the armor was also burned[182]. If the deceased were a distinguished general, like Patroclus or Achilles, all present marched thrice around the blazing body[183]. As long as the pile continued to throw out fitful gleams and to consume the corpse, even if it lasted all night, the friends of the deceased never ceased pouring out libations[184] and calling upon his _manes_[185]. Just before the flames had entirely vanished, wine was poured on to extinguish the pyre, and whatever bones were left unconsumed were collected with the rest of the ashes into a vessel and buried. In the burials both of Patroclus and of Hector, this vessel is made of pure gold and the remains of the Greek are covered with a double layer of fat, while soft purple robes perform the same office for the Trojan[186].