On the day next but one after death the contractor, attended by subordinates dressed in black, marshals his procession.  Though it is daytime, the procession will be accompanied by torches—­another piece of conservatism reminiscent of the time when funerals took place at night, as they still did with children and commonly with the lower orders.  First go the musicians, playing upon flageolet, trumpet, or horn; behind these, professional wailing-women, who raise loud lamentation and beat their breasts.  Next come the wax-masks, already mentioned, of the distinguished ancestors of the Silii.  These, which are life-like portraits, have been taken out of their cupboards in the wing of the reception-hall, and are worn over their faces by men of a build as nearly as possible resembling that of the ancestors represented.  Each man also wears the insignia of the character for whom he stands.  The more of such “effigies” a house could produce, the greater its glory.  Such, however, was not the original purpose of this part of the procession, for—­though it had doubtless been generally forgotten—­the intention was to represent the deceased as being conducted into the underworld by an honourable company already established there.  After the effigies comes that which would correspond to our hearse.  It is, however, no hearse of the modern kind, but a bier or couch with the usual embellishment of ivory and with covers of purple worked with gold.  On this the body lies, open to the sky, like that of Juliet.  The bearers are either relatives or such slaves as have been set free under Silius’s last will.  Behind come the nearest relatives or heirs, the freedmen, friends, and clients, all clothed in black, except the women, who are in white, without colour or gold upon their dress.  Young Publius will walk with his head covered by his toga; Bassa with her hair loose and dishevelled.  The whole party will utter lamentations, though under more restraint than those of the professional women in front.

Silius having been a senator and a man of other official standing, the procession passes from the Caelian Hill along the Sacred Way to the Forum, as far as the Rostra or speaking-platform.  There the bier is set down, the “ancestors” seat themselves on the folding-stools which were the old-fashioned chairs of the higher officers, and one of the relatives delivers an oration in praise, not only of Silius, but of his family as represented in the ancestors.

[Illustration:  FIG. 121.—­TOMB OF CAECILIA METELLA.]

[Illustration:  FIG. 122.—­STREET OF TOMBS. (POMPEII.)]

The procession then forms again, and the party proceeds to whatever place outside the walls may contain the family tomb of the Silii.  No burial is allowed within the city proper, and for our purposes we will assume that the place is distant nearly a mile along the Appian Way.  We will assume also that Silius is to be cremated, and not simply buried in a coffin or a marble sarcophagus.  Few persons of the higher classes, except certain of the Cornelii, are buried at this date, although there is nothing in law or custom to prevent the choice.  There exists no “crematorium,” and the Silii are regularly burned at their own sepulchral allotment beside the “Queen of Roads.”