Encyclopaedia Britannica > Volume 7, ETM-GOA

FUN [ 5°3 1 FUN
FtmmL fcfibed.^ The corpfe being brought into their great
oratory^called the Roflra, the next of the kin laudalat
defunSum pro rojiris, that is, made a funeral oration, in
the commendation principally of the party deceafed,
but touching the worthy afts alfo of thofe his prede-
ceffors whofe images were there prefent. The account
given by Dr Ken net is in thefe words: “ In all the
funerals of note, efpecially in the public or indidtive,
the corpfe was firft brought with a valt train of follow¬
ers into the Eorum ; here one of the neareft relations
afcended the roftra, and obliged the audience with an
oration in praife of the deceafed. If none of the kin¬
dred undertook the office, it was difcharged by fome
of the moft eminent perfons in. the city for learning
and eloquence, as-Appian Reports of the funeral of
Sylla. And Pliny the younger reckons it as the lad
addition to the happinefs of a very great man, that he
had the honour to be praised at his funeral by the molt
eloquent Tacitus, then conful; which is agreeable to*
Quintilian’s account of this matter, Nam et funebres,
&c. For the funeral os-ations (fays he) depend very
often on fome public office, and by order of fenate
are many times given in charge to the magiflrates to
be performed by themfeives in perfon. The invention
of this cultom is generally attributed to Valerius Pop-
licola, foon after the expulsion of the regal family.
Plutarch tells us, that honouring his colleague’s obfe-
quies with a funeral oration, it fo pleafedthe Romans,
that it became cuftomary for the bed men to celebrate
the funerals of great perfons with fpeecbes in their
commendations*” Thus Julius Caefar, according to
cudom, made an oration in the roftra, in praife of his
wife Cornelia, and his aunt Julia, when dead; wherein,
he ffiowed, that his aunt’s del'cent, by her mother’s
fide, was from kings, and by her father’s from the-
gods. Plutarch fays, that “ he approved of the. law?
of the Romans, which ordered fuitable praifes to be-
given to women as well as to men, after, death.”
Though by what he fays in another place, it Teems
that the old Roman law was, that funeral orations
fhould be made only for the elder women; and
therefore he fays, that Casfar was the fird that made
one upon his own wife, it not being then ufual
to.take notice of younger women in that way : but
by that ait ion he gained much favour From the popu¬
lace, who afterwards looked upon him, and loved him
as a very mild and good man. The reafon why fuch
a law was made in favour of the women, Livy tells us,
was this, That when there was Jueh a fcarcity of mo¬
ney in the public, treafur.y, that the fum agreed upon
to give the Gauls to break up the fiege of the city and
capital could not be raifed, the women colleited a-
mong themfeives and made it up ; who hereupon had-
not only thanks given them, but this additional ho¬
nour, that after death, they- fhould be folemnly praifed-
- as well as the men: which looks as if, before this
time, only the men had thofe funeral orations made
for them.
This cuftom of the Romans very early obtained-
among the Chriftians. Some of their funeral fermons
or orations are now extant, as that ef Eufebius on
Condantine; and thofe of Wazianzen on Baiil and Cffi-
farius ; and of Ambrofe on Valentinian, Theqdofius,
and others. Gregory, the brother of Bafd, made
tvanSuo, a funeral oralian, for Melitius biffiop of
Antioch: in which orations, they not only praifed the Funeral,
dead, but addreded themfeives to them, which feems
to have introduced the cuftom of praying to departed
faints. Now thefe orations were ufually made before
the bodies of the deceafed were committed to the
ground ; which cuftom has been more or lefs continued
ever frnce, to this day.
Thus it appears, that thofe rites and ceremonies
among the heathens, which have been delivered from
one people to another, are what have given birth to
Funeral Sermons and Orations among Chriftians.
Though this pra&ice is confiderably improved, and
cleared of many things which would fmell too rank of
paganifm, and is thrown-into a method which, perhaps,
may be of fome fervice to Chiiftianity ; yet, notwith-
ftunding this new drefs, its original may very eafily be
difcerned. The method in which the charafters of
deceafed pt'ihms are given in our funeral fermons, is
very much the fame with that obferved in thofe pagan
orations ; where firft an account is given of the paren¬
tage of the deceafed, then of his education; after that,
we hear of his conduft in riper years : then his many
virtues are reckoned up, with his generous, noble, and
excellent performances.—Nor let the pradlict be con¬
demned becaufe of its rife and original; for why may
not the cuftom of heathens, if juft and laudable in them-
felves, and no ways pernicious to Chriftianity in their
confequences, be followed by Chriftians ? Only, fince
we are come into this pra&ice, there is one thing we
ffiould take care to follow them in; and that is, not
to make thofe fermons or orations for every one ; but
for thofe only whofe characters are diftinguilhed, who
have been eminently ufefnl in the world, and in the-
church of Chrift. The old heathens honoured thofe
• alone with this part of the funeral folemnity, who were -
men of probity and juftice, renowned for their wifdom ;
and knowledge, or famous for-warlike exploits: This,
as Cicero* informs us, being part of the law for burials, * De L.’gy
which directs, that the praifes only of honourable per- ^ a-
Tons thall be mentioned in the oration. • It would be
much more agreeable, therefore, if our funeral dif-
courfes, were not fo common, and if the characters *
given of the deceafed were more Juft ; devoid of that
fulfom flattery with which they too often abound.
FUNGI (from the name of the
4th. order of the 24th clafs of vegetables, in the Lin-
nsean fyftem ; comprehending all thofe which are of
the mufhroom kind, and which in Tournefort confti-
tute,the 2d, 3d, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th, genera of
the firft feCtion in the clafs xvii. This order in Lin-
nasus contains 10 genera. • See Agaxicus,.Boletus,
Clavaria, Lycqperdon, &c. •
Fungi, an order of plants in the Fragment a Me-
thodi Naturalis of X.innseus. See Bor an Y,p. 470.
The ancients called fungi children of the earthy mean¬
ing, no doubt, to indicate the obfcurity of their origin.
The moderns have iikewife been at a lofs in what ranfc
to place them; fome referring them to the animal,
fome to the vegetable, and others to the mineral king¬
dom.
! Meflrs Wilck and Miinchaufen have not-fcrupled to
rank thefe bodies in the number of animal productions;
becaufe, when fragments of them or their feeds were
macerated in water, thefe gentlemen perceived a quan¬
tity of animalcules difcharged, which they fuppofed -.1
capafele . r;