Plato sanctioned the planting of trees over sepulchres, and the tomb of Ariadne was in the Arethusian Groves of Crete. The Catacombs of Thebes were excavated in the gorges of forest-clad hills, on the opposite bank of the Nile; and those of Memphis were beyond the lake Acherusia, from which the Grecian mythologists derived their fabulous accounts of the Elysian Fields. There it was supposed the souls of the virtuous and illustrious retired after death, and roamed through bowers forever green, and over meadows spangled with flowers, and refreshed by perennial streams. In the mountains near Jerusalem were located the tombs of the opulent Israelites; and in a Garden, near the base of Calvary, had Joseph, the Aramathean, prepared that memorable sepulchre in which was laid the crucified Messiah. The Greeks and Romans often selected the secluded recesses of wooded heights and vales, as favorable places of interment, or the borders of the great public highways, where elegant monuments were erected, and surrounded with cypress and other ever-verdant trees. Many of the richly-sculptured sarcophagi and magnificent tombs, reared by the once polished nations of Asia Minor, are still to be seen in the vicinity of the numerous ruined cities on the deserted coast of Karamania.
The Athenians allowed no burials within the city. The illustrious men, who had either died in the service of their country, or were thought deserving of the most distinguished honors, were buried in the Ceramicus,an extensive public cemetery on the road to Thria. Tombs and statues were erected to their memory, on which were recounted their praises and exploits; and
