Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 31, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 August 1893 — Funeral Ceremonies Over a Crow. [ARTICLE]

Funeral Ceremonies Over a Crow.

One of the most unique pages in Pliny’s “Natural History" is that which tells of the funeral rites performed over the remains of a crow (raven) at Rome during the reign of the Emperor Tiberius. The crow, or raven, thus honored by being “funcrally burnt” or cremated was one of the brood hatched on ihe temple of Castor. A shoemaker whose shop was near by was frequently visited by the bird, which soon learned to speak and • perform many odd tricks. The patriotic follower of Bt. Crispin taught the bird to lly to the top of the Rostra each morning and hail the Emperor Tiberius iu a loud voice and to proclaim Roman valor to the astonished populaoe in the street below. This was done regularly every morning, the bird returning to the shoemaker's shop after performing the duties of greeting the high and the low of the empire. Finally the accomplished bird was killed by a rival sandal maker who was iealous of the advertising his competitor’s shop was getting through the crow’s queer pranks. This act on the part of the heartless wretch so enraged the people of the Eternal City that they drove the “murderer” out of the empire, and when he returned actually put him to death! The [jird received the highest honors at its funeral, the body being “placed upon a litter carried upon the shoulders of two stalwart Ethiopians, preceded by a piper, and was borne to the funeral pyre covered with garlands of every size and description.” After giving an account of this queer ceremony. Pliny adds; “This happened in a city in which no such crowds had ever escorted the funeral of any one' out of the whole number of its dist nguished men.”—lSt. Louis Republic.