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inherit more than a portion of his estate would not harbour strong feelings of guilt about his death, and would thus be less inclined to view his spirit as potentially malevolent. Although more work needs to be done in this area, there is some evidence that suggests that the punitive capacity of the manes did wane during the Empire. In Ravenna, for example, an impressive number of gravestones are extant which clearly show that, late in the second century A.D. and thereafter, it was no longer the ability of a spirit to avenge itself that protected the tomb from desecration, but the threat of a municipal fine. There are many variations on the warning to be read on the tombstone of L. Baebius Silvanus: siquis post obitum eorum qui supra scripti sunt has plancas aperuerit dare debebit rei publicae Ravennatium sestertium duo milia nummum "if anyone opens this tomb after the interment of those who have been named above, let him pay 2,000 sesterces to the municipal treasury of Ravenna” (CIL 11.43 = ILS 2863).81 This takes up too much of the stone to be practical, but then everyone seems to have understood what the abbreviation S.P.OBIT.E.Q.S.S.S.H.PLANC.A.D.D.R.P.R. HS...Ñ stood for. We end, as we began, with the stock epigraphic phrase.
Conclusions
The cult of the dead in Rome and China, two societies far distant from one another both in space and time, have now passed in review, and several striking similarities have been observed. In each, there is an afterlife conceived in material terms, and a ritual centred on sacrificial offerings considered essential for the well-being of the deceased. The spirits of the deceased are commonly thought to be capable of punishing individuals who neglect these rites, but in so doing they infringe upon the larger sphere of the hostile and aggressive ghosts. In both societies, it can be argued that men and women cease to receive offerings as individuals when there is no one left who knew them at first hand, and that property can play as decisive a role in fixing responsibility for the maintenance of the dead as kinship. Finally, in both Rome and China the capacity of ancestral spirits for punitive action may be due at least in part to the postponement of the ritual and economic emancipation of
142
JOHN KARL EVANS
inherit more than a portion of his estate would not harbour strong feelings of guilt about his death, and would thus be less inclined to view his spirit as potentially malevolent. Although more work needs to be done in this area, there is some evidence that suggests that the punitive capacity of the manes did wane during the Empire. In Ravenna, for example, an impressive number of gravestones are extant which clearly show that, late in the second century A.D. and thereafter, it was no longer the ability of a spirit to avenge itself that protected the tomb from desecration, but the threat of a municipal fine. There are many variations on the warning to be read on the tombstone of L. Baebius Silvanus: siquis post obitum eorum qui supra scripti sunt has plancas aperuerit dare debebit rei publicae Ravennatium sestertium duo milia nummun "if anyone opens this tomb after the interment of those who have been named above, let him pay 2,000 sesterces to the municipal treasury of Ravenna” (CIL 11.43 = ILS 2863),81 This takes up too much of the stone to be practical, but then everyone seems to have understood what the abbreviation S.P.OBIT.E.Q.S.S.S.H.PLANC.A.D.D.R.P.R. HS...Ñ stood for. We end, as we began, with the stock epigraphic phrase.
Conclusions
The cult of the dead in Rome in China, two societies far distant from one another both in space and time, have now passed in review, and several striking similarities have been observed. In each, there is an afterlife conceived in material terms, and a ritual centred on sacrificial offerings considered essential for the well-being of the deceased. The spirits of the deceased are commonly thought to be capable of punishing individuals who neglect these rites, but in so doing they infringe upon the larger sphere of the hostile and aggressive ghosts. In both societies, it can be argued that men and women cease to receive offerings as individuals when there is no one left who knew them at first hand, and that property can play as decisive a role in fixing responsibility for the maintenance of the dead as kinship. Finally, in both Rome and China the capacity of ancestral spirits for punitive action may be due at least in part to the postponement of the ritual and economic emancipation of
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