Our readers may remember that the ancient Romans never permitted the
dead to be buried within the city,[15] a practice well worthy the
imitation of its modern inhabitants. One of the Laws of the Twelve
Tables was

Hominem mortuum in urbe ne sepelito, neve urito,

(neither bury nor burn a dead body in the city.) But this law must be
understood with this limitation, that the Senate occasionally granted
exemption from it, to distinguished individuals, though so rarely,
that a tomb within the walls of Rome seems to have been considered a
reward of the most pre-eminent virtue.

[15] See an Interesting Inquiry on Burying in Vaults, by an
esteemed Correspondent, since deceased--in vol. xv. of
_The Mirror_.

The tombs of the Romans were characterized by their impressive
grandeur. The Roman satirists, Juvenal and Horace, censure the pomp
and splendour of the tombs, particularly those on the Via Appia. "On
that 'Queen of Ways,' and way to the Queen of Cities, were crowded the
proud sepulchres of the most distinguished Romans: and their
mouldering remains still attest their ancient grandeur." Again, "those
who have traced the long line of the Appian Way, between its ruined
and blackening sepulchres, or stood in the Street of Tombs that leads
to the Gate of Pompeii, and gazed on the sculptured magnificence of
these marble dwellings of the dead, must have felt their solemnity,
and admired their splendour."[16]

[16] Rome, &c., vol. ii.