in Roman antiquity, gladiators who fought about the bustum, or funeral pile of a deceased person of distinction, in the ceremony of his obsequies.

This custom was found to be less barbarous than the first practice was of sacrificing captives at the bustum, or on the tomb of warriors; instances whereof we meet with both in Roman and Greek antiquities: the blood spilt on this occasion, was supposed to appease, by way of sacrifice, the infernal gods, that they might be more propitious to the manes of the deceased.