as the punishment of a vestal who had violated her vow of virginity. The unhappy priestess was let down into a deep pit, with bread, water, milk, oil, a lamp burning, and a bed to lie on. But this was only for show; for the moment she was let down, they began to cast in the earth upon her till the pit was filled up. Some middle-age writers seem to make burying alive the punishment of a female thief.