No More Learning

I have said, that husbandmen particularly, and those who took care of flocks, were in great esteem in Egypt, some parts of it excepted, where the latter were not suffered. It was, indeed, to these two professions that Egypt owed its riches and plenty. It is astonishing to reflect what advantages the Egyptians, by their art and labor, drew from a country of no great extent, but whose soil was made wonderfully fruitful by the inundations of the Nile, and the laborious industry of the inhabitants. It will be always so with every kingdom whose governors direct all their actions to the public welfare. The culture of lands, and the breeding of cattle, will be an inex haustible fund of wealth in all countries where these profitable callings are supported and encouraged by maxims of state policy. [This was a topical allusion to the doctrines of the " Physio crats," the French economic reformers of the mid-18th century, who held that as all wealth is derived from agricultural sur plus, agriculture should bear all the taxes and receive compen sating state favors. The government eagerly adopted the first proposition, forgot the second, and gave the Revolution another impetus. ]
104 PRECEPTS OF PTAH-HOTEP.
THE PRECEPTS OF PTAH-HOTEP. — THE OLDEST BOOK YET DISCOVERED.
About 2500 B. C.
Be not arrogant because of that which thou knowest ; deal with the ignorant as with the learned ; for the barriers of art are not closed, no artist being in possession of the perfection to which he should aspire.
If thou findest a disputant while he is hot, and if he is supe rior to thee in ability, lower the hands, bend the back, do not get into a passion with him. As he will not let thee destroy his words, it is utterly wrong to interrupt him ; that proclaims that thou art incapable of keeping thyself calm, when thou art contradicted.
If then thou hast to do with a disputant while he is hot, imitate one who does not stir. Thou hast the advantage over him if thou keepest silence when he is uttering evil words. " The better of the two is he who is impassive," say the by standers, and thou art right in the opinion of the great.
If thou findest a disputant while he is hot, do not despise him because thou art not of the same opinion. Be not angry against him when he is wrong ; away with such a thing. He fights against himself; require him not further to flatter thy feelings. Do not amuse thyself with the spectacle which thou hast before thee ; it is odious, mean, [the part] of a despicable soul.
If thou hast, as leader, to decide on the conduct of a great number of men, seek the most perfect manner of doing so, that thy own conduct may be without reproach. Justice is great, invariable, and assured ; it has not been disturbed since the age of Osiris. To throw obstacles in the way of the laws, is to open the way before violence. Shall that which is below gain the upper hand, if the unjust does not attain to the place of
justice ? even he who says :
I take for myself, of my own free
will ; but says not :
limitations of justice are invariable.
The
I take
by
virtue of
my authority.
Inspire not men with fear, else God will fight against thee in the same manner. If any one asserts that he lives by such means [extortion by threats], God will take away the bread from his mouth ; if any one asserts that he enriches himself
PRECEPTS OF PTAH-HOTEP. 105
thereby, God says : I may take these riches to myself. If any one asserts that he beats others, God will end by reducing him to impotence. Let no one inspire men with fear, this is the will of God. Let one provide sustenance for them in the lap of peace ; it will then be that they will freely give what has been torn from them by terror.
If thou art among the persons seated at meat in the house of a greater man than thyself, take that which he gives thee, bowing to the ground. Regard that which is placed before thee, but point not at it ; regard it not frequently ; he is a blameworthy person who departs from this rule. Speak not to the great man more than he requires, for one knows not what may be displeasing to him. Speak when he invites thee and thy word will be pleasing.
As for the great man who has plenty of means of existence, his conduct is as he himself wishes. He does that which pleases him ; if he desires to repose, he realizes his intention. The great man stretching forth his hand does that to which other men do not attain. But as the means of existence are under the will of God, one cannot rebel against it.
If thou art one of those who bring the messages of one great man to another, conform thyself exactly to that where with he has charged thee : perform for him the commission as he hath enjoined thee. Beware of altering in speaking the offensive words which one great person addresses to another : he who perverts the truthfulness of his way, in order to repeat only what produces pleasure in the words of every man, great or small, is a detestable person. 1
If thou abasest thyself in obeying a superior, thy conduct is entirely good before God. Knowing who ought to obey and who ought to command, do not lift up thy heart against him. As thou knowest that in him is authority, be respectful towards him as belonging to him.
Be active, during the time of thy existence, doing more than is commanded. Do not spoil the time of thy activity; he is a blameworthy person who makes a bad use of his mo ments. Do not lose the daily opportunity of increasing that which thy house possesses. Activity produces riches, and riches do not endure when it slackens.
If thou art employed in the larit, stand or sit rather than walk about. Lay down rules for thyself from the first : not to absent thyself even when weariness overtakes thee. Keep an
106 PRECEPTS OF PTAH-HOTEP.
eye on him who enters announcing that what he asks is secret -, what is intrusted to thee is above appreciation, and all con trary argument is a matter to be rejected.
If thou art a leader of peace, listen to the discourse of the petitioner. Be not abrupt with him ; that would trouble him. Say not to him : " Thou hast [already] recounted this. " In dulgence will encourage him to accomplish the object of his coming. As for being abrupt with the complainant because he described what passed when the injury was done, instead of complaining of the injury itself, let it not be ! The way to obtain a clear explanation is to listen with kindness.
If thou desirest to excite respect within the house thou enterest, keep thyself from making advances to a woman, for there is nothing good in so doing. There is no prudence in taking part in it, and thousands of men destroy themselves in order to enjoy a moment, brief as a dream, while they gain death, so as to know it. It is a villainous intention that of a man who thus excites himself ; if he goes on to carry it out, his mind abandons him. For as for him who is without repug nance for such an act, there is no good sense at all in him.
If thou desirest that thy conduct should be good and pre served from all evil, keep thyself from every attack of bad humor. It is a fatal malady which leads to discord, and there is no longer any existence for him who gives way to it. For it introduces discord between fathers and mothers, as well as between brothers and sisters ; it causes the wife and the hus band to hate each other ; it contains all kinds of wickedness, it embodies all kinds of wrong.
Be not of an irritable temper as regards that which happens beside thee ; grumble not over thy own affairs. Be not of an irritable temper in regard to thy neighbors ; better is a compli ment to that which displeases than rudeness. It is wrong to get into a passion with one's neighbors, to be no longer master of one's words. When there is only a little irritation, one cre ates for oneself an affliction for the time when one will again be cool.
If thou art wise, look after thy house ; love thy wife with out alloy. Fill her stomach, clothe her back, these are the cares to be bestowed on her person. Caress her, fulfill her desires during the time of her existence ; it is a kindness which does honor to its possessor. Be not brutal ; tact will influence her better than violence. Behold to what she aspires, at what
PRECEPTS OF PTAH-HOTEP. 107
she aims, what she regards. It is that which fixes her in thy house ; if thou repellest her, it is an abyss. Open thy arms for her, respondent to her arms ; call her, display to her thy love.
Treat thy dependants well, in so far as it belongs to thee : it belongs to those whom God has favored. As we do not know the events which may happen to-morrow, he is a wise person by whom one is well treated. When there comes the necessity of showing zeal, it will then be the dependants them selves who say, " Come on, come on," if good treatment has not quitted the place ; if it has quitted it, the dependants are defaulters.
Do not repeat any extravagance of language ; do not listen to it ; it is a thing which has escaped from a hasty mouth. If it is repeated, look towards the earth without hearing it ; say nothing in regard to it. Cause him who speaks to thee to know what is just, even him who provokes to injustice ; cause that which is just to be done, cause it to triumph. As for that which is hateful according to the law, condemn it by unveil ing it.
If thou art a wise man, sitting in the council of thy lord, direct thy thought towards that which is wise. Be silent rather than scatter thy words. When thou speakest, know that which can be brought against thee. To speak in the council is an art, and speech is criticised more than any other labor ; it is contradiction which puts it to the proof.
If thou art powerful, respect knowledge and calmness of language. Command only to direct ; to be absolute is to run into evil. Let not thy heart be haughty, neither let it be mean. Do not let thy orders remain unsaid, and cause thy answers to penetrate ; but speak without heat, assume a serious counte nance. As for the vivacity of an ardent heart, temper it ; the gentle man penetrates all obstacles. He who agitates himself all the day long has not a good moment ; and he who amuses himself all the day long keeps not his fortune.
Disturb not a great man ; weaken not the attention of him who is occupied.
Compose thy face even in trouble : these are the people who succeed in what they desire.
Teach others to render homage to a great man. If thou gatherest the crop for him among men, cause it to return fully to its owner, at whose hands is thy subsistence. But the gift
108 PRECEPTS OF PTAH-HOTEP.
of affection is worth more than the provisions with which thy back is covered. Cause those about thee to be loving and obedient.
If thou art a son [deputy] of the guardians deputed to watch over the public tranquillity, execute thy commission without knowing [asking the reason], and speak with firmness. Substitute not for that which the instructor has said, what thou believest to be his intention. The great use words as it suits them : thy part is to transmit rather than to comment upon.
If thou art annoyed at a thing, if thou art tormented by some one who is acting within his right, get out of his sight, and remember him no more when he has ceased to address thee. [That is, bear no rancor after having been deservedly
blamed. ]
If thou hast become great after having been little, if thou
hast become rich after having been poor, when thou art at the head of the city know how not to take advantage of the fact that thou hast reached the first rank, harden not thy heart because of thy elevation : thou art become only the steward of the good things of God. Put not behind thee the neighbor who is like unto thee ; be unto him as a companion.
Bend thy back before thy superior. Thou art attached to the palace of the king ; thy house is established in its fortune, and thy profits are as is fitting. Yet a man is annoyed at hav ing an authority above"himself, and passes the period of life in being vexed thereat. Do not plunder the house of thy neigh bors, seize not by force the goods which are beside thee. " Exclaim not then against that which thou hearest, and do not feel humiliated. It is necessary to reflect when one is hin dered by it that the pressure of authority is felt also by one's neighbor. 1
If thou aimest at polished manners, call not him whom thou accostest [loudly? ]. Converse with him especially in such a way as not to annoy him. Enter on a discussion with him only after having left him time to saturate his mind with the subject of the conversation. If he lets his ignorance display itself, and if he gives thee an opportunity to disgrace him, treat him with courtesy rather ; proceed not to drive him into a corner ; do
1 This sheds a curious light on the difficulties of early government. As in all times of feudal turbulence, the officers of State, chiefly great nobles, are aggrieved at the king's hindering them from laying hands on anything they choose.
PRECEPTS OF PTAH-HOTEP. 109
not [suggest ? ] the word to him ; answer not in a crushing manner ; crush him not ; worry him not ; in order that in his turn he may not return to the subject, but depart to the profit of thy conversation.
Let thy countenance be cheerful during the time of thy existence. When we see one departing from the storehouse who has entered in order to bring his share of provision, with his face contracted, it shows that his stomach is empty and that authority is offensive to him. Let not that happen to thee.
Recognize those who are faithful to thee when thou art in low estate. Thy merit then is worth more than those who did thee honor. Look only at that which is a man's own. That is of more importance than his high rank ; for this is a matter which passes from one to another. The merit of one's son is advantageous to the father, and that which he really is is worth more than the remembrance of his father's rank.
Distinguish from the workman the superintendent who di rects, for manual labor is little elevated ; the inaction of the hands is honorable. If a man is not in the evil way, that which places him there is the want of subordination to authority.
If thou takest a wife, let her be more contented than any of her fellow-citizens. She will be attached to thee doubly, if her chain is pleasant. Do not repel her ; grant that which pleases her ; it is to her contentment that she appreciates thy direction.
As for the man without experience who listens not, he effects nothing whatsoever. He sees knowledge in ignorance, profit in loss ; he commits all kinds of error, always accord ingly choosing the contrary of what is praiseworthy. He lives on that which is mortal.
Let thy thoughts be abundant, let thy mouth be under re straint, and thou shalt argue with the great. Put thyself in unison with the ways of thy master. Apply thyself while thou speakest ; speak only of perfect things.
Do that which thy master bids thee. What he tells us, let it be fixed in our heart ; to satisfy him greatly, let us do for him more than he has prescribed. Verily a good son [pupil], who does better than he has been told, is one of the gifts of God.
110 THE EGYPTIAN JUDGMENT DAY.
THE EGYPTIAN JUDGMENT DAY. (From the " Book of the Dead," edited by F. A. Wallis Budge. )
Though the chapters of the " Book of the Dead " represent beliefs belonging to various periods of the long life of the Egyptian nation, and opinions held by several schools of thought in Egypt, the object of them all was to benefit the deceased. They were intended to give him the power to have and to enjoy life everlasting, to give him everything which he required in the life beyond the grave, to insure his victory over his foes, to procure for him the power of going whither soever he pleased, and when and how he pleased, to preserve the mummy intact, and finally to enable his soul to enter into the bark of Ra or into whatever abode of the blessed had been conceived of by him.
The Judgment Scene consists of three parts : Introduction, Negative Confession, and Concluding Text. The Introduction was said by the deceased at the entrance to the Hall of double Maati, the Negative Confession was recited by him before the forty-two gods who sat in judgment upon him in this hall, and the Concluding Text was uttered by him when he had passed the ordeal of judgment and was beginning his new life. It is probable that these three texts were originally merely versions each of the other, but in the eighteenth dynasty they are all copied together into papyri. The deceased first asserted that he had not committed certain sins; he next addressed forty- two gods by their names, and declared before each that he had not committed the special sin which it was the duty of the god to punish ; and lastly he makes a third confession, the first part of which is practically in the same words as a portion of the Introduction. The Introduction provided the passwords which enabled him to enter the hall, and the Concluding Text provided those which enabled him to go forth from it. It is impossible to say when or how this beautiful chapter, with its lofty conceptions of morality, grew ; but although the form in which these are set forth is not older than the eighteenth dynasty, the ideas themselves belong to a period which is as old as the rule of the kings of the third dynasty.
From the Negative Confession we see that the pious Egyp tian abhorred fraud, theft, deceit, robbery with violence, iniquity
THE EGYPTIAN JUDGMENT DAY. Ill
of every kind, adultery, unchastity and sins of wantonness, man slaughter, murder, incitement to murder, and that he delighted in showing he had wronged none in any way. He neither pur loined the things which belonged to his god, nor did he slay the sacred animals; he thought not lightly of the god of his city, and he never cursed him. He honored his king, and he neither wasted his neighbor's plowed lands nor defiled his running stream. He spake not haughtily, he behaved not in solently, he multiplied not his speech overmuch, he abused no man, he attacked no man, he swore not at all, he stirred not up strife, he terrified no man, he was not a man of wrath, he spake evil of none, and he never pried into matters to make mischief. He judged not hastily, he defrauded not his neigh bor in the market, he shut not his ears to the words of right and truth, he sought not honors, he never gave way to anger except for a proper cause, and he sought not to enrich himself at the expense of his neighbors. It is difficult to give the exact shades of meaning of many of the words in this Confes sion, but the general sense is thoroughly well made out ; the Egyptian code of morals, as may be seen from the one hundred and twenty-fifth chapter, was the grandest and most compre hensive of those now known to have existed among the nations of antiquity.
The reader will seek, and seek in vain, for many of the at tributes of the prayers of Christian nations, and it is a notice able fact that the Egyptian had no conception of repentance ; 1 at the Judgment which took place in the Hall of Osiris, he based his claim for admission into the kingdom of that god upon the fact that he had not committed certain sins, and that he had feared God and honored the king, and had given bread to the hungry, drink to the thirsty, clothes to the naked, and a boat to him that had suffered shipwreck on the Nile.
The Introduction.
The following shall be said when the overseer of the palace, the Chancellor in chief, Nu, triumphant, cometh forth into the Hall of double Maati, so that we may be separated from every sin which he
1 This seems to us an entire misconception : the Negative Confession is so sweeping a denial of all wrong that no soul could ever make it truthfully if it were not understood to mean, " Or if I have done any of these things, I repent them utterly. " Otherwise not a soul would ever have passed the hall. — Ed. Westminster Library.
112 THE EGYPTIAN JUDGMENT DAY.
" Homage to thee, O Great God, thou Lord of double Maati, I have come to thee, O my Lord, and I have brought myself hither that I may behold thy beauties. I know thee, and I know thy name, and I know the names of the two and forty gods who exist with thee in this Hall of double Maati, who live as warders of sinners, and who feed upon their blood on the day when the lives of men are taken into account in the presence of the God Un-nefer ; in truth ' Kekhti- merti-neb-Maati ' [i. e. " twin sisters with two eyes, ladies of double Maati "] is thy name. In truth I have come to thee, and I have brought Maati [i. e. right and truth] to thee, and I have destroyed wickedness for thee.
hath done and may behold the Faces of the Gods. The Osiris Nu, triumphant, saith : —
" I have not done evil to mankind.
" I have not oppressed the members of my family.
" I have not wrought evil in the place of right and truth.
" I have had no knowledge of worthless men.
" I have not wrought evil.
" I have not made to be the first consideration of each day that
excessive labor should be performed for me.
" I have not brought forward my name for exaltation to honors.
" I have not ill treated servants. I have not thought scorn of God. " I have not defrauded the oppressed one of his property.
" I have not done that which is an abomination unto the gods.
" I have not caused harm to be done to the servant by his chief. " I have not caused pain.
" I have made no man to suffer hunger.
" I have made no one to weep.
" I have done no murder.
" I have not given the order for murder to be done for me.
" I have not inflicted pain upon mankind.
" I have not defrauded the temples of their oblations.
" I have not purloined the cakes of the gods.
" I have not carried off the cakes offered to the khus.
" I have not committed fornication.
" I have not polluted myself in the holy places of the god of my
city, nor diminished from the bushel.
" I have neither added to nor filched away land.
" I have not encroached upon the fields of others.
"I have not added to the weights of the scales [to cheat the
seller]. I have not misread the pointer of the scales [to cheat the buyer]. I have not carried away the milk from the mouths of children.
"I have not driven away the cattle which were upon their pastures.
THE EGYPTIAN JUDGMENT DAY. 113 " I have not snared the feathered fowl of the preserves of the
gods". I have not caught fish with bait made of fish of their kind.
" I have not turned back the water at the time when it should
flow. " I have not cut a cutting in a canal of running water.
" I have not extinguished a fire [or light] when it should burn. "I have not violated the times of offering the chosen meat
offerings.
" I have not driven off the cattle from the property of the gods. "I have not repulsed God in his manifestations.
"Iam pure. Iam pure. Iam pure. Iam pure.
" My purity is the purity of that great Bennu which is in the city
of Sutenhenen [Heracleopolis] ; for behold, I am the nose of the God of the winds, who maketh all mankind to live on the day when the Eye [Utchat] of Ka is full in Annu [Heliopolis] at the end of the second month of the season Pert [i. e. the season of growing] [in the presence of the divine lord of this earth]. I have seen the Eye of Ra when it was full in Annu; therefore let not evil befall me in this land and in this Hall of double Maati ; because I, even I, know the names of these gods who are therein, and who are the followers of the great god. "
Text : The scribe Bebensi, triumphant, saith : —
1. " Hail, thou whose strides are long, who comest forth from
Annu [Heliopolis], I have not done iniquity.
2. " Hail, thou who art embraced by flame, who comest forth
from Kher-aba, I have not robbed with violence.
3. "Hail, thou divine Nose [Fenti], who comest forth from
Khemennu [Hermopolis], I have not done violence [to any man].
4. " Hail, thou who eatest shades, who comest forth from the
place where the Nile riseth, I have not committed theft.
5. " Hail, Neha-hau, who comest forth from Ee-stau, I have not
slain man or woman.
6. " Hail, thou double Lion-god, who comest forth from heaven,
I have not made light the bushel.
7. " Hail, thou whose two eyes are like flint, who comest forth
from Sekhem [Letopolis], I have not acted deceitfully.
8. " Hail, thou flame, who comest forth as thou goest back, I
have not"purloined the things which belong unto God.
9. Hail, thou Crusher of bones, who comest forth from Suten-
benen [Heracleopolis], I have not uttered falsehood.
10. " Hail, thou who makest the flame to wax strong, who comest
forth from Het-ka-Ptah [Memphis], I have not carried away food. 11. " Hail, Qerti [i. e. the two sources of the Nile], who come
forth from Amentet, I have not uttered evil words.
114 THE EGYPTIAN JUDGMENT DAY.
12. " Hail, thou whose teeth shine, who comest forth from Tashe [i. e. the Fayyum], I have attacked no man.
13. " Hail, thou who dost consume blood, who comest forth from the house of slaughter. I have not killed the beasts [which are the property "of God].
14. Hail, thou who dost consume the entrails, who comest forth from the nabet chamber, I have not acted deceitfully.
15. " Hail, thou God of Right and Truth, who comest forth from the city of double Maati, I have not laid waste the lands which have been plowed (? ).
16. " Hail, thou who goest backwards, who comest forth from the city of Bast [Bubastis], I have never pried into matters [to make
mischief].
17. " Hail, Jati, who comest forth from Annu [Heliopolis], I
have not"set my mouth in motion [against any man].
18. Hail, thou who art doubly evil, who comest forth from the
nome of iti, I have not given way to wrath concerning myself with out a cause.
19. "Hail, thou Serpent Uamemti, who comest forth from the house of slaughter, I have not defiled the wife of a man.
20. " Hail, thou who lookest upon what is brought to him, who comest forth from the Temple of Amsu, I have not committed any sin against purity.
21. " Hail, Chief of the divine Princes, who comest forth from the city of Nehatu, I have not struck fear [into any man].
22. " Hail, Khemiu [i. e. Destroyer], who comest forth from the Lake of Kaui, I have not encroached upon [sacred times and sea
sons].
23. "Hail, thou who orderest speech, who comest forth from
Urit, I have not been a man of anger.
24. " Hail, thou Child, who comest forth from the Lake of Heq-at,
I have not made myself deaf to the words of right and truth.
25. " Hail, thou disposer of speech, who comest forth from the
city of Unes, I have not stirred up strife.
26. " Hail, Basti, who comest forth from the Secret city, I have
made [no man] to weep.
27. " Hail, thou whose face is [turned] backwards, who comest
forth from the Dwelling, I have not committed acts of impurity, neither have I lain with men.
28. " Hail, Leg of fire, who comest forth from Jkhekhu, I have
not eaten my heart [nursed rancor].
29. " Hail, Kenemti, who comest forth from [the city of] Kene-
met, I have abused [no man].
30. "Hail, thou who bringest thine offering, who comest forth
from the city of Sau [Sais], I have not acted with violence.
THE EGYPTIAN JUDGMENT DAY. 115
31. " Hail, thou god of faces, who comest forth from the city ot Tchefet, I have not judged hastily.
32. " Hail, thou who givest knowledge, who comest forth from Unth, I have not . . . , and I have not taken vengeance upon the god. 33. "Hail, thou lord of two horns, who comest forth from Satiu,
I have not multiplied speech overmuch.
34. "Hail, Nefer-Tem, who comest forth from Het-ka-Ptah
[Memphis], I have not acted with deceit, and I have not worked wickedness.
35. "Hail, Tem-Sep, who comest forth from Tattu, I have not uttered curses [on the king].
36. " Hail, thou whose heart doth labor, who comest forth from the city of Tebti, I have not fouled (? ) water.
37. " Hail, Ahi of the water, who comest forth from Nu, I have not made haughty my voice.
38. " Hail, thou who givest commands to mankind, who comest forth from Sau (? ), I have not cursed the god.
39. "Hail, Neheb-nefert, who comest forth from the Lake of Nefer (? ) I have not behaved with insolence.
40. " Hail, Neheb-kau who comest forth from [thy] city, I have not sought for distinctions.
41. " Hail, thou whose head is holy, who comest forth from [thy] habitations, I have not increased my wealth, except with such things as are [justly] mine own possessions.
42. " Hail, thou who bringest thine own arm, who comest forth from Aukert [underworld], I have not thought scorn of the god who is in my city. "
Address to the Gods of the Underworld.
Text. [Then shall the heart which is righteous and sinless say : —]
The overseer of the palace, the Chancellor in chief, Nu, trium phant, saith : —
" Homage to you, O ye gods who dwell in the Hall of double Maati, I, even I, know you, and I know your names. Let me not fall under your knives of slaughter, and bring ye not forward my wickedness unto the god in whose train ye are ; and let not evil hap come upon me by your means. O declare ye me right and true in
I have done that which is right and true in Ta-mera [Egypt]. I have not cursed God, and let
the presence of Neb-er-tcher, because
not evil hap come on me through the king who dwelleth in my day. " Homage to you, O ye gods, who dwell in the Hall of double Maati, who are without evil in your bodies, and who live upon right and truth, and who feed yourselves upon right and truth in the
presence of the god Horus, who dwelleth in his divine Disk: de
116 THE TOMBS OF THE KINGS.
liver ye me from the god Baba who feedeth upon the entrails of the mighty ones upon the day of the great judgment. 0 grant ye that I may come to you, for I have not committed faults, I have not sinned, I have not done evil, I have not borne false witness ; there fore let nothing [evil] be done unto me.
" I live upon right and truth, and I feed upon right and truth. I have performed the commandments of men [as well as] the things whereat are gratified the gods, I have made the god to be at peace [with me by doing] that which is his will. I have given bread to the hungry man, and water to the thirsty man, and apparel to the naked man, and a boat to the [shipwrecked] mariner. I have made holy offerings to the gods, and sepulchral meals to the khus. Be ye then my deliverers, be ye then my protectors, and make ye not accusation against me in the presence of [the great god].
"I am clean of mouth and clean of hands; therefore let it be said unto me by those who shall behold me, ' Come in peace ; come in peace,' for I have heard that mighty word which the spiritual bodies [sahu] spake unto the Cat in the House of Hapt-re. I have been made to give evidence before the god Hra-f-ha-f [i. e. he whose face is behind him], and he hath given a decision [concerning me]. I have seen the things over which the persea tree spreadeth [its branches] within Re-stau. I am he who hath offered up prayers to the gods and who knowest their persons. I have come and I have advanced to make the declaration of right and truth, and to set the balance upon what supporteth it within the region of Aukert.
" Hail, thou who art exalted upon thy standard, thou lord of the Atef u crown, whose name is proclaimed as ' Lord of the winds,' deliver thou me from thy divine messengers who cause dire deeds to happen, and who cause calamities to come into being, and who are without coverings for their faces, for I have done that which is right and true for the Lord of right and truth. I have purified myself and my breast with libations, and my hinder parts with the things which make clean, and my inner parts have been in the pool of right and truth. There is no single member of mine which lacketh right and truth. "
THE TOMBS OF THE KINGS.
Bt mathilde bund.
[1847-1896. ]
Where the mummied Kings of Egypt, wrapped in linen fold on fold, Couched for ages in their coffins, crowned with crowns of dusky gold,
Lie in subterranean chambers, biding to the day of doom, Counterfeit life's hollow semblance in each mazy mountain tomb,
THE TOMBS OF THE KINGS. 117
Grisly in their gilded coffins, mocking masks of skin and bone, Yet remain in change unchanging, balking Nature of her own ;
Mured in mighty Mausoleums, walled in from the night and day, Lo, the mortal Kings of Egypt hold immortal Death at bay.
For — so spake the Kings of Egypt — those colossal ones whose hand Held the peoples from Pitasa to the Kheta's conquered land ;
Who, with flash and clash of lances and war chariots, stormed and won Many a town of stiff-necked Syria to high-towering Askalon :
" We have been the faithful stewards of the deathless gods on high ; We have built them starry temples underneath the starry sky.
" We have smitten rebel nations, as a child is whipped with rods : We the living incarnation of imperishable gods.
" Shall we suffer Death to trample us to nothingness ? and must We be scattered, as the whirlwind blows about the desert dust ?
" No ! Death shall not dare come near us, nor Corruption shall not lay Hands upon our sacred bodies, incorruptible as day.
" Let us put a bit and bridle, and rein in Time's headlong course ; Let us ride him through the ages as a master rides his horse.
" On the changing earth unchanging let us bide till Time shall end, Till, reborn in blest Osiris, mortal with Immortal blend. "
Yea, so spake the Kings of Egypt, they whose lightest word was law, At whose nod the far-off nations cowered, stricken dumb with awe.
And Fate left the haughty rulers to work out their monstrous doom ; And, embalmed with myrrh and ointments, they were carried to the
tomb;
Through the gate of Bab-el-Molouk, where the sulphur hills lie bare, Where no green thing casts a shadow in the noon's tremendous glare ;
Where the unveiled Blue of heaven in its bare intensity
Weighs upon the awe-struck spirit with the world's immensity ;
Through the Vale of Desolation, where no beast or bird draws breath, To the Coffin Hills of Tuat— the Metropolis of Death.
118 THE TOMBS OF THE KINGS.
Down — down — down into the darkness, where, on either hand, dread fate
In the semblance of a serpent, watches by the dolorous gate ;
Down — down — down into the darkness, where no gleam of sun or star
Sheds its purifying radiance from the living world afar ;
Where in labyrinthine windings, darkly hidden, down and down, — Proudly on his marble pillow, with old Egypt's double crown,
And his mien of cold commandment, grasping still his staff of state, Rests the mightiest of the Pharaohs, whom the world surnamed the
great.
Swathed in fine Sidonian linen, crossed hands folded on the breast, There the mummied Kings of Egypt lie within each painted chest.
And upon their dusky foreheads Pleiades of flaming gems,
Glowing through the nether darkness, flash from luminous diadems.
Where is Memphis ? Like a Mirage, melted into empty air : But these royal gems yet sparkle richly on their raven hair.
Where is Thebes in all her glory, with her gates of beaten gold ? Where SyenS, or that marvel, Heliopolis of old ?
Where is Edfu ? Where Abydos ? Where those pillared towns of yore
Whose auroral temples glittered by the Nile's thick-peopled shore ?
Gone as evanescent cloudlands, Alplike in the afterglow ;
But these Kings hold fast their bodies of four thousand years ago.
Sealed up in their Mausoleums, in the bowels of the hills,
There they hide from dissolution and Death's swiftly grinding mills.
Scattering fire, Urseus serpents guard the Tombs' tremendous gate ; While Troth holds the trembling balance, weighs the heart and seals
its fate.
And a multitude of mummies in the swaddling clothes of death, Ferried o'er the sullen river, on and on still hasteneth.
And around them and above them, blazoned on the rocky walls, Crowned with stars, enlaced by serpents, in divine processionals,
Building of the Pyramids
From the painting by G. Richter, in the Galler\ at Munich
THE TOMBS OF THE KINGS. 119
Ibis-headed, jackal-featured, vulture-hooded, pass on high,
Gods on gods through Time's perspectives — pilgrims of Eternity.
There, revealed by fitful flashes, in a gloom that may be felt, Wild Chimeras flash from darkness, glittering like Orion's belt.
And on high, o'er shining waters, in their barks the gods sail by, In the Sunboat and the Moonboat, rowed across the rose-hued sky.
Night, that was before Creation, watches sphinxlike, starred with eyes, And the hours and days are passing, and the years and centuries.
But these mummied Kings of Egypt, pictures of a perished race, Lie, of busy Death forgotten, face by immemorial face.
Though the glorious sun above them, burning on the naked plain, Clothes the empty wilderness with the golden, glowing grain ;
Though the balmy Moon above them, floating in the milky Blue, Fills the empty wilderness with a silver fall of dew ;
Though life comes and flies unresting, like the shadow which a dove Casts upon the Sphinx, in passing, for a moment from above ; —
Still these mummied Kings of Egypt, wrapped in linen, fold on fold, Bide through ages in their coffins, crowned with crowns of dusky gold.
Had the sun once brushed them lightly, or a breath of air, they must Instantaneously have crumbled into evanescent dust.
Pale and passive in their prisons, they have conquered, chained to death ;
And their lineaments look living now as when they last drew breath !
Have they conquered ? Oh, the pity of those Kings within their tombs, Locked in stony isolation in those petrifying glooms !
Motionless where all is motion in a rolling Universe,
Heaven, by answering their prayer, turned it to a deadly curse.
Left them fixed where all is fluid in a world of star-winged skies ; Where, in myriad transformations, all things pass and nothing dies ;
Nothing dies but what is tethered, kept when Time would set it free, To fulfill Thought's yearning tension upward through Eternity.
120 EPIC OF PENTAUR.
THE EPIC OF PENTAUR.
ON THE EXPLOITS OF BAMESES H. , ABOUT B.