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.
Universal Anthology - v01
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. C. 1400. (Translated by Heinrich Brugsch-Bey, in " Egypt of the Pharaohs. ")
[Heinrich Karl BnuGscH, a celebrated Egyptologist, was born in Berlin, Germany, February 18, 1827. He early become an enthusiast on Egyptian antiquities, visited Egypt twice to study them, and founded in 1864 at Leipsic a periodical devoted to them. He was professor at Gottingen, 1868-1869, when by invitation of the Khedive he took the headship of the School of Egyptology in Cairo, and was given the titles of Bey and Pasha. In 1881 he succeeded Mariette as keeper of the Museum at Boulak ; later in the same year he returned to Ber lin to lecture on Egyptology, and was made director of the Egyptian Museum there. He had been a member of the embassy to Persia in 1860. He died Sep tember 10, 1894. His works include : " Egyptian Monuments," 1857 and 1862- 1866 ; " History of Egypt," 1859, 1877, revised more than once since and still valuable ; " Hieroglyphic-demotic Dictionary," 1867-1882 ; " The Exodus and the Egyptian Monuments," 1875; "Geographical Dictionary of Ancient Egypt," 1879-1880. ]
Beginning of the victory of king Ramses Miamun — may he live forever ! — which he obtained over the people of the Khita, of Naharain, of Malunna, of Pidasa, of the Dardani, over the people of Masa, of Karkisha, of Qasuatan, of Qarkemish, of Kati, of Anaugas, over the people of Akerith and Mushanath.
The youthful king with the bold hand has not his equal. His arms are powerful, his heart is firm, his courage is like that of the god of war, Monthu, in the midst of the fight. He leads his warriors to unknown peoples. He seizes his weapons, and is a wall, their [his warriors'] shield in the day of battle. He seizes his bow, and no man offers opposition. Mightier than a hundred thousand united together goes he forwards. His courage is firm like that of a bull. He has smitten all peoples who had united themselves together. No man knows the thousands of men who stood against him. A hundred thousand sank before his glance. Terrible is he when his war cry re sounds ; bolder than the whole world ; he is as the grim lion in the valley of the gazelles. His command will be performed. No one dares to speak against him. Wise is his counsel. Com plete are his decisions, when he wears the royal crown Atef and declares his will, a protector of his people. His heart is like a mountain of iron. Such is king Ramses Miamun.
EPIC OF PENTAUB.
121
After the king had armed his people and his chariots, and in like manner the Shardonians, which were once his prisoners, then was the order given them for the battle. The king took his way downwards, and his people and his chariots accom panied him, and followed the best road on their march. . . .
Now had the miserable king of the hostile Khita, and the many peoples which were with him, hidden themselves in an ambush to the northwest of the city of Kadesh, while Pharaoh was alone, no other was with him. The legion of Amom ad vanced behind him. The legion of Phra went into the ditch on the territory which lies to the west of the town of Shaba- tuna, divided by a long interval from the legion of Ptah in the midst [marching] towards the town of Arnama. The legion of Sutekh marched on by their roads.
gether all the chief men of his warriors.
the lake of the land of the Amorites.
miserable king of Khita was in the midst of his warriors which were with him. But his hand was not so bold as to venture on battle with Pharaoh. Therefore he drew away the horsemen and the chariots which were numerous as the sand. And they stood three men on each war chariot, and there were assembled in one spot the best heroes of the army of Khita, well appointed with all weapons for the fight.
They did not dare to advance. They stood in ambush to the northwest of the town of Kadesh. Then they went out from Kadesh, on the side of the south, and threw themselves into the midst of the legion of Pra-Hormakhu, which gave way, and was not prepared for the fight. Then Pharaoh's warriors and chariots gave way before them. And Pharaoh had placed him self to the north of the town of Kadesh, on the west side of the river Arunatha. Then they came to tell the king. Then the king arose, like his father Month ; he grasped his weapons and put on his armor, just like Baal in his time. And the noble pair of horses which carried Pharaoh, and whose name was "Victory in Thebes," they were from the court of King Ramses Miamun. When the king had quickened his course, he rushed into the midst of the hostile hosts of Khita, all alone, no other was with him. When Pharaoh had done this, he looked behind him and found himself surrounded by 2500 pairs of horses, and his retreat was beset by the bravest heroes of the king of the miserable Khita, and by all the numerous peoples which were with him, of Arathu, of Masu, of Pidasa, of Kesh
And the king called to Behold, they were at At the same time the
122 EPIC OF PENTAUR.
kesh, of Malunna, of Qazauadana, of Khilibu, of Akerith, of Kadesh, and of Leka. And there were three men on each chariot, and they were all gathered together.
" And not one of my princes, not one of my captains of the chariots, not one of my chief men, not one of my knights was there. My warriors and my chariots had abandoned me, not one of them was there to take part in the battle. . . .
[Thus spake the king : —]
" I hurled the dart with my right hand, I fought with my left hand. I was like Baal in his time before their sight. I
had found 2500 pairs of horses ;
but they were dashed in pieces before my horses. Not one of them raised his hand to fight ; their courage was sunken in their breasts, their limbs gave way, they could not hurl the dart, nor had they the courage to thrust with the spear. I made them fall into the waters just as the crocodiles fall in. They tumbled down on their faces one after another. I killed them at my pleasure, so that not one looked back behind him, nor did another turn round. Each one fell, he raised himself not up again.
I was in the midst of them ;
" There stood still the miserable king of Khita in the midst of his warriors and his chariots, to behold the fight of the king. He was all alone ; not one of his warriors, not one of his chariots was with him. There he turned round for fright be fore the king. Thereupon he sent the princes in great numbers, each of them with his chariot, well equipped with all kinds of offensive weapons : the king of Arathu and him of Masa, the king of Malunna and him of Leka, the king of the Dardani and him of Keshkesh, the king of Qarqamash and him of Khilibi. There were altogether the brothers of the king of Khita united in one place, to the number of 2500 pairs of horses. They forthwith rushed right on, their countenance directed to the flame of fire [i. e. my face].
"I rushed down upon them. Like Monthu was I. I let them taste my hand in the space of a moment. I dashed them down, and killed them where they stood. Then cried out one of them to his neighbor, saying : ' This is no man. Ah ! woe to us ! He who is in our midst is Sutekh, the glorious : Baal is in all his limbs. Let us hasten and flee before him. Let us save our lives ; let us try our breath. ' "
As soon as any one attacked him, his hand fell down and every limb of his body. They could not aim either the bow or
EPIC OF PENTAUR. 123
the spear. They only looked at him as he came on in his head long career from afar. The king was behind them like a
griffin. —
[Thus spake the king
" I struck them down ; they did not escape me. I lifted
]
up my voice to my warriors and to my charioteers, and spake to them, ' Halt ! stand ! take courage, my warriors, my chari oteers ! Look upon my victory. I am alone, but Amon is my helper, and his hand is with me. '
" When Menna, my charioteer, beheld with his eyes how many pairs of horses surrounded me, his courage left him, and his heart was afraid. Evident terror and great fright took possession of his whole body. Immediately he spake to me : ' My gracious lord, thou brave king, thou guardian of the Egyptians in the day of battle, protect us. We stand alone in the midst of enemies. Stop, to save the breath of life for us. Give us deliverance, protect us, O King Ramses Miamun. ' "
Then spake the king to his charioteer : " Halt ! stand ! take
Irioteer. I will dash myself down among them courage, my cha
as the sparrow hawk dashes down. I will slay them, I will cut
will dash them to the ground in the dust. Why then is such a thought in thy heart ? These are unclean
ones for Amon, wretches who do not acknowledge the god. " And the king hurried onwards. He charged down upon the
hostile hosts of Khita. For the sixth time, when he charged upon them [says the king] : " There was I like to Baal behind them in his time, when he has strength. I killed them ; none escaped me. "
" The diadem of the royal snake adorned my head. It spat fire and glowing flame in the face of my enemies. I appeared like the sun god at his rising in the early morning. My shining beams were a consuming fire for the limbs of the wicked. They cried out to one another, ' Take care, do not fall ! For the powerful snake of royalty, which accompanies him, has placed itself on his horse. It helps him. Every one who comes in his way and falls " down there comes forth fire and flame to consume his body. '
And they remained afar off, and threw themselves down on the earth to entreat the king in the sight [of his army]. And the king had power over them and slew them without their
them in pieces,
[The king gives his officers a tongue lashing for leaving him in the lurch. The next morning the battle is renewed. ]
124 EPIC OF PENTAUR.
being able to escape. As bodies tumbled before his horses, so they lay there stretched out all together in their blood.
Then the king of the hostile people of Khita sent a messenger to pray piteously to the great name o : the king, speaking thus : " Thou art Ra-Hormakhu. Thou art Sutekh the glorious, the son of Nut, Baal in his time.
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. C. 1400. (Translated by Heinrich Brugsch-Bey, in " Egypt of the Pharaohs. ")
[Heinrich Karl BnuGscH, a celebrated Egyptologist, was born in Berlin, Germany, February 18, 1827. He early become an enthusiast on Egyptian antiquities, visited Egypt twice to study them, and founded in 1864 at Leipsic a periodical devoted to them. He was professor at Gottingen, 1868-1869, when by invitation of the Khedive he took the headship of the School of Egyptology in Cairo, and was given the titles of Bey and Pasha. In 1881 he succeeded Mariette as keeper of the Museum at Boulak ; later in the same year he returned to Ber lin to lecture on Egyptology, and was made director of the Egyptian Museum there. He had been a member of the embassy to Persia in 1860. He died Sep tember 10, 1894. His works include : " Egyptian Monuments," 1857 and 1862- 1866 ; " History of Egypt," 1859, 1877, revised more than once since and still valuable ; " Hieroglyphic-demotic Dictionary," 1867-1882 ; " The Exodus and the Egyptian Monuments," 1875; "Geographical Dictionary of Ancient Egypt," 1879-1880. ]
Beginning of the victory of king Ramses Miamun — may he live forever ! — which he obtained over the people of the Khita, of Naharain, of Malunna, of Pidasa, of the Dardani, over the people of Masa, of Karkisha, of Qasuatan, of Qarkemish, of Kati, of Anaugas, over the people of Akerith and Mushanath.
The youthful king with the bold hand has not his equal. His arms are powerful, his heart is firm, his courage is like that of the god of war, Monthu, in the midst of the fight. He leads his warriors to unknown peoples. He seizes his weapons, and is a wall, their [his warriors'] shield in the day of battle. He seizes his bow, and no man offers opposition. Mightier than a hundred thousand united together goes he forwards. His courage is firm like that of a bull. He has smitten all peoples who had united themselves together. No man knows the thousands of men who stood against him. A hundred thousand sank before his glance. Terrible is he when his war cry re sounds ; bolder than the whole world ; he is as the grim lion in the valley of the gazelles. His command will be performed. No one dares to speak against him. Wise is his counsel. Com plete are his decisions, when he wears the royal crown Atef and declares his will, a protector of his people. His heart is like a mountain of iron. Such is king Ramses Miamun.
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121
After the king had armed his people and his chariots, and in like manner the Shardonians, which were once his prisoners, then was the order given them for the battle. The king took his way downwards, and his people and his chariots accom panied him, and followed the best road on their march. . . .
Now had the miserable king of the hostile Khita, and the many peoples which were with him, hidden themselves in an ambush to the northwest of the city of Kadesh, while Pharaoh was alone, no other was with him. The legion of Amom ad vanced behind him. The legion of Phra went into the ditch on the territory which lies to the west of the town of Shaba- tuna, divided by a long interval from the legion of Ptah in the midst [marching] towards the town of Arnama. The legion of Sutekh marched on by their roads.
gether all the chief men of his warriors.
the lake of the land of the Amorites.
miserable king of Khita was in the midst of his warriors which were with him. But his hand was not so bold as to venture on battle with Pharaoh. Therefore he drew away the horsemen and the chariots which were numerous as the sand. And they stood three men on each war chariot, and there were assembled in one spot the best heroes of the army of Khita, well appointed with all weapons for the fight.
They did not dare to advance. They stood in ambush to the northwest of the town of Kadesh. Then they went out from Kadesh, on the side of the south, and threw themselves into the midst of the legion of Pra-Hormakhu, which gave way, and was not prepared for the fight. Then Pharaoh's warriors and chariots gave way before them. And Pharaoh had placed him self to the north of the town of Kadesh, on the west side of the river Arunatha. Then they came to tell the king. Then the king arose, like his father Month ; he grasped his weapons and put on his armor, just like Baal in his time. And the noble pair of horses which carried Pharaoh, and whose name was "Victory in Thebes," they were from the court of King Ramses Miamun. When the king had quickened his course, he rushed into the midst of the hostile hosts of Khita, all alone, no other was with him. When Pharaoh had done this, he looked behind him and found himself surrounded by 2500 pairs of horses, and his retreat was beset by the bravest heroes of the king of the miserable Khita, and by all the numerous peoples which were with him, of Arathu, of Masu, of Pidasa, of Kesh
And the king called to Behold, they were at At the same time the
122 EPIC OF PENTAUR.
kesh, of Malunna, of Qazauadana, of Khilibu, of Akerith, of Kadesh, and of Leka. And there were three men on each chariot, and they were all gathered together.
" And not one of my princes, not one of my captains of the chariots, not one of my chief men, not one of my knights was there. My warriors and my chariots had abandoned me, not one of them was there to take part in the battle. . . .
[Thus spake the king : —]
" I hurled the dart with my right hand, I fought with my left hand. I was like Baal in his time before their sight. I
had found 2500 pairs of horses ;
but they were dashed in pieces before my horses. Not one of them raised his hand to fight ; their courage was sunken in their breasts, their limbs gave way, they could not hurl the dart, nor had they the courage to thrust with the spear. I made them fall into the waters just as the crocodiles fall in. They tumbled down on their faces one after another. I killed them at my pleasure, so that not one looked back behind him, nor did another turn round. Each one fell, he raised himself not up again.
I was in the midst of them ;
" There stood still the miserable king of Khita in the midst of his warriors and his chariots, to behold the fight of the king. He was all alone ; not one of his warriors, not one of his chariots was with him. There he turned round for fright be fore the king. Thereupon he sent the princes in great numbers, each of them with his chariot, well equipped with all kinds of offensive weapons : the king of Arathu and him of Masa, the king of Malunna and him of Leka, the king of the Dardani and him of Keshkesh, the king of Qarqamash and him of Khilibi. There were altogether the brothers of the king of Khita united in one place, to the number of 2500 pairs of horses. They forthwith rushed right on, their countenance directed to the flame of fire [i. e. my face].
"I rushed down upon them. Like Monthu was I. I let them taste my hand in the space of a moment. I dashed them down, and killed them where they stood. Then cried out one of them to his neighbor, saying : ' This is no man. Ah ! woe to us ! He who is in our midst is Sutekh, the glorious : Baal is in all his limbs. Let us hasten and flee before him. Let us save our lives ; let us try our breath. ' "
As soon as any one attacked him, his hand fell down and every limb of his body. They could not aim either the bow or
EPIC OF PENTAUR. 123
the spear. They only looked at him as he came on in his head long career from afar. The king was behind them like a
griffin. —
[Thus spake the king
" I struck them down ; they did not escape me. I lifted
]
up my voice to my warriors and to my charioteers, and spake to them, ' Halt ! stand ! take courage, my warriors, my chari oteers ! Look upon my victory. I am alone, but Amon is my helper, and his hand is with me. '
" When Menna, my charioteer, beheld with his eyes how many pairs of horses surrounded me, his courage left him, and his heart was afraid. Evident terror and great fright took possession of his whole body. Immediately he spake to me : ' My gracious lord, thou brave king, thou guardian of the Egyptians in the day of battle, protect us. We stand alone in the midst of enemies. Stop, to save the breath of life for us. Give us deliverance, protect us, O King Ramses Miamun. ' "
Then spake the king to his charioteer : " Halt ! stand ! take
Irioteer. I will dash myself down among them courage, my cha
as the sparrow hawk dashes down. I will slay them, I will cut
will dash them to the ground in the dust. Why then is such a thought in thy heart ? These are unclean
ones for Amon, wretches who do not acknowledge the god. " And the king hurried onwards. He charged down upon the
hostile hosts of Khita. For the sixth time, when he charged upon them [says the king] : " There was I like to Baal behind them in his time, when he has strength. I killed them ; none escaped me. "
" The diadem of the royal snake adorned my head. It spat fire and glowing flame in the face of my enemies. I appeared like the sun god at his rising in the early morning. My shining beams were a consuming fire for the limbs of the wicked. They cried out to one another, ' Take care, do not fall ! For the powerful snake of royalty, which accompanies him, has placed itself on his horse. It helps him. Every one who comes in his way and falls " down there comes forth fire and flame to consume his body. '
And they remained afar off, and threw themselves down on the earth to entreat the king in the sight [of his army]. And the king had power over them and slew them without their
them in pieces,
[The king gives his officers a tongue lashing for leaving him in the lurch. The next morning the battle is renewed. ]
124 EPIC OF PENTAUR.
being able to escape. As bodies tumbled before his horses, so they lay there stretched out all together in their blood.
Then the king of the hostile people of Khita sent a messenger to pray piteously to the great name o : the king, speaking thus : " Thou art Ra-Hormakhu. Thou art Sutekh the glorious, the son of Nut, Baal in his time.
