History Of Egypt, Chaldæa, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, Volume 1 (of 12)Maspero, G. (Gaston)
History
History Of Egypt, Chaldæa, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, Volume 1 (of 12)
Maspero, G. (Gaston)
Civilization, Ancient; Egypt -- History -- To 640 A.D.; History, Ancient; Middle East -- History
know the names of the gods who are with thee in the Hall of the Double
Truth, save thou me from them!" He then turned towards the jury and
pleaded his cause before them. They had been severally appointed for
the cognizance of particular sins, and the dead man took each of them by
name to witness that he was innocent of the sin which that one recorded.
His plea ended, he returned to the supreme judge, and repeated, under
what is sometimes a highly mystic form, the ideas which he had already
advanced in the first part of his address. "Hail unto you, ye gods who
are in the Great Hall of the Double Truth, who have no falsehood in
your bosoms, but who live on Truth in Aunu, and feed your hearts upon it
before the Lord God who dwelleth in his solar disc! Deliver me from
the Typhon who feedeth on entrails, O chiefs! in this hour of supreme
judgment;--grant that the deceased may come unto you, he who hath not
sinned, who hath neither lied, nor done evil, nor committed any crime,
who hath not borne false witness, who hath done nought against himself,
but who liveth on truth, who feedeth on truth. He hath spread joy on all
sides; men speak of that which he hath done, and the gods rejoice in it.
He hath reconciled the god to him by his love; he hath given bread to
the hungry, water to the thirsty, clothing to the naked; he hath given
a boat to the shipwrecked; he hath offered sacrifices to the gods,
sepulchral meals unto the manes. Deliver him from himself, speak not
against him before the Lord of the Dead, for his mouth is pure, and his
two hands are pure!" In the middle of the Hall, however, his acts were
being weighed by the assessors. Like all objects belonging to the gods,
the balance is magic, and the genius which animates it sometimes shows
its fine and delicate little human head on the top of the upright
stand which forms its body. Everything about the balance recalls its
superhuman origin: a cynocephalus, emblematic of Thot, sits perched on
the upright and watches the beam; the cords which suspend the scales are
made of alternate _cruces ansato and tats_. Truth squats upon one of
the scales; Thot, ibis-headed, places the heart on the other, and always
merciful, bears upon the side of Truth that judgment may be favourably
inclined. He affirms that the heart is light of offence, inscribes
the result of the proceeding upon a wooden tablet, and pronounces the
verdict aloud. "Thus saith Thot, lord of divine discourse, scribe of
the Great Ennead, to his father Osiris, lord of eternity, 'Behold the
deceased in this Hall of the Double Truth, his heart hath been weighed
in the balance in the presence of the great genii, the lords of Hades,
and been found true. No trace of earthly impurity hath been found in
his heart. Now that he leaveth the tribunal true of voice, his heart
is restored to him, as well as his eyes and the material cover of his
heart, to be put back in their places each in its own time, his soul in
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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