There are forty-two of these Confessions in the Book of the Dead, and it is astounding how they resemble the Ten Commandments upon which are based the Christian religion. In the replies just quoted may be traced three commandments: “Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt do no murder.” Who can say after this whence the wisdom of the Bible sprang? The religion of the ancient Egyptians seems false to our eyes, but underlying it are many fine principles, and much of the truth that is eternal. Even in those remote times, however, there were people who were ever ready to take advantage of the grief of the relatives of the departed. A Book of the Dead was essential to the well-being of the departed, once he came into the presence of the gods, and the living would go to the scribe and acquire the finest copy of the Book that lay within their means. The wonderfully painted Books were only for the wealthy and the nobles. The poor people had to be satisfied with something that was much inferior, from which a great deal of the text was missing. The poorer classes were, of course, unable to read the sacred script, and would therefore be unaware that much of the text was missing; that the Book was, in fact, so much abridged, that they were acquiring a garbled version, bearing little resemblance to the full Book. They would have the body embalmed, and see the sacred Book placed within reach of the mummy’s hand, so that it could be consulted directly it was required, little knowing that the Book upon which they relied was but an imitation of the genuine sacred Book. In fact, in those days, it was more or less the same as it is to-day. The scribe scamped the work of the Book that he was poorly paid for, and took more pains with the Book for which he received a better price. Discoveries seem to indicate that although the people had faith in the Book of the Dead, the scribes themselves were inclined to be unbelievers. It is fairly evident that they had no compunction in defrauding the relatives, for when the scribe had sold a beautiful copy to place with one of the departed, he would very often slip in a blank papyrus along with the mummy, and abstract the fine Book, knowing full well that his fraud would never be found out. Probably he reasoned that it was rather a waste to place such a fine specimen of his work where it would be lost for ever. It is quite likely that some of the scribes devoted a vast amount of time and skill to making a wonderful copy of the Book of the Dead that they could show to relatives to get their order, with the intention of substituting an inferior work, or even a blank. Thus their one fine copy would be a source of income to them, and they would never part with it if they could possibly avoid it. Judging from the blanks and poor copies that have been recovered, there is little doubt that the Egyptians of old were quite as guilty of sharp practices as are some of the people of to-day. CHAPTER VI