Egyptian Ideas of the Future Life Part 5

4. "Hail [=A]m-khaibitu (_i.e._, Eater of shades), who comest forth from the Qereret (_i.e._, the cavern where the Nile rises), I have not committed theft.

5. "Hail Neha-bra (_i.e._, Stinking face), who comest forth from Restau, I have slain neither man nor woman.

6. "Hail Rereti (_i.e._, Double Lion-G.o.d), who comest forth from heaven, I have not made light the bushel.

7. "Hail Maata-f-em-seshet (_i.e._, Fiery eyes), who comest forth from Sekhem (Letopolis), I have not acted deceitfully.

8. "Hail Neba (_i.e._, Flame), who comest forth and retreatest, I have not purloined the things which belong unto G.o.d.

9. "Hail Set-qesu (_i.e._, Crusher of bones), who comest forth from Suten-henen (Heracleopolis), I have not uttered falsehood.

10. "Hail Khemi (_i.e._, Overthrower), who comest forth from Shetait (_i.e._, the hidden place), I have not carried off goods by force.

11. "Hail Uatch-nesert (_i.e._, Vigorous of Flame), who comest forth from Het-ka-Ptah (Memphis), I have not uttered vile (_or_ evil) words.

12. "Hail Hra-f-ha-f (_i.e._, He whose face is behind him), who comest forth from the cavern and the deep, I have not carried off food by force.

13. "Hail Qerti (_i.e._, the double Nile source), who comest forth from the Underworld, I have not acted deceitfully.

14. "Hail Ta-ret (_i.e._, Fiery-foot), who comest forth out of the darkness, I have not eaten my heart (_i.e._ lost my temper and become angry).

15. "Hail Hetch-abehu (_i.e._, Shining teeth), who comest forth from Ta-she (_i.e._, the Fayyum), I have invaded no [man's land].

16. "Hail [=A]m-senef (_i.e._, Eater of blood), who comest forth from the house of the block, I have not slaughtered animals which are the possessions of G.o.d.

17. "Hail [=A]m-besek (_i.e._, Eater of entrails), who comest forth from M[=a]bet, I have not laid waste the lands which have been ploughed.

18. "Hail Neb-Ma[=a]t (_i.e._, Lord of Ma[=a]t), who comest forth from the city of the two Ma[=a]ti, I have not pried into matters to make mischief.

19. "Hail Thenemi (_i.e._, Retreater), who comest forth from Bast (_i.e._, Bubastis), I have not set my mouth in motion against any man.

20. "Hail [=A]nti, who comest forth from Annu (Heliopolis), I have not given way to wrath without due cause.

21. "Hail Tututef, who comest forth from the home of Ati, I have not committed fornication, and I have not committed sodomy.

22. "Hail Uamemti, who comest forth from the house of slaughter, I have not polluted myself.

23. "Hail Maa-ant-f (_i.e._, Seer of what is brought to him), who comest forth from the house of the G.o.d Amsu, I have not lain with the wife of a man.

24. "Hail Her-seru, who comest forth from Nehatu, I have not made any man to be afraid.

25. "Hail Neb-Sekhem, who comest forth from the Lake of Kaui, I have not made my speech to burn with anger. [Footnote: Literally, "I have not been hot of mouth."]

26. "Hail Seshet-kheru (_i.e._, Orderer of speech), who comest forth from Urit, I have not made myself deaf unto the words of right and truth.

27. "Hail Nekhen (_i.e._, Babe), who comest forth from the Lake of Heq[=a] t, I have not made another person to weep.

28. "Hail Kenemti, who comest forth from Kenemet, I have not uttered blasphemies.

29. "Hail An-hetep-f (_i.e._, Bringer of his offering), who comest forth from Sau, I have not acted with violence.

30. "Hail Ser-kheru (_i.e._, Disposer of Speech), who comest forth from Unsi, I have not hastened my heart. [Footnote: _i.e._, acted without due consideration.]

31. "Hail Neb-hrau (_i.e._, Lord of Faces), who comest forth from Netchefet, I have not pierced (?) my skin (?), and I have not taken vengeance on the G.o.d.

32. "Hail Serekhi, who comest forth from Uthent, I have not multiplied my speech beyond what should be said.

33. "Hail Neb-abui (_i.e._, Lord of horns), who comest forth from Sauti, I have not committed fraud, [and I have not] looked upon evil.

34. "Hail Nefer-Tem, who comest forth from Ptah-het-ka (Memphis), I have never uttered curses against the king.

35. "Hail Tem-sep, who comest forth from Tattu, I have not fouled running water.

36. "Hail Ari-em-ab-f, who comest forth from Tebti, I have not exalted my speech.

37. "Hail Ahi, who comest forth from Nu, I have not uttered curses against G.o.d.

38. "Hail Uatch-rekhit [who comest forth from his shrine (?)], I have not behaved with insolence.

39. "Hail Neheb-nefert, who comest forth from his temple, I have not made distinctions. [Footnote: _i.e._, I have not been guilty of favouritism.]

40. "Hail Neheb-kau, who comest forth from thy cavern, I have not increased my wealth except by means of such things as are mine own possessions.

41. "Hail Tcheser-tep, who comest forth from thy shrine, I have not uttered curses against that which belongeth to G.o.d and is with me.

42. "Hail An-[=a]-f (_i.e._, Bringer of his arm), [who comest forth from Aukert], I have not thought scorn of the G.o.d of the city."

A brief examination of this "Confession" shows that the Egyptian code of morality was very comprehensive, and it would be very hard to find an act, the commission of which would be reckoned a sin when the "Confession" was put together, which is not included under one or other part of it. The renderings of the words for certain sins are not always definite or exact, because we do not know the precise idea which the framer of this remarkable doc.u.ment had. The deceased states that he has neither cursed G.o.d, nor thought scorn of the G.o.d of his city, nor cursed the king, nor committed theft of any kind, nor murder, nor adultery, nor sodomy, nor crimes against the G.o.d of generation; he has not been imperious or haughty, or violent, or wrathful, or hasty in deed, or a hypocrite, or an accepter of persons, or a blasphemer, or crafty, or avaricious, or fraudulent, or deaf to pious words, or a party to evil actions, or proud, or puffed up; he has terrified no man, he has not cheated in the market-place, and he has neither fouled the public watercourse nor laid waste the tilled land of the community. This is, in brief, the confession which the deceased makes; and the next act in the Judgment Scene is weighing the heart of the deceased in the scales. As none of the oldest papyri of the Book of the Dead supplies us with a representation of this scene, we must have recourse to the best of the ill.u.s.trated papyri of the latter half of the XVIIIth and of the XIXth dynasties. The details of the Judgment Scene vary greatly in various papyri, but the essential parts of it are always preserved. The following is the description of the judgment of Ani, as it appears in his wonderful papyrus preserved in the British Museum.

In the underworld, and in that portion of it which is called the Hall of Ma[=a]ti, is set a balance wherein the heart of the deceased is to be weighed. The beam is suspended by a ring upon a projection from the standard of the balance made in the form of the feather which is the symbol of Ma[=a]t, or what is right and true. The tongue of the balance is fixed to the beam, and when this is exactly level, the tongue is as straight as the standard; if either end of the beam inclines downwards the tongue cannot remain in a perpendicular position. It must be distinctly understood that the heart which was weighed in the one scale was not expected to make the weight which was in the other to kick the beam, for all that was asked or required of the deceased was that his heart should balance exactly the symbol of the law. The standard was sometimes surmounted by a human head wearing the feather of Ma[=a]t; sometimes by the head of a jackal, the animal sacred to Anubis; and sometimes by the head of an ibis, the bird sacred to Thoth; in the Papyrus of Ani a dog-headed ape, the a.s.sociate of Thoth, sits on the top of the standard. In some papyri (_e.g._, those of Ani [Footnote: About B.C. 1500.] and Hunefer [Footnote: About B.C. 1370.]), in addition to Osiris, the king of the underworld and judge of the dead, the G.o.ds of his cycle or company appear as witnesses of the judgment. In the Papyrus of the priestess Anhai [Footnote: About B.C. 1000.] in the British Museum the great and the little companies of the G.o.ds appear as witnesses, but the artist was so careless that instead of nine G.o.ds in each group he painted six in one and five in the other. In the Turin papyrus [Footnote: Written in the Ptolemaic period.] we see the whole of the forty-two G.o.ds, to whom the deceased recited the [Ill.u.s.tration: The weighing of the heart of the scribe Ani in the Balance in the presence of the G.o.ds.] "Negative Confession," seated in the judgment-hall. The G.o.ds present at the weighing of Ani's heart are--

1. R[=A]-HARMACHIS, hawk-headed, the Sun-G.o.d of the dawn and of noon.

2. TEMU, the Sun-G.o.d of the evening, the great G.o.d of Heliopolis. He is depicted always in human form and with the face of a man, a fact which proves that he had at a very early period pa.s.sed through all the forms in which G.o.ds are represented, and had arrived at that of a man.

He has upon his head the crowns of the South and North.

3. SHU, man-headed, the son of R[=a] and Hathor, the personification of the sunlight.

4. TEFNUT, lion-headed, the twin-sister of Shu, the personification of moisture.

5. SEB, man-headed, the son of Shu, the personification of the earth.

6. NUT, woman-headed, the female counterpart of the G.o.ds Nu and Seb; she was the personification of the primeval water, and later of the sky.

7. ISIS, woman-headed, the sister-wife of Osiris, and mother of Horus.

8. NEPHTHYS, woman-headed, the sister-wife of Osiris, and mother of Anubis.

9. HORUS, the "great G.o.d," hawk-headed, whose worship was probably the oldest in Egypt.