e, praises no one, blames no one, accuses no one, says
nothing concerning himself as being anybody or knowing anything; when he
is hindered or restrained, he accuses himself; when praised, he secretly
laughs; if censured, he makes no defence. He suppresses all desire;
transfers his aversion to things only which thwart the proper use of his
own will; is gentle in all exercise of his powers; and does not care if
he appears stupid and ignorant, but watches himself as an enemy, like
one in ambush.

Whatever rules of life you have deliberately proposed to yourself, abide
by them as laws, and as if it were impious to transgress them; and do
not regard what anyone says of you; for this, after all, is no concern
of yours. Let whatever appears to you to be the best be to you an
inviolable law. Socrates became perfect, improving himself in everything
by attending to reason only. And though you be not yet a Socrates, live
as one who would become a Socrates.

Upon all occasions we ought to have ready at hand these three maxims:

Conduct me, God, and thou, O Destiny,
Wherever your decrees have fixed my station.
I follow cheerfully. And did I not,
Wicked and wretched, I must follow still.

Whoe'er yields properly to Fate is deemed
Wise among men and knows the laws of heaven.

"O Crito, if it thus pleases the gods, thus let it be. Anytus and
Melitus may kill me indeed, but hurt my soul they cannot."

* * * * *

FOOTNOTES

Footnote 1: The deceased speaks constantly as if he were Osiris or some
other god. This is supposed to give him the privileges and power of the
god whose name he bears.

Footnote 2: The Egyptians thought that in the lower world the heart or
conscience was weighed, _i.e.,_ judged.

Footnote 3: This chapter and the like are found on stone, wood,
porcelain, etc., figures, and attached to the mummy. It was supposed to
act magically in transferring the tasks of the underworld from the
person.

Footnote 4: The storm-god, the arch-fiend of Ra, the sun-god

Footnote 5: The suppliant has made a wax figure of Apepi, and, by
sympathetic magic, imagines that by burning it he is destroying the
power of the original. Such wax figures of the gods made for magical
purposes were generally illegal.

Footnote 6: There are many examples in the Book of the Dead of the
magical potency attached to names. To invoke a god by his name was to
control him.

Footnote