not recall some incident of the divine wars, and had
not witnessed a battle between the partisans of Sit and those of Osiris
or Ra; the victories or the disasters which they had chronicled had as
it were stamped them with good or bad luck, and for that reason they
remained for ever auspicious or the reverse. It was on the 17th of Athyr
that Typhon had enticed his brother to come to him, and had murdered him
in the middle of a banquet. Every year, on this day, the tragedy that
had taken place in the earthly abode of the god seemed to be repeated
afresh in the heights of heaven. Just as at the moment of the death of
Osiris, the powers of good were at their weakest, and the sovereignty
of evil everywhere prevailed, so the whole of Nature, abandoned to the
powers of darkness, became inimical to man. Whatever he undertook on
that day issued in failure. If he went out to walk by the river-side,
a crocodile would attack him, as the crocodile sent by Sit had attacked
Osiris. If he set out on a journey, it was a last farewell which he bade
to his family and friends: death would meet him by the way. To escape
this fatality, he must shut himself up at home, and wait in inaction
until the hours of danger had passed and the sun of the ensuing day had
put the evil one to flight.[*]

* On the 20th of Thot no work was to be done, no oxen
killed, no stranger received. On the 22nd no fish might be
eaten, no oil lamp was to be lighted. On the 23rd "put no
incense on the fire, nor kill big cattle, nor goats, nor
ducks; eat of no goose, nor of that which has lived." On the
26th "do absolutely nothing on this day," and the same
advice is found on the 7th of Paophi, on the 18th, on the
26th, on the 27th, and more than thirty times in the
remainder of the Sallier Calendar. On the 30th of Mechir it
is forbidden to speak aloud to any one.

It was to his interest to know these adverse influences; and who would
have known them all, had not Thot pointed them out and marked them in
his calendars? One of these, long fragments of which have come down to
us, indicated briefly the character of each day, the gods who presided
over it, the perils which accompanied their patronage, or the good
fortune which might be expected of them. The details of it are not
always intelligible to us, as we are still ignorant of many of the
episodes in the life of Osiris. The Egyptians were acquainted with the
matter fr