e is not one but shall leave it,
and there is said to all who are here below, from the moment of their
waking to life: 'Go, prosper safe and sound, to reach the tomb at
length, a chief among the blessed, and ever mindful in thy heart of the
day when thou must lie down on the funeral bed!'" The ancient song
of Antuf, modified in the course of centuries, was still that which
expressed most forcibly the melancholy thought paramount in the minds of
the friends assembled to perform the last rites. "The impassibility of
the chief* is, in truth, the best of fates!"

* Osiris is here designated by the word "chief," as I have
already pointed out.

[Illustration: 029.jpg ONE OF THE HARPERS OF THE TOMB OF RAMSES III.]

Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph taken Byjnsinger in
1881.

"Since the times of the god bodies are created merely to pass away, and
young generations take their place: Ra rises in the morning, Tumu lies
down to rest in the land of the evening, all males generate, the females
conceive, every nose inhales the air from the morning of their birth
to the day when they go to their place! Be happy then for one day, O
man!--May there ever be perfumes and scents for thy nostrils, garlands
and lotus-flowers for thy shoulders and for the neck of thy beloved
sister* who sits beside thee! Let there be singing and music before
thee, and, forgetting all thy sorrows, think only of pleasure until the
day when thou must enter the country of Maritsakro, the silent goddess,
though all the same the heart of the son who loves thee will not cease
to beat! Be happy for one day, O man!--I have heard related what befell
our ancestors; their walls are destroyed, their place is no more, they
are as those who have ceased to live from the time of the god! The walls
of thy tomb are strong, thou hast planted trees at the edge of thy pond,
thy soul reposes beneath them and drinks the water; follow that which
seemeth good to thee as long as thou art on earth, and give bread to him
who is without land, that thou mayest be well spoken of for evermore.
Think upon the gods who have lived long ago: their meat offerings
fall in pieces as if they had been torn by a panther, their loaves are
defiled with dust, their statues no longer stand upright within the
temple of Ra, their followers beg for alms! Be happy for one day!"

* Marriages between brothers and sisters in Egypt rendered
this word "sister" the most natural a