nd
unwritten arguments, comments, articles of faith, and controverted
points of doctrine heard from the mouths of the believers, to surprise
them into a reverential attitude. But we of the present day have left to
us only the more outward and visible remains of the Egyptians. There are
only the fundamental doctrines to work on, the more penetrating notes of
the harmony to listen to. Thus the outline of the philosophy is able to
be studied without any complication, and we have no whirligig of
priestly talk to confuse it. Examined in this way, working only from
cold stones and dry papyri, we are confronted with the old "Eat, drink,
and be merry," which is at once the happiest and most dangerous
philosophy conceived by man. It is to be noticed that this way of
looking at life is to be found in Egypt from the earliest times down to
the period of the Greek occupation of the country, and, in fact, until
the present day. That is to say, it was a philosophy inborn in the
Egyptian,--a part of his nature.

Imhotep, the famous philosopher of Dynasty III., about B.C. 3000, said
to his disciples: "Behold the dwellings of the dead. Their walls fall
down, their place is no more; they are as though they had never
existed"; and he drew from this the lesson that man is soon done with
and forgotten, and that therefore his life should be as happy as
possible. To Imhotep must be attributed the earliest known exhortation
to man to resign himself to his candle-end of a life, and to the
inevitable snuffing-out to come, and to be merry while yet he may. There
is a poem, dating from about B.C. 2000, from which the following is
taken:--

"Walk after thy heart's desire so long as thou livest.
Put myrrh on thy head, clothe thyself in fine linen,
anoint thyself with the true marvels of God.... Let not
thy heart concern itself, until there cometh to thee that
great day of lamentation. Yet he who is at rest can hear
not thy complaint, and he who lies in the tomb can
understand not thy weeping. Therefore, with smiling face,
let thy days be happy, and rest not therein. For no man
carrieth his goods away with him; "O, no man returneth
again who is gone thither."

Again, we have the same sentiments expressed in a tomb of about B.C.
1350, belonging to a certain Neferhotep, a priest of Amen. It is quoted
on page 235, and here we need only note the ending:

"Come, songs and music are before thee. S