the
truth, and who will so hate a lie."

Chorus of charioteers. "To the West, oxen, ye are drawing the funeral
car, to the West! Our lord is going after you."

Chorus III. "To the West, to the West, to the land of the just! The
cities which Thou didst love are groaning and weeping behind thee."

The throng of people. "Go in peace to Abydos! Go in peace to Abydos! Go
Thou in peace to the Theban West!"

Chorus of female wailers. "O our lord, O our lord, Thou art going to
the West, the gods themselves are weeping."

Chorus of priests. "He is happy, the most revered among men, for fate
has permitted him to rest in the tomb which he himself has
constructed."

Chorus of drivers. "To the West, oxen, ye are drawing the car, to the
West! Our lord is going behind thee."

The throng of people. "Go in peace to Abydos! Go in peace to Abydos, to
the western sea." [Authentic expression.]

Every couple of hundred yards a division of troops was stationed which
greeted the lord with muffled drums, and took farewell with a shrill
sound of trumpets.

That was not a funeral, but a triumphal march to the land of
divinities.

At a certain distance behind the car went Ramses XIII, surrounded by a
great suite of generals, and behind him Queen Niort's leaning on two
court ladies. Neither the son nor the mother wept, for it was known to
them then (the common people were not aware of this), that the late
pharaoh was at the side of Osiris and was so satisfied with his stay in
the land of delight that he had no wish to return to an earthly
existence.

After a procession of two hours which was attended by unbroken cries,
the car with the remains halted on the bank of the Nile. There the
remains were removed from the boat-shaped car and borne to a real barge
gilded, carved, covered with pictures, and furnished with white and
purple sails.

The court ladies made one more attempt to take the mummy from the
priests; again were heard all the choruses and the military music.
After that the lady Niort's and some priests entered the barge which
bore the royal mummy, the people hurled bouquets and garlands and the
oars began to plash.

Ramses XII had left his palace for the last time and was moving on the
Nile toward his tomb in Theban mountains. But on the way it was his
duty, like a thoughtful ruler, to enter all the famed places and take
farewell of them.

The journey lasted long. Thebes was five hundred miles distant higher
up the riv