gyptologists to these papyri, but in reality they bear the title of
"The Book of the Manifestation to Light." A copy of this, more or less
complete, according to the fortune of the deceased, was deposited in
the case of every mummy. The book was revised under the twenty-sixth
dynasty, and then assumed its final definite form. But many parts of
it are of the highest antiquity. The whole series of pilgrimages which
the soul, separated from the body, was believed to accomplish in the
various divisions of the lower regions, are related in this book. It
contained also a collection of prayers for the use of the deceased in
the other world, and of magical formulae intended to secure the
preservation of the mummy from decay, and to prevent its possession by
an evil spirit, till the ultimate return of the soul of the deceased.
Many of these rituals are also found written, not in hieroglyphics,
but in hieratic characters, which are an abbreviated form of
hieroglyphic signs. Papyri with hieroglyphics are nearly always
divided by ruled lines into narrow vertical columns of an inch or less
in breadth, in which the hieroglyphic signs are arranged one under
the other. Sometimes the papyri are found written in the enchorial
character. Several manuscripts in Greek on papyrus have been also
discovered in Egypt; they are, however, of a late date, and relate to
the sale of lands; many have been discovered referring to lands and
possessions about Thebes, one of which has been given in full on page
245.

[Illustration: DISCOVERED TOMB WITH ITS TREASURES. (_At
Pompeii._)]

_Roman Tombs._--Before commencing our description of the tombs which
line the way as the visitor approaches Pompeii, and seem to prepare
him for that funeral silence which reigns in the long-lost city, the
more remarkable for its contrast with the gay and festive style of
decoration which still characterizes the remains which surround him,
it is our intention, as we have done in other instances, to give some
general information upon the subject which we are about to treat in
detail, for the benefit of those among our readers to whom the forms
of Roman burial and the expressions of Roman sorrow are unfamiliar.

Great, absurdly great among the uneducated, as is the importance
attached to a due performance of the rites of burial in the present
day, it is as nothing compared to the interest which was felt on this
subject by the Romans; and not by them only, but by ot