104 Transactions. 



The coiidemned soul falls into hell, where it has for food and 

 drink only liltii, where scorpions and serpents jjursue it till it ulti- 

 mately succumbs to annihilation, after enduring- a thousand tortures. 

 The less guilty soul is put into a pig-, or some other unclean 

 animal, and driven back to the earth to go through another trans- 

 migration before ajipearing again in the presence of '' Osiris." 

 The justified soul after it had passed its judgment was not 

 yet exempt from trials and dangers. Its knowledge had to be in- 

 creased, and its powers enlarged. It was at liberty to assume all 

 the forms it chose to adopt, as that of the golden hawk (chap. 77), 

 that of the lotus (chap. 81), that of the phoenix (chap. 83), that of 

 the crane (chap. 134), that of the swallow (chap. 8G), or that of 

 the viper (chap. 132). The assumption of all these forms was 

 voluntary, and did not indicate the passage of the human soul into 

 a beast's body. Each one of them was the symbol of the divinity ; 

 the entry of the soul, therefore, into them demonstrated only the 

 assimilation of the soul to the divine type that it represented, but 

 the evil one opposed it under a thousand hideous forms and en- 

 deavoured to destroy it, or at least to arrest its onward progress 

 by his menaces and terrors. The evil principle is figured in 

 chapters 31 and 32 of the Book of the Dead as a crocodile, and 

 in chapter 3G as a tortoise, and in chapters 33, 35, 37, and 41 as 

 serpents of various kinds. 



In order to triumph over the wicked one the " Ba " had to 

 identify itself with " Osiris," and receive the same help as " Osiris " 

 receives from " Isis," " Nephthys," and the good gods. With 

 their aid, and being able to pronounce the special formulae, the 

 " Ba " passed through the celestial mansions (chaps. 74, 7o), and 

 carried out in the fields of Ailoo or Elysium the ceremonies of 

 mystic husbandry; after that, it mixed with the crowd of go Is 

 and joined with them in adorning the Sun (chaps. 110, 14G). 

 In order to merit this blessed destiny, the Egyptians had 

 drawn up a code of practical morals, the different articles of which 

 are found ou the monuments of all periods ; but the most complete 

 version is to be found in the 12oth chapter of the Book of the 

 Dead. (The Book of the Dead, of which each mummy was sup- 

 posed to have a copy, was a collection of prayers and formulae for 

 the use of the "Ba" iu the other world;. The "Ba," when bi-ought 

 before the tribunal of Osiris (who was the judge of the dead), 

 pleaded its cause before "Osiris" and his assessois thus : — ■ 



