40 THE WISDOM OF OLD EGYPT 



the ancient Egyptians. They believed that imme- 

 diately after death the soul was brought before the 

 god Osiris to be judged. The heart of the dead man 

 was weighed against a feather ; at least, so it is 

 represented in the symbolical pictures, to show how 

 severe the judgment would be. I need quote only 

 a few sentences from the " protestations " of the soul 

 in order to illustrate the strictness of the moral 

 standard five thousand years ago : — 



I have not oppressed the members of my family ; 

 I have not wrought evil in the place of right and 



truth I have not made it the first consideration 



of each day that excessive labour should be per- 

 formed for me. I have not ill-treated servants. 

 I have not caused pain. I have made no man 

 suffer hunger. I have made no one weep. I have 



not inflicted pain upon mankind I have not 



committed fornication I am pure. I am pure. 



I am pure. I am pure. 



It will be noticed that — contrary to the opinion 

 of so many people — there was the same standard of 

 sexual asceticism five thousand years ago as there is 

 in our own time ; and it was put under the express 

 care and sanction of the divine judge. But there 

 was, apparently, far more stress on the duty to avoid 

 inflicting pain or injury — the real essence of moral 

 law — than in any ethical code until recent times. 

 And we have further discovered a moral treatise 

 (" The Maxims of Ptah-Hotep ") belonging to those 

 ancient days, and numbers of inscriptions on private 

 tombs, which show the same standard of character. 

 A quite modern moral idealism was spread through- 

 out Egypt five thousand years ago. 



I may add that woman, in particular, was treated 

 with complete respect and justice. She was the 



