CHAP. XVI. GREAT FUNERAL PROCESSION. 409 



honour of the deceased monarch, calUng upon his 

 virtues, and passing every encomiunri upon his me- 

 mory. In the meantime a solemn fast was esta- 

 bhshed ; and they neither allowed themselves to taste 

 meat or wheaten bread *, abstaining also from wine 

 and every kind of luxury ; nor did any one venture, 

 from a religious scruple, to use baths or ointments, 

 to lie on soft beds, or in any way to gratify his 

 appetites ; giving himself up entirely to mourning 

 during those days, as if he had lost the friend most 

 dear to him." 



Considering the marked distinction maintained 

 between the sovereign and the highest subjects in 

 the kingdom, in a country where the royal princes 

 walked on foot when in attendance upon their fa- 

 ther, and even bore him in his chair of state upon 

 their shoulders, — where the highest functionaries 

 of the priestly order, the most influential of the 

 hereditary nobles of the land, walked behind the 

 chariot t of their monarch, — we may readily be- 

 lieve how greatly the funeral processions of the 

 wealthiest individuals fell short of those of the 

 kings. But from the pomp of ordinary funerals, 

 some idea may be formed of the grand state in 

 which the body of a sovereign was conveyed to the 

 tomb. 



In the funeral processions of the Egyptian 

 grandees the order was frequently as follows : — 



* Conf. "As the bread of the mourners." Hos. ix. 4. 



-}- The greatest honour conferred on Joseph was permission " to ride 

 in the second chariot which he (the King) had." This was a royal 

 chariot, no one being allowed to appear in his own in the presence 

 of majesty, except in battle. 



