CHAP. XVI. JUDGMENT SCENES. 44-9 



tliat the deceased on admission to that pure state 

 must be born again, and commence a new life, 

 cleansed from all the impurities* of his earthly 

 career. It also represents the idea common to 

 the Egyptians and other philosophers, that to die 

 was only to assume a new form, — that nothing was 

 annihilated, — and that dissolution was merely the 

 forerunner of reproduction.! Above, in two lines, 

 sit the forty-two assessors, the complete number 

 mentioned by Diodorus ; whose office, as I have 

 already observed, was to assist in judging the dead, 

 and whose various forms have been given among 

 the other Deities of the Egyptian Pantheon. t 



Many similar subjects occur on funereal monu- 

 ments, few of which present any new features. 

 One, however, is singular, from the Goddess of 

 Justice being herself engaged in weighing the 

 deceased, in the presence of Thoth, who is re- 

 presented under the form of a Cynocephalus, 

 having the horns and globe of the Moon upon its 

 head, and a tablet in its hand. Instead of the 

 usual vase, the figure of the deceased himself 

 is placed in one of the scales, opposed to that 

 of the Goddess ; and close to the balance sits 

 Cerberus with open mouth, as though prepared 

 to vent his savage fury on the judged §, if pro- 



* Vide siqyrd, Vol. I. (2d Series) p. 316. Conf. Virgil, ^n. vi. 739. 

 745. 



f Videsupm, Vol. I. (2cl Series) p. 315.407. 439. etc. 



X Suj^rd, p. 76. It might be suggested that they represented the 

 different forms through which a soul migrated ; but I think this not 

 probable. 



§ Cerberus, according to Hesiod, welcomed those who came in, and 

 devoured those who endeavoured to go out of the gates of Hades. 

 Hesiod. Theogon. 770. 



VOL. IF. — SEcoNr Series. G G 



