450 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XVI. 



noiinced unworthy of admittance to the regions 

 of the blessed. 



Another may also be noticed, from the singular 

 fact of the Goddess of Justice, who here introduces 

 the deceased, being without a head, as described 

 by Diodorus ; from the deceased holding in each 

 hand an ostrich feather, the emblem of Truth ; and 

 from Cerberus being represented standing upon 

 the steps of the divine abode of Osiris, as if in the 

 act of announcing the arrival of Thoth with the 

 person of the tomb. 



Sometimes the deceased wore round his neck 

 the same vase, which in the scales typified his 

 good actions; or bore on his head the ostrich 

 feather of Truth. They were both intended to 

 show that he had been deemed worthy of admis- 

 sion to the mansions of the just; and in the same 

 idea originated the custom of placing the name 

 of the Goddess after that of virtuous individuals 

 who were dead, implying that they were "judged," 

 or "justified." * Some analogy to this may perhaps 

 be traced in the following passage of Plato's Gor- 

 gias t : — " Sometimes Ilhadamanthus, beholding 

 the soul of one who has passed through life with 

 tratli^ whether it be the soul of a private man, or 



of any other is filled with admiration, and 



dismisses it to the islands of the blessed. t And 

 tlie same things are done by Tl^^acus." 



The Goddesses Athor and Netpe frequently pre- 

 sented the virtuous after death with the fruit and 



* Vide supra, p. 30. f Plato, Gorgias, p. 4'58. 



X Conf. Luciaii on Grief. 



