NOTES ON LITERATURE IN EGYPT IN THE TIME OF MOSES. 187 



When the soul stood before the judgment seat of Osms, with 

 upHfted hands he recited his profession of faith : I have not 

 committed iniquity against men ! I have not oppressed the 

 poor ! 1 have not made defalcations in the necropolis ! I have 

 not laid labour upon any free man beyond that which he 

 Avrought for himself! I have not transgressed, I have not 

 been weak, I have not defaulted, I have not committed that 

 which is an abomination to the gods ! I have not caused the 

 slave to be ill-treated of his master ! I have not starved any 

 man, I have not made any to weep, I have not assassinated 

 any man, I have not caused any man to be treacherously 

 assassinated, and I have not committed treason against any ! 

 I have not in aught diminished the supphes of temples ! I 

 have not spoiled the shewbread of* the gods! I have not 

 taken away the loaves and the wrappings of the dead ! 

 I have done no carnal act within the sacred enclosure of the 

 temple ! I have not blasphemed ! I have in nought curtailed 

 the sacred revenues ! I have not pulled down the scale of 

 the balance! I have not falsified the beam of the balance! I 

 have not taken away the milk from the mouths of sucklings ! 

 I have not lassoed cattle on their pastures ! I have not 

 taken with nets the birds of the gods ! I have not fished in 

 their ponds ! I have not turned back the water in its season ! 

 1 have not cut off a water-channel in its course ! 1 have not 

 put out the fire in its time ! I have not defrauded the Nine 

 Gods of the choice parts of victims ! I have not ejected the 

 oxen of the gods ! I have not turned back the god at his 

 coming forth ! I am pure ! " This has been called a " Nega- 

 tive Confession," and yet the soul repeats it in substance m 

 a positive form. " He hath spread joy on all sides ; men 

 speak of that which he hath done, and the gods rejoice in it. 

 He hath reconciled the gods to him by his love ; he hath 

 given bread to the hungry, water to the thirsty, clothing to 

 the naked ; he hath given a boat to the shipwrecked ; he 

 hath offered sacrifices to the gods." M. Maspero, whose 

 translation we have adopted, says : " If this does not amount 

 to the love of our neighbour as our religions preach it, at 

 least it represents the careful solicitude due from a good lord 

 to his vassals." This confession from the Book of the 

 Dead is reinforced from other sepulchral inscriptions in 

 which the virtues of the deceased are described. It were not 

 a difficult task to select from the Book of Psalms a multitude 



* Offerings to. 



