THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 47 



the jackal headed Anubis. Thoth records on his tablet the result of 

 the trial ; and the soul of the deceased, destiny, fortune and the 

 cradle, are on one side of the balance as witnesses. To the right is 

 Amemit, the devourer. He has the head of a crocodile, the body of 

 a lion, and the hind quarters of a hippopotamus. After the trial 

 Thoth declares: "The heart of the deceased is weighed and his 

 " soul standeth in evidence for it. His case is straight upon the 

 " great balance." Then the gods proclaim : " Unalterably estab- 

 " lished is that which proceeds from thy mouth. Righteous and just 

 " is he, and without rebuke before us." Other scenes shew Ani 

 before Osiris ; and the artist gives a running picture of an Egyptian 

 funeral, with the attending Priests and mourners, till with last adieus 

 the mummy is handed over to Anubis, the god of the tomb. 



The deceased then goes forth into the first stages of life in the 

 other world. The Greeks are said to have been taught the doctrine 

 of transmigration by the Egyptians, who believed that when freed 

 from sin by successive transmigrations, a course that might run on 

 for ages, the soul would have the option of returning to its former 

 body, or of being absorbed into the infinite : hence their care to 

 preserve the body. In this papyrus there is depicted the strange 

 conceit of the soul fluttering over a mummy case on its return to the 

 body. It is said of Ani that he may transform ^himself " into all the 

 forms he pleases ;" and many of the chapters refer to such transmi- 

 grations and many mystical teachings only imperfectly understood. 

 In the thirty-first scene a second weighing of the heart is described. 

 Whether that is intended to represent a second trial after a stage of 

 further probation in the other world, I cannot say. Plates 31 and 32, in 

 which the second weighing scene is depicted, are remarkable for what is 

 called the Negative Confession. As it is a most interesting exposition 

 of the ethics of ancient Egypt I transcribe it in full. Pleading before 

 his judges, the deceased says : — "I am not a doer of what is wrong, 

 " I am not a plunderer, I am not a robber, I am not a slayer of 

 " men, I do not stint the quantity of corn, I am not a niggard, I do 

 " not seize the property of the gods, I am not a teller of lies, I am 

 " not a monopolizer of food, I am no extortioner, I am not unchaste, 

 " I am not the cause of others' tears, I am not a dissembler, I am 

 " not a doer of violence, I am not of domineering character, I do 

 " not pillage cultivated land, I am not an eavesdropper, I am not a 

 " chatterer, I do not dismiss a case through self-interest, I am not 



