367 
awhile the Osirian dwells, sowing 1 corn, ploughing with heavenly 
oxen, and reaping the harvest in the Elysian fields. It was for 
this purpose that a hoe and a basket full of corn were buried 
with every Egyptian, that in the future life he might not be 
unprepared to follow his agricultural labours. There the 
Osirian freely, and frequently, partakes of the bread of know- 
ledge, which he is shortly to find more necessary than ever, 
as he has arrived at the end of all his trials but one , and that 
one the last and most terrible, for as yet he is only in a 
superior kind of Sheol , or Hades, undergoing a purification, 
Fig. 77. The avenging Assessor watching to punish the Osirian. (Papyrus, British 
Museum.) 
as in Hades itself his soul was subjected to purgatorial in- 
fluence > conducted by Anubis, the guardian of the dead, 
the Osirian traverses an unknown labyrinth (chaps, cxiii. to 
cxxi.) ; but by the aid of a clue and the assistance of Thoth, he 
penetrates through all its intricacies and windings, and at last 
is ushered into the judgment-hall, where Osiris Rhot-Amenti,* 
Fig. 78. The snake-headed Assessor standing to interrogate the Osirian. (Wilkinson.) 
the judge of the dead, awaits him seated on his throne sur- 
rounded as by a jury, with a court of forty-two assessors, 
four of whom are serpent-headed (figs. 77, 78). There the 
* Whence the Greek name of Pluto, Khadamanthus, was doubtless derived. 
VOL. VI. 2 H 
