Egyptian belief and modern thought / by James Bonwick.

  • James Bonwick
Date:
1878
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Egyptian belief and modern thought / by James Bonwick. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    truth. Do the same, and your old age shall be increased.” A remarkable epitaph is given by Rougd from the tomb of Antef, warrior and governor, of the thirteenth dynasty. A part of it runs thus : Giving justice to the palace, his virtues made the people happy in everything. He is a sage, nourished with knowledge, judging exactly that which is true. Holding his heart in great perfection, he applies him- self to hear each in his place. Exempt from all vices, virtuous in all his thoughts, his heart is right; no crooked way is in him. Ardent for all duty, when one invokes him, he listens favourably to the requests. Not loving the lukewarm, he is quick to reply to him who sues for his counsels. Ignor- ing nothing of truth, full of sagacity, he knows the words of the interiors ; that which goes not from the lips, that which man says in his innermost heart, nothing is hidden from him. He neglects not the words of the just. Apply- ing his heart to make peace, he makes no distinction between the unknown and his familiars. Seeking after the right, he applies his heart to hear requests. He renders justice to the poor, he is severe upon the fraudulent. He is the father of the weak, the sustainer of him who has no more a mother. Dreaded is the den of the evil doers, he protects the poor, he is the saviour of him whom a more powerful one has robbed of his goods. He is the husband of the widow, the asylum of the orphan,” etc. In spite of their egotism, or their flattering tale, one cannot but respect the high tone of moral feeling, and sterling manly qualities, conveyed in these epitaphs. There is the ring of the right metal there. If the moral code be correct, if it be what we call in this day Christian, it is but fair to think that proper principles governed the heart of the nation, and that the religious conceptions were neither grovelling nor obscure, but rather elevating and purifying. Their gods could never be like the perfidious