"The shepherds say that cattle at pasture will not eat, they only bellow."
"And I have heard from hunters that lions are reduced by weeping; they do not attack deer, for lions eat no meat at present."
"A terrible time! Come to me this evening and we will drink a glass of mourning liquor which my cellarer has invented."
"Thou hast, I suppose, dark beer of Sidon?"
"May the gods forbid that at this time we should use drinks which rejoice people. The liquor which my cellarer has invented is not beer; it is more like wine mixed with musk and fragrant plants."
"A very proper drink when our lord is sojourning in the quarter of the dead, where the odor of musk and embalming herbs is always prevalent."
Thus during seventy days did dignitaries mortify themselves.
The first quiver of delight ran through Egypt when it was announced from the quarter of the dead that the body of the sovereign had been taken from the soda bath, and that embalmers and priests were performing ceremonies over it.
That day for the first time people cut their hair and whoso had the wish washed himself. But in fact there was no need of mortification, since Horus had found the remains of Osiris. The ruler of Egypt, thanks to the art of embalmers, had received life, and, thanks to the prayers of the priests and the Book of the Dead, he had become equal to the gods.
From that moment on, the late pharaoh, Mer-Amen-Ramses, was called "Osiris" officially; unofficially, he had been called that since his death.