This declaration was to be made by the soul in the Judgment Hall of Osiris in the presence of the council of forty-two gods. The heart being weighed against the symbol of truth and found correct was then restored to the deceased who entered upon the life of the blessed.
"O ye Lords of Truth! I have brought you truth.
I have not privily done evil against mankind.
I have not afflicted the miserable.
I have not told falsehoods.
I have had no acquaintance with sin.
I have not made the laboring man do more than his daily task.
I have not been idle.
I have not been intoxicated.
I have not been immoral.
I have not calumniated a slave to his master.
I have not caused hunger.
I have not made to weep.
I have not murdered.
I have not defrauded.
"I have not eaten the sacred bread in the temples.
I have not cheated in the weight of the balance.
I have not withheld milk from the mouths of sucklings.
I have not slandered any one.
I have not netted sacred birds.
I have not caught the fish which typify them.
I have not stopped running water.
I have not robbed the gods of their offered haunches.
I have not stopped a god from his manifestation.
I have made to the gods the offerings that were their due.
I have given food to the hungry, drink to the thirsty, and clothes to the naked.
I am pure! I am pure!"
WEIGHING THE HEART IN THE JUDGMENT HALL OF OSIRIS.
THE ADVENTURES OF THE EXILE SANEHAT.[1]
(2000 B.C.)
The fact that three copies of this tale have been found indicates that it was popular. Sanehat was a high official, and probably a member of the royal family; but on the death of King Amenemhet, the founder of the twelfth dynasty, Sanehat, fearing for his life, fled to Syria and lived there many years. In his old age he desired to return, that he might die in his native land. The narrative was probably prepared for inscription on the wall of his tomb. The translation is from W. M. Flinders Petrie's "Egyptian Tales."
In the thirtieth year, the month Paophi, the seventh day, the god entered his horizon, the King Sehotepabra flew up to heaven and joined the sun's disc, the follower of the god met his maker. The palace was silenced, and in mourning, the great gates were closed, the courtiers crouching on the ground, the people in hushed mourning.
His majesty had sent a great army with the nobles to the land of the Temehu (Libya), his son and heir, the good god, King Usertesen,[2] as their leader. Now he was returning, and had brought away living captives and all kinds of cattle without end. The councillors of the palace had sent to the West to let the king know the matter that had come to pass in the inner hall. The messenger was to meet him on the road, and reach him at the time of evening: the matter was urgent. "A hawk had soared with his followers." Thus said he, not to let the army know of it. Even if the royal sons who commanded in that army sent a message, he was not to speak to a single one of them.