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LECTURE VI.

Pasherenptah. This lady thus addresses her husband from the grave:[1]

"Oh my brother, my spouse, cease not to drink and to eat, to drain the cup of joy, to enjoy the love of woman, and to make holiday: follow thy desires each day, and let not care enter into thy heart, as long as thou livest upon earth. For as to Amenti, it is the land of heavy slumber and of darkness, an abode of sorrow for those who dwell there. They sleep in their forms; they wake not any more to see their brethren; they recognize not their father and their mother; their heart is indifferent to their wife and children. Every one [on earth] enjoys the water of life, but thirst is by me. The water cometh to him who remaineth on earth, but I thirst for the water which is by me. I know not where I am since I came into this spot; I weep for the water which passes by me. I weep for the breeze on the brink of the stream, that through it my heart may be refreshed in its sorrow. For as to the god who is here, 'Death-Absolute' is his name.[2] He calleth on all, and all men come to obey him, trembling with fear before him. With him there is no respect for gods or men; by him great ones are as little ones. One feareth to pray to him, for he listeneth

  1. Sharpe, Egyptian Inscriptions, i. pl. 4.
  2. Τὸν πανώλεθρον θεὸν. …
    Ὃς οὐδ' ἐν Ἄιδου τὸν θανόντ' ἐλευθεροῖ.

    Aesch. Suppl. 414.