Brugsch, Geographische Inschriften, t. I, p

" His Majesty having navigated to the head of the lake {er ap-t She-t), to the place of the mouth of the H'ûni {er ma ro-h'unt), found the town of Pa Ç Rà-xem-xeperZ\, its walls high, its fortress well shut, full of the brave the of northern lands."

Hence it results that about the close of the twenty-second dynasty, king Râ-xem-xeper had given his name to the town near Ro-h'ûnt. Not far from JUahûn lay the ruins of the celebrated Labyrinth, built by king Amen-em-h' a III of the twelfth dynasty. Mariette affirms that the Greek word Aa3û- ^'.^t^o^ is only a transcript of the Egyptian Ropero-h'ûnt, or with the Bashmùric pronunciation, Lope-ro-h' ûnt , the temple of the mouth of the H'ûnt; and, upon the whole, I think his identification to be one of the most certain conjectures ever made.

Ail through Papyrus No. 2 (pi. 2-5) are described the towns of the Fayùm, each of them being embodied into the image of its tutelary deity, and foUowed by a mystic legend w'hich expresses the connection of the locality with the Osirian myth and the wars of Horus. About half a dozen of the names thus registered can be recognised in some of the modem names, deformed though thèse be by the bad Arabie pronunciation. The H''ibû of our text is certainlv Behebit-el-Hagrjar , Behehit being the équivalent of the old Egyptian Pâ-h'ibu, tlie town H'ibu ; Berg-t, Pâ-bâ-n-Osir^ alias Nuter h'a'-t nti Sokar em ro-h'ûnt, the divine seat of the god Sokar in Ro-h'ûnt, Pâ-gâr, are respectively Berg, near Illahûn, Abusyr-el-Molûq , Ptolemy's A-.ovjTtac, and Garah. An accurate collation of our document, with the maps published by the Commission d'Egypte and Linant- Bey, would probably lead to other identifications which I am not able to propose at présent.

Papyrus No. 4(pl. 15-28) purports to havebeen composed about the classical epoch of the nineteenth dvnastv. but the copy at Bùlaq is not the author's autograph. From the

BiBL. ÉOYPT., T. VII. 5

style of the handwriting, from various graphie peeuliarities (such as the use of the plural sign to divide the words or the propositions), from the strong tendency which the orthography évinces to pass from the Hieratic into the Demotic stage of transformation, I think it may be assigned to that obscure period which extends from the end of the twentieth to the beginning of the twenty-sixth dynasty. Its title was probably "^Head of the Instructions made by the scribe Ani unto his son, the scvihe X' onsû-h'otep/' but the commencement is unfortunately wanting. Only fourteen pages hâve been preserved^ the first of which is too mutilated to admit of a translation, while the last five are but sparingly inscribed witli various documents {most of them undecipherable) and a few figures rudely sketched. The nine remaining plates contain the concluding part of a moral treatise^ being a dialogue between Ani and his son. Hère we hâve the earliest known instance of the colloquial form adapted to philosophical matters. Learned though Plato was in Egyptian lorOj I doubt whether he ever droamt of his Pharaonic predecessor, the scribe Ani.

It is not always easy to make out the meaning of the ancient sage and to appreciate the real value of his wisdom :

" Do not let thyself be brought before the jury, lest thy name be stinking anddespised. Do not multiply words ; holding thy tongue, thou artgood. Do not speak loud : God's inner sanctuary is sullied by an uproarious joy. Hast thou adored Him humbly like a loving servant (?), are ail thy sayings to Him whispered secretly, He makes thy fortune, Ile hears thy sayings, Ile accepts thy gifts.

"Lo! pour a libation of water to thy father and mother who lie in the Funereal Valley, it is convenicnt for thee so to do, and the Gods, yea, they say they accept it [joyously] ; do not neglect doing it by thy parents so that thy son may do the same by thee. Do not rush into the beerhouse, lest there be reported abroad whatever escapcs from thy mouth without thy being conscious of what thou art saying ; when thou walkest away ail thy limbs are eut, and thy

drinking-mates aid thee not, they stay to denounce the drunkard's way, and, when [the police] corne to seek thee, for thee to exculpate thyself, thou art found stretched upon the gi'ound, thou art like a little child. Do not walk forth from thy house, unaware of a resting-place. Mayest thou look upon ail the spots which thou likest to remember ; mayest thou hâve before thee a raansion for thee to go to, for it is convenient for thee to be found ending thy house which is in the Funereal Valley, the morning of hiding thy corpse. Be it always before thee, during thy travels of judging with thy eye (?), that, old though thou corne to rest into the walls [of this last house], there is no surprising him who does good : he is ready. Therefore, when thou comest to thy travel of departing [from hencej, may thy resting-place be found ready, yea ! Saying ; 'There cornes the ravisher' ; when it is before thee, do not say : ' 1 am but a child,' when thou departest, not knowing thy owu death. Cornes Death ; it is master of the wee nursling who is in the lap of his motter, as well as of him who is an old man. Behold I am saying unto thee thy beneficent deeds, which thou must judge in thy heart(?) ; lo ! do them, and thou becomest good, and ail sins fall back from thee "^

" The breast of the man is the great hall of a granary which is full of allkind of answers : Make a good choice [amongst them], that, when speaking, the worse remain shut up in thy breast. Whoèver answers stifiûy is looked upon like a stick; whoever speaks mildly is beloved. Lo ! that which thou say'st is with thee forever. Does eventhe injuredanswer with a falschood, afterwards God discerns the truth, and His chastisement cornes. Bringing ofïerings for thy God, beware of whatever is heinous in His sight ; do not make comments upon His guiding ; do not stretch Him (?) when He has risen ; do not attack Him nor His bearers(?) ; do not

contradict Plis writings (?). Beware, when He does ; when

thy eye contemplâtes His deeds of ire, pray in His name. He it is who gives His spirits millions of forms, and exalts whosoever exalts Him ! The God of this land, Shù, is in Heaven, and His forms are upon the earth : incense is burnt in their daily sacrifices. He itis who develops the germs ail at His rise, A\"ho multiplies the

1. Mariette, les Papyrus de Boulaq, pi. XVI, 1. 17, pi. XVIII. I. 5.

loaves, who gives thee thy molher ! . . . She lias given birth tothee after due months ; she has bowed herse] f over thee, [putting] her breast in thy mouth, for three years. . . . When I said : 'Lo ! Let him go to school !' when thou wert learning the letters, she remained daily near thy teacher, withthe bread and béer from her house. Thou art a young man ; thou hast taken a wife for thy self, thou hast made thy house ready. May thine eye be watchful on behalt of thy children ; be ail thy exertions like thy mother's deeds, lest she should become angry against thee, and raise her arms to God, who hears ail her prayers ^ . "

I should like to give a complète translation of the book ; but I think thèse extracts, short though they be, will suffice to convey into the reader's mind an idea of its value^ and to prove the importance of Mariette's last publication.

Slices of calcareous stone, fragments of terracotta vessels^ some carefuUy written in a splendid hand, some spotted more than inscribed with evanescent and hardly legible characters, — such are the materials upon which are to be found the originals of the Hieratic and Demotic documents published in the volume of the British Muséum*. The texts scrawled on so bulky a material cannot be so extensive as the texts of the Papyri ; incomplète though they be, they possess an extrême importance for the knowledge of Egyptian antiquity. The scribes^ probably when short of paper, were in the habit of entrusting to ostraca their thoughts or the précis of their daily labour^ and thus enriching their library from their kitchens and stone-qùarries. Accounts, letters^ records of judicial proceedings, memoranda of astronomical observations, religions or magie forniulœ, nay, portions of literary compositions formerly published by

1. Mariette, les Papijrus de Boidaq, pi. XX, 1. 9, pi. XXI, 1. 3.

2. Inscriptions in the Hieratic and Demotic Character, from the Collections of the Britisli Muséum (Printed by Order of the Trustées). London : sold at the British Muséum and by Longmans and Co., Paternoster Row, 1868.

the British IMuseum, hâve been preserved and lithographed by order of the Trustées, and are now rescued for ever from the influence of time.

The historical inscriptions belong, some of them, to the

xviiith dynasty, and relate certain events which took place

under the reign of Amenophis the Third (pi. xxix. No. 138),

the others to the twentieh dynasty (pi. i,-iv. Nos. 5020-