117 Victory

117. VICTORY is denoted by a branch, perhaps a palm branch, with a semicircle and a circle, some times preceded by the waved line.

118. The character signifying FORTUNE somewhat resembles that which denotes " gold" (n. 105), but, instead of the arch, we have an angular line, which ins to be intended for a pair of arms grasping the vase. The whole assemblage approaches, also, a little to the farm of a pocket, or purse, as it is frequently delineated.

119. The open square, bent inwards, clearly means SPLENDOUR or glory, though it is uncertain what object it is intended to represent. In some cases, a crescent seems to be substituted for it, as if it bare some relation to the sun, and the moon afforded a parallel sense.

120, 121. ILLusTatous is expressed, in the in scription of Rosetta, by the open square, for splen dour," the oval, which signifies addition, or i making it a kind of superlative, and the pair very naturally convey the idea of atannyo, or possessing; so that the whole makes the epithet EPIPHANES. This assemblage is, in some of the manuscripts, very commonly followed by a bird, or its equivalent, a half arch, apparently serving as an intensitive.

122 .. 124.

The feather, when alone, seems to imply HONOCR, as well as when accompanied by a man stretching out his arm, or by a bird. 'The bird, also, frequently stands alone in similar passages, and must be translated respect, or RESPECTABLE. The block with the bird has also manifestly the same sense in the great ritual, and the vase with the bowl is so nearly synonymous with it, that we can only translate it VENERABLE ; and these characters are frequently exchanged for a sort of bench, with a dash wider it, a symbol which may, however, possibly have been deduced from some different origin. The sense of the feather is peculiarly illustrated by its occurrence with a drop or club, a serpent, and a line, at the beginning of a great variety of inscriptions, ap parently signifying immortal honour to: See n. 172.

125:The eye, either with or without the pupil, and either preceded or followed by the undulated line, has a sense somewhat similar to all these, and • is often employed at the beginning of the honorary inscriptions. On the Rosetta stone, it means dis tinctly RITE, or adoration. The enchorial character, corresponding to it, expresses also simply doing ; as in Greek the Mine word signifies to " do" and to " sacrifice." 126. Woftsnie, or the Greek THERAPIA, is denoted by a very unintelligible character, resembling a kind of capstan, which is frequently delineated in the boats of the tablets ; if it is not intended for some emblematical figure erected in the boats. On the great green sarcophagus, the long bent line is a snake, and the point projecting upwards from the middle is a sword. But these resemblances afford us little or

no assistance in tracing the connexion between the whole emblem and its sense.

127, 128. The character denoting FATHER is found in some of the inscriptions of the Ptolemies, in such circumstances that it might as easily be supposed to mean mother ; but, by means of Mr Bullock's scars limns, compared with some other monuments, another character having been determined for MOTHER, it be came easy to identify the symbol for father on the Rosetta stone, where it had been a little injured, and imperfectly copied in the engravings.

129. The frequent occurrence of the Egyptian goose, or sheldrake, with a circle over it, between • two proper names, sufficiently points out the meaning of these characters, which can only relate to the con nexion between them, and which must naturally mean sow ; the circle may perhaps be intended for an egg ; but in the painted sculptures the disc is red, and the circumference light. The enchorial charac ter nearly resembles the form in which some kinds of birds are usually expressed in the manuscripts (n. 22, 130). Mr Bailey has also observed the oc currence of the bird between two proper names, and has identified it with the CHENALOPEX mentioned by Ilorapollo, as employed to signify son, on account of its courage in defending its offspring. This quality might rather have been expected to lead to its adop tion as a symbol for a parent; but its existence in the bird in question is confirmed by the observations • • of modern naturalists respecting the sheldrake, the tadorne of Buffon, which has generally been con sidered as the chenalopex, and resembles very ac curately the best of the hieroglyphic delineations of the bird, although the co/ours, as exhibited in the Description depte, are not correctly natural.

130. The same bird, with a leg or a -dash instead of a circle, seems to mean a minister or ATTEND-.

rr especially in several parts of the inscriptions on the Lover's Fountain. There are also some other characters which seem to be nearly synonymous with these ; one of them may possibly be meant for a tail, implying a follower, as SAT and SA are nearly alike in Coptic ; another is sometimes worn as a collar, perhaps implying subjection, and meaning servant.

131, 132. Instead of the usual character for sob, we sometimes find, between two names, a serpent, with a globe substituted for the bird, and an oval for the circle; and the context seems to require that the meaning of these symbols should be a DAUGHTER, ' but probably with some particular character of ray.

alty or divinity ; and at Philae we find a dual, mean ing SONS or descendants, as a son and a daughter, expressed two circles only.