EGYPTIAN LITERATURE. The advance that has been made in recent years in the de cipherment of the ancient writings of the world enables us to deal in a very matter-of-fact way with the Egyptian inscriptions. Their chief mysteries are solved, their philosophy is almost fathomed, their general nature is understood. The story they have to tell is seldom startling to the modern mind. The world was younger when they were written. The heart of man was given to devious ways then, as now and in the days of Solomon,— that we can affirm full well; but his mind was simpler; apart from knowledge of men and the conduct of affairs, the educated Egyptian had no more subtlety than a modern boy of 15, or an intelligent Eng lish rustic of a century ago.
To the Egyptologist by profession the in scriptions have a wonderful charm. The writ ing itself in its leading form is the most at tractive that has ever been seen. Long rows of clever little pictures of things in heaven and earth compose the sentences; every sign is a plaything, every group a pretty puzzle, and at present, almost every phase well under stood brings a tiny addition to the sum of the world's knowledge. But these inscriptions, so rich in facts that concern the history of man kind and the progress of civilization, seldom possess any literary charm. If pretentious, as many of them are; they combine bald exaggera tion with worn-out simile, in which ideas that may be poetical are heaped together in defiance of art. Such are the priestly laudations of the kings by whose favor the temples prospered. Take, for instance, the dating of a stela erected under Rameses II on the route to the Nubian gold mines. It runs:— On the fourth day of the first month of the season of winter, in the third year of the Majesty of Horus, the Strong Bull, beloved of the Goddess of Truth. lord of the vulture and of the uneus diadems. protecting Egypt and restraining the barbarians, the Golden Horus, rich in years, great in victories, King of Upper Egypt and King of Lower Egypt, Mighty in Truth of Re, Chosen of Re, the son of Re, Rameses Beloved of Amen, granting life for ever and ever, beloved of Amen Ra lord of the "Throne of the Two Lands" in Apt Bout. appearing glorious on the throne of Horus among
the living from day to day even as his father Ra; the good god. lord of the South Land, Him of Edfu Home bright of plumage. the beauteous sparrow-hawk of elect. ie.' that lath protected Egypt with his wing, making a shade for men, fortress of strength and of victory; he who came forth terrible from the womb to take to himself his strength, to extend his borders, to whose body color was given of the strength of Mentu; the god Horus and the god Set. There was exultation in heaven on the day of his birth; the gods said. "We have begotten him" ; the goddesses said, " He came forth from us to rule the kingdom of Ra"; Amen spike. "I am he who have made him, whereby I have set Truth in her place; the earth is established, heaven is well pleased, the gods are satisfied by reason of him." The Strong Bull against the vile Ethiopians. which uttereth his maring against the land of the negroes while his hoofs trample the Trog lodytes, his horn thrusteth at them; his spirit is mighty in Nubia and the terror of him reacheth to the land of the Kary; his name circulateth in all lands because of the victory which his arms have won; at his name gold cometh forth from the mountain as at the name of his father, the god Horus of the land of Bake; beloved is he in the Lands of the South even as Horus at Meama, the god of the Land of Buhen, King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Mighty in Truthof Re. son of Ra, of his body. Lord of Diadems. Rameses Beloved of Ames, giving life for ever and ever like his father Ra, day by day. [Revised from the German translation of Professor Erman.] As Professor Erman has pointed out, the courtly scribe was most successful when tak ing his similes straight from nature, as in the following description, also of Rameses II:— A victorious lion putting forth its claws while roaring loudly and uttering its voice in the Valley of the Gaselks.