79. Cf. _supra_.--De Jong, op. cit., pp. 40 ff.; Gruppe, _Griech. Mythol._,
p. 1574.

80. _La Cite antique_, I, ch. II, end.

81. Cf. Erman, _op. cit._, pp. 96-97.

82. Sufficient proof is contained in the bas-reliefs cited above (n. 20),
where apotheosized death assumes the shape of {238} Serapis. Compare
Kaibel, _Inscr. gr._, XIV, 2098: [Greek: Eupsuchi meta tou Oseiridos]. This
material conception of immortality could be easily reconciled with the old
Italian ideas, which had persisted in a dormant state in the minds of the
people, see Friedlaender, _Sittengeschichte_, III^6, p. 758.

83. Reitzenstein, _Archiv fuer Religionswiss._, VII, 1904, 406 ff. These are
perhaps the most striking pages written on the meaning of the ceremony; it
is an [Greek: apathanatismos]. Cf. also Reitzenstein, _Hellenistische
Wundererzaehlungen_, p. 116.

84. Apul., _Metam._, 23.--De Jong, the latest commentator on this passage,
seems inclined to take it as a mere ecstatic vision, but the vision was
certainly caused by a dramatic scene in the course of which hell and heaven
were shown in the dark.--The Egyptians represented them even on the stage;
see Suetonius, _Calig._, 8: "Parabatur et in mortem spectaculum quo
argumenta inferorum per Aegyptios et Aethiopas explicarentur."

85. Apul., _Met._, XI, 6 end.

86. _Ibid._, c. 24: "Inexplicabili voluptate < aspectu > divini simulacri
perfruebar."

87. Plut., _De Isid._, 78, p. 383 A:

[Greek: Hos an exertemenais (tais psuchais ap' autou (tou Osiridos kai
theomenais aplestos kai pothousais to me phaton mede rheton anthropois
kallos].

88. Cf., _supra_, n. 22.

89. We find similar wishes on the Egyptian monuments, frequently at least
since the Middle Empire. "Donnez-moi de l'eau courante a boire....
Mettez-moi la face au vent du nord sur le bord de l'eau et que sa fraicheur
calme mon coeur" (Maspero, _Etudes egyptiennes_, I, 1881, p. 189). "Oh, si
j'avais de l'eau courante a boire et si mon visage etait tourne vers le
vent du nord" (Naville,_op. cit._, p. 174). On a funerary stele in the
Brussels museum (Capart, _Guide_, 1905, p. 71) is inscribed, "Que les dieux
accordent de boire l'eau des sources, de respirer les doux vents du
nord."--The very material origin of this wish appears in the funeral texts,
where the soul is shown crossing the desert, threatened with hunger and
thirst, and obtaining refreshment by the aid of the gods (Maspero, _Etudes
de mythol. et d'archeol. egypt._,