ds tell us little
of thoughts, feelings, and opinions. Indeed that cumbersome mode of
writing, which alone was used in religious matters, was little fitted
for anything beyond the most material parts of their mythology. Hence
we must not believe that the Egyptian polytheism was quite so gross as
would appear from the sculptures; and indeed we there learn that they
believed, even at the earliest times, in a resurrection from the tomb, a
day of judgment, and a future state of rewards and punishments.

The priests made a great boast of their learning and philosophy, and
could each repeat by heart those books of Thot which belonged to his own
order. The singer, who walked first in the sacred processions, bearing
the symbols of music, could repeat the books of hymns and the rules for
the king's life. The soothsayer, who followed, carrying a clock and a
palm-branch, the emblem of the year, could repeat the four astrological
books; one on the moon's phases, one on the fixed stars, and two on
their heliacal risings. The scribe, who walked next, carrying a book
and the flat rule which held the ink and pen, was acquainted with the
geography of the world and of the Nile, and with those books which
describe the motions of the sun, moon, and planets, and the furniture
of the temple and consecrated places. The master of the robes understood
the ten books relating to education, to the marks on the sacred
heifers, and to the worship of the gods, embracing the sacrifices, the
first-fruits, the hymns, the prayers, the processions, and festivals.
The prophet or preacher, who walked last, carrying in his arms the
great water-pot, was the president of the temple, and learned in the ten
books, called hieratic, relating to the laws, the gods, the management
of the temples, and the revenue. Thus, of the forty-two chief books of
Thot, thirty-six were learned by these priests, while the remaining
six on the body, its diseases, and medicines, were learned by the
Pastophori, priests who carried the image of the god in a small shrine.
These books had been written at various times: some may have been very
old, but some were undoubtedly new; they together formed the Egyptian
bible. Apollonius, or Apollonides Horapis, an Egyptian priest, had
lately published a work on these matters in his own language, named
Shomenuthi, _the book of the gods_.

[Illustration: 130.jpg RELIGIOUS PROCESSION]

But the priests were no longer the earnest, sincere teachers