rought the matter
home to Pentauirit and his immediate accomplices. All were brought
before a commission of twelve members, summoned expressly to try the
case, and the result was the condemnation and execution of six women and
some forty men. The extreme penalty of the Egyptian code was reserved
for Pentauirit, and for the most culpable,--"they died of themselves,"
and the meaning of this phrase is indicated, I believe, by the
appearance of one of the mummies disinterred at Deir el-Bahari.* The
coffin in which it was placed was very plain, painted white and without
inscription; the customary removal of entrails had not been effected,
but the body was covered with a thick layer of natron, which was applied
even to the skin itself and secured by wrappings.

* The translations by Deveria, Lepage-Renouf, and Erman
agree in making it a case of judicial suicide: there was
left to the condemned a choice of his mode of death, in
order to avoid the scandal of a public execution. It is also
possible to make it a condemnation to death in person, which
did not allow of the substitution of a proxy willing, for a
payment to his family, to undergo death in place of the
condemned; but, unfortunately, no other text is to be found
supporting the existence of such a practice in Egypt.

It makes one's flesh creep to look at it: the hands and feet are tied
by strong bands, and are curled up as if under an intolerable pain;
the abdomen is drawn up, the stomach projects like a ball, the chest is
contracted, the head is thrown back, the face is contorted in a hideous
grimace, the retracted lips expose the teeth, and the mouth is open as
if to give utterance to a last despairing cry. The conviction is
borne in upon us that the man was invested while still alive with the
wrappings of the dead. Is this the mummy of Pentauirit, or of some
other prince as culpable as he was, and condemned to this frightful
punishment? In order to prevent the recurrence of such wicked plots,
Pharaoh resolved to share his throne with that one of his sons who had
most right to it. In the XXXIInd year of his reign he called together
his military and civil chiefs, the generals of the foreign mercenaries,
the Shardana, the priests, and the nobles of the court, and presented
to them, according to custom, his heir-designate, who was also called
Ramses. He placed the double crown upon his brow, and seated him beside
himself upo