New-York tribune., 1874-06-13
EGYPT REVISITED.
BAYARD TAYLOR ON EARLY EGYPTIAN LII
ERATJJRE,

OF THE HUMAN RACE.
IPRoM REGULAR CORRESPONDENT of IN" n,
CAIRO April al must return ONCE hioio " ."
r,ettes discoveries In order to appreciate 'neii III
portance, the reader must remember 'na' 'no o
lite. in the way of deciphering the hieroglyphic
,baracters have been so nearly overcome, that most
90 the crvic or religious records now read with
almost as much facility as they had been inscribed
IN Hebrew or Syriac. Although ChampolliOns IN
spred genius and marvellous good fortune only gave
hun the Interpretation of abont 200 characters, more
than 45OO are now Ineligible to the scholars OF
Germany and France. Moreover, it is settled that
Egypt had her written language long before the
Pyramids were built. together with all the main
features of her religion, and we-deyeloped II not
an elaborate political organization.
I'm proportion as the mysteries of the old Egyptian
Faith revealed to us, we discover, IN place OF
Eross and grotesque mythology, the evidences of a
symmetrical theological system, based upon pro-
found philosophical apprehension of the forces OF
Nature Mariette says:
On the summit Of the Egyptian Pantheon hovers sole
God immortal iucreae, invisible, and hidden IN the In
accessible depths of his essence He is the Creator
OF Heaven and Earth; he made all that exists, and
nothing made without him. This is the God, the
knowledge OF whom reserved for the initiated, In
the sanctuares. But the Egyptian mind could not or
would not remain at this sublime altitude. 1t consd-
cred the world formation the principles which gov
ern Il. man and his earthly destiny, as an immense
drama in which the one Being Is the only actor All
proceeds from him. and oil returns TO him. Bat he has
agents who his personifed attributes, who be-
come dees in visible forms, limited in their activity
yet partaking OF mis- own powers and qualities.
In fact as in all forms of Faith, there is ladder
rising from pure realism to the highest pinnacle of
spiritual aspiration and individual souls or classes
of souls rest at the hight which corresponds TO their
quality.
We must suppose that people so far developed as
the Egyptians under the Ancient Empire bad also
Literature The character of their art would attest
it, if nothing else. Songs, poems, parallels, perhaps
romances, must have been written, chanted OF re-
cited and even if the isolated grandeur and awe at
tached to the rulers prohibited the inscription of
such works upon solid tablets, they could hardly
have escaped being here and there deposited, on
papyrus scrolls with the bodies of their authors or
their admirers. The scribes appear to have been
large and important class as early as the lVth dy-
nasty, and they in combination with the priesthood
probably produced the prayers, uvocatinns and ita
nies of the Temples, which became orthodox and
therefore invariable for the Later Empire.
believe no fragments of a purely secular ltera-
ture have yet been found but the many transla-
tions made by Manette show the high poetic charac
ter of the early religious and historic literature
Certain forms of the faith, in fact lent themselves
rs readily to poetry those of the Greek Mythology
Its basis strongly spiritual the leading article
being belief in the Immortality of the SOUL and its
future reward or punishment for the deeds done in
the body-a belief the earnestness of which, among
the Egyptians, is all the more remarkable because
it to have been quite weak or imperfect among
the ancient Hebrews. Then the myths of Isis and
Osiris typifyng the struggle of Light with Dark
ness, the beautiful attributes of the young god
Horus, the rising sun represented by Harpocrates
ofh
ers offer images which would kndle the imagDa-
lion of even a primitive poet. One of the oldest
specimens was found at Memphis, on a tablet of the
Ancient Empire. Ii had belonged, according to the
inscription, TO the tomb of royal scribe, named
Anaoua; and. part of it contains a remarkable in
vocation to the Sun:
HYMN THE SUN.
Words pronounced in worshping the Sun, who rises
for the from the solar mountain and who goeth
down in the divine life by the Osiris the royal scribe,
the chief of the house, Anaoua proclaimed the just He
speaketh:
Hail to thee when thou risest in the solar mountain
under the form Ra, when thou goest down under
the form of MAJ Thou cclest about the heavens and
men behold and toward thee, hiding their faces
Would that might accompany thy majesty when thou
displayest thyself on the morning OF each day! Thy
beams upon the faces Of men could no one describe
gold is as nought, compared TO thy beams The lands
divine they In pictures: the countries OF Ara
Thy transformations equal to those OF the celestial
ocean, il marches thou marchest. Grant that ireach
the land Of eternity and the region of them that have
been approved that be reunited with the fair and
wise spirits of kerneer and that appear among them
to contemplate thy beauty the morning Of each day
A thorough poetic spirit breathes through the
mysticism of this chant The beginning half sug-
Cests the invocation of Ossian, but has freshness
and simplicity far beyond the sentimental resonance
of the latter Behind the material sun which is ad-
dressed one distinctly feels the principle of good, OF
light and intelligence which its orb symbolizes.
The next quotation shall make is from tablet
celebrating the victories of Thothmes H., which
was cbiseled for the great temple OF karnak. lhs
monarch one of the greatest who ruled IN Egypt,
was the fourth successor of Amosls who overthrew
the Hyksos and lived in the seventeenth century
before Christ. He was famous conqueror; during
his reign according to inscription still existing:
"Egypt set her frontiers wherever she pleased" He
subjected Nuba, Syria, MesopOtamia, and perhaps
mart of Asia Minor; and it was apparently toward
the close of his reIgn the occasion OF some solemn
celebration of his victories that the chant OF praise
was written. 1t is poem, in the true sense OF the
word not an historical document and its author
was perhaps some priestly Theban laureate 1t rep
1esents period 1000 years later than the Hymn TO
fhe SUM- and is consequently cast in a much more
symmetrical and artistic form. The opening is q
welcome given by the god, Amun-Ra lthe Jupiter
Ammon of the Creeks, 1.-THE lord of the thrones of
the world" to King Tbothmes the return of the
latter from his triumphs:
Come TO me and be rejoeed in behcding my grace.
mine avenger living ferever! shine through thine
edoraous my heart diiates to thy welcome In my tenn
ple enfold thy linbs with mine arms, to give them
health and Pleasant thy favors to me, through
axuhi fhOnl