Page:Book of the Dead.djvu/23

 EPISODE FIRST.

Scene—City of Abydos; a room in the Temple of the Sphinx.

—Peta-Amen, High Priest of Mut; Nit, Gink of Gizeh; Rek-Mara, Messenger of Abydos; Candidates.

(in ante-room)—My companions, throughout your wanderings through the mysteries of our Order, each of you is supposed to represent the Scribe Arii. Allow me to recommend to you the virtues of this zealous and devout Egyptian.

—Ani, the Order to which you seek admission was established by the great Rameses the Second in the nineteenth dynasty of the Egyptian Kings for the purpose of uniting into one brotherhood those Egyptians who, in good works and advancement of knowledge, had proven themselves to be leaders. From the humblest to the highest, any Egyptian was eligible, the requirements being, first, a belief in a Supreme Being; second, the accomplishment of some particular act of service to the Egyptian people and their rulers; third, the recognition of such act by the Secret Council of Rameses.