Page:Poetical works of Mathilde Blind.djvu/480

454 the hall its acts were weighed by the assessors. Like all objects belonging to the gods, the balance is magic. Truth squats upon one of the scales; Thoth places the heart upon the other, and, alwaj's merciful, bears upon the side of Truth, that judgment may be favourably inclined. He affirms that the heart is light of offence, inscribes the results of the proceeding upon a wooden tablet, and pronounces the verdict aloud."—"The Dawn of Civilization," by G. Maspero.

Page 381, line 7. "In the Sunboat and the Moonboat": The chief barks of Râ, the Sun-god, were called Saktît and Mazît. He entered one on his rising in the East, which carried him along the celestial river; and the other about the middle of his course, which bore him to the land of Manû, which is at the entrance of Hades.

Page 383. "Horus": Horus, the Egyptian Apollo, son of Osiris and Isis, and avenger of his murdered father. He is chiefly associated with the victoriously rising sun, and a slayer of the Serpent, like all Sun-gods. He is generally depicted with the side-lock of infancy, or as hawk-headed, or simply as a great golden Sparrow-Hawk, who puts all other birds to flight.

Page 385. "Nûit": One of the names for the primaeval night of Egyptian mythology. She is described as follows in an inscription cut on the front of the mummy-case of Mykerinos, the builder of the third great Pyramid: "Thy Mother Nûit has spread herself out over thee in her name of Mystery of the Heavens."

Page 386. "Egyptian Theosophy." The Egyptian imagination was extremely fertile in inventing myths of the creation. "One amongst many was that Sibû was concealed under the form of a colossal gander, whose mate once laid the Sun-Egg, and perhaps still laid it daily. From the piercing cries wherewith