Chapter IV - Admonition to Enjoyment of Life

A statement of Herodotus, which is repeated by other ancient authors, teache? us the purpose of these words. It was said to be the custom at Egyptian feasts to hand an image of a mummy round the company with the admonition :

“Gazing on this, drink and make merry ; when thou comest to die such another must thou be.”

The thought of death was not intended to sadden, but to stimulate to greater enjoyment of life. Here we have a sharp contrast to the view embodied in the Jewish proverbial writings, especially the so-called “Wisdom of Solomon,” where such utterances are regarded as a sign of a godless and impious spirit. In many tombs in the Nile Valley texts have been found that repeat the song from the tomb-temple of King Antef, sometimes almost verbally and sometimes in substance, but always dwelling on the thought that life is short and the hereafter uncertain, and that it behoves the children of men to rejoice while they may.

The very place in which these exhortations appear sufficiently proves that such a line of thought, far from being considered irreligious, was regarded as the true wisdom, well pleasing to the gods. The Egyptian sought everywhere to look at the happy side of his life on earth, and he succeeded in finding it so entirely pleasant that he could think of nothing better to desire for the next world than to live for ever among the gods much as he lived here below on the banks of the Nile.