(11) The oldest copy known on a scarab is that of King Sebak-em-saf of the XIIIth dynasty. It is in the British Museum (No. 7876) and has been described by Dr. Birch in his study [48] of the “Formulas relating to the heart.” “This amulet,” he says, “is of unusual shape; the body of the insect is made of a remarkably fine green jasper carved in shape of the body and head of the insect. This is inserted into a base of gold in shape of a tablet.... The legs of the insect are ... of gold and carved in relief.... The hieroglyphs are incised in outline, are coarse, and not very legible.”

(2) His tail was wholly quivering in the void, Contorting upwards the envenomed fork, That in the guise of scorpion armed its point. The Guide said: "Now perforce must turn aside Our way a little, even to that beast Malevolent, that yonder coucheth him." We therefore on the right side descended, And made ten steps upon the outer verge, Completely to avoid the sand and flame; And after we are come to him, I see A little farther off upon the sand A people sitting near the hollow place. Then said to me the Master: "So that full Experience of this round thou bear away, Now go and see what their condition is. There let thy conversation be concise; Till thou returnest I will speak with him, That he concede to us his stalwart shoulders." Thus farther still upon the outermost Head of that seventh circle all alone I went, where sat the melancholy folk. Out of their eyes was gushing forth their woe; This way, that way, they helped them with their hands Now from the flames and now from the hot soil.

(378) 663 To say: The uraeus-serpent belongs to heaven; the centipede of Horus belongs in the earth. 663 It is the sandal (or, sole of the foot) of Horus which has trod upon the (dangerous) serpent, 663 the serpent (dangerous) for Horus, a young child, his finger in his mouth. 664 N. is also a Horus, a little child, his finger in his mouth. 664 If it is dangerous for N., he will tread upon thee (serpent); 664 be wise for N., so will he not tread upon thee, 665 for thou art indeed the mysterious, the hidden, as the gods call thee, 665 because thou hast no legs, because thou hast no arms, 665 with which thou mayest go in the following of thy brothers, thy gods. 666 O ye both who are unlucky, O ye both who are unlucky; O ye both who arise, O ye both who arise, 666 ye who make the mti-knot of the god, protect N. that he may protect you.

(230) 230 To say: Be thy two poison-glands in the ground; be thy two rows of ribs in the hole. 230 Pour out the liquid. The two kites stand there. 230 Thy mouth is closed by the hangman's tool; the mouth of the hangman's tool is closed by the mfd.t (lynx). 230 The one made tired is bitten by a serpent. 231 O R`, N. has bitten the earth; N. has bitten Geb. 231 N. has bitten the father of him who bit him. 231 This is the being who has bitten N., (though) N. did not bite him. 232 It is he who is come against N., (though) N. does not go against him; 232 the second moment after he saw N., the second moment after he perceived N. 232 If thou bitest N., he will make one (piece) of thee; if thou regardest N., he will make two of thee. 233 The n`w-serpent (male) is bitten by the n`.t-serpent (female); the n`.t-serpent is bitten by the n`w-serpent. 233 Heaven is protected magically; earth is protected magically; the "manly" who is behind mankind is protected magically. 234 The god whose head is blind is protected magically; thou thyself, scorpion, art protected magically. 234 These are the two knots (charm) of Elephantin� which are in the mouth of Osiris, 234 which Horus knotted concerning the backbone.

(2) And there are those who fashion ears and eyes of costly material, and consecrate them, dedicating them in the temples to the gods - by this plainly indicating that God sees and hears all things. Besides, the lion is with them the symbol of strength and prowess, as the ox clearly is of the earth itself, and husbandry and food, and the horse of fortitude and confidence; while, on the other hand, the sphinx, of strength combined with intelligence - as it had a body entirely that of a lion, and the face of a man. Similarly to these, to indicate intelligence, and memory, and power, and art, a man is sculptured in the temples. And in what is called among them the Komasiae of the gods, they carry about golden images - two dogs, one hawk, and one ibis; and the four figures of the images they call four letters. For the dogs are symbols of the two hemispheres, which, as it were, go round and keep watch; the hawk, of the sun, for it is fiery and destructive (so they attribute pestilential diseases to the sun); the ibis, of the moon, likening the shady parts to that which is dark in plumage, and the luminous to the light. And some will have it that by the dogs are meant the tropics, which guard and watch the sun's passage to the south and north. The hawk signifies the equinoctial line, which is high and parched with heat, as the ibis the ecliptic. For the ibis seems, above other animals, to have furnished to the Egyptians the first rudiments of the invention of number and measure, as the oblique line did of circles.

(393) 689 To say: Thy protective -sycamore is thy corn; thy corn is thy protective-sycamore. 689 Thy tail shall be in thy mouth, combat-serpent. Turn thyself . around thy turning, great bull. 669 ----- his (?) --- the Great escaped from him whom he had charmed. 689 S-t-serpent, protect thyself against the earth; s-t-serpent, protect thyself against Geb

(8) If thou puttest it on the neck of a man after his death, he is mighty in the Netherworld. Nobody will drive him away from the gates of the Tuat undeviatingly

(33) O how many Enemies has the Life among the Constellations [or Stars,] which qualify [or mingle their Influence] with the Tincture and Elements. When the Planets and the Stars have their Conjunctions, and where they cast their poisonous Rage into the Tincture, there arises in the Life of the meek Tincture, stinging, tearing, and torturing. For the sweet [or pleasant] Tincture (being a sweet and pleasing Refreshment) cannot endure any impure Thing. And therefore when such poisonous Influences are darted into it, then it resists and continually cleanses itself; but as soon as it is overwhelmed, that it is darkened, then the Flash goes out, the Life breaks, and the Body falls away, and becomes a Cadaver, Carcase, [or dead Corpse;] for the Spirit is the Life.

(13) Diogenes accordingly remarked well to one who wondered at finding a serpent coiled round a pestle: "Don't wonder; for it would have been more surprising if you had seen the pestle coiled round the serpent, and the serpent straight."

(12) And the people accompanied him, saying, "Bedu, Zaps, Chthon, Plectron, Sphinx, Cnaxzbi, Chthyptes, Phlegmos, Drops." Callimachus relates the story in iambics. Cnaxzbi is, by derivation, the plague, from its gnawing (knaiein) and destroying diafqeirein, and qxyai is to consume with a thunderbolt. Thespis the tragic poet says that something else was signified by these, writing thus: "Lo, I offer to thee a libation of white Cnaxzbi, having pressed it from the yellow nurses. Lo, to thee, O two-horned Pan, mixing Chthyptes cheese with red honey, I place it on thy sacred altars.

(1) Now the Pythagorean symbols were connected with the Barbarian philosophy in the most recondite way. For instance, the Samian counsels "not to have a swallow in the house;" that is, not to receive a loquacious, whispering, garrulous man, who cannot contain what has been communicated to him. "For the swallow, and the turtle, and the sparrows of the field, know the times of their entrance," says the Scripture; and one ought never to dwell with trifles. And the turtle-dove murmuring shows the thankless slander of fault-finding, and is rightly expelled the house.

(1) Whence also the Egyptians did not entrust the mysteries they possessed to all and sundry, and did not divulge the knowledge of divine things to the profane; but only to those destined to ascend the throne, and those of the priests that were judged the worthiest, from their nurture, culture, and birth. Similar, then, to the Hebrew enigmas in respect to concealment, are those of the Egyptians also. Of the Egyptians, some show the sun on a ship, others on a crocodile. And they signify hereby, that the sun, making a passage through the delicious and moist air, generates time; which is symbolized by the crocodile in some other sacerdotal account. Further, at Diospolis in Egypt, on the temple called Pylon, there was figured a boy as the symbol of production, and an old man as that of decay. A hawk, on the other hand, was the symbol of God, as a fish of hate; and, according to a different symbolism, the crocodile; of impudence. The whole symbol, then, when put together, appears to teach this: "Oh ye who are born and die, God hates impudence."

(298) 442 To say: R` dawns, his uraeus on his head, 442 against this serpent, which is come out of the earth, (and) which is under the fingers of N. 442 He (N.) cuts off thy head with this knife, which was in the hand of the mfd.t-lynx, [which lives in the house of life]; 443 he draws, (the teeth) which are upon (in) thy mouth; he saps thy poison 443 with those four strings, which were in the service of the sandals of Osiris. 443 Serpent (beast), lie down; bull, glide away. Utterance,

(15) And noxious creatures. were diffused by him over the earth, biting and venomous, such as the snake, scorpion, frog (kalvâk), and lizard (vazak),—so that not so much as the point of a needle remained free from noxious creatures.

(1) The faculty of using similitudes is peculiar to a saint What know you of the mystery hid in aught, that you In your folly should use similitudes of curl and cheek? Moses took his staff to be a stick, though it was not; It was a serpent, and its mystery was revealed. If a saint such as he knew not the mystery of a stick, What know you of the mystery of the snare and grains? When the eye of a Moses erred as to a similitude, How can a presumptuous mouse understand one? Those similitudes of yours are changed into serpents Such a parable did cursed Iblis use,

(100) This now the Devil did not understand; because God spoke of the Serpent, and cursed it to [be] a horrible Worm, and he supposed that it did not concern him; neither does he yet know his own Judgment, he knows only what he learns from Men, that declare [Things] in the Spirit of God; yet the Spirit of God does not wholly intimate his Judgment to him, but all in the Depth, afar off, so that he cannot wholly understand it. For to the enlightened Men all Prophesies (even concerning the Wickness of Men) are thus given, and they dare not set them down clearer, that the Devil may not wholly learn the Counsel of God, and strow his Sugar upon it; though in this Place there are very excellent Things, that ought not to be revealed to the World, for they remain till the Judgment of God; that the Devil may bring no new Sects into it, and lead Men into Doubt; and therefore they shall be passed over till the Time of the Lily.

(299) 444 To say: The uraeus-serpent is for heaven; the centipede of Horus is for the earth. 444 Horus had a sandal as he advanced (towards) the master of the house, the bull of the hole, 444 the combat-serpent. N. will not be beaten, 444 (for) his protective sycamore is the protective sycamore of N., his refuge is the refuge of N. 444 Whom N. finds in his way, him he eats for himself bit by bit. 12. THE FERRYMAN AND THE DECEASED KING'S ASCENSION,

(4) But since again the simple and variegated wisdom both clothes the naked, and distributes certain implements to them to carry, come, let us unfold, according to our power, the sacred garments and implements of the celestial Minds. The shining and glowing raiment, I think, signifies the Divine likeness after the image of fire, and their enlightening, in consequence of their repose in Heaven, where is the Light, and their complete illuminating intelligibly, and their being illuminated intellectually; and the sacerdotal robe denotes their conducting to Divine and mystical visions, and the consecration of their whole life. And the girdles signify the guard over their productive powers, and the collected habit of being turned uniformly to It, and being drawn around Itself by an unbroken identity, in a well-ordered circle.

(5) And lo! at one who was upon our side There darted forth a serpent, which transfixed him There where the neck is knotted to the shoulders. Nor 'O' so quickly e'er, nor 'I' was written, As he took fire, and burned; and ashes wholly Behoved it that in falling he became. And when he on the ground was thus destroyed, The ashes drew together, and of themselves Into himself they instantly returned. Even thus by the great sages 'tis confessed The phoenix dies, and then is born again, When it approaches its five-hundredth year; On herb or grain it feeds not in its life, But only on tears of incense and amomum, And nard and myrrh are its last winding-sheet. And as he is who falls, and knows not how, By force of demons who to earth down drag him, Or other oppilation that binds man, When he arises and around him looks, Wholly bewildered by the mighty anguish Which he has suffered, and in looking sighs; Such was that sinner after he had risen. Justice of God! O how severe it is, That blows like these in vengeance poureth down!