[Footnote 1:  The god who fashioned the bodies of men.]

Apuur next, in a series of five short exhortations, entreats his bearers to take action of some sort; each exhortation begins with the words, “Destroy the enemies of the sacred palace (or Court).”  These are followed by a series of sentences, each of which begins with the word “Remember,” and contains one exhortation to his hearers to perform certain duties in connection with the service of the gods.  Thus they are told to burn incense and to pour out libations each morning, to offer various kinds of geese to the gods, to eat natron, to make white bread, to set up poles on the temples and stelae inside them, to make the priest to purify the temples, to remove from his office the priest who is unclean, &c.  After many breaks in the text we come to the passage in which Apuur seems to foretell the coming of the king who is to restore order and prosperity to the land.  He is to make cool that which is hot.  He is to be the “shepherd of mankind,” having no evil in his heart.  When his herds are few [and scattered], he will devote his time to bringing them together, their hearts being inflamed.  The passage continues, “Would that he had perceived their nature in the first generation (of men), then he would have repressed evils, he would have stretched forth (his) arm against it, he would have destroyed their seed (?) and their inheritance....  A fighter (?) goeth forth, that (he?) may destroy the wrongs that (?) have been wrought.  There is no pilot (?) in their moment.  Where is he (?) to-day?  Is he sleeping?  Behold, his might is not seen.” [1] Many of the passages in the indictment of Apuur resemble the descriptions of the state of the land of Israel and her people which are found in the writings of the Hebrew Prophets, and the “shepherd of mankind,” i.e. of the Egyptians, forcibly reminds us of the appeal to the “Shepherd of Israel” in Psalm lxxx. 1.

[Footnote 1:  See A.H.  Gardiner, Admonitions of an Egyptian Sage, Leipzic, 1909, p. 78.]

CHAPTER XIV

EGYPTIAN POETICAL COMPOSITIONS

The poetry of the Egyptians is wholly unlike that of western nations, but closely resembles the rhythmical compositions of the Hebrews, with their parallelism of members, with which we are all familiar in the Book of Psalms, the Song of Solomon, &c.  The most important collection of Egyptian Songs known to us is contained in the famous papyrus in the British Museum, No. 10,060, more commonly known as “Harris 500.”  This papyrus was probably written in the thirteenth century B.C., but many of the songs belong to a far earlier date.  Though dealing with a variety of subjects, there is no doubt that all of them must be classed under the heading of “Love Songs.”  In them the lover compares the lady of his choice to many beautiful flowers and plants, and describes at considerable length the pain and grief which her