Idylls and Lyrics of The Nile By H. D. Rawnsley |
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| L. | L AT DENDERAH |
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| LIII. |
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 | Idylls and Lyrics of The Nile |  |
L AT DENDERAH
Truth, by the life of Truth we mortals live,
Therefore to thee, a suppliant at thy shrine,
I offer Truth, thy work, for Truth is thine.’
The kneeling image with the ostrich plume,
And from the dark and incense-breathing nook
The glorious sistrum of the goddess took.
Fled as it thrilled the sanctuary round;
While all pure spirits seemed with joy to float
And fill the chamber of the Golden Boat.
Lies shrieked and vanished up the temple stair;
And I might see the pale and guilty king
Bowed and in tears, a conscience-smitten thing.
Soul-piercing echoes while the goddess spake,
‘Learn, suppliant, learn, in sorrow and in ruth,
True life is bent on Goodness, Beauty, Truth.’
Note.—Behind the Chamber of the Golden Boat at Denderah is a little chapel, central of the five that fill up the temple's extremity, in the which is the niche that was the Holy of Holies. ‘Here,’ says Mariette Bey, ‘the King alone could penetrate; here, hidden from all eyes, was the mysterious emblem of the temple, a large sistrum of gold.’
The temple, dedicated to Hathor, and built in late Ptolemaic and Roman times, was, as is clear from the wall-sculptures, dedicated to her as the embodiment of the Platonic doctrine of the Good, the Beautiful, the True.
The sistrum was supposed, by its sound, to be able to banish Typhon and all malignant powers of the air; and to set forth by symbol that men should always be up and doing, and actively bent on the business of life.
On entering the sanctuary of the temple, the King is represented as holding forward the present to the goddess,—a little statue of a female, kneeling in a vase or basket, her head crowned with an ostrich plume. This is the image of Truth called ‘Ma.’ As he presents it he utters these words:—
‘I offer to thee Truth, O Goddess of Denderah, for Truth is thine own work, for thou art Truth itself.’
| Idylls and Lyrics of The Nile | |