The Egyptian Book of the dead
_vluku_, the Gothic _vulfs_, and our own _wolf_, signify the _robber_,
so does the Egyptian ⁂⁂⁂⁂, whether signifying _wolf_,
_wolfhound_, or _bloodhound_, indicate _speed_.
The names of the second animal in the earlier texts, whether they stand
for hyænas ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂, or for other animals of the chase
(⁂⁂⁂⁂), imply either _speed_ or _ferocity_. And what must we
understand under the latter term? We must look to the context. It is of
a god speaking of himself and of his attributes. He is proud of them,
and certainly does not wish them to be taken in a bad sense. Nor is it
necessary that we should do so. We have only to remember what we learnt
at school.
Cicero (_de Sen._, 10, 33) contrasts the ‘ferocitas juvenum,’ the high
_pluck_ of the young, with the ‘infirmitas puerorum,’ and the ‘gravitas’
and ‘maturitas’ of later periods of life.
Livy uses the term _ferox_, in the same sense as Cicero.
What we have to understand of the Egyptian expression is, ‘mettlesome,
of high, unbridled spirit.’
In the later texts the _Bennu_ bird has been substituted for the beasts
of the chase.
3. The later texts read ⁂⁂, but all the earlier ones give another
word ⁂⁂ or ⁂⁂. This is often used in a bad sense, when
spoken of the enemy; but it merely implies tenacity, pertinacity,
obstinacy, which are, of course, very bad things in opposition, but in
themselves virtues of a high order.[40]
The word is used as a name for the divine Cynocephali
⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ who appear at sunrise over the _Tank of
Flame_.
4.
⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂,
_the same who bringeth into being the gods out of Silence, or reduceth
them to inactivity_.
In addition to this interesting utterance of Egyptian theology, we have
to note the idea of _Silence_ ⁂⁂⁂ as the origin of the gods, or
powers of nature. The notion was also current in the Greek world. The
writer of the _Philosophumena_ (VI, 22) speaks of ἡ ὑμνουμένη ἐκείνη
παρὰ τοῖς Ἕλλησι Ζιγή. It was from this source that the early Gnostic
Valentinus borrowed this item of his system. St. Irenaeus (_Haeres_, II,
14) charges him with having taken it from the theogony of the comic poet
Antiphanes.
-----
Footnote 37:
⁂⁂ _Nu_.
Footnote 38:
⁂.
Footnote 39:
See also in Plate XI the Vignette from chapter 17 in the Turin and all
the later papyri.
Footnote 40:
Columella speaks of the “contumacia pervicax boum.”
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CHAPTER XXV.
_Chapter whereby a person remembereth his name in the Netherworld._
Let my name be given to me in the Great House. Let me remember my name
in the House of Flame(1.) on the Night wherein the Years are counted and
the Months are reckoned, one by one.
I am He who dwelleth in Heaven, and who sitteth on the Eastern side of
Heaven: and if there be any god who cometh not in my train, I utter his
name at once.
NOTES.
1. Every Egyptian Temple being symbolical of Heaven, had its Great House
⁂⁂⁂ and its House of Flame ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂, as most sacred
adyta at the extremity opposite to the entrance. The former occupied the
central position, like the Ladye Chapel in our cathedrals, and the
latter stood by the side of it.
------------------------------------
CHAPTER XXVI.
_Chapter whereby the Heart(1.) is given to a person in the Netherworld._
He saith: Heart[41] mine to me, in the place of Hearts! Whole Heart[42]
mine to me, in the place of Whole Hearts!
Let me have my Heart that it may rest within me; but(2.) I shall feed
upon the food of Osiris, on the eastern side of the mead of amaranthine
flowers.(3.)
Be mine a bark for descending the stream and another for ascending.
I go down into the bark wherein thou art.
Be there given to me my mouth wherewith to speak, and my feet for
walking; and let me have my arms wherewith to overthrow my adversaries.
Let two hands from the Earth open my mouth: Let Seb, the Erpā of the
gods, part my two jaws;(4.) let him open my two eyes which are closed,
and give motion to my two hands which are powerless: and let Anubis give
vigour to my legs, that I may raise myself up upon them.
And may Sechit the divine one lift me up, so that I may arise in Heaven
and issue my behest in Memphis.
I am in possession of my Heart, I am possession of my Whole Heart, I am
possession of my arms and I have possession of my legs.(5.)
[I do whatsoever my Genius willeth, and my Soul is not bound to my body
at the gates of Amenta.]
NOTES.
1. The Egyptian texts have two names for the Heart, ⁂ phonetically
written ⁂⁂⁂ _ȧb_, and ⁂⁂ also written ⁂⁂⁂ and
⁂⁂⁂⁂ _ḥatu_.[43] The two words are commonly used
synonymously, but they are sometimes pointedly distinguished one from
the other. Etymologically ⁂⁂⁂ _ȧb_ is connected with the sense
of lively motion ⁂⁂⁂ _ȧb_, like the Greek καρδία, κραδίη, (δία
τὸ ἀπαύστως σαλεύεσθαι) with κραδάω and κραδαίνω. Other Indo-European
names, our own _heart_, the Latin _cor_ (_cord-is_), the Sanskrit _hṛd_,
and the corresponding Slavonic and Lithuanian names have the same
origin.
From the orthography of ⁂⁂ it seems to have been connected in
popular opinion with its position in the anterior part of the body. And
from various uses of the word it appears to denote not merely the heart,
but the heart with all that is attached to it, especially the _lungs_
which embrace it. It is for instance to the ⁂⁂ that _air_ is
conducted according to the medical Papyri. And it is not improbable that
⁂⁂⁂ and ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂, organs of respiration, are
closely connected words.
But perhaps the best argument may be found in the Vignettes of chapter
28, where the two lungs are actually drawn as in the hieratic papyrus
(Pl. 2) published by Sir Charles Nicholson. In others (as Leyden, T. 16)
even the larynx is visible. (See Plate X.)
The Italian word _corata_ is immortalised through its occurrence in a
memorable passage in Dante (_Inf._, XXVIII), but for want of a better
English term than the butcher’s technical word _pluck_[44] I use the
expression _whole heart_.
2. _But_, ⁂⁂⁂. This is the most frequent reading both in the
earliest and in the latest papyri. But some texts have simply ⁂,
which is certainly a mistake, and others omit the conjunction before the
verb. The sense is not much affected by this omission. ⁂⁂⁂
signifies _if not_, _unless_, _until_, _but_, _but surely_. _Cf._ the
Semitic אִם־לֹא, ܐܷܠܴ, إلَّا
3. _The mead of amaranthine flowers._ ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ _ḳaiu_ is the
name of a plant which frequently occurs in the medical prescriptions. It
is also mentioned among the aromatic plants (⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂)
required in the sacred laboratory of Dendera. One of the kinds is named
_ḳaiu_ of the Oasis ⁂⁂⁂. It is identified with the Coptic
ⲕⲓⲟⲱⲩ, _amaranthus_. In several copies of this chapter the name of the
plant is followed by the geographical determinative ⁂, which is
really implied in the context. Was this mythological ‘mead of amaranth’
suggested by the Oasis and its vegetation?
4. This sentence is a repetition (in other words) of the preceding one.
On the title _Erpā_, see _Trans. Soc. Bibl. Arch._, XII, 359. My chief
difficulty about understanding it as compounded of ⁂ and ⁂, and
signifying _keeper of the Pāt_, that is _of the deceased_ (human
beings), is that Seb is essentially the _Erpā of the gods_. _Erpā_ is
one of those titles which cannot be translated without perverting the
sense of the original.
5. This passage is a very frequent formula not only in the Book of the
Dead, as the papyri give it, but in other texts of the same nature; see,
_e.g._, _Aelteste Texte_, 34, 14. The next passage included in [] is an
addition to the original text. It occurs however in some excellent MSS.
-----
Footnote 41:
⁂ _ȧb_, ‘heart.’
Footnote 42:
⁂ _ḥatu_, ‘whole heart.’
Footnote 43:
This variant already occurs on the coffin of Amamu.
Footnote 44:
In late Latin _corallum_, whence the Romanic forms _corajhe_,
_corata_, _coratella_, _corée_, _couraille_. In _Garin le Loherens_ we
find “la coraille del cuers.”
------------------------------------
CHAPTER XXVII.
_Chapter whereby the Heart of a person is not taken from him in the
Netherworld._
O ye gods who seize upon Hearts, and who pluck out the Whole Heart; and
whose hands fashion anew the Heart of a person according to what he hath
done; lo now, let that be forgiven to him by you.(1.)
Hail to you, O ye Lords of Everlasting Time and Eternity!
Let not my Heart be torn from me by your fingers.
Let not my Heart be fashioned anew according to all the evil things said
against me.
For this Heart of mine is the Heart of the god of mighty names(2.), of
the great god whose words are in his members, and who giveth free course
to his Heart which is within him.
And most keen of insight(3.) is his Heart among the gods. Ho to me!
Heart of mine; I am in possession of thee, I am thy master, and thou art
by me; fall not away from me; I am the dictator to whom thou shalt obey
in the Netherworld.
NOTES.
1. There is a great difference here as in so many other places between
the MSS. of different periods. I long ago translated the
⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ of the _Todtenbuch_ by _non ignoretur a vobis_,
M. de Rougé, after me, by _non renuatur a vobis._ But M. Naville pointed
out the fact that in some of the oldest MSS. the particle ⁂ did not
occur. It now appears that the particle is not found in any of the older
MSS., and I have also found it omitted in hieratic papyri. The passage
therefore must be translated differently, and this is possible through a
slight change in the interpretation of ⁂ from _ignorare_ to
_ignoscere_; _ignoscatur illi a vobis_. The pronoun ⁂⁂ which in
the older texts follows ⁂⁂, ⁂ refers to ‘what he hath done’ of
the last clause.
2. _The god of mighty names_ is Thoth, and the later texts read “For
this is the Heart of the great god who is in Hermopolis.”
3. ⁂⁂⁂, ⁂⁂. According to another reading
⁂⁂⁂⁂ _new_, _fresh_, _young_, _vigorous_.
------------------------------------
CHAPTER XXVIII.
_Chapter whereby the Heart of a person is not taken from him in the
Netherworld._
O Lion-god!
I am Unbu(1.), and what I abominate is the block of execution.
Let not this Whole Heart of mine be torn from me by the divine
Champions(2.) in Heliopolis!
O thou who clothest(3.) Osiris and hast seen Sutu:
O thou who turnest back after having smitten him, and hast accomplished
the overthrow:
This Whole Heart of mine remaineth weeping over itself in presence of
Osiris.
Its strength proceedeth from him, it hath obtained it by prayer from
him.
I have had granted to it and awarded to it the glow of heart at the hour
of the god of the Broad Face, and have offered the sacrificial cakes in
Hermopolis.
Let not this Whole Heart of mine be torn from me.(4.) It is I who
entrust to you its place, and vehemently stir your Whole Hearts towards
it in Sechit-hotepit and the years of triumph over all that it abhors
and taking all provisions at thine appointed time from thine hand after
thee.
And this Whole Heart of mine is laid upon the tablets(5.) of Tmu, who
guideth me to the caverns of Sutu and who giveth me back my Whole Heart
which hath accomplished its desire in presence of the divine Circle
which is in the Netherworld.
The sacrificial joint and the funereal raiment, let those who find them
bury them.(6.)
NOTES.
1. _Unbu_, ⁂⁂⁂⁂ is one of the names of the solar god, the