The Egyptian Book of the dead
2. The Turin text and those which agree with it read “Do not thou
utter,” as if the Crocodile were about to use the Word of Power. I read
⁂⁂⁂⁂. The ⁂ was first corrupted into ⁂, and ⁂⁂
was farther improved into ⁂⁂⁂, which in its turn necessitated
the addition of a suffix of the second person.
3. This name was changed in the later texts to the more familiar one of
the divine Ape ⁂⁂ _Benit_.
4. _Fixed Law_, ⁂ or ⁂⁂. The central idea of theology in the
Book of the Dead is that of _Regularity_, whether in permanence or
change. Those things alone are divine which abide unceasingly or which
recur in accordance with undeviating _rule_.
5. _Determineth._ The word ⁂⁂ here, as in other places, has the
sense of circumscribing, as in a circuit ⁂⁂, prescribing the
limits, fixing and determining.
6. _The Cliff of Tuf_ ⁂⁂, literally ‘his cliff,’ namely of Anubis,
in allusion to his frequent title ⁂⁂.
7. _Sitting._ Here I follow _Pc_ and the papyri generally in reading
⁂⁂. The scribe of _Ca_ seems to have been thinking of
⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ of a well-known magic text
(Unas, 320).
-----
Footnote 49:
See chapter 21, 1.
------------------------------------
CHAPTER XXXII.
_Chapter whereby the Crocodiles are repulsed who come to carry off the
Words of Power from the glorified in the Netherworld._
Osiris standeth up upon his feet;(1.) his company of gods raise him up.
O Son who conversest with thy father, do thou protect this Great one
from these four(2.) crocodiles here who devour the dead and live by the
Words of Power.
I know them by their names and their way of living, and it is I who
protect his own father from them.
Back, thou Crocodile of the West, who livest on the Setting Stars.(3.)
What thou execratest is upon me. Thou hast devoured the head of Osiris,
but I am Rā.(4.)
Back, thou Crocodile of the East, who livest upon those who devour their
own foulness. What thou execratest is upon me. I have come, and I am
Osiris.
Back, thou Crocodile of the South, who livest upon impurities. What thou
execratest is upon me. Let not the red flame be upon thee. For I am
Septu.(5.)
Back, thou Crocodile of the North, who livest upon that which lieth
between the hours(6.). What thou execratest is upon me. Let not thy
fiery water be inflicted upon me. [For I am Tmu.(7.)]
All things which exist are in my grasp, and those depend upon me which
are not yet.
I am arrayed and equipped with thy Words of Power, O Rā; with that which
is above and with that which is below me.
I have received increase of length and depth, and fulness of breathing
within the domain of my father, the Great one.
He hath given to me that beautiful Amenta in which the living are
destroyed. But strong is its possessor though he faint in it daily.
My face is unveiled, and my heart is in its place.
The Uræus is upon me daily.
I am Rā, who protecteth himself, and no evil things can overthrow me.
NOTES.
This chapter is in even worse condition than the one which precedes it.
There are a few scraps of it on a coffin at St. Petersburg which M.
Golenischeff assigns to the earliest period. The only early MS. which is
of any use, _Ba_, the Berlin papyrus of Nechtuamon, is here in a very
mutilated condition, as may be seen on referring to M. Naville’s
edition.
1. _Osiris standeth up upon his feet._ So _Ba_; but the coffin at St.
Petersburg lends its support to the text of Bekenrenef (of the] 26th
Dynasty), which opens the chapter with the name of a crocodile
⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂. “Let the Great one fall upon his belly”!
2. The ancient text had only four crocodiles, and only four are
mentioned in the text of Bekenrenef. The Turin text speaks of eight; two
for each of the cardinal points. But the Saitic text already has two
invocations instead of one for each crocodile.
3. The sense of this myth is obvious. Every star which _sets_ is
supposed to be swallowed by the Crocodile of the West. It was stated
in note 3 to chapter 15 that the ⁂⁂⁂ are _stars_.[50]
Besides the ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ the _stars which set_
and the ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ the _circumpolar stars_, whose
navigation ⁂⁂⁂ ⲥⲱⲕ is continuous, there are the
⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ whose name is very significant.
⁂⁂⁂ and ⁂⁂ have the sense of _turning back_,[51] and
the only stars whose apparent motion is ever retrograde are the
_planets_.
All these stars are supposed as divinities to aid in the navigation of
the Bark of Rā. The Egyptians could not have had a correct planetary
theory (which only became possible through Kepler), but they understood
at least that the motions of the planets were _regular_, and that they
depended upon the Sun. Eudoxus is reported to have derived the data for
his theory from his Egyptian instructors.
4. Instead of Rā the name of Sut is found in the later texts. Bekenrenef
has ⁂⁂.
5. _Septu_, ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂, ⁂⁂, the ‘armed,’ one of the
Solar appellations, already found in the Pyramid texts (_Unas_, 281). He
appears in chapter 130, 7, in connection with the block of execution.
6. The text is here hopelessly corrupt. M. Pierret has ‘offrande,’ which
he most probably derives from ⁂⁂⁂ or ⁂⁂⁂, a reading
found in some papyri. But _Ba_, our oldest authority, has ⁂⁂, and
Bekenrenef has ⁂⁂⁂⁂. The Turin copy has ⁂; and the
context does not help us. Of these four readings (and there are probably
others which I do not know) that of Bekenrenef seems to me the best; but
⁂ has so many possible applications that I will not venture to
suggest one.
7. [I am Tmu.] These words are not in _Ba_, but they occur in all other
copies, and the omission of the divine name which stops the crocodile is
an evident fault.
The chapter ends here, and what follows is an addition for which our
earliest authority is that of Bekenrenef. But even this text is already
corrupt, and requires to be corrected by more recent ones.
-----
Footnote 50:
⁂⁂⁂⁂ as a feminine noun and proper name occurs in the
Pyramid Texts (Unas, 644).
Footnote 51:
Brugsch has produced excellent evidence for the supposition that
⁂⁂⁂⁂ or ⁂⁂⁂ signifies _the two turnings_
of the Sun, that is at the solstices, ⁂⁂ being the southern
solstice and ⁂⁂ the northern.
------------------------------------
CHAPTER XXXIII.
_Chapter whereby all Serpents are kept back._
Oh serpent Rerek, advance not! Here are the gods Seb and Shu!
Stop! or thou shalt eat the rat which Rā execrateth, and gnaw the bones
of a putrid she-cat.
NOTE.
This chapter is often found in coffins. There is a chapter much
resembling it in the tomb of Horhotep (line 364), at least as regards
the opening words. It addresses Rerek and tells him that Shu and another
deity are coming, and that the speaker is Horus. No allusion, however,
is made to the dead rat and cat. These typify the impurities and
abominations to which the damned are liable in the world to come.
------------------------------------
CHAPTER XXXIV.
_Chapter whereby a person is not devoured by the dweller in the
shrine._(1.)
O Uræus! I am the Flame which shineth, and which openeth out
eternity,(2.) the column of Tenpua(3.) [_otherwise said_—the column on
which are blossoming plants.]
Away from me! I am the Lynx goddess.(4.)
NOTES.
1. It is not possible to say what is here actually meant by ⁂⁂⁂
_ḥat._ Every word almost in this tiny chapter was a puzzle to the
Egyptian scribes, who altered the text in a hundred ways. The Turin text
provides against the persons being _bitten by the Eater of the head_,
⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂, instead of ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ as even Bekenrenef
has it.
2. _Open out Eternity_ ⁂⁂⁂⁂. This is the oldest and most
approved reading even in later times. But in _Pe_ the flame ‘shineth on
the brow of the Glorified ones.’
3. A quite unknown deity and most probably a mere blunder. The MS. which
contains it, _Ca_, suggests another reading _Tenpua_ with ⁂, the
determinative of _plants_. This not proving satisfactory,
⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ _renpit_ was substituted. But all this was mere
conjectural emendation.
4. _The Lynx goddess_, ⁂⁂⁂⁂ Maftit. The name of this deity
is generally translated Lynx, and it is certainly applied to an animal
of the feline species closely resembling the cat. But the notion
expressed by the name is that of _swift speed_ ⁂⁂⁂⁂. (See
Dümichen, _Rec._ IV, 100, where this verb is in parallel with others of
the same sense.)
This deity is again mentioned in the 39th chapter as taking part in the
conflict with the dragon of darkness, and it is named in the strange
magic formulæ already found in the Pyramid texts. She is called
⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ (Teta 310), and she apparently defends the
deceased (_ib._, l. 303) against two serpent divinities, one of whom at
least, ⁂⁂⁂ _T’eser-ṭepu_ (_praeclaro capite_), is known to us
as one of the forty-two assessors of Osiris (_Todtenbuch_, 125-33).
------------------------------------
CHAPTER XXXV.
_Chapter whereby the person is not devoured by a Serpent in the
Netherworld._
Oh Shu, here is Tattu, _and conversely_, under the wig(1.) of Hathor.
They scent(2.) Osiris.
Here is the one who is to devour me. They wait apart.(3.) The serpent
Seksek passeth over me.
Here are wormwood bruised(4.) and reeds.
Osiris is he who prayeth that he may be buried.
The eyes of the Great One are bent down, and he doth for thee the work
of cleansing;(5.) marking out what is conformable to law and balancing
the issues.(6.)
NOTES.
The translator of this chapter cannot pretend to do more than give an
accurate meaning to each word. The true sense of the chapter must have
been lost when the earliest copies known to us were written.
1. _Wig_, ⁂⁂. The head-dress of the gods is one of the mythical
forms of representing the light cloud at sunrise or sunset, in which the
deity is _pileatus_.
2. _Scent_, ⁂⁂⁂⁂. The Egyptian word is also used for
_nursing_, _putting to sleep_, probably through influencing the
breathing. The _nose_ as a determinative is used in the different senses
of the word.
3. _They wait apart._ The early MSS. do not agree here in a single word,
and they defy translation. The later MSS. are scarcely less discordant.
⁂⁂ is _to alight_, _rest_, and this must also be the meaning of
⁂⁂. ⁂⁂⁂ is connected with ⁂. ⲛⲉϩ in the sense of
_dispersing_, _separating_.
4. _Bruised_, or _trodden_. There being no rational context it is
impossible to fix the sense of a word like ⁂⁂⁂, which may mean
either _guard_ or _bruise_ by _beating_ or _treading down_.
5. _Cleansing_ ⁂⁂ or ⁂⁂. The result of the process is
certainly _cleansing_, but the operation itself is generally supposed to
be _washing_. This agrees with the Coptic ⲣⲁϩⲧ _a fuller_, of which the
old Egyptian form is ⁂⁂. But ⲣⲁϩⲧ has also the sense of
_beating_, and the operation is in many countries thought to be one of
the most important duties of washerwomen. With this sense of the word I
would connect the names _Rechit_ given to Isis and Nephthys, as
signifying ‘mourners.’ Compare the Greek τύπτεσθαί τινα, κόπτεσθαί τινα,
_to mourn a person_, and the Latin _plangere_.
6. _Balancing the issues_ ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂. The first of these
words is unambiguous. ⁂⁂⁂ signifies literally ‘standing,’ like
_status_, or στάσις, and like those words also signifies position,
situation, condition, circumstances, and also the point at issue, the
question to be decided.
A well known passage in Cicero’s _Topics_ (93, c. 35) may be quoted