The Egyptian Book of the dead
here: “Refutatio accusationis, in quae est depositio criminis, Graece
στάσις dicitur, Latine _status_ appelletur: in quo insistit, quasi ad
repugnandum congressa defensio.”
Perhaps the passage in chapter 30 B, in which “the divine ministrants
are said to deal with a man” according to his ⁂⁂ may have
reference to the circumstances of his life.
Chapters like this, however worthless in themselves, contain small
fragments highly illustrative of the ideas of the Egyptians at an
extremely remote period.
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PLATE XII.
BOOK OF THE DEAD.
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PLATE XIII.
BOOK OF THE DEAD.
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CHAPTER XXXVI.
_Chapter whereby the Āpshait is kept back._
Away from me, thou with parted lips! I am Chnemu, the Lord of Shennu,
who am bringing the words of the gods to Rā. And I announce the news to
Nebes.
NOTE.
The insect called ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ _āpšai_ or ⁂⁂⁂ _āpsȧit_
is difficult of identification. It is certainly not a tortoise as was
formerly thought, but looks rather like the voracious _Blatta
orientalis_. The form in _Le_ is peculiar, but I have met it in a later
papyrus. The last word of the chapter is doubtful. The most recent
papyri have ⁂⁂ ‘their Lord,’ which gives a very good sense, but
even the Turin copy has ⁂ ‘her Lord’ which agrees with the oldest
papyrus. Bekenrenef has ⁂⁂ _Nebes_, a lion-headed goddess.
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CHAPTER XXXVII.
_Chapter whereby the Merta goddesses are kept back._
Hail ye Pair of goddesses Merta, Sister Pair, Merta!(1.) I inform you of
my Words of Power.
It is I who rise up from the Sektit boat. I am Horus the son of Isis,
and I am come to see my father, Osiris.
NOTE.
1. The _Pair of goddesses_ consists of Isis and Nephthys
⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂, _Rehetȧ_, as the word is written at Denderah.
⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂, _Mertȧ_ signifies _two eyes._
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CHAPTER XXXVIII.
_Chapter whereby one liveth by the breath of air in the Netherworld, and
keepeth back Merta._
I am the god in Lion form; the heir of Râ and Tmu in Chemmis,(1.) the
Master in their halls.
Those who are in their cells(2.) accompany me as guides. I have made my
way and gone round the heavenly Ocean on the path of the Bark of Râ, and
standing on the girders[52] of the Bark of Râ.
I utter his words to the men of the present generation[53] and I repeat
his words to him who is deprived of breath.(3.)
I spy out for my father Râ at sunset, compressing my mouth,(4.) and
feeding upon life.
I live in Tattu, and I repeat my life after death like the Sun daily.
NOTES.
There are two recensions of this chapter, and both are found in the
papyrus _Lb_. They are called by M. Naville, 38A and 38B. The latter is
that adopted as canonical by all the manuscripts of a later date, and is
the one here translated. The other recension is longer, and contains
passages which are also found in other chapters, to which it accordingly
furnishes important variants. It may possibly be older than those
chapters.
1. _In Chemmis._ The name of the place where Isis gave birth to Horus is
in the Pyramid texts written ⁂⁂⁂⁂ (Pepi I, 428), and
⁂⁂⁂ (Merenra I, 683), _aḫ-ḫebit_ or _ḫebit-aḫ_; but simply
_ḫebit_ in the texts of the eighteenth dynasty, as in the annals of
Thothmes III (Mariette, _Karnak_c pl. 16, line 47),[54] or in the divine
and proper names ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂, ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂,
⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂, ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂, and ⁂⁂,
⁂⁂⁂⁂, ⁂⁂⁂⁂. It is certain therefore that the
sign ⁂ is here only an ideogram of ⁂⁂⁂, not of the ancient
⁂⁂⁂. From the eighteenth dynasty at least, and for a time
belonging to a period of unknown length between the sixth and the
eighteenth dynasties, and for ever afterwards, the name of the place was
⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ _Ḫebit_, where, as the _Tablet of the Dream_ says,
⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ (Mariette, _Mon. div._, pl. 7).
2. _In their cells_: ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂. Here 38A has:
⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ _in their shrines_, followed in
some papyri by ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ “I fraternize with Horus and
Sut.”
3. _Deprived of breath_, ‘the dead.’ In 38A, the privation of breath is
mentioned but in a different connection. But the text of the passage is
uncertain. Here as in chapter 41, ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂
‘the Breathless one’ is Osiris.
4. _Compressing my mouth_: ⁂⁂⁂⁂ is the ancient reading, not
⁂⁂⁂⁂, as in the more recent texts. The same observation
applies to the name of the god in chapter 125, 15.
-----
Footnote 52:
⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂.
Footnote 53:
_The men of the present generation, the Reḫit._
Footnote 54:
Here the king is compared to the god called
⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ and in the next line ⁂⁂⁂. And
Thothmes IV (_Denkm._, III, 63) is compared
⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂.
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CHAPTER XXXIX.
_Chapter whereby the Serpent Rekrek is repulsed in the Netherworld._
Back! down with thee, stabber(1.) from Apepi! Drown in the lake of
Heaven, in the spot wherein thy father ordered that thy murder should be
carried out. Away from this birth-place of Râ, the god encompassed
by[55] his terrors.
I am Râ, encompassed by his terrors.
Back! the dark demon and the sword which he maketh to flash!
Râ flingeth down thy words; thy face is twisted round by the gods; thy
whole heart is torn out by the Lynx goddess; chains are flung upon thee
by the Scorpion goddess; and slaughter is dealt upon thee by Maāt.
The gods who are on the roads overthrow thee.
Apep falleth down, the enemy of Râ.
O thou who removest the bolt from the East of Heaven at the stormy voice
of bellowings, and openest the gates of the Horizon before Râ: he cometh
forth fainting from the wounds.
I am a doer of thy will, I am a doer of thy will, O Râ.
I have done well, I have done well; I have done to the satisfaction of
Râ.
And I raise shouts of acclamation at thy success at fettering, O Râ.
Apep is fallen and is in bonds.
The gods of the South, the North, the West and the East bind him; their
bonds are upon him. Aker(2.) overthroweth him, and the lord of the ruddy
sky doth bind him.
Râ is satisfied; Râ is satisfied; Râ maketh his progress peacefully.
Apep falleth; Apep goeth down; the enemy of Râ. And more grave for thee
is the proof(3.) than that sweet proof through the Scorpion goddess,
which she practised for thee, in the pain which she suffered...(4.).
Be thou emasculate, O Apep, enemy of Râ; be thou repulsed whom Râ
hateth; look behind thee: a chopper is over thy head to divide it into
two parts, and those who are above thy head assail it. Thy bones are
broken, thy limbs are severed under the direction of Aker, O Apep, enemy
of Râ.
Thy boatmen [O Râ], succeed in measuring out thy path, and a journey,
with which thou art satisfied; a progress, a progress towards home; and
the progress which thou hast made towards home is a fair progress.
Let no evil hindrances come forth against me from thy mouth in what thou
doest towards me.
I am Sutu, who causeth the storms and tempests, and who goeth round in
the Horizon of Heaven, like to one whose heart is veiled.
Tmu saith: Let your countenances be raised up, ye soldiers of Râ, and
drive back Nebtu in presence of the Divine Circle.
Seb saith: establish those who are upon their thrones in the middle of
the Bark of Chepera; seize your shields and spears, and hold them in
your hands.
Hathor saith: Seize your daggers.
Nut saith: Come and drive back Nebtu, who cometh against him who
dwelleth in his shrine, and maketh his voyage in solitary guise: the
Inviolate god, the resistless one.
O ye gods in your Divine cycles, who travel round the lake of Emerald,
come and defend the Great one who is in the shrine from which all the
Divine cycle proceedeth. Let glory be ascribed to him, and let honour be
given to him. Oh then, proclaim him with me.
Nut saith, the mother of the gods: He cometh forth and findeth his path,
and maketh captures of the gods; he hath the first place in the two
houses of Nut.
Seb standeth still, the great cycle of the gods is in terror, Hathor is
under terror, and Râ is triumphant over Apep.
NOTES.
The extreme uncertainty of the text is such that no translation at
present can be other than conjectural.
1. _Back, down with thee, Stabber._ The first word is clear enough; not
so the two next.
Are we to read ⁂⁂⁂, ⁂⁂⁂ or ⁂⁂⁂⁂? for each
of M. Naville’s authorities gives a different word. The last of these
readings has some support in a subsequent passage, but almost all copies
have ⁂⁂⁂. There has evidently been a confusion between ⁂⁂
and ⁂⁂, and the determinative ⁂ of the latter word has been
transferred to the first. I believe that the true word is ⁂⁂⁂
which is used in the ancient forms of conjuration (see the texts of
Unas, 304, 311, 542, 545, 554, _etc._). It is always used in expressions
of _lying down_ or _falling down_ ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂,
⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂, and it is also found in parallelism with
⁂⁂⁂.
⁂⁂ without a determinative is susceptible of different meanings,
and the very recent texts have it written with the determinative of
motion ⁂ or ⁂, as significant of retreat. But the oldest
determinative in this place is ⁂, and this inclines me to identify
the word with ⁂⁂⁂, and translate it ‘stabber.’ But this is mere
conjecture. See note 5 on chapter 40.
2. _Akar._ The older MSS. differ hopelessly from each other as to the
name of the god.
In order to understand the nature of the god ⁂⁂⁂ _Akar_, we
have to imagine a _tunnel_ starting from the spot where the sun sets,
and _extending through the earth_ as far as where the sun rises. Each
end of the tunnel has a sphinx-like form. A human-headed lion stands at
the entrance and also at the terminus. It is through the paws of this
double sphinx that the galley of the Sungod enters on the Western
horizon and comes out on the Eastern.
In the picture Plate XV, taken from the tomb of Rameses IV, ⁂⁂,
_Fair Entrance_, is written at one end of the tunnel; ⁂⁂, _Fair
Exit_, at the other. As the solar bark could not be represented inside
the dark tunnel, it is placed above.
3. _The proof._ Lit. _the taste_, ⁂⁂ _ṭepit_, with the tongue as a
determinative, in the sense of a _probe_. The hand of an Egyptian hero
is said to _taste_ his enemy. In the Bremner Papyrus the god _tastes_
Apep four times. The same conception is found in the Homeric poems,