The Egyptian Book of the dead
ἀλλ’ ἄγε, θᾶσσον
γευσόμεθ’ ἀλλήλων χαλκήρσεσιν ἐγχείησιν.[56]
though in Greek the _taste_ comes generally to the _patient_ rather than
to the agent.
4. This passage, which would be most interesting if we could only get it
accurately, is wretchedly corrupt. It is impossible from the variants to
obtain a text grammatically intelligible. The Scorpion goddess is Isis.
-----
Footnote 55:
⁂⁂⁂ _between_, _in the midst of_, _surrounded by_.
Footnote 56:
_Iliad_, 20, 258.
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PLATE XIV.
BOOK OF THE DEAD.
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CHAPTER XL.
_Chapter whereby the Eater of the Ass is kept back._
Back, serpent Haiu,(1.) whom Osiris execrateth. May Thoth cut off thy
head, and may there accrue to me whatsoever property proceedeth from
thee [according to] what was decreed against thee by the Company of the
gods for the accomplishment of thy slaughter.
Back, thou whom Osiris execrateth, from the Neshemet galley, which
saileth towards the south with favourable breeze.
Pure are ye, all ye gods who overthrow the enemy of Osiris.
The gods upon the larboard utter loud acclamation.
Back, thou Eater of the Ass, whom the god Chas,(2.) who is in the Tuat,
execrateth.
Know me! (_Repeated_ four times).
“Who art thou?”
I am....[57]
Down upon thy face!(3.) thou who art eating at my sanctuary.
I am the Season, which cometh at its own will.
“Come not against me; thou who comest without being called, and who art
unknown.”
I am the master of thine utterance, and the check upon thy pride.(4.)
O Ha-as, whose horns(5.) Horus doth cut: by my children, the cycle of
gods in Pu and Tepit, thou art severed from thy fold and thy fold is
severed from thee.
And he who cutteth thee off cometh forth as the Eye of Horus; thou art
kept back and assailed, and stopped(6.) by the breath of my speech.
O thou god who devourest all wrong, and carriest off with violence;(7.)
there is no wrong in me, my tablets(8.) are free from wrong. Let me not
suffer violence before the Divine Circle; let not disaster be hurled
upon me.
I am he who giveth or taketh according to thy behest.
Let not _N_ be seized, let him not be devoured.(9.)
He is Possessor of Life, and Sovereign Lord(10.) on the Horizon.
NOTES.
The translation of this chapter is based upon the important papyrus T 5
of Leyden, known as _Lb_. This is the only MS. which contains the whole
chapter. All other copies begin after the sixth line. The usual chapter
begins in _Lb_ with a ⁂⁂, which is the ordinary way of indicating
a various reading. But the difference of reading applies rather to a
mere paragraph than to the whole chapter. In this case we should expect
⁂ or something equivalent.
The Eater of the Ass is a Serpent, but who is the Ass?
Here, as in each case of mythological name, the animal is not meant, but
something which is connoted by it. The name of the ass is given to it in
consequence of one of its characteristics. It is ⁂⁂⁂. But this
is one of the seventy-five names of the Sun-god in the Solar Litany.[58]
And he derives this appellation from his fructifying power.
But if the Ass is the Sun, who is the _Eater_ of the Ass? This must be
Darkness or Eclipse of some kind.
1. _Haiu_, the serpent who devours the sun, is undoubtedly the same as
⁂⁂⁂⁂ _Haiu_, the serpent who in the Pyramid texts is ordered
to lie down (Unas, 545, &c.), and cease from his attacks.
2. _The god Chas_, ⁂⁂.
3. The usual chapter begins here. The text of _Lb_ has generally been
followed, but in some places later authorities have been preferred.
4. _Pride_ or _boastings_, ⁂⁂⁂ _ānta_, “glory,” _cf._
_glorior_. The speaker addresses his adversary as being a _miles
gloriosus_.
5. _Horns_ or _barbed hooks_, ⁂⁂, ⁂⁂⁂⁂ or
⁂⁂⁂⁂. The horns here spoken of, as possessed by a viper, are
those of the deadly Cerastes, which are spines projecting from the
arched eye-brows of the creature. See picture in Long’s _Egyptian
Antiquities of British Museum_, II, p. 316, copied from the great French
work.
But the Sun-god is also called in his Litany[59]
⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂. And a picture of the god[60] under
the name ⁂⁂⁂ exhibits him as characterized by a pair of hooked
weapons, suggested apparently by the mandibles of a beetle.
6. _Stopped._ There are three important variants here ⁂, ⁂, and
⁂. And the last of these is possibly a corrupt reading from ⁂⁂.
The first two are synonymous. ⁂ may in certain contexts mean
_destroy_, but it only signifies ‘bring to a limit, to an end, stop,’
like the τερ in τερ-μα, _ter-min-o_. It is used in many cases, such as
the staunching of blood, where no destruction is intended.
⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ is _stop in thy place_.
7. There is a picture in _Denkm._, III, 279, of the god who carrieth off
with violence ⁂⁂⁂⁂. But it is a mummied form holding the
_T’ām_ sceptre.
8. _Tablets_, ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂. These are the tablets on which Thoth
has written down the evidence taken at the _Weighing of the Words_, the
examination at the Psychostasia. They are mentioned again at the end of
Chapter 41.
9. Here I follow the general authority of the later texts.
10. _Sovereign Lord_ ⁂⁂⁂⁂. This word is closely connected,
and was so from the first, with ⁂ ‘seize.’ The best commentary upon
it may be derived from the legal terms _usucapio_, _saisine_, _seisin_.
The Sovereign Lord of Egypt is in our current legal phrase “_seized_ of
the Two Earths,” that is of the whole Universe, North and South.
-----
Footnote 57:
There is a lacuna here in the only MS. containing the text. The
dialogue continues through the next line of the original.
Footnote 58:
Naville, _La Litanie du Soleil_, p. 49 and 55, with the plates
corresponding.
Footnote 59:
In the 64th invocation.
Footnote 60:
Lefébure Tombeau de Seti I, pl. XVII.
------------------------------------
CHAPTER XLI.
_Chapter whereby one avoideth the Slaughter which is carried out in the
Netherworld._
O Tmu, let me be glorified in presence of the god in Lion form, the
great god; that he may open to me the gate of Seb.
I prostrate myself to earth to the great god who is in the Netherworld.
Let me be introduced into the presence of the company of gods who
preside over those who are in Amenta.
O thou who art at the gate of Tebat; god with the Red Crown,(1.) who art
in Amenta; let me feed, let me live by the breath of air and accompany
the great Cleaver,(2.) and the Bark of Chepera.
Let me speak to the divine Boatman at the gloaming, let me enter in and
let me go out; that I may see who is there; that I may raise him up and
speak my words to him.
O Breathless one:(3.) Let me live and be saved after death.
O thou Bearer of peace offerings, who openest thy mouth for the
presentation of the tablets,(4.) for the acceptation(5.) of the
offerings and for the establishment of Maāt upon her throne; let the
tablets be brought forward, and let the goddess be firmly established.
I am Osiris, the great god, the eternal king, who numbereth his seasons
and who lifted up his right arm, who judgeth the great ones and giveth
mission to the gods of the great Circle(6.) which is in the Netherworld.
NOTES.
The most noteworthy difference between the older recension of this
chapter and that of the Saitic and later periods is that in the latter
the god addressed at the opening is Osiris Unneferu, who is identified
with Tmu. In the older recensions the identification may be seen in
another way. Tmu is the god invoked, and in answer he says that he is
Osiris, the great god.
1. _God with the Red Crown_ ⁂⁂ is ⁂⁂⁂, one of titles of
Osiris with the ⁂ crown. See Plate XV from Lefébure, _Tombeau de Seti
I_, part IV, pl. 34. This title, derived from the crown ⁂⁂, is
_Net-tȧ_ or _Nait-tȧ_. It was borne by the high priest at Coptos
(Brugsch, _Dict. Geogr._, pp. 1374, 1377), and the King of Egypt derived
his title ⁂ from the Crown ⁂ of the North which he wore as
representing Osiris, or rather the _heir_ of Osiris, Horus.
2. _The great Cleaver_, ⁂⁂⁂, the name of the god who cleaves
his path through the sky.
3. _Breathless one_, ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ Osiris.
4. Thoth is the person here addressed, and the speaker is Osiris. The
tablets are those containing the evidence at the trial at the Balance.
5. _Acceptation_ ⁂⁂⁂ _peḳa_, besides the physical sense of
_comprehendere_, ‘to lay hold of’ with the hands, has that of ‘taking
in, embracing with the mind,’ and perhaps ‘setting forth in words.’
6. On the Sarcophagus of Seti (Bonomi, pl. 3. D), and the
other copies of the same text, there is a picture of these
⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂. Such is the title written over
them. But the text speaks of them as ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
PLATE XV.
BOOK OF THE DEAD.
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PLATE XVI.
BOOK OF THE DEAD. CHAPTER XLII.
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CHAPTER XLII.
_Chapter whereby one hindereth the slaughter which is wrought at
Sutenhenen._(1.)
Land of the Rod, of the White Crown of the Image, and the Pedestal of
the gods.
I am the Babe.(2.) (_Said Four Times._)
O Serpent Abur!(3.) Thou sayest this day, “The Block of Execution is
furnished with what thou knowest,” and thou art come to soil(4.) the
Mighty One.
But I am he whose honours are abiding.
I am the Link,(5.) the god within the Tamarisk,(6.) who connecteth(7.)
the Solar orb with Yesterday. (_Four Times._)
I am Râ, whose honours are abiding.
I am the Link, the god within the Tamarisk.
My course is the course of Râ, and the course of Râ is my course.
My hair is that of Nu,(8.)
My two eyes are those of Hathor,
My two ears those of Apuat,
My nose that of Chenti-chas,
My two lips those of Anubis,
My teeth those of Selkit,
My neck that of Isis, the Mighty,
My two hands those of the Soul most Mighty, Lord of Tattu,
My shoulders those of Neith, Mistress of Sais,
My back is that of Sut,
My phallus that of Osiris,
My liver is that of the Lords of Cher-ābat,
My knees those of the most Mighty one,
My belly and my back are those of Sechit,
My hinder parts are those of the Eye of Horus,
My legs and thighs those of Nut,
My feet those of Ptah,
My nails and bones those of the Living Uræi.
There is not a limb in me which is without a god. And Thoth is a