CHAPTER L.
CHAPTER LVII.
CHAPTER LVIII.
CHAPTER LXI.
CHAPTER LXIV.
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PLATE XVIII.
BOOK OF THE DEAD. CHAPTER LXVIII.
LANZONE (Diz. Egiz.).
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CHAPTER XLVII.
_Chapter whereby the Seat of a person is not taken from him in the
Netherworld._
Chair and Throne of mine, which are coming to me and circling round to
me; divine ones!
I am a noble Sāhu(1.), grant that I may become one of those who follow
the great god.
I am the Son of Maāt, and wrong is what I execrate.
I am the Victorious one.
NOTE.
1. _Sāḥu_ ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ is not a mummy, as it is sometimes
rendered, but a living personality in mummied form.
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CHAPTERS XLVIII and XLIX
are identical with X and XI respectively.
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CHAPTER L.
_Chapter whereby one cometh not to the divine Block of Execution._
The four(1.) fastenings of the hinder part of my head are fastened.
He who is in heaven it was who made firm the fastening for him who was
fainting upon his two haunches on that day when the fleece was shorn.
The fastenings of the hinder part of my head were fastened by Sutu and
the company of gods in his first triumph. Let there be no disaster.
Preserve me safe from him who slew my father.
I am seized of the ‘Two Earths.’
The fastenings of the hinder part of my head were fastened by Nu, on the
first time of my beholding the Law in virtue of which the gods and their
symbols(2.) come into existence.
I am the Heedful one, and become the executioner for you, ye great
gods(3.).
NOTES.
The antiquity of the chapter is proved by its occurrence on the second
coffin of Mentuhotep; but its condition there is such that no one can
read it who is not already familiar with it from other sources. It
begins, _Aelteste Texte_, p. 22, line 34, and goes on till the red
letters at line 50. The text, in spite of its importance, is very
inaccurate.
1. _The four fastenings._ The number _four_ is only found in the oldest
copies. The later copies have a different text. It is impossible to say
_what_ kind of fastening is meant. ⁂ might be a ligament or a
vertebra—though more probably the latter. But it might be a combination
of several pieces. ⁂⁂⁂ is the occiput, and this suggests the
hypothesis of cervical vertebrae. But the number of these is not four
but seven. Of these _three_ are peculiar; the Atlas which supports the
head, the Axis upon which the head turns, and the Vertebra prominens
with its long spinal process. But see the Vignette of chapter 42 from
_Pd_ where four vertebrae are figured.
2. _Symbols_, or symbolical representations, ⁂⁂⁂⁂ or
⁂⁂⁂⁂.
3. _The Heedful one_ ⁂⁂, perhaps ⁂⁂⁂, Unas 584, Pepi I,
199 and 667.
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CHAPTER LI.
_Chapter whereby one goeth not headlong in the Netherworld._
I execrate, I execrate, I do not eat it.
That which I execrate is dirt. I eat it not, that I may appease my
Genius.
Let me not fall into it; let me not approach it with my hands, let me
not tread upon it with my sandals.
NOTE.
The Chapters numbered 51 and 52 are not found in the most ancient
papyri, but the substance of them and their formulas are met with on the
ancient coffins[65] and in the Pyramid texts. See, for instance, Unas
189, Teta 68, with M. Maspero’s note on the latter text. I do not,
however, believe, as M. Maspero does, that these texts convey the idea
“so frequent[!] among half-civilised peoples, of another life in which
the deceased will have nothing to eat and drink but excremental matter.”
That the ⁂⁂⁂ which I translate ‘dirt’ and ⁂⁂ ‘lye’ are of
this nature is quite certain, but they are objects of abhorrence to the
Sun-god, like the dead rat and the putrid cat in chapter 33, because he
is a consuming fire, and “whatsoever he findeth upon his path he
devoureth it,” ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ Unas 515. It is only
natural then that the deceased who is identified with the Sun-god in
these texts should express his execration of such offensive matter. He
is not afraid of being limited to this food, his fear springs from the
opposite extreme.
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Footnote 65:
There is a chapter in Lepsius, _Älteste Texte_, p. 34, with the same
title as chapter 51, but the contents are different.
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CHAPTER LII.
_Chapter whereby one eateth not dirt in the Netherworld._
I execrate, I execrate, I do not eat it.
That which I execrate is dirt. I eat it not, that I may appease my
Genius(1.).
Let it not fall upon me; let me not approach it with my hands, let me
not tread upon it with my sandals.
Henceforth let me live upon corn(2.) in your presence, ye gods, and let
there come one who bringeth to me that I may feed from those seven
loaves which he hath brought for Horus and upon the loaves for Thoth.
“What willst thou eat?” say the gods to him.
Let me eat under the Sycamore of Hathor the Sovereign, and let my turn
be given to me among those who rest there.
And let me manage the fields in Tattu and prosper in Heliopolis.
And let me feed upon the bread of the white corn and upon the beer of
the red barley.
And let the forms(3.) of my father and of my mother be granted to me;
the gate-keepers of the stream.
Let room be thrown open for me, let the path be made, and let me sit in
any place that I desire.
NOTES.
1. Here, as in the corresponding passage in the preceding chapter and in
several other places, the later texts often read ⁂, which is a
serious error.
2. The unintelligible ⁂⁂⁂ of the later texts should be
corrected to ⁂⁂ (_Älteste Texte_ 42, lines 50, 54 and 67). The
error may be traced to a form of the word with the prothetic ⁂. There
are several words varying in their applications which may be traced to
the same origin.
⁂⁂ _šeser_ ‘spica’ a point, hence an ear of corn, and ⁂⁂,
⁂⁂, ‘spiculum,’ an arrow, a javelin, are very clearly connected,
and the notion in both is, as in the Hebrew אביב, that of ‘shooting
forth,’ _proferre_, _protendere_.
⁂⁂, a term applied to horned animals, has surely nothing to do
with the Coptic ϣⲣⲱ of Leviticus XV, 19. It refers to the _pointed_
weapons presented by the beasts.
⁂⁂ is ‘put forward’ in the way of speech, and may be command or
prayer, or simple statement.
⁂⁂ the builder’s line is something ‘stretched out’ _prolatum_,
_protensum_.
And with reference to walls, buildings, and the like, ⁂⁂ may
always be translated by _proferre, protendere_.
3. _The forms_, ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ not ⁂⁂⁂⁂, as the Turin
Todtenbuch. There is a most interesting text but unfortunately imperfect
on the Leyden Coffin M. 3 (M. Pl. 13). The deceased is told that on
arriving at the mysterious gate he will find his father and his mother,
⁂⁂⁂⁂. This is followed by ⁂ and then apparently by ⁂
but the middle sign is almost entirely effaced. This would mean ‘at the
resurrection of thy body.’
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CHAPTER LIIIA.
_Chapter whereby one is not made to eat dirt or to drink lye._
I am the sharp-horned Bull, who regulateth the sky, the Lord of the
risings in heaven; the great Giver of Light, who issueth from Flame; the
Bond of Time, richly supplied with years; the god in Lion form, to whom
is given a march of Glory.
I execrate, I execrate, I do not eat that which my Genius execrateth.
Let it not enter into my stomach, let it not approach to my hands, let
me not tread upon it with my sandals.
Let me not drink lye, let me not advance headlong in the Netherworld.
I am the possessor of bread in Heliopolis, who hath bread in Heaven with
Râ, and bread upon earth with Seb.
It is the Sektit boat which hath brought it from the house of the great
god in Heliopolis.
I am gladdened in my very entrails, and am associated with the divine
mariners, who circle round to the East of Heaven. I eat as they eat, and
I feed upon what they feed. I eat bread from the house of the Lord of
offerings.
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CHAPTER LIIIB.
_Whereby one eateth not dirt._
I execrate, I execrate! I do not eat it.
Dirt is what I execrate; I do not eat it.
I execrate lye, I do not drink it.
Let me not approach it with my fingers, let me not tread upon it with my
sandals.
Seb, the father of Osiris, hath ordained that I should not eat dirt or
drink lye, but my father hath four times said that I should eat of the
red corn.
There are seven loaves in Heaven at Heliopolis with Râ, and there are
seven loaves upon earth with Seb, and there are seven loaves with
Osiris.
It is the god of the Sektit galley, and of the Mââtit galley, who hath
brought them to me at Heliopolis.
I shout with joy, and my Genius shouteth with joy, because I am in
Heliopolis, and I live in excellent condition before Râ, on the day when
bread is presented in Heliopolis.
NOTE.
Chapter 53A is taken from the papyri of the older period, 53B is a still
older text from the Coffin of Horhotep.
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CHAPTER LIV.
_Chapter whereby air is given in the Netherworld._
I am the god in Lion-form(1.), the Egg in the Great Cackler, and I watch
over that great Egg which Seb hath parted from the earth(2.); my Life is
the Life thereof, and the same is true of my advance in life and of my
breathing of the air.
I am the god who keepeth opposition in equipoise(3.) as his Egg circleth
round. For me dawneth(4.) the moment of the most mighty one, Sut.
O ye gods who are pleasant through the alternate successions of the
Earth, who preside over sustenance and who live in the Blue(5.), do ye
keep watch over him who abideth in his Nest; the Infant god who cometh
forth towards you.
NOTES.
The text here followed is that of _Pa_ which is much preferable to that
of Ani. There is a far older text, that of Horhotep, line 344 and
_sqq._, but it is too inaccurate to serve as the basis of a translation.
It is however very valuable for other purposes.
1. _The god in Lion form._ These words are not in Horhotep, the chapter
beginning as in later texts “Oh Tmu let there come to me the air which