The Egyptian Book of the dead
is in thy nostrils.” The word for air is written ⁂⁂⁂ (lines 344
and 346) as in other places.
2. It is a mistake to speak of a _mundane_ egg, of which there is no
trace in Egyptian mythology. Seb, the great cackling goose, lays the
golden egg, which is the Sun; but ⁂⁂ does not mean ‘lay upon the
earth,’ but ‘_divide_, _separate_ from the earth.’ The egg springs from
the back of Seb.
3. _Who keepeth opposition in equipoise._ This sense may be inferred
from _Pa_, but is made very clear by the ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ of
Horhotep. The equilibrium of forces is maintained by the revolution of
the Sun.
4. _Dawneth_, ⁂⁂⁂, Horhotep; whose text breaks off without a
word on Sutu.
5. _The Blue_, ⁂⁂⁂ ‘lapis lazuli.’ The French _l’azur_ exactly
corresponds to the Egyptian, for the word _azure_ is derived from
_lazulum_.
Ancients and modern differ greatly, as is well known, from each other as
to the impressions derived from colour. It seems strange to read in the
tale of the _Destruction of Mankind_ that the ‘hair of Râ was of real
_chesbet_,’ that is ‘dark blue.’ But we have an exact parallel to this
in Greek. Κύανος is _lapis lazuli_ in Theophrastus, who even mentions
the artificial lapis made in Egypt. But in the Homeric poems the hair of
Hector (_Il._, 22, 401), and the hair and beard of Odysseus (_Od._, 16,
176), as well as the eyebrows of Zeus (_Il._,1, 528; 17, 209) are
described as κυάνεαι.
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CHAPTER LV.
_Another chapter whereby air is given._
I am the Jackal of jackals, I am Shu, who convey breezes, in presence of
the Glorious one(1.), to the ends of the sky, to the ends of the earth,
to the ends of the filaments of Cloud(2.).
I give air to those Younglings as I open my mouth and gaze with my two
eyes.
NOTES.
1. _The Glorious one._ This is the most usual reading. _Pa_ has Râ.
2. _Filaments of Cloud._ _Cloud_ is the sense, not the translation of
⁂⁂⁂, or, as it is also written, ⁂⁂⁂⁂, which is the
name of some tree or shrub which has not been identified. The
_filaments_ ⁂⁂ or ⁂⁂, which are among its characteristics,
point in this context to the long fibrous forms presented by the cirrus
cloud.
------------------------------------
CHAPTER LVI.
_Another chapter of breathing._
Oh Tmu! give me that delicious air which is in thine own nostrils.
It is I who hold that great station which is in the heart of
Heracleopolis.
I watch over that egg of the Great Cackler, my strength is the strength
thereof, my life is the life thereof, and my breath is the breath
thereof.
------------------------------------
CHAPTER LVII.
_Chapter for breathing air and command of water in the Nether world._
Let the Great One(1.) be opened to Osiris; let the two folding doors of
Kabhu(2.) be thrown wide to Râ.
O thou great Coverer(3.) of Heaven, in thy name of Stretcher(4.) [of
Heaven], grant that I may have the command of water, even as Sut hath
command of force(5.) on the night of the Great Disaster: grant that I
may prevail over those who preside at the Inundation, even as that
venerable god prevaileth over them, whose name they know not. May I
prevail over them.
---------------------
My nostril is opened in Tattu, and I go to rest in Heliopolis, my
dwelling, which the goddess Seshait(6.) built, and which Chnum raised on
its foundation.
If the Sky is at the North I sit at the South; if the Sky is at the
South I sit at the North; if the Sky is at the West I sit at the East;
and if the Sky is at the East I sit at the West.
And drawing up my eyebrows(7.) I pierce through into every place that I
desire.
NOTES.
This chapter and the following are recensions and combinations of
extremely ancient texts.
The first portion of the present chapter follows the ancient text of
Horhotep. Even at that early period two recensions were in existence,
and are copied one after the other. The translation here given is the
nearest possible approach to the original text.
The second portion (beginning with _My nostril_) dates from the papyri
of the Theban period, though we must depend upon later authorities for
the entire Section.
1. _The Great One_ ⁂⁂ _urit_—Heaven.
2. _Kabhu_ ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂, literally the _Cool_ (water) is
another name for the Sky,[66] and is here in parallelism with the Great
One.
3. _Coverer_ ⁂⁂⁂, a name applied both to the Nile, as covering
the land during the inundation, and to the Sky as the covering above us.
_Cf._ my paper on _Nile Mythology_, P.S.B.A., November, 1890.
4. _Stretcher_ ⁂⁂⁂, which I consider as a nasalised (perhaps
the original) form of ⁂⁂ _stretch_. The papyri read ⁂⁂⁂
_āt pet_ ‘Cleaver of the Sky,’ but the word _āt_, without the
determinative ⁂, may also mean _stretch_, as in the expression
⁂⁂⁂.
5. _Force_ ⁂⁂⁂, ⁂⁂⁂, like the Latin _vis_, may, but
need not, be of a criminal nature. The name of the goddess ⁂⁂⁂
in this place is a manifest blunder of the more recent scribes.
6. The goddess _Seshait_ ⁂⁂ commonly but erroneously called
_Safch_, through an error against which Lepsius (_Aelt. Texte_, p. 3)
and Brugsch (_Zeitschr._, 1872, p. 9) have both spoken. The real name of
the goddess, as I have elsewhere[67] shown by actual variants, is
⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ _Seshait_ (Teta, l. 268) or ⁂⁂⁂ (Louvre,
A. 97). She is so called from the root ⁂, ⁂⁂, _writing_, that
being one of her occupations.
7. _Drawing up my eyebrows_ ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂, in
scornful pride, superciliously, like the Greek τὰς ὀφρῦς ἀνασπᾶν.
-----
Footnote 66:
The name occurs repeatedly in the Pyramid Texts, and even the very
expression ⁂⁂⁂ _e.g._ Unas, 375, and the Litany at Pepi I,
631.
Footnote 67:
_On some Religious Texts of the Early Egyptian Period_ in _Trans. Soc.
Bibl. Arch._, Vol. IX, p. 303.
------------------------------------
CHAPTER LVIII.
_Chapter for breathing air and command of water._
Let the door be opened to me!
Who art thou? What is thy name?
I am One of You!
Who is with thee?
It is the Merta.
Turn away then(1.) front to front, on entering the Meskat.(2.)
He grants that I may sail to the Abode of those who have found their
faces.
_Collector of Souls_ is the name of my Bark, _Bristler of Hair_ is the
name of the Oars, _Point_[68] is the name of its Hatch, _Right and
Straight_ the name of the Rudder.
The picture of it is the representation of my glorious journey upon the
Canal.
Give me jars of milk and cakes and flesh meat at the House of Anubis.
_If this chapter is known he entereth after having gone out._
NOTES.
The 58th and 122nd chapters are reproductions of the same text, the
earliest copy known being that of Ani.
1. _Turn away then._ Merta as we have seen is the name given to the
goddess pair Isis and Nephthys. It is therefore not possible to account
for the masculine pronoun ⁂ as having reference to Merta. ⁂ must
be taken in the sense of _ideo_, _idcirco_, _then_, _therefore_.
2. _Meskat_, or according to another reading _Meschenit_.
-----
Footnote 68:
All this part is corrupt.
------------------------------------
CHAPTER LIX.
_Chapter for breathing air and command of water._
Oh thou Sycomore of Nut, give me of the water and of the wind which are
within thee.
It is I who hold that abode which is in Heracleopolis, I watch over that
Egg of the Great Cackler. My strength is the strength thereof, my life
the life thereof, and my breath the breath thereof.
NOTES.
On the mythological tree in heaven which produces both wind and water,
that is the rain-cloud, see my _Egyptian Mythology, particularly with
reference to Mist and Cloud_, in _Trans. Soc. Bibl. Arch._, Vol. VIII.
The same kind of imagery is still current in Europe. German authorities
tell us about the ‘Wetterbaum,’ which in some places is called
‘Abraham’s Tree,’ in others, ‘Adam’s Tree.’ The Yggdrasill myth is
supposed to have the same origin. The Rainbow is the heavenly Mountain
Ash of a well known Swedish and Esthonian riddle. The water from heaven
was supposed in Egypt to be especially refreshing for the dead.
------------------------------------
CHAPTER LX.
_Another Chapter._
Let the doors of Heaven be open to me, let the doors of Kabhu be thrown
wide to me; by Thoth and by Hapi, the great Coverer of Heaven, at
daybreak.
Grant ye that I may have the command of water even as the mighty Sut had
the command of his enemies on the Day of Disaster to the Earth. May I
prevail over the Long-armed ones in their corners,[69] even as that
glorious and ready god prevaileth over them, whose name they know not.
May I prevail over the Long-armed ones.
-----
Footnote 69:
The four cardinal points; the Eastern and the Western ⁂⁂, and
the Southern and the Northern ⁂⁂⁂.
------------------------------------
CHAPTER LXI.
_Another Chapter._
I, even I, am he who proceedeth from the Weeper(1.), and whose attribute
is Overflowing.(2.) I(3.) have the command of it as Hâpu.
NOTES.
1. The great Weeper is primarily Heaven, and it is so in this place. The
Nile god who proceeds from it also bears the same name.
2. _Overflowing_: ⁂⁂⁂⁂.
3. _I._ The original is in the third person; in reference to “he who
proceedeth,” &c.
------------------------------------
CHAPTER LXII.
_Chapter whereby water is drank in the Netherworld._
Let the Great One be opened to Osiris; let the Kabhu be thrown wide to
Thoth, the Coverer, Lord of the Horizon in his name of the Divider of
the Earth.
May I have command of the water even as the might of Sutu had over his
enemies.
It is I who traverse the Heaven:
I am Râ:
I am the god in Lion form:
I am the Steer;(1.)
I eat the haunch, and pierce through the joint.[70]
I go round the Sechit-Aarru.
There hath been assigned to me Eternity, without end.
And lo! I am the Heir of Endless Time, and my attribute is Eternity.
NOTE.
1. _The Steer_, ⁂⁂⁂⁂ _smau_, a solar title frequent in the
Pyramid texts. His mother, Heaven, is called ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ or
(as the name is written Teta 359) ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂. She is called
the Spouse on the Mountain ⁂⁂⁂, and by a play upon words
⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ Unas, 493.
The usual meaning of ⁂⁂⁂, like that of the Greek χλόη or the
Hebrew דֶּשֶׁא, is the light green shoot of plants in spring, and this is
the key to the sense of the proper name. The goddess Demeter had a
temple at Athens under the name of _Chloe_, and it is in allusion to
this that Sophocles calls her εὔχλοος (_Oed. Col._ 1600).
This Egyptian goddess was ⁂⁂⁂⁂, a principal deity at
Enchebit, she had the White Crown and the wig with two plumes. She is
described as having drooping dugs, and as suckling her son. _Cf._ with
this information from Unas the whole chapter beginning with line 283 of
Pepi I.
-----
Footnote 70:
The sacrificial offerings ⁂ and ⁂.
------------------------------------
CHAPTER LXIIIA.
_Chapter whereby one is not burnt with fire, but drinketh water in the
Netherworld._