The Egyptian Book of the dead
Those who are in their own darkness worship me, and they rise up to me,
covering their faces, who mourn and are prostrate: look ye therefore
upon me.
I am the Craftsman(2.) of Nu, but I come not up in order that you should
hear of this.
I am the Craftsman of Nu, who lighteneth the darkness, and I have come
to dissipate the darkness, and that light should be.
NOTES.
1. _Devouring monsters_, ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂.
2. The later recensions have ⁂ or ⁂⁂⁂ _wife_. The older
papyri omit the feminine ending, which is inconsistent with the rest of
the chapter. I understand ⁂ or ⁂⁂, in the sense of artist,
craftsman.
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CHAPTER LXXXI.
_Chapter whereby one assumeth the form of the Lotus._
I am the pure Lotus which cometh forth from the glory which is at the
nostril of Rā, and I make my journey and pursue it for Horus, the great
god beloved.
I am the pure Lotus which cometh forth in the field.
NOTE.
This little chapter is not without its special difficulty. Are we to
read ⁂⁂⁂ as a word implying motion, with ⁂ as its
determinative, or as implying invocation, with ⁂ as its
determinative? The copyists differed and some of them changed the word
into ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ so that there should be no ambiguity. But this
does not clear up the words which immediately follow; hence _Ba_ has
suppressed them, whilst other copyists have given themselves no trouble
as to the sense of what they wrote.
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CHAPTER LXXXII.
_Chapter whereby one assumeth the form of Ptah, eateth bread, drinketh
beer, and sitteth in the midst of the great gods._
I fly like the Hawk, I cackle like the Smen-goose, I alight on the right
side of the Aat, on the feast of the Great One.
I execrate, I execrate: I eat it not. Dirt is what I execrate: I eat it
not. That which my Genius execrateth let it not enter into me.
Let me therefore live upon that which is put before them; the gods and
the glorified ones. Let me live and enjoy the bread and....[90] Let me
then eat them in the presence of the gods and glorified ones. Let me
enjoy and eat them under the foliage of the date trees of Hathor, my
sovereign. Let the oblations be made, of bread and beer in Tattu, and
bendings of the head in Annu. Let my vesture be girt upon me by Tait.
Let me sit wherever it pleaseth me.
My head is that of Rā and I am summed up as Tmu: Four times the arm’s
length of Rā: four times the width of the world.(1.)
I have come forth with the tongue of Ptah and the throat of Hathor that
I may record the words of my father Tmu with my mouth, which draweth to
itself the Spouse of Seb, and the proclamation of whose lips inspireth
fear.
I repeat the acclamations at my success on being declared the heir of
the Lord of Earth, Seb, from whom I issue.
Seb purifieth me, and giveth me his Theophanies.(2.) The dwellers in
Annu bow their heads to me. I am their Master. I am their Bull. More
powerful am I than the Lord of Time; I am the author and the master of
endless years.
NOTES.
1. Not in length but in periphery. The ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ implies a
quadrangular figure, and so do ⁂⁂. Of this quadrangle, North,
South, East, and West, are not cardinal points or angles, but _sides_.
2. _Theophanies_, ⁂⁂⁂. This is the true meaning of the word,
whether in reference to the Sun rising in the sky or to the king upon
his throne.
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Footnote 90:
The word seems to have been unintelligible to the copyists, who differ
widely from each other as to its orthography.
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CHAPTER LXXXIII.
_Chapter whereby one assumeth the form of the Bennu bird._
Let me wheel round in whirls, let me turn like the Turning One, let me
flourish like a flower and keep myself hidden like the Hider.(1.)
I am the Barley corn of every god.
I am the four Yesterdays of those seven Uræus deities who are born in
Amenta; Horus who giveth light by means of his own body; the god who is
against Sutu when Thoth is between them, as in that dispute of the
Prince of Sechem with the Spirits of Annu where the river is between
them.(2.)
I come forth by day and disclose myself at the head of the gods.
I am the god who chaseth all boastfulness.(3.)
NOTES.
1. There is here a play on the words _pa_, _ḫeper_, _ruṭ_ and _šet_. The
_Turning One_ is the god Chepera. The _Tortoise_ ⁂⁂⁂ derives
its name (the _hider_), from the habit of drawing its body within its
shell. On the flight of the Bennu see the first note of next chapter.
2. The Nile lies between the opposite shores of the Nomes of Letopolis
(Sechem) and Heliopolis (Annu).
3. The later recensions have “I am Chonsu who _putteth a stop_ to all
boastfulness.” But in the early copies _Chonsu_ is taken in its
primitive sense _the chaser_ and does not require the verb ⁂ to
govern ‘boastfulness.’
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CHAPTER LXXXIV.
_Chapter whereby one assumeth the form of the Hernshaw._(1.)
Thou who holdest the bound victims; ye knives over their heads and locks
and fleeces;(2.) ye aged and bright ones who are armed with the fated
moment.
I come to heaven but I strike upon the earth; and conversely.
It is my power which produceth victory and raiseth the height of heaven,
and I make the lustrations which yield the extent of earth to my feet
against the sinful cities as I advance and cut in pieces(3.) those who
are involved in rebellion.(4.)
I leave the gods upon their paths but I strike the Wakers who are in
their coffins.
I know not Nu, I know not Tatunen, I know not the Red ones when they
bring opposition to me.
I know not a Word of Power to whose utterance I listen.
I am the Red Calf upon the tablets.
This is what the gods say when they raise their voice.
Let your countenances be without restraint towards him who cometh to me.
The morning dawns are independent of you, ye have not the charge of
them; but my alternations are in my own hands. I say not the wrong
instead of the right.
Day after day unswervingly turneth back upon my eye-brow.
And Evening is the beginning of my voyage to celebrate the solemnity of
the Reclining and the Embrace of the Aged one who hath charge of the
Earth.
NOTES.
1. Both the _Bennu_ and the _Shenshen_ (which I here translate
‘Hernshaw’) are Herons. They fly to a great height in spiral whirls.
2. The true reading here seems to be ⁂⁂ from ⁂⁂ ‘shear.’
3. _Cut in pieces._ The papyrus of Ani gives the valuable reading ⁂.
4. _Rebellion._ So I understand ⁂⁂, a wrongful and violent
_rising_, ἐπανάστασις.
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CHAPTER LXXXV.
_Chapter whereby one assumeth the form of a Soul,_(1.) _that one may not
come to the dungeon. Imperishable is he who knoweth it._
I am a Soul. I am Rā who proceedeth from Nu, and my soul is divine. I am
he who produceth food, but I execrate what is wrong and look not upon
it.
I am possessor of Maāt and subsist by means of it.
I am the Food which perisheth not; in my name of the Self-originating
Force, together with Nu, in the name of Chepera, from whom I am born
daily.
I am the Lord of Daylight and I execrate Death, let me not enter into
the dungeons of the gods of the Tuat.
It is I who give glory to Osiris and propitiate the hearts of those who
are with him, my own friends.
They inspire the fear of me, and put forward my might to those within
their domains.
And behold me, how I am raised upon my pedestal and upon my throne.
I am Nu. They shall not overthrow me who do wrong.
I am he whose orbits are of old; my soul is divine, it is the Eternal
Force.
It is I who create the Darkness which maketh its seat at the confines of
Heaven.
My Soul hath come, far advanced in age, and I create the Darkness at the
confines of Heaven at my pleasure.
I reach the limits, and I advance upon my feet.
I take the lead and I traverse the steel firmament which maketh a
curtain.(2.) I put a stop to the Darkness and the worms; I whose name is
hidden.
I drive away aggression from before the Lord of the two hands, who is my
own Soul. The Uræus divinities are my body. My image is Eternal, the
Lord of years, the King of Everlasting.
I am exalted as Lord of the land of Rebu: ‘the Youth in Town, the Lad in
the Country’ is my name; and my name is imperishable.
I am the Force which createth Heaven and maketh its abode in the
Netherworld.
Not to be seen is my nest; not to be broken is my Egg.
I am the Lord on High. I have made my nest on the confines of Heaven,
and I descend to the earth of Seb and put a stop to evil. I see my
father, the Lord of the Gloaming, and I breathe.(3.)
NOTES.
1. Soul. The Egyptian word which in our modern languages we translate as
_Soul_ has already been explained as meaning _Force_. It is so
translated in this chapter in several passages where this sense is
emphatically required.
2. _A curtain_, ⁂ _šet_, literally a _skin_. _Cf._ Ps. civ, 2, “Who
stretchest out the heavens like a curtain,” where the LXX render
‘curtain’ by δέῤῥιν and the Vulgate by _pellem_.
3. Here the chapter ends in _Pc_. The few words which follow in other
MSS. were unintelligible to the copyists and are written very variously.
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CHAPTER LXXXVI.
_Chapter whereby one assumeth the form of the Swallow._(1.)
I am the Swallow; I am the Swallow.
I am the Scorpion-bird, daughter of Rā.
O ye gods, whose perfume is delicious: Flame which proceedest from the
Horizon: O thou who art in the place whence I have brought the keeper of
his fold—let me have thine arm that I may make my observation at the
Tank of Flame, that I may advance as an envoy and come with the report
of it.
Be it opened to me, in order that I may tell what I have seen.
Horus is in command of his bark. There hath been given to him the throne
of his father, and Sutu that son of Nut is under the grappling hooks
which he made for him.
I have ascertained what is in Sechem. I have touched with my two hands
the Heart of Osiris.(2.)
And that which I went in order to ascertain I am come to tell. Come let
me enter and report my mission.
And I, entering and ascertaining who cometh forth through that gate of
the Inviolate one, I purify myself at that great stream where my ills
are made to cease, and that which is wrong in me is pardoned and the
spots which were on my body upon earth are effaced.
O Keeper of the Portal, let the path be made for me, for I am as one of
you. Let me come forth by day, and walk upon my own legs. Let me have
the feet of the Glorified.
I know the mysterious paths and the gates of Aarru from whence I come.
Here am I, and I come that I may overthrow mine adversaries upon earth,
though my dead body be buried.
_If this chapter be known he will re-enter after coming forth by day._
NOTES.
1. The Swallow ⁂⁂. The objection to this meaning is that the bird
in question was eaten; and that doves or pigeons would be less meagre
food than the Swallow, and therefore more probably intended in the
Egyptian texts. But Swallows are still eaten at Rome, where like Clive
Newcome we may be regaled not only with “wild swans and ducks” but with