The Egyptian Book of the dead
not the tempest of thy mouth come forth against him.
Let not the Osiris _N_ advance upon the paths of misfortune: let him
avoid disasters, let them not attain him.
The Osiris _N_ enters into the Bark of Rā, he succeedeth to thy throne;
he receiveth thine insignia.
The Osiris _N_ inaugurateth the paths of Rā and prayeth that he may
drive off the Lock which cometh out of the flame against thy Bark out of
the great Stream.
But the Osiris _N_ knoweth it, and it attaineth not thy Bark. For the
Osiris _N_ is within it; the Osiris _N_ who maketh the divine offerings.
_Said over a Bark of Rā, coloured in pure green.(10.) And thou shalt
place a picture of the deceased at the prow thereof. And make a Sektit
boat on the right side of it and an Atit boat on the left side of
it._(11.)
NOTES.
1. This title is given to the Chapter in the later recensions, and
nearly resembles that given in the Berlin papyrus of Nechtu-amen (of the
XIXth dynasty). That given in another papyrus of the older period is
quite different,—“_Chapter whereby the Chu is fortified_.” Instead of
the _Sheniu of the Tuat, Ba_ (the papyrus of Nechtuamen) has the _Sheniu
of Fire_ ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂, a reading suggested by the
⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ _the circuit of fire_, which occurs in the
title of another chapter. The _Sheniu_ of this chapter are living
personages who attend upon the Osiris and greet him with their
acclamations. The word is often translated ‘princes,’ ‘officers,’ but it
signifies _those who are in the circle_ of a king or god, hence
‘ministrants,’ ‘courtiers,’ as in the rubric of Chapter CXXV.
The words _made on the Birth-day of Osiris_ are only found in the later
texts, but the old papyrus _Lc_, which has another title, has the words
⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂. The important word ⁂⁂⁂ which is
here carelessly omitted is supplied by the rubric. For the Birth-day of
Osiris, was the first of the five supplementary days, added to the year
of 360 days. On this day the chapter was to be recited and the usual
oblations offered (see Note 11). So we must understand ⁂, ‘which is
to be made or done.’
2. _Arms of steel_, ⁂⁂⁂⁂.
3. _Cradle_ or _Nest_, ⁂⁂; the ‘Nest of Reeds’ ⁂⁂ so often
represented in pictures of the later periods.
4. _The Armed god_, ⁂⁂ _Septu_, called ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂.
(_Unas_ 282) and ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ _septu ābu_, ‘armed with horns,’
that is, rays of light. In pictures he is represented as a hawk armed
with bow and arrows, and there is one picture in which he is in the form
of Bes, destroyer of the _Menti_.
5. _Sejant gods_ ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂. I am compelled for want of a
better word to use the heraldic term which most nearly expresses the
posture of gods sitting on the ground with their knees raised up against
their breasts. The posture is a very common one in Egyptian pictures.
The second Sallier Papyrus represents an unfortunate artisan as sitting,
⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ “with his two
knees at the pit of his stomach.” The ⁂⁂⁂⁂ is the limb
between the knee and the pelvis.
6. _This divine Sword_ ⁂⁂⁂. Unseen fate brings down the old
and the young alike to the Grave ever ready to receive them. Seb, the
φυσίζοος αἶα, is here, as elsewhere, spoken of in reference to his
κατοχή of the dead in the Tuat, as in _Unas_ 210.
7. _Whose face is in his own lap_, ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂. _Cf._
Note 5.
8. _The Amsu staff._ The name of it is phonetically written
⁂⁂⁂⁂ in the later texts. It is the emblem both of Osiris
and of Horus, and is constantly represented along with bows, arrows, and
other weapons, in the oldest coffins, as belonging to the celestial
armoury of the deceased person.
9. _Who issueth his decrees. See_ Maspero, _Bibl. Egyptol._ II., p. 3
(note) and 39.
10. _Green._ The Egyptian ⁂⁂ is probably nearer in meaning to
the Greek χλωρός, ‘pale green, yellowish-green.’
11. The Rubric ends here in _Pb_. _Lc._ adds, _“They shall offer bread,
beer, and all good things_ on the Birth-day of Osiris. _And if these
rites are performed for him, his soul will rise up and live for ever; he
will not ever die a second time in the divine Nether world._”
The later texts add the information that the text was discovered in the
great hall of the palace in the time of king Septa, and that it was
found in a pit or chamber in the rock, ⁂⁂⁂. It was made by
Horus for his father Osiris Unneferu. Septa is the fifth royal name on
the great tablet of Abydos.
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CHAPTER CXXXI.
_Chapter whereby one proceedeth into Heaven by the side of Rā._(1.)
Oh Rā(2.) who art shining this night: if there be any one among thy
followers, let him present himself living as a follower of Thoth, who
causeth Horus to come forth this night.
The heart of the Osiris is glad, because he is one at the head of them.
His adversaries are brought to a stop by the warriors(3.) of the Osiris
_N_, who is a follower of Rā, and hath taken his arms of steel.
He cometh to thee, his father Rā, he followeth Shu and calleth for the
Crown. He putteth on Hu(4.) and is arrayed with the Lock which is on the
path of Rā and is his glory.
And he arriveth at the Aged one, at the confines of the Mount of Glory,
and the crown awaiteth him.
The Osiris _N_ raiseth it up.
Thy Soul is with thee, and strong is thy Soul through the terror and the
might which belong to thee, Oh Osiris _N_, who utterest the decrees
which Rā hath spoken in Heaven.
Hail to thee, great god in the East of Heaven, who enterest into the
Bark of Rā in the form of the Divine Hawk and executest the decrees
which have been uttered; thou who strikest with thy sceptre from thy
Bark.
The Osiris _N_ entereth into thy Bark and saileth peacefully to the Fair
West; and Tmu saith to him: Art thou coming in?
Mehenit is millions upon millions in length from Amur to Ta-ur(5.) an
endless river wherein the gods move.
(6.) ... whose path is in the fire; and they travel in the fire who come
behind him.
NOTES.
1. None of the oldest papyri yet known contain this chapter. This of
itself is not an argument against its antiquity, and there is really no
reason for supposing it to be less ancient than the chapter which
precedes it. The latter portion of the text is, however, very corrupt
and we have unfortunately no means as yet of correcting it.
2. _O Rā._ The name of the god is sometimes omitted in MSS. The context,
however, requires its presence. It may nevertheless be asked: how can
the Sun-god be said to be shining in the night?
The question might as pertinently be asked: how can Horus (in the very
same line) be said to come forth in the night? The answer to both these
questions is that the Sun, whether as Rā or as Horus or Osiris, shines
in the night through the agency of Thoth, the Moon. For further
information see Notes to next chapter.
3. _Warriors_ ⁂⁂⁂. I take this group as = ⁂⁂ or
⁂⁂⁂. But a papyrus gives the variant ⁂⁂⁂⁂.
4. _He putteth on Hu._ This, is certainly obscure; but it is not the
less in conformity with the doctrine of the Pyramid texts. The
deceased (_Pepi_ I. 432, _Merira_ 618) is borne to a region where he
is fed from night till daybreak, and then seizes upon the god Hu,
⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂. And according to other texts (_Unas_,
446, _Teta_, 250) the deceased seizes (⁂) upon Hu, and after Sau
has been fastened to his feet enters the bark and seizes upon
(⁂) the Mount of Glory.
5. _Mehenit_ ⁂⁂⁂⁂, or in the masculine form ⁂⁂, is
the name of the mythological serpent which personifies the subterranean
path from West to East of the Sun’s nightly course. In the _Book of
Hades_ (_e.g._ on the Sarcophagus of Seti, _passim_) it is represented
as extending over the back, top and front of the shrine in which the
Sun-god is borne in his Bark. The many folds of the serpent are
symbolical of the turnings and windings of the river or canal (⁂)
over which the god is conveyed. This river is here described as infinite
in length. This is one of the instances from which it is clear
⁂⁂⁂, like the corresponding Coptic ⲟⲩⲉⲓ, has the meaning of
_length_. See _P.S.B.A._, XVII, 190.
The length ‘from West to East’ is described as ‘from _Amur_ to _Taur_’
⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂. _Amur_ is known from many texts to
signify the West (see _supra_, Chapter 64, note 13). The East is known
as _Ta-ur_ or _Ta-urit_. The royal Ritual at Abydos (Mariette, I. 37)
says ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂. And as one
of the values of the sign ⁂ is _ta_ as in ⁂⁂ (Louvre, B. 14),
I feel sure that we should read _Ta-ur_ (or in the feminine _Ta-urit_)
rather than _Nif-ur_ or _Nif-urit_, even in such passages as those
quoted _supra_ in Chapter 128, notes 1 and 2, which have no necessary
references to earthly geography.
6. There is a corrupt passage here, which I have at present no means of
correcting by manuscript authority. M. Pierret thus renders it: “Le dieu
qui partage les paroles y fait son chemin de millions d’années, seigneur
sans égal, dont le chemin est dans le feu.”
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CHAPTER CXXXII.
_Chapter whereby a person is enabled to go round, to visit his dwelling
in the Netherworld._
I am the Lion-god who issueth from the Bow,(1.) and therefore have I
shot forth.(2.)
I am the Eye of Horus; and the Eye of Horus is opened at the instant
that I reach the strand, coming with happy issue.
I advance and, lo! there is no defect found in me, and the Balance is
relieved of my case.(3.)
NOTES.
1. _The Bow_, ⁂, often written with the determinative ⁂, of
_stretching_, which is the conception implied in this name of the
instrument. This mythological _Bow_, as I explained, _Proc. Soc. Bibl.
Arch._, VI, 131, is the moon’s _crescent_, which during its course
through the sky is always turned towards the sun; so that a line at
right angles to the chord of the arc passes through the sun’s centre.
From this “very delicate observation,” as Arago calls it, the
Alexandrian astronomer Geminus infers that the moon derives its light
from the sun. The observation evidently had been made in Egypt some
thousands of years before Geminus, and explains why in several chapters
the sun is spoken of as shining in or from the moon.
See also _Proc. Soc. Bibl. Arch._, XVII, 37, on another form of the
myth.
2. I follow the Turin text in omitting a word about which the earlier
texts are not agreed, but which seems to have originated in an alternate
reading for ⁂.
3. See end of Chapter 1 and note. These words are omitted in Turin text.
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CHAPTER CXXXIII.
_Book whereby the Deceased acquireth Might(1.) in the Netherworld in
presence of the great Cycle of the gods._ [_Said on the first day of
the Month_].(2.)
Rā maketh his appearance at the Mount of Glory, with the Cycle of gods
about him: the Strong one issueth from his hidden abode.
The Twinklers(3.) fall away from the Mount of Glory at the East of
Heaven, at the voice of Nut as she buildeth up the paths of Rā, before
the Ancient one who goeth round.
Be thou lift up, O Rā who art in thine shrine; breathe thou the breezes,
inhale the north wind ... (4.)on the day when thou discernest the Land
of Maāt.
Thou dividest them that follow; the Bark advanceth and the Ancient ones
step onwards at thy voice.
Reckon thou thy bones, and set thy limbs, and turn thy face towards the
beautiful Amenta.
For thou art the golden Form,(5.) with a couch of the heavenly orbs,
with the Twinklers amongst whom thou goest round, and art renewed daily.
Acclamation cometh from the Mount of Glory, and greeting from the lines
of measurement.(6.)