CHAPTER CXXVI.

PLATE 40.PLATE 41.

PLATE 40.

PLATE 41.

CHAPTER CXXVI.

Oh ye four Harbingers(1) who sit at the prow of the Bark of Rā, and convey the fixed ordinances(2) of the Inviolate One, ye who are judges of my distress(3) and of my good fortune, and propitiate the gods with the flames from your mouths: ye who present to the gods their oblations and the sacrificial meals to the Glorified: ye who live through Maāt and are sated with Maāt: who have nothing wrong in you and execrate that which is disordered,(4) do ye put an end to my ills and remove that which is disorderly in me through my being smitten to the earth.(5)

Grant that I may penetrate into the Ammehit and enter into Restau; and that I may pass through the mysterious portals of Amenta.

Be there given to me the Shensu cakes and the Persen cakes[and all things] even as to the Glorified, who make their appearance on entering into Restau or on coming forth.(6)

Enter thou, OsirisN: We put an end to thine ills, and we remove that which is disorderly in thee through thy being smitten to the earth. We put away from thee all the ills which thou hast. Enter thou into Restau and pass through the mysterious portals of Amenta. Enter thou in and come forth at thy pleasure, like the Glorified ones; and be thou invoked each day in the Mount of Glory.(7)

Notes.

In the older papyri the vignette of this chapter is unaccompanied by any text. The only exception as yet known is that of the papyrusAb, of the XVIIIth dynasty. The text is also found in the tomb of Rameses VI, with the important addition of the answer made by the fourHarbingersto the prayer of the deceased. This addition is retained in all the later recensions. Other discrepancies between the two texts lead to the conclusion that even the older one has suffered from interpolation.

1.HarbingersorSaluters,⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂. See Chapter 5,Note 5, for an explanation of the name of those Apes who salute[135]the Daybreak. Herefouronly are spoken of, and this was probably the original number, corresponding to the four portals of the Mount of Glory. The numbereight(the Chemunnu) is more easy to explain thansix, which is the number stated in the text quoted from the tomb of Rameses VI.

2.Fixed ordinances,⁂⁂; θέμιστες in the different acceptations of that word.

3.Distress,⁂⁂⁂⁂.“Te semper anteit saevanecessitas,”Horace says to Fortuna. The determinative⁂and the Copticⲙⲣ̄ evidently point to the notion ofconstraint, but the few texts in which the word is found implywant,need(angustiæ, ἀνάγκη),[136]rather than captivity. Amenemhat at Benihassan (tomb 2)boasts that in his days and under his government no one was seen “in distress(⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂), or starving.” And Horus at Edfu (Naville,Mythe d’Horus, pl. XXII) is said to protect theneedyordistressed(⁂⁂⁂)against the powerful. This is an honour already claimed by Antuf on his tablet (Louvre, C. 26 line 17), who mentions themaȧruas being an object of interest to him, like the orphan and the widow.

4.Disordered,⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂, is the absence of⁂⁂, strictorder, and always spoken of as in opposition to it. One is κόσμος and the other is οὐ κατὰ κόσμον, and may be predicated of whatever is contrary to rule, faulty, defective, out of line, deformed, or disfigured, not only in a moral but in a purely physical sense.

⁂⁂,ill, does not meanwickednessorsin, but simply physical evil, mischief, pain or sorrow. There are many texts to prove this, but perhaps the most interesting is the great text at Dendera (Mariette,Denderah, IV, pl. 73, or Dümichen,Rec., III, pl. 96), where Osiris is invoked at Apu (Panopolis) as the fiery Bull, hiding (or scarcely seen) on the day of the New Moon ..., but at length rising into full strength,[137]and seeing the Golden Horus fixed upon the throne of the universe.⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂(continues the text), “Joy cometh round after[138]pain,” or sorrow; most certainly, not aftersin.

The meaning of⁂, which governs the noun, has been explained (Chapter 40,Note 6) asstopping,bringing to an end; notdestroying, and still lessforgiving.

5.Through my being[orbecause I am]smitten to the earth,⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂.

⁂⁂in this position, without a suffix or nominal subject, is not an auxiliary verb, but a particle of correlation, used when a cause, motive, or circumstance is asserted or implied in connection with a preceding statement.

Like all such particles, of which the function was originally only deictic, it is susceptible of very many shades of meaning, and it would be impossible in this place to do justice to a word so frequently occurring, especially in the hieratic papyri of a secular character. The following examples are only intended to illustrate itsgrammaticaluse in our text.

The particle occurs three times before as many propositions at the beginning of Chapter 123; ‘I have balanced the divine Pair,’ ‘I have put a stop,etc.,’ ‘I have ended their complaints;’⁂⁂connects each of these statements with the preceding one, ‘I am Thoth.’ It is as if the speaker said, ‘It is in consequence ofmy being Thoth, that I have balanced,’etc.

In Chapter 36, ‘I am the bearer of the divine words’ is followed by⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂, ‘andso it comes thatI make the report.’

In Chapter 15, line 7, ‘I am one of those who honoured thee upon earth’ is followed by⁂⁂⁂⁂... “let methereforeattain to the Land of eternity.”

Aahmes, the son of Abana, says in his inscription (line 5) that he was young and unwedded,⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂“and soI continued to wear” a certain dress.

Amenemheb was, hetellstellsus (ZeitschrZeitschr., 1873, p. 3), high in the favour of the King, “and so it comes thatI followed my Lord⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂.”

Una was sent by his sovereign on a certain mission, and the negro chieftains of certain districts furnished the wood for hispurpose, “and so it came to pass thathe spent⁂⁂⁂a year in this wise.“

Afterverba dicendi⁂⁂corresponds to our ashow,comme quoi, or thequodorquiaof late Latinity. It often needs no more translation than the Greek ὅτι in such a relation.

In the inscription of Pianchi (line 2) one came to tell his Majesty “that(comme quoi) a prince [or magnate] had started up⁂⁂⁂⁂” and seized upon a part of the kingdom.

⁂⁂⁂most certainly does not mean‘est, est,’any more than it means‘Dominus meus mortuus est.’

Nebuaiu (Zeitschr., 1876, p. 5) in the time of Thothmes III⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂“says,as how‘I have presided over many constructions.’”

The Naophoros of the Vatican in like manner⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂“saysthat‘I made a petition’” to Cambyses.

Long before this Chnumhotep of Benihassan begins his biography (line 14)⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂“his mouth, it saysas how‘his Majesty appointed me’ to the dignity ofErpā ḥā.”

The absence of Verbal character becomes especially apparent in such combinations⁂⁂⁂,⁂⁂⁂⁂,⁂⁂⁂.

6.The older texts finish here. What follows in the translation is taken from the later recensions. It is the reply made by the four Harbingers to the prayer addressed to them.

7.Mount of Glory⁂. This is the real meaning of the word, and there is no reason why we should continue to use the misleading termhorizon.

135. The GothicHana(the Cock), GermanHahnand ourHensignify theSinger, and are words cognate to the Latincan-ere. The LatinGallusis probably related to ourcall.

136. The Greek language would furnish an interesting parallel to the Egyptian if it could be shown that δέω,bind, and δέω,want,need, had the same root. But the latter was originally δέϝω.

137. Such is the real meaning of⁂⁂⁂⁂, not only in this place, but in the extremely ancient text found on many sarcophagi and already in the Pyramid Texts (see Pepi I, 33),⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂, “Thy mother Nut bringeth it to pass that thou risest into full strength, without an adversary, in thy name ofthe Strong one.”In this translation it is assumed that the second⁂is the negative⁂, as it was always understood in later times (see for an instanceZeitschr., 1869, p. 51, and the beautiful text of Bakenrenf,Denkm., III, 263).The true meaning of⁂⁂is not simply ‘this god’ but ‘the Strongone,’one,’ὁ Ισχύων.⁂⁂is the ‘Strong and Beautiful;’⁂⁂isאל שׁדי, ὁ Παντοκράτωρ.

In this translation it is assumed that the second⁂is the negative⁂, as it was always understood in later times (see for an instanceZeitschr., 1869, p. 51, and the beautiful text of Bakenrenf,Denkm., III, 263).

The true meaning of⁂⁂is not simply ‘this god’ but ‘the Strongone,’one,’ὁ Ισχύων.⁂⁂is the ‘Strong and Beautiful;’⁂⁂isאל שׁדי, ὁ Παντοκράτωρ.

138. That is, ‘succeedeth.’

CHAPTER CXXVII.

The Book(1)for invoking the gods of the Bounds,(2)which the person reciteth when he approacheth them, that he may enter and see the Strong one(3)in the Great Abode of the Tuat.

Hail, ye gods of the Bounds, who are in Amenta.

Hail, ye Doorkeepers of the Tuat, who guard this Strong one, and who bring the reports before Osiris; ye who protect them who worship you, and who annihilate the adversaries of Rā: who give light and put away your darkness: ye who see and extol your Great one, who live even as he liveth, and invoke him who is in his Solar disk.

Guide me, and let the gates of Heaven, Earth, and the Tuat be opened to me.

I am the Soul of Osiris and rest in him.

Let me pass through the Gateways, and let them raise acclamation when they see me.

Let me enter as I will, and come forth at my pleasure, and make my way without there being found any defect or any evil attaching to me.

Notes.

The text which has been followed in the translation of this chapter is that of the Royal Tombs of Rameses IV and Rameses VI, called by M. Naville Chapter 127A. The lost Busca papyrus, of which Lepsius had a tracing, furnishes a different text, (127B), and the text of the TurinTodtenbuchhas been enlarged by means of numerous interpolations. M. Naville has called attention to the close relationship between this chapter and the second part of the “Solar Litany.”

1.Book⁂⁂, properly aRoll; a title given to several of the chapters (125, 127, 129, 130, 140, 141, 142 and 148 in the TurinTodtenbuch), instead of the usual⁂. Too much importance should not be attached to the difference ofterms.terms.This chapter is called⁂by the Busca papyrus; and Chapter 125, which is called⁂in the earliest texts containing it whenever a title is given, is called⁂⁂ever since the time of Rameses IV.

2.Bounds,⁂⁂⁂, in the dual form, though⁂⁂⁂is not unfrequent, here and in other places. The English word is not a translation of the Egyptian one, which has to be explained before any equivalent for it can be proposed. And the explanation of it has to be sought in the ‘Solar Litany,’ first completely published by M. Naville.

There we find the Sun-god Rā invoked as a Powerpouring itself forthoroverflowing⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂[139]in 75formsand theformsin 75⁂⁂⁂. Each of these divineforms(⁂⁂⁂)has its own⁂⁂⁂as a dwelling-place, to which however it is not confined.

The seventy-five Forms in question (each of which is a god) are, as the text itself shows, simply so many names of the Solar god or solar phenomena. Each of them is addressed as⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂, ‘Rā, supreme of power,’ after which some attribute of the deity is mentioned, and the name of the deity is connected with this attribute.

In Greece, Apollo was called ἑκηβόλος, καταιβάσιος, ἀποτροπαῖος, νεομήνιος, and by ever so many other names expressive of the attributes with which he was credited. These names correspond to what Egyptian mythology called the⁂⁂⁂of a god, and each of the names has but a limited application. The god is not always thought of as ‘Far-darting’; under the conception of ‘Neomenios,’ hedwellsin what Egyptian mythology called another⁂⁂, which is the local habitation, or, as mathematicians would say, thelocusof the concept.

M. de Rougé, without giving any reason, but probably guided by what Champollion had written, translates the wordzone. M. Naville, who has carefully studied the word, preferssphere. Andno better word could be thought of, if we used it as we do in speaking of ‘moving in a certain sphere,’ ‘each in his own sphere,’ or, ‘the sphere of action;’ without applying a strict geometrical sense to the word. For the Egyptian⁂⁂was a hollow cylinder like a round tower, a chimney, or a deep well rather than a sphere.

With the explanation I have just given, I preferBoundsas a more expressive translation. The word appears in the dual form on account of the presence of the god.

The name⁂⁂⁂was given to the fabulous Source of the Nile, supposed to be in the neighbourhood of Elephantine. The inscription of Seti I at Redesieh (Denkm., III, 140B) compares the abundance of water at the King’s cistern to that of the⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂“the cavern of the double Well of Elephantine.”

In the later orthography the word is written⁂or⁂⁂. It has been supposed that the Copticⲕⲟⲣⲓcataractsmight be connected with the old Egyptian name. But the history of the Coptic word is not sufficiently known to justify any inferences.

3.The Strong one,⁂⁂, the name of Osiris. See footnote to Chapter 126,Note 4.

139. M. Naville leaves this word untranslated, though he rightly conjectures it to be the origin of ϫⲱϣeffundere,effusio,infundere,immergere.⁂⁂⁂at chapter 64, 23, is undoubtedly theoverflowing, oroutpouring. There are the reduplicated Coptic formsϭⲉϣϭϣandϭⲉϣϭⲱϣ; andϭⲉϣⲉ, a name of thegoose, has its origin in⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂, and has the same sense etymologically as the Latinmergus.

139. M. Naville leaves this word untranslated, though he rightly conjectures it to be the origin of ϫⲱϣeffundere,effusio,infundere,immergere.

⁂⁂⁂at chapter 64, 23, is undoubtedly theoverflowing, oroutpouring. There are the reduplicated Coptic formsϭⲉϣϭϣandϭⲉϣϭⲱϣ; andϭⲉϣⲉ, a name of thegoose, has its origin in⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂, and has the same sense etymologically as the Latinmergus.

CHAPTER CXXVIII.

Invocation of Osiris.

Hail to thee, Osiris Unneferu, son of Nut and eldest son of Seb: the Great One who proceedeth from Nut; the king in Taa-urit;(1) the Prince in Amenta; the Lord of Abydos; the Lord of Forces; the most Mighty; the Lord of the Atef crown in Suten-hunen, the Lord of Power in Taa-urit,(2) the Lord of the Mansion: most Powerful in Tattu: Lord of Administration,(3) and of many festivals in Tattu.

Horus exalteth his father Osiris in every place; associating Isis the Great with her sister Nephthys.

Thoth speaketh to [Horus] with the potent utterances(4) whichhave in himself their origin and proceed from his mouth, and which strengthen the heart of Horus beyond all gods.

Rise up Horus, son of Isis, and restore thy father Osiris!

Ha, Osiris! I am come to thee; I am Horus and I restore thee unto life upon this day, with the funereal offerings and all good things for Osiris.

Rise up, then, Osiris: I have stricken down for thee thine enemies, I have delivered thee from them.

I am Horus on this fair day, at the beautiful coming forth(5) of thy Powers: who lifteth thee up with himself on this fair day as thine associate god.(6)

Ha, Osiris! thou hast come and with thee thyKa, which uniteth with thee in thy name of Ka-hotep.(7)

He glorifieth thee in thy name of the Glorified: he invoketh thee in thy name of Hekau: he openeth for thee the paths in thy name of Ap-uat.(8)

Ha, Osiris! I am come to thee that I may set thine adversaries beneath thee in every place, and that thou mayest be triumphant in presence of all the gods who are around thee.

Ha, Osiris! thou hast received thy sceptre, thy pedestal and the flight of stairs beneath thee.(9)

Regulate thou the festivals of the gods, and do thou regulate the oblations to those who reside in their mansions.

Grant thou thy greatness to the gods whom thou hast made, great god, and make thine appearance with them as their Ensign.(10)

Take thou precedence(11) over all the gods and listen to the Voice of Maāt on this day.

Said over the oblations made to the Strong One on the Festival of Uaka.(12)

Notes.

The ancient papyri do not contain this chapter. The translation follows the text of the TurinTodtenbuch, occasionally corrected by other papyri of the later period. There is nothing specially interesting in the chapter: the first portion of it is an invocation to Osiris under certain names, as in many other hymns[140]to the godfrom the time of the XIIth dynasty down to the latest times: the latter portion consists of evocations addressed by Horus to his father. Their prototype is to be found in formulas frequent in the Pyramid Texts. These were much admired and imitated in the Saïtic and the later periods.

1.King in Tau-urit⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂. Osiris is also called⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂at Philæ. And in the second line of this chapter he is called⁂⁂⁂in Tau-uritwhich, if not identical with Abydos, must have been a part of that town or in its immediate neighbourhood.

2.⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂is equivalent to⁂⁂⁂, the title of Osiris inPepi I, line 8. And the Power is defined as⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂“thy Power which is upon the Glorified.”

3.Administration⁂; literallythings. Seenote 3on Chapter 18.

4.Utterances⁂⁂. Seenote 2on Chapter 1, and compareMerenrā, 103, andPepi II, 13.

5.Coming forth⁂.Cf.ϣⲁⲓ, ἀνατέλλειν, ἀνατολὴ, and the meanings ἐξοδεία and ἑορτή, which, on the tablet of Canopus, correspond to the Egyptian⁂. The first hour after sunrise was called⁂⁂⁂⁂; so that “the beautiful Coming forth of thy Powers” may be a mere technical periphrasis for daybreak.

Besides the⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂of Rā in Chapter 17, it is well to remember such proper names as⁂⁂⁂⁂,⁂⁂⁂,⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂,⁂⁂⁂⁂,⁂⁂⁂⁂,⁂⁂⁂⁂and⁂⁂⁂, with several others.

6.Thine associate god, orone of those about thee,⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂.

SeeNote 2on Chapter 18. M. Chabas in his commentary upon the fine hymn translated by him in theRev. Arch., 1857, considersit“une circonstance bizarre”that Osiris is several times included among his ‘Djadjou.’ Thebizarrerieis easily explained by parallel expressions known to every Greek scholar, οἱ ἀμφὶ Πεισίστρατον in Herodotus meansPisistratus with his troops, and in Thucydides, οἱ περι Θρασυβουλον meansThrasybulus with his soldiers. In the Iliad (3, 146) οἱ ἀμφὶ Πρίαμον is explained by the Scholiast as meaningPriam himself: τοῦτ ἐστιν, ὁ Πρίαμος.

7.This passage as it stands is the alteration of one of the Pyramid Texts (Teta, 284; Pepi I, 54): “Horus hath brought to pass thathis Ka[? image] which is in thee should unite with thee in thy name of Ka-hotep.”

8.This whole passage is also taken from the Pyramid Texts. Its chief value in this place is in evidence of a truth not yet generally acknowledged by Egyptologists, thatAp-uat(or as written in the Pyramid Texts,Up-uat) is really Osiris. The proofs are numerous and overwhelming.

I produced evidence of this identity in the P.S.B.A. of June 1, 1886, from an obelisk of the XIIth dynasty now at Alnwick Castle, and in 1891 Brugsch published in hisThesaurus(p. 1420) a tablet, now in the Louvre, of the same period as the obelisk, which also treats Ap-uat as one of the names of Osiris. But the earliest as well as the most instructive evidence is that of the Pyramid Texts. The later form of it is thus given on the coffin ofNes-Shu-Tefnutat Vienna (see Bergman,Recueil, VI, p. 165): “Horus openeth for thee thy Two Eyes that thou mayest see with them in thy name of Ap-uat.”

But the Pyramids of Teta (l. 281) and Pepi (l. 131) say, “Horus openeth for thee thine Eye that thou mayest see withitinitsnameAp-uat.” Each of the Eyes of Osiris is Ap-uat, one of them is the Southern and the other is the Northern Jackal. These two facing each other form part of the symbolism explained in Note 2 upon Chapter 125.

The figure of the Jackal is wholly insufficient as an argument that Ap-uat is identical with Anubis. Much better evidence is found in the fact that the name of Anubis is sometimes written over the figure.[141]But the true explanation of this is, what might have seemed incredible to some of our older scholars, that Anubis is itself only one of the names of Osiris.

The Pyramids of Pepi I (line 474 and following) and Pepi II (l. 1262 and following) give imaginary etymologies of certain names of Osiris which are repeated in the inscriptions of the tomb of Horhotep, published by M. Maspero (Miss. Arch., I, 260). One of these names is⁂⁂, which is said to be derived from⁂, “pass thou over to me.” The next is⁂⁂⁂⁂Anpu, which is derived from⁂⁂! The true meaning of⁂⁂⁂is notjackal, butwhelp; the fierce young of an animal; not only of jackals or lions but of men, kings or gods,⁂⁂⁂. Thus Orestes speaks (Eur.,Orest., 1) of σκύμνον ἀνοσίου πατρός, and the Chorus of another play talks of the reception of τὸν Ἀχίλλειον σκύμνον (Andr., 1170). And Shakespeare speaks of “the young whelp of Talbot’s raging brood.”

9.Pedestal,⁂⁂⁂; thestandupon which the images or emblems of the god were carried in procession. The⁂is very frequently supported by it;⁂.

Flight of stairs,⁂⁂. SeeNote 2on Chapter 22.

10.Ensign,i.e.,insignis, one who bears the distinguishing mark or sign of investiture⁂⁂⁂⁂.[142]SeeNote 4on Chapter 78.

Osiris is here presented as the Sāhu of the gods whom he has called into existence. The Hymn of the Bibliothèque Nationale (line 7) calls him⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂.

Chnumhotep at Benihassan says of the king,⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂, “he distinguished me above all hisnobles,” that is the order of men bearing the sign of investiture.

11.Take precedence,⁂⁂⁂. I take the word in the same sense as where it occurs (without the determinative of sound) inDenkm., III, 29a; in parallelism with⁂⁂.

12.Uaḳa,⁂⁂⁂⁂; in the older texts⁂⁂⁂(as in Pepi I, 98); one of the oldest festivals of the Egyptian calendar, kept on the 17th and 18th of the month Thoth.

The Pyramid Text says “Behold, he cometh to thee as Orion(⁂⁂⁂[143]); behold Osiris cometh as Orion theLord of Wine(⁂⁂⁂,vinosus, full of wine), who cometh on the fair festival ofUaḳa.”

Uaḳa,⁂⁂⁂⁂or⁂⁂⁂⁂is also one of the names given to the Nile.

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