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.

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 53Ais taken from the papyri of the older period, 53Bis a still older text from the Coffin of Horhotep.

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 ofPawhich is much preferable to that of Ani. There is a far older text, that of Horhotep, line 344 andsqq., 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 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 amundaneegg, 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,separatefrom the earth.’ The egg springs from the back of Seb.

3.Who keepeth opposition in equipoise.This sense may be inferred fromPa, 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 Frenchl’azurexactly corresponds to the Egyptian, for the wordazureis derived fromlazulum.

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 theDestruction of Mankindthat the ‘hair of Râ was of realchesbet,’ that is ‘dark blue.’ But we have an exact parallel to this in Greek. Κύανος islapis lazuliin 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.

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.Pahas Râ.

2.Filaments of Cloud.Cloudis 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. Thefilaments⁂⁂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 withMy 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 theCool(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 onNile 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 wordāt, without the determinative⁂, may also meanstretch, as in the expression⁂⁂⁂.

5.Force⁂⁂⁂,⁂⁂⁂, like the Latinvis, 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 goddessSeshait⁂⁂commonly but erroneously calledSafch, 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.

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.

67.On some Religious Texts of the Early Egyptian PeriodinTrans. 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 Soulsis the name of my Bark,Bristler of Hairis the name of the Oars,Point[68]is the name of its Hatch,Right and Straightthe 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 ofideo,idcirco,then,therefore.

2.Meskat, or according to another readingMeschenit.

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 myEgyptian Mythology, particularly with reference to Mist and Cloud, inTrans. 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.

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 ofChloe, 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.

70. The sacrificial offerings⁂and⁂.

CHAPTER LXIIIA.

Chapter whereby one is not burnt with fire, but drinketh water in the Netherworld.

O Bull of Amenta! let me be borne to thee!

I am that Rudder of Râ, wherewith he conveyeth the Ancient(1) ones.

I am not burnt, I am not consumed.

I am Babai, the eldest son of Osiris, who striketh the eye of every god(2) in Heliopolis.

I am the Heir, the primary power of motion and of rest(3).

I have made firm my name, and have preserved it that I may have life through it.

CHAPTER LXIIIB.

Chapter whereby one is not boiled in water.

I am that ready Rudder wherewith Râ conveyeth the Ancient ones, and I raise the effluxes(4) of Osiris to the Tank from flames impassable; a wrecked one,(5) but not to be consumed.

I lie helpless as a dead person,(6) and I arrive at the lair of the Lion who defieth slaughter, ...(7) following the road by which I set out.

Notes.

The Chapters 63Aand 63Bare united into one in the later MSS. without any other division than⁂, indicative of a different reading. None of the early papyri contains both chapters. The text of 63Bis extremely corrupt, and without rational interpretation.

1.I am that Rudder of Râ, wherewith he conveyeth the Ancient ones.This passage is twice found in Horhotep (311 and 329), the word for Rudder being written⁂⁂⁂⁂.

2.Who striketh the eye,⁂⁂⁂. The peaceful determinative may perhaps be intended to diminish the force of the very expressive⁂in the verb of striking. But I believe that this passage may fairly be illustrated by the words of Lucretius IV, 324 and following:—

Splendida porro oculi fugitant vitantque tueri,Sol etiam caecat, contra si tendere pergas.Praeterea splendor quicumque est acer aduritSaepe oculos ideo quod semina possidet ignisMulta, dolorem oculis quae gignunt insinuando.

Splendida porro oculi fugitant vitantque tueri,

Sol etiam caecat, contra si tendere pergas.

Praeterea splendor quicumque est acer adurit

Saepe oculos ideo quod semina possidet ignis

Multa, dolorem oculis quae gignunt insinuando.

3.The primary power of motion and of rest.These words have a modern sound, but they express the sense of the original,⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂.

4.Effluxes,⁂⁂⁂, the ἰχώρ, the vitalsap, as it were, of the body of Osiris, which is the source of life both to men and to gods,[71]and in default of which his own heart (Unas 12) would cease to beat. It is celebrated in all the mythological texts extant from the time of the Pyramids down to the latest inscriptions of Denderah and Edfu, and even in Demotic documents.[72]All moisture was supposed to proceed from it, and the Nile was naturally identified with it.

In the Pyramid texts (Pepi 66)⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂is put in parallelism with⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂.

5.A wrecked one.So I understand⁂from Chapter 125, 38, but the whole context here is so doubtful that no translator who respects himself would warrant the sense.

6.I lie helpless like a dead person.⁂⁂⁂,ḥefṭis the condition of an infant on the knees of its nurse. And I understand⁂⁂⁂in its well known euphemistic application to the dead.

7.⁂⁂⁂is the most probable reading here, but it is ahapax legomenonwith nothing in the context to explain it.

71. In one of the ancient chapters preserved in the tomb of Horhotep, the deceased, speaking in the person of Horus, talks (319) of quenching his thirst with the⁂⁂⁂of his father Osiris.

72. See a very interesting passage inPap. Rhind4, 4, with Brugsch’s translation.

CHAPTER LXIV.

Chapter whereby one cometh forth by day from the Netherworld.

I am Yesterday, To-day, and To-morrow, for I am born again and again; mine is the unseen Force,(1) which createth the gods and giveth food to those in the Tuat(2) at the West of Heaven; I am the Eastern Rudder,(3) the Lord of Two Faces, who seeth by his ownlight; the Lord of Resurrections, who cometh forth from the dusk and whose birth is from the House of Death.

Ye two divine Hawks(4) upon your gables, who are giving attentive heed to the matter; ye who accompany the bier to the tomb, and who conduct the ship of Râ, advancing onwards from the highest place of the Ark in heaven—the Lord of the Shrine(5) which standeth in the centre of the Earth;

He is I, and I am He.(6)

Mine is the radiance in which Ptah floateth over his firmament.(7)

Oh Râ, who smileth cheerfully, and whose heart is delighted with the perfect order of this day as thou enterest into Heaven and comest forth in the East: the Ancients and those who are gone before acclaim thee.

Let thy paths be made pleasant for me; let thy ways be made wide for me to traverse the earth and the expanse of Heaven.

Shine thou upon me, oh gracious Power;(8) as I draw nigh to the divine words which my ears shall hear in the Tuat; let no pollution of my mother be upon me; deliver me, protect me from him who closeth his eyes at twilight and bringeth to an end in darkness.

I am the Overflower, and Kam-ura(9) is my name: I bring to its fulness(10) the Force which is hidden within me.

Oh thou Great One, who art Shoreless,(11) and callest upon the Powers of the South, at the moment when the god is carried forth, saying:—

“Behold the Lord of his Flood; see, the Shoulder is fastened(12) upon his neck and the Haunch upon the head of the West” offerings which the two goddesses of the West(13) present to me when the weeping bursteth forth from me at what I witness, as I am borne round on the Tenait in Abydos,(14) and the bolts made fast on the gateways(15) above your images are in the reach of thine hand and from within thee.

Thy face is as that of a hound whose nostril sniffeth at the covert to which my feet convey me.

Anubis is my bearer, for he who lulleth me to rest(16) is the god in Lion form.

Do thou save me!

I am He who cometh forth as one who breaketh through the door; and everlasting is the Daylight which his will hath created.

“I know the deep waters” is my name.

I satisfy the desires of the Glorified, who are by millions and hundreds of thousands....[73]I am the guardian of their interests, actively working at the hours of the day and adjusting the arms of Sahu; twelve in circling round, uniting hands, each of them with another. But the sixth of them in the Tuat is the ‘Hour of the overthrow of the Sebau,’ which cometh here in triumph; the same which maketh way into the Tuat; the same which is yoked with Shu.

I shine forth as the Lord of Life and the glorious order of this day: the blood which purifieth and the vigorous sword-strokes by which the Earth is made one.

I sever the horns(17) from those who unite in resistance to me; the hidden ones who rise up in opposition against me; those who go upon their bellies.

I come as the ambassador of the Lord of lords to avenge the cause of Osiris in this place. Let not[74]the Eye consume its tears.

I am the Guide of the house of Him who dwelleth in his treasures.

I am come from Sechem to Heliopolis to inform the Bennu of the matters of the Tuat.

Oh goddess Aucherit, who concealest that is within thee, but raisest up forms, like Chepera, grant that I may come forth and see the orb of the sun, and walk forth in the presence of the great god, who is Shu and abideth for eternity.

I travel on high, I tread upon the firmament, I raise a flame with the daylight which mine eye hath made, and I fly forward towards the splendours of the Glorified in presence of Râ daily, giving life to every man who treadeth on the lands(18) which are upon the earth.

Oh thou who leapest forth, conductor of the Shades and Glorified ones from the Earth, let the fair path to the Tuat be granted to me, which is made in behalf of those who are in faint condition and for the restoration of those who are in pain.

Who art thou, who devourest in Amenta?

I am He who presideth in Restau. “He who entereth in hisown name, and cometh forth in quest; the Lord of the Eternity of the Earth” is my name.

She who hath conceived hath set down her burden;which turneth round before descending; the door is shut at the wall which is reversed....[75]

His Eye hath been given to Horus and his face brighteneth at the dawning of the day.

I am not exhausted: I become the Lion god and the palm flowers of Shu are upon me.

I am not one who drowneth.

Blessed are they who see(19) the Bourne:(20) beautiful is the god of the motionless heart who causeth the stay of the Overflowing.

Behold! there cometh forth the Lord of Life, Osiris thy support, who abideth day after day.

I embrace the Sycomore,(21) I am united to the Sycomore.

I part the two deities of morning that I may come to hold the Eye,(22) and cause it to rest in its place.

I am come to see Râ at his setting, and I unite with the breeze at his coming forth: my two hands are pure for adoring him.

May I be restored! May I be restored!

I fly up to heaven and I alight upon the earth; and mine eye turneth back there towards the traces of my footsteps.

I am the offspring of Yesterday; the tunnels(23) of the earth have given me birth, and I am revealed at my appointed time.

May I be under shelter from the warlike handed god who cometh behind me, may my flesh be sound and may my glories be a protection to the limbs of one who waiteth for the purpose of taking counsel. May the Cycle of the gods listen to what I say.

To be said on coming forth by day; that one may not be kept back on the path of the Tuat, whether on entering or on coming forth; for taking all the forms which one desireth; and that the soul of the person die not a second time.

If then this chapter be known the person is made triumphant upon earth [and in the Netherworld] and he performeth all things which are done by the living.

This chapter was discovered on a plinth of the god of the HennuBark(24)by a master builder of the wall in the time of King Septa, the Victorious.(25)

This composition is a secret; not to be seen or looked at.

Recite the chapter when sanctified and pure; not approaching women, not eating goat’s flesh or fish.

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