CHAPTER XC.

Chapter whereby Memory is restored(1) to a person.

Oh thou who choppest off heads and cuttest throats, but restorest memory in the mouth of the dead through the Words of Power which they possess: thou seest me not with thine eyes, thou perceivest not with thy feet;(2) thou turnest back thy face, thou seest not the executioners of Shu, who are coming behind thee to chop off thine own head and to cut thy throat. Let not my mouth be closed, through the Words of Power which I possess; even as thou hast done to the dead, through the Words of Power which they possess.

Away with the two sentences uttered by Isis when thou camest to fling remembrance at the mouth of Osiris(3) and the heart of Sutu, his enemy, saying:—

Notes.

Of this chapter we have unfortunately but one copy inFa, of the Musée Borély. This is defective both at the beginning and at the end, and the text is inaccurate. The later copies are so inaccurate that it is impossible to reconstitute the text. It is precisely on those points where grammatical accuracy is required for fixing a definite sense that the manuscripts are hopelessly defective. The preceding translation isverballycorrect, I trust, but I do not pretend that it is intelligible. It stops where the papyrusFastops.

1.Restored.The reduplication in⁂here gives the verb this sense.

2.It is not only in Egyptian that verbs of sight are applied to other perceptions. Aeschylus says κτύπον δέδορκα inSept. c. Th.104, and the Hebrew writers furnish similar examples.

3.At the mouth of Osiris and the heart of Sutu.To justify this translation the same preposition ought to governmouthandheart. But I do not know any copy in which this occurs. The Turin reading is simply absurd.

CHAPTER XCI.

Chapter whereby the Soul is secured from imprisonment in the Netherworld.

Oh thou who art exalted and worshipped, all powerful, almighty one, who grantest thy terrors to the gods, who displayest thyself upon thy throne of grandeur,(1) let the way be made for my Soul, my Chu and my Shade. Let me be thoroughly equipped.

I am a powerful Soul; let the way be made for me to the place where Rā is and Hathor.

If this Chapter is known, he taketh the form of a fully equipped Chu in the Netherworld, and does not suffer imprisonment at any door in the Amenta, either in coming in or going out.

Note.

1.There is no safe text here, ‘grandeur’ is only meant to indicate the existence of⁂in the original. But there certainly ought to be something different from what any of the MSS. supply.

PLATE XXIII.PLATE XXIV.

PLATE XXIII.

PLATE XXIV.

CHAPTER XCII.

Chapter whereby the Tomb is opened to the Soul and to the Shade of the person, that he may come forth by day and may have mastery of his feet.

That standeth open which thou openest, and that is closed which thou closest, oh thou who art at rest;(1) thou openest and thou closest to my Soul, at the bidding of the Eye of Horus: who delivereth me, who establisheth the glory upon the brow of Rā: [the god] of stretched out steps and rapid paces, who maketh for me a wide path and vigorous limbs.

I am Horus, the avenger of his father, who lifteth up his father and who lifteth up his mother with his staff.

Let the path be opened to him who hath mastery of his feet, that he may look upon the great god within the Bark of Rā on the day of the Soul’s Reckoning; and my Soul is then at the front during the Reckoning of the Years.

May the Eye of Horus deliver for me my Soul, and establish my splendour upon the brow of Rā, and may my radiance be upon your faces who are attached to the person of Osiris: imprison not my Soul, put not in custody my Shade.

Let the path be open to my Soul and to my Shade that it may see the great god within his sanctuary, on the day of the Soul’s Reckoning, and may repeat the words of Osiris whose place is unseen, and of those who are attached to the person of Osiris and have the custody of Souls and Spirits, and who shut up the Shades of the Dead who would do an injury to me.(2)

Let the path be thrown open(3) to thy Genius[91]and to thy Soul, Glorified one, who art provided with those who conduct thee; sit thou at the head of the Great ones in thy place; thou shalt not be imprisoned by those who are attached to the person of Osiris and who have the custody of Souls and Spirits and who shut up the Shades of the Dead. It is Heaven that shall hold thee.

Notes.

1.I cannot agree with those who have hitherto translated this chapter. The only grammatical interpretation which seems possible for the first sentence depends upon the sense given to the suffix⁂⁂tȧ. I take this as representing the second person singular.⁂⁂, the personat rest(Osiris) is the one invoked, and is here translated by the vocative.

2.The words which follow are evidently the words of Osiris and those attached to him, which are addressed to the deceased and are repeated by him. The text here, as indeed everywhere, is very corrupt.

3.Thrown open,⁂⁂⁂⁂. I have explained the sense of the verb⁂mes(Proc. Soc. Bibl. Arch., 1882, p. 70) asstretching out, of which notion⁂is the determinative.⁂⁂⁂is =⁂⁂×⁂.Mesi uatis‘pandatur via.’

91.The Egyptianka.

CHAPTER XCIII.

Chapter whereby one avoideth being conveyed to the East in the Netherworld.

Oh thou Phallus of Rā, who fliest from the storm, disablement ariseth from Baba who useth against me might beyond the mighty and power beyond the powerful.

If I am conveyed away, if I am carried off to the East; if all evil and injurious things of a feast day of fiends are perpetrated upon me through the waving of the Two Horns, then shall be devoured the Phallus of Rā and the Head of Osiris.

And should I be led to the fields wherein the gods destroy him who answereth them, then shall the horns of Chepera be twisted back, then shall blindness(1) arise in the eyes of Tmu and destruction,(2) through the seizure of me, and through my being carried off to the East, through there being made over me a feast day of the fiends, through all the murderous work perpetrated upon me.(3)

Notes.

This chapter contains one of those threats (of which there are other instances) made to the gods. The speaker is in fact so identified with divinity that any evil which happens to him must be conceived as involving the same calamity to the gods and to the universe.

There is a very considerable difference between the earlier and the later texts. There is very great confusion in the text of the TurinTodtenbuchas compared with that of the Cadet papyrus.

1.Blindness,⁂⁂⁂⁂in the earlier and⁂⁂in the later texts. The latter form, which has for determinative pearls or globules of some kind, reminds one of the disease formerly calledgutta serena.

2.Destruction,⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂. But this word is written in different ways in the papyri. With⁂as a suffix it would mean ‘my destroyer.’Cagives⁂as a determinative, and thus creates a godHetmu, or at least a name punning upon that of Tmu, to which it is united.

3.The more recent texts, like those of the TurinTodtenbuch, insert a negative particle before the mention of each disaster. They pray that the Phallus of Rā maynotbe devoured, that the blindness maynotcome upon Tmu, and so on.

CHAPTER XCIV.

Chapter whereby one prayeth for a Palette and an Inkstand.

Oh mighty one, who seest thy father, and who hast charge of the Book of Thoth.

Here am I, I come and am glorified and filled with Soul and Power and provided with the writings of Thoth, which I bring in order to purify the tunnel which is in Sutu.(1) I bring the Palette and I bring the Inkstand as the instruments of Thoth, the secrets of which are divine.

Here am I, as the Scribe; I bring the remains of Osiris;(2) and the writing which I have made upon them is decreed by the great god to be good, daily, among the good. Thou hast decreed, Horus of the Two Horizons, that I shall be the author of Maāt and tend(3) it daily to Rā.

Notes.

1.In Sutu; that is, in Darkness.Seechapter 96.

2.Theremains,⁂⁂⁂⁂. This word, though commonly applied to corruption and impurity of dead matter, is taken in an inoffensive sense when applied to the gods. Compare,e.g.,Pepi I, line 477 and following.

3.Tend,⁂⁂⁂⁂mesi(notsebi) stretch out,pandere,protendere.

CHAPTER XCV.

Chapter whereby is opened the place wherein Thoth resteth.

I am the Dread one(1) in Storm, who guard the Great one(2) against assault.

I smite like the Flint-god: I sprinkle like the Sprinkling-god.(3)

I am the protection(4) of the Great one against assault and I give vigour to the sword which is in the hand of Thoth(5) in the storm.

Notes.

The papyrusAdgives this chapter the title of “assuming the form of the Smen-goose,” and Dr. Birch published the text of this papyrus in theZeitschriftof 1869 (p. 25) as one of those additional chapters which “do not occur in the Ritual of Turin.” This is of course an error of oversight. This chapter is in the TurinTodtenbuch, and the papyrusAdmerely gives it under an erroneous title, which was evidently meant for another text.

1.The Dread one,⁂⁂⁂. Instead of thisAdhas⁂⁂⁂, which I cannot regard otherwise than as a simple blunder of the scribe.⁂is a well known anaglyph in certain scenes, but there is no evidence of its being a variant of the name of Chnemu.

2.Two of the ancient papyriCaandAdreadHorus, the others have theGreat goddess, and so hasAdin the next line. The more recent texts have (noturit, ‘the great one,’ but)urerit, ‘the crown.’

3.The Sprinkling god⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂Aashu. This god is mentioned but once in the Book of the Dead, and his name is here interpreted conjecturally in consequence of the function assigned to him and of the not unlike word⁂⁂ȧš‘spit.’

4.Protection.I read⁂instead of⁂in the early papyri.

5.Thoth.The recent texts haveChepera, an evident error. The allusion is to the storm or distress from which Thoth rescues the Eye of Horus.

CHAPTER XCVI.

Chapter whereby is opened [the place] where Thoth [resteth].

I am he who dwelleth in the middle of his own Eye. I have come that I may deliver Maāt to Rā, and may propitiate Sutu with the libations for Akar and the red victims of the Faithful of Seb.

CHAPTER XCVII.

Said at the Bark: Staff of Anubis, may I propitiate those four Glorified ones who follow after the Master of [all] things.

I am the Master of the champaign at their behest, and I am the Father of the inundation, when he who hath charge of the canals is athirst.

Look therefore upon me, oh ye great and mighty gods, who are foremost among the Spirits of Annu; let me be exalted in your presence. I am a well-doer towards you. Lo I come, that I may purify this Soul of mine in the most high degree; let not that impediment proceeding from your mouth be issued against me which giveth one over to ruin: let me be purified in the lake of propitiation and of equipoise: let me plunge into the divine pool beneath the two divine sycomores of Heaven and Earth.

Now let my Fold be fitted for me as one victorious against all adversaries who would not that right should be done to me.

I am the Only one; just and true upon the Earth. It is I who say it.

* * * * *Notes.

* * * * *

Notes.

Chapters 96 and 97 are really but one chapter, which M. Naville has found in only two MSS. of the early period. The end of what Lepsius calls chapter 97 is hopelessly corrupt. On comparing the three copies given by M. Naville (two of them being from the papyrus of Nebseni) it will be seen how impossible it is to restore a grammatical text out of such discordant materials. The difficulty is not removed by having recourse to the papyri of a later period.

PLATE_XXV.PLATE_XXVI.

PLATE_XXV.

PLATE_XXVI.

CHAPTER XCVIII.

Chapter whereby one saileth a ship in the Netherworld.

Oh thou Leg in the Northern Sky,(1) and in that most conspicuous but inaccessible Stream; I rise up and come to light as a god, I am conspicuous but inaccessible.

I rise up and live, and bring myself to light as a god.

I cackle even as the Smen-goose, but I stoop(2) like the Hawk at the nets of the Great Fowler.

I sail across the Sky, and Shu standeth erect and the Achmiu Stars(3) are instantly active in raising the ladder which lifts the Setting Stars away from destruction.(4)

And I bear that which repelleth mischief as I make my voyage over the Leg of Ptah.

I come from the Lake of Flame, from the Lake of Fire, and from the Field of Flame, and I live....

I stand erect in the Bark which the god is piloting ... at the head of Aarru,(5) and the Achmiu Stars open to me ... and my fellow citizens(6) present to me the sacred cakes with flesh.

Notes.

There is but one papyrus of the older period which contains any portion of this chapter, and it does so very imperfectly.

On referring to M. Naville’s edition it will be seen that not only the title but the greater part of the chapter is destroyed. The later copies have texts so different from the original form, that it is unsafe to attempt a restoration except within very strict limits.

It is absurd to attempt a translation from a mixture of divergent and, at the same time, incorrect texts.

1.See note to chapter 74. TheStreamwhich is so conspicuous but cannot be reached is the Milky Way, and theLegis the constellation Cassiopeia in the Northern Sky.

2.Stoop,⁂⁂⁂. This comparison occurs repeatedly in the Pyramid Texts, and others of the early periods.

3.Achmiu Stars⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂soAb, giving another proof that the word is to be taken as anoun, and not as anegative.

4.See chapter 30A, on “The Crocodile of the West who lives on the Setting Stars.”

5.SoAb, but perhaps wrongly. I dare not fill up the lacunæ of this text.

6.Fellow-citizens.The translation here is necessarily conjectural. But I understand byfellow-citizens(συμπολῖται) the dwellers of thatcityof which the deceased says, in chapter 17, “I arrive atmy own city,⁂⁂.”[92]And thiscityis explained by the ancient scholion as being “theHorizonHorizon⁂[or, as Lepsius more accurately translates it, ‘der Sonnenberg’] of my father Tmu.” It is no earthly city that is thought of, but an eternal one.

92. I take this opportunity of correcting my former translation, where the preposition⁂, which twice occurs in the passage, is both times rendered by the same word,from. But the sense of a preposition really depends upon the verb which it follows. The same English word will not suit the Frenchdein‘s’approcherde’and‘s’éloignerde.’

CHAPTER XCIX.

Chapter whereby one Saileth a Ship in the Netherworld.

Oh thou who sailest the ship of Nu over that chine which is void,(1) let me sail the ship; let me fasten my tackle(2) in peace; in peace! Come, come; Fleet one, Fleet one! Let me come to see my father Osiris.

Oh thou who art veiled, let me enjoy happiness.

Oh thou who art clouded, but manful, and who sailest round over that chine of Âpepi; thou of firm head and steadfast breast when coming forth from the fiery blows: Oh thou who art at the ship, let me sail the ship, let me fasten my tackle and come forth.

This place is empty, into which the starry ones fall down headlong upon their faces,(3) and find not aught whereby they can raise themselves up.

Narrow is the path as the tongue of Rā.(4)

[The Patrol who goeth round, and who piloteth the Double Earth; Seb abideth stably by means of their rudders:the divine Form which revealeth the Solar Orb: andHe who presideth over the Red ones.(5)]

Let me be brought in as a distressed mariner, and let my Soul come to me, which is my brother, and go to that place which thou knowest.

“Let me be told my name,” say,

1.The Mooring post.“Lord of the Double-Earth in the Shrine” is thy name.

2.The Blade of the Rudder.“Leg of Apis ” is thy name.

3.The Hawser.“The Side-Lock which Anubis fastens on to the swathing work” is thy name.

4.The Stern or Stem Posts.“The two columns of the Netherworld” is thy name.

5.The Hold.“Akar” is thy name.

6.The Mast.“Bearer“Bearerof the Great one whilst she passeth” is thy name.

7.The Keel.“Backbone of Apuat” is thy name.

8.The Mast-head.“Throat of Emsta” is thy name.

9.The Sail.“Nut” is thy name.

10.The Leathers.(6)“Made“Madeof the hide of Mnevis, which Sutu hath scorched,” is thy name.

11.The Oars.“Fingers of the elder” is your name.

12.The Bracement.“Hand of Isis, stanching the blood of the Eye of Horus,” is thy name.

13.The Ribs.“Emsta, Hapi, Tuamautef, Kebehsenuf, He who taketh captive, He who taketh by force, He who seeth his Father, and He who maketh himself,” are your names.

14.The Look-out:(7) “Master of the Grounds”(8) is thy name.

15.The Tiller:(9) “Merit”(10) is thy name.

16.The Rudder: “The Umpire, beaming forth from the water,” is thy name.

17.The Hull: “The Leg of Hathor, which Rā wounded, on his lifting her into the Sektit Boat,” is thy name.

18.The Boatman: “Off” is thy name.

19.The Breeze, since thou art conveyed by me: “The Northern Breeze proceeding from Tmu to the Nose of Chent-Amenta” is thy name.

20.The Stream, since thou sailest upon me: “Their Mirror” is thy name.

21.The Shallow:(11) “Destroyer of the large-handed at the place of purification” is thy name.

22.The Land, since thou walkest upon me: “The Tip of Heaven, the Coming forth from the swathings in the Garden of Aarru, and the Coming forth in Exultation,” is thy name.

To be said before them.

Hail to you, Fair in Form, Lord of issues, who are springing up for ever, and whose double goal is eternity: turn to me your hands,give to me food and offerings for my mouth; let me eat theBat-bread, theShensu-cake and theKefen-cake: let my place be in the great hall in presence of the mighty god.

I know that mighty god to whose nostrils ye present delicacies. Tekmu is his name: and whether he, whose name is Tekmu, turneth from the East or advanceth to the West, let his course be my course.

Let me not be stopped at the Meskat; let not the Sebau have mastery over my limbs.

I have bread in Pu and beer in Tepu. Let your largesses of this day be granted to me; offerings of wheat and barley, offerings ofāntaand of vestments, offerings of oxen, and ducks, which are offerings for life, health and strength, and also offerings for coming forth by day, in all the forms in which it pleaseth me to come forth in the Garden of Aarru.

If this chapter be known he will come forth at the Garden of Aarru; there will be given to him theShensu-cake, the measure of drink and thepersen-cake, and fields of wheat and barley of seven cubits (It is the followers of Horus who reap them), for he eateth of that wheat and barley, and he is made whole in his limbs through that wheat and barley, and his limbs spring up even as with those gods. And he cometh forth in the Garden of Aarru in all the forms in which it pleaseth him to come forth.

Notes.

One of the Paris papyri (Pb) contains a composition bearing the same title as chapter 99, and M. Naville has published it as an introduction to the usual chapter. It is no doubt of very great interest, but it is the imperfect copy of a quite independent composition, which really has no claim to be considered a part of our Book of the Dead.

1.See chapter 7, title and notes.Cf.the αἰθὴρ ἐρημος of Pindar and the Latin expressions‘vacuum per inane,’‘per inania.’

2.Fasten my tackle,⁂⁂⁂⁂.Cf.Unas, 508 and 639. In the latter place the ropes are said to be made of⁂⁂⁂,palm leaf(?).

3.Comp. chapter 44 on the cavern where the dead fall into the darkness, ‘but the Eye of Horus supporteth me, and Apuat rearethme up.’ There may be an allusion here, as there is elsewhere, toshooting stars. It is worth noticing that—a group which ought, I think, to be read⁂⁂⁂⁂(CaandAc) has in most papyri the wrong determinative⁂instead of⁂, which was misunderstood, and thatAbhas even⁂⁂⁂.

4.A corrupt passage, like the next.

5.The corruption of the whole passage between [ ] will be best understood on comparing it with the names of “the Rudders of Heaven” as given in chapter 148; the earliest text of these names being (I think) the fine tablet inDenkm.III, 25 bisa.Threeout of four of these names are represented by the phrases here printed in italics. The rest is incoherent and was certainly not understood by the copyists. I have followedAain my translation.

6.‘The Leathers,’⁂⁂⁂or⁂⁂⁂⁂, leathern thongs, or straps, like the Greek τροποί for fastening the oars,

Ἠρτύναντο δ’ ἐρετμὰ τροποῖς ἐν δερματίνοισι:Odyss.4, 782.

See note of Scholiast andcf.Aesch.Pers., 376.

7.Look out⁂⁂⁂⁂,seechapter 15,note 9.

8.Grounds.⁂⁂⁂is, technically, the superficial land measure corresponding to thequarterof the Egyptianarura. The more general sense of the word(⁂⁂⁂⁂)is land enclosed and parted out for cultivation.

The very ancient magical text (Unas 302) speaks characterically of⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂, the Hippopotamus who maketh his appearance at the garden (vineyard, field, &c.Cf.Psalm lxxx, 13).

In the great inscription published in Mariette’sDenderah, IV, 35,⁂⁂⁂is used, in a sense like that of the Ἀδώνιδος κῆποι, for a stone vessel in which seeds were sown for ritual purposes.

9.Tiller.⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂bait, or (as it is also written)ȧbait; see chapter 76,note 1.

10.Merit.⁂⁂(sometimes written with⁂and other determinatives; Bekenranef adds⁂)is the name of each of the two divine sisters, Isis and Nephthys,seechapter 37, note; who are called⁂⁂⁂and⁂⁂. But, at Edfu, Denderah and Philae,Meritis a synonym of theUt’at, and one of the names of Hathor.

11.Shallow; a conjectural meaning for⁂⁂⁂, which has not only the determinative ofland, but those of water,⁂and⁂. And in some texts it would seem to meanmarsh,fen,swamp.

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