Egyptian Book of the Dead

CHAPTER XLII.

CHAPTER XLII. Chapter whereby one hindereth the slaughter which is wrought at Sutenhenen. ( 1 ) Land of the Rod, of the White Crown of the Image, and the Pedestal of the gods. I am the Babe.( 2 ) ( Said Four Times. ) O Serpent Abur!( 3 ) Thou sayest this day, “The Block of Execution is furnished with what thou knowest,” and thou art come to soil( 4 ) the Mighty One. But I am he whose honours are abiding. I am the Link,( 5 ) the god within the Tamarisk,( 6 ) who connecteth( 7 ) the Solar orb with Yesterday. ( Four Times. ) I am Râ, whose honours are abiding. I am the Link, the god within the Tamarisk. 96 My course is the course of Râ, and the course of Râ is my course. My hair is that of Nu,( 8 ) My two eyes are those of Hathor, My two ears those of Apuat, My nose that of Chenti-chas, My two lips those of Anubis, My teeth those of Selkit, My neck that of Isis, the Mighty, My two hands those of the Soul most Mighty, Lord of Tattu, My shoulders those of Neith, Mistress of Sais, My back is that of Sut, My phallus that of Osiris, My liver is that of the Lords of Cher-ābat, My knees those of the most Mighty one, My belly and my back are those of Sechit, My hinder parts are those of the Eye of Horus, My legs and thighs those of Nut, My feet those of Ptah, My nails and bones those of the Living Uræi Uræi . There is not a limb in me which is without a god. And Thoth is a protection to my flesh. I shall not be grasped by my arms or seized by my hands. Not men or gods, or the glorified ones or the damned; not generations past, present, or future, shall inflict any injury upon me. I am he who cometh forth and proceedeth, and whose name is unknown to man. I am Yesterday, “Witness of Eternity” is my Name: the persistent traveller upon the heavenly highways which I survey. I am the Everlasting one. I am felt and thought of as Chepera. I am the Crowned one. I am the Dweller in the Eye and in the Egg. It is an attribute of mine that I live within them. I am the Dweller in the Eye, even in its closing. I am that by which it is supported. I come forth and I rise up: I enter and I have life. I am the Dweller in the Eye; my seat is upon my throne, and I sit conspicuously upon it. I am Horus, who steppeth onwards through Eternity. 97 I have instituted the throne of which I am the master. As regards my mouth: whether in speech or in silence, I am right and fair. As regards my attributes: I hasten headlong, I the god Unen, [61] with all that pertaineth to me, hour proceeding from hour, the One proceeding from the One, in my course. I am the Dweller in the Eye; no evil or calamitous things befall me. It is I who open the gates of Heaven; it is I who am master of the throne, and who open the series of births upon this day. I am the the Babe, who treadeth his path of Yesterday. I am “This Day” to generation of men after generation. I am he who giveth you stableness for eternity, whether ye be in heaven or upon earth; in the South or in the North, in the West or in the East—and the fear of me is upon you. I am he who fashioneth with his eye, and who dieth not a second time. A moment of mine belongeth to you, but my attributes belong to my own domain. I am the Unknown one, but the gods of Ruddy Countenance belong to me. I am the Gladsome one, and no time hath been found, but served to create for me the Heaven and the increase of Earth, and the increase of their offspring. They sever and join not—they sever my name from all evil things, according to the words which I say unto you. It is I who rise up and shine forth; strength proceeding from strength( 9 ), the One proceeding from the One. There is not a day devoid of that which belongeth to it; for ever and for ever( 10 ). I am Unbu, [62] who proceedeth from Nu, and my mother is Nut. O thou who hast set me in motion( 11 )! for I was motionless, a mighty link within the close of Yesterday; my present activity is a link within the close of my hand. I am not known, but I am one who knoweth thee. I am not to be grasped, but I am one who graspeth thee. [Oh Dweller in the Egg! Oh Dweller in the Egg!] 98 I am Horus, Prince of Eternity, a fire before your faces, which inflameth your hearts towards me. I am master of my throne and I pass onwards. The present time is the path which I have opened, and I have set myself free from all things evil. I am the golden Cynocephalus, three palms in height, without legs or arms in the Temple of Ptah( 12 ); and my course is the course of the golden Cynocephalus, three palms in height, without legs or arms in the Temple of Ptah. Let these words be said—Âbabak ṭer-ek ( 13 ). Notes. This chapter is in itself most interesting, and it is one of the most important as illustrative of Egyptian mythology. It is impossible at present to explain every detail, but the general drift of the chapter is not to be mistaken. And the same drift is to be recognised in the whole course of Egyptian religious literature from the beginning. The speaker throughout identifies himself with the divinity whose manifestation is the Sun; he is not the Sun of this or that moment but of Yesterday, To-day and of all eternity, the “One proceeding from the One.” 1. Sutenḥenen. The later texts say the “Netherworld.” 2. The Babe [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] , an appellative applied to the rising Sun. See Brugsch, Rev. II, pl. 71, 3, where this babe is compared to the Lotus coming forth from the great stream [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] . The word signifies that which is “lifted up,” “un élève,” [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] . 3. Serpent Ab-ur [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] . The two important MSS. Ca and Pb seem to imply a female personage, but as the verb in connection with the name is masculine the final [Source image: ⁂] cannot be meant for a feminine ending, and it is peculiar to those two MSS. Ȧb-ur “the very thirsty,” as the appellative of a viper, recalls that of the διψάς, whose bite caused intense thirst. But it may have 99 originated in the fact that these reptiles are in the habit of lying in wait by the water side for the sake of the animals who come there to drink. 4. To soil : [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] is the type of the word in the earlier texts. The late ones have the well known [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] . 5. The Link [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] . Another appellative of the Sun god, applied to Tmu and Horus in the oldest texts. The notion of [Source image: ⁂] is that of concatenation , connecting , combining , fastening , binding , setting in order together , σύνταγμα, σύνταξις, as in [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] nectere coronam . Hence its occurrence in words signifying ‘the vertebral column,’ ‘a row of teeth,’ ‘a chain of hills,’ ‘a body of troops’ (σύνταγμα ἱππέων or πέζων), or their ‘captains,’ literary ‘composition’ [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] (Pap. Prisse V, 6), and the seven divine [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] οἱ συντάσσοντες, the first authors of artistic composition. See note to chapter 71. 6. The god within the Tamarisk. The rising sun under his various names is frequently represented as being in a tree or bush, which partly conceals him. This is a mythological way of treating the light cloud or mist which so commonly accompanies the sun’s first appearance. Tamarisk is only a provisional translation of [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] . The god Apuat, who is identical with Osiris, is said in the Pyramid Texts ( Unas 107, Teta 66) to come forth from the [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] . 7. Who connecteth. This I believe to be the sense of [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] if the next word is [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] . But the text is quite uncertain. [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] is a rope or cable (Bonomi, Sarc. II, c, 34), and like the Latin copula or the Semitic חבל , حبل has the sense of tie , bond , connection . [63] 100 When the prince of Tennu ( Berlin Pap. 1, line 31) proposed a family alliance to Senehat, he said to him [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] lie-toi avec moi! And he gave him his daughter to wife. In the expression [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] , nefrit signifies continuously , connectedly , and the sense of until is only completed by the addition of the preposition [Source image: ⁂] . Instead of [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] ‘the Solar orb,’ some MSS. read [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] , [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] , [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] , or [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] and in each of these cases [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] must be understood as an adjective raised to the comparative degree by the preposition [Source image: ⁂] : “More beautiful [my] splendour (colour, hair or veil) than Yesterday.” None of these readings seem very attractive. 8. Here follows the identification of the limbs of the deceased person with those of various gods. There are many similar texts belonging to all the periods of the Egyptian religion. For the Pyramid Texts, see e.g. Unas , line 218 &c., ib. line 570, &c., Pepi I , line 565, &c. Compare the Coffin of Amamu , pl. XXIV, line 11, &c., Naville, Litanie de Râ , p. 96, and Golenischeff, Metternichstele , lines 9-35. 9. Strength [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] , literally a wall or tower , like the מגדל־עז of Ps. XI , 4. 10. [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] ‘continuously, continuously.’ 11. The interjection [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] seems to imply that a second person is addressed. The passage would otherwise be translated, “I have set myself in motion,” which would be more consistent with the doctrine contained in this chapter. 12. All the more recent copies have [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] [Source image: ⁂] , the Sanctuary of Ptah at Memphis. 13. Âbaba-k ṭer-ek. This is only one of the readings of a formula which had soon become utterly unintelligible to the copyists. Hieratic copies like Louvre 3079, published by M. de Rougé, B.M. 10,257 (Rollin) and Leyden, T. 16, record several conjectural emendations, to which modern scholars might add others, were they so disposed. 61 . Another reading is Unneferu. 62 . See note 1 on chapter 28. 63 . “ حبل non modo funem , sed et in Alcorano saepe foedus significat. ” Gesenius, Thesaur in voc. חבל .