CHAPTER LXXVIII.
Chapter whereby one assumeth the form of the Sacred Hawk.([1])
Oh Horus! come thou to Tattu, make clear to me the paths, and help me to make the round of my dwelling places.
Look thou upon me and exalt me, impart to me Terror, and rouse in me Might, so that the gods of the Tuat may fear me, that their battlements war in my behalf there; and that he may not assail and slay me in the house of darkness, who enwrappeth the dead; the god who hideth his name; or that the like be done by them.
Oh ye gods who give ear to the words; ye foremost ones, ye who are in the train of Osiris; hush ye up, gods, that which a god speaketh with a god who is giving ear to a case of Divine Law!
And that which I have said to him say thou, Osiris.
Grant to me that change of existence which hath issued from thy mouth on my behalf, that I may see thine own attributes and survey thy Powers.([2])
Grant that I may come forth and have the mastery of my two feet, and that I may be there like the Inviolate One on high; that the gods of the Tuat may fear me and their battlements war on my behalf.
Grant that I may run together with thy Runners, but remain firm upon my pedestal like the Lord of Life; let me be united with Isis the Mighty; may they protect me against slaughter, from him who looked upon death.
Let me advance to the goal([3]) of Heaven. I claim words from Seb, and I pray for sustenance from the Inviolate one on high, so that the gods of the Tuat may fear me, and that their battlements may war on my behalf, when they see thy supplies for me.
I am one of those Bright ones in Glory: may my attributes be fashioned like the attributes of him who cometh forth to Tattu; may I be invested([4]) with the Soul of him who telleth thee what concerneth me.
Oh impart to me Terror and rouse in me Might that the gods of the Tuat may fear me and their battlements war on my behalf.
I am the Bright one in Glory, whom Tmu himself hath called into being, and my origin is from the apple of his eye,([5]) who hath made and glorified and honoured those who are to be with him. For he is the Unique in Heaven, whom they extol as he cometh forth from the Horizon, and the gods and glorified ones who are with him fear him.
I am one of the worms which the eye of the Lord of Oneness hath brought into being.
Verily, before Isis was, who gave birth to Horus, I grew up and waxed old, and was honoured beyond those in Glory, who were with me.
And I arose as the Sacred Hawk, whom Horus had invested with his own Soul for the seisin[seisin] of his inheritance from Osiris at the Tuat.
And the god in Lion form, who presideth over those who are at the House of the Nemmes([6]) which is in its caverns, said to me:—
“Go back to the confines of Heaven, for thou art invested with the attributes of Horus: for thee the Nemmes is not, but free utterance is thine, even to the confines of Heaven.”
And I took possession of the inheritance of Horus from Osiris at the Tuat, and Horus repeated to me that which his father Osiris had said to him in the early time, on the Burial Day of Osiris.
“The Nemmes hath been given to me by the god in Lion form, that thou mayest advance and go upon the path of Heaven, so that those who are on the confines of the Horizon may see thee and that the gods of the Tuat may fear thee, and that their battlements may war on thy behalf.” [Aahat.([7])]
At the divine words all they who are at the funereal shrine of the Lord of Oneness bend low.
Oh thou who art raised above thy coffin and bereft of the Nemmes, the god in Lion form hath reached the Nemmes to me, and wings are given to me.
He hath given me strength through his back, through his back, and through his most powerful might, that I fall not upon Shu.([8])
I propitiate my fair brother, the Master of the two Uræi[Uræi].
I, even I, am he who knoweth the paths of Heaven; its breezes are upon me, the raging Bull stoppeth me not as I advance whithersoever there lieth a wreck in the Field of Eternity, and I pilot myself towards the darkness and the suffering of the deceased ones of Osiris.
I come daily through the house of the god in Lion form, and I pass forth from it to the house of Isis the Mighty, that I may see glorious, mysterious and hidden matters, even as she hath caused me to see the divine offspring of the Great One.
I am invested with the soul of Horus, so that I see what is in it, and when I speak hard by the Doors of Shu they respond to the moment.([9])
It is I who have charge of the seisin of the inheritance of Horus from Osiris at the Tuat.
It is I, even I, who am Horus in Glory. I am master of his diadem, I am master of his Light, and I advance to the Goal of Heaven. Horus is on his seat, Horus is upon his throne.
My face is that of the Sacred Hawk, my back that of the Sacred Hawk: I am equipped as his master.
I come forth to Tattu, that I may see Osiris.
I incline myself before him, I incline myself to Nut: they behold me, and the gods behold me; the Eye of Horus and the Flame which is in the Two Eyes. They stretch out their arms to me. And I stand erect and prevail in opposition to evil.
They open to me the bright paths; they open to me the bright paths; they see my attributes, they listen to my words.
Hail to you, ye gods of the Tuat, ye of repellent face and aggressive front, who tow along the Stars which set, and make the bright paths of the Hematit([10]) for the Lord of the Soul Most Mighty: Horus hath ordained that ye should lift up your faces and look upon me.
And I display myself as the Sacred Hawk whom Horus hath invested with his soul for taking the possession of his inheritance from Osiris at the Tuat.
I set aside the long-haired gods and passed on through those who had charge of their dens in my sight: I made my way and passed on and reached those who presided over their caverns, and those who had charge of the House of Osiris; and I speak to them, and make them recognize the god of Mighty Terrors, who is armed with horns against Sutu. I make them recognize who it is that hath seized for himself the divine provisions and hath equipped himself with the powers of Tmu.
A gracious pass grant they to me, the gods of the Tuat, as many as there are who preside over their caverns and have charge of the House of Osiris.
Behold me, I am come to you and have carried off and put together my forms....([11])
I make bright the paths which are in the Horizon and the Hematit in Heaven. I make firm the battlements on behalf of Osiris, and I make the paths bright in his behalf.
I have done according to the command that I should come forth to Tattu to see Osiris, and tell him of the fortunes of that great Son of his whom he loveth, and who hath pierced the heart of Sutu. I have seen the death.
Yea, I tell them the divine plans which Horus carried out in the absence of his father Osiris.
O Lord of the Soul Most Mighty, behold me; I come, raise thou me up that I may see the Tuat.
May all the paths which are in Heaven and upon earth be open to me, and let there be no repulse for me.
Thou art exalted upon thy throne, Osiris; thine hearing is good, Osiris; thy back is strong, Osiris; thy head, Osiris, is firmly fastened, thy throat is made fast, thine heart is glad, thou art confident in the strength and courage of those around thee. Thou art established in strength as the Bull of Amenta.
Thy son Horus is seated upon thy throne, and all that liveth is subject to him. Endless generations are at his service, endless generations are in fear of him; the cycle of the gods is in fear of him, the cycle of the gods is at his service. So saith Tmu, the Sole Force of the gods; not to be altered is that which he hath spoken.
Horus is the offering and the altar of offering; twofold of aspect; it is Horus who hath reconstituted his father and restored him. Horus is the father, Horus is the mother, Horus is the brother, Horus is the kinsman. Horus proceedeth from the essence of his father and the corruption which befell him.
He ruleth over Egypt, and the gods are in his service. He hath carried off endless generations, and given life to endless generations with his Eye; the sole one of its Lord, the Inviolate one.
Notes.
This chapter is seldom found in the complete shape which it has in the Turin Todtenbuch. The shortest copy of it is that in the tomb of Horhotep (Miss. Arch. Fr., p. 158); it has but a few lines; but they are very important, as giving the earliest form of the formula
, which is an invocation to the battlements. The common reading, which adds the pronominal suffix
both to the verb and to its subject, is ungrammatical. The papyri Au, Pg, and Ij, rightly omit the suffix after the verb, in the early part of the chapter.
The coffin of Amamu has a chapter of the same title, but with quite a different text.
[1.] Sacred Hawk. Between this and the Golden Hawk of the last chapter the vignettes make no distinction but that of colour, which is indicative of age rather than of kind. The typical Egyptian Hawk may be identified with the Falco Lanarius, or with the Peregrinus, but naturalists tell us that “the Lanier of Buffon is the perfect state of the male Peregrinus,” and that “the Lanner of Pennant is a young female Peregrine.”
[2.] Thy powers,
baiu.
[3.] The goal
or
, a word we have already met in chapter 72 (see [Note 3]), and which occurs later on in the present chapter. It is apparently connected with the verb of motion,
, and seems here to correspond to the Greek βαλβῖδες, or the Latin carceres, the two posts which were at once the starting point and the goal.
“signum unde reverti.
Scirent, et longos ubi circumflectere cursus.”[[88]]
[4.] Invested
, which is connected with
. The determinative
is the symbol of investiture, which is also expressed by the sign
. A mummied person is called Sāhu, in virtue of his investiture.
[5.] Apple of the eye, literally point, thorn;
.
[6.] The Nemmes
is the royal head-dress in the form of a wig. This chapter is the only one in the Book of the Dead in which it is referred to, but other religious texts mention it. It is one of the objects provided for the deceased in the pictures of ancient coffins. (See Aelteste Texte, p. 35.)
[7.] [Aahat.] In this place different MSS. introduce one or more words followed by the sign
, determinative of divinity. But the whole text which follows is extremely unsatisfactory. The prudent scribe who copied Pg has the words “I am the great god,” and with them ends the chapter.
[8.] Fall upon Shu, or before Shu, who represents Daylight.
[9.] The passage is obscure through the absence of the right determinative
after
. The portals of Shu, the gates of Morning, answer the summons of the god who comes as Horus.
has the sense of obviam ire, occurrere.
[10.] Hematit
, a place near the Horizon, not mentioned in the Book of the Dead except in this chapter. It has disappeared in the later recensions.
[11.] Here follow one or two divine names unknown to the copyists, and by them written at random.
[88]. Aeneid, V, 130.