CHAPTER XVII.
Project Gutenberg EPUB edition
Renouf, P. Le Page (Peter Le Page) and Naville, Edouard
The pair of gods are Horus, the Avenger of his Father, and Horus, the Prince of the City of Blindness.
I am the great Cat, who frequenteth the Persea tree in Heliopolis, on that night of battle wherein is effected the defeat of the Sebau, and that day upon which the adversaries of the Inviolate god(16) are exterminated.
Who is that great Cat? It is Râ himself. For Sau said, He is the likeness (Maȧu) of that which he hath created, and his name became that of Cat (Maȧu).(17)
The night of conflict is the defeat of the children of Failure at Elephantine. There was conflict in the entire universe, in heaven and upon the earth.
He who frequenteth the Persea tree is he who regulateth the children of Failure, and that which they do.
O Râ, in thine Egg, who risest up in thine orb, and shinest from thine Horizon, and swimmest over the firmament without a peer, and sailest over the sky; whose mouth sendeth forth breezes of flame, lightening up the Two Earths with thy glories, do thou deliver N from that god whose attributes are hidden, whose eyebrows are as the arms of the Balance upon that day when outrage is brought to account, and each wrong is tied up to its separate block of settlement.
The god whose eyebrows are as the arms of the Balance is “he who lifteth up his arm.”[21]
Deliver me from those Wardens of the Passages with hurtful fingers, attendant upon Osiris.
The Wardens of Osiris are the Powers who keep off the forces of the adversaries of Râ.
May your knives not get hold of me; may I not fall into your shambles, for I know your names; my course upon earth is with Râ and my fair goal is with Osiris. Let not your offerings be in my disfavour, oh ye gods upon your altars! I am one of those who follow the Master, a keeper of the writ of Chepera.
I fly like a Hawk, I cackle like the Smen-Goose, I move eternally like Nehebkau.(18)
Oh Tmu who art in the Great Dwelling, Sovereign of all the gods, deliver me from that god who liveth upon the damned; whose face is that of a hound, but whose skin is that of a man; at that angle of the pool of fire; devouring shades, digesting human hearts and voiding ordure. One seeth him not.
This god whose face is that of a hound and whose skin[22] is that of a man: Eternal Devourer is his name.(19)
Oh Fearful one, who art over the Two Earths, Red god who orderest the block of execution; to whom is given the Double Crown and Enjoyment as Prince of Sutenhunen.
It is Osiris to whom was ordained the Leadership among the gods, upon that day when the Two Earths were united before the Inviolate god.
The junction of the Two Earths is the head of the coffin of Osiris whose father is Râ[23]the beneficent Soul in Sutenhunen, the giver of food and the destroyer of wrong, who hath determined the paths of eternity.
It is Râ himself.
Deliver me from that god who seizeth upon souls, who consumeth all filth and corruption in the darkness or in the light: all those who fear him are in powerless condition.
This god is Sut.
Oh Chepera, who are in the midst of thy bark and whose body is the cycle of the gods for ever; deliver me from those inquisitorial Wardens to whom the Inviolate god, of Glorious Attributes, hath given guard over his adversaries, and the infliction of slaughter in the place of annihilation, from whose guard there is no escape. May I not fall under your knives, may I not sit within your dungeons, may I not come to your places of extermination, may I not fall into your pits; may there be done to me none of those things which the gods abominate; for I have passed through the place of purification in the middle of the Meskat, for which are given the Mesit and the Tehenit cakes in Tanenit.
The Meskat is the place of scourging in Sutenhunen, the Tehenit is the Eye of Horus.... Tanenit is the resting place of Osiris.(20)
Tmu buildeth thy dwelling, the Lion-faced god layeth the foundation of thy house, as he goeth his round. Horus offereth purification and Sut giveth might, and conversely.
I have come upon this earth and with my two feet taken possession. I am Tmu and I come from my own Place.
Back, oh Lion with dazzling mouth, and with head bent forwards, retreating before me and my might.
I am Isis and thou findest me as I drop upon my face the hair which falleth loosely on my brow.
I was conceived by Isis and begotten by Nephthys. Isis destroyeth what in me is wrong, and Nephthys loppeth off that which is rebellious.
Dread cometh in my train and Might is in my hands. Numberless are the hands who cling fast to me. The dead ones and the living come to me. I defeat the clients of mine adversaries, and spoil those whose hands are darkened.
I have made an agreeable alliance. I have created the inhabitants of Cher-âbat and those of Heliopolis.(21) And every god is in fear before the Terrible, the Almighty one.
I avenge every god against his oppressor, at whom I shoot my arrows when he appeareth.
I live according to my will.
I am Uat’it, the Fiery one.(22)
And woe to them who mount up against me!
What is this? “Of unknown attributes, which Hemen(23) hath given” is the name of the Funereal Chest. “The Witness of that which is lifted” is the name of the Shrine.
The Lion with dazzling mouth and with head bent forwards is the Phallus of Osiris [otherwise of Râ].
And I who drop the hair which hath loosely fallen upon my brow—I am Isis, when she concealeth herself; she hath let fall her hair over herself.
Uat’it the Fiery is the Eye of Râ.
They who mount up against me, woe to them, they are the associates of Sut as they approach.(24)
PLATE VI
PLATE VII
Notes.