CHAPTER LII.
Project Gutenberg EPUB edition
Renouf, P. Le Page (Peter Le Page) and Naville, Edouard
Chapter whereby one eateth not dirt in the Netherworld.
I execrate, I execrate, I do not eat it.
That which I execrate is dirt. I eat it not, that I may appease my Genius(1).
Let it not fall upon me; let me not approach it with my hands, let me not tread upon it with my sandals.
Henceforth let me live upon corn(2) in your presence, ye gods, and let there come one who bringeth to me that I may feed from those seven loaves which he hath brought for Horus and upon the loaves for Thoth.
“What willst thou eat?” say the gods to him.
Let me eat under the Sycamore of Hathor the Sovereign, and let my turn be given to me among those who rest there.
And let me manage the fields in Tattu and prosper in Heliopolis.
And let me feed upon the bread of the white corn and upon the beer of the red barley.
And let the forms(3) of my father and of my mother be granted to me; the gate-keepers of the stream.
Let room be thrown open for me, let the path be made, and let me sit in any place that I desire.
Notes.
1. Here, as in the corresponding passage in the preceding chapter and in several other places, the later texts often read , which is a serious error.
2. The unintelligible of the later texts should be corrected to (Älteste Texte 42, lines 50, 54 and 67). The error may be traced to a form of the word with the prothetic . There are several words varying in their applications which may be traced to the same origin.
šeser ‘spica’ a point, hence an ear of corn, and , , ‘spiculum,’ an arrow, a javelin, are very clearly connected, and the notion in both is, as in the Hebrew אביב, that of ‘shooting forth,’ proferre, protendere.
, a term applied to horned animals, has surely nothing to do with the Coptic ϣⲣⲱ of Leviticus XV, 19. It refers to the pointed weapons presented by the beasts.
is ‘put forward’ in the way of speech, and may be command or prayer, or simple statement.
the builder’s line is something ‘stretched out’ prolatum, protensum.
And with reference to walls, buildings, and the like, may always be translated by proferre, protendere.
3.The forms, not , as the Turin Todtenbuch. There is a most interesting text but unfortunately imperfect on the Leyden Coffin M. 3 (M. Pl. 13). The deceased is told that on arriving at the mysterious gate he will find his father and his mother, . This is followed by and then apparently by but the middle sign is almost entirely effaced. This would mean ‘at the resurrection of thy body.’