CHAPTER XXXVIII.

_Chapter whereby one liveth by the breath of air in the Netherworld, and
keepeth back Merta._


I am the god in Lion form; the heir of Râ and Tmu in Chemmis,(1.) the
Master in their halls.

Those who are in their cells(2.) accompany me as guides. I have made my
way and gone round the heavenly Ocean on the path of the Bark of Râ, and
standing on the girders[52] of the Bark of Râ.

I utter his words to the men of the present generation[53] and I repeat
his words to him who is deprived of breath.(3.)

I spy out for my father Râ at sunset, compressing my mouth,(4.) and
feeding upon life.

I live in Tattu, and I repeat my life after death like the Sun daily.

NOTES.

There are two recensions of this chapter, and both are found in the
papyrus _Lb_. They are called by M. Naville, 38A and 38B. The latter is
that adopted as canonical by all the manuscripts of a later date, and is
the one here translated. The other recension is longer, and contains
passages which are also found in other chapters, to which it accordingly
furnishes important variants. It may possibly be older than those
chapters.

1. _In Chemmis._ The name of the place where Isis gave birth to Horus is
in the Pyramid texts written ⁂⁂⁂⁂ (Pepi I, 428), and
⁂⁂⁂ (Merenra I, 683), _aḫ-ḫebit_ or _ḫebit-aḫ_; but simply
_ḫebit_ in the texts of the eighteenth dynasty, as in the annals of
Thothmes III (Mariette, _Karnak_c pl. 16, line 47),[54] or in the divine
and proper names ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂, ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂,
⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂, ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂, and ⁂⁂,
⁂⁂⁂⁂, ⁂⁂⁂⁂. It is certain therefore that the
sign ⁂ is here only an ideogram of ⁂⁂⁂, not of the ancient
⁂⁂⁂. From the eighteenth dynasty at least, and for a time
belonging to a period of unknown length between the sixth and the
eighteenth dynasties, and for ever afterwards, the name of the place was
⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ _Ḫebit_, where, as the _Tablet of the Dream_ says,
⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ (Mariette, _Mon. div._, pl. 7).

2. _In their cells_: ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂. Here 38A has:
⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ _in their shrines_, followed in
some papyri by ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ “I fraternize with Horus and
Sut.”

3. _Deprived of breath_, ‘the dead.’ In 38A, the privation of breath is
mentioned but in a different connection. But the text of the passage is
uncertain. Here as in chapter 41, ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂
‘the Breathless one’ is Osiris.

4. _Compressing my mouth_: ⁂⁂⁂⁂ is the ancient reading, not
⁂⁂⁂⁂, as in the more recent texts. The same observation
applies to the name of the god in chapter 125, 15.

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Footnote 52:

⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂.

Footnote 53:

_The men of the present generation, the Reḫit._

Footnote 54:

Here the king is compared to the god called
⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ and in the next line ⁂⁂⁂. And
Thothmes IV (_Denkm._, III, 63) is compared
⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂.

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