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.

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.

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.

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 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!]

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_ ⁂⁂⁂⁂, 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
⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂.

The word signifies that which is “lifted up,” “un élève,” ⁂⁂⁂.

3. _Serpent Ab-ur_ ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂. 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 ⁂ 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 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_: ⁂⁂⁂⁂ is the type of the word in the earlier
texts. The late ones have the well known ⁂⁂⁂⁂.

5. _The Link_ ⁂⁂⁂⁂. Another appellative of the Sun god,
applied to Tmu and Horus in the oldest texts. The notion of ⁂ is
that of _concatenation_, _connecting_, _combining_, _fastening_,
_binding_, _setting in order together_, σύνταγμα, σύνταξις, as in
⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ _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’ ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂
(Pap. Prisse V, 6), and the seven divine ⁂⁂⁂⁂ οἱ
συντάσσοντες, the first authors of artistic composition. See note to