CHAPTER LXVIII.

_Chapter whereby one cometh forth by day._


Let the two doors of Heaven be opened to me: let the two doors of Earth
be opened to me: let the bolts of Seb open to me, and let the First
Mansion be opened to me, that he may behold me who hath kept guard over
me: and let him unloose me who hath wound his arms around me and hath
fastened his arms upon me into the earth.

Let the Re-hunit(1.) be opened to me, let me pass into the Re-hunit; let
the Re-hunit be given to me, that I may come forth by day whithersoever
my heart desireth.

Let me have possession of my heart, let me have possession of my Whole
heart; let me have possession of my mouth, let me have possession of my
legs, let me have possession of my arms, let me have possession of my
limbs absolutely; let me have possession of my funereal meals, let me
have possession of air, let me have possession of water, let me have
possession of the stream, let me have possession of the river, let me
have possession of the banks.

Let me have possession of all things soever which were ritually offered
for me in the Netherworld. Let me have possession of the table which was
made for me upon earth—the solicitations(2.) which were uttered for me
“that he may feed upon the bread of Seb.”

That which I execrate, I eat it not. Let me feed upon the bread of the
red corn of the Nile in a pure place, let me sip beer of the red corn of
the Nile in a pure place; let me sit under the branches of the palm
trees [in Heliopolis] in the train of Hathor, when the solar orb
broadeneth(3.), as she proceedeth to Heliopolis with the writings of the
divine words of the Book of Thoth.

Let me have possession of my heart, let me have possession of my Whole
heart; let me have possession of my arms, let me have possession of my
legs, let me have possession of my funereal meals, let me have
possession of air, let me have possession of water, let me have
possession of the stream, let me have possession of the river, let me
have possession of the barks.

Let me have possession of all things soever which were ritually offered
for me in the Netherworld. Let me have possession of the table which was
made for me upon earth.

Let me be raised up on the left and on the right; let me be raised up on
the right and on the left.

Let me sit down and let me stand up, and strain for the breeze [with] my
tongue and mouth like a skilled pilot.(4.)

_If this scripture is known, he will come forth by day and he will
travel over the earth in the midst of the living, uninjured for ever._

NOTES.

Copies of this chapter are found on the coffins of Mentuhotep and
Sebak-āa at Berlin, and have been published by Lepsius in his _Aelteste
Texte_, pl. 8, 21, 22, and 34. They are unfortunately in very mutilated
condition, and my translation follows the text of the Theban papyri.

1. The _Re-ḥunit_ in this place is clearly not an Egyptian locality, but
a passage between the Netherworld and heaven or earth.

2. _Solicitations_, ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ _ambire_, _ambitio_, and in a
bad sense _ambages_.

3. This passage explains what is meant in Chapter 28 by the _god of the
Broad Face_. One of the papyri (_Ia_) adds the well known epithet of the
setting sun ⁂⁂ ‘old.’

It is Hathor who proceeds to Heliopolis, as the feminine suffix which is
used in the oldest texts, proves.

4. M. Lefébure (Papyrus de Soutimès, p. 3, note 8) understands the
passage as meaning “_I seek_ the direction of _the wind_ in order to
avoid it.” But I am inclined to recognize a superstition still current
among sailors, the “whistling for a breeze.”

The oldest copies and the more recent ones have different readings, and
though the words _uḫa ḫemu_ occur repeatedly in the Pyramid Texts, the
second word is not written ⁂⁂⁂⁂, as in the Theban papyri,
but ⁂⁂⁂⁂.

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