CHAPTER CV.

_Chapter whereby one propitiateth_(1.) _the Ka._


Hail to thee, my Ka, my coeval.(2.)

May I come to thee and be glorified and made manifest and ensouled, let
me have strength and soundness.

Let me bring to thee grains of incense wherewith I may purify myself and
may also purify thine own overflow.

The wrong assertions that I have uttered, and the wrong resistance which
I have offered: let them not be imputed to me.

For I am the green gem, fresh at the throat of Rā, given by those who
are at the Horizon: their freshness is my freshness [_said twice_], the
freshness of my Ka is like theirs, and the dainties of my Ka are like
theirs.

Thou who liftest the hand at the Balance, and raisest Law to the nose of
Rā in this day [of my Ka]: do not thou put my head away from me. For I
am the Eye which seeth and the Ear which heareth; and am I not the Bull
of the sacrificial herd, are not the mortuary gifts(3.) upon me and the
supernal powers [_otherwise said_: the powers above Nut].

Grant that I may pass by thee, and may purify myself and cause the
triumph of Osiris over his adversaries.(4.)

NOTES.

1. _Propitiate_, ⁂. The simple root ⁂ _ḥetep_ signifies, what is
implied by the ideographic sign ⁂, the _taking hold_, _embracing_,
and kindred notions (_Proc. Soc. Bibl. Arch._, Vol. X, p. 578). The
notion of appeasing an angry personage is no more necessarily involved
in the Egyptian word than in the Latin _propitiare_. M. Léfebure’s
translation, _réunir_, in the title of this chapter is perfectly correct
as far as it goes.

See in _Denkm._, III, pl. 34, b, the picture of Thothmes III being
greeted by his _ka_. Rameses II and other kings are often represented in
the act of supplicating their own _ka_.

2. _My coeval_ ⁂⁂⁂⁂ or, as some might prefer, my _duration
of life_.

The pictures in the temple of Luxor (_Denkm._, III, 74 and 75) are well
known which represent the birth of Amenophis III. The infant prince in
each of these pictures is accompanied by his _ka_, his exact image. The
_ka_ is nursed and suckled by the same goddesses.

But perhaps the best commentary on our text is to be found in the
picture recently published by the French Mission Archéologique (_Temple
de Luxor_, fig. 203), in which both the royal infant and his _ka_ are
being fashioned by the hand of Chnum, upon his potter’s wheel.

3. _Mortuary gifts_ ⁂⁂⁂, meals offered to the
departed. The meaning of the compound group is plain enough
from the determinatives, and such frequent forms as
⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ “consisting of bread and
beer,” but the origin of it is not so clear. The usual meaning of
⁂⁂ like that of the Coptic ϧⲣⲱⲟⲩ is _voice_, but in the present
group it stands for ⁂⁂⁂ corresponding to ϧⲣⲉ, plur. ϧⲣⲏⲟⲩⲓ,
τροφὴ, βρώματα, ἐδέσματα,, and ⁂ is to be understood as in the very
common formula ⁂⁂⁂⁂.

The reading ⁂⁂⁂⁂ which is sometimes found in late texts
is faulty and leads to an erroneous interpretation. ⁂ is a mistake
either for ⁂ or for ⁂, the phonetic of ⁂.

In such passages of the Pyramid texts as
⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ (Unas 36)
⁂ is a demonstrative not a negative particle, “Here is the mortuary
meal presented for thee, and _here_ are the two Eyes, the White and the
Black, of Horus.”

4. All the early MSS. except _Pd_ omit this last passage.

------------------------------------