CHAPTER CXXXIV.

_Chapter whereby the Deceased acquireth might._


Hail to thee who art in the midst of thine Ark, Oh rising Sun who
risest, and declining(1.) one who declinest: at whose will millions
spring forth, as he turneth his face to the unborn generations of men:
Chepera in the middle of his Bark, who overthroweth Apepi.

Here are the children of Seb who overthrow the adversaries of Osiris and
destroy them from the Bark of Rā.

Horus cutteth off their heads in heaven when in the forms of winged
fowl, their hinder parts on earth when in the forms of quadrupeds or [in
the water] as fishes.

All fiends, male or female, the Osiris _N_ destroyeth them, whether
descending from heaven or coming forth upon the earth, or issuing out of
the water or travelling along with the Stars.

Thoth slaughtereth them, the Son of the Rock, proceeding from the place
of the Two Rocks.(2.)

The Osiris _N_ is dumb and deaf(3.) for the Strong one is Rā, the
puissant of stroke, the Almighty one, who washeth in their blood and
walloweth in their gore.

The Osiris _N_ destroyeth them from the Bark of his father Rā.

The Osiris _N_ is Horus: his mother Isis bringeth him forth, and
Nephthys nurseth him, as they did to Horus, who repelleth the dark ones
of Sutu: who, when they see the Crown fixed upon his brow, fall upon
their faces.

Osiris Unneferu is triumphant over his adversaries in heaven and on
earth, and in the cycle of each god and goddess.

_Said over a Hawk in a Boat, with the White Crown upon its head, and the
figure of Tmu, Shu, Tefnut, Seb, Nut, Osiris, Isis, Sutu,(4.) Nephthys,
painted yellowish green on a fresh papyrus placed in this Boat, together
with the figure of the Deceased, anointed with the Heknu oil. Let there
be offered to them incense burning and roast fowl. It is the adoration
of Rā, and his voyage, for it is granted to him to make his appearance
each day with Rā, whithersoever he journeyeth; and it is the Slaughter
of the adversaries of Rā; positively and undeviatingly for times
infinite._

NOTES.

1. _Declining_ ⁂⁂. This word frequently occurs in contrast with
⁂⁂⁂. I understand the latter in all such cases to signify the
shining of the sun on his rising, and the former to signify the shining
of the sun in his afternoon course.

2. _The son of the Rock, proceeding from the place of the Two Rocks._
The only explanation I can think of is derived from the identification
(in chapter 62) of Thoth with the Nile, ⁂⁂⁂⁂. From this
point of view the god is both the son of the Rock and issues from the
place of the Double Rock, ⁂⁂⁂, or of the two Rocks, called in
the time of Herodotus Krophi and Mophi.

3. _Dumb and deaf_, ⁂⁂⁂⁂. It is strange that this meaning
of the passage has so long been misunderstood. The sense of the first
word has long been recognised, and ‘deaf’ is the meaning rightly
assigned to ⁂⁂ in Birch’s Dictionary. One instance like the
following (from _Unas_, 608) is sufficient to settle the
question—⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂, “He is
not so deaf that he should not hear thy voice.”

That the subject of these attributes is the Osiris is seen by reference
to _At_, where instead of ‘the Osiris’ the deceased speaks in the first
person, ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂, “I am dumb, I am deaf.”

4. _Sutu._ This divine name occurs in the text of Amenhait in the reign
of Thothmes III. And I have noted another instance where the name is
written ⁂⁂⁂. Dr. Birch called the papyrus Miss
Brockelhurst’s. It cannot however be the _Ax_ of M. Naville, which does
not contain the chapter.

The disappearance of the god’s name from all other documents is a fatal
argument against their claims to high antiquity.

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