CHAPTER CLIV.

_The Chapter of not letting the body decay(1.) in the Netherworld._


Hail to thee, my father Osiris. I have come to embalm thee. Do thou
embalm this flesh of mine, for I am perfect like my father Chepera, who
is my image, he who does not know corruption.

Come, take hold of my breath of life, lord of the breath, lofty above
his equals; vivify(2.) me, build me up, thou lord of the funeral chest.

Grant me to go down into the land of eternity, as thou doest when thou
art with thy father Tmu, he whose body never decays, he who does not
know destruction.

I have not done what thou hatest, the command (which I obey) is that
which thy _ka_ loveth,(3.) I have not transgressed it.

I have been delivered, being thy follower, O Tmu, from the rottenness
which thou allowest to come over every god, every goddess, every animal,
every creeping thing which is corruptible.

After his soul has departed he dies,(4.) and when it has gone down he
decays; he is all corruption; all his bones are rottenness,
putrefaction(5.) seizes his limbs and makes his bones break down, his
flesh becomes a fetid liquid, his breath is stink, he becomes a
multitude of worms.

(As for me) there are no worms(6.). He is impotent whoever has lost the
eye of Shu(7.) among all gods and goddesses, all birds and fishes, all
snakes and worms, all animals altogether, for I cause them to crawl
before me, they recognise me and the fear of me prevails over them, and
behold every being is alike dead among all animals, all birds, all
fishes, all snakes, all worms, their life is like death.

Let there be no food for the worms all of them. Let them not come to me
when they are born, I shall not be handed over to the destroyer in his
cover, who destroys the limbs, the hidden one who causes corruption, who
cuts to pieces(8.) many dead bodies, who lives from destroying.

He lives who performs his commands, but I have not been delivered into
his fingers, he has not prevailed upon me, for I am under thy command,
lord of the gods.

Hail to thee, my father Osiris! thy limbs are lasting, thou dost not
know corruption; there are no worms with thee, thou art not repugnant,
thou dost not stink, thou dost not putrefy, thou wilt not become worms.

I am Chepera, my limbs are lasting for ever. I do not know corruption. I
do not rot, I do not putrefy, I do not become worms. I do not lose the
eye of Shu.

I am, I am, I live, I live, I grow, I grow, and when I shall awake in
peace, I shall not be in corruption, I shall not be destroyed in my
bandages. I shall be free of pestilence, my eye will not be corrupted,
my skin (?) will not disappear. My ear will not be deaf, my head will
not be taken away from my neck, my tongue will not be torn away, my hair
will not be cut off, my eyebrows shall not be shaven off. No grievous
harm shall come upon me, my body is firm, it shall not be destroyed. It
shall not perish in this earth for ever.

NOTES.

This Chapter is not frequently met with in the papyri; it was written on
the wrappings and the bandages of the dead; for instance, on the funeral
cloth of King Thothmes III, where it is not complete. This Chapter is
interesting, as it shows how repulsive to the Egyptians was the idea of
corruption, of the decay of the body, which is described here in most
realistic terms. This is one of the reasons why they gave such
importance to mummification.

Parts of this Chapter are very obscure. The translation has been made
from the text on the mummy cloth of Thothmes III, supplemented by the
Papyrus of _Nu_.

The only vignette we have is that of the Turin Papyrus, showing a mummy
lying on the bed, and illumined by the rays of the sun.

1. ⁂⁂⁂, “to pass away, to disappear through corruption or
decay.” Sometimes it seems to have an active sense: to let something
pass away, to lose it.

2. ⁂⁂⁂, ⁂ is generally translated “firm, stable, abiding”
(Chapter 1, note 9), but I believe in most cases it has another
sense: “to vivify, to impart the breath of life,” as one may
judge from the title of Chapter 182, which mentions two
acts, one of which is the consequence of the other,
⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂:
“the book of vivifying Osiris, giving breath to him whose heart is
motionless.”

In the mythological or celestial geography ⁂⁂⁂ is the East (Pl.
IV). There life originates; there also the deceased inhales the breath
of life (Chapter 57, p. 110; Naville, _Todt._, Einl., p. 28).

3. See _Sphinx_, V, p. 199.

4. ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂. I consider ⁂⁂ as being here
the adverb _afterwards_. His soul goes out, and _afterwards_ he dies, it
goes down and _afterwards_ he decays.

5. ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂, litt. the destroyers; the word occurs
again further on: the destroyer who is in his bush(?) or cover, the
hidden one. It is evidently a metaphor, for the sense is obvious; it is
putrefaction. The word in the Turin papyrus ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂, litt.
locks, might apply to the vegetation or the excrescences which are often
the sign of putrefaction.

6. ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂. The passage is very obscure. I
believe the drift of the idea is this: after having described very
thoroughly what corruption is, the deceased says: as for me I am
protected against those evils. Even should every being fall into
corruption, having lost the eye of Shu, it is nothing to me, because I
am feared by all.

⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ “worms do not exist.” ⁂⁂ is explained by
two passages. At Abydos the priest says to the god (Mar., _Abydos_, I,
p. 34) ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂. “I have
come to perform the ceremonies, for I have not come to do nothing, I
have not come in vain.” In the poem of Pentaur, when Rameses II,
addressing Amen, recalls all he has done to honour the god, he says:
⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂:
“is it nothing, this thy terrace which I built for thee?”

7. The eye of Shu is either an amulet or a magic power residing in some
part of the body, which prevents it from becoming worms. It is the
defence against corruption. Further the deceased says: “I do not become
worms; I do not lose the eye of Shu.”

8. Litt. ploughs into dead bodies.

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