CHAPTER CLXXIV.

_Chapter of causing the Chu to come out of the great door in the sky._


It is read(1.) to thee by thy son (Horus).

The great ones tremble when they see the sword which is in thy hand,
when thou goest out of the Tuat.

Hail to thee, the wise one, created by Seb, born of Nut. The cycles of
the gods are at rest. Horus rests in his dwelling(2.), Tum rests in his
abode (?). All the gods of East and West rest in the great goddess(3.)
of the birth, between the arms of her who gave birth to the god.

When I am born I see, I recognize where I am, I have been raised on my
place. The order has been accomplished of her who hates sleep and
depression, and who stands in Utenet.

My bread comes from Pu, and I receive my form in Heliopolis. Horus, in
accordance with the command he had received from his father the lord of
clouds, Astes, raised him, and I have been raised by Tmu.

I am the great one. I come forth between the legs of the cycle of the
gods. I have been conceived by Sechet, and Shestet(4.) gave me birth to
be her star, Sothis, the first one, the great walker who brings Rā
through the sky every day.

I have come to my abode. I have united the two diadems. I shine like a
star. O ye flowers, the name of which is “the precious bunch,” I am the
lotus which cometh out of the holy earth; when I am plucked, I settle
myself at the nostrils of the Great Figure.

I have come out of the lake of flame, I have received justice instead of
evil. I am near the white cloth(5.), and I keep watch over the Uræi in
the night of the great flood of tears.(6.)

I shine like Nefertmu the lotus which is at the nostril of Rā when he
comes forth on the horizon every day, and the gods are purified by his
sight.

_N._ is triumphant among the _ka_, smiting the hearts through his great
wisdom. He is near the god, he is the Sau(7.) (the knowing one) at the
western (right) side of Rā.

I have come to my abode among the _ka_, uniting the hearts through my
great wisdom. I am Sau near the god, at the western side of Rā; my
sceptre (?) is in my hand. I am called the great favourite, as I am clad
in red garments. I am Sau, on the western side of Rā, with a stout heart
in the cave of Nu.

NOTES.

This Chapter is already found in the pyramid of Unas (l. 379-399). Prof.
Erman (_Zeitschr._, XXXIII, p. 2) has made a special study of it, and
has pointed out that the title of this Chapter originates from a
misunderstanding of the word ⁂⁂⁂ which should be a star and not
a gate or a door. Were it not for the vignette, which represents the
deceased, the woman Muthotepet coming out of a door, we should
translate: “Chapter of the coming forth of the _Chu_ as a great star in
the sky”; in accordance with these words found in the course of the
chapter: “Shestet gave me birth to be her star, Sothis,” etc.

Two papyri only contain this Chapter, one in London and one in Paris.
The London text has a vignette with these words: “the coming out of the
door in the sky by....”

1. ⁂⁂⁂⁂ M. Maspero translates: ton fils t’a fait (le
sacrifice). The word ⁂ is employed here as in the rubric of Chapter
141, “to say, to speak.” This speech is a ceremonial act, one of the
⁂⁂⁂ done for the deceased.

2. We noticed before (Chapter 160, note 2) that ⁂ is a variant for
⁂ when applying to Tmu. Here it applies to Horus. The unknown word
⁂⁂⁂ being parallel, I give it conjecturally a similar sense.

3. ⁂ “the great one, the great goddess,” and its variants
⁂⁂⁂⁂ etc., occur frequently in the Book of the Dead, and
seem to be a name of the sky.

4. ⁂⁂ which is found in the papyrus, is clearly a mistake for the
name of the goddess _Shestet_, which we read in the text of Unas.

5. Perhaps a tent in which he will shelter the Uræi.

6. See note 1, Chapter 4, and _Life Work_, Vol. III, p. 46. I suppose it
means here a heavy rain.

7. In the pictures in the royal tombs the sun-god stands in his boat
between ⁂ and ⁂⁂. Here it is said that Sau is at the West of
Rā, meaning on his right side. Rā is spoken of here as if he were a
human being, turning towards the South as all Egyptians did. His west is
his right-hand side. Even now the Egyptian fellaheen in their language
do not often say right and left, they generally make use of the points
of the compass: west of thee, etc.

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