Sir E. A. Wallis Budge

“ Thy face shineth before Rā, thy soul liveth before Amen, and thy earthly body is renewed before Osiris. Thou breathest the breath of life for ever and ever. Thy soul maketh offerings unto thee in the course of each day.... Thy flesh is collected on thy bones, and thy form is even as it was upon earth. Thou takest drink into thy body, thou eatest with thy mouth, and thou receivest thy rations in company with the souls of the gods. Anubis protecteth thee; he is thy protector, and thou art not turned away from the Gates of the Tuat. ”

“ I have come unto thee, O son of Nut, Osiris, Prince of everlastingness; I am, in the following of the god Thoth, and I have rejoiced at everything which he hath done for thee. He brought the sweet air into thy nostrils, and life and strength to thy beautiful face; and the north wind which cometh forth from Temu for thy nostrils, O lord of Ta-tchesert. He made the god Shu to shine upon thy body; he illumined thy path with rays of light; he destroyed for thee the faults and defects of thy members by the magical power of the words of his mouth; he made Set and Horus to be at peace for thy sake ”

“ Homage to thee, King of kings, Lord of lords, Governor of governors, who from the womb of the Sky-goddess hast ruled the World and the Under World. Thy limbs are as silver-gold, thy hand is blue like lapis-lazuli, and the space on either side of thee is of the colour of turquoise (or emerald) . Thou god An of millions of years, thy body is all-pervading, O dweller in the Land of Holiness, thy face is beautiful ... The gods come before thee bowing low. They hold thee in fear. They withdraw and retreat when they see the awfulness of Rā upon thee ”

“ In his dream it seemed to him that there were thunderings in heaven and quaking upon earth, and a being with an awful visage, and nails like all eagle's talons, gripped him and carried him off and forced him to go down into the dark abyss of the dread goddess, Irkalla. From this abode he who once "went in never came out, and he who travelled along that road never returned, he who dwelleth there is without light, the beings therein eat dust and feed upon mud; they are clad in feathers and have wings like birds, they see no light, and they live in the darkness of night." ”

“ Well dost thou watch, O Horus, who sailest over the sky, thou child who proceedest from the divine father, thou child of fire, who shinest like crystal, who destroyest the darkness and the night. Thou child who growest rapidly, with gracious form, who restest in thine eye. Thou wakest up men who are asleep on their beds, and the reptiles in their nests. Thy boat saileth on the fiery Lake Neserser, and thou traversest the upper sky by means of the winds thereof. ”

“ When a little time afterwards my eyes were opened I saw death hovering about in the air in its manifold forms, and at that moment angels who were without pity came and dragged my wretched soul from my body, and having tied it under the form of a black horse they led me away to Amonti. Woe be unto every sinner like unto myself who hath been born into the world! ”

“ Thus there is the fight between Heru-ur and Set, the fight between Ra and Set, the fight between Heru-Behutet and Set, the fight between Osiris and Set, and the fight between Horus, son of Isis, and Set. In the oldest times the combat was merely the natural opposition of light to darkness, but later the Sun-god became the symbol of right and truth as well as of light, and Set the symbol of sin and wickedness as well as of darkness, and ultimately the nature myth was forgotten, and the fight between the two gods became the type of the everlasting war which good men wage against sin. ”

“ One, Creator of man, Maker of the gods of the south and of the north, of the west and of the east! Come ye and acclaim Rā, the Lord of heaven, the Prince—life, health, strength be to him!—the Creator of the gods, and adore ye him in his beautiful form as he riseth in his Morning Boat (Āntchet) .
"Those who dwell in the heights and those who dwell in the depths worship thee. Thoth and the goddess Maāt have laid down thy course for thee daily for ever. Thine Enemy the Serpent hath been cast into the fire, the fiend hath fallen down into it headlong. ”

“ May naught stand up to oppose me in the judgment; may there be no opposition to me in the presence of the sovereign princes; may there be no parting of thee from me in the presence of him that keepeth the Balance! Thou art my ka, the dweller in my body; the god Khnemu who knitteth and strengtheneth my limbs. Mayest thou come forth into the place of happiness whither we go. May the princes of the court of Osiris, who order the circumstances of the lives of men, not cause my name to stink. ”

“ Thou didst create thyself, and thou hadst no mother. Thou art Truth, the lord of Truth, thou art the Power, the ruling power of the gods. Thou dost conduct the Eye of thy father Rā. They give gifts unto thee into thine own hands. Thou makest to be at peace the Great Goddess, when storms are passing over her. Thou dost stretch out the heavens on high, and dost establish them with thine own hands. Every god boweth in homage before thee, the King of the South, the King of the North, Shu, the son of Rā, life, strength and health be to thee! ”

“ The regions of the North and South come to thee with homage, and send forth, acclamations at thy rising in the horizon of heaven; thou illuminest the two lands with rays of turquoise light. Hail, Rā, thou who art Rā-Harmachis, thou divine man-child, heir of eternity, self-begotten and self-born, king of the earth, prince of the underworld, governor of the regions of Aukert (i.e. the underworld) ! Thou didst come forth, from the water, thou hast sprung from the god Nu, who cherisheth thee and ordereth thy members. ”

“ One cannot tell thee sufficiently often that 'Compassion hath departed from thee.' And behold, how the oppressed man whom thou hast destroyed complaineth! Observe! Thou art like unto a man of the chase who would satisfy his craving for bold deeds, who determineth to do what he wisheth, to spear the hippopotamus, to shoot the wild bull, to catch fish, and to catch birds in his nets. He who is without hastiness will not speak without due thought. He whose habit is to ponder deeply will not be light-minded. Apply thy heart earnestly and thou shalt know the truth. ”

“ I am the Governor and Guide of all men, in all their periods, the Most Great, the Father of the gods, Shu, the Great One, the Chief of the earth. The two halves of heaven are my abode. The Nile is poured out in a stream by me, and it goeth round about the tilled lands, and its embrace produceth life for every one that breatheth, according to the extent of its embrace.... I will make the Nile to rise for thee, and in no year shall it fail, and it shall spread its water out and cover every land satisfactorily. ”

“ THE RESURRECTION AND IMMORTALITY.
In perusing the literature of the ancient Egyptians one of the first things which forces itself upon the mind of the reader is the frequency of allusions to the future life or to things which appertain thereto. The writers of the various religious and other works, belonging to all periods of Egyptian history, which have come down to us, tacitly assume throughout that those who once have lived in this world have "renewed" their life in that which is beyond the grave, and that they still live and will live until time shall be no more. ”

“ The goddess Nubt giveth life to thy nostrils, and the Lady of the Stars joineth herself to thee, as thou sailest to the South wearing the Crown of the North, and to the North wearing the Crown of the South. Wisdom is stablished in the mouth of Thy Majesty, and health is on thy brow. Thou strikest terror into the miserable wretches who entreat thy mercy. Men propitiate thee, O Lord of Egypt, [as they do] Rā, and thou art acclaimed with cries of joy like Nebertcher. ”

“ He is the King of truth, He resteth upon truth, He fashioneth truth, and He executeth truth throughout all the world.
"God is life, and through Him only man liveth, He giveth life to man, and He breatheth the breath of life into his nostrils. ”

“ I would that thou wouldst love Learning as thou lovest thy mother. I wish I were able to make thee to see how beautiful Learning is. It is more important than any trade in the world. Learning is not a mere phrase, for the man who devoteth himself thereto from his youth is honoured, and he is despatched on missions. I have watched the blacksmith at the door of his furnace. His hands are like crocodiles' hide, and he stinketh worse than fishes' eggs. The metal worker hath no more rest than the peasant on the farm. ”

“ At length the spirit of the primeval water felt the desire for creative activity, and having uttered the word, the world sprang straightway into being in the form which had already been depicted in the mind of the spirit before he spake the word which resulted in its creation. The next act of creation, was the formation of a germ, or egg, from which sprang Rā, the Sun-god, within whose shining form was embodied the almighty power of the divine spirit. ”

“ No god and no goddess have done for thee what I have done. I, a woman, made a man child for thee, because of my desire to make thy name to live upon the earth. Thy divine essence was in my body, I brought him forth on the ground. ”

“ Thou seest with thine eyes, thou hearest with thine ears, thou speakest with thy mouth, thou walkest with thy legs. Thy soul hath been made divine in the Tuat, so that it may change itself into any form it pleaseth. Thou canst snuff at will the odours of the holy Acacia of Anu (An, or Heliopolis) . Thou wakest each day and seest the light of Rā; thou appearest upon the earth each day, and the 'Book of Breathings' of Thoth is thy protection, for through it dost thou draw thy breath each day, and through it do thine eyes behold the beams of the Sun-god Aten. ”

“ I have come, making thee to trample under foot the land of the East, thou hast trodden upon those who dwell in the districts of the Land of the God, I have made them to see thee as the brilliant star that shooteth out light and fire and scattereth its dew. ”

“ These chapters acted on Āapep as spells, and they paralysed the monster just as he was about to attack the Sun-god. The god then approached and shot his fiery darts into him, and his attendant gods hacked the monster's body to pieces, which shrivelled up under the burning heat of the rays of the Sun-god, and all the devils and fiends of darkness fled shrieking in terror at their leader's fate. The sun then rose on this world, and all the stars and spirits of the morning and all the gods of heaven sang for joy. ”

“ The evil spirit who had possessed her came out of her and said to Khensu: "Welcome, welcome, O great god, who dost drive away the spirits who attack men. Bekhten is thine; its people, both men and women, are thy servants, and I myself am thy servant. I am going to depart to the place whence I came, so that thy heart may be content concerning the matter about which thou hast come. I beseech Thy Majesty to give the order that thou and I and the Prince of Bekhten may celebrate a festival together." ”

“ Behold, I am not a stiff-necked man (or rebel) , nay, I held in honour [the King] , for I knew the land of Egypt and that Rā hath made thy fear to exist everywhere in Egypt, and the awe of thee to permeate every foreign land. I beseech thee to let me enter my native land. I beseech thee to let me return to Egypt. Thou art the apparel of the horizon. The Disk (i.e. the Sun) shineth at thy wish. One drinketh the water of the river Nile at thy pleasure. One breatheth the air of heaven when thou givest the word of command. ”

“ Set fell under his knife, and the Smamiu fiends of Set followed him. The throne of the Earth-god is thine, O thou who art his beloved son.... There is health in thy members, thy wounds are healed, thy sufferings are relieved, thou shalt never groan again in pain. Come to us thy sisters, come to us; our hearts will live when thou comest. ”