Gilbert Murray

“ With scorpion, asp, and worm to make men die,
One league before the treasure chest of Thoth.
And round the chest was coiled an endless Snake.
Then Nefrekepta took his charms, and spake
A spell on all that league of serpent things,
And down they sank, and slept, and could not wake.
Then o'er the league of asps he walked, and fought
With the endless Snake and slew it; but it caught
Life as it fell, and joined again and flew
To tear him; and again its death he wrought ”

“ To Ptah, your mighty God, hath brought her here.'
The slave returned and told to Setne all
The handmaid spoke; and Setne said: 'Go, call
This handmaid secretly behind the rest;
Greet her from me and speak my name withal:
"Setne Khamuas, son of Rameses,
Greets thee: he sends ten gold Arsinoës;
And more, if any man hath done thee wrong,
Setne the judge will right thine injuries;
All this, if thou wilt speak with him an hour,
And help him. To a great and secret tower
Thou shalt go in, where none shall do thee hurt
Nor know thy name ”

“ And Setne rolled him in the dust and cried:
'My children!' And a great lord rose in wrath:
'Thy children stand this hour at Pharaoh's side,
Thou naked man! Thou Priest whom none shall bless!
And ask for thee. What? Is it drunkenness?'
And Setne said: 'They live.' And said: 'O King,
Throw me, I pray, some robe in this distress,
Wrought by dead Nefrekepta in his ire. ”

“ It happened in the days of Merneb-Ptah,
The long days, when the King was very old,
And had no son nor daughter; in their room
A son's son and a daughter's daughter, whom
Thou seest, Nefrekepta the Good Scribe,
And me who watch beside him in this tomb.
[Pg 6]
And Pharaoh mused and spake: 'Go near and far,
Bring me the lordliest of my chiefs of war
With all their daughters and their sons, to make
Feast on the third day; call me all that are.'
So Pharaoh spake ”

“ On Coptos Hill amid the tombs and trees.
Three days and nights among the tombs they trod
In Coptos on the Hill, and every sod
They turned and marked, and every graven stone,
And the Scribes' writings in the House of God.
But never could they find by night nor day
The tomb where Merab and Ahure lay.
And Nefrekepta knew they found it not,
And sent his shadow forth to guide their way.
[Pg 45]
Like an old man, a bent and aged Priest,
It sate. And Setne said: 'Joy be increased,
O Father! Thou dost know the things of old ”

“ Nor know my name; so great is Setne's power!'
[Pg 34]
Then Ta-Buvuë laughed: 'I think he spake
This word to thee for Ta-Buvuë's sake.—
Go, speak to Setne, saying: "Who am I
That thou shouldst send my bondmaid gifts to take?
I am no common woman; I am one
Born of great kings, who walk my ways alone,
Priestess of Bast, the Queen of the Two Worlds,
And seeking no man's gift and fearing none.
If me thou seekest, I will speak within
Mine own house: knock and thou shalt enter in:
In Per-Bast, by the Houses of the Dead,
Past Kemi, where the desert doth begin. ”

“ Rowed one league north from Coptos, to the place
Where Merab died and I, Ahure, died;
And stood and communed with his heart a space:
[Pg 24]
'Shall it be backward now, ere Thoth can slay?
Shall it be on to Pharaoh, come what may?
And, lo, when Pharaoh asks me where those two,
His children, are, what is it I shall say?
"I took thy children to a burning land
And living let them die; and here I stand."
I will not speak it.'—Then he bade them bring
A band of finest linen, such a band
As dead kings wear, to bind them at the last ”

“ And ebon; then the silver; then the gold.
He broke the gold, and kneeling on his knees
Read out the first of the two sorceries,
Enchanting all the earth, the clouds above,
The underworld, the mountains and the seas. ”

“ Griffith's Stories of the High Priests of Memphis. In that form, however, it so fascinated me that I presently found myself, to the neglect of more urgent duties, putting it into English verse and filling up the gaps in the narrative. I have tried to preserve the style and often the exact words of the original, as rendered by Dr. Griffith, but in other respects temptations have been great and I have not resisted them.
The names present some difficulties. In Demotic, if I understand aright, the vowels are not written and the consonants often do not mean what [Pg iv] they seem to mean. ”