CHAPTER V

.

_Chapter whereby work may not be imposed [upon a person(1.)] in the Netherworld._

Here is _N_. He saith, I am he who raiseth the hand which is motionless, and I come forth at the hour.(2.) I am the living Soul,(3.) and there go before me the longings(4.) of those who bring salutation.(5.)

NOTES.

This chapter is found in several of the best MSS., but the text is extremely corrupt, and must have become absolutely unintelligible. The Turin text differs greatly from that of the older copies, and the transposition of words clearly shows how little the transcribers understood what they were writing. I follow chiefly the text of _Aa_, the papyrus of Nebseni.

1. These words only occur in the later copies.

2. ⁂⁂⁂⁂ is the older reading, but ⁂⁂⁂ seems to be the more correct.

3. The oldest text must have had simply the ideographic ⁂, _Ae_ gives ⁂⁂⁂ _Ba_, but _Pd_ has ⁂⁂⁂⁂ _Ḫnemu_. The ‘living Soul’ is that of the Sun, whether he is called Râ or Osiris.

4. ‘Desires, wishes, loves,’ literally, ‘hearts.’

5. ⁂⁂⁂ signifies ‘salute,’ as in