Chapter 87

. The Sun-god there rises up like a worm out of the Lotus of Dawn, whereas in another picture a slug (⁂) is seen moving upon the flower.

⁂⁂, _Ati_, where the god makes his appearance, is the name of the ninth Nome of Lower Egypt.

18. _I trouble myself only with my own affairs._ I understand this of the virtue spoken of by Cicero (_de Officiis_, I, 34), “nihil praeter suum negotium agere, nihil de alieno anquirere, minimeque esse in aliena republica curiosum.” It is the same to which Plato refers in the _Timaeus_, 72 A; εὖ καὶ πάλαι λέγεται τὸ πράττειν καὶ γνῶναι τὰ τε ἑαυτοῦ καὶ ἑαυτὸν σώφρονι μόνῳ προσήκειν, not in the sense of a selfish indifference to a neighbour’s welfare or the public good, but in opposition to the ways of the busybodies, who tattle and “speak things which they ought not” (1 Tim., v, 13).

The Egyptian ⁂⁂⁂ is a rare word. Brugsch’s etymology of it is an impossible one, and his identification of it with ϣⲱⲥⲙ is not less unfortunate.

19. _Amu_, or _Amit_, ⁂⁂⁂⁂, ⁂⁂⁂⁂, ⁂⁂⁂. This seems to be the favourite reading. It means the _town of Palm_. But, as the name was written ideographically, it appears in some copies as the town of other trees, such as _Nehait_, or _Nārit_.

Amu was a place in the north of Egypt, which Brugsch thinks he has identified with a town called Apis (the site of which is itself doubtful).

The most interesting thing known about Amu (Dümichen, _Rec. de M._, IV, Pl. XV, 90 _a_), is that in the rites performed on the 16 Choiak, Horus is represented as raising up the body of Osiris out of the water in the form of a crocodile; and that Osiris was known under the name of ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂, _The Crocodile, Lord of Amu_.

The 142nd chapter of the Book of the Dead, which gives a list of the names of Osiris, has (l. 17) that of ⁂⁂, ‘Osiris of Crocodile form,’ or ‘with Crocodile head.’[124] The variants of this group, however, show the reading ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂, ‘king,’ or ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂, ‘of kingly form.’ There is but little doubt that (as M. Naville says, _Zeitschr._, 1882, p. 190) ⁂⁂⁂⁂ on the Turin tablet published by Professor Piehl, means ‘King of the gods,’ and that Ptahhotep in the Prisse papyrus (IV, 1) addresses not Osiris, but King Assa as ‘my Lord the King,’ Goodwin had already asserted this meaning in his “_Story of Saneha_,” and in the _Zeitschr._, 1874, p. 38.

The orthography of the crocodile name here played upon is remarkably vague, ⁂⁂⁂⁂, ⁂⁂⁂, and ⁂⁂⁂ (_rapax_, Louvre, C, 26). It is this last form which enables us to see the paranomasia in ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂, _rapax sicut Raptor_ (_crocodilus_) of the Prisse papyrus (VII, 6), and brings the word into connection with _ȧta_, or _ȧti_, ‘he who is seized’ of the Sovereignty (see _supra_, Ch. 40, note 10).

20. _Chemiu_, ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂, ‘one who overthrows.’ His appearance is made at _Kauu_, ⁂⁂⁂⁂, the Canobic entrance to the Nile, which the Libyan invaders had taken possession of in the time of Rameses III (Great _Harris Pap._, 77, 2).

The _transgression_ here disavowed is understood by some of the scribes as a violation of ritual precepts, such as those regarding sacred seasons.

21. _Who raisest thy voice_ ... _words of Righteousness_, ⁂⁂⁂⁂ is an attribute assigned to Isis in the Hymn to Osiris (line 14) on the Stele of Amenemhait in the Bibliothèque Nationale; and it is there further defined through the addition of the words ⁂⁂⁂⁂, ‘with _clearness_ of utterance’ (_cf._ Ch. 1, note 2). One of the chief names of Isis is ⁂⁂⁂⁂ ‘Mighty in Words of Power.’ She is also described in the Hymn as ‘Most potent of tongue (⁂⁂⁂⁂) and unfailing of speech.’[125]

Her name _Urit ḥekait_ may have suggested the name _Urit_ as the place of her manifestation. But we do not know if _Urit_ is to be taken as the name of a town or if some papyri are correct in reading ⁂⁂⁂, which may mean _tribunal_.

There were in ancient Egypt _six_ great courts of justice, ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂.

A High Priest of Ptah of Memphis, named Ptahmes, in the early part of the eighteenth dynasty, who was President of these six Courts,[126] has left a very remarkable attestation relative to the 24th Precept, on a beautiful scribe’s palette in basalt (Louvre, _Inv._, 3026). The inscription, after saying that the whole country was subject to the jurisdiction of Ptahmes, proceeds ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂. “He turned not a deaf ear to the truth, through the terrors of his Eye;” that is, “the terrors of his Eye” were not used for the perversion of Justice. But what is meant by his “Eye”? M. Pierret (in his _Inscr. inédites du Louvre_, pt. 1, p. 96) suggested the ‘Eye of Horus.’ I think it has reference to the position of Ptahmes as ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂. He was ‘the King’s Eye,’ ὁ βασιλέως ὀφθαλμός,[127] and had in consequence, an unlimited power of defeating justice had he been so inclined.

It is only by a blunder[128] that the papyrus of Ani makes ⁂⁂⁂⁂ (the nineteenth Nome of Upper Egypt) the scene of the divine Babe’s manifestation, which is unquestionably Heliopolis. The name of the Nome has numerous variants, but they always consist of two signs, _a crooked staff_ (⁂, ⁂, ⁂, ⁂) either double or with _a twisted cord_ (⁂, ⁂, ⁂, ⁂), and the final sound of the name (when expressed) is in ⁂, ⁂. The key to the phonetic reading of the name of the Heliopolitan Nome is to be found in the inscription at Edfu (J. de Rougé, _Edfou_, pl. 46); ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂. Here the _crook_ of the name is identified with the _crook_ and _flail_ ⁂⁂⁂⁂ _ams_, ⁂⁂⁂ _ȧms_, ⁂⁂⁂ or ⁂⁂⁂ _emsit_ of Osiris, who is called in the Book of the Dead (_Todt._, 142, 9) ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂, _the August Dismembered[129] one of the Powers of Annu_. And this is how, in the important papyrus _Pc_, we find ⁂⁂⁂ in Ch. 17 as the equivalent of ⁂⁂⁂⁂, a few words after, in the same papyrus. Both groups are to be read _ȧmsu_; which means _furnished with the crook_ (_or sceptre_) _and flail_, ⁂⁂ or ⁂.[130]

22. _Hot of foot_ ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂.

The Coptic ⲟⲩⲉⲙϩⲏⲧ, _poenitentiam agere_, would be the natural representative of ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂, but the meanings of the terms cannot be the same. The latter is expressive of a passion, the indulgence in which may be laudable in the gods and yet blameworthy in men. For the divine wrath is necessarily just; whereas human anger, even when it seems to listen to reason, listens, as the philosopher says, but imperfectly.[131]

The 29th god, _Kenemta_, ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂, has also for determinative the sign ⁂ of a cynocephalus. This is explained by his identity with the constellation which occupies the whole month of Thoth in the list of the Decans. But though the name means ‘_in Ape form_,’ the word ⁂⁂⁂ in the Pyramid Texts (Pepi i, 408, and Merira 579) is used in the sense of ‘vested,’ ‘clad,’ perhaps simply ‘covered.’

Brugsch has identified the locality _Kenemit_ with the Great Oasis at Khargeh. It may be asked if the Oasis bore this name at the time when this chapter was composed. The determinative ⁂ proves nothing beyond the actual sense of the word, but it suggests that the _Dark_ may be a sufficient translation. From the etymology I should like to assimilate it to the ποικιλείμων νὺξ of the Prometheus Vinctus, or to the ‘furvo circumdata peplo’ of the Latin poet.

23. _Of inconstant mind_, ⁂⁂⁂.

24. Another intelligible reading of the precept is, “I rob not the dead of their wrappings”; but the text is so corrupt that none of the readings are of any value.

The god is called ⁂⁂⁂⁂ or ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂, both of which words I understand in the sense of _busy-minded_, _planning_, _devising_, _crafty_, _wise_.

The appellative _Horned one_, ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂, of the next precept, is the exact equivalent of the Hebrew בַּעַל קַרְנַיִס, and is the attribute of Osiris (_Todt._, 144, 4), especially in the character of ⁂⁂⁂; under which name he was worshipped at Sutenhunen.

25. _Noisy in speech_ ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂.

26. _Striker_ ⁂⁂⁂⁂. A name of Horus, on which see ch. 103, note.

27. There is no locality about which there is any agreement between the older papyri, and many of them omit the mention of a locality; later authorities, like the Turin text, read ⁂⁂ _Annu_.

28. _No unjust preferences_, ⁂⁂⁂⁂. There is no virtue more frequently extolled on the funereal monuments than the absence of favouritism. Great personages in their epitaphs are strong in their declarations that they made no distinction between great and small, rich or poor, wise or simple. The declaration of Ameni (_Denkm._, ii, 122), ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂, is a type of many others.

29. Of _raised head_, ⁂⁂, ⁂⁂⁂, or (B.M. 9971) ⁂⁂⁂. This, like the last two, is a name of the Nile god, who is one of the manifestations of Osiris.

30. _Who liftest an arm_, ⁂⁂, not ‘_amener_ son bras.’ ⁂, like the Greek φέρειν, means _bear_ in the sense of _holding up_, _supporting_. When it signifies _bring_ the collateral notion of _motion_ is imported from the context. The god Shu, who is called ⁂⁂, _holds up_, _supports_, _the sky_, but does not _bring_ it. The god _who holds up his arm_, is of course the ithyphallic Amon[132] ⁂, who in Ch. 17 is identified not only with Horus but with Osiris.

31. This introduction to Part III of this chapter occurs only in the Papyrus of Nebkat (_Pe_). Another ancient manuscript (_Pb_) has the words “Said upon approaching triumphantly to the Hall of Righteousness.” But the texts generally begin with the invocation, “Hail ye gods, I know you and I know your names.”

32. _Reverse of mine_, ⁂⁂, a turn of the wheel, which the context implies to be unfortunate. A very absurd reading is ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂, as if the defendant were master of the fates of his divine judges.

33. _The King who resideth within His own Day._ A very doubtful passage at present. The words do not occur in the oldest text of the chapter (that of Nebseni), and they are omitted here in the later recensions. _Ad_ is, as far as I know, the only authority for ⁂⁂⁂⁂; other papyri having merely ⁂, which might possibly correspond to the ⁂⁂ immediately preceding. The Royal tombs have ⁂⁂⁂⁂, and one of the papyri has ⁂⁂⁂ instead of ⁂⁂⁂. All this reminds one of an obscure passage in