Chapter 17

, 27. It must be sufficient here to say that Thoth is a personification of the moon, and that the relations of solar and lunar phenomena are the sources of a great deal of Egyptian mythology.

3. This is one of the most difficult passages in the Book of the Dead, but I do not see how it can be grammatically understood otherwise. It is understood from the passage from Light to Darkness and the converse.

‘In his lot,’ literally ‘in him.’

‘End his being’: more strictly, ‘bring to an end his activity’; ⁂⁂⁂. ‘_Being_’ (though inevitable in a modern language) is much too abstract a word for these ancient texts. ⁂ implies ‘motion,

## activity,’ and ⁂ is not a simple negation, but implies ‘completion,

end’ (τελέω, τέλος), though not ‘cessation.’

Our _modern_ acceptation of the word ‘perfect’ is often wrongly applied to ⁂. We should think rather of such phrases as ‘annum perficere,’ ‘sole perfecto.’

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