CHAPTER XXVI

.

_Chapter whereby the Heart(1.) is given to a person in the Netherworld._

He saith: Heart[41] mine to me, in the place of Hearts! Whole Heart[42] mine to me, in the place of Whole Hearts!

Let me have my Heart that it may rest within me; but(2.) I shall feed upon the food of Osiris, on the eastern side of the mead of amaranthine flowers.(3.)

Be mine a bark for descending the stream and another for ascending.

I go down into the bark wherein thou art.

Be there given to me my mouth wherewith to speak, and my feet for walking; and let me have my arms wherewith to overthrow my adversaries.

Let two hands from the Earth open my mouth: Let Seb, the Erpā of the gods, part my two jaws;(4.) let him open my two eyes which are closed, and give motion to my two hands which are powerless: and let Anubis give vigour to my legs, that I may raise myself up upon them.

And may Sechit the divine one lift me up, so that I may arise in Heaven and issue my behest in Memphis.

I am in possession of my Heart, I am possession of my Whole Heart, I am possession of my arms and I have possession of my legs.(5.)

[I do whatsoever my Genius willeth, and my Soul is not bound to my body at the gates of Amenta.]

NOTES.

1. The Egyptian texts have two names for the Heart, ⁂ phonetically written ⁂⁂⁂ _ȧb_, and ⁂⁂ also written ⁂⁂⁂ and ⁂⁂⁂⁂ _ḥatu_.[43] The two words are commonly used synonymously, but they are sometimes pointedly distinguished one from the other. Etymologically ⁂⁂⁂ _ȧb_ is connected with the sense of lively motion ⁂⁂⁂ _ȧb_, like the Greek καρδία, κραδίη, (δία τὸ ἀπαύστως σαλεύεσθαι) with κραδάω and κραδαίνω. Other Indo-European names, our own _heart_, the Latin _cor_ (_cord-is_), the Sanskrit _hṛd_, and the corresponding Slavonic and Lithuanian names have the same origin.

From the orthography of ⁂⁂ it seems to have been connected in popular opinion with its position in the anterior part of the body. And from various uses of the word it appears to denote not merely the heart, but the heart with all that is attached to it, especially the _lungs_ which embrace it. It is for instance to the ⁂⁂ that _air_ is conducted according to the medical Papyri. And it is not improbable that ⁂⁂⁂ and ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂, organs of respiration, are closely connected words.

But perhaps the best argument may be found in the Vignettes of