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 chapter

28, where the two lungs are actually drawn as in the hieratic papyrus

(Pl. 2) published by Sir Charles Nicholson. In others (as Leyden, T. 16)

even the larynx is visible. (See Plate X.)

The Italian word _corata_ is immortalised through its occurrence in a

memorable passage in Dante (_Inf._, XXVIII), but for want of a better

English term than the butcher’s technical word _pluck_[44] I use the

expression _whole heart_.

2. _But_, ⁂⁂⁂. This is the most frequent reading both in the

earliest and in the latest papyri. But some texts have simply ⁂,

which is certainly a mistake, and others omit the conjunction before the

verb. The sense is not much affected by this omission. ⁂⁂⁂

signifies _if not_, _unless_, _until_, _but_, _but surely_. _Cf._ the

Semitic אִם־לֹא, ܐܷܠܴ, إلَّا

3. _The mead of amaranthine flowers._ ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ _ḳaiu_ is the

name of a plant which frequently occurs in the medical prescriptions. It

is also mentioned among the aromatic plants (⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂)

required in the sacred laboratory of Dendera. One of the kinds is named

_ḳaiu_ of the Oasis ⁂⁂⁂. It is identified with the Coptic

ⲕⲓⲟⲱⲩ, _amaranthus_. In several copies of this chapter the name of the

plant is followed by the geographical determinative ⁂, which is

really implied in the context. Was this mythological ‘mead of amaranth’

suggested by the Oasis and its vegetation?

4. This sentence is a repetition (in other words) of the preceding one.

On the title _Erpā_, see _Trans. Soc. Bibl. Arch._, XII, 359. My chief

difficulty about understanding it as compounded of ⁂ and ⁂, and

signifying _keeper of the Pāt_, that is _of the deceased_ (human

beings), is that Seb is essentially the _Erpā of the gods_. _Erpā_ is

one of those titles which cannot be translated without perverting the

sense of the original.

5. This passage is a very frequent formula not only in the Book of the

Dead, as the papyri give it, but in other texts of the same nature; see,

_e.g._, _Aelteste Texte_, 34, 14. The next passage included in [] is an

addition to the original text. It occurs however in some excellent MSS.

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Footnote 41:

⁂ _ȧb_, ‘heart.’

Footnote 42:

⁂ _ḥatu_, ‘whole heart.’

Footnote 43:

This variant already occurs on the coffin of Amamu.

Footnote 44:

In late Latin _corallum_, whence the Romanic forms _corajhe_,

_corata_, _coratella_, _corée_, _couraille_. In _Garin le Loherens_ we

find “la coraille del cuers.”

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