CHAPTER XXXII.
_Chapter whereby the Crocodiles are repulsed who come to carry off the
Words of Power from the glorified in the Netherworld._
Osiris standeth up upon his feet;(1.) his company of gods raise him up.
O Son who conversest with thy father, do thou protect this Great one
from these four(2.) crocodiles here who devour the dead and live by the
Words of Power.
I know them by their names and their way of living, and it is I who
protect his own father from them.
Back, thou Crocodile of the West, who livest on the Setting Stars.(3.)
What thou execratest is upon me. Thou hast devoured the head of Osiris,
but I am Rā.(4.)
Back, thou Crocodile of the East, who livest upon those who devour their
own foulness. What thou execratest is upon me. I have come, and I am
Osiris.
Back, thou Crocodile of the South, who livest upon impurities. What thou
execratest is upon me. Let not the red flame be upon thee. For I am
Septu.(5.)
Back, thou Crocodile of the North, who livest upon that which lieth
between the hours(6.). What thou execratest is upon me. Let not thy
fiery water be inflicted upon me. [For I am Tmu.(7.)]
All things which exist are in my grasp, and those depend upon me which
are not yet.
I am arrayed and equipped with thy Words of Power, O Rā; with that which
is above and with that which is below me.
I have received increase of length and depth, and fulness of breathing
within the domain of my father, the Great one.
He hath given to me that beautiful Amenta in which the living are
destroyed. But strong is its possessor though he faint in it daily.
My face is unveiled, and my heart is in its place.
The Uræus is upon me daily.
I am Rā, who protecteth himself, and no evil things can overthrow me.
NOTES.
This chapter is in even worse condition than the one which precedes it.
There are a few scraps of it on a coffin at St. Petersburg which M.
Golenischeff assigns to the earliest period. The only early MS. which is
of any use, _Ba_, the Berlin papyrus of Nechtuamon, is here in a very
mutilated condition, as may be seen on referring to M. Naville’s
edition.
1. _Osiris standeth up upon his feet._ So _Ba_; but the coffin at St.
Petersburg lends its support to the text of Bekenrenef (of the] 26th
Dynasty), which opens the chapter with the name of a crocodile
⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂. “Let the Great one fall upon his belly”!
2. The ancient text had only four crocodiles, and only four are
mentioned in the text of Bekenrenef. The Turin text speaks of eight; two
for each of the cardinal points. But the Saitic text already has two
invocations instead of one for each crocodile.
3. The sense of this myth is obvious. Every star which _sets_ is
supposed to be swallowed by the Crocodile of the West. It was stated
in note 3 to chapter 15 that the ⁂⁂⁂ are _stars_.[50]
Besides the ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ the _stars which set_
and the ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ the _circumpolar stars_, whose
navigation ⁂⁂⁂ ⲥⲱⲕ is continuous, there are the
⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ whose name is very significant.
⁂⁂⁂ and ⁂⁂ have the sense of _turning back_,[51] and
the only stars whose apparent motion is ever retrograde are the
_planets_.
All these stars are supposed as divinities to aid in the navigation of
the Bark of Rā. The Egyptians could not have had a correct planetary
theory (which only became possible through Kepler), but they understood
at least that the motions of the planets were _regular_, and that they
depended upon the Sun. Eudoxus is reported to have derived the data for
his theory from his Egyptian instructors.
4. Instead of Rā the name of Sut is found in the later texts. Bekenrenef
has ⁂⁂.
5. _Septu_, ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂, ⁂⁂, the ‘armed,’ one of the
Solar appellations, already found in the Pyramid texts (_Unas_, 281). He
appears in chapter 130, 7, in connection with the block of execution.
6. The text is here hopelessly corrupt. M. Pierret has ‘offrande,’ which
he most probably derives from ⁂⁂⁂ or ⁂⁂⁂, a reading
found in some papyri. But _Ba_, our oldest authority, has ⁂⁂, and
Bekenrenef has ⁂⁂⁂⁂. The Turin copy has ⁂; and the
context does not help us. Of these four readings (and there are probably
others which I do not know) that of Bekenrenef seems to me the best; but
⁂ has so many possible applications that I will not venture to
suggest one.
7. [I am Tmu.] These words are not in _Ba_, but they occur in all other
copies, and the omission of the divine name which stops the crocodile is
an evident fault.
The chapter ends here, and what follows is an addition for which our
earliest authority is that of Bekenrenef. But even this text is already
corrupt, and requires to be corrected by more recent ones.
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Footnote 50:
⁂⁂⁂⁂ as a feminine noun and proper name occurs in the
Pyramid Texts (Unas, 644).
Footnote 51:
Brugsch has produced excellent evidence for the supposition that
⁂⁂⁂⁂ or ⁂⁂⁂ signifies _the two turnings_
of the Sun, that is at the solstices, ⁂⁂ being the southern
solstice and ⁂⁂ the northern.
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