I am he, whose names are hidden, and whose abodes are mysterious for all eternity. It is I who proceed from Tmu, and I am safe and sound.(2.) NOTES. Apepi is the personification of the storm-cloud and, as such, is the enemy of Râ, by whom he is vanquished. As representing a natural phenomenon of irregular occurrence, he is not deified like Sutu, the Darkness of Night. On comparing this chapter with the 99th, it would appear that the occasion for reciting it is on the journey of the heavenly boat through ridges of cloud, which are pictured as the coils of a great serpent, and described as ⁂⁂ inanes, empty, void. In the papyrus of Nebket (_Pe_) the vignette shows the deceased person transfixing the dragon. The chapter itself was said over a wax figure of the demon. 1. These wax figures of gods and other personages were used not only for ritual but for unlawful magical purposes. The Rollin papyrus reports about a criminal condemned to death for magical arts. He was charged with making ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ ‘gods of wax,’ and some men “for the purpose of paralysing the limbs of men ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂.” See Chabas, _Papyrus Magique_, p. 170, and Devéria, _Pap. judiciaire de Turin_, p. 131. 2. The more recent texts omit this ending and substitute, “I know, I know.” Some MSS. have both readings. ------------------------------------ CHAPTER VIII. _Chapter of opening the Tuat by day._ The Hour(1.) discloseth what the head of Thoth keepeth close, who giveth might to the Eye of Horus.(2.) And I call upon the Eye of Horus which gleams as an ornament upon the brow of Râ, the father of the gods. I am that Osiris, the Lord of Amenta, and Osiris knoweth his day, and that it is in his lot that he should end his being, and be no more.(3.) I am Sutu, the father of the gods, the imperishable one. Stay, Horus, for he is counted among the gods. NOTES. 1. Time. 2. See note on 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.’ ------------------------------------