The Literature of the Ancient EgyptiansBudge, E. A. Wallis (Ernest Alfred Wallis), Sir
History
The Literature of the Ancient Egyptians
Budge, E. A. Wallis (Ernest Alfred Wallis), Sir
Egyptian literature -- History and criticism; Egyptian literature -- Translations into English
The third work, "The Book of making splendid the Spirit of Osiris," was
also sung at the great festival of Osiris that took place during the
November-December at Abydos and other great towns in Egypt, and if it
were sung on behalf of any man, the resurrection and life, constantly
renewed, of that man were secured for his soul and spirit. This Book,
written in hieratic, is found in a papyrus in Paris, and the following
extract will illustrate its contents: "Come to thy house, come to thy
house, O An. Come to thy house, O Beautiful Bull, lord of men and women,
the beloved one, the lord of women. O Beautiful Face, Chief of Akert,
Prince, Khenti Amentiu, are not all hearts drunk through the love of
thee, O Un-Nefer, whose word is truth? The hands of men and gods are
lifted up and seek thee, even as the hands of a babe are stretched out
to his mother. Come thou to them, for their hearts are sad, and make
them to rejoice. The lands of Horus exult, the domains of Set are
overthrown because of their fear of thee. Hail, Osiris Khenti Amentiu! I
am thy sister Isis. No god and no goddess have done for thee what I have
done. I, a woman, made a man child for thee, because of my desire to
make thy name to live upon the earth. Thy divine essence was in my body,
I brought him forth on the ground. He pleaded thy case, he healed thy
suffering, he decreed the destruction of him that caused it. Set fell
under his knife, and the Smamiu fiends of Set followed him. The throne
of the Earth-god is thine, O thou who art his beloved son.... There is
health in thy members, thy wounds are healed, thy sufferings are
relieved, thou shalt never groan again in pain. Come to us thy sisters,
come to us; our hearts will live when thou comest. Men shall cry out to
thee, and women shall weep glad tears, at thy coming to them.... The
Nile appeareth at the command of thy mouth; thou makest men to live on
the effluxes that proceed from thy members, and thou makest every field
to flourish. When thou comest that which is dead springeth into life,
and the plants in the marshes put forth blossoms. Thou art the Lord of
millions of years, the sustainer of wild creatures, and the lord of
cattle; every created thing hath its existence from thee. What is in the
earth is thine. What is in the heavens is thine. What is in the waters
is thine. Thou art the Lord of Truth, the hater of sinners, whom thou
overthrowest in their sins. The Goddesses of Truth are with thee; they
never leave thee. No sinful man can approach thee in the place where
thou art. Whatsoever appertaineth to life and to death belongeth to
thee, and to thee belongeth everything that concerneth man."
During the period of the occupation of Egypt by the Romans, the three
last-named works were still further abridged, and eventually the texts
that were considered essential for salvation were written upon small
sheets of papyrus from 9 to 12 inches high, and from 5 to 10 inches
wide.
CHAPTER VI
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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