(8) This chapter is often found not only in papyri but upon coffins, in accordance with the rubric at the end. The earliest copy is on the coffin of Queen Mentuhotep. A very fine copy is on the alabaster sarcophagus of Seti I, and our museums are rich in funereal monuments inscribed with this ancient text. A very similar text is found at the end of chapter 99

(5) The second, tinct of deeper hue than perse, Was of a calcined and uneven stone, Cracked all asunder lengthwise and across. The third, that uppermost rests massively, Porphyry seemed to me, as flaming red As blood that from a vein is spirting forth. Both of his feet was holding upon this The Angel of God, upon the threshold seated, Which seemed to me a stone of diamond. Along the three stairs upward with good will Did my Conductor draw me, saying: "Ask Humbly that he the fastening may undo." Devoutly at the holy feet I cast me, For mercy's sake besought that he would open, But first upon my breast three times I smote. Seven P's upon my forehead he described With the sword's point, and, "Take heed that thou wash These wounds, when thou shalt be within," he said. Ashes, or earth that dry is excavated, Of the same colour were with his attire, And from beneath it he drew forth two keys.

(14) The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.

(34) Or shall not the Spirit set it down before thy Eyes, thou lascivious filthy Strumpet? Behold, how hast thou broken the State of Wedlock, and opened a Door to Whoredom, so that no Sin is regarded; hast thou not ridden i upon thy Beast, when every one gazed on thee, and rode after thee [in thy Train?] Or art thou not that fine painted [adorned Whore?] Dost thou suppose we set thee forth in vain? The Judgment stands over thee, the Sword is begotten, and it will devour. Go out [from] Babel, and thou shalt live; though we saw a Fire in Babel, and that Babel was burning, yet it shall not burn those that go out from kit.

(3) Oh Oh thou of the potent Lock, king of hosts, who art seized of the Two Worlds; whose father’s house is seized [by him] in virtue of the writs; my balance is perfectly even, my voice is law, and I prevail over all mine adversaries

(23) And when the seven among four thousand, how many baskets full of fragments took ye up?

(29) And let the offender [15] fall prostrate, when he meditates destruction for me, by blows upon his back-bone

(6) e ) Words of the Tat of the Western wall

(2) The three versions which have been preserved of this text are very fragmentary. The most complete, papyrus 10478 of the British Museum, contains only the 7 to 12. As the interest of this text, the character of which is chiefly pictorial, lies in the vignettes, it has been thought unnecessary to give a translation of it

(5) Then said he to another, And how much owest thou? And he said, A hundred measures of wheat. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and write four-score.

(11) Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was a hungered, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.

(5) Verily I say unto thee, That this day, even in this night, before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me thrice.

(5) Close did I press myself with all my person Beside my Leader, and turned not mine eyes From off their countenance, which was not good. They lowered their rakes, and "Wilt thou have me hit him," They said to one another, "on the rump?" And answered: "Yes; see that thou nick him with it." But the same demon who was holding parley With my Conductor turned him very quickly, And said: "Be quiet, be quiet, Scarmiglione;" Then said to us: "You can no farther go Forward upon this crag, because is lying All shattered, at the bottom, the sixth arch. And if it still doth please you to go onward, Pursue your way along upon this rock; Near is another crag that yields a path. Yesterday, five hours later than this hour, One thousand and two hundred sixty-six Years were complete, that here the way was broken. I send in that direction some of mine To see if any one doth air himself; Go ye with them; for they will not be vicious. Step forward, Alichino and Calcabrina," Began he to cry out, "and thou, Cagnazzo; And Barbariccia, do thou guide the ten.

(11) -165 are of a very date date. They are of a different character from the other chapters of the Book of the Dead. They belong rather to the magic books of the old Egyptians. When they were written there was a decay in the religion, which drifted more and more into magic, for which the Egyptians were famous under the Roman Empire. We find there a great number of barbarous words unintelligible to us, and probably also to the old scribes, since they differ widely according to the papyri. They remind us of those which are found in the magical texts (Chabas, Pap. Magique Harris , p. 151

(4) After that it stung the third; the third of those seated was Hun-Camé. "Ah!" he exclaimed when it stung him. "What is this, Hun-Camé? What is it that has stung you? Do you not know who has stung you? "said the fourth one of the lords, who were seated. "What is the matter, Vucub-Camé? What has stung you?" said the fifth. "Ah! Ah!" then said Xiquiripat. And Vucub-Camé asked him, "What has stung you?" and when they stung the sixth who was seated [he cried], "Ah!" "What is this, Cuchumaquic?" asked Xiquiripat. "What is it that has stung you?" And the seventh one seated said "Ah" when he was stung. "What is the matter, Ahalpuh?" said Cuchumaquic. "What has stung you?" And when it stung him, the eighth of those seated said, "Ah!" "What is the matter, Ahalcaná?" said Ahalpuh. "What has stung you?" And when he was stung the ninth of those seated said "Ah!" "What is this, Chamiabac? "said Ahalcaná. "What has stung you?" And when the tenth of those seated was stung, he said "Ah!" "What is the matter, Chamiaholom?" said Chamiabac. "What has stung you?" And when the eleventh of those seated was stung he said, "Ah!"

(7) Come in haste, and turn away the steps of Kep-her . Bring light into his hidden abode. I am behind Tat, I am verily behind Tat, on the day when the slaughter is repelled. I am the protector of N

(68) The seventeenth chapter is one of the most remarkable in the whole collection, and it has been preserved from times previous to the XIIth dynasty. The very earliest monuments which have preserved it have handed it down accompanied with scholia and other commentaries interpolated into the text. Some of the monuments enable us to some extent to divide the original text from the additions, in consequence of the latter being written in red. But there is really only one text where the additions are suppressed, and which therefore offers the most ancient form, as far as we know it, of the chapter. This is the copy on the wall of the tomb of Horhotep. The sarcophagus itself of Horhotep contains a copy of the text along with the additions. The chapter must already at the time have been of the most venerable antiquity. Besides these two copies of the chapter we have those from the sarcophagi of Hora and Sit-Bastit (published, like those of Horhotep, by M. Maspero [24] ), two from the sarcophagi of Mentuhotep, and one from that of Sebek-āa (the three latter published by Lepsius in his Aelteste Texte ). The British Museum has Sir Gardner Wilkinson’s copy of the texts inscribed on the coffin of Queen Mentuhotep of the XIth dynasty, and also a fragment (6636 a) of the coffin of a prince named Hornefru. Here then we have an abundance of witnesses of the best period. They unfortunately do not agree. The progress of corruption had no doubt begun long before, and the variants are not simply differences of orthography but positively different readings. The differences however are chiefly in the scholia. Even when the explanations of the text are identical, the form differs. The latest recensions have retained the form ; the ancient added the feminine . What is that? But some of the ancient texts give the equivalent words , and Horhotep does without them altogether. These words were evidently additions not merely to the text but to the scholia

(5) One of the two thieves which were crucified with him cast the same in his teeth; but the other rebuked him, saying, Dost thou not fear God? We receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss.

(42) The text of this chapter handed down by the Turin papyrus and those which agree with it contains nothing very difficult for a translator, but on being compared with the older copies it is found to consist of a collection of small fragments of the older text put together without any regard to their original order or context. And about three-quarters of the old chapter are suppressed in the new recension

(20) The two chapters which are numbered by M. Naville as 136 A and 136 B are represented in the later recensions by a single chapter, which has been made out of them. There is very much obscurity in the ancient texts, though the MSS. containing them are numerous, and the more recent versions are quite as difficult to understand. We must be satisfied for the present by a strict literal and grammatical translation, wherever this amount of success is attainable. The royal sarcophagus 32 of the British Museum gives the latest form of 136 A