Chapter XXVI
P. Le Page (Peter Le Page) Renouf translation
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.
67Let 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.
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.
68But 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.