Budge, Ernest A. Wallis [Bearb.]: The book of the dead: the Papyrus Ani in the British Museum ; the Egyptian text with interlinear transliteration and translation, a running translation, introd. etc. ([Text]) (London, 1895)

XCVl

INTRODUCTION.

“ conception.1 He is the prince of princes, the mightiest of the mighty, he is greater than the
“ gods, he is the young bull with sharp pointed horns, and he protecteth the world in his
“ great name ‘ Eternity cometh with its power and bringing therewith the bounds (?) of
“ ‘ everlastingness.’ He is the firstborn god, the god who existed from the beginning, the
“ governor of the world by reason of his strength, the terrible one of the two lion-gods,2 the
“ aged one, the form of Khepera which existeth in all the gods, the lion of fearsome glance,
“ the governor terrible by reason of his two eyes,3 the lord who shooteth forth flame [therefrom]
“ against his enemies. He is the primeval water which floweth forth in its season to make to
“ live all that cometh forth upon his potter’s wheel.4 He is the disk of the Moon, the beauties
“ whereof pervade heaven and earth, the untiring and beneficent king, whose will germinateth
“ from rising to setting, from whose divine eyes men and women come forth, and from
“ whose mouth the gods do come, and [by whom] food and meat and drink are made and
“ provided, and [by whom] the things which exist are created. He is the lord of time and he
“ traverseth eternity ; he is the aged one who reneweth his youth ; he hath multitudes of eyes
“ and myriads of ears ; his rays are the guides of millions of men ; he is the lord of life and
“ giveth unto those who love him the whole earth, and they are under the protection of his
“ face. When he goeth forth he worketh unopposed, and no man can make of none effect
‘‘ that which he hath done. His name is gracious, and the love of him is sweet; and at the
“ dawn all people make supplication unto him through his mighty power and terrible strength,
“ and every god lieth in fear of him. He is the young bull that destroyeth the wicked, and
“ his strong arm fighteth against his foes. Through him did the earth come into being
“ in the beginning. He is the Soul which shineth through his divine eyes,3 he is the Being
“ endowed with power and the maker of all that hath come into being, and he ordered the
“ world, and he cannot be known. He is the King who maketh kings to reign, and he directeth
“ the world in his course ; gods and goddesses bow down in adoration before his Soul by
“ reason of the awful terror which belongeth unto him. He hath gone before and hath
“ stablished all that cometh after him, and he made the universe in the beginning by his
“ secret counsels, He is the Being who cannot be known, and he is more hidden than all the
“ gods. He maketh the Disk to be his vicar, and he himself cannot be known, and he hideth
“ himself from that which cometh forth from him. He is a bright flame of fire, mighty in
“ splendours, he can be seen only in the form in which he showeth himself, and he can be
“ gazed upon only when he manifesteth himself, and that which is in him cannot be under-
“ stood. At break of day all peoples make supplication unto him, and when he riseth with
“ hues of orange and saffron among the company of the gods he becometh the greatly desired
“ one of every god. The god Nu appeareth with the breath of the north wind in this hidden
“ god who maketh for untold millions of men the decrees which abide for ever ; his decrees

1 Literally “his heart,”
3 I.e., Shu and Tefnut.

I

cib-f.

3 /.<?., the Sun and the Moon, (5

□

I ui att.

\\ ^

nehep; other examples of the use of this word are given by Brugsch, Worterbuch

(Suppl., p. 690).