_The Chapter of not letting the body decay(1.) in the Netherworld._
Hail to thee, my father Osiris. I have come to embalm thee. Do thou
embalm this flesh of mine, for I am perfect like my father Chepera, who
is my image, he who does not know corruption.
Come, take hold of my breath of life, lord of the breath, lofty above
his equals; vivify(2.) me, build me up, thou lord of the funeral chest.
Grant me to go down into the land of eternity, as thou doest when thou
art with thy father Tmu, he whose body never decays, he who does not
know destruction.
I have not done what thou hatest, the command (which I obey) is that
which thy _ka_ loveth,(3.) I have not transgressed it.
I have been delivered, being thy follower, O Tmu, from the rottenness
which thou allowest to come over every god, every goddess, every animal,
every creeping thing which is corruptible.
After his soul has departed he dies,(4.) and when it has gone down he
decays; he is all corruption; all his bones are rottenness,
putrefaction(5.) seizes his limbs and makes his bones break down, his
flesh becomes a fetid liquid, his breath is stink, he becomes a
multitude of worms.
(As for me) there are no worms(6.). He is impotent whoever has lost the
eye of Shu(7.) among all gods and goddesses, all birds and fishes, all
snakes and worms, all animals altogether, for I cause them to crawl
before me, they recognise me and the fear of me prevails over them, and
behold every being is alike dead among all animals, all birds, all
fishes, all snakes, all worms, their life is like death.
Let there be no food for the worms all of them. Let them not come to me
when they are born, I shall not be handed over to the destroyer in his
cover, who destroys the limbs, the hidden one who causes corruption, who
cuts to pieces(8.) many dead bodies, who lives from destroying.
He lives who performs his commands, but I have not been delivered into
his fingers, he has not prevailed upon me, for I am under thy command,
lord of the gods.
Hail to thee, my father Osiris! thy limbs are lasting, thou dost not
know corruption; there are no worms with thee, thou art not repugnant,
thou dost not stink, thou dost not putrefy, thou wilt not become worms.
I am Chepera, my limbs are lasting for ever. I do not know corruption. I
do not rot, I do not putrefy, I do not become worms. I do not lose the
eye of Shu.
I am, I am, I live, I live, I grow, I grow, and when I shall awake in
peace, I shall not be in corruption, I shall not be destroyed in my
bandages. I shall be free of pestilence, my eye will not be corrupted,
my skin (?) will not disappear. My ear will not be deaf, my head will
not be taken away from my neck, my tongue will not be torn away, my hair
will not be cut off, my eyebrows shall not be shaven off. No grievous
harm shall come upon me, my body is firm, it shall not be destroyed. It
shall not perish in this earth for ever.
NOTES.
This Chapter is not frequently met with in the papyri; it was written on
the wrappings and the bandages of the dead; for instance, on the funeral
cloth of King Thothmes III, where it is not complete. This Chapter is
interesting, as it shows how repulsive to the Egyptians was the idea of
corruption, of the decay of the body, which is described here in most
realistic terms. This is one of the reasons why they gave such
importance to mummification.
Parts of this Chapter are very obscure. The translation has been made
from the text on the mummy cloth of Thothmes III, supplemented by the
Papyrus of _Nu_.
The only vignette we have is that of the Turin Papyrus, showing a mummy
lying on the bed, and illumined by the rays of the sun.