“Homage to thee, O flesh and bone of Ra, thou first-born son who didst proceed from his members, who wast chosen to be the chief of those who were brought forth, thou mighty one, thou divine form, who art endowed with strength as the lord of transformations.  Thou overthrowest the Seba fiends each day.  The divine boat hath the wind [behind it], thy heart is glad.  Those who are in the Antti Boat utter loud cries of joy when they see Shu, the son of Ra, triumphant, [and] driving his spear into the serpent fiend Nekau.  Ra setteth out to sail over the heavens at dawn daily.  The goddess Tefnut is seated on thy head, she hurleth her flames of fire against thy enemies, and maketh them to be destroyed utterly.  Thou art equipped by Ra, thou art mighty through his words of power, thou art the heir of thy father upon his throne, and thy Doubles rest in the Doubles of Ra, even as the taste of what hath been in the mouth remaineth therein.  A will hath been done into writing by the lord of Khemenu (Thoth), the scribe of the library of Ra-Harmakhis, in the hall of the divine house (or temple) of Anu (Heliopolis), stablished, perfected, and made permanent in hieroglyphs under the feet of Ra-Harmakhis, and he shall transmit it to the son of his son for ever and ever.  Homage to thee, O son of Ra, who wast begotten by Temu himself.  Thou didst create thyself, and thou hadst no mother.  Thou art Truth, the lord of Truth, thou art the Power, the ruling power of the gods.  Thou dost conduct the Eye of thy father Ra.  They give gifts unto thee into thine own hands.  Thou makest to be at peace the Great Goddess, when storms are passing over her.  Thou dost stretch out the heavens on high, and dost establish them with thine own hands.  Every god boweth in homage before thee, the King of the South, the King of the North, Shu, the son of RA, life, strength and health be to thee!  Thou, O great god Pautti, art furnished with the brilliance of the Eye [of Ra] in Heliopolis, to overthrow the Seba fiends on behalf of thy father.  Thou makest the divine Boat to sail onwards in peace.  The mariners who are therein exult, and all the gods shout for joy when they hear thy divine name.  Greater, yea greater (i.e. twice great) art thou than the gods in thy name of Shu, son of Ra.”

CHAPTER XIII

MORAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL LITERATURE

Side by side with the great mass of literature of a magical and religious character that flourished in Egypt under the Ancient Empire, we find that there existed also a class of writings that are remarkably like those contained in the Book of Proverbs, which is attributed to Solomon, the King of Israel, and in “Ecclesiasticus,” and the “Book of Wisdom.”  The priests of Egypt took the greatest trouble to compose Books of the Dead and Guides to the Other World in order to help the souls of the dead to traverse in safety the region that lay between this world and the next, or Dead Land,