The Egyptian Book of the dead by P. Le Page Renouf and Edouard Naville

_Chapter whereby the Eater of the Ass is kept back._ Back, serpent Haiu,(1.) whom Osiris execrateth. May Thoth cut off thy head, and may there accrue to me whatsoever property proceedeth from thee [according to] what was decreed against thee by the Company of the gods for the accomplishment of thy slaughter. Back, thou whom Osiris execrateth, from the Neshemet galley, which saileth towards the south with favourable breeze. Pure are ye, all ye gods who overthrow the enemy of Osiris. The gods upon the larboard utter loud acclamation. Back, thou Eater of the Ass, whom the god Chas,(2.) who is in the Tuat, execrateth. Know me! (_Repeated_ four times). “Who art thou?” I am....[57] Down upon thy face!(3.) thou who art eating at my sanctuary. I am the Season, which cometh at its own will. “Come not against me; thou who comest without being called, and who art unknown.” I am the master of thine utterance, and the check upon thy pride.(4.) O Ha-as, whose horns(5.) Horus doth cut: by my children, the cycle of gods in Pu and Tepit, thou art severed from thy fold and thy fold is severed from thee. And he who cutteth thee off cometh forth as the Eye of Horus; thou art kept back and assailed, and stopped(6.) by the breath of my speech. O thou god who devourest all wrong, and carriest off with violence;(7.) there is no wrong in me, my tablets(8.) are free from wrong. Let me not suffer violence before the Divine Circle; let not disaster be hurled upon me. I am he who giveth or taketh according to thy behest. Let not _N_ be seized, let him not be devoured.(9.) He is Possessor of Life, and Sovereign Lord(10.) on the Horizon. NOTES. The translation of this chapter is based upon the important papyrus T 5 of Leyden, known as _Lb_. This is the only MS. which contains the whole chapter. All other copies begin after the sixth line. The usual chapter begins in _Lb_ with a ⁂⁂, which is the ordinary way of indicating a various reading. But the difference of reading applies rather to a mere paragraph than to the whole chapter. In this case we should expect ⁂ or something equivalent. The Eater of the Ass is a Serpent, but who is the Ass? Here, as in each case of mythological name, the animal is not meant, but something which is connoted by it. The name of the ass is given to it in consequence of one of its characteristics. It is ⁂⁂⁂. But this is one of the seventy-five names of the Sun-god in the Solar Litany.[58] And he derives this appellation from his fructifying power. But if the Ass is the Sun, who is the _Eater_ of the Ass? This must be Darkness or Eclipse of some kind.