Part 40 (1/2)

FESTAL DIRGE

1 (Wanting.)

2 The song of the house of King Antuf, deceased, which is (written) in front of

3 the player on the harp.(510) All hail to the good Prince, the worthy good (man), the body is fated(?) to pa.s.s away, the atoms(511)

4 remain, ever since the time of the ancestors.

The G.o.ds who were beforetime rest in their tombs, the mummies

5 of the saints likewise are enwrapped in their tombs.

They who build houses, and they who have no houses, see!

6 what becomes of them.

I have heard the words of Imhotep(512) and Hartatef.(513) It is said in their sayings,

7 After all, what is prosperity?

Their fenced walls are dilapidated.

Their houses are as that which has never existed.

8 No man comes from thence who tells of their sayings, who tells of their affairs, who encourages our hearts.

Ye go

9 to the place whence they return not.(514) Strengthen thy heart to forget how thou hast enjoyed thyself, fulfil thy desire whilst thou livest.

10 Put oils upon thy head clothe thyself with fine linen adorned with precious metals

11 with the _gifts_ of G.o.d multiply thy good things, yield to thy desire, fulfil thy desire with thy good things

12 (whilst thou art) upon earth, according to the dictation of thy heart.

The day will come to thee, when one hears not the voice when the one who is at rest hears not

13 their voices.(515) Lamentations deliver not him who is in the tomb.(516)

14 Feast in tranquillity seeing that there is no one who carries away his goods with him.

Yea, behold, none who goes thither comes back again.

Hymns To Amen

Translated by C. W. Goodwin, M.A.

These beautiful poems are contained in the ”Anastasi Papyri” in the collection at the British Museum. They have been mostly translated in French by M. F. Chabas, from whose interpretation I have occasionally found reason to differ.

The papyrus itself is considerably mutilated, and bears no date, but from the character of the script there can be little doubt that it is of the period of the nineteenth dynasty.

These hymns have been published by myself with exegetical notes in the ”Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archaeology,” vol. II, part 2, 1873, p. 353; and, as before mentioned, in French by M. Chabas in the ”_Melanges Egyptologiques_,” 1870, p. 117.

HYMN TO AMEN(517)

1 ”O Amen, lend thine ear to him 2 who is alone before the tribunal, 3 he is poor (he is not) rich.