Rev. F. C. Cook

This hymn is important as bearing witness to the state of religious
thought in Egypt in the time of Merneptah, the son of Rameses II,
nineteenth dynasty, according to the generality of Egyptologers,
contemporary with Moses. It is extant in two papyri, "Sallier," ii, p. 11,
"Select Papyri," pls. xx-xxiii, and "Anastasi," vii. "Select Papyri," pls.
cxxxiv-cxxxix, published by the trustees of the British Museum.

The name of the author Enna is well known. He wrote the "Romance of the
Two Brothers" and other works preserved in the "Select Papyri," and
partially translated by Mr. Goodwin, in "Cambridge Essays," 1858, p. 257,
and M. G. Maspero, in "_Genre epistolaire chez les anciens Egyptiens_,"
Paris, 1872.

A translation of this hymn was published by Maspero ("_Hymne au Nil_"), in
1868, with an introduction and critical notes of great value.

The attention of the reader is specially called to the metrical structure
of this poem. The stanzas, containing upon an average ten couplets, are
distinctly marked in the original, the first word in each being written in
red letters; hence the origin of rubricated MSS. Each clause also has a
red point at the close. The resemblance with the earliest Hebrew poems has
been pointed out by the translator in the "Introduction to the Book of
Psalms," and in the "Notes on Exodus," in the "Speaker's Commentary on the
Bible."

HYMN TO THE NILE

I. _Strophe_
_Adoration of the Nile_

1 Hail to thee O Nile!
2 Thou showest thyself in this land,
3 Coming in peace, giving life to Egypt:
4 O Ammon, (thou) leadest night unto day,(472)
5 A leading that rejoices the heart!
6 Overflowing the gardens created by Ra.(473)
7 Giving life to all animals;
8 Watering the land without ceasing:
9 The way of heaven descending:(474)
10 Lover of _food_, bestower of corn,
11 Giving light to every home, O Ptah!

II.

1 Lord of fishes, when the inundation returns
2 No fowls fall on the cultures.(475)
3 Maker of spelt; creator of wheat:
4 who maintaineth the temples!
5 Idle hands he loathes(476)
6 For myriads, for all the wretched.
7 If the gods in heaven are grieved,(477)
8 Then sorrow cometh on men.

III.

1 He maketh the whole land open to the oxen,(478)
2 And the great and the small are rejoicing;
3 The response of men at his coming!(479)
4 His likeness is Num!(48