t god of evil.]
[Footnote 3: The scribe of the gods, lord of wisdom: see pp. 1,2.]
[Footnote 4: The Earth-god.]
[Footnote 5: Horus gave his eye to Osiris, and thereby restored life to
him.]
[Footnote 6: Repetitions are omitted.]
The next ceremony, the ninth, represented the re-birth of the king, who
was personified by a priest. The priest, wrapped in the skin of a bull,
lay on a small bed and feigned death. When the chief priest had said, "O
my father," four times, the priest representing the king came forth from
the bull's skin, and sat up; this act symbolized the resurrection of the
king in the form of a spirit-body (_sahu_). The chief priest then
asserted that the king was alive, and that he should never be removed,
and that he was similar in every way to Horus. The priest personifying
the king then put on a special garment, and taking a staff or sceptre in
his hand, said, "I love my father and his transformation. I have made my
father, I have made a statue of him, a large statue. Horus loveth those
who love him." He then pressed the lips of the statue, and said, "I have
come to embrace thee. I am thy son. I am Horus. I have pressed for thee
thy mouth.... I am thy beloved son." The words then said by the chief
priest, "I have delivered this mine eye from his mouth, I have cut off
his leg," mean that the king was delivered from the jaws of death, and
that a grievous wound had been inflicted on the god of death, _i.e._
Set.
Whilst these ceremonies were being performed the animals brought to be
sacrificed were slain. Chief of these were two bulls, gazelle, geese,
&c., and their slaughter typified the conquest and death of the enemies
of the dead king. The heart and a fore-leg of each bull were presented
to the statue of the king, and the priest said: "Hail, Osiris! I have
come to embrace thee. I am Horus. I have pressed for thee thy mouth. I
am thy beloved Son. I have opened thy mouth. Thy mouth hath been made
firm. I have made thy mouth and thy teeth to be in their proper places.
Hail, Osiris![1] I have opened thy mouth with the Eye of Horus." Then
taking two instruments made of metal the priest went through the motion
of cutting open the mouth and eyes of the statue, and said: "I have
opened thy mouth. I have opened thy two eyes. I have opened thy mouth
with the instrument of Anpu.[2] I have opened thy mouth with the Meskha
instrument wherewith the mouth of the gods was opened. Horus openeth the
mouth and
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