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Iritisen beoins h\ tellin^- « tliat lie knows the mvstery of the divine worcl », and that « lie is an artist skilled in bis art ». Tbe tbree foUowing verses are intended to support tbis gênerai assertion of excellenc^^ « I know, » saitb be, « wbat belongs to it, tbe sinking waters, tbe weigbings done for tbe reckoning of accounts, bow to produce tbe form of issuing fortb and coming in, so tbat tbe member go to its place ». Every word, wben strictly analysed, seems to yield two différent meanings. In a material sensé, Iritisen is only tbinking of bis personal ability in drawing scènes of civil and domestic life^ tbe rising and sinking of inundation sucb as is often represented on tbe walls of tombs, tbe weigbing by scribes of tributes brougbt by townspeople oi' busbandmen, tbe motion of a man tbrougb tbe varions stages of walking, so tbat eacb individual member be not out of line, but sit. well in its place. In a mystical sensé, tbe wbole is an allusion to varions cliapters in tbe Book of tbe Dcad. Cbapter ex, for instance, is a picture of tbe Egyplian Elysium, witb its fields of ^vbeat and barley, its canals and

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432 THE STÈLE C l4 OF THE LOUVRE

pools of fresli water fiUed by the celestial Nile. Chapter cxxv bas a description of how they weigh the heart of man and reckon human deeds before the infernal jury. The

forming of rites which cause the dead to issue torth and come in, and make every niember go to its place », is a summary of more tlian twenty chapters (xxi-xxx, lxiv-lxxvi, cxvii-cxxvn, a. s. f .)^ in which the Osiris is ordered to enter several places and to come out of them at bis liking, and bas the use of bis members given back to bim, so that every one of them be not taken away from bim, but « go to its place ».

« I know the walking of an image of man, the carriage of a woman, the two arms of Hor^ the twelve circles (cerchi) of the blasphemers, the contemplating the eye witbout a second which atïrigbts the wicked, the poising of arm to bring the hippopotamus low, the going of the runner. » If we take the material sensé, this second verse is only the continuation and development of the last sentence in the first. Iritisen tries to particularise some of the shapes he was able to give bis figures, the peculiar bearing of a standing statue ^^"^ \' ^^^® carriagei of a walking woman m. Then, passing to divine subjects, be could make the two arms of Horus, paint the twelve circles of the Egyptian Hades, tbrough which Râ bas to sail during the night, from

the moment be disappears into the Ro-Peqer ( . ,

or v\ -r. z^^^^^), west of Abvdos, to the moment he arises

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again in ihe east, represent the scènes of adoration to Râ, m which the actors were spirits in human shape, witb beads of hawks or jackals and cynocephali. The last two mentions would refer to bunters pursuing the hippopotamus and to running men, or to Horus poising the javelin before killing the hippopotamus, and to Rà, « the runner which no one is able to catch in the morning of bis births ». If we take

the mystical sensé, we must apply for interprétation to the funereal papyri which bear the title of Book of knowing what there is in the Lotcer World, good spécimens of which hâve been translatée! or published by Birch and Pierret. Then the « walking of an image, » the « carriage of a woman », and tlie « two arms of Hor », would be the transcription in words of the picture which represents two human arms belonging to an invisible body, and holding varions figures, the most conspicuous of which are a standing mummy ^^ Vv.^^ |, and a woman A) . The twelve hours of night, the adorations of Râ bv Osiris, would be alluded

to in what foUows: 7\ n ? <=> would be referred to the

I X /\ Sun, as in the first interprétation.

For the last verse, « I know the making of amulets [which enable] us to go without any fire giving its flame, and without our being washed away by water », we could suppose that Iritisen praises his skill in devising real amulets to préserve the living from real tlame and water, or prétends to know the charms that save the dead from the flame and Avater of the Underworld.

Both meanings being admissible, I think that both meaninçfs must be admitted at once. I hâve often remarked that Egyptian writers delight in ambiguities of diction. They were fond of putting words that could be interpreted in two différent ways or more, and took care that every sentence following thèse words might be construed with one of the meanings as well as the other. Iritisen tells us at the beginning thathe is initiated « into the mystery of the divine Word », and that he is an artist : the same words are used ail throu'gh the inscriptions to express both facts. I hâve tried to transfer the double meaning of the original in our modem tongues, and to give a translation which may be interpreted both ways.

« I know the mystery of the divine Word, the ordinances

BiBL. ÉGYPT., T. VII. 28

of the religions feasts, every rite of which they are fraught, I never strayed from them; I, indeed, am an artist wise in his art, a man standing above [ail men] by his learning.

1. » I know wliat belongs to it, the sinking waters, the weighings done for the reckoning of accounts, how to produce the form of issuing forth and coming in, so that a member go to its place.

2. » I know the walking of an image of man, the carriage of a woman, the two arms of Hor, the twelve circles of the blasphemers, the contemplating the eye without a second that afïrights the wicked, the poising of arm to bring the hippopotamus low, the going of the runner.

' 3. )) I know the making of amulets, that we may go without any fire giving its flame, or without our being washed away by water!

» Lo! there is no man excels by it but I alone and my eldest legitimate son : God has decreed him to be excellent in it, and I hâve seen the perfections of his hands in his work of chief-artist in every kind of precious stones, from gold and silver even to ivory and ebony !

« Funereal meal of bread and liquors! Thousands of wine, loaves, oxen, geese, linen, clothes, ail good and pure things, to the devout Iritisen-the-wise, son of dame Ad. »