Great festivals are instituted for thee. Birds are sacrificed to thee, Gazelles are taken for thee in the mountain, Pure flames are prepared for thee. Sacrifice is made to every god as it is made to the Nile. Its name is not known beyond the Tuau. The god manifests not his forms, He baffles all conception. XIV. Men exalt him like the cycle of the gods, They dread him who creates the heat, Even him who has made his son the universal master In order to give prosperity to Egypt. Come (and) prosper! come (and) prosper! O Nile, come (and) prosper! [O thou who makest men to live through his flocks And his flocks through his orchards! Come (and) prosper, come, O Nile, come (and) prosper!] This work has been successfully finished and dedicated to the scribe of the treasury Qaqabu [by the scribe Ennana]. TRANSLATED BY PAUL GUIEYSSE. "FIRST HAND OBSERVATIONS" BY HERODOTUS CONCERNING EGYPT itself I shall extend my remarks to a great length, because there is no country that possesses so many wonders, nor any that has such a number of works which defy description. Not only is the climate different from that of the rest of the world, and the rivers unlike any other rivers, but the people also, in most of their manners and customs, exactly reverse the common practice of mankind. |