{"collection":"philosophy-ethics","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_30508/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_30508","id":"gutenberg_30508","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/30508","summary":null,"tags":["Category: History - Ancient","Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Conduct of life -- Early works to 1800","Maxims -- Early works to 1800"],"text":"Produced by Al Haines\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration: Cover art]\n\n\n\n\n[Transcriber's note: the various sections of this book had\nvarying page headers.  Those headers have been collected\nat the start of each section as introductory paragraphs.]\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE WISDOM OF THE EAST\n\n  THE INSTRUCTION\n  OF PTAH-HOTEP AND\n  THE INSTRUCTION OF\n  KE'GEMNI: THE OLDEST\n  BOOKS IN THE WORLD.\n\n\n  TRANSLATED FROM THE EGYPTIAN\n  WITH AN INTRODUCTION AND APPENDIX\n\nBY BATTISCOMBE G. GUNN\n\n\n\n\nLONDON\n\nJOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET\n\n1906\n\n\n\n\nTO\n\nMY MOTHER\n\nVII.NOV.MCMIV\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\n                                                         Page\n\nINTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   11\n\nTHE INSTRUCTION OF PTAH-HOTEP  . . . . . . . . . . . . .   41\n\nTHE INSTRUCTION OF KE'GEMNI  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   62\n\n\nAPPENDIX\n\nNOTE TO APPENDIX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   65\n\nTHE INSTRUCTION OF AMENEMHE'ET . . . . . . . . . . . . .   67\n\nEXPLANATION OF NAMES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   72\n\nBIBLIOGRAPHY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   73\n\n\n\n\n{10}\n\nEDITORIAL NOTE\n\nThe object of the editors of this series is a very definite one.  They\ndesire above all things that, in their humble way, these books shall be\nthe ambassadors of good-will and understanding between East and West,\nthe old world of Thought, and the new of Action.  In this endeavour,\nand in their own sphere, they are but followers of the highest example\nin the land.  They are confident that a deeper knowledge of the great\nideals and lofty philosophy of Oriental thought may help to a revival\nof that true spirit of Charity which neither despises nor fears the\nnations of another creed and colour.  Finally, in thanking press and\npublic for the very cordial reception given to the \"Wisdom of the East\"\nseries, they wish to state that no pains have been spared to secure the\nbest specialists for the treatment of the various subjects at hand.\n\n  L. CRANMER-BYNG.\n  S. A. KAPADIA.\n\n  4, HARCOURT BUILDINGS,\n    INNER TEMPLE,\n      LONDON.\n\n\n\n\n{11}\n\nTHE INSTRUCTION OF PTAH-HOTEP\n\n\nINTRODUCTION\n\nMemorials of the Past--The Land of Darkness--The Time of\nPtah-Hotep--Concerning the Book--The Treatise of Ke'Gemni--Date of the\nManuscript--An Egyptian Chesterfield--Who was Ptah-Hotep?--His\nTeaching--Views on Women--The Gods of Egypt--Previous Translations--The\nOldest Book Known\n\n\n  Is there anything whereof it may be said,\n   See, this is new!\n  It hath been already of old time,\n   Which was before us.\n  There is no remembrance of former things;\n   Neither shall there be any remembrance\n  Of things that are to come\n   With those that shall come after.\n\n\nIn these days, when all things and memories of the past are at length\nbecome not only subservient to, but submerged by, the matters and needs\nof the immediate present, those paths of knowledge that lead into\nregions seemingly remote from such needs are somewhat discredited; and\nthe aims of those that follow them whither they lead are regarded as\nquite out of touch with the real interests of life.  Very greatly is\nthis so with archaeology, and the study of ancient and curious tongues,\nand searchings into old thoughts on high and ever-insistent questions;\na public which has hardly time to {12} read more than its daily\nnewspaper and its weekly novel has denounced--almost dismissed--them,\nwith many other noble and wonderful things, as 'unpractical,' whatever\nthat vague and hollow word may mean.\n\nAs to those matters which lie very far back, concerning the lands of\nseveral thousand years ago, it is very generally held that they are the\nproper and peculiar province of specialists, dry-as-dusts, and persons\nwith an irreducible minimum of human nature.  It is thought that\nknowledge concerning them, not the blank ignorance regarding them that\nalmost everywhere obtains, is a thing of which to be rather ashamed, a\ndetrimental possession; in a word, that the subject is not only\nunprofitable (a grave offence), but also uninteresting, and therefore\ncontemptible.  This is a true estimate of general opinion, although\nthere are those who will, for their own sakes, gainsay it.\n\nWhen, therefore, I state that one of the writings herein translated has\nan age of nearly six thousand years, and that another is but five\nhundred years younger, it is likely that many will find this sufficient\nreason against further perusal, deeming it impossible that such things\ncan possess attraction for one not an enthusiast for them.  Yet so few\nare the voices across so great a span of years that those among them\nhaving anything to tell us should be welcome exceedingly; whereas, for\nthe most part, they have cried in the {13} wilderness of neglect\nhitherto, or fallen on ears filled with the clamour of more instant\nthings.\n\nI could show, if this were a fitting place, that Archaeology is not at\nall divorced from life, nor even devoid of emotion as subtle and\nstrange, as swift and moving, as that experienced by those who love and\nfollow Art.  She, Archaeology, is, for those who know her, full of such\nemotion; garbed in an imperishable glamour, she is raised far above the\nturmoil of the present on the wings of Imagination.  Her eyes are\nsombre with the memory of the wisdom driven from her scattered\nsanctuaries; and at her lips wonderful things strive for utterance.  In\nher are gathered together the longings and the laughter, the fears and\nfailures, the sins and splendours and achievements of innumerable\ngenerations of men; and by her we are shown all the elemental and\nterrible passions of the unchanging soul of man, to which all cultures\nand philosophies are but garments to hide its nakedness; and thus in\nher, as in Art, some of us may realise ourselves.  Withal she is\nheavy-hearted, making continual lamentation for a glory that has\nwithered and old hopes without fulfilment; and all her habitations are\nlaid waste.\n\nAs for the true lover of all old and forgotten things, it may justly be\nsaid of him, as of the poet, _Nascitur, non fit_.  For the dreams and\nthe wonder are with him from the beginning; and in early childhood,\nknowing as yet hardly {14} the names of ancient peoples, he is\nconscious of, and yearns instinctively toward, an immense and\never-receding past.  With the one, as with the other, the unaccountable\npassion is so knitted into his soul that it will never, among a\nthousand distractions and adverse influences, entirely forsake him; nor\ncan such an one by willing cause it to come or to depart.  He will live\nmuch in imagination, therein treading fair places now enwrapped in\ntheir inevitable shroud of wind-blown sand; building anew temples whose\nstones hardly remain one upon the other, consecrate to gods dead as\ntheir multitudes of worshippers; holding converse with the sages who,\nwith all their lore, could not escape the ultimate oblivion: a\nspectator of splendid pageants, a ministrant at strange rites, a\nwitness to vast tragedies, he also has admittance to the magical\nkingdom, to which is added the freedom of the city of Remembrance.  His\ncare will be to construct, patiently and with much labour, a picture\n(which is often less than an outline) of the conditions of the humanity\nthat has been; and he neither rejects nor despises any relic, however\ntrivial or unlovely, that will help him, in its degree, to understand\nbetter that humanity or to bridge the wide chasms of his ignorance.\nMoreover, great age hallows all things, even the most mean, investing\nthem with a certain sanctity; and the little sandal of a nameless {15}\nchild, or the rude amulet placed long ago with weeping on the still\nbosom of a friend, will move his heart as strongly by its appeal as the\nproud and enduring monument of a great conqueror insatiable of praise.\nAt times, moving among the tokens of a period that the ravenous years\ndare not wholly efface in passing, he hears, calling faintly as from\nafar, innumerable voices--the voices of those who, stretching forth in\nSheol eager hands toward Life, greatly desire that some memorial of\nthem, be it but a name, may survive in the world of men....\n\n\nAncient Egypt fares perhaps better than other countries of antiquity at\nthe hands of the 'general reader,' and sometimes obtains a hearing when\nthey do not, by reason of its intimate contact at certain periods with\nthe nation that has brought us the _Old Testament_.  Because of this\nthe report of it has been with us constantly, and it has nearly become\na symbol in religion.  The stories of Moses and the magicians, and of\nthe dealings of Abraham and Joseph with Pharaoh, together with the rude\nwoodcuts of Egyptian taskmasters and cupbearers in family Bibles, have\ninvested the venerable land with a dreamy mystery; while every one has\nheard of 'Rameses, the Pharaoh of the Oppression,' and 'Meneptah, the\nPharaoh of the Exodus.'  And it is possible that for the sake of such\n{16} association, if not for his own sake, Ptah-hotep will be\nconsidered worthy of notice.\n\nBut in spite of the fact that the Ancient Egyptians enjoy rather more\npopularity than their contemporaries, it is evident that the books\nwhich they wrote are closed books to those who have not the glamour of\nvanished peoples, and the fascination of mighty cities now made\ndesolate, strong upon them.\n\nYet in the heterogeneous and pitiful flotsam that reluctant seas have\nwashed to us piecemeal from a remote past, there are, as will be shown\nlater, many things which, although proceeding from a culture and modes\nof thought as far removed from our own as they may well be,[1] are\nworth the reading, which do not require any special knowledge for their\nunderstanding; and of these are the translations in this book.\n\nThe following pages, which, although addressed to the 'general reader,'\nmay yet be of some assistance to those especially interested in Egypt,\ngive, among other matters, the place of the Instructions of Ptah-hotep\nand Ke'gemni in the 'literature' of Egypt; their place--their {17}\nunique place--in the literature of the world; their value historically;\na description of the document in which they were found; what is known\nof their authors; a discussion of their contents.\n\n\nThe land of which the Father of History declared that no other country\nheld so many wonders, has bequeathed us, by various channels, the\nrumour and remnant of a strange knowledge.  She has devised us enigmas\ninsoluble, and rendered up to us signs and messages whose meaning is\ndark for all time.  And she has left a religion, 'veiled in allegory\nand illustrated by symbol,' as fascinating as impenetrable for those\nwho approach it.  For into our hands the keys of these things have not\nbeen delivered; wherefore much study of them is a weariness to the\nflesh, and of the hazarding of interpretations there is no end.\n\nBut apart from the mazes of mythology, the broken ways of history and\nthe empty letter of a dead faith, there are, as is known to some, and\nas this little book professes to show, many documents which are\nantique, but not antiquated, possessing interest above the purely\narchaeological--the interest called human.  Of these are the tales\nwhich recall, in incident as in style, those of the immortal\ncollection, full of the whole glamour of the East, the _Thousand Nights\nand a Night_.  {18} Such are the love-songs, full of the burning\nutterance of desire; the pathetic and even bitter dirges, whose singers\nhave seen all the works that are done under the sun, and found all to\nbe vanity and vexation of spirit.  And such also are the didactic poems\nfor the instruction of youth, which--in poetic phrase and in great\ndetail--inculcate, among other things, the practice of right conduct as\nthe price of happiness; a courtesy hardly less considerate than our\nown; and a charity which, when certain inevitable shortcomings are\nallowed for, bears comparison with almost any later system.  Out of\nthese there are many that may properly claim a place in a series\nbearing the seal of the Wisdom of the East, though they belong only to\nthe more objective and 'practical' side of that Wisdom.\n\nBut, as touching the books here translated--the Instructions of\nPtah-hotep and of Ke'gemni--they possess, apart from the curious nature\nof their contents, a feature of the greatest interest, and an adequate\nclaim on the notice of all persons interested in literature and its\nhistory.  For if the datings and ascriptions in them be accepted as\ntrustworthy (there is no reason why they should not be so accepted),\nthey were composed about four thousand years before Christ, and three\nthousand five hundred and fifty years before Christ, respectively.  And\nthe significance of those remote dates is, that they are the oldest\n{19} books in the world, the earliest extant specimens of the literary\nart.  They stand on the extreme horizon of all that ocean of paper and\nink that has become to us as an atmosphere, a fifth element, an\nessential of life.\n\nBooks of many kinds had of course been written for centuries before\nPtah-hotep of Memphis summarised, for the benefit of future\ngenerations, the leading principles of morality current in his day;\neven before the Vizier, five hundred years earlier, gave to his\nchildren the scroll which they prized above all things on earth;[2] but\nthose have perished and these remain.  There are lists of titles which\nhave a large sound, and prayers to the Gods for all good things, on the\ntombs and monuments of kings and magnates long before the time of\nKe'gemni; but those are not books in any sense of that word.  Even the\nlong, strange chants and spells engraven in the Royal Pyramids over\nagainst Memphis are later than the time of Ptah-hotep, and cannot be\ncalled books in their present form, although some of them apparently\noriginated before the First Dynasty.[3]\n\nNor do the oldest books of any other country approach these two in\nantiquity.  To draw {20} comparisons between them let us, in\nimagination, place ourselves at the period at which Ptah-hotep lived,\nthat is, about B.C. 3550, 'under King Isosi, living for ever,' and take\na glance at futurity.\n\nThe Babylonians are doubtless exercising their literary talents; but\nthey will leave nothing worthy the name of book to the far posterity of\nfifty-four centuries hence.  Thirteen centuries shall pass before\nHammurabi, King of Babylon, drafts the code of laws that will be found\nat that time.  Only after two thousand years shall Moses write on the\norigin of things, and the Vedas be arranged in their present form.  It\nwill be two-and-a-half thousand years before the Great King of\nJerusalem will set in order many proverbs and write books so much\nresembling, in form and style, that of Ptah-hotep;[4] before the source\nand summit of European literature will write his world epics.  For the\nspace of years between Solomon and ourselves, great though it seem, is\nnot so great as that between Solomon and Ptah-hotep.\n\n\nThe number of extant texts of the class to which the subjoined\nimmediately belong is not large in proportion to the rest of Egyptian\nMSS., {21} but they seem to be representative of the class, being\ndiverse in date and subject, but similar in form.  There is great\nuniformity in the arrangement of most of them, in the following\nrespects.  They have as title the word 'Instruction' (_seb'oyet_), and\nare written by a father for the advantage of his son; they are very\npoetic in their arrangement of words and phrases, and are usually\ndivided into short sections or paragraphs by the use of red ink for the\nfirst sentence of each.  Such is the Instruction of Ptah-hotep on\nmorality (the finest of its class); the Instruction of King Amenemhe'et\non the hollowness of friendship and other matters; the Instruction of\nDeu'of, the son of Kherti, on the excellence of the literary life; and\nothers.  In many respects and in many details they greatly resemble the\ndidactic works of the _Old Testament_ and _Apocrypha_.\n\nThese 'Instructions' were held in high esteem as text-books and writing\nexercises in schools--a circumstance to which we owe the preservation\nof many of them.  For a considerable number of important and\ninteresting poems, letters, and narratives are only known to us from\nschool exercise-books.  The pupil at the 'Chamber of Instruction' wrote\nout about three pages of these each day, as a means of improving his\nwriting, as a model of style in composition, and for purposes of\nedification.  These exercises {22} abound in errors of spelling and\ngrammar, having sometimes the master's corrections elegantly written\nabove in red.  As may be imagined, a schoolboy's scrawl over three\nthousand years old is no easy thing to translate; but _faute de mieux_\nthe Egyptologist welcomes any version, even the most barbarous.\nFortunately, the MS. from which these translations come is not of this\nkind; a detailed description of it may interest some of my readers.\n\nThe Prisse Papyrus, which is well known by name and a few extracts to\nall persons conversant with Egyptian matters, was acquired in Egypt by\nM. Prisse d'Avennes, a French archaeologist of distinction, and\npublished by him in 1847.[5] The exact place of its discovery is\nunknown.  M.  Prisse is said to have bought it of one of the _fellahin_\nwhom he employed to make excavations at the burial-ground of Thebes.\nThis man pretended that he had no knowledge of its finding, as he was\ntrying to sell it for a friend.  It is believed that it was actually\ntaken by the Arab from the tomb of one of the Kings 'Entef;[6] but this\nis not certain.  If it were, it would perhaps enable us to fix a\n_terminus ad que,_ for the writing of this copy, although tombs often\ncontain objects of later date.  The papyrus was presented in about\n1847, by M. Prisse, to the {23} Bibliotheque Nationale (in those days\nthe Bibliotheque Royale) at Paris, where it still is, divided and\nglazed in the usual manner.\n\nSpread out flat, it measures about 23 ft. 7 in., with an average height\nof 5 7/8 in., which is about the usual height of papyri of the Eleventh\nand Twelfth Dynasties.  It contains at present eighteen pages of heavy\nand bold black and red writing, in the so-called hieratic character.\nAt first sight it appears to be in perfect preservation, being entirely\nfree from the cracks and decay which mar many fine manuscripts of far\nlater date; but an examination of the contents shows that an unknown\nquantity has been torn off from the commencement.  Originally the roll\ncontained at least two books, of which we have the latter part of one\nand the whole of the other.  Between these there is a blank space of\nsome 53 in.\n\nThe characters are clearly and carefully made, but are not always\ncorrect, as though the copyist had a badly written or very cursive copy\nbefore him, and was not always sure of his spelling.\n\nThe first of these books, of which only the last two pages remain to\nus, is a treatise on deportment, and is here called the _Instruction of\nKe'gemni_.  It has always been attributed to this person since its\ndiscovery, but examination of as much of the book as exists will show\nthat it is not said to have been written by him.  Because {24} his is\nthe only name mentioned, Egyptologists have concluded that he is the\nauthor.  The unnamed Vizier, who called his children to him, can hardly\nbe Ke'gemni, who was not raised to the rank of Vizier and Governor of a\ncity until afterwards.  Ke'gemni may well have been a son of the\nauthor.  This is not of material importance, however, as the date of\nwriting is given as the end of the reign of Heuni, the last King of the\nThird Dynasty, who died about 3998 B.C.  This book, then, which argues\na society of some refinement, is, so far as it goes, the oldest in the\nworld.\n\nAfter a long stretch of blank papyrus, from which a third book has\nperhaps been erased, we come upon the _Instruction of Ptah-hotep_ in\nits entirety, divided into sections by red writing, as aforesaid.[7]\nIn this, also, we get a definite date, for we learn in the opening\nlines that its author (or compiler) lived in the reign of King Isosi.\nNow Isosi was the last ruler but one of the Fifth Dynasty, and ruled\nforty-four years, from about 3580 to 3536 B.C.  Thus we may take about\n3550 as the period of Ptah-hotep.\n\nOf these two kings there is hardly anything to say.  Heuni is only\nknown to us by mention of his name; we have no record of any act of\nhis.  {25} Of Isosi the only exploit that remains is this: that he sent\nhis Treasurer, Be'werded, to Somaliland[8] to obtain for him a certain\nkind of dwarf; this the Treasurer brought back, and received much\nreward therefor.  That is all that is left of the reigns of two kings,\nwho ruled long, who perhaps ruled greatly and wisely, having just cause\nto hope that their fame and the report of their good deeds might never\npass away.  Such is the fate of kings.\n\nThe copy of these Instructions that we have, the only complete copy,[9]\nis far later than the later of these dates.  An examination of the\nwriting shows that it is not earlier than the Eleventh Dynasty, and is\nprobably of the Twelfth.[10] More than this cannot be said; where it\nwas written, by whom, and when, are not stated, as they are in many\ncases.  The writing lacks the fine regularity of that of the\nprofessional scribes of the Twelfth Dynasty, and has many points of\ndivergence therefrom; but the papyrus is assigned by the best judges to\nthis period.  This gives it an antiquity of about four thousand five\nhundred years; and it looks good to last as long again, if only it be\nnot examined over-much nor brought out into the light too often.  {26}\nIt is as fresh and readable as in the year after it was written.  Will\nthe books of our time last one-tenth so long?  It is not without a\nfeeling of awe, even of sadness, that one with any sense of the wonder\nof things gazes for the first time on the old book, and thinks of all\nit has survived.  So many empires have arisen and gone down since those\nwords were penned, so many great and terrible things have been.\n\n\nAnd we are fortunate indeed in having such a book as this of Ptah-hotep\nfor the most ancient complete literary work extant.  For not by any\nmagical texts, or hymns and prayers, should we be so well shown the\nconditions of that early time; but our moralist, by advancing counsels\nof perfection for every contingency, has left us a faithful record of\nhis age.  The veil of five-and-a-half thousand years is rent, and we\nare met with a vivid and a fascinating picture of the domestic and\nsocial life of the 'Old Kingdom.'  We read of the wife, who must be\ntreated kindly at all costs; the genial generosity of the rich man, and\nthe scowling boor, a thorn in the side of his friends and relations,\nthe laughing-stock of all men; the unquenchable talkers of every\nstation in life, who argue high, who argue low, who also argue round\nabout them, as common as now in the East, and the trusted councillor,\nweighing every word; the obstinate _ignoramus_ who sees {27} everything\ninverted, listening open-mouthed to the disjointed gossip of those near\nhim, and the scholar, conversing freely with learned and unlearned\nalike, recognising that, measured against the infinite possibilities of\nknowledge and skill, we are all much of the same stature; the master of\nthe estate or province, treated with infinite respect by his\nsubordinates in rank and wealth, and the paid servants that are never\nsatisfied, who leave after presents have been made them; the\nhard-working clerk who casts accounts all day, and the tradesmen who\nwill perhaps give you credit when money is dear, if you have previously\nmade friends of them; the well-bred diner-out, lightly passing on his\nfavourite dish, contenting himself with plain fare, and the _gourmand_\nwho visits his friends at meal-times, departing only when the larder is\nentirely exhausted.\n\nNot only do we find such characters as these in Ptah-hotep's hand-book,\nbut interesting scenes are brought near to us by the writing-reed of\nthat primaeval Chesterfield.  We find ourselves taking supper at the\ntable of a great man.  His subordinates sit round, scarcely daring to\nraise their eyes from their food, not speaking to their host until\nspoken to.  He serves the food that is before him according to his\nliking for each guest; and the less favoured find solace in the\nreflection that even the distribution of food is {28} according to\nProvidence.  We pass on.  Now we are in the hall of council with the\nother overseers and officials of the province, and our overlord\npresiding.  We notice with astonishment the extreme solemnity and\nstrict observance of custom and precedence in this archaic period.\nMany of those who have met report on the matters under their charge,\nand others debate on them.  The one now speaking is discussing a trade\nabout which he knows nothing, and an expert rises and makes very short\nwork of his opponent's arguments.  Now we are among some people\ndividing up property.  One of them has tried, of course, to bully his\nfriends into giving him more than his due share, and, having failed,\nleaves the house in a rage.  He will regret it later.  And so on.\n\n\nNothing definite is known concerning these two nobles beyond what is\nsaid of them in their works.  A fine tomb of a certain Ke'gemni exists\nat Memphis; his titles, so far as can be ascertained,[11] are: _Judge\nof the High Court: Governor of the Land unto its Limit, South and\nNorth: Director of every Command_.  He has sometimes been supposed to\nbe identical with our Ke'gemni; {29} but I am assured by those most\ncompetent to judge that this tomb cannot be earlier than the Fifth\nDynasty (a good three hundred years from the date assigned to the\nmoralist), so that the theory that they are one person may be dismissed\nas highly improbable.  No other person of the name is known.\n\nThe position is much the same with Ptah-hotep.  There are near Memphis\nthe tombs of several nobles of this name, of whom two lived in the\nreign of Isosi; and in this case, again, it has been assumed that\none[12] of these two must be the writer of the Instruction.  But in\nneither instance do the titles coincide with or include those assigned\nto him.  The highest title which he bears, _Eldest Son of the King_,\ndoes not anywhere appear in these tombs.  It is true that one of these\ncontemporaries was _Hereditary Chief_; but we know that Ptah-hotep was\na common name at this time, and in the absence of more certain proof it\nwill be well to abstain from the identification of like names upon\ninsufficient grounds.  Thus it is only by the chance discovery of this\n{30} scroll that these two princes of old time, whose bodies are blown\nabout the desert dust these many centuries, are secured from utter\noblivion; men '_such as did bear rule in their kingdoms, men renowned\nfor their power, giving counsel by their understanding, and declaring\nprophecies: Leaders of the people by their counsels, and by their\nknowledge of learning meet for the people, wise and eloquent in their\ninstructions_.'  And against such as these, that from remote years\n'_have left a name behind them, that their praises might be reported,_'\nhow many are there '_which have no memorial; who are perished, as\nthough they had never been; and are become as though they had never\nbeen born; and their children after them_.'[13]\n\n\nI had intended to make a detailed analysis of the moral sense of\nPtah-hotep and Ke'gemni, but it appears unnecessary; since they give\ntheir advice so clearly and simply, they may safely be left to speak\nfor themselves.  But as especially noteworthy I would point to the\ngracious tolerance of ignorance enjoined in Sec. 1 (Ptah-hotep), and the\nfine reason given for that injunction, in contrast with the scorn\nexpressed for the obstinate fool (Ph. 40); the care due to a wife (Ph.\n21), which is in signal contrast to the custom of other Eastern nations\nin this {31} respect;[14] the great stress laid on filial duties (Ph.\n38, 39, 41, 42, 43); the enthusiasm for obedience, expressed in a\njargon of puns (Ph. 38), which, once the high-watermark of style among\nEgyptian _literati_, has long since lost its savour; the interesting\nmatter on manners at table (Kg. 2, 3, Ph. 7, 9), in society (Kg. 4, Ph.\n14, 18, 20, 34), and in official positions (Ph. 5, 8, 13, 15, 16, 17,\n24, 28).  A rough classification including many sections is here given:\n\nDuties toward superiors (Ph. 2, 7, 8, 10, 16, 27, 31).\n\nDuties toward equals (3, 6, 14, 18, 20, 26, 29, 33, 35, 37).\n\nDuties toward inferiors (1, 4, 5, 16, 17, 22).  The whole teaching\nresolves into the maxim, \"Be good, and you will be happy;\" not at all\nin the sense that virtue is its own reward--I do not think that that\nwould have seemed an adequate return to Ptah-hotep--but in the sense of\nmaterial welfare rewarding, as a matter of course, an honourable life.\nFollowing his reasoning, if a man be obedient as a son, punctilious as\na servant, generous and gentle as a master, and courteous as a friend,\nthen all good things shall fall to him, he shall reach a green old age\nhonoured by the King, and his memory shall be long in the land.  This\ntheory, which is not {32} found satisfactory in our day, is insisted on\nby most of the ancient moralists, who appear to regard it, not as a\nsubstitute for conscience, but rather as a _raison d'etre_ or\njustification thereof.  Yet, centuries before a King of Israel had seen\nall things that are, and found them vanity, a King of Egypt had left it\non record that he had done all good things for his subjects, and that\n'there was no satisfaction therein.'\n\n\nIt has been said with some truth of codes of morals and laws that what\nis omitted is almost as important as what is included.  But we must not\ncarry this too far; we should be foolish indeed did we assert that\nthose things omitted from such a code as Ptah-hotep's were not\npractised or not held to be important in his day.  For example, he\n'knows nothing'--as a Higher Critic would say--of kindness to animals;\nbut we know from many things that the Egyptians treated animals kindly\nand made much of them as pets.  In the very tomb of that Ptah-hotep\nmentioned above,[15] who may be our author, is depicted the bringing of\nthree dogs and a tame monkey to him while he is dressing; possibly so\nthat he may feed them himself.  And this kindly feeling obtained\nthroughout Egyptian history.  They treated animals more as 'dumb\nfriends' in those days than might have been {33} _a priori_ expected,\nand more, perhaps, than any other nation of antiquity.  Again, he\n'knows nothing' of duties to the mother, although he is so insistent on\nduties to the father; but the high position of women and their\nmatriarchal privileges oppose any deduction that Egyptian manners were\nsomewhat to seek in this direction.  Ke'gemni says of the unsociable\nman that he is a grief to his mother, and another moralist of uncertain\ndate (perhaps Twelfth Dynasty, about B.C. 2700), named 'Eney, is\nexplicit on this matter.  He says to his son, '_I gave thee thy mother,\nshe that bore thee with much suffering....  She placed thee at the\nChamber of Instruction for the sake of thine instruction in books; she\nwas constant to thee daily, having loaves and beer in her house.  When\nthou art grown, and hast taken to thee a wife, being master in thy\nhouse, cast thine eyes on the one that gave thee birth and provided\nthee with all good things, as did thy mother.  Let her not reproach\nthee, lest she lift up her hands to the God, and He hear her prayer._'\n\nAnd, most remarkable of all omissions, there is nothing said as to\nduties to the Gods.  In Egypt, whose Gods are beyond counting, where\nalmost everybody was a priest, Ptah-hotep--himself a 'Holy Father' and\n'Beloved of the God'--has no word to say on religious obligations,\ndevoting his work entirely to the principles of charity and duty to\none's neighbour.  It is {34} seemingly sufficient to him that one do\nthe right in this world, without thinking overmuch about the other.\nThis is the more curious in that other writers of the same class have\nmany injunctions regarding worship and sacrifice; and so complete is\nhis reserve touching this matter, so important in the eyes of other\nEgyptians, that it is easy to believe that it was intentional.  We may\neven discern in him a protagonist of the modern 'Ethical School,' whose\nadherents may be interested to find their views implicitly held so long\nago.\n\nNotwithstanding this singularity, he is by no means unmindful of Deity.\nWe notice that he has occasion to speak several times of 'the God'[16]\nin His relation to humanity and human affairs.  If we collect these\nreferences to the God, we shall find that the following qualities are\nattributed to Him.  He rewards diligence (9, 10) and punishes sin (6,\n10; also Kg. 5); He is the giver of good things (Ph. 22, 30, 43),\ndispenses fate and preordains events (6, 7, 9, 26), loves His creation\n(26), observes men's actions (10), desires them to be fruitful and\nmultiply (12).  All this is in complete accord with the belief of other\nreligions--including Christianity--regarding the Godhead.  And here we\ntouch another pleasing characteristic of this most ancient of\nbooks--its catholic spirit and disregard of those {35} mythological and\nesoteric riddles that most Egyptian works propound to us continually.\nIt will be noticed that 'the God' is not anywhere mentioned by name.\nOsiris (5) and Horus (41) are alluded to, but only historically, in\nrespect of their rule upon earth, not as present powers.  The reason is\nthis, that at that time the Gods, even the great Gods, were only local,\nthat is to say, their worship was confined to certain towns or\ndistricts ('nomes'), and beyond the boundaries of these their names\nlost that power and influence which they exerted in their peculiar\nprovinces.  A book, therefore, which spoke of one God only--by\nname--would have been found much limited as to popularity and use.\nHence the old moralists and didactic writers, whatever God they might\nthemselves worship, forebore to mention Him, since by many readers He\nwould not be recognised as paramount; they wrote instead, 'The God,'\nthat is, 'the God of your allegiance, whoever He may be.'  Thus, were\nthe reader a native of Heliopolis, his God would be Atomu, the Setting\nSun; of Memphis, Ptah, the Revealer; of Hermopolis, Thoth, Master of\nDivine Words and Chief of the Eight.  It was for this reason that the\nunknown author of what is called the 'Negative Confession'[17] makes\nthe deceased say, '_I have not scorned the {36} God of my town_.'  And,\nindeed, so simply and purely does Ptah-hotep speak of the God that the\nmodern reader can, without the least degradation of his ideals,\nconsider the author as referring to the Deity of monotheism, and if he\nbe of Christendom, read God; if of Islam, read Allah; if of Jewry,\nJehovah.[18]\n\n\nNo doubt the gulf fixed between teaching and practice was as great then\nas now.  We have the teaching, we know that the teaching was current\nall over Egypt in various forms, but of the practice we know very\nlittle.  Human nature being much the same at all times and places, we\nmust beware of measuring the one by the other, the unknown by the\nknown, and must be content to take such counsels as showing the\nEgyptian--\n\n  Not what he was, but what he should have been.\n\nIt is established that they were a kindly, peace-loving people, genial\nand courtly; but whether law-abiding is another matter.  We know\nnothing about their laws, but we know {37} that the law-courts were\nbusy, and that legal officials were numerous; and we know, further,\nthat their duplicity and lack of straightforwardness were proverbial\namong the Greeks and Romans, and persists to this day.\n\nI have noted above the resemblance of the Egyptian Instructions to the\nJewish didactic books (_Proverbs and Ecclesiastes_ in the _Old\nTestament_, _Wisdom of Solomon_ and _Ecclesiasticus_ in the\n_Apocrypha_); this will be obvious to all readers.  Compare, e.g., the\nopening of Ptah-hotep (Sec.B) with the opening of Proverbs.   It is not\nnecessary to point out all the parallels in detail.\n\n\nI come, lastly, to speak of other translations.[19] The first into any\nlanguage was that of the Rev. D. I. Heath, Vicar of Brading, Isle of\nWight.  This version, which first appeared in 1856, was ruined by the\ntranslator's theory that the Prisse Papyrus contained references to the\nExodus, and was written by the 'Shepherd-King,' Aphobis.  How he\nobtained that name from Ptah-hotep, how he read the Exodus into his\nbook, or how he got three-fourths of his translation, it is not\npossible to say.  Written in a style which is in itself a matter for\ndecipherment, it is full of absurdities and gratuitous mistakes, and\n{38} is entirely worthless.  It is one more instance of the lamentable\nresults that arise when a person with a preconceived Biblical theory\ncomes into contact with Egyptian records.  In the following year M.\nChabas did part of the papyrus into French, and, as might be expected\nof an Egyptologist of such attainments, his version was infinitely more\naccurate than the foregoing.  In 1869 Herr Lauth made a\ntranslation--also partial--into Latin, and in 1884; M. Philippe Virey\npublished a careful study and complete translation of both books.  His\nrendering[20] was subsequently translated into English and published\n(with some alterations) in _Records of the Past_, 1890, and has\nremained the only complete translation in English.  It has been taken\nbodily (even the footnotes) into Myer's _Oldest Books in the World_,\nand has been put into charming verse by Canon Rawnsley in his _Notes\nfor the Nile_.  Thus it appears to be, in a sense, the standard\nversion.  Nevertheless, it leaves very much to be desired in point of\naccuracy, although the general sense of each section is usually caught.\nOf later years Mr. Griffith has done important work on this text, and I\nam indebted to his translations for several readings.\n\nAs regards the version here offered, I will only say that it has been\ndone with considerable care, {39} without prejudice, and, it is\nthought, in accordance with scientific methods of translation; and that\nit has been compared with all previous renderings, and will be found to\nbe, on the whole, the most accurate that has yet appeared.\n\nAnd now I will leave Ptah-hotep to speak for himself.  It may be\nthought that he has been introduced at too great length; but I would\npoint out that his book has been strangely overlooked by the educated\npublic hitherto, although it would be difficult to over-estimate its\nimportance, to literature as the oldest complete book known, to ethics\nand theology as the earliest expression of the mystery we name\nConscience, and to lovers of antiquity as one of the most instructive\nand touching relics of a people and a power that once were great and\nare now brought to nothing.  By a happy chance the words of our sage\nhave been justified, in that he said, '_No word that hath here been set\ndown shall cease out of the land for ever_.'  Would indeed that we had\nmore of such books as this, whereby we may a little lighten the\ndarkness that lies behind the risings of a million suns; and learn how\nlittle the human heart, and the elements of human intercourse, alter\nthroughout the ages.  And what of the other writers of that time, whose\nworks and whose very names are entirely swept away?  To this there is\nno better answer made than in the lamentation made by the harper close\nupon five {40} thousand years ago, which was written up in the tomb of\nKing 'Entef:\n\n_Those that built them tombs_, he sang, _have now no resting-place.\nLo! what of their deeds?  I have heard the words of Yemhotep and of\nHardedef, whose sayings men repeat continually.  Behold! where are\ntheir abodes?  Their walls are over-thrown, and their places are not,\neven as though they had not been._'\n\nThe burden of Egypt.\n\n\nBATTISCOMBE G. GUNN.\n\n3, PARK HILL ROAD,\n  CROYDON.\n\n\n\n[1] Much ingenuity has been expended to show that Egyptian manners and\ncustoms, books, and other things, were \"much the same\" as our own, as\nthough the supposed similarity reflected any credit either on them or\non us.  Except in customs which are common to all times and places, as\ndrinking beer, writing love-letters, making wills, going to school, and\nother things antecedently probable, the Egyptian life can show very few\nparallels to the life of to-day.\n\n[2] The monuments leave no doubt of this.  Pen and ink were used in the\nFirst Dynasty, and speech had been reduced to visible signs before that.\n\n[3] About B.C. 1770.  In all Egyptian dates given in this book I follow\nProfessor Petrie's chronology.\n\n[4] These are round figures, of course, and in the case of Solomon and\nMoses traditional dates.  Modern criticism places _Genesis_ and\n_Proverbs_ much later than 1500 and 1000 B.C.\n\n[5] See Appendix for the literature of this papyrus.\n\n[6] These were kings of the Eleventh Dynasty, about 2986 B.C.\n\n[7] In the translation these divisions are indicated, for purposes of\nreference, by numbers and letters, which are not, of course, in the\noriginal.  So also in the Instruction of Amenemhe'et (Appendix).\n\n[8] Pwenet: the identification is not certain.\n\n[9] Fragments of another are in the British Museum.\n\n[10] It has been thought to be as late as the Seventeenth (about 1600\nB.C.), but the balance of opinion favours the above-mentioned period.\n\n[11] The inscriptions and sculptures from this tomb have not yet been\npublished, but a work dealing with it will shortly appear.  The above\ntitles, excepting the first, are from Lepsius, _Denkmaeler aus Aegypten\nund Aethiopien_, Abth. II. 48, Berlin, 1849-68.\n\n[12] Called Ptah-hotep I. by Egyptologists.  For a description of his\ntomb, see Mariette, A., _Les Mastabas de l'Ancien Empire_, Paris, 1889,\nD. 62.  For the other Ptah-hotep under Isosi, see Quibell, J. E., and\nGriffith, F. L., _Egyptian Research Account; The Ramesseum and the Tomb\nof Ptah-Hotep_, London, 1898.  Also Davies, N. de G., and Griffith, F.\nL., _Egypt Exploration Fund; The Mastaba of Ptahhetep and Akhethetep at\nSaqqara_, 2 vols., London, 1900, 1901.  The little figure on the cover\nof this book is from this tomb.\n\n[13] _The Wisdom of the Son of Sirach_, chap. xliv.\n\n[14] The Egyptians were monogamists at this time, and the wife enjoyed\nsocial equality with her husband.\n\n[15] Page 29, footnote.\n\n[16] _Noter_.\n\n[17] This is an arbitrary name not existing in the original.  It would\nbe better named 'The Declaration of Innocence.'\n\n[18] It has been thought by many Egyptologists that 'the God' mentioned\nin this and other texts is a nameless monotheistic abstraction\ntranscending all named gods.  Although this theory has the support of\nmany great names, I venture to say that the evidence for such an\nimportant doctrine is in the highest degree unsatisfactory.\n\n[19] The books mentioned here are set forth in detail in the\nBibliography.\n\n[20] Only of Ptah-hotep.\n\n\n\n\n{41}\n\nTHE INSTRUCTION OF PTAH-HOTEP\n\nThe Ethics of Argument--Manners for Guests--From Father to Son--A Just\nJudge--The Treatment of Servants--Duties of the Great--The Test of\nFriendship--The Beauty of Obedience--One Generation to Another--Whom\nthe King Honoureth\n\n\nThe Instruction of the Governor of his City, the Vizier, Ptah-hotep, in\nthe Reign of the King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Isosi, living for ever,\nto the end of Time.\n\n\nA.  The Governor of his City, the Vizier, Ptah-hotep, he said: 'O\nPrince, my Lord, the end of life is at hand; old age descendeth [upon\nme]; feebleness cometh, and childishness is renewed.  He [that is old]\nlieth down in misery every day.  The eyes are small; the ears are deaf.\nEnergy is diminished, the heart hath no rest.  The mouth is silent, and\nhe speaketh no word; the heart stoppeth, and he remembereth not\nyesterday.  The bones are painful throughout the body; good turneth\nunto evil.  All taste departeth.  These things doeth old age for\nmankind, being evil in all things.  The nose is stopped, and he\nbreatheth not for weakness (?), whether standing or sitting.\n\n'Command me, thy servant, therefore, to make over my princely authority\n[to my son].  Let me speak unto him the words of them that hearken to\nthe counsel of the men of old time; those that {42} hearkened unto the\ngods.  I pray thee, let this thing be done, that sin may be banished\nfrom among persons of understanding, that thou may enlighten the lands.'\n\nSaid the Majesty of this God:[1] 'Instruct him, then, in the words of\nold time; may he be a wonder unto the children of princes, that they\nmay enter and hearken with him.  Make straight all their hearts; and\ndiscourse with him, without causing weariness.'\n\n\nB.  Here begin the proverbs of fair speech, spoken by the Hereditary\nChief, the Holy Father,[2] Beloved of the God, the Eldest Son of the\nKing, of his body, the Governor of his City, the Vezier, Ptah-hotep,\nwhen instructing the ignorant in the knowledge of exactness in\nfair-speaking; the glory of him that obeyeth, the shame of him that\ntransgresseth them.\n\nHe said unto his son:\n\n\n1.  Be not proud because thou art learned; but discourse with the\nignorant man, as with the sage.  For no limit can be set to skill,\nneither is there any craftsman that possesseth full advantages.  Fair\nspeech is more rare than the emerald that is found by slave-maidens on\nthe pebbles.\n\n2.  If thou find an arguer talking, one that is well disposed and wiser\nthan thou, let thine arms {43} fall, bend thy back,[3] be not angry\nwith him if he agree (?) not with thee.  Refrain from speaking evilly;\noppose him not at any time when he speaketh.  If he address thee as one\nignorant of the matter, thine humbleness shall bear away his\ncontentions.\n\n3.  If thou find an arguer talking, thy fellow, one that is within thy\nreach, keep not silence when he saith aught that is evil; so shalt thou\nbe wiser than he.  Great will be the applause on the part of the\nlisteners, and thy name shall be good in the knowledge of princes.\n\n4.  If thou find an arguer talking, a poor man, that is to say not\nthine equal, be not scornful toward him because he is lowly.  Let him\nalone; then shall he confound himself.  Question him not to please\nthine heart, neither pour out thy wrath upon him that is before thee;\nit is shameful to confuse a mean mind.  If thou be about to do that\nwhich is in thine heart, overcome it as a thing rejected of princes.\n\n5.  If thou be a leader, as one directing the conduct of the multitude,\nendeavour always to be gracious, that thine own conduct be without\ndefect.  Great is Truth, appointing a straight path; never hath it been\noverthrown since the {44} reign of Osiris.[4]  One that oversteppeth\nthe laws shall be punished.  Overstepping is by the covetous man; but\ndegradations (?) bear off his riches, for the season of his evil-doing\nceaseth not.  For he saith, 'I will obtain by myself for myself,' and\nsaith not, 'I will obtain because I am allowed.'  But the limits of\njustice are steadfast; it is that which a man repeateth from his father.\n\n6.  Cause not fear among men; for [this] the God punisheth likewise.\nFor there is a man that saith, 'Therein is life'; and he is bereft of\nthe bread of his mouth.  There is a man that saith, 'Power [is\ntherein]'; and he saith, 'I seize for myself that which I perceive.'\nThus a man speaketh, and he is smitten down.  It is another that\nattaineth by giving unto him that hath not; not he that causeth men\ndread.  For it happeneth that what the God hath commanded, even that\nthing cometh to pass.  Live, therefore, in the house of kindliness, and\nmen shall come and give gifts of themselves.\n\n7.  If thou be among the guests of a man that is greater than thou,\naccept that which he giveth thee, putting it to thy lips.  If thou look\nat him that is before thee (thine host), pierce him not {45} with many\nglances.  It is abhorred of the soul[5] to stare at him.  Speak not\ntill he address thee; one knoweth not what may be evil in his opinion.\nSpeak when he questioneth thee; so shall thy speech be good in his\nopinion.  The noble who sitteth before food divideth it as his soul\nmoveth him; he giveth unto him that he would favour--it is the custom\nof the evening meal.  It is his soul that guideth his hand.  It is the\nnoble that bestoweth, not the underling that attaineth.  Thus the\neating of bread is under the providence of the God; he is an ignorant\nman that disputeth it.\n\n8.  If thou be an emissary sent from one noble to another, be exact\nafter the manner of him that sent thee, give his message even as he\nhath said it.  Beware of making enmity by thy words, setting one noble\nagainst the other by perverting truth.  Overstep it not, neither repeat\nthat which any man, be he prince or peasant, saith in opening the\nheart; it is abhorrent to the soul.\n\n9.  If thou have ploughed, gather thine harvest in the field, and the\nGod shall make it great under thine hand.  Fill not thy mouth at thy\nneighbours' table....[6]  If a crafty man be the {46} possessor of\nwealth, he stealeth like a crocodile from the priests.\n\nLet not a man be envious that hath no children; let him be neither\ndowncast nor quarrelsome on account of it.  For a father, though great,\nmay be grieved; as to the mother of children, she hath less peace than\nanother.  Verily, each man is created [to his destiny] by the God, Who\nis the chief of a tribe, trustful in following him.\n\n10.  If thou be lowly, serve a wise man, that all thine actions may be\ngood before the God.  If thou have known a man of none account that\nhath been advanced in rank, be not haughty toward him on account of\nthat which thou knowest concerning him; but honour him that hath been\nadvanced, according to that which he hath become.\n\nBehold, riches come not of themselves; it is their rule for him that\ndesireth them.  If he bestir him and collect them himself, the God\nshall make him prosperous; but He shall punish him, if he be slothful.\n\n11.  Follow thine heart during thy lifetime; do not more than is\ncommanded thee.  Diminish not the time of following the heart; it is\nabhorred of the soul, that its time [of ease] be taken away.  Shorten\nnot the daytime more than is needful to {47} maintain thine house.\nWhen riches are gained, follow the heart; for riches are of no avail if\none be weary.\n\n12.  If thou wouldest be a wise man, beget a son for the pleasing of\nthe God.  If he make straight his course after thine example, if he\narrange thine affairs in due order, do unto him all that is good, for\nthy son is he, begotten of thine own soul.  Sunder not thine heart from\nhim, or thine own begotten shall curse [thee].  If he be heedless and\ntrespass thy rules of conduct, and is violent; if every speech that\ncometh from his mouth be a vile word; then beat thou him, that his talk\nmay be fitting.  Keep him from those that make light of that which is\ncommanded, for it is they that make him rebellious.[7]  And they that\nare guided go not astray, but they that lose their bearings cannot find\na straight course.\n\n13.  If thou be in the chamber of council, act always according to the\nsteps enjoined on thee at the beginning of the day.  Be not absent, or\nthou shall be expelled; but be ready in entering and making report.\nWide[8] is the seat of one that hath made address.  The council-chamber\nacteth by strict rule; and all its plans are in accordance with method.\nIt is the God that {48} advanceth one to a seat therein; the like is\nnot done for elbowers.\n\n14.  If thou be among people, make for thyself love, the beginning and\nend of the heart.  One that knoweth not his course shall say in himself\n(seeing thee), 'He that ordereth himself duly becometh the owner of\nwealth; I shall copy his conduct.'  Thy name shall be good, though thou\nspeak not; thy body shall be fed; thy face shall be [seen] among thy\nneighbours; thou shalt be provided with what thou lackest.  As to the\nman whose heart obeyeth his belly, he causeth disgust in place of love.\nHis heart is wretched (?), his body is gross (?), he is insolent toward\nthose endowed of the God.  He that obeyeth his belly hath an enemy.[9]\n\n15.  Report thine actions without concealment; discover thy conduct\nwhen in council with thine overlord.  It is not evil for the envoy that\nhis report be not answered, 'Yea, I know it,' by the prince; for that\nwhich he knoweth includeth not [this].  If he (the prince) think that\nhe will oppose him on account of it, [he thinketh] 'He will be silent\nbecause I have spoken.'[10]\n\n16.  If thou be a leader, cause that the rules {49} that thou hast\nenjoined be carried out; and do all things as one that remembereth the\ndays coming after, when speech availeth not.  Be not lavish of favours;\nit leadeth to servility (?), producing slackness.\n\n17.  If thou be a leader, be gracious when thou hearkenest unto the\nspeech of a suppliant.  Let him not hesitate to deliver himself of that\nwhich he hath thought to tell thee; but be desirous of removing his\ninjury.  Let him speak freely, that the thing for which he hath come to\nthee may be done.  If he hesitate to open his heart, it is said, 'Is it\nbecause he (the judge) doeth the wrong that no entreaties are made to\nhim concerning it by those to whom it happeneth?' But a well-taught\nheart hearkeneth readily.\n\n18.  If thou desire to continue friendship in any abode wherein thou\nenterest, be it as master, as brother, or as friend; wheresoever thou\ngoest, beware of consorting with women.  No place prospereth wherein\nthat is done.  Nor is it prudent to take part in it; a thousand men\nhave been ruined for the pleasure of a little time short as a dream.\nEven death is reached thereby; it is a wretched thing.  As for the evil\nliver, one leaveth him for what he doeth, he is avoided.  If his\ndesires be not gratified, he regardeth (?) no laws.\n\n{50}\n\n19.  If thou desire that thine actions may be good, save thyself from\nall malice, and beware of the quality of covetousness, which is a\ngrievous inner (?) malady.  Let it not chance that thou fall thereinto.\nIt setteth at variance fathers-in-law and the kinsmen of the\ndaughter-in-law; it sundereth the wife and the husband.  It gathereth\nunto itself all evils; it is the girdle of all wickedness.[11]  But the\nman that is just flourisheth; truth goeth in his footsteps, and he\nmaketh habitations therein, not in the dwelling of covetousness.\n\n20.  Be not covetous as touching shares, in seizing that which is not\nthine own property.  Be not covetous toward thy neighbours; for with a\ngentle man praise availeth more than might.  He [that is covetous]\ncometh empty from among his neighbours, being void of the persuasion of\nspeech.  One hath remorse for even a little covetousness when his belly\ncooleth.\n\n21.  If thou wouldest be wise, provide for thine house, and love thy\nwife that is in thine arms.  Fill her stomach, clothe her back; oil is\nthe remedy of her limbs.  Gladden her heart during thy lifetime, for\nshe is an estate profitable unto its lord.  Be not harsh, for\ngentleness mastereth her more than strength.  Give (?) to her that for\nwhich she sigheth and that toward which her {51} eye looketh; so shalt\nthou keep her in thine house....\n\n22.  Satisfy thine hired servants out of such things as thou hast; it\nis the duty of one that hath been favoured of the God.  In sooth, it is\nhard to satisfy hired servants.  For one[12] saith, 'He is a lavish\nperson; one knoweth not that which may come [from him].'  But on the\nmorrow he thinketh, 'He is a person of exactitude (parsimony), content\ntherein.'  And when favours have been shown unto servants, they say,\n'We go.'  Peace dwelleth not in that town wherein dwell servants that\nare wretched.\n\n23.  Repeat not extravagant speech, neither listen thereto; for it is\nthe utterance of a body heated by wrath.  When such speech is repeated\nto thee, hearken not thereto, look to the ground.  Speak not regarding\nit, that he that is before thee may know wisdom.  If thou be commanded\nto do a theft, bring it to pass that the command be taken off thee, for\nit is a thing hateful according to law.  That which destroyeth a vision\nis the veil over it.\n\n24.  If thou wouldest be a wise man, and one sitting in council with\nhis overlord, apply thine heart unto perfection.  Silence is more\nprofitable unto thee than abundance of speech.  Consider {52} how thou\nmay be opposed by an expert that speaketh in council.  It is a foolish\nthing to speak on every kind of work, for he that disputeth thy words\nshall put them unto proof.\n\n25.  If thou be powerful, make thyself to be honoured for knowledge and\nfor gentleness.  Speak with authority, that is, not as if following\ninjunctions, for he that is humble (when highly placed) falleth into\nerrors.  Exalt not thine heart, that it be not brought low.[13]  Be not\nsilent, but beware of interruption and of answering words with heat.\nPut it far from thee; control thyself.   The wrathful heart speaketh\nfiery words; it darteth out at the man of peace that approacheth,\nstopping his path.\n\nOne that reckoneth accounts all the day passeth not an happy moment.\nOne that gladdeneth his heart all the day provideth not for his house.\nThe bowman hitteth the mark, as the steersman reacheth land, by\ndiversity of aim.  He that obeyeth his heart shall command.[14]\n\n26.  Let not a prince be hindered when he is occupied; neither oppress\nthe heart of him that is already laden.  For he shall be hostile toward\none that delayeth him, but shall bare his soul {53} unto one that\nloveth him.  The disposal of souls is with the God, and that which He\nloveth is His creation.  Set out, therefore, after a violent quarrel;\nbe at peace with him that is hostile unto [thee] his opponent.  It is\nsuch souls that make love to grow.\n\n27.  Instruct a noble in such things as be profitable unto him; cause\nthat he be received among men.  Let his satisfaction fall on his\nmaster, for thy provision dependeth upon his will.  By reason of it thy\nbelly shall be satisfied; thy back will be clothed thereby.  Let him\nreceive thine heart, that thine house may flourish and thine honour--if\nthou wish it to flourish--thereby.  He shall extend thee a kindly hand.\nFurther, he shall implant the love of thee in the bodies of thy\nfriends.  Forsooth, it is a soul loving to hearken.[15]\n\n28.  If thou be the son of a man of the priesthood, and an envoy to\nconciliate the multitude,....[16] speak thou without favouring one\nside.  Let it not be said, 'His conduct is that of the nobles,\nfavouring one side in his speech.'  Turn thine aim toward exact\njudgments.\n\n{54}\n\n29.  If thou have been gracious at a former time, having forgiven a man\nto guide him aright, shun him, remind him not after the first day that\nhe hath been silent to thee [concerning it].\n\n30.  If thou be great, after being of none account, and hast gotten\nriches after squalor, being foremost in these in the city, and hast\nknowledge concerning useful matters, so that promotion is come unto\nthee; then swathe not thine heart in thine hoard, for thou art become\nthe steward of the endowments of the God.  Thou art not the last;\nanother shall be thine equal, and to him shall come the like [fortune\nand station].\n\n31.  Bend thy back unto thy chief, thine overseer in the King's palace,\nfor thine house dependeth upon his wealth, and thy wages in their\nseason.  How foolish is one that quarrelleth with his chief, for one\nliveth only while he is gracious....\n\nPlunder not the houses of tenants; neither steal the things of a\nfriend, lest he accuse thee in thine hearing, which thrusteth back the\nheart.[17]  If he know of it, he will do thee an injury.  Quarrelling\nin place of friendship is a foolish thing.\n\n{55}\n\n32.  [Concerning continence].\n\n33.  If thou wouldest seek out the nature of a friend, ask it not of\nany companion of his; but pass a time with him alone, that thou injure\nnot his affairs.  Debate with him after a season; test his heart in an\noccasion of speech.  When he hath told thee his past life, he hath made\nan opportunity that thou may either be ashamed for him or be familiar\nwith him.  Be not reserved with him when he openeth speech, neither\nanswer him after a scornful manner.  Withdraw not thyself from him,\nneither interrupt (?) him whose matter is not yet ended, whom it is\npossible to benefit.\n\n34.  Let thy face be bright what time thou livest.  That which goeth\ninto the storehouse must come out therefrom; and bread is to be shared.\nHe that is grasping in entertainment shall himself have an empty belly;\nhe that causeth strife cometh himself to sorrow.  Take not such an one\nfor thy companion.  It is a man's kindly acts that are remembered of\nhim in the years after his life.[18]\n\n35.  Know well thy merchants; for when thine affairs are in evil case,\nthy good repute among thy friends is a channel (?) which is filled.  It\nis more important than the dignities of a man; and {56} the wealth of\none passeth to another.  The good repute of a man's son is a glory unto\nhim; and a good character is for remembrance.\n\n36.  Correct chiefly; instruct conformably [therewith].  Vice must be\ndrawn out, that virtue may remain.  Nor is this a matter of misfortune,\nfor one that is a gainsayer becometh a strife-maker.\n\n37.  If thou make a woman to be ashamed, wanton of heart, one known by\nher townsfolk to be falsely placed, be kind unto her for a space, send\nher not away, give her to eat.  The wantonness of her heart shall\nesteem thy guidance.\n\n\nC.  If thou obey these things that I have said unto thee, all thy\ndemeanour shall be of the best; for, verily, the quality of truth is\namong their excellences.  Set the memory of them in the mouths of the\npeople; for their proverbs are good.  Nor shall any word that hath here\nbeen set down cease out of this land for ever, but shall be made a\npattern whereby princes shall speak well.  They (my words) shall\ninstruct a man; how he shall speak, after he hath heard them; yea, he\nshall become as one skilful in obeying, excellent in speaking, after he\nhath heard them.  Good fortune shall befall him, for he shall be of the\nhighest rank.  He shall be gracious to the end of his life; he shall be\n{57} contented always.  His knowledge shall be his guide (?) into a\nplace of security, wherein he shall prosper while on earth.  The\nscholar[19] shall be content in his knowledge.  As to the prince, in\nhis turn, forsooth, his heart shall be happy, his tongue made straight.\nAnd [in these proverbs] his lips shall speak, his eyes shall see, and\nhis ears shall hear, that which is profitable for his son, so that he\ndeal justly, void of deceit.\n\n38.  A splendid thing is the obedience of an obedient son; he cometh in\nand listeneth obediently.\n\nExcellent in hearing, excellent in speaking, is every man that obeyeth\nwhat is noble; and the obedience of an obeyer is a noble thing.\n\nObedience is better than all things that are; it maketh good-will.\n\nHow good it is that a son should take that from his father by which he\nhath reached old age (Obedience).\n\nThat which is desired by the God is obedience; disobedience is abhorred\nof the God.\n\nVerily, it is the heart that maketh its master to obey or to disobey;\nfor the safe and sound life of a man are his heart.\n\nIt is the obedient man that obeyeth what is said; he that loveth to\nobey, the same shall carry out commands.\n\n{58}\n\nHe that obeyeth becometh one obeyed.\n\nIt is good indeed when a son obeyeth his father; and he (his father)\nthat hath spoken hath great joy of it.  Such a son shall be mild as a\nmaster, and he that heareth him shall obey him that hath spoken.  He\nshall be comely in body and honoured by his father.  His memory shall\nbe in the mouths of the living, those upon earth, as long as they\nexist.[20]\n\n39.  Let a son receive the word of his father, not being heedless of\nany rule of his.  Instruct thy son [thus]; for the obedient man is one\nthat is perfect in the opinion of princes.  If he direct his mouth by\nwhat hath been enjoined him, watchful and obedient, thy son shall be\nwise, and his goings seemly.  Heedlessness leadeth unto disobedience on\nthe morrow; but understanding shall stablish him.  As for the fool, he\nshall be crushed.\n\n40.  As for the fool, devoid of obedience, he doeth nothing.  Knowledge\nhe regardeth as ignorance, profitable things as hurtful things.  He\ndoeth all kind of errors, so that he is rebuked therefor every day.  He\nliveth in death {59} therewith; it is his food.  At chattering speech\nhe marvelleth, as at the wisdom of princes, living in death every day.\nHe is shunned because of his misfortunes, by reason of the multitude of\nafflictions that cometh upon him every day.\n\n41.  A son that hearkeneth is as a Follower of Horus.[21]  He is good\nafter he hearkeneth; he groweth old, he reacheth honour and reverence.\nHe repeateth in like manner to his sons and daughters, so renewing the\ninstruction of his father.  Each man instructeth as did his begetter,\nrepeating it unto his children.  Let them [in turn] speak with their\nsons and daughters, that they may be famous in their deeds.  Let that\nwhich thou speakest implant true things and just in the life of thy\nchildren.  Then the highest authority shall arrive, and sins depart\n[from them].  And such men as see these things shall say, 'Surely that\nman hath spoken to good purpose,' and they shall do likewise; or, 'But\nsurely that man was experienced.'  And all people shall declare, 'It is\nthey that shall direct the multitude; dignities are not complete\nwithout them.'\n\nTake not any word away, neither add one; {60} set not one in the place\nof another.  Beware of opening...[22] in thyself.\n\nBe wary of speech when a learned man hearkeneth unto thee; desire to be\nstablished for good in the mouth of those that hear thee speaking.  If\nthou have entered as an expert, speak with exact (?) lips, that thy\nconduct may be seemly.\n\n42.  Be thine heart overflowing; but refrain thy mouth.  Let thy\nconduct be exact while amongst nobles, and seemly before thy lord,\ndoing that which he hath commanded.  Such a son shall speak unto them\nthat hearken to him; moreover, his begetter shall be favoured.  Apply\nthine heart, what time thou speakest, to saying things such that the\nnobles who listen declare, 'How excellent is that which cometh out of\nhis mouth!'\n\n43.  Carry out the behest of thy lord to thee.  How good is the\nteaching of a man's father, for he hath come from him, who hath spoken\nof his son while he was yet unborn; and that which is done for him (the\nson) is more than that which is commanded him.  Forsooth, a good son is\nof the gift of the God; he doeth more than is {61} enjoined on him, he\ndoeth right, and putteth his heart into all his goings.\n\n\nD.  If now thou attain my position, thy body shall flourish, the King\nshall be content in all that thou doest, and thou shalt gather years of\nlife not fewer than I have passed upon earth.  I have gathered even\nfivescore and ten years of life, for the King hath bestowed upon me\nfavours more than upon my forefathers; this because I wrought truth and\njustice for the King unto mine old age.\n\n\n  IT IS FINISHED\n\n  FROM ITS BEGINNING TO ITS END\n\n  EVEN AS FOUND IN WRITING.\n\n\n\n[1] The King.\n\n[2] Title of an order of the priesthood.\n\n[3] The customary attitude of a submissive inferior at that time.\n\n[4] The God Osiris was believed to have reigned on earth many thousand\nyears before Menes, the first historical king.\n\n[5] Soul = _ka'_, and throughout this work.   _Ka'_ is translated\n_person_ in Sec. 22, _will_ in Sec. 27.\n\n[6] An obscure or corrupt phrase here follows, which does not admit of\nsatisfactory translation.\n\n[7] Translation doubtful.\n\n[8] _i.e._ comfortable.\n\n[9] His belly, presumably.\n\n[10] The above translation is not satisfactory; the text may be\ncorrupt.  No intelligible translation of it has yet been made.\n\n[11] _i.e._ all wickedness is contained therein.\n\n[12] A servant.\n\n[13] Compare Prov. xvii. 18.\n\n[14] So also in life, by diversity of aim, alternating work and play,\nhappiness is secured.  Tacking is evidently meant in the case of the\nsteersman.\n\n[15] This section refers to the relations between the son of a nobleman\nand his tutor, dwelling on the benefits from former pupils in high\nplaces, if their schooldays have been pleasant.  The last sentence of\nthis section, as of sections 23 and 25, is somewhat _a propos des\nbottes_.\n\n[16] An obscure phrase is here.\n\n[17] Literally, \"It is that which preventeth the heart from advancing\n(?)\"  A curious phrase.\n\n[18] Literally, after his stick or sceptre.\n\n[19] Who knows them.\n\n[20] The greater part of this section is a play upon the root _'sodem_,\nwhich in its meaning includes our _hear_ (_listen_) and _obey_.  This\ntiresome torture of words is frequent in Egyptian, especially in old\nreligious texts.\n\n[21] The \"Followers of Horus\" are a legendary dynasty of demigods,\nbelieved by the Egyptians to have ruled for about 13,400 years after\nthe reign of Horus, and before that of Menes.  There is also an order\nof spirits of this name.\n\n[22] A word of unknown meaning; apparently some kind of plant.  Such a\nword seems out of place here, and may be idiomatic, like our \"flowery\nlanguage.\"  But the preceding line obviously refers to this book.\n\n\n\n\n{62}\n\nTHE INSTRUCTION OF KE'GEMNI\n\nOn Avoiding Offence\n\n\n1.[1] The cautious man flourisheth, the exact one is praised; the\ninnermost chamber openeth unto the man of silence.  Wide[2] is the seat\nof the man gentle of speech; but knives are prepared against one that\nforceth a path, that he advance not, save in due season.\n\n2.  If thou sit with a company of people, desire not the bread that\nthou likest: short is the time of restraining the heart, and gluttony\nis an abomination; therein is the quality of a beast.  A cup of water\nquencheth the thirst, and a mouthful of melon supporteth the heart.  A\ngood thing standeth for goodness, but some small thing standeth for\nplenty.[3]  A base man is he that is governed by his belly; he\ndeparteth only when he is no longer able to fill full his belly in\nmen's houses.\n\n{63}\n\n3.  If thou sit with a glutton, eat with him, then depart (?).\n\nIf thou drink with a drunkard, accept [drink], and his heart shall be\nsatisfied.\n\nRefuse not meat when with a greedy man.  Take that which he giveth\nthee; set it not on one side, thinking that it will be a courteous\nthing.\n\n4.  If a man be lacking in good fellowship, no speech hath any\ninfluence over him.  He is sour of face toward the glad-hearted that\nare kindly to him; he is a grief unto his mother and his friends; and\nall men [cry], 'Let thy name be known; thou art silent in thy mouth\nwhen thou art addressed!'\n\n5.  Be not haughty because of thy might in the midst of thy young\nsoldiers.  Beware of making strife, for one knoweth not the things that\nthe God will do when He punisheth.\n\nThe Vizier caused his sons and daughters to be summoned, when he had\nfinished the rules of the conduct of men.  And they marvelled when they\ncame to him.  Then he said unto them, 'Hearken unto everything that is\nin writing in this book, even as I have said it in adding unto\nprofitable sayings.'  And they cast themselves on their bellies, and\nthey read it, even as it was in writing.  And it was better in their\nopinion than any thing in this land unto its limits.\n\nNow they were living when His Majesty, the King of Upper and Lower\nEgypt, HEUNI, {64} departed, and His Majesty, the King of Upper and\nLower Egypt, SENFORU, was enthroned as a gracious king over the whole\nof this land.\n\nThen was Ke'gemni made Governor of his City and Vizier.\n\n\nIT IS FINISHED.\n\n\n\n[1] The original is not divided into sections.\n\n[2] _i.e._ comfortable\n\n[3] This is a rather dark saying, but apparently the author means that\nalthough the duly instructed guest will only partake moderately of the\nabundance before him, what he eats is as good as the rest.  His portion\nwill be equal to the whole as regards quality, though inferior as\nregards quantity.\n\n\n\n\n{65}\n\nAPPENDIX\n\nThe Instruction of Amenemhe'et I. is here given as a contrast to the\nforegoing.  It is a Testament, however, rather than an Instruction, and\ncontains more historical matter than didactic.  It is written in a\nterse and pointed style, combined with the parallelism and antithesis\nwhich was the prevailing vehicle of poetic thought in Egyptian.  The\nrank of its author and the exceeding bitterness of his mood make it a\ndocument of great interest.  There is no reason to doubt its\nauthenticity.\n\nThis King was the founder of the glorious Twelfth Dynasty, a period\nwhich has been called the Golden Age of Egypt.  He ruled from about\n2778-2748 B.C., and, although he describes himself as over-lenient, was\nreally one of the most vigorous and powerful of all the Sons of the Sun\nwho for five thousand years wore the double crown of the Two Egypts.\n\nThe circumstances in which the new dynasty arose are not known; nor\nhave we any other record of the attempt on his life, here recounted.\n{66} In the twentieth year of his reign he associated his son,\nSenwesert I., with him in a co-regency which lasted ten years.  From Sec.8\nwe gather that the attempted assassination took place just before the\ndual rule; while the Instruction was evidently penned shortly before\nthe writer's death.  The 'house' referred to is presumably his\npyramid-tomb, called Ke'-nofer-amenemhe'et.  _Amenemhe'et is exalted\nand good_.  The site of this building is not known.\n\nThis Instruction was popular as a school exercise in the 'New Kingdom,'\nand we possess several copies or parts of copies.  There is no good\ntext for the latter part (Sec.Sec. 12 _ff_), which is corrupt in such MSS. as\ncontain it.\n\nI have used the critical text of Mr. Griffith, published in the\n_Zeitschrift fuer aegyptische Sprache_, 1896.\n\nIt is hoped that the Bibliography will be useful to students of the\nbooks of Ptah-hotep and Ke'gemni.\n\nB. G. G.\n\n\n\n\n{67}\n\nTHE INSTRUCTION OF AMENEMHE'ET\n\nA Palace Conspiracy--Hail and Farewell\n\n\nBeginneth here the Instruction made by the Majesty of the King of Upper\nand Lower Egypt SEHOTEP-'EB-RE', Son of the Sun AMENEMHE'ET, the\nJustified.[1]  He speaketh thus in discovering words of truth unto his\nSon, the Lord of the World:\n\n1.  Shine forth, he saith, even as the God.  Hearken to that which I\nsay unto thee: that thou may reign over the land, that thou may govern\nthe world, that thou may excel in goodness.\n\n2.  Let one withdraw himself from his subordinates entirely.  It\nbefalleth that mankind give their hearts unto one that causeth them\nfear.   Mix not among them alone; fill not thine heart with a brother;\nknow not a trusted friend; make for thyself no familiar dependents; in\nthese things is no satisfaction.\n\n3.  When thou liest down have care for thy very life,[2] since friends\nexist not for a man in the {68} day of misfortunes.  I gave to the\nbeggar, and caused the orphan to live; I made him that had not to\nattain, even as he that had.\n\n4.  But it was the eater of my food that made insurrection against me;\nto whom I gave mine hands, he created disturbance thereby; they that\narrayed them in my fine linen regarded me a shadow; and it was they\nthat anointed themselves with my spices that entered my harem.\n\n5.  My images are among the living; and my achievements are among men.\nBut I have made an heroic story that hath not been heard; a great feat\nof arms that hath not been seen.  Surely one fighteth for a lassoed ox\nthat forgetteth yesterday;[3] and good fortune is of no avail unto one\nthat cannot perceive it.\n\n6.  It was after the evening meal, and night was come.  I took for\nmyself an hour of ease.  I lay down upon my bed, for I was weary.  My\nheart began to wander (?).  I slept.  And lo! weapons were brandished,\nand there was conference concerning me.  I acted as the serpent of the\ndesert.[4]\n\n7.  I awoke to fight; I was alone.  I found one struck down, it was the\ncaptain of the guard.  Had I received quickly the arms from his hand,\n{69} I had driven back the dastards by smiting around.  But he was not\na brave man on that night, nor could I fight alone; an occasion of\nprowess cometh not to one surprised.  Thus was I.\n\n8.  Behold, then, vile things came to pass, for I was without thee; the\ncourtiers knew not that I had passed on to thee [my power], I sat not\nwith thee on the throne.[5]  Let me, then, make thy plans.  Because I\nawed them not I was not unmindful of them; but mine heart bringeth not\nto remembrance the slackness of servants.\n\n9.  Is it the custom of women to gather together assailants? are\nassassins reared within my palace? was the opening done by cutting\nthrough the ground?  The underlings were deceived as to what they\ndid.[6]  But misfortunes have not come in my train since my birth; nor\nhath there existed the equal of me as a doer of valiance.\n\n10.  I forced my way up to Elephantine, I went down unto the\ncoast-lakes;[7] I have stood upon the boundaries of the land, and I\nhave seen its centre.  I have set the limits of might by my might in my\ndeeds.\n\n11.  I raised corn, I loved Nopi[8]; the Nile begged of me every\nvalley.  In my reign none {70} hungered; none thirsted therein.  They\nwere contented in that which I did, saying concerning me, 'Every\ncommandment is meet.'\n\n12.  I overcame lions; I carried off crocodiles.  I cast the Nubians\nunder my feet; I carried off the Southern Nubians; I caused the\nAsiatics to flee, even as hounds.\n\n13.  I have made me an house, adorned with gold, its ceiling with\n_lapis lazuli_, its walls having deep foundations.  Its doors are of\ncopper, their bolts are of bronze.  It is made for ever-lasting;\neternity is in awe of it.  I know every dimension thereof, O Lord of\nthe World!\n\n14.  There are divers devices in buildings.  I know the pronouncements\nof men when inquiring into its beauties; but they know not that it was\nwithout thee, O my son, Senwesert; life, safe and sound, be to thee--by\nthy feet do I walk; thou art after mine own heart; by thine eyes do I\nsee; born in an hour of delight, with spirits[9] that rendered thee\npraise.\n\n15.  Behold, that which I have done at the beginning, let me set it in\norder for thee at the end; let me be the landing-place of that which is\nin thine heart.  All men together set the White Crown on the Offspring\nof the God, fixing it unto its due place.  I shall begin thy praises\nwhen in the Boat of Ra.  Thy kingdom hath been from primeval time; not\nby my doing, {71} who have done valiant things.  Raise up monuments,\nmake beautiful thy tomb.  I have fought against him whom thou knowest;\nfor I desire not that he should be beside thy Majesty.  Life, safe and\nsound, be to thee.\"\n\n\nIT IS FINISHED.\n\n\n\n[1] A ceremonial title applied to deceased persons, analogous to our\n\"the late.\"  \"Justified\" is not an exact rendering, but it is usual,\nand will serve.\n\n[2] Literally, _heart_.\n\n[3] An allusion to the people of Egypt, whom he had freed from the\nforeign oppressors.\n\n[4] _i.e._ he remained quiet but watchful.\n\n[5] Referring to the co-regency with his son.\n\n[6] Referring to the attempted assassination.\n\n[7] The limits, south and north, of his kingdom.\n\n[8] The god of corn.\n\n[9] Or, unborn souls (_hmmw_).\n\n\n\n\n{72}\n\nAN EXPLANATION OF NAMES OCCURRING IN THIS BOOK.\n\n\nAMENEMHE'ET  . . . .  _The God Amon is to the fore_.\n\nHEUNI  . . . . . . .  _I have smitten_.\n\nIsosi  . . . . . . .  Of unknown meaning.\n\nKE'GEMNI . . . . . .  _I have found a soul_; or, _A soul is\n                      found for me_.\n\nPTAH-HOTEP . . . . .  _The God Ptah is satisfied_, alluding\n                      either to the belief that to beget\n                      a child was pleasing to the God, or\n                      to the dedication of the child to the God.\n\nSEHOTEP-'EB-RE'  . .  _Contenting the heart of the God Ra_.\n\nSENFORU  . . . . . .  _The beautifier_.\n\nSENWESERT  . . . . .  Of doubtful meaning; connected with\n                      _The Goddess Wesert_.\n\n\nOther spellings of these names are: _Amenemhat; Huna; Assa, 'Esse';\nPtahhetep; Sehetepabra, Rasehetepab; Seneferu; Usertesen_.\n\n\n\n\n{73}\n\nBIBLIOGRAPHY\n\nBrugsch, H.  _Hieroglyphisches-demotisches Woerterbuch_ ... vols.\nv.-vii.  Leipzig, 1880 _ff._  Contains explanations of many difficult\npassages.\n\nBudge, E. A. W.  _An Egyptian Reading Book_.  London, 1888.  Second\nedition, with transliteration into italics and vocabulary, London,\n1896.  Contains the most convenient transcript of the P.P.  Follows\nthroughout that of Virey (see below).   For some amendments see\nGriffith in Proc. S.B.A. (below).  The first edition is more accurate\n(for this text) than the second.  The vocabulary needs revision.\n\nChabas, F.  _Le plus ancien livre du monde; etude sur le papyrus\nPrisse_.  Revue archeologique, premiere serie, xv. anno.  Paris, 1857.\nContains a discussion of the text, etc., and partial translation.\n\nChabas, F.  _Le papyrus Prisse_.  Zeitschrift fuer egyptische Sprache.\nBerlin, 1870.  Discusses the meaning of various words.\n\nChabas, F.  _Le plus ancien livre du monde; etude sur le papyrus\nPrisse_.  Bibliotheque orientale, vol. ii.  Paris, 1872.  The work of\n1857 recast.\n\nDumichen, J.  _Les sentences de Kakemni_.  Les Bibles et les\ninitiateurs religieux de l'humanite, vol. ii. part i.  Paris, 1884.\nContains a translation of Kg.\n\nGriffith, F. L.  _Notes on Egyptian Texts of the Middle Kingdom_, iii.\nProceedings of the Society of Biblical Archaeology, vol. xiii.  London,\n1890.  Discusses the text, correcting some previous errors in\ntranscription.  Translation of Kg. and Sec.Sec. A, B of Ph.\n\nGriffith, F. L.  _Egyptian Literature_.  A Library of the {74} World's\nBest Literature.  New York, 1898-9.  Contains translation of many\nsections.\n\nHeath, D. I.  _On a MS. of the Phoenician King Assa, ruling in Egypt\nbefore  Abraham: A Record of the Patriarchal Age; or The Proverbs of\nAphobis_, B.C. 1900; _now first fully translated_.  _Monthly Review_.\nLondon, July, 1866.  The first 'translation' of Kg. and Ph.  Afterwards\nissued as a pamphlet, London, 1858.\n\nLauth, F. J.  _Der Autor Kadjimna vor 5400 Jahren_.  Sitzungsberichte\nder kgl. bayer.  _Akademie der Wissenschaften_.  Munchen, 1869, ii.\nContains an analysis of Kg.\n\nLauth, F. J.  _Der Prim Ptah-hotep ueber das Alter: Ptah-hoteps Ethik_.\nSitzungsberichte der kgl. bayer.  Akademie der Wissenschaften.\nMuenchen, 1870, ii, Heft i, Beilage.  Contains analysis and translation\ninto Latin and German of the greater part of Ph.\n\nMahaffy, J. P.  _Prolegomena to Ancient History_, part ii.  London,\n1871.  Contains translations from Lauth's rendering.\n\nMyer, T.  _The Oldest Books in the World_.  New York, 1900.  Contains\nVirey's translation and notes.\n\nPetrie, W. M. F.  _Religion and Conscience in Ancient Egypt_.  London,\n1898.  Contains translations of many sections by F. L. Griffith.\n\nPrisse d'Avennes, E.  _Facsimile d'un papyrus egyptien, trouve a\nThebes, donne a la Bibliotheque Royale de Paris, et publie par E. P.\nd'A_.  Paris, 1847.\n\nRawnsley, H. D.  _Notes for the Nile, together with a Metrical\nRendering of the Hymns of Ancient Egypt, and of the Precepts of\nPtah-hotep_ (the Oldest Book in the World).  London, 1892.\n\nRevillout, E.  _Les deux prefaces du papyrus Prisse_.  Revue\negyptologique, tome vii.  Paris, 1896.  Contains translation of Kg. and\nSec. A of Ph.\n\nRevillout, E.  _Les Maximes de Ptah-hotep_.  Revue egyptologique, tome\nx.  Paris, 1902.  Contains translation and text of Ph.\n\nVirey, P.  _Etudes sur le papyrus Prisse, le livre de Kagimna et les\nlecons de Ptah-hotep_.  Bibliotheque de {75} l'Ecole des Hautes-Etudes,\nfasc. 70.  Paris, 1887.  Contains complete translation and elaborate\ndiscussion of the text; also glossary.\n\nVirey, P.  _The Precepts of Ptah-hotep_ (_the Oldest Book in the\nWorld_).  Records of the Past, new series, vol. iii.  London, 1890.\nContains a translation of Ph.\n\n\n\n\n_Printed by Hazell, Watson & Viney, Ld., London and Aylesbury_.\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE WISDOM OF THE EAST SERIES\n\nEdited by L. CRANMER-BYNG and Dr. S. A. KAPADIA\n\n\nThe object of the Editors of this Series is a very definite one.\n\nThey desire above all things that, in their humble way, these books\nshall be the ambassadors of good-will and understanding between East\nand West, the old world of Thought and the new of Action.  In this\nendeavour, and in their own sphere, they are but followers of the\nhighest example in the land.  They are confident that a deeper\nknowledge of the great ideals and lofty philosophy of Oriental thought\nmay help to a revival of that true spirit of Charity which neither\ndespises nor fears the nations of another creed and colour.  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The Book of Odes (Shi-King)\n\n      By L. CRANMER-BYNG.\n\n III. The Book of Changes (I-King) [_In preparation._\n\n\nThe Sayings of Lao Tzu\n\nFrom the Chinese.  Translated with Introduction by LIONEL GILES, of the\nBritish Museum.\n\n\nThe Religion of the Koran\n\nWith Introduction by ARTHUR N. WOLLASTON, C.I.E.\n\n\nWomen and Wisdom of Japan\n\nWith Introduction by S. TAKAISHI.\n\n\nThe Rose Garden of Sa'di\n\nSelected and Rendered from the Persian with Introduction by L.\nCRANMER-BYNG.\n\n\nThe Wisdom of Israel: Being Extracts from the Babylonian Talmud and\nMidrash Rabboth\n\nTranslated from the Aramaic with an Introduction by EDWIN COLLINS.\n\n\nThe Instructions of Ptah-Hotep\n\nFrom the Egyptian.  Translated with Introduction by BATTISCOMBE G. GUNN.\n\n\n\n_Others in preparation, and will be duly announced_\n\n\n_All literary communications to be addressed to the Editors at_ 4,\nHARCOURT BUILDINGS, INNER TEMPLE, LONDON\n\n\n\n_N.B.--The Editors will be pleased to receive suggestions and\ncommunications from all persons interested in Oriental literature_.","title":"The Instruction of Ptah-Hotep and the Instruction of Ke'Gemni: The Oldest Books in the World","tradition":"philosophy-ethics","translated_text":null,"word_count":15078}