Instruction of Amenemope (with other Egyptian wisdom texts)

The Morality and Religion of Amen-em-apt 130 Translation of the Teaching of Amen-em- apt a Ks 2. ; . 140-179 Hieroglyphic Transcript ‘of the Hieratic Text of the Teaching of Amen-em-apt . 181-234 The Teaching of the Scribe Ani .. We 235 Index as aN, a rae os 251 a2 any 1% > ts PAGE. Frontispiece—The Teaching of Amen-emapt, the Son of Kanekht. Plate— II].—The Teaching of Ptah-hetep Facing 8 III.—The Teaching of Tuauf, the Son of Khattai .. 4 Ps 12 IV.—The Teaching of King Khati ,, 25 V.—The Negative Confession .. ,, 29 VI.—Thoth weighing the Heart of Nebseni.. ie i »” 33 VII.—Anubis weighing the Heart of the Priestess Anhai_ .. Honey a T VIII.—The Teaching of the Scribe Ani .. ae ee 9» 236 The Judgement Hall of Osiris in the Sixth Division of the Tuat . ae 31 The Ape of Thoth and Moat oe the Heart of Iuau 3 40 The Ape of Thoth weighing the Heart of The Heart of Nebget in We Scales, the Lake of Fire, and the “ Eater of the Dead” nif 42 Ra or Horus ae the Heart of f Thena 43 The Lake of Fire and the Four Holy Apes 44 The Ape of Thoth eee the Utchat

to Thoth + 109 Apep chained in the Tuat. ap ve Wyeereae 1 4° Apep and the Crocodile Shesshes Fae hae 6 Apep chained by the Four Sons of Horus 112 The “ Hidden Hand” grasping the Chain 112 The Ape-gods oie Models of the Great Hand .. é Cokes § ©: Thoth acting as Scribe eS ae Ree Ws In the present volume a series of translations of the moral teachings of Egyptian kings and officials, arranged chronologically, has been brought together, so that the student of primitive Oriental Morality may be able to watch the evolution of moral ideas in Egypt through a period of about two thousand years, and their development into a religious philosophy of a very high character. The immediate cause of the appearance of this work is the recent publication of the original hieratic text of the “‘ Teaching of Amen-em-apt ” in the Second Series of Facsimiles of Egyptian Hieratic Papyri in the British Museum, London, 1923. I published a short account of it in the Recueil d’Etudes LEgyptologiques dédiges a2 la Mémotre de Jean Frangois Champollion, Paris, 1922, pp. 431-436, with a few extracts from the texts with translations. In the official publication I gave a longer description of its contents and a pioneer rendering of the greater part of the text, and added a hieroglyphic transcript! of the whole

1 A writer about the volume has complained because this transcript was not printed column for column opposite to the hieratic text on the plates of the facsimile, but this method would have added more than thirty folio pages to the volume. The exigencies of official economy rendered such a costly form of publication impossible, just as they made it necessary to omit other hieroglyphic transcripts, and fuller translations and descriptions, which had been prepared to appear in the volume. There was no oversight in the matter; it was merely the need of rigid economy. work. During the past years I recollated the text and succeeded in making out many of the passages that were obscure to me when writing the description of the papyrus for the official publication, and corrected a few misprints. There still remain passages in ‘“ Amen-em-apt’s Teaching ”’ as to the exact meaning of which I am uncertain, but these will no doubt be made clear when the text has been more fully examined. Meanwhile it has been pointed out to me that the official publication is costly (£6 Ios.), and that as the edition is small, the volume will be wholly inaccessible to many who wish to read and study the new teaching. It has been suggested that the publication of the revised hieroglyphic transcript and translation in a handy form would be acceptable to many, especially if they were accompanied by translations of the Teachings of Ptah-hetep, Tuauf, King Khati, Ani and other writers of Moral Precepts for purposes of comparison. In accordance with this suggestion the present volume has been written.

We have now, thanks to the labours of M. E. Dévaud, a good critical edition of the Teaching of Ptah-hetep, and for the first time a study of the Recensions of that work can be made. And Golénischeff has given us a complete reproduction of the papyri containing the Teaching of King Khati, with hieroglyphic transcripts. The importance of this little-known work, with its descriptions of the power and majesty of God and the Last Judgement, for the study of morality and religion in Egypt cannot be over-estimated. The Teachings of Tuauf and Ani the Scribe are well-known, but the Rules that Antef, the son of Sent, laid down for himself in the performance of his duty as a magistrate and highly trusted official, and that have been recently translated from Dr. Hall’s text by Moret, will be new to many. The same may be said also of Sehetepabra’s description of the greatness and might and majesty of Pharaoh his lord, whom he regarded as the counterpart of God. The value of the Moral and Religious Code which the followers of Osiris were bound to observe, if they wished to live in the kingdom of that god in the Hereafter, has been strangely overlooked, and a translation of it must necessarily appear in a book of this kind. For under the XVIIIth dynasty, if not earlier, it epitomized the whole Law, both moral and religious.

The Collections of moral and religious Teachings translated in the following pages were written between the IVth and XXIst dynasties ; of their authors two, Khati and Amen-em-hat, were kings, and the remainder were professional scribes and officials. The royal authors wrote their works for the exclusive benefit of their sons and heirs. The scribes and officials, with one exception, wrote their Teachings with the definite object of instructing their sons in the course that they should follow, if they wished to be appointed by the Pharaoh to positions similar to those held by their fathers. The exception, the Teaching of Amenem-apt, is addressed to no son, whether prince or subject, but to all men. Many of his Precepts would no doubt be of more use to officials than to any other class of people. But the greater number of his exhortations, especially those that inculcate respect for the aged, pity for the widow and the poor and the needy, mercy in judgement, sympathy with and compassion for the suffering and unfortunate, reverence for the dead and their tombs, and the showing of courtesy and kindness to all men, were written with the view of making every Egyptian love his neighbour and so serve God, whether he called him Ra or Aten. The kindly disposition of the man and his thoughtfulness for others is well illustrated by his admonition “ Treat not the blind man with ridicule (7.e., make a fool of him) and browbeat not the dwarf”’ (line 478). A remarkable feature in the Teaching of Amenem-apt is the omission of all precepts dealing with the relations of men with women, whether licit or illicit. Thus it differs greatly from the Teaching of Ptah-hetep, which contains warnings against the “woman from outside’ and the ‘‘ immature maiden,” and most carefully advises a husband to love and honour his wife, and to provide her with food and raiment in abundance, and also to protect and treat generously the woman whom he has loved, but did not marry. The Scribe Ani repeated many of Ptah-hetep’s warnings against strange women, and also warned’ his readers that the man who treated his mother lightly or neglected or wronged her in any way, might make her appeal to God for relief, and so bring punishment upon

himself. With the exception of one possible allusion to the dancing girl, Amen-em-apt makes no reference to any woman. Another characteristic difference between the Teachings of the sages of the Old Kingdom and the Teaching of Amen-em-apt may be noted. The former exhorted a man to lead a moral life and to be good because emoluments, promotion and physical well-being were to be obtained thereby, but the latter urged him to practise precepts, the observance of which would not be followed by material benefit to himself. Clearly Amen-em-apt believed that virtue was its own reward. A perusal of his teaching will, I believe, convince the reader that he was a deeply religious man and a devout worshipper of God, whose temple he frequented and enriched with offerings. But by what name did he call his God? Though he flourished under the XVIIIth dynasty, he was no follower of Amen or Amen-Ra, for neither of these names is mentioned in his teaching. Evidently the cult of Osiris did not appeal to him, for neither the name of this god nor that of any god of his company occurs in his Precepts; and as he always, when referring to the supreme Divine Power, speaks of “God” or “ the God,” it is clear that for him ‘“ the gods ”’ did not exist. But he exhorts men to pray daily for health and strength to Aten, or Athen, when he rises, and might therefore be regarded as a “ Disk worshipper’ and an adherent of the cult of Aten, which under the patronage of Amenhetep IV

attained such unenviable notoriety about B.c. 1400. But if he were, his Teaching lacks the exclusiveness and intolerance and lax principles of the followers of the cult of material things professed by that king. On the other hand, it seems to bear upon it the impress of some non-Egyptian influence, as do the well-known hymns to Aten which are put into the mouths of Amenhetep IV and his officials. Amen-em-apt’s Teaching may represent the pure and original doctrines of the priesthood of Aten at Heliopolis under the Old Kingdom, who even at that early period must have been influenced. by (or at least been in contact with) religious. views and opinions which were derived ultimately from the more easterly parts of Western Asia and perhaps from beyond. Heliopolis was certainly the mythological capital of Egypt when the Pyramid Texts were written, and I believe that it was the geographical capital of Egypt long before Memphis was built or Menes became King of the South and North. It is futile to ignore any longer the proofs, which the Assyriologists are adding to almost daily, that the religious beliefs. and ceremonies and legends of the Sumerians and Babylonians are similar in many fundamentals to those of the early dynastic peoples of Egypt. But the Teaching of Amen-em-apt may be derived from, or based upon, the doctrines that the priesthood of Herakleopolis held during the reigns of the kings of the IXth and Xth dynasties. The Teaching of Khati was a product of this period,

which was one of great literary activity, and it is probable that many of the Chapters of the Recensions of the Book of the Dead in use under the XIIth and XVIIIth dynasties were composed about that time. But, whichever view is correct, it appears to me certain that Amen-em-apt’s high moral and religious ideals were inspired by an influence that was not of African but was of Asiatic origin. E. A. WALLIS BUDGE. 48, Bloomsbury Street, W.C. 1. May I, 1924. Moratity and religion appear to have existed in Egypt from the earliest times, and the oldest remains show that although neither, judged from a modern standard, was of a very high character, primitive man recognized that he owed certain duties to his village god and to his neighbour. The god and his worshippers formed one family, and every member of the community, whether it was large or small, regarded the god as his natural protector and, as time went on, as his father. In some cases the object of worship was a goddess, who was eventually regarded as the mother of the community. MNekhebit, Uatchit, Bast and Net (Neith) are characteristic examples of very ancient mother-goddesses who were never changed into gods. The worship of the god or goddess was a distinct moral force in the community, and the obligations of primitive religion in Egypt forced a man to be moral, at all events in respect of his fellow members of the god’s family. Any act of murder, adultery or theft not only injured some member of the family, but hurt the god, and punishment followed in its train swiftly. The fear of the god and the approval of the god were strong incentives to a man to act morally. In the earliest times the moral obligations of the Egyptian were comparatively few. He had to help to maintain the simple house of the god and the god’s servant, to take his part in all work that was

essential for the well-being of the community, and A above all he must respect the lives and property of his neighbours and their wives and cattle. When necessary he had to fight the enemies of the god and of his family, to take part in all acts of public worship of the god, and to assist at all the festivals when the community as a whole ate and drank with the god. In predynastic times the Egyptian’s “neighbour”? might be defined as his fellow member in the god’s family, and no one outside it ; about his duty to him he had no doubt. But to the stranger, still more to the enemy, he might do exactly what he pleased, and the knowledge that he was acting with the approval of his god would stimulate him in his work. There is no doubt that even in primitive times in Egypt there must have been men in every village community who possessed feelings of kindness and humanity towards man and beast, and it is probable that such men soon realized that it did not pay to retaliate, or take vengeance, or exact their due to the uttermost. Old men with experience and discretion would have found out that there were cases in which it was good policy to temper justice with mercy, and their actions and decisions would permeate the community and serve as examples and guides to the younger men. And as religion developed, morality would develop, and men would be more than ever convinced that it was profitable to discharge their moral obligations honourably. It would happen of necessity that sometimes the head man or leader of a community would earn the reputation of being a good lawgiver, or a good judge, and in such a case his decisions would help to form the foundation of the law of the land, and his influence would make itself felt on the customs of the people. And when the judgements of such a leader represented

the will of the family god, men in general would soon discover that the way of the transgressor was hard, and that it only led to loss and ruin. When, at the end of the Neolithic Period, the Egyptians had learned to write, among the first things their scribes wrote down were the legal decisions and judgements of the “‘ ancestors,’”’ and the religious and moral laws of the country were also done into writing. Under the IIIrd dynasty the scribe Methen, INS ) reer received certain royal benefactions which were “‘ recorded in the register of the king,’’! and we are sure therefore that even at this early period the king kept a scribe, or scribes, who wrote at his command. And each temple must have numbered among its officials scribes whose duty it was to draft and make copies of religious texts, and presumably of the moral precepts that were composed by various authors, and were current at that time. The religious texts and the moral precepts formed two distinct classes of literature, and the object of each was different: the former were written to help the souls of the dead to secure immortality and happiness in the next world, and the latter to help a man to lead a safe and reputable life in this world. The priestly theologian spared no pains in collecting the information that would benefit the dead, and the wise and experienced public official spent anxious days in trying to make the knowledge of men and things that he had acquired available for the living, who were generally his own kinsfolk. The collector of moral precepts, as we shall see, existed in all periods of dynastic history,

Id BP IR = the Urkunden, Vol. I, p. 4. and his “ Teachings ” are to be found in Demotic! as well as in Hieratic Moral Papyri, and even the Egyptian Christian ascetics compiled their books of “Sayings of the Fathers” which contained many hundreds of admonitions, rules for life and ascetic precepts. The brother who went to Abba Abraham? and said, ‘‘ Tell me, what shall I do to live ?’’ only asked the question which the Egyptian had in all ages asked the sages, for both pagan and Christian sought for help to lead the life which would save his body and soul. The Egyptian Moral Papyri known to us are comparatively few, and they can hardly represent all that were written by the sages ; but the Books of Morals which form their contents are sufficient to enable us to judge of the scope and character of Egyptian Morality. Before we proceed to summarize their contents, it will be well to say a few words about the difficulties that beset everyone who tries to translate them. In the first place, the texts are corrupt in many passages, and the transcription of the hieratic characters in which they are written is sometimes very difficult. Two of the oldest Books (the Teaching of Kagemna and the Teaching of Ptah-hetep) were composed in the IlIrd and Vth dynasty respectively, but we have no contemporaneous copies of them, and the oldest papyrus containing them was written probably under the XIIth dynasty. To the scribe of the XIIth dynasty, who wrote the copies which we have, the language of the IIIrd and Vth dynasties was archaic, and it is quite clear that in| some passages he did not understand what he was

* See, for example, Revillout, Le Papyrus Moral de Leide, in the Journal Asiatique, Ser. X, tom. V, pp. 193-249, 1905 ; tom. VI, pp. 275-332, 1905 ; and tom. VIII, pp. 83-148, 1906. * Sayings of the Fathers, ed. Budge, No. 89. copying. Obsolete words also must have puzzled him, and the terse character of some of the utterances, to say nothing of mutilated passages and lacunae, and the similarity in form of some of the hieratic characters, often made him write nonsense, or, at any rate, something that we are wholly unable to understand. We possess portions of two copies of the Teaching of Ptah-hetep copied under the New Empire, viz., British Museum Papyrus No. 10,509 and the Carnarvon ostrakon, and one has only to consult M. Dévaud’s scholarly transcriptions of the work to see how greatly the XVIIIth or XIXth dynasty text differs from that copied under the XIJIth dynasty. The difficulty of translating such texts into a modern language can be well illustrated by selecting a passage from one of the best-known Egyptian Moral Papyri, and printing below it the translations of it which have been published by some of the greatest Egyptologists. The XIIIth Precept of the Teaching of the scribe Ani reads :—

The oldest Egyptian Book of Moral Precepts that has come down to us is the Teaching of Kagemna, and the text of it in hieratic is found in the Prisse Papyrus,} together with the Teaching of Ptah-hetep. The text in the Prisse Papyrus is incomplete; the first part of the Teaching of Kagemna, consisting probably of several pages, is wanting. Some authorities believe that the columns of the text of it which we have represent the complete work, and some do not. From the Colophon we learn that Kagemna flourished in the reign of Huni, at the end of the IIIrd dynasty, and he must not be confounded with a later man of the same name whose tomb was found at Sakka4rah some years ago. The five paragraphs which remain of Kagemna’s Precepts inculcate 2 An excellent reproduction of this papyrus was published by G. Jéquier, Le Papyrus Prisse et ses Variantes. Papyrus de la Bibliotheque Nationale (Nos. 183-194), Papyrus No. 10,371 and 10,435 du British Museum, Tablette Carnarvon au Musée du Caire, Paris, 1911. (Contains 16 phototype plates, with an Introduction by the Editor.) humility, moderation in eating, and how to behave at table, and exhort the reader to seek after a good reputation and to avoid arrogance. He must behave in such a way that he does not rouse the opposition of anyone, for no man knows the future, and no man knows what God will do when he strikes. The reference to God here is noteworthy. The Colophon is of singular interest, and states that Kagemna, having studied the characters of men, wrote his book, and summoning his children, he ordered them to pay heed to his written precepts as if he himself were reciting them. His children did homage to him, and then read what he had written, and they thought the Precepts the best things which they had ever heard and recited them sitting and standing, 7.e., by night and by day. Many other sages must have compiled books of moral Precepts similar to those of Kagemna, and if the family of each of them learned and recited their father’s Precepts, their influence on the young must have been very considerable. The next oldest Book of Moral Precepts is that of Ptah-hetep, who flourished in the reign of Assa, a king of the Vth dynasty. His work exists in two Kecensions, the older belonging to the XIIth dynasty (Prisse Papyrus), and the later to the XVIIIth dynasty or a little later (British Museum Papyrus No. 10,509 and the Carnarvon Ostrakon). Ptah-hetep held many high offices under King Assa,1 and we see from his work that he was very anxious that his son, who was also called Ptah-hetep, should succeed him in them. He wrote his famous Teaching chiefly for the benefit of his son, hoping that he would read and

* Ptah-hetep senior was buried in a mastabah tomb at sehen See Mariette, Les Mastaba de I’ Ancien Empire, "TAX "109 ‘somnbs p “pa * ‘kqseukg YYA IY} Jo sury e essy BIBYIOT, JO UzVA\ ® ‘doqoy-yeig Jo sutyovey, eq], ‘aqnuoyn any anbeyuoygg) snihdng assrug 94} WOT learn the instructions which he had compiled, and act upon them and follow in every way the example of the ancestors. His teaching opens with a warning to his son against conceit, and he bids him remember that something may be learned from the ignorant as well as from the learned man. Then follow counsels concerning the loud, noisy talker, and an exhortation to follow Truth (Maat), which is eternal and everlasting. ‘‘ Terrify not subordinates or the people, for it is only what God has decreed that happens.” The God here referred to cannot be the “ town-god,’’ but must be the Disposer of destinies. It seems as if Ptah-hetep leaned towards the ideas which the Arabs connect with Kismat (what is apportioned to a man) and Maktib (what is written or decreed). Then follow paragraphs dealing with rules for eating in public (all food is given by God), showing politeness to fellow guests, the conduct of a mission, behaviour when God gives a good harvest, a subordinate’s duty to a kind master (VII-X). The XIth paragraph is very remarkable, for it counsels a man: I. To do exactly what he pleases, and no more than is absolutely necessary. 2. To enjoy every hour that can possibly be spent in doing what he likes. 3. Not to bother about business concerning his house and estate, and not to trouble himself about the daily routine. In other words, to be always happy at all costs. If a man has an estate he must beget a son pleasing to God. If this son does well he should help him in every way ; if he does evilly he should cast him out and God will punish him (XII). Then follows more advice as to behaviour towards superiors and inferiors (XIII, XIV), the discharge of duty by an envoy (XV), and how a man in a position of authority shall behave (XVI, XVII), The warning against

women is emphatic. Have nothing to do with women in other people’s houses under any consideration. Their pretty limbs make fools of men, but they are found to be harder than quartzite sandstone ; the pleasure they give is only momentary, and in its enjoyment men find death (XVIII). Avoid avarice at all costs (XIX, XX), for it produces hatred and strife. If thou art wise thou wilt marry. Love thy wife and treat her handsomely (XXI), and be generous to thy servants (XXII). Repeat not the words of an angry man, nor any gossip (XXIII). Speak only when thou hast full knowledge; words are weighty things (XXIV). In giving orders be calm and courteous, and control thy tongue. He who goes softly walks rightly! (XXV). Choose thy time carefully in visiting a nobleman (or magistrate) (XXVI), and let the credit of thy good service be given to thy master (XXVII). Be a peace-maker rather than a judge (XXVIII). Turn away from the man who is obnoxious to thee (XXIX). If thou hast prospered, forget not thy humble beginning, thy possessions are the gifts of God (XXX). Honour thy chief (XXXI), have nothing to do with immature women (XXXII), cultivate friendship (XXXIII), always be cheerful (XXXIV), study to preserve a good reputation (XXXV), drive not away the cheerful, good-looking woman with whom thou hast been on intimate terms (XXXVI). These precepts are followed by several paragraphs in which Ptah-hetep exhorts his son to hearken to all that he has written. He refers to the solid truth which underlies them, and to the beauty of their literary style. They will give to him that hears them not only wisdom but

* Compare ‘“‘ Chi va piano va sano.” prosperity upon earth. They will develop the natural excellences of his disposition, and heart and tongue will work together, and lips, eyes and ears will perform their duties more correctly in consequence. To hearken is the best of all virtues, and the memorial of the son who has heard his father’s precepts and performs them, will spread on the earth now, and be current in the mouths of generations yet unborn. The man who hearkens not to them is a fool who will do all manner of reprehensible things, and his food will be abominable stuff. Princes and peasants alike will recognize his character and shun him so that they may not be mixed up in his calamities. Of the son who hears and obeys his lord the people will say, “‘ Behold a good son of the gift of God.’”’ Ptah-hetep concludes by saying that he attained the great age of 110 years through the benefits and favours which the king conferred upon him because he did what was right. When we look at the Teaching of Ptah-hetep as a whole we see that the sage’s counsels contain no religious teaching of any kind; he refers clearly to God as the Disposer of the destinies of men, and as the giver of all material benefits, but he in no way suggests that man has any duty to God. Neither prayer nor sacrifices are mentioned, and there is no reference to death, or to the life beyond the grave, or to man’s moral responsibility. The sum total of Ptah-hetep’s moral teaching is: Keep on friendly terms with everyone ; do not be arrogant, or conceited, or illtempered, or covetous, because these failings annoy people ; marry a wife and’avoid entanglement with women, whether strangers or kinsfolk ; be courteous and deferential to your superiors and keep clear of quarrels ; always be cheerful, lead the happiest life

you can as long as you can, taking care not to work harder than you need, and not to worry about your house and estate and their everyday concerns. The next oldest Book of Moral Precepts known to us is probably the Teaching of Tuauf, the son of Khattai, who wrote it for the benefit of his son Pepi; when and where Tuauf lived is unknown. The Teaching of Tuauf, though found in a more or less complete state only in papyri of the XI Xth or XXth dynasty, was probably composed soon after the end of the Ancient Kingdom. Maspero assigned it to a writer who flourished under the XIIth dynasty, but Birch considered it to be a work of the VIth dynasty. The name of Tuauf’s father, _ Khattai (formerly read Khartai), was common in the [Xth, Xth and XIth dynasties, but that of Pepi his son suggests the VIth dynasty or the period immediately following as the time when this Teaching was written. The Teaching of Tuauf was a very popular composition under the New Empire, and it seems to have been used as a text-book in schools and colleges, partly because its contents were more interesting than the religious texts that were usually studied, and partly because from one end to the other it is an eulogy of the profession of the scribe and the man of books. But from the copies which have come down to us, and which certainly date from the XIXth or XXth dynasties, it seems clear that the copyists of it at that time did not understand what they were writing ; the obvious mistakes in the text are very numerous, and many passages mean nothing, or at any rate, are untranslatable. In spite of these defects, the main object of Tuauf in writing his work was to instil into the mind of

"AT ‘109 “(TT 42NIVY) ZSIOL ‘ON Snihdng ‘snjy ‘yug wong ‘TeqIVIPY] JO UOS oY} nvny, Jo Suryovay, syJ, cS ae = pring oa aq ee MBB EWS SAN TIE: Lee Daren “ENA TEENA TENY CET AUN aS precio eG IeET ET see Mii la Ai 6 lle eee macy sepa ne ee enna a pees incor ra eee his son Pepi a love for letters and for the profession | of the scribe, and also to make him study the apophthegms of the Ancestors. What Tuauf’s social position was we know not, but by some means or other he learned to write and to express himself with tolerable clearness. He was probably not a man of high rank, and he seems to have worked at some kind of trade. In the course of this he found his ability to read and write of such importance that he determined to have his son properly educated, and to make him a scribe. He, no doubt, lacked the skill of the professional scribe in turning his sentences, and he employed in his Teaching the words that were in common use among the people of his own class. A thousand or twelve hundred years later, when the temple scribes and teachers under the Ramessid

ings began to use his Teaching as a text-book, these words were regarded as archaisms and were no longer understood, and others of more modern use were substituted for them. Blunders in copying and attempts at emendation have brought the text of Tuauf’s Teaching into the unsatisfactory state in which we find it to-day. The hieratic text is found in two papyri in the British Museum, viz., Sallier IJ (No. 10,182) and Anastasi VII (No. 10,222), and these have been published in Select Papyri in the Hieratic Character, ed. Birch, London, 1841, and in Facsimiles of Egyptian Hieratic Papyri in the British Museum, ed. Budge, Second Series, London, 1923. A_ hieroglyphic transcript with a French translation was published by Maspero,! and an English rendering by Birch. The composition contains twenty-eight paragraphs. The Teaching of Tuauf may be divided into two parts: the first (Pars. I-XIX) contains his 1 Du Genre Epistolaire, Paris, 1872. * Records of the Past, Old Series, Vol. VIII, p. 146. survey of the handicrafts of Egypt and his laudations of the profession of the scribe, and the second (Pars. XX-X XVIII) includes a number of moral precepts. The latter are not of great interest. They counsel Pepi not to act hastily, not to ask questions in a neighbour’s house, not to use elaborate phrases, or words of pride, when talking to his neighbours, not to enter the houses of neighbours unbidden when school hours are ended, to delivera message word for word as he received it, to practise no deception on his mother, to control his appetite for meat and drink, to pay attention to the words of great men, and to obey. The references to the goddesses Renenit and Meskhenit are obscure, but Tuauf evidently thinks that they concern themselves with the growth and advancement of the scribe. The words in paragraph XXVIII saying that the father and mother of the successful scribe praise Ra, show that Ra was the god whom Tuauf worshipped. From first to last there is no religious teaching in Tuauf’s work, and his sole object in writing it was to make his son become a scribe. To be scribe and secretary of the Town Council seemed to him to be the highest post to which a man could attain on earth.

The next “ Teaching” to be considered is that of King Khati, who wrote this remarkable composition for the benefit of his son Meri-ka-Ra. Unfortunately the only version of it which we have is the work of the scribes of the XIXth dynasty, but there seems to. be little doubt that the composition itself is about two thousand years older. This Teaching of Khati is different in every way from that of his predecessors, and this royal author intended to teach his son something more than morality. The first six paragraphs advise Meri-ka~-Ra how to deal with disloyal, noisy sedition-mongers, who go about the city talking and inciting men to overthrow the existing government. He is to use no half measures, but to seize such folk, kill them, blot out their name and memorial, and destroy their adherents. The king continues: Make thyself able to justify thyself, or prove thy integrity, before God i=] efi oe | Kj (VII) ; speak wisely and skilfully, speech is mightier than any fighting 2 | ——. OA Soo Prey comes to the wise man and is extracted (or, brewed oe | : 2 = ay) from him like the precepts of the Ancestors

(VIII). Follow the example of thy forefathers. Read their sayings and be guided by them; do good to thy people and the favour of God shall be thine (IX). The next three paragraphs counsel just and considerate treatment of the nobles and the people in general: Stablish thy boundaries and provide for the future, seize not all the land. [Life] passes quickly upon earth and is of short duration. All men pass away (X). Confer authority on thy nobles and they will carry out thy commands ; great is the king whose nobles are great (XI). Rule justly, satisfy the man who has a grievance, rob neither widows nor children, slay no one except the rebel and sedition-monger (XII). Teach thy young men the art of war (XIV). Treat gentle and simple alike, and select a follower for his ability only. Build monuments for thyself and for the God, for such perpetuate thy name. Visit the temple regularly, eat bread there, and contribute liberally to the offerings and sacrifices. Give according to thy means. God knows those ° —> 1 Tn IS who work for Him, 8 lr ani <i eee (XV, XVI). The next seven paragraphs deal with an incident in a fight which King Khati had with the princes of Thebes at This, near Abydos; the subjugation of the peoples to the north-west and north-east of Herakleopolis; the nomad tribes of the Aamu (or Syrians) and their warlike and unconquerable disposition; and the building of block-houses and castles to protect the boundaries of Egypt. Paragraphs XXV and XXVI have for their principal subject the King and his office ; and in paragraph XXIX the King calls upon his son not to do anything which he has warned him against in so far as it refers to the King.

We will now refer to three paragraphs which we have not mentioned, viz., XIII, XXVII and XXVIII, but which give to the Teaching of Khati a character possessed by no other moral work except that of Amen-em-apt. These paragraphs deal with religion and not morality, and that they should occur in a work written nearly three thousand years before Christ is very remarkable. Paragraph XIII carries on the subject of the preceding paragraph, in which the King says: “ Do right deeds, thou shalt remain on the earth,” <> ae 6 ia me |: He goes on to say, If thou wilt oppress the widow, and usurp the orphans’ possessions, and dismiss the magistrates who judge rightly, and punish innocent men, and murder people, thou wilt be judged and punished after death. The passage concerning the Judgement is so important that I reproduce Golénischeff’s transcript of it, and a translation of it :— 58 ALS EA! eR IB Meryhoyp? Wee |, ed” ee bom TG $04. Whe ho SO mo 2H! tee ee TS ew le RWS KR DPS | OT Pe ae A Peot me Oy 0 li NOR com OLB ee Sh tee {I Riek eS = IN INES eee fe LS Pe ee TNT [dl co ste Won = om Aho ial

“‘ [Remember] the Tchatchaut! who judge wrongdoers. Know thou that they will not be lenient (or, pitiful) [On] that day of the judgement of wretched man, [In] the hour of the doing of [their] appointed duty. It is a terrible thing for a man who knows [his sin] to be charged with it. Fill not thy heart [with hope] because of length of years, [For] they regard a whole lifetime as a single hour. They prove [a man] after [his] arrival in port (t.é., death). His qualities are placed near him as means of subsistence (?). There (7.e., in the Other World) existence is everlasting. A fool is he who has put [the remembrance of] it away from him. The man who attains to that place without wrongdoing Has an existence there like that of God, Going about unhampered like the Everlasting Lords.” * I.e., the Company of Assessors in the Other World, presumably the Forty-two great gods of the Hall of Maati, which was presided over by Osiris, The Tchatchaut, or ‘‘ Heads,” are well known from the funerary works of the XVIIIth and XIXth dynasties. They appear in the Fifth Division of the Book of Gates and are there eight in number. They kept the registers of Osiris, which presumably contained the names of those who were in the Other World, and the period of time which each had to serve there, and the amount of work which each had to perform. In the Book of the Dead they are mentioned (Chapter XXXB) in connection with the Great Scales, and the deceased says: ‘‘Let no one stand up to testify against me, let none of the Tchatchaut,

\ > La. , thrust me back, and do not thou Vea. pv ait (z.e., his heart) turn aside from me in the presence of the Guardian of the Scales.”’ Chapter XXXB was, according to one tradition, composed by Thoth, and it was “ found ” by Hertataf, a son of Khufu (Cheops), inscribed on a tablet under the feet of a statue of this god; and according to another it was known in the reign of Semti-Hesepti, a king of the Ist dynasty. Assuming these traditions to be based on facts, the belief in the Judgement after death is as old in Egypt as dynastic civilization. From the IVth dynasty to the Ptolemaic Period the deceased was believed to recite the prayer contained in this Chapter when he entered the Hall of Judgement, and it must therefore have been in general use between three and four thousand years. The equally remarkable paragraphs XXVII and XXVIII treat of God and,His worship, and His power as the great Creator :— 1 See Budge, Egyptian Heaven and Hell, Vol. II, p. 156. B 2 GOD THE CREATOR. His WORSHIP AND POWER. ‘124, God has hidden Himself; [He] knows the dispositions [of men].

None can resist the lord of the hand, Who attacks 125. the things which are seen by the eyes (or, whilst the eyes look on). God is to be adored [when] He is on His way. Stones are worked upon, copper (or, bronze) is wrought [into images of Him]. The parched land (?) is 126. rewarded with a stream. A river will not permit itself to disappear, it destroys (or, dissolves away) that ground in which it hid itself. 127. The soul journeys to the place which it knows. Found [and] make perfect (or, magnificent) thy house of Ament (i.e., the west bank of the Nile), Beautify thy house 128. of Khert-Neter (i.e., the cemetery) As is right to do, like one who observes the law, For the minds (or, hearts) of men rely upon it. 129. The disposition of him that is right of heart * A phrase difficult to explain. Can it refer to the great Hand of Geb which is grasping the chain by means of which the Four Sons of Horus fetter Apep and his sons, as shown in the Tenth Division of the Book of Gates? This Hand is called the “Hidden Hand”? l fam. See Budge, StS

a Egyptian Heaven and Hell, Vol. Il, pp. 270-272. KHATI DESCRIBES POWER OF GOD ar GOD THE CREATOR. His WorsHIP AND PowER. 4 fed mm dle Td) eel Woers ~ 4S Swe KS ay fee eM tle a! ve SA Son Mh 2.) gqa) = Abe t Beene ena fee i Ja wi se WL et UR PR ee = Je ee Sl Mei eee fons den ag RoR WS > 25" Bee eo Pet St ae, Pale = allo = Is more acceptable than the ox of the worker of iniquity. Work for God, He will work for thee in like manner. Make offerings 130. to keep the tables for offerings well-supplied, [And] with the cutting [of funerary texts add] the similitude of thy name. God knows well [the man] who works for him.” King Khati continues his advice thus (Para. XXVITT) :— “ Regulate (or, keep order among) 131. men and women, who [are] the flocks and herds of God. (Compare Psalm 74,1; 79,13; 95,7; 100, 3.) He made heaven [and] earth for their will (7.e., pleasure), He dissipated the darkness! (?) of the waters, He made the breezes of life (or, the life-giving air) 132. for their nostrils.

They are the images (or, likenesses) of Him, (Compare Gen. i, 26, 27; ix, 6.) Who came forth from His members. He mounts up into the sky for their hearts (i.e., gratification). He has made 133. for them fruits and vegetables, flocks and herds, feathered fowl [and] fish for their subsistence. * The allusion here is to the monster Aapep, whose symbol was a crocodile. He was the personification of fog, mist, rain and the primeval darkness which was everywhere until the sun rose for the first time. KHATI DESCRIBES POWER OF GOD 23 new = Ire ee tel RNS wo. (¥_) VO TU Bs ont oe. a ed = pa me SA 1S ae AWM oes toe S es e od Oe a | eK aaa (sic) = aera AA re —— AWWW) eee KT rie wn (1, UT Ea S fh ia blo- NS oa) | Hh = IK )oes fo? [2 RRG> 2 oly lear ieee He has slain his enemies, he destroyed his own children! 134. because they conspired and made rebellion. He made the daylight for their hearts (t.e., gratification). He made himself to travel in a boat so that he could see them. He has raised up a 135. shrine(?) behind them. [When] they weep he hearkens [to their cry]. He made for them a governor in the egg,

A captain to 136. strengthen the back of the feeble man. He made for them words of power [for] weapons To repulse the might 137. of [untoward] happenings te terrifying] visions by night as well as by ay. He has slain those who were rebels in heart 138. As a man chastises his son for his brother. God knows every name.” ? The allusion here is to the old Egyptian tradition which states that Ra destroyed the men whom he had made because they reviled him. This god said: ‘‘ The men who came into being from my eye have spoken words against me,” =H 6-3 = oh Re — aie Rane S| = YP. The text is found in the tomb of Seti I and has been published with a French translation by Naville, Trans. Soc. Bibl. Arch., Vol. IV, p. 1 ff. * I.e., governors who were kings before they were born. For oe reading t @ : = (instead of | . 8) see Golénischeff, op. ctt., Pl. Suppl. C, line 135. The Teaching which Khati, a king of Herakleopolis, wrote for his son Merikara. énischeff, No. 1116a, obv, il. 106-117. tage at St. Petersburg, ed. Gol

yrus of the Hermi 4 FOSS NOS IN Bo ee FE See —(2ina ("TS we eel hil A pee felt lejos eile we S14 |W Pek foe Se ce ,, (UNF = oho Safi ow BTS i= | air om Bape! eS eres “Whoo H! > KT VAS 0. 3, Sh FL fe TA The above passages contain the simplest and grandest description of the power and majesty of the God of Creation which has been found in Egyptian papyri. It is clear from some of the lines in them that the god whose power Khati describes is Ra, the oldest sun-god of Heliopolis, who was undoubtedly regarded as the creator of the material universe. King Khati’s monotheism is of a very high order, but Ra was, apparently, not almighty, for he had enemies, who subsisted against his will, and whom he had to slay. And his power over the men whom he had created in his image was not great enough to prevent them from conspiring against him. Moreover, to help men to overcome “happenings,”’ 7.¢e., accidents and calamities, and diurnal and nocturnal visions, he was obliged to invent for them Hekau, UK &. “words of power,” 7.¢., magical spells, incantations, exorcisms, and the like. As these were to be recited whilst certain ceremonies, of a symbolic and magical character, were being performed, and as both the spells and ceremonies were designed to destroy the power and works of evil beings, they must be regarded as the foundation of the “White Magic,” which Ra invented to defeat ‘Black Magic.”

Tue Tracuinc oF AMENEMHAT I. In the Teaching! of Sehetepabra Amenemhat (J), * The hieratic text, from Sallier Papyrus II (Brit. Mus., No. 10,182), is reproduced in Egyptian Hieratic Papyri in the British Museum, Second Series, Plates LXIII-LXXVI. There are English translations by Goodwin, Cambridge Essays, p. 227 ff; Maspero, Records of the Past, Vol. II, pp. 9-16; Birch, Egyptian Texts, p. 16 ff; and Griffith, Zeitschrift fur Aeg. Sprache, Bd. XXXIV (1896), p. 35. The last is accompanied by a hieroglyphic transcript. the first king of the XIIth dynasty, we have a set of precepts wholly different in character from those of Kagemna, Ptah-hetep and Khati. Amenemhat I wrote his Teaching to help his son Usertsen (Senusert) I to rule and not to become moral ; therefore I have not included any extracts from it among my translations. The first paragraph advises his son to trust no brother, to make no intimate friends, to keep everybody at a safe distance, and to keep his weapons near him when he sleeps. Amenemhat says that he fed the beggar and the destitute, and received gentle and simple alike ; but those who had prospered under him turned against him. A plot was formed against him, and one night after supper, when he was lying down, he heard the clash of weapons and, springing up, he found that men had tried to burst into the chamber to kill him. His sentry had, it seems, been killed by them, and he found himself without a protector, but he escaped by some means, and the plot collapsed. The rest of the work tells how he sent expeditions to Elephantine and the Delta, and encouraged irrigation and agriculture, hunted lions, caught crocodiles, and reduced the Nubians and the Nomads, who followed him like dogs, and brought Saidani men (the M’tchaiu,

Ke |S Me ye GA) to Egypt as soldiers. As a result of all these works no man suffered from hunger or thirst in his days, and the people dwelt in peace and quietness, and had leisure to discuss their king’s mighty deeds. The last two paragraphs of ‘Amenemhat’s work are full of difficulties; they contain no moral precepts. TuE TEACHING OF ANTEF. That the Teachings of Kagemna and Ptah-hetep were known and read under the XIIth dynasty is certain, for the oldest copies of these works are contained in the Prisse Papyrus, which was written at this period. By good fortune a monument has come down to us containing an inscription in which the man commemorated, one Antef, the son of Sent, describes his own character, and tells us about the way in which he fulfilled his duties as a high official of Usertsen I, the second king of the XIIth dynasty. He makes twenty statements about himself, and in each of them he shows that he put into practice a precept which is contained . in the Teachings of the sages which are known to us. The whole inscription proves that the precepts of the Teachings are not merely aphorisms academic in character, but rules for conduct which officials were expected to learn and carry out. M. Moret, who has recently republished the text and added a French translation, has aptly called it ‘“La Profession de Foi d’un Magistrat sous la XII° Dynastie” (Cinquantenaire del’ Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Paris, 1821).

Next, according to the chronological order of the Teachings, comes the Teaching of Sehetepabra, @/P== 0, an hereditary prince and seal-bearer of Amenemhat IIT, a mighty king of the XIIth dynasty. This official was high in the favour of his king, and performed many exalted duties in connection with the worship of the gods at Abydos. He wrote his Teaching for the benefit of his children, and claims that he will ‘‘ make them to know the dispensation of eternity, and make to =] 3 NS NS SS —— = ed sat j x a Se NG ‘Si ao Se: =, oe g nae Cia Ea cet se Bo SNS SCNC SIA) CATR = Saree i = ie SWErciaNwe The ‘‘ Negative Confession,” ¢.¢., the categorical denial by the deceased before the Two-and-Forty Assessors in the Hall of Osiris that he had committed any one of the offences that he enumerated. From Brit. Mus. Papyrus No. 10477, sheet 23 (Bool: of the Dead, Chap. CX XV). grow and flourish the life of truth (7.e., the real or genuine life), and to pass the whole period of their See af <—-f——s oe ee om (2 ] A SN) — = oO Pe Fe Bh + Ish age The composition deals neither with religion nor morality, and contains nothing but a deification and glorification of the king and his power. Sehetepabra was a loyal, whole-hearted follower of Amenemhat III, and as a result prospered greatly ; he urges his children to follow his example, for only by so doing can they attain to the sole kind of life that is real, and pass their days happily. Since Amenemhat III was to him as God, service to him, in his opinion, embraced both religion and morality.

THE THEBAN RECENSION OF THE BOOK OF THE DEAD, AND THE RELIGIOUS AND MORAL CODE OF OsIRIS. With the Teaching of Sehetepabra our series of moral works of the Ancient and Middle Empire comes to an end. The period between the end of the XIIth dynasty and the beginning of the XVIIIth is barren, but when the Hyksos had been expelled, and the rule of the great Theban kings began, a period of great activity in connection with the writing and copying of religious and moral works was inaugurated. It must have been early in the XVIIIth dynasty that the Theban Recension of the Book of the Dead was made. A great many of the texts included in that were in existence in the XIth and XIIth dynasties, as we know from the rectangular painted wooden coffins from Al-Barshah, in Upper Egypt. But after the XIIth dynasty these and many other texts were grouped together and arranged in a kind of order, and the Book of PER-EM-HRu, Ss IN au . (or PERT-EM-HRrv), came into being at the beginning of the XVIIIth dynasty. At this time Amen, or Amen-R4, was the King of the gods at Thebes, but Osiris was King of the Other World, and Judge of the Dead, and the chief Ancestor-god of all Egypt. The object of the compilers of the Book of the Dead was to help the deceased, who is throughout identified with Osiris, to reach the Kingdom of Osiris. It included spells and magical texts of all periods, which were intended to preserve his body from evil hap and destruction in every form, and hymns to the gods, and a number of compositions, the knowledge of which would enable him to enjoy to the full the delights of the Kingdom of Osiris, and to make ample use of the supernatural powers which he would possess there. But Osiris demanded much of the deceased before he admitted him into the abode of the blessed. The deceased had to prove to the Divine Magistrates, or Assessors, that he had led a good life upon earth, and to submit to his actions being weighed in the Great Scales against Maat, 7.e., the Truth (or, the Law). This weighing was performed with scrupulous care by Thoth and his deputy, in the presence of Osiris and the Great Company of the gods, and unless a man’s good deeds exactly counterbalanced Maat, he was doomed to annihilation. The Assessors were impartial, incorruptible and merciless ; the Law had to be satisfied. A man was responsible to his god, whether it were Ra or Osiris, for his deeds and words ; on this fundamental fact the Egyptian conception of the Judgement of Souls was based. In addition to satisfying Thoth, the Advocate and

nen re waseeec coe stsesotn, 3 s : : : $ $ H 3 ° . « * ° e ° e * & ¢ ° x . . : : eesd wes cetoc ees The Judgement Hall of Osiris, and the Gate of the Sixth Division of the Tuat called Nebtaha. Osiris is seated on a throne with nine steps, on each of which stands a god of his Company, and the Great Scales stand before him. The standard is a god in mummy form, but what is in the pans of the scales is doubtful. The Ape of Thoth is driving away evil in the form of the black pig, Ama. Anubis is addressing Osiris. From the sarcophagus of Seti I in Sir John Soane’s Museum. Secretary of Osiris, a man had to satisly the Forty-two Assessors that he had not committed the forty-two sins the committal of any one of which would exclude him from the Kingdom of Osiris. He did this by declaring to each of the Assessors that he had not committed a certain sin, and if the result of the weighing of his deeds in the Great Scales confirmed this, he was declared maa kheru, > eh, “true of speech,” 4.6,

At the beginning of the XVIIIth dynasty, under some influence which is unknown to us, the scribes began to add Vignettes, 7.¢., to illustrate the Book of the Dead, and they gave free play to their imaginations in their representations of the Judgement Scene. A small vignette of the weighing of the deceased illustrated Chapter XX XB, and this they made the central feature of their larger vignette, which primarily they designed to illustrate Chapter CXXV. They considered this latter chapter of such great importance that they made it the introductory section of the Book of the Dead in all the great Codices of that work. Probably the finest coloured example known is that found in the Papyrus of Ani (Brit. Mus., No. 10,470), where it is given with two introductory hymns, one to Ra and the other to Osiris. In later Codices of the Book of the Dead the treatment of the Judgement Scene varies in details, but its main features remained unchanged for more than one thousand years. The collection of declarations of innocence of the forty-two sins which the deceased made to the Forty-two Assessors forms what may be called “The Moral and Religious Code of Osiris,’ and the scribes of the XVIIIth dynasty regarded it as one

Reta cae einer enigma tere Eee ea SF Wena Mal ea ae es r = een Nile iN aed sila Wat IPT ES) : ee ce | Le f _ ms Bi esa Recipe Vecaniniae ee ee ee et , weighing the Scribe ebseni’s ?) in the Seales of the Two Lands Thoth, Lord of the ag o presence of Osiris. Nebseni in the Great From Brit. Mus. Papyrus No. 990 of the most important sections of the Book of the Dead. In modern works it is known as the “ Negative Confession,”’ a name given to it by the early Egyptologists because each declaration begins with “I have not.” It was addressed to Osiris in the first instance by the deceased, who said: “TI know thee and I know thy name and the names of the Forty-two Gods who dwell with thee in the hall of Maati,” etc. Hethen went on: ‘‘ Ihave brought thee Truth, I have destroyed sin, I have not sinned against mankind, I have not slain my kinsfolk,’’ and so on to the end of the Confession which is part of Chap. CX XV (Introduction). But the scribes were not content to leave it in this form, and they added the Vignette in the Papyrus of Nu, which is reproduced on Plate V. Here we see a long pylon-shaped hall, called the “ Hall of Maati,”’ the doors of which are thrown open, and down the middle of it, arranged in a single row, are forty-two mummified human forms, each having upon his head a feather, symbolic of Maat (Truth). Above and below these are the texts of the declarations of innocence. In the Papyrus of Nebseni (Brit. Mus. 9900) the cornice of the Hall is decorated

with rows of feathers of Maat, f, and uraei with horns and disks, it figures of four apes, each sitting by the side of a pair of scales, rth rit and a seated god with his hands stretched out over the two eyes of Ra. At the end of the Hall are figures of the Maati goddesses, Isis and Nephthys 1 These are the four holy apes who in the Vignette to Chap. CXXVI are seen sitting one at each corner of the Lake of Liquid Fire, into which the bodies of the damned were thrown. In the Papyrus of Nesitanebtashru the Lake with its apes is seen quite close to the Great Scales. and in the Papyrus of Ani, small vignettes representing Ani before Osiris, the Great Scales, and Thoth writing on a feather, are added. The texts read : . Hail, Usekht-nemmt, appearing from Anu fo ae © Tages coi Ca (Heliopolis), I have not committed sins. . Hail, Hept-seshet, appearing from Kheraha,' © T have not robbed with violence. . Hail, Fenti (Thoth), appearing from Khem- enu (Hermopolis), I have not plundered. Hail, Am-Khaibitu, appearing from Qerrt, I have not stolen. . Hail, Neha-hau, appearing from Restau, I

have not slain men. . Hail, Ruruti, appearing from heaven, I have not cheated over the bushel. 7. Hail, Arti-f-em-tes, appearing from Sekhem 14. Hail, Unem-besku, appearing from [the (Letopolis), I have not acted with deceit. Hail, Neba-per-em-khetkhet, I have not stolen the property of God. . Hail, Set-qesu, appearing from MHennsu (Herakleopolis), I have not uttered les. . Hail, Uatch-nesert, appearing from Heka- ptah (Memphis), I have not carried off food. Hail, Qerti, appearing from Ament (the West), I have not uttered words of blasphemy (or, sedition). Hail, Hetch-abehu, appearing from Ta-she (the Fayyim), I have not invaded any man’s land. Hail, Unem-snef, appearing from the Slaughter-house, I have not slain an ox set apart for the god.- Mabet-chamber], I have not cheated in respectiol ia as * A town which stood near the modern Fustat. 15. 16. ye 18. 19. 20. 25. 26. ae 28. Hail, Neb-Maat, appearing from Maati, I have not pillaged the grain-lands. Hail, Thenemi, appearing from Bast (Bubastis), I have not played the spy (or, eavesdropper ?). Hail, Aati (or Anti), appearing from Anu (Heliopolis), I have not set my mouth in motion (7.e., reviled any man). Hail, Tutu-f, appearing from Ati, or Athi (Busiris oN, Haw ent es. oe G5: except over the things which were mine.

Hail, Uamemti, appearing from the Slaughter-house, I have not had intercourse with the wife of a young (?) man. Hail, Maa-antuf, appearing from Per-Menu, I have not polluted myself. Hail, Heri-seru, appearing from [Nehat]u (Sycamore City), I have not terrified [men] by my acts. Hail, Khemi, appearing from the Lake of Kaui, I have not attacked [any man]. Hail, Sheti-kheru, appearing from Urit, I have not been an incendiary (?). Hail, Nekhen, appearing from Heq-at(?), I have not made myself deaf to the words of truth (or, the Law). Hail, Seri-kheru, appearing from Unes, I have not stirred up strife (or, sedition). Hail, Basti, appearing from Shetait, I have made no man to weep. Hail, Herf-haf, appearing from Hept-tchat,?1 have not committed acts of sexual impurity. Hail, Ta-ret, appearing from Akhekhu (Darkness), I have not eaten my heart. * He was the ferryman who ferried souls over the river to the Island of Osiris. * The “ Cabin of the Ferryboat ” (?). 29, Hail, Kenemti, appearing from Kenemt, I have not cursed. 30. Hail, An-hetep-f, appearing from Sau (Sais), I have not acted with violence. 31. Hail, Neb-heru, appearing from Tchefet, I have not hurried my mind (judged hastily?).

32. Hail, Serekhi, appearing from Unth, I have NOES Sse es my skin, I have not taken vengeance (?) on the god. 33. Hail, Neb-abui, appearing from Satiu, I have not talked overmuch. 34. Hail, Nefer-tem, appearing from Hekaptah (Memphis), I have not acted deceitfully, I have not done evil. 35. Hail, Tem-sep, appearing from Tetu (Mendes), I have not acted as an enemy fof the king]. 36. Hail, Ari-em-ab-f, appearing from Tebti, I have not befouled running water. 37. Hail, Hi-mu, appearing from Nenu (Nu), I have not made high (arrogant ?) my voice. 38. Hail, Utchu-rekhit, appearing from his abode, I have not cursed God. 39. Hail, Neheb-nefert, appearing from Nefer(?), I have not behaved with insolence. 40. Hail, Neheb-kau, appearing from [thy] city, I have not sought distinctions (honours ?) for myself. 41. Hail, Tcheser-tep, appearing from [his] cavern, I have not added to my wealth except such things as are my own. 42. Hail, An-a-f, appearing from Augert, I have not thought scorn of the god of my city. The names of the Forty-two Assessors are titles of gods of the forty-two nomes of Egypt. Some of them explain themselves, ¢.g., No. 1. Usekht- nemmt, 7.¢., ‘‘ He of the long strides ” from Heliopolis is Ra, and No. 3. Fenti, i.e., ‘‘ Nose” from Hermopolis is Thoth, the allusion being to the beak of the ibis, the bird that was sacred to him. In many cases it is not possible to identify the god referred to, and it is probable that most of the names are titles of local gods who were associated with the cult of Osiris in his numerous shrines throughout Egypt. The negative form of the declarations (‘I have not done’’) suggests that they are an answer to precepts either from some Teaching of Osiris that began with the words “Do not,” or “ Thou shalt not,’ or from the Teaching of some Sage like Ptah-hetep.

It is possible that originally the Negative Confession was composed for the king, and that he alone was supposed to recite it before Osiris, for it is inconceivable that every Egyptian who was a follower of Osiris could or did make use of it. And the question arises whether the idea of it was of native origin, and whether the Book of the Dead is the place for which it was originally intended. The ordinary text of Chap. CXXV contains the substance of it, and there must be some reason why the Negative Confession in tabular form was given in addition. It seems to have nothing to do with the weighing of the words and deeds of a man in the Great Scales, and some special benefit must have accrued to the deceased from its recital! The Babylonians placed a 1 The priests of Amen attached great importance to the Negative Confession in tabular form, a fact proved by the Papyrus of Nesitanebtashru. There Chap. CXXV is given in hieratic (ed. Budge, Plates XLIJI and XLIV), and on Plates CX-CXII we have the Negative Confession in hiero- Negative Confession in the mouth of their king when he went annually to the temple of Marduk to obtain the renewal of his sovereignty over Babylonia. The king was brought before Bél, and the Urigallu (a kind of priest) went out from the sanctuary, and, taking the king’s crown from his head and the three emblems of rule which he had in his hands, the Urigallu took them into the sanctuary and set them on a stand before Bél. He then went out and smote the king on his face, and brought him in before Bél, and, taking hold of the king’s ears, he drew him down to the ground and made him kneel before the god. And the king said, ‘‘I have not committed sin, O lord of the lands. I have not been careless about the service of thy godship. I have not destroyed Babel, I have not commanded its destruction. I have not destroyed E. Sagila, I have not forgotten its rites. I have not smitten the cheeks of legal vassals, I have not caused them to be abased. I made Babel my first care, I have not stricken down its walls.” When the Urigallu, speaking for the god, had assured the king that Bél would hear his prayers and destroy his enemies, he restored the crown and symbols of sovereignty to the king, who then arrayed himself as before. The Urigallu again smote the king on his cheek, and if tears came from the king’s eyes they showed that Bél was propitious to the king. If no tears came it showed that Bél was wroth with him, and that the king’s enemies would arise and bring about his downfall... The Negative Confession of the Egyptian before Osiris, and the Negative Confession of the King of Babylon before Marduk

* See Thureau-Dangin, Ritwels Accadiens, Paris, 1921, pp. 144-145. are extraordinarily close parallels. Marduk, as the god who visited the Underworld and had to be restored to life, seems to be the Babylonian counterpart of Osiris, god of the Underworld and god of the Resurrection. The translation of the Moral and Religious Code of Osiris is made from the oldest known copy of it, which is found in the Papyrus of Nebseni, but the later Theban Codices show that considerable alterations were made by the scribes in the catalogue of sins there given. Thus, in the Papyrus of Nu the deceased says in the Introduction to the Negative Confession: I have not sinned against men, oppressed my kinsfolk, done evil in the place of truth, known reprobates, done abominable deeds, done more than was necessary, put forward my name for honours, dominated over slaves, scorned God, robbed the poor, done deeds hateful to the gods, caused a man to harm his slave, made any man suffer, let any man go hungry, made any man weep, committed murder, caused any murder to be committed, hurt the people, robbed the temple-offerings, stolen sacred cakes, stolen sepulchral offerings, committed sodomy, defiled sacred places, cheated in selling grain, filched land, encroached on the lands of others, cheated with the weights, cheated by misreading the pointer of the scales, taken milk from babes, driven beasts off their pastures, snared sacred geese, caught fish with bait of their bodies, fouled (or obstructed) water, breached a canal, extinguished a flame that should burn, abolished festal days, driven cattle from sacred property, or thrust aside the god when he appeared in his processions. This having been said, the deceased cries out, ““I am pure, I am pure, I am pure, I am pure.”

“(IIXX 81g ‘9061 Suopuoy ‘aytAeyy *po) neny jo snifdvg oy} wo1g *SUISQ JO vdUasaI1d 94} UI WEN] pesedoo9p ay3 jo jwoY ay} Jo SuryZiom oy Buryoyem Jeep, ssoppoS oy} pue qjoyy, jo ody Pepesy-sop oy The Vignettes in the papyri copied in the first half of the period of the XVIIIth dynasty show that the weighing of the words and deeds of the deceased was a comparatively simple matter. Thoth, in the form of a dog-headed ape, conducted the weighing and announced the result to Osiris, who sat close by on his throne. (See Plate VI.) In the Papyrus of Iuau, USdys (ed. Naville, Pl. XXII), Osiris stands by the Scales I, Ra, in the form of a mummy, watching the weighing of the heart of Amenemheb; Ra here takes the place of Osiris. 2. The dog-headed Ape of Thoth. 3. The Great Scales, the pillar of which is surmounted by the head of Maat (Truth). The heart of the deceased counterbalances Truth. 4. An Ape-headed god leading the deceased to the Great Scales. From the Papyrus of Amenemheb in the Louvre, No. 3097. (Naville, Zodtenbuch, Vol. 1, Chap. CXXV.) and watches the heart of the deceased balancing itself against the symbol of truth, and Thoth, in the form of a dog-headed ape with the crescent and full moon on his head, and his counterpart Maat stand by watching. In the Louvre Papyrus No. 3073 the Maati goddesses watch the weighing, and the top of the pillar of the Scales is in the form of the head of Maat. In the Louvre Papyrus No. 3074, the

weighing is performed by Ra or Horus, the ape sits on the top of the pillar of the Scales, and the heart is presented by Anubis to the two apes who sit before Osiris. In the Papyrus of Neb-Qet (Louvre, No. 3132) the top of the standard is made in the form of the head of the ibis of Thoth, and to the left of it are the Eater of the Dead and the Lake of Fire with the Four Apes. In many papyri Anubis performs the 1. Osiris in his shrine. 2. The deceased Nebget adoring the god. 3. The heart of the deceased in the Great Scales being weighed against Truth. 4. The feather of Truth (Maat). 5. The Lake of Fire and the Four Holy Apes. 6. The monster Am-mit, ‘‘ Eater of the Dead,” waiting to destroy sinners. From the Papyrus of Nebqet (ed. Devéria and Pierret, Paris, 1872). weighing and the ape of Thoth sits on the top of the standard. In papyri of the latter half of the XVIIIth dynasty, e.g., the Papyrus of Ani, the Judgement Scene is greatly elaborated, and the weighing is watched not only by the deceased, but by his soul and his Luck, and his embryo (?) and the goddess of his birth-chamber Meskhenit, and the goddess of his destiny Renenit. The ape sits on the Scales, and the god Thoth, the “ Lord

Anubis weighing the heart of the priestess Anhai against a figure of Maat, goddess of Truth. The Ape of Thoth watches the weighing on behalf of Thoth, who is recording the result on his palette. From Brit. Mus. Papyrus No. 10472 (Book of the Dead, Chap. CX. XV). of the words of the god,”! ibis-headed, stands writing down on his palette the result of the weighing which Anubis reports. The verdict which Thoth returns to the gods is both interesting and instructive, and shows what was demanded of a man before he could enter the I, 2. The Truth goddesses of Upper and Lower Egypt. 3. The Great Scales in which Horus or Ra is weighing the heart of Thena; the Ape of Thoth sits on the standard. 4. Anubis presenting the heart of Thena to Osiris who sits enthroned as Judge with two of the Holy Apes before him. From the Papyrus of Thena in the Louvre (Naville, Zodtenduch, Vol. I, Chap. CXXV). Kingdom of Osiris. He says: “In real truth (t.e., with the strictest regard to the demands of the Law) the heart of the Osiris (Ani) has been weighed. His soul stood up bearing witness on his behalf. His character (or, disposition) is right

* “Neb metu neter, —7 i Be | al .” Eisler’s theory that i refers to the standards of the god, or gods, is disposed of by Boylan in his Thoth as Hermes, p. 92. according to the Great Scales. No vice (or, abomination) has been found in him. He has not filched from the offerings in the temples. He did not commit deceitful deeds, he did not spread about with his mouth lies whilst he lived upon the earth.” Thus the Code of Osiris regarded as the essential qualities in a candidate for the Elysian Fields The Four Holy Apes who guard the Lake of Fire into which the remains of those who were condemned'in the Judgement Hall of Osiris were cast. Vignette of Chap. CXXVI in the Papyrus of Nebseni, (Brit. Mus. Papyrus, No. 9900.) a right spirit, honesty in his work, and absolute truth in word and deed. And this was Thoth’s summary of the Law. — In the Papyrus of Neb-Qet the monster “ Eater of the Dead ”’ is seen lying by the side of the Lake of Fire with its Four Apes, but in the later papyri the Lake is removed from the Hall of Judgement,

and the Vignette of it, with its text, forms Chap. CXXVI. These Apes were originally supposed to sit in the Boat of Ra, and each told the god the truth about what was happening in one quarter of the world, but here they are seated each at one corner or side of a rectangular lake of fire. They lived by the truth, and they fed on the truth, and were free from deceit and fraud and vice of every kind. To these the deceased prayed, saying : “Blot out my evil deeds, and put away my culpable deeds committed upon earth, and destroy anything of evil that clings to me, and let there be nothing in me to alienate you from me. Let me pass through the Ammehet, and enter Restau, and pass through the secret gates of Amentt.’”’ And when the deceased was a righteous man they answered: ‘‘ Come, for we have blotted out thy evil deeds, and put away thy sin and thy culpable deeds committed upon earth, and we _ have destroyed every evil thing that clung to thee upon earth. Enter therefore into Restau, and pass through the secret pylons of Amentt.” [The beginning is lost.]

I. The timid man is strong, and he who is just in word and deed is praised. The hall is opened to the humble man, and a wide room [is given to him] that is gentle in speech ; but sharp knives are against him that would forcea way. Aman should not seek an entrance except at his [appointed] time. II. If thou art seated at meat with many people hate (2.¢., abstain from) the food which thou lovest. It is only a minute’s restraint of the appetite, and greediness is a disgrace and tends to gluttony. A cup of water will quench the thirst satisfactorily, and a mouthful only will stablish the heart. One good thing takes the place of another, and a small quantity even of something which is of inferior quality will take the place of a large quantity. He who is intent on satisfying the lust of the belly is a shameful person. Passing the time he is unable to loosen the body in strange houses. III. If thou art seated at meat with a greedy man eat thou when he has finished his meal; and if thou art seated at meat with a winebibber, accept thou a drink whenever it pleases him to offer thee one. Reject not the pieces of flesh which [are found with] a man of bestial appetite. Take what he offers thee, and refuse it not; remember acceptance conduces to gentleness on his part.

1 The hieratic text of this Teaching is found in the Prisse Papyrus, which is described on p. 51. D IV. If a man lacks the knowledge of what a man should know, and if nothing said [to him] moves him, and if he maintains a sullen attitude to the person who is well-disposed towards him, he is a calamity for his mother and for his neighbours and for people in general. Make thy name to come forth (i.e., be known). Being silent (or, modest) in thy speech, thou shalt be proclaimed. V. Be not arrogant because of thy strength when thou art among thy contemporaries. Take care to act in such a way that people do not oppose thee. No man knows what is going to happen, or what God will do when He strikes. And the Wazir (or, mayor) caused his children to be summoned to him having made himself fully acquainted with the dispositions of men, and they came being filled with wonder......, He said to them: ‘‘ Whatsoever is in writing on this roll pay heed unto it as if I myself were repeating TEED VENTE ae Ge tee And the children laid themselves down flat upon their bellies, and they recited these sayings according to what was written. And in their opinion these sayings were more beautiful than everything else in the whole land, and [they recited them] both standing up and sitting down. His Majesty King Huni died, and His Majesty Seneferu, the King of the South and the North, became the gracious King of all this land. And Kagemna was appointed governor of the town and Wazir.

The only complete copy of this work known was purchased from a native of Western Thebes by Prisse d’Avennes, who was making excavations there, and was given by him to the Bibliothéque Royale in Paris in 1847. He published the text in an oblong quarto volume, entitled Facsimile d'un papyrus Egyptien en caractéres hiératiques, trouvé a Thebes, donné a la Bibliothéque Royale de Paris, et publié par E. Prisse d’Avennes, Paris, 1847. The papyrus was written under the XIth or XIIth dynasty, and supplies us with a copy, more or less accurate, of the text as it was received about B.C. 2500 or earlier. Hieroglyphic transcripts of this text were published by Virey, Atudes sur le Papyrus Prisse, Paris, 1887, and by myself, Egyptian Reading Book, London, 1896, pp. 244-274. A later Version of a portion of the Teaching is found in a papyrus which IJ acquired for the British Museum (No. 10,509), and on an ostrakon which was discovered by the late Lord Carnarvon. A valuable edition of all the available texts of both Versions has been published by E. Dévaud, Les Maximes de Pitahhotep, Fribourg, 1916. Translations of the Teaching, in whole or in part, have been made by Dr. Heath (Proverbs of Aphobis, 1864), Chabas (Rev. Arch., XV, 1858), Lauth (Sitzwngsberichte der Kénig. Bayer. Akad. 1869, p. 530 ff.; 1870, p. 245), Virey (Atudes, Paris, 1887), Maspero (Recueil, XXXI, 146), Virey (Records of the Past, 2nd ed., Vol. III, p. 1), and others. The title of the work of Ptah-hetep reads :—

THE TEACHING OF THE GOVERNOR OF THE TOWN, THE WaAztR PTAH-HETEP, [WHO LIVED] UNDER THE MAJESTY OF THE KING OF THE SOUTH AND THE KING oF THE NortH, AssA, WHO LIVES FOR EVER AND EVER. The Governor of the Town, the Wazir Ptahhetep, says to the Majesty of the King of the South and the King of the North, Assa, who lives for ever and ever: ‘“‘ O King my Lord, grey hairs have come upon me, old age has advanced, decay has come to me, oldness has taken the place of newness, some new defect settles upon one every day. The eyesight fails, the ears become stopped, the - strength diminishes, the heart is sluggish, the mouth is silent and speaks not, the mind forgets and cannot remember the things of yesterday, every bone in the body aches, happiness turns into discomfort, the taste of everything vanishes. Old age makes men miserable in every way. The nose becomes stopped up and can smell nothing. It is misery for the old man whether he sits or stands up. Give the order then on behalf of thy servant here present to make a staff for my old age, and let my son stand in my place. Then will I tell him the speech of those who hearkened and the weighty sayings of the ancestors, and those who have obeyed the gods. And thou likewise, mayest thou act in such a way as to drive out strife from among the people, and to make those who dwell on both banks of the Nile serve thee loyally.” The Majesty of this god (i.e. King Assa) said: ‘ Instruct him in the speech of olden time as thou sittest. O make him to be a marvel to the children

of the princes. May obedience enter into him, together with all rightmindedness which has been described. No one is born who possesses understanding naturally.” Here begin the Precepts in noble language which were uttered by the Prince and hereditary Chief, the father of the god, the beloved of the god, the son of the king, truly begotten by him, the Governor of the Town, the Wazir Ptah-hetep. They will teach the ignorant man to become a man of knowledge and to express himself in the best possible way, and will prove a blessing to him that will hearken to them, and a curse to him that will cast them behind him. He spake to his son! thus :— I. Magnify not thy heart because of thy knowledge, and fill not thy heart with the thought about it because thou hast knowledge. Hold converse with the ignorant man as well as with the learned. No limit has been set to a handicraft, and no handicraftsman is equipped with all its excellences, Fine speech is hidden deeper than mother-ofemerald stone, and yet it is to be found among the women who grind flour at the mill. II. If thou meetest a man of words who is bolder and better equipped than thyself in his hour (i.e. when he is coming to the conclusion of his speech), bend thy arm and bow thy back. Let not thy heart be carried away, let him not rest upon thee ; [but] make thou thyself small. When he says things that are evil make no attempt to stop him in his hour, so, that he may be called the ‘man who knows nothing about things.” Bear thy disgust. It is his treasure (or, food).

1 Var. ‘“ to his son Ptah-hetep the little ” (¢.¢. junior). III. If thou meetest a man of words in his hour, if he be one like thyself, that which is on thy shoulders set down and become wiser than he is through thy silence, whenever he is speaking evil things. Those who are listening will applaud him, but thy name will be fair in the opinion of the princes. IV. If thou meetest a man of words in his hour, curse him not if he be thy inferior. Let not thy heart rage because of him, for he is a miserable being. Let him remain on the ground, he will punish himself. V. If thou art in the position of a leader and it is thy duty to give orders to a great number of people, pursue thou a course which is wholly excellent, and continue in it until there is no defect whatsoever in thy administration. Truth (Maat) is great, and her virtue is lasting, and she has never been overthrown since the time of Osiris (var. since Ra created it); the man who transgresses her behests (or, laws) is sorely punished. She is the path of him that is [not] a robber. The wicked can indeed steal possessions, but the wicked cannot attain to her state. There is great power in Truth, for she is permanent ; the good man says: “ She was a possession of my father.”

VI. Make not terror to exist among the people, for it effects nothing ; it is what God has decreed that happens. VII. If thou art one of those who are sitting at table with a man who is greater than thyself, accept what he gives thee, what is set before thy nose. Look not at that which’he has before him, but set thy gaze upon that which is before thee. Cast not a multitude of prying glances upon him, for this behaviour will cause him discomfort. Keep thy face turned downwards until he addresses thee, and speak only when he speaks to thee. Laugh thou when he laughs. That will be exceedingly pleasing to his mind, and what thou doest will be very good behaviour. What is in the heart cannot be known. When a great man is [sitting] behind food, his commands are in accordance with his (disposition). A great man gives to the person whom he can reach, but the Ka makes him stretch his hands to those beyond. The eating of bread is under the dispensation of God. When plans of the night come into being, the ignorant man suffers loss thereby. VIII. If thou art in the position of a man who is treated with confidence, whom one nobleman sends to another on business, when he sends thee on a mission conduct the business in a right and fitting manner. Perform the mission according to what he says to thee. Let not thy heart eat (1.e. hide) anything of what is said to thee, and guard thyself carefully against forgetting any part of it. Guard thyself also against making harsh the words which one nobleman may speak about another contemptuously by using the utterances of folk in general. Whether it be a nobleman or a man of no account, it is disgrace to the Ka. .

IX. When thou ploughest, and there is abundant growth in thy field, and God gives a plentiful crop into thy hand, praise not the man who has no children, curse not, boast not, and eat not thy fill from the provisions of thy family. The fear of silence (?) works great things ; the man who is master of the kat weight is master of the goods [also], he seizes like the crocodile among the genbet ein ire ye X. If thou art a man in a menial position, and art in the service of a man of honourable estate, and thy treatment by God is good (or, generous), seek not to acquire any knowledge whatsoever about his former estate. Make not great thy heart (i.e. be not arrogant) towards him because of what thou knowest about him and his former condition. Fear him because of what has happened to him, for behold, wealth comes not of itself; it is a law to those who love it. If he squanders it one fears him. It is God Who creates his honourable estate ; if he fights on his own behalf he falls down (t.e. dies). XI. Follow thy heart’s desire as long as thou livest, and do not more than is ordered. Waste not the time in which thou canst follow thy heart’s desire, for it is a hateful thing to the Ka (2.e. the natural disposition) to limit its period. Weary not thyself concerning the affairs of the day, nor be anxious overmuch about thy house and estate ; things happen (or, come), follow [thy] inclina- (EG reo teas Se

XII. If thou wouldst be a perfect man and dost possess a house and estate, beget a son who shall be well-pleasing to God. If he does what is right, and if he imitates thee in thy actions, and hearkens to thy teaching, and his behaving is perfect in thy house, and he cares for thy property as if it was his own, seek thou for him every kind of honour. He is thy son whom thy heart’s desire has begotten ; let not thy heart drift away from Binisea eet But if he follows an evil course, and opposes thy plans, and does not carry out thy instructions, and his behaviour in thy house is detestable, and he treats with contempt all thy words, and sets his mouth in motion with vile words, and his face is turned away, and nothing remains in his hands, cast him away, for he is no son of thine, and he was not born for thee. He is thy servant by his tongue through his qualities (or, characteristics) ; he is one who blames them. God will smite him in the body. He will never turn back to control them. The shipwrecked ones will not find a boat for themselves.

XIII. If thou art in the ante-chamber of a nobleman, whether thou art standing up or squatting, abase thyself the first day. Press not forward, lest thy being turned back should take place. Keep a keen watch on the confidential servant who announces thee; the man who is summoned [by the nobleman] finds a wide seat (t.e. plenty of room). The ante-chamber of a nobleman is governed by precedence, and all its procedure is according to rule. It is God who _ advances the seat of him that is advanced. It is not effected by the shoulder of a man (7.e. by force). XIV. If thou art with common people make thyself like the peasant folk by concealing thy mind. The man who conceals his mind enjoys a good reputation, if he does not wander about after the word of his body. He becomes his own master, a master of affairs by his own planning. Thy name is good without thy word. Thy limbs (or, body) are fat; thy face is with (?) thee, thou praisest thyself without knowing it. The man who is small of heart (timid?) hearkens to his body, he sets his defects (or, littlenesses) in the place of his love, his heart becomes a wretched thing, his members dwindle to nothing. The man who is great of heart (i.e. bold) is one of God’s men. He hearkens to the command of his heart, his enemy becomes his possession.

XV. Declare thy mission and conceal nothing. Devote all thy thought to the counsel of thy lord. . . . . . Supposing that a noble destroys his possessions : evenif he (7.¢. the envoy) thinks of opposing him in the matter, he must hold his peace, having already spoken to him. XVI. If thou art in the position of a leader, press forward thy plans by thy commands; do thou what thou hast decided upon. But remember (or, take good heed concerning) the days that are to follow. If there be no word on thy behalf among those who are praised, calamity will overwhelm thee and misery will overtake thee. XVII. If thou art in the position of a leader (or, one to whom petitions are made), be courteous, and listen to the petition of the petitioner. Stop not his words, until he has poured out all that is in his heart and has said what he came to say. A man witha petition to make loves the official who will agree to what he says, and will let him talk out his grievance fully. Every petitioner rejoices to have his grievance heard. A fair word rejoices (literally, paints) the heart. If an official stops the flow of words of the petitioner, the people say: ‘‘ Why is this fellow there having the power to act in this way?”

XVIII. If thou wishest to maintain a permanent friendship in the house to which thou art in the habit of going, whether as master, or whether as brother, or whether as friend, or in fact in any place to which thou hast the entry, strive against associating with the women. The place which they frequent is not good. The man who is not prudent follows after them. A thousand men seeking what is beautiful are destroyed by them. A man is made a fool of by their shining limbs, but they turn into things that are harder than quartzite sandstone. The pleasure is only for a little moment, and it [passes] like a dream, and a man at the end thereof finds death through knowing it....... XIX. If thou wouldst have thy lot as a leader a happy one, guard thyself against every evil deed, and above all fight against the vice of avarice, which is a disease fraught with pain that cannot be conquered. Confidence cannot exist side by side with it. It turns fathers and mothers into evil folk, and also the brothers of the mother. It turns the kindly friend into a bitter enemy, it drives away the trusted servant from his master, and it makes a wife hateful to her husband. It is a strong treasure-house of every kind of evil, and a purse containing abominable vices of every kind. The man who has truth (maat) for his tow-line walks whither her steps lead him, and acquires house and estate; but the avaricious possesses not even a tomb.

XX. Be not avaricious when a division of property is made, and be not greedy, and what is thy due shall come to thee. Be not avaricious in thy dealings with thy kinsfolk. The prayer of the long-suffering man is greater than force, even though he be of no account among the people of his own time, and is destitute of the gifts of speech. A very little avarice about a matter of the kind will make hostility to arise even in the man who is usually cool-hearted (¢.e., unexcitable). XXI. If thou wouldst be wise (or, prosperous) stablish thyself in a house (t.e., get married). Love thou thy wife in the house wholly and rightly. Fill her belly and clothe her back ; oil for anointing is the medicine for her limbs. Make her heart to rejoice as long as thou livest ; she is a profitable field for her lord. Enter not into disputes with her. She will withdraw herself before force....... Make her to prosper permanently in thy house. If thou art hostile to her she is a well (or, ditch) ; she gives herself to herself. XXII. Satisfy thy servants whom thou trustest with thy possessions, so that they may feel as if

they had been rewarded by God. If a man is niggardly in satisfying his trusted servants, he is declared tobe 4 thievish person: =. 92-6) eee No man knows what will happen as he meditates in the morning. When troublesome events come upon him it will be the trusted servants who will bid him ‘‘ Welcome.”” Peace (?) cannot be brought to the town (or, estate), and when it is brought by the servants ruin supervenes. XXIII. Repeat not the words spoken by a man who is furiously angry; hearken not to him; they are the outpouring of a heated mind (or, body). At the repetition of a matter, look on, hear not ; let it go.to:the ground... <(..25.2 5 XXIV. If thou art in the position of a man of high rank who sits in the council of his lord, devote thy heart entirely to what is good (or, perfect). To hold thy peace is better for thee than the teftef flower. Speak thou only when thou knowest a matter and canst explain it. Behold, the word isa handicraftsman who speaks in the council, and speech is the most laborious of all works. The explanation thereof hands one over to the staff [of punishment].

XXV. If thou art strong, make respect for thyself to spread with understanding and with gentleness of speech. Command not except when thou canst guide ; abuse brings a man to calamity. Be not haughty in thy heart, lest it be humbled. Keep not silence entirely, take care as to the path thou treadest. Answer a word in a suitable (?) taannere ws Putoawa ysis, ce aur control thyself. Subdue the heated emotions of, an ardent mind. The man who walks softly fashions his path aright. The man who toils the whole day long never passes a happy moment; and the man who indulges in pleasure all the day long never acquires possessions. Seize a time for rest as does the steersman ; the time he is on land another toils (t.é., grasps the pole)... ...... XXVI. Approach not a great man in his hour, and irritate not the heart of him who is heavily burdened with care. Injury caused by him comes upon him that is hated by him. He sets free his Ka, he loves him who gives food, who is with God. What he loves he does...... There is peace with his Ka [when] the calamity has fallen (?)

XXVII. Instruct thou a nobleman in the matters which will be advantageous to him ; make his splendour to be among the people ; make thou that what a man knows shall fall (¢.e., be attributed) to his lord. Thine own food depends upon his Ka (2.e., good pleasure) ; a kindly (or, loving) heart obtains the meals which satisfy, and thine own back becomes clothed thereby. His light (?) is upon thee to make thy house to live...... He offers a gracious (7.e., helpful) shoulder. .. . Verily he who hearkens is a being who is loved. XXVIII. If thou art the son of a man who is a member of council and art chosen to go on a mission to make tranquil the multitude, search out the matter with strict justice, and declare thy finding, taking no side. Take heed to what one says as go-the cnieis:. .... < it is for thee to adjust the case rather than to act as judge. XXIX. If thou hast been long-suffering with a man in time past, and thou art wearied by a man suing for his right, turn thyself away from him, and remember him not. Whilst he keeps silent to Pee ie olla’: the first day.

XXX. If thou hast become great, having been once in a very lowly state, and if thou hast acquired possessions, having been at one time in a state of destitution in the quarter of the city that is known to thee, forget not that which happened to thee in the times that are past. Set not thy heart’s confidence on thy goods, which have, after all, only come to thee as gifts of God. Thou wouldst not be superior to any other man if what has happened to thee had happened to him. XXXI. Bend thy back in reverence to him that is thy chief and thy governor by virtue of the power that he derives from the House (1.e., authority) of the King. Thy house and all that is in it shall prosper thereby, and thou shalt receive the wages that it is meet for thee to have. It isa bad thing to set oneself in opposition to the man who is appointed chief. A man lives as long as he displays gentleness and patience. A man should never injure the shoulder that covers (7.e., protects) him. Rob not the house of the peasants, and seize not by force the property that comes into thy hands. He (i.¢., thy chief) will not revile thee because of

' what thou hast heard...... If he knows it he will be hostile to thee. It is a bad thing to set thyself in opposition in the place which thou hast entered. XXXII. Have no intercourse with a womanpelo: ik Say oat Path ee XXXIII. If thou seekest for friendship with a man, ask not for it, but go to his house, and pass the time (or, pay a visit) with him alone, so that he may not be able to make his attitude to thee unpleasant. Talk wisely to him after a certain period. Find out what his mind is by conversing with him. If there comes up as a subject something that he has seen thee do, or if he does something that makes thee to be ashamed, hold thy peace or show thyself friendly to him ; browbeat him not. Prepare an answer for him with words that will tell, answer not in a way that will irritate him ; do not leave him, and do not harass (?) him. His moment must not come, and he must not be cast down at what has been ordered for him. XXXIV. Let thy face shine with cheerfulness as long as thou livest. When there comes forth from the storehouse one of those who went in at the distribution of loaves of bread and his face is set in a frown, he makes known the emptiness of his belly, and he becomes an enemy, being unsatisfied. Do not let any man approach thee and find thee with a gloomy face. A man wishes to remember what is pleasant in the years that he has yet to live (?).

XXXV. Know thy people (or, acquaintances) when thy prosperity is at a low ebb; thy character (or, reputation) is more than thy friends. It fills the river-side ; it is greater than a man’s valuable possessions. Riches pass from one man to another. It is an excellent thing for the son of a man to have a [good] character. Good qualities are remembered. wg oe xis ws 7 XXXVII. If thou takest as a handmaid a woman who has always enjoyed good cheer, and is of a merry disposition and is well known to her fellow townsfolk, and she is as thy lawful wife, and is good to look upon, drive her not away, but supply her with food to eat (or, make her fat with good food). [Here ends the Teaching of Ptah-hetep.] I. If thou wilt hearken to these things which I have said to thee, thy condition of life will be like unto that of all those who have gone before thee. And besides the truth that belongs to them remains their beauty: the memory of them shall never depart from the mouths of men by reason of the beauty of their phrasing. Every word will pass current as a thing that can never perish in this land, and it will beautify exceedingly the utterances that the princes and nobles make. It is the Teaching that a man should hand on when speaking to his posterity, so that they may hearit. Thereby he becomes a craftsman in speech, and having heard fine speech himself, he declares it to those who shall come after him, so that they likewise may hear what he has heard. If a well-doing disposition exists in him that is set at the head of affairs he will always be beneficent, and all his wisdom shall endure for ever and ever. The soul that is well trained (or, is understanding) rejoices when its wisdom is established, and it is happy when it is prosperous on the earth. Behold, he becomes a prince through his well-doing disposition, his heart serves as the counterpoise to his tongue, and his lips are true when he speaks, his eyes see rightly, and his two ears hear at the same time. It is a very excellent thing for his son to do what is right, and to keep himself from falsehood [in word and deed].

II. It is a good thing for the son who hears to have heard. He who hears enters in as one who has heard, and he who has heard becomes a hearer who hears what is good and speaks what is good. Everyone who has heard is an excellent person, and it is an excellent thing for him that has already heard [teaching] to hear [more]. To hear is the best of all qualities (or, characteristics), and beautiful affection springs into being thereby. How beautiful is it to see a son searching into the Teaching of his father; through this act he will attain to old age. The man who loves God will hear, but he whom God hates will not hear. Behold, it is the heart of a man that makes its possessor hear or not hear. The heart of a man is life, strength and health to him. Behold, he who has heard hears the word, and he who loves to hear is he who will perform words. How beautiful it is when a son hearkens to his father! And how happy is he (7.e., the father) to whom these words are applicable! How beautiful is the son as a lord of hearing, who has heard and of whom it can be said, He is good in his body, and is treasured by his father! The memorial of him shall be ever in the mouths of those who are alive on the earth at this present, and in the mouths of unborn generations.

III. If the son of a man receives what his father says to him, none of his plans shall fail. Thou art instructed by a son who hearkens. His merit [becomes known] among the princes. His control is over that which he speaks—seeing in ee Calamity overtakes [the son who] will not hear. The man of knowledge rises betimes to stablish himself, but the fool of a man injures himself. IV. The fool of a man who has not hearkened effects nothing whatsoever. He looks upon the man of knowledge as a man who knows nothing, and the qualities of virtue and excellence he considers to be defects. He does every kind of thing that is reprehensible, and these cause him to be abused daily. He lives (i.e., flourishes) upon that through which men die, and his bread is that which is filthy and abominable. But his character and disposition are well known to the princes. He goes on living day by day, but he is as one dead, and people keep themselves at a distance from him because of his evil moods, and because of the many calamities that come upon him every day. V. Theson who has hearkened is like a Follower of Horus, and when he has hearkened good [comes] to him. When he is old and has attained the state when reverence is paid to him, he tells his children the things that were told to him, and so makes new the instruction of his father. Every man instructs as he has been instructed, and tells his children what he has been told, and they tell it again to their children.

VI. Build up a character and gainsay not thy precept (?). Make Truth to flourish, give life to (ey mehitdren, wc lt. coc ek Pees it will come bearing sins (or, defects). Act thou in such a way that the people when they see thee shall say: “ Behold, he is exactly like that one’’; and that when they hear of thee they shall also say: “ Behold, he is exactly lke that one.’’ The people shiall-see. and: shall.[say]+.-) eee subduing the MO tude sr ei VII. Suppress no word [in this book], and add nothing to it, and set not one thing in the place of another. Take good heed not to open the writings (?) that thou hast ; instruct according to the [traditional] word. Thou, a man of learning, hearken thyself. Desire thou to establish thy behest in the mouths of those who hear. [Let thy speech be suitable to the occasion] and let every plan of thine be in its place. VIII. Make thy heart to sink as in water, control thy mouth, so shall thy plans be among the princes. Make thyself to be wholly in accord with thy lord, make him to say: “ This is my son.” Then shall those who hear these words say: “ Assuredly praise is due to his begetters.’’ Concentrate thy mind at the time when thou art

speaking, and thou shalt make remarkable utterances, and the princes who hear them shall say : “Good, good are the things that come forth from his mouth.” IX. Act in such a way that thy lord shall say of thee :—The Teaching of his father must have been very, very good. He came forth from him (t.e., his father), the first of his loins. He has declared his Teaching to him, and the whole of it is in his body, and what he did in making him was greater than what he said to him. Behold a good son, of the gift of God, who has done more than his lord ordered him to do. He does that which is right, and his heart does (i.e., follows) according to his footsteps. May thy members have strength (or, good health) similar to that which I have obtained, the King at the same time being satisfied with everything that has happened, and mayest thou be master of [many] years of life. It is not a little thing that I have upon the earth. Ihave obtained one hundred and ten years of life, which the King has given to me, in addition to the favours which surpassed those of my ancestors, for doing what was right for the King up to the place of reverence (t.e., to old age).

Here ends [the book]—its beginning to its end as it was found in writing. -THE TEACHING. OF TUAUF, . THE SON OF KHATTAT THE BEGINNING OF THE TEACHING THAT WAS COMPOSED BY A MAN OF THE 7H#ART, WHOSE NAME IS TUAUF, THE SON OF KHATTAI, FOR HIS SON WHOSE NAME IS PEPI, WHEN HE WAS SAILING UP THE RIVER WITH HIM TO KHENNU (OR TO THE COURT ?), TO PLACE HIM IN THE HOUSE OF THE TEACHING OF BOOKS (t.e., WITH THE SONS OF THE PRINCES OF KHENNU). He said to him :— I. I have considered the exhaustion caused by labour, I repeat I have considered it ; [therefore] devote thy mind to books. I have also considered who has been released from the corvée, and assuredly there is nothing more [to be esteemed] than books. They are like a well. Dig down deeply therefore into the depth of Kamit (7.e., the literature of Egypt), and thou wilt find the following aphorism : As for the scribe, any (or every) position at Court may be his; he needs not be a beggar therein. The man who works to satisfy another never obtains a settled position. I have considered the other professions likewise, and to them also this aphorism may be applied. I would make thee to love books as thy mother. I would bring in their beauties before thy face, for the profession of the scribe is greater than any other—there is nothing equal to it upon the earth. Even when he is a beginner and is making progress, though still

a mere youth, his views are discussed. He is despatched on missions of state, but does not come [back] to place himself under restraint (?). II. I have never seen the blacksmith (literally, the man who casts statues in metal) in charge of a mission, or the gold-worker despatched on one. But I have seen the coppersmith at his work at the door of his blazing fiery furnace. His fingers are [knotted and rough] like the hide of the crocodile, and he stinks more than the guts of fish. III. Every artisan who wields the chisel, has he any more rest than! the ploughman? His fields are [made of] wood, his tools of tillage are of copper. He is released from work in the nightseason, and works more than he did with his arms {in the day-time]; in the night-season he lights his lamp. IV. The stone-mason is always seeking blocks of sandstone of all kinds suitable for his work. When his period of work is ended in the evening, his arms are weary, and he (7.e., his whole body) is exhausted. He sits himself down when Ra enters [the Tuat], and his thighs and the bones of his back . [seem] as if they were coming asunder.

V. The barber shaves until far into the night. When he sets himself to eat (?) he must put himself on his upper arm. He betakes himself from one quarter of the town to another in search of the men who want shaving (i.e., his customers). He tortures his hands and arms to fill his belly, just as do the honey-flies (i.¢., bees) which devour their own productions. VI. The waterman (?) has to work down the river into the Delta in order to gain his wages. He must toil excessively and work as long as his 1 Or, perhaps, “ he needs more rest than the ploughman.” arms are able to do so. The mosquitoes (?) and gnats sting him to death, his stink chokes (?) him. He sets out for his garden, he sets out for his PiGIS@ Sar ee. VII. The workman (or, mud-puddler) who builds dams (or, makes bricks) in the fields must pass his time among the cattle. He has to do work in the vineyards and for the pigs. He cooks his food (?) in the fields. His garments are stiff with the mud which is caked on them, the straps break (?). If he goes into the wind it stifles him ; when his fire appears (7.e., burns up) he is comfortable. He works wooden tools with his feet. If he frees himself from them and crosses the threshold, he is driven from the place.

VIII. J will speak to thee also about the builder of walls. He is eaten up with disease, for he lives out in the open air among the winds. The building material isin his garb. He is tied to the walls like the lilies (?) in order to attain to what he seeks. His arms are in evil case . . . . all his clothes are dilapidated. He eats the bread of his fingers, he washes himself once only. His misery is so great that it can hardly be déseribéd correctly “=. *. . from one chamber to another, ten cubits by six cubits..... from one month to another he clings to the scaffolding like the lilies on the houses, doing work of every kind. If he has bread [to eat] it is to his house that he gives it. His children are cruelly beaten [by him]. IX. The gardener brings in to me gazelle (sic). His shoulders are bowed under crushing loads, and his arms and his neck become diseased. He spends the forenoon in watching the onions and the afternoon in attending to the vines. He is obliged to work every day, and everything he does exhausts his body.

X. The farm-labourer, his clothes [last] for ever.1 He has a raucous voice like that of the corncrake (?) His fingers and hands and arms are dried up by the winds and are cracked. He is worked to exhaustion...... a man would choose the security afforded by lions to that which he has. The taste of death isin him. His roof (?) is the earth among them. He comes through the fields, he comes to his house in the evening, and is utterly worn out by the journey. XI. The weaver sits in a closed hut, and has a lot which is worse than that of a woman. His thighs are drawn up close to his body, and he cannot breathe freely. The day on which he fails to do his tale of woven work he is dragged out [from his hut] like a lily (or lotus) from the pool. Only by bribing the watchman at the door with [his] bread-cakes can he make him let him see the sunlight. XII. The spear-maker (literally, the maker of weapons for fighting) suffers sorely when he has to go out into the hills. He must pay much money for the hire of the asses and [their drivers], and his expenses for provender for them on the way are very great. He comes through the fields, he comes to his house, and is utterly worn out by the journey.

XIII. The envoy (?) when he is about to come forth into the mountainous country (or, desert) bequeaths his possessions to his children, being afraid of lions and the thievish nomads, the Aamu. And when he returns to Egypt, and has come through the fields, and reaches his house at nightfall, he is utterly broken by the fatigues of the journey. 1 Or, perhaps, “ The farm-labourer is always held accountable by his employer.” XIV. The reed-cutter, his fingers are filthy, and the stink of them is that of the dealer in fish (?) His eyes are dazed (or, sunken), his hand never rests. He passes the whole day in cutting papyrus (?), he detests [wearing] clothes. _ XV. The lot of the sandal-maker is an evil one indeed. He must beg [for work] everlastingly. His health is the health of a hooked-fish (?) He gnaws the strips of leather. XVI. The washerman who toils on the river bank is a neighbour (?) of the crocodile. ...... filth rises on the water, his hand never stops. It © is not a restful profession which I now set before thee, or the happiest of all professions! His food is mixed up with his apparel, not one of his members is clean, he must put himself into the garments of women. His miserable state is one to weep over. He spends his whole day with the stick for beating the clothes [in his hands]. When clothes are brought to him to wash he is told that if he delays he will be beaten (?)

XVII. The snarer of wild-fowl toils exceedingly hard when he tries to see the birds as they fly high in the sky. When he sees the birds in a mass in the sky, he says: ‘‘ How I wish that I had a net handy !’’ but God does not give him his heart’s desire to help him to carry out his thoughts. XVIII. Moreover I tell thee that the trade of the fisherman is the worst of all trades. Does he not verily have to toil in the waters of the river, where he is mixed up with the crocodiles ? When the river-plants are sparse there is no one to cry out to him, “A crocodile lurking there.’ Fear blinds? his-eyeas Sa otyars Verily there is no occupation than which better cannot be found except the pesion of the scribe, which is the best of all. XIX. When a man knows the books one will say, “ They are good for thee.” No other profession will I set before thee (?); verily each worker curses his work [except the scribe]. No man says to the scribe, “‘ Work in the fields for such and such a man.” Verily that which I am now doing as I sail up the river to Khennu (the Court ?), behold, I do it for love of thee. Even one day [spent] in the house of instruction (i.e., school) is profitable for thee, and the work done therein will endure as long as the mountains. These are the things that I would have thee to know quickly, quickly, for they drive away

_ the Beast (or, Serpent ?) Betennu J wen Ss WU. XX. I will [now] speak to thee words concerning other matters, to instruct thee and make thee to know [how to behave] and how to avoid contention (or, quarrelling), Be thou one of those who have weight (a settled object ?) in their plans, for if a man adopts an object hastily he knows not where his plans will end. A man may have lapis lazuli (?) in his hand [for] the ee XXI. When thou art following in the train of princes walk decorously, as if thou wert feeling pleasure. When thou goest into a house and findest the master therein, the hands of another not being before thee; sit down, [lay] thy hand on thy mouth, and ask no questions of anyone who may happen to be near thee. He who says ‘(Tell me,] I pray,” is like the man who tries to break a cudgel with a twig (?) ? * Or, perhaps, “and findest the master therein [engaged] in discussing with another man affairs [of which thou art ignorant].” : ; * Tuauf is here quoting a proverb; he quotes it again a XXII. Ur-shefit lays a burden upon thee. Utter no cryptic words ; he who conceals his body (or, mind) works against him. Speak not words of pride and arrogance, even when thou art sitting by thyself, or, according to a variant reading, alone.

XXIII. When thou comest out of the house of teaching (i.e., school)—it having been told thee that midday has come—and thou goest singing (or, shouting) about the courtyards of the houses, I charge thee not to enter into [the houses] to which they belong. XXIV. When a great man of the town sends thee on an errand, deliver the message which he gave thee word for word, even as he uttered it. Take nothing away from the message which he gave, and abandon [the idea] of making any addition to it. Let him not set his heart. He is filled with [good] qualities of every kind, there exist no hidden things to him, no place is large enough to contain him. XXV. Speak not les to (or, concerning) thy mother, for the sake of this Great Chief (Osiris ?). Sale ace ee Act not in any wise against her, not even when thou art by thyself or, according to a variant reading, alone. If thou art one who despises the belly thou wilt be hearkened to. If, when thou hast eaten three bread-cakes, and hast drunk two pitchers of beer, thy belly is not full, thou must fight against it (7.e., thy ravenous appetite). If another man is filled therewith make no stand : it is like a man trying to break a cudgel with a twig. ey

XXVI. Behold, it is a good thing for thee to dismiss the crowd of people that are about thee, [so that] thou canst hear [privily] the words of the nobles. O that I could make myself like unto thee—a son of men (?). Thou marchest like one who has made himself the master of ....., The scribe who hears (or, obeys) is seen [and known]; he who obeys becomes a man of might. Fight against the words that are against (i.e., condemn) it. Make thy feet hasten when thou Marchest and. spare not thyself......... Make thyself to be friendly with thy young companions. XXVII. Behold, the goddess Renenit is on the way of God, and it is the goddess Renenit whom the scribe has upon his shoulder on the day of his birth, and when having become a man, he enters the Council Chamber. Verily there is no scribe who does not eat the food of the King ; life, strength, and health be to him ! AXVIII. The goddess Meskhenit makes the scribe to flourish and to prosper, and sets him at the head of the Council. Tua-Ra is his father and his mother (or, his father and his mother praise Ra). They set him on the path of life.

Behold, these are the things that I would set before thee, and before the children of his (7.e., his son’s) children. THE TEACHING WHICH KING KHATI~WROTE: FOR - His SON MERIKARA. The hieratic text of this Teaching is only found in copies of it which were made by the scribes who flourished under the New Empire, and is preserved at St. Petersburg and Moscow. It was published by Golénischeff in Les Papyrus Hiératiques No. No. 1115, 1116A e¢ 1116B de L’Ermitage Impérial ad St. Pétersbourg, 1913. The photographic facsimiles are accompanied by a transcript of the hieratic text into hieroglyphs. The first two or three columns are much mutilated, and little connected sense can be got from the fragments. I. The few words which remain suggest that the king tells his son what characteristic in a man he considers to be absolutely essential for ruling successfully. II-IV. These paragraphs deal with the suppression of rebellion. V. The king, considering the case of a man who is friendly with disloyal folk, and possesses the gift of fluent speech, and is very popular with many in the city and can bend them to his will, and is a mischievous chatterer, advises his son to seize him, and kill him, and blot out his name, and wipe out every memorial of his existence, and suppress all who were his adherents.

* An English translation of most of the published text was given by Gardiner in the Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, Voll, pi 22 ff. i a os VI. A quarrelsome discontented man causes uproar in a city, and will split the community into two parties. If thou dost find a man of this kind, but canst not thyself deal adequately with him, summon him to appear before the council, and prosecute him as arebel, forheisone. A chatterer in any case causes trouble in a city. Curb the mob. The man with nothing to lose rebels naturally. VII. A king must not punish in the heat of passion; use discretion in punishing, and thy people will rejoice. Show thyself to be a speaker of the truth before the God. ..... The heaven of a man is a good disposition (or, nature) ; the curse of a man who is broken-hearted through suffering is a terrible thing (or, calamity). VIII. Make thyself a craftsman in speech, for thereby thou shalt gain the upper hand. The tongue of a man is his weapon, and speech is mightier than fighting. No man can come behind fim that is’ sialled~m: heart: *... . Those who do not know cannot seize the man who knows, and where he is no evil thing takes place. Truth comes to him in a well rubbed-down state in the form of the sayings of the ancestors.

IX. Follow after (or, imitate) thy fathers of olden time. The [mind] is trained by knowledge. Behold, their words stand fast in writing. Open [their book], read, and follow their wise counsels, and in this wise shall the workman become a man who has been taught. Be not evil; good is graciousness (or, sympathy). Let thy loving sympathy stand as a permanent memorial of thee. Multiply thy [benefit]. ..in the city. The people will give thanks to God for thy benefactions, and they will praise thy goodness, and will pray for thy health [in years to come]. X. Pay honour to princes, and treat thy people well. Make the boundaries of thy country to_ flourish (¢.e., enlarge them), and the districts about thee. It is a good thing to work (7.e., make provision) for what is (or, those who are) to come after. Pay honour to a life of work, for he who 1s satisfied in heart becomes anevil...... It isa despicable thing for a man to fetter the land (his estate ?). The man who has nothing is greedy for the property [of others]... .... upon earth has NO-COMPMUIt ssc tak ate XI. Make great thy princes and they will carry out thy laws. The man who possesses wealth in his house favours no man; the man with possessions has no need of [bribes]. The poor man does not say what it would be right for him [to say], and the man who says, ‘“‘ I would have more ”’ is not trustworthy for he will favour the side that will bribe him. A prince is truly great when his princes are great ; a king is strong when he has shentt (1.e., mighty men) about him. Awe-inspiring is he who has many princes about him. Speak what is true in thy house, and the princes who are on the earth shall fear thee. All is well when the Lord is right of heart, [for] the chief (or, innermost ?) chamber makes reverence to be felt for the outside thereof.

XII. Do the right, and thou shalt continue upon the earth. Make the weeper to cease his plaint. Fleece not the widow woman. Drive no man away from the property of his father (i.e., ancestral estate). Defraud not the princes by removing them from their hereditary offices. Take good heed not to inflict punishment unjustly. Slay none unnecessarily ; it will not be profitable for thee. Inflict punishment by means of beatings and putting men under restraint ; through treatment of this kind this land shall have a sure foundation. But an exception to this treatment shall be the rebel whose plottings have been found out. God knows the evil-hearted. God smites him for transgressions against Him even to Jo SSE oe ee Slay not the man with whose virtues thou art acquainted, with whom thou hast in times past sung the writings [in school] and read the [Sapu Book] of God. Enter with a long stride the place of hidden things (or, mysteries). The soul of the man who is slain, & Me, comes to the place which it knows, it steps not aside from the ways of yesterday. No words of power (t.e., magical spells) can turn it back, and it advances to the place where waters flow for it.

[For paragraph XIII, see page 17.] XIV. Train up the young men to be soldiers and thou wilt be beloved by the Court, and let thy retinue of servants be great and numerous. See that thy town is always filled with hale young men who have newly arrived, being twenty years of age. Young men rejoice in following the dictates of their hearts. Successors of dependants appear, and a father with his children..... Thus I raised soldiers when I ascended the throne. Make great thy great men, promote [those who fight] for thee. I pray thee to increase thy young men who follow thee, provided with inventories (?), endowed with fields and supplied with cattle. XV. Make no distinction in thy behaviour towards the son of a man of rank and the son of a man of humble parentage, but attach to thyself a man by reason of what his hands have effected. All handicrafts are performed according to the the Lord of Strength. Guard thy CU CIES ae er a eae border, set up thy lasting monuments, so that the corvée gangs may be profitable to their lord. Set up thy [fine] monumental buildings to God, for this will make to live the name of him that builds them. Let a man do what is of benefit to his souls, [that is to say] let him make the monthly purification, and take the white sandals, and betake himself to the temple, and unveil what is usually secret, and enter the shrine (or, sanctuary), and eat bread in the house of the god.

XVI. Make the libation tank to overflow, make great (or, large) the bread-cakes, multiply the daily offerings, for it benefits the man who does this. Make to flourish thy monuments according to thy wealth (or, power). One day [only] will provide for eternity, and one hour [only] will produce benefit for him that comes after. God has knowledge of the man who works for him. Carry statues of thyself into a remote land, and let not the people count [the labour] of doing so. Sick is the man who lacks a thing to fight about, in the interior of Egypt the fighting man is never cool. XVII. Young recruits attack young recruits, according to what the men of olden time have said about the matter. Egypt fights in the cemetery, smashing the tombs and smashing... . . Thus did I myself and thus did it happen. ........ Entreat not evilly the country of the Sourn. Thou knowest what the Court said concerning it in times past, and it came to pass even as these things came to pass. They did not invade it, as they SHI: Senses The town of Ten (Thinis), which was the boundary on the south, and as far Taut (?), I captured it like a water flood. King Meri[ka]- Ra, whose word is truth; did not do this. Be

1 T.e., this king was dead. long-suffering in ruling that country. ........ act wisely, having regard to the future. XVIII. Keep on good terms with the region of the South. Men will come to thee bowed under loads with offerings. I acted as the men of olden time did. If a man has no grain to give [as tribute] be compassionate, for they are feeble folk by the side of thee. Fill thyself full of thine own bread-cakes and beer. Then shall the granite come to thee [from Sun, 7.e., Syene] without any hindrance. Destroy not the monuments of another man, but hew stone for thyself in Reau.t Build not thy tomb with stones from a wrecked ROU oe Behold, thou Kine, Lord of joy of heart, thou art lazy, thou sleepest in thy strength. Follow thy inclination as I have done and thou shalt not have an enemy within thy border. XIX. A certain man stood up, he was a lord of the town, and his heart was broken because of Ta-Mehu (7.e., the Delta), from Het-shennu to Sebaqa, its southern border as far as the marsh land of Khaui (near Herakleopolis). I settled the country on the west [of the Delta] as far as the margins of the Lake (or, Sea). They work (or, pay Paamer rit welas.§ Se The Eastern country is full of nomad Arabs, their tribute

[The next five paragraphs are full of difficult words and passages. They refer to the writer’s conquest of the country to the north-east of Egypt, including Syria. He had subjugated it as far as Kantarah, and apparently had established garrisons to keep away the Semites and other Asiatic peoples. He now wishes to see a strong man arise 1 J.¢,, the quarries of Turah, about 20 miles south of Cairo on the East bank of the Nile. F in the person of his son. And, moreover, he says, the Pett peoples (7.e., the nomad tribes of Palestine and Syria) may be described thus. The Amu are a despicable folk. The region in which they live is a miserable place, the water of the well{s] is horrible, it is difficult to travel about in because of the great number of the trees (or, jungle), and their roads are bad because of the mountainous districts. The Amu is never to be found in the same place, and his feet are always on the move, marching from one place to another. He has been fighting ever since the time of Horus. He conquers nobody and nobody conquers him. He never announces the day on which he is going to fight, and is like the captain who rushes off suddenly to quell a rebellion. During my time the Pett tribes of the Amu were like a weapon in a fortress. 5-10.55 I allowed the people of TaMehu (i.e., the North-land, or Delta) to fight them. I carried away captive their holders of land and their-tatthe jer sk the Amu are a beastly folk to the Egyptians. Let not thy heart have concern about him. He will attack and rob an isolated encampment, but he will not attack a walled town. Dig down the dyke and flood half of the district as far as Kamui (Athribis), verily it is the navel-cord of the nomads of the desert. Its walls are manned with armed men, its inhabitants are many and they know how to handle. ..... Then there is the town of Tetu-Asut,) the people whereof are ten thousand in number, and they are free and untaxed. There are princes in it who from the time of Ra have gone to the Court [Memphis ?]. Its borders are well defined, its coast-guards are strong, and it has many Northern men (7.e., Delta folk) in it, and

1 A part of the modern district of Sakkarah, to the South of Memphis. i they irrigate (?) it. The North-land gives tribute in the shape of grain. Behold, it is the lands of wood of the North-land. They built a dyke that reached to Hensu (Hanes—Herakleopolis)....... Take good care not to be hemmed in by hostile subjects: $6. 23... When there is revolt on thy southern border it is the Pett folk (7.e., nomad tribes) who will take up arms against thee. Therefore build forts (blockhouses ?) in the North-land. A man’s name is not belittled because of what he has done, and the city that is protected cannot be injured. Build ot eee The enemy loves the man who is evil-hearted, for his disposition is vile. King Kuati, whose word is truth, has laid down the following in his wise counsel: He who is silent (t.e., inactive) against the man of violent heart is destroyed ; God fights against the man who is an enemy of the temple. Here the section of the text that contains Khati’s advice of a political character comes to an end ; he now harks back to his moral Teaching. Pv sa nere shall come one ..+ 4. 0.560. who shall carry it out; he shall understand what has Peeaenccerced: ... ss the day of his coming.

Provide drink offerings in abundance. Pay honour to God, and say not: “ He is poor-spirited.”” Let not thy hands and arms drop in idleness, but work willingly. What destroys heaven is apathy (?). Monuments are regarded by an enemy, [for] he does not destroy them because he wishes that what he himself has made shall be maintained in good order by him who comes after him. There exists no man who has not ah’enemy. [The Lord] of the Two Lands understands affairs, and the King who 1 Presumably Khati I, the founder of the Herakleopolitan Dynasty. F 2 is surrounded by nobles does not act stupidly. He was wise even when he came forth from the womb ; he was set apart (or, distinguished) to be at the head of the land of millions [of men]. XXVI. Kingship is a splendid rank. Even when [a king] has no son and no brother to perpetuate his monuments, lo, one king maintains the reputation of another. A man works on behalf of his predecessor, because he wishes that what he himself has done shall be maintained in good order by his successor. Behold, an evil happening took place in my time, that is to say, the funerary districts of Tenu (Thinis) were laid waste. It took place because of an act of my own, and I only had knowledge of it after the deed was done. Verily my punishment was in proportion to what I had done. A contemptible man and unprofitable is he who thinks that he can make to flourish again what he has laid waste, or build up what he has overthrown, restoring its perfect state and beauty. Take good heed to this matter; a blow struck brings a counter blow in its train ; and this is the irresistible result of every action (or, deed).

[For Paragraphs XXVII and XXVIII, see page 21 ff.] XXIX. Do no evil thing. My mouth gives laws of every kind for the King. Make direct thy face before thee, lift up thyself like aman. O that thou mayest come to where I am without any laying information against thee. Slay not any man who approaches thee and whom thou hast favoured, for God knows him. He who flourishes on earth is one of them; those who follow the King are gods. Make the love of thee to be among all the peoples. A generous (or, well-doing) character is held in remembrance ...... it was said concerning thee the time of the feeble man isatanend. Thus said those who were dependants in the House of King Khat-ti when prophesying about him that was to come to-day. Behold, I have declared to thee the profitable things of my mind ; make them to be firmly grounded before thee. It (.e., the book) has gone out (1.¢., it is finished) in peace, as it was found in writing in the writing of Khamuas for himself, the silent one of truth, of kindly nature, generous and a lover of men. He stood not in the eye (?) of another, he was not one given to scurrilous (or, blasphemous) abuse, he was the servant of his lord, a scribe who..... man skilled in the craft of Thoth, the abe Khamuas, and for his brother whom he loved dearly, the silent one of truth, of kindly nature, a man skilled in the craft of Thoth, the scribe Mahu.

From his stele in the British Museum, No. 197 [58x].* ‘“ Antef, the governor of the offices of the Government,? smells the ground (7.e., does homage) before Khenti-Amenti, and looks upon the beneficent deeds of Up-uatu. He says: Now as concerning this tomb which I have made in the mountain (7.e., cemetery)* of Abydos, this region which is surrounded by walls, which was made in the beginning by Nebertcher,* a place profitable (or glorious) since the time of Osiris, a settlement of Horus for his Fathers, [the place] that the stars in the sky serve, [the place that is] the mistress of the henmemet beings, whereto come the great ones of Tetu (Mendes), the sister-site of Anu (Heliopolis), [the place of] Horus-splendours, whereon rests Nebertcher—may offerings appear at the word here for the loyal servant, the governor of the offices of the Government, Antef, the son of Sent. * Published by Sharpe, Egyptian Inscriptions, II, pl. 83; and Hall, H. R., Hieroglyphic Texts, Part II, pl. 23; and Moret, La Profession, p. 80. * The equivalent of the Mudirfyah of our days. * To this day the Egyptians call the region where the tombs are situated “ gabal,’’ t.e., mountain.