The Teachings of Ptah Hotep
These are instructions by the Mayor of the City who is also the Vizier. His name is Ptahhotep and he serves under Pharoah Assa who lives for all eternity. The mayor of the City, Vizier Ptahhotep, addressed the Supreme Divinity, the Diety as follows:
"God upon the crocodiles." (Reference to Heru) who is sometimes shown standing on two crocodiles. My God, the process of aging brings senility. My mind decays and forgetfulness of the things of yesterday has already begun. Feebleness has come and weakness grows. Childlike one sleeps all day. The eyes are dim and the ears are becoming deaf. The strength is being sapped. The mouth has grown silent and does not speak. The bones ache through and through. Good things now seem evil. The taste is gone. What old age does to people in evil is everything.
The nose is clogged and does not breath. It is painful even to stand or to sit. May your servant be authorized to use the status that old age affords, to teach the hearers, so as to tell them the words of those who have listened to the ways of our ancestors, and of those who have listened to the Gods. May I do this for you, so that strife may be banned from among our people, and so that the Two Shores may serve you?
Then the majesty of the Diety said to Ptahhotep, go ahead and instruct him in the Ancient Wisdom. May he become a model for the children of the great. May obedience enter into him, and may he be devoted to the one who speaks to him. No one is born wise.
And so begins the formulation of Mdw Ntr,
good speech, to be spoken by the Prince, the Count, God's beloved, the eldest son of the Pharoah, the son of his body, Mayor of the City and Vizier, Ptahhotep, instructs the ignorant in the knowledge and in the standards of
good speech. It will profit those who hear. It will be a loss to those who transgress. Ptahhotep began to speak to "Pharoah's son" (to posterity).
1. Do not be proud and arrogant with your knowledge. Consult and converse with ignorant and the wise, for the limits of art are not reached. No artist ever possesses that perfection to which he should aspire.
Good speech is more hidden than greenstone (emeralds), yet it may be found among maids at the grindstones.
2. If you meet a disputant in the heat of action, one who more powerful than you, simply fold your arms and bend your back. To confront him will not make him agree with you. Pay no attention to his
evil speech. If you do not confront him while he is raging, people will call him an ignoramus. Your self-control will be the match for his evil utterances.
3. If you meet a disputant in action, one who is your equal, one who is on your level, you will overcome him by being silent while he is speaking evilly. There will be much talk among those who hear and your name will be held in high regard among the great.
4. If you meet a disputant in action who is a poor man and who is not your equal do not attack him because he is weak. Leave him alone. He will confound himself. Do not answer him just so that you can relieve your own heart. Do not vent yourself against your opponent. Wretched is he who injures a poor man. If you ignore him listerners will wish to do what you want. You will beat him through their reproof.
5. If you are a man who leads, a man who controls the affairs of many, then seek the most perfect way of performing your responsibility so that your conduct will be blameless. Great is Maat (truth, justice, and righteousness). It is everlasting. Maat has been unchanged since the time of Osiris. To create obstacles ot the following of laws, is to open a way to a
condition of violence. The
transgressor of laws is punished, although the greedy person overlooks this. Baseness may obtain riches, yet crime never lands its wares on the shore. In the end only Maat lasts. Man says, "Maat is my father's ground."
6. Do not scheme against people. God will punish accordingly; If a man says, "I will live by scheming," he will lack bread for his mouth. If a man says, "I will be rich," he will have to say, "My cleverness has trapped me." If he says, "I will trap for myself" he will
not be able to say, "I trapped for myself" he will not be able to say, "I trapped for my profit." If a man says, "I will rob someone," he wiill end by being given to a stranger. People schemes do not prevail. God's command is what prevails. Therefore, live in the midst of peace. What God gives comes by itself.
7. If you are one among guests at the table of person who is more powerful than you, take what that person gives just as it is set before you. Look at what is before you. Don't stare at your host. Don't speak to him until he asks. One does not know what may displease him. Speak when he has spoken to you. Then your words will please the heart. The man who has plenty of the means of existence acts as his Ka commands. He will give food to those who he favors. It is the Ka that makes his hand stretch out. The great man gives to the chosen man, thus eating is under the direction of God. It is a fool who complains about it.
8. If you are a person of trust sent by one great person to another great person, be careful to stick to the essence of the message that you were asked to transmit. Give the message exactly as he gave it to you. Guard against provocative speech which makes one great person angry with another. Just keep to the truth. Do not exceed it. However, even though there may have been an out-burst in the message you should not repeat it. Do not malign anyone, great or small, the Ka abhors it.
9. If you plow and if there is growth in your field and God lets it prosper in you hand, don't boast to your neighbor. One has great respect for the silent person. A person of character is a person of wealth. If that person robs, he or she like a crocodile in the middle of the waters. If God gives you children, don't impose on one who has no children. Neither should you decry or brag about having your own children, for there is many a father who has grief and many a mother with children who is less content whan another. It is the lonely whom God nurtures while the family man prays for a follower.
10. If you are poor, then serve a person of worth so that your conduct may be well with God. Do not bring up the fact that he was once poor. Do not be arrogant towards him just because you know about his former state. Respect him now for his position of authority. As for fortune, it obeys its own law and that is her will. It is God's gift. It is God who makes him worthy and who protects him whil he sleeps, or who can turn away from him.
11. Follow your heart as long as you live. Do more than is required of you. Do not shorten the time of "follow the heart", since that offends the Ka. Don't waste time on daily cares over and beyond providing for your household. When wealth finally comes, then follow your heart. Weatlh does no good if you are glum.
12. If you are a wise man, train up a son who will be pleasing to God. If he is straight and takes after you, take good care of him. Do everything that is good for him. He is your son, your Ka begot him. Don't withdraw your heart from him. But an offspring can make trouble. If your son strays and neglects your council and disobeys all that is said, with his mouth spouting evil speech, then punish him for all his talk. God will hate him who crosses you. His guilt was determined in the womb. He who God makes boatless cannot cross the water.
13. If you are a guard in the storehouse, stand or sit rather than leave your post and trepass into someones else's place. Follow this rule from the first. Never leave your post, even when fatigued. Keen is the face to him who enters announced, and spacious is the seat of him who has been asked to come in. The storehouse has fixed rules. All behaviour is strictly by the rule. Only a God can penetrate the secure warehouse where the rules are followed, even by privileged persons.
14. If you are among the people then gain your supporters by building trust. The trusted man is one who does not speak the first thing that comes to mind; and he will become a leader. A man of means has a good name, and his face is benign. People will praise him even without his knowledge. On the other hand, he whose heart obeys his belly asks for contempt of himself in the place of love. His heart is naked. His body is unanointed. The great hearted is a gift of God. He who is ruled by his appetite belongs to the enemy.
15. Report the thing that you were commissioned to report without error. Give your advice in the high council. If you are fluent in your speech, it will not be hard for you to report. Nor will anyone say of you, "who is he to know this?" As to the authories, their affairs will fail if they punish you for speaking truth. They should be silent upon hearing the report that you have rendered as you have been told.
16. If you are a man who leads, a man whose authority reaches widely, they you should do perfect things, those which posterity will remember. Don't listen to the words of flatterers or to words that puff you up with pride and vanity.
17. If you are a person who judges, listen carefully to the speech of one who pleads. Don't stop the person from telling you everything that they had planned to tell you. A person in distress wants to pour out his or her heart, even more than they want their case to be won. If you are one who stops a person who is pleading, that person will say "why does he reject my plea?" Of course not all that one pleads for can be granted, but a good hearing soothes the heart. The means for getting a true and clear explanation is to listen with kindness.
18. If you want friendship to endure in the house that you enter, the house of a master, of a brother or of a friend, then in whatever place you enter beware of approaching the women there. Unhappy is the place where this is done. Unwelcome is he who intrudes on them. A thounited snakesnd men are turned away from their good because of a short moment that is like a dream, and then that moment is followed by death that comes from having known that dream. Anyone who encourages you take advantage of the situation gives you poor advice. When you go to do it, your heart says no. If you are one who fails through the lust of women, then no affair of yours can prosper.
19. If you want to have perfect conduct, to be free from every evil, then above all guard against the vice of greed. Greed is a grievous sickness that has no cure. There is no treatment for it. It embroils fathers, mothers and the brothers of the mother. It parts the wife from the husband. Greed is a compound of all the evils. It is a bundle of all hateful things. That person endures whose rule is righteous, who walks a straight line, for that person will leave a legacy by such behavior. On the other hand, the greedy has no tomb.
20. Do not be greedy in the division of things. Do not covet more than your share. Don't be greedy towards your relatives. A mild person has a greater claim than the harsh one. Poor is the person who forgets his relatives. He is deprived of their company. Even a little bit of what is wanted will turn a quarreler into a friendly person.
21. When you prosper and establish your home, love your wife with ardor. Then fill her belly and clothe her back. Caress her. Give her oitments to soothe her body. Fulfill her wishes for as long as you live. She is a fertile field for her husband. Do not be brutal. Good manners will influence her better than force. Do not contend with her in the courts. Keep her from the need to resort to outside powers. Her eye is her storm when she gazes. It is by such treatment that she will be compelled to stay in your house.
22. Help your friends with things that you have, for you have these things by the grace of God. If you fail to help your friends, one will say you have a selfish Ka. One plans for tommorow, but you do not know what tomorrow will bring. The right soul is the soul by which one is sustained. If you do praiseworthy deeds your friends will say, "welcome" in you time of need.
23. Don't repeat slander nor should you even listen to it. It is the spouting of the hot bellied. Just report a thing that has been observed, not something that has been heard secondhand. If it is something negligible, don't even say anything. He who is standing before you will recognize your worth. Slander is like a terrible dream against which one covers the face.
24. If you are a man of worth who sits at the council of a leader, concentrate on being excellent. Your silence is much better than boasting. Speak when you know that you have a solution. It is the skilled person who should speak when in council. Speaking is harder than all other work. The one who understands this makes speech a servant.
25. If you are mighty and powerful then gain respect through knowledge and through your gentleness of speech. Don't order things except as it is fitting. The one who provokes others gets into trouble. Don't be haughty lest you be humbled. But also don't be mute lest you be chided. When you answer one who is fuming, turn your face and control yourself. The flame of the hot hearted sweeps across everything. But he who steps gently, his path is a paved road. He who is agitated all day has no happy moments but he who amuses himself all day can't keep his fortune.
26. Do not disturb a great man or distract his attention when he is occupied, trying to understand his task. When he is thus occupied, he strips his body through the love of what he does. Love for the work which they do brings men closer to God. These are the people who succeed in what they do.
27. Teach the great what is useful to them. Be an aide to the great before the people. If you let your knowledge impress your leader, your substenance from him will then come from his soul. As his favorite's belly is filled, so will your back be clothed and his help will be there to sustain you. For you leader whom you love and who lives by useful knowledge, he in turn will give you good support. Thus will the love of you endure in his belly. He is a soul who loves to listen.
28. If you are an official of high standing, and you are commissioned to satisfy the many, then hold to a straight line. When you speak don't lean to one side or to the other. Beware lest someone complain, saying to the judges, "he has distorted things", and then your very deeds will turn into a judgement of you.
29. If you are angered by a misdeed, then lean toward a man on account of his rightness. Pass over the misdeed and don't remember it, since God was silent to you on the first day on your misdeed.
30. If you are great after having been humble, if you have gained your wealth after having been poor, and then go to town that you know and that knows your former condition, don't put your trust in your newly acquired wealth which has come to you as a gift of God. If you do, one day someone there who is poor may very well overtake you.
31. Accept the authority of your leaders then your house will endure in it's wealth. Your rewards will come from the right place. Wretched is he who opposes his leader. One lives as long as he is mild. Baring your arm does not hurt it. Do not plunder your neighbor's house or steal the goods of one that is near you, lest he denounce you before you are even heard. One who is argumentative is a mildless person. If he is also known as an aggressor, then that hostile man will have trouble in the neighborhood.
32. Be circumspect in matters of sexual relations.
33. If you examine the character of a friend, don't ask other people, approach your friend. Deal with him alone, so as not to suffer from his anger. You may argue with him after a little while. You may test his heart in conversation. If what he has seen escapes him, if he does something that annoys you, stay friendly with him and do not attack. Be restrained and don't answer him with hostility. Do not leave him and do not attack him. His time will not fail to come. He cannot escape his fate.
34. Be generous as long as you live. What leaves the storehouse does not return. It is the food in the storehouse that one must share that is coveted. One whose belly is empty becomes an opponent. Therefore, do not have an accuser or an opponent as a neighbor. Your kindness to your neighbors will be a memorial to you for years, after you satisfy their needs.
35. Know your friends and then you prosper. Don't be mean towards your friends. They are like a watered field and greater than any material riches that you may have, for what
belongs to one belongs to another. The character of one who is well born should be a profit to him. Good nature is a memorial.
36. Punish firmly and chastise soundly, then repression of crime becomes an example. But punishment except for crime will turn the complainer into an enemy.
37. If you take a wife a good time woman who is joyful and who is well known in the town, if she is fickle and seems to live for the moment, do not reject her. Let her eat.
The joyful person brings happiness.If you listen to my sayings all of your affairs will go forward. Their value resides in their truth. The memory of these sayings goes on in the speech of men and women because of the worth of their precepts. If every word is carried on, they will not perish in this land. If advice is given for the good, the great will speak accordingly. This is a matter of teaching a person to speak to posterity. He or she who hears it becomes a master hearer. It is good to speak to posterity. Posterity will listen.
If an example is set by him or her who leads, he or she will beneficient forever, his wisdom lasting for all time. The wise person feeds the Ka with what endures, so that is is happy with that person on earth. The wise is known by his or her wisdom. the great is known by his or her good actions. The heart of the wise matches his or her tongue and his or her lips are straight when he or she speaks. The wise have eyes that are made to see and ears that are made to hear what will profit the offspring. The wise person who acts with Maat is free of falsehood and disorder.
Useful is hearing to a son who hears. If hearing enters the hearer, then the hearer becomes a listener. Hearing well is speaking well. Useful is hearing to one who hears. Hearing is better than everything else. It creates good will. How good is it for a son to understand his father's words. That son will reach old age through those words.
He who hears is beloved of God. He whom God hates does not hear. The heart makes of its owner hearer or a non-hearer. Man's heart is his life, prosperity and health. The hearer is one who hears what is said. He who loves to hear is one who acts on what is said. How good is it for a son to listen to his father. How happy is he to whom it is said "Your son, is a master of hearing." The hearer of whom this is said is well endowed indeed and is honored by his father. That hearer's rememberance is in the mouth of the living, those that are on earth and those who will be.
If a man's son accepts his father's words then no plan of his will go wrong. So teach your son to be a hearer, one who will be valued by the officials, one who will guide his speech by what he has been told, one who is regarded as a hearer. This son will excel and his deeds will stand out while failure will follow those who do not hear. The wise wakes up early to his lasting gain while the fool is hard pressed.
The fool who does not hear, he can do nothing at all. He looks at ignorance and sees knowledge. He looks at harmfulness and see usefulness. He doees everything that one detests and is blamed for it every day. He lives on the things by which one dies. His food is evil speech. His sort is known to the officials who say, "There goes a living death every day." One ignores the things that he does because of his many daily troubles.
A son who hears is a follower of Heru. It will go well with him when he has heard. When he old and has reached the period where he is venerated, then he will speak likewise to his own children, renewing then the teachings of his father.
Every man teaches as he acts. He will speak to the children so that they will speak to their children. He will set an example and not give offense. So if justice stands firm, your children will live. As to the first child who gets into trouble, when people see it, they will say about the child "that is just like him", and they will also say when they even hear a rumor about the child, "that is just like him too."
To see everyone is to satisfy the many. Any riches that you have are useless without the many. Don't say something and then take is back. Don't put one thing in place of another. Beware of releasing the restraints in you, lest the wise man say, "listen, if you want to endure in the mouth of the hearers, speak after you have mastered the craft." If you speak to good purpose all your affairs will be in place.
Conceal your heart. Control your mouth. Then you will known among the officials. Be quite exact before your leader. Act so that no one will say to him "he is the son of that one."
Be deliberate when you speak so as to say things that count. Then the officials who listen will say, "how good is the thing that comes from his mouth." Act so that your leader will say of you, "how good is he whom his father has taught. When he came forth from his body, he told him all that was in his mind, and he does even more than he was told."
The good son is the gift of God and exceeds what is told him by his leader. He will do right when his heart is straight. As you succeed me sound in body, a Pharoah, content with all that was done, may obtain many years of life.
The things that I did on earth were not small. I have had 110 years of life. As a gift of the Pharoah, I have had honors exceeding those of the ancestors, by doing Maat until the state of veneration.
Is is done, from its beginning to its end, as it was found in the writings of the ancestors and Diety.
The Teachings of PtahHotepThe Oldest Book in the WorldFirst published Circa 2388 B.C. to 2356 B.C.
First Kemetic (Egyptian) Dynasty
under the title:
Teachings of the Prefect of the City, Dja Ptahhotepunder the majesty of the king of the South and the North,Assa Djed - Ka- Ra, living eternally forever.Asa G. Hilliard III, Larry Williamsand Nia DamaliEditorsPeace be upon youtags: Asa G. Hilliard III, Teachings, of ptah hotep,oldest, book
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http://www.submission.org/quran/koran-index.html (http://www.submission.org/quran/koran-index.html)
The Teachings of Ptahhotep: The Oldest Book in the World
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"First published around 2388 B.C. Fifth Kemetic (Egyptian) Dynasty under the title: Teachings of the Prefect of the City, Dja Ptahhotep ynder the majesty of the king of the South and the North. Assa Djed-Ka-Ra. |
"First published around 2388 B.C. Fifth Kemetic (Egyptian) Dynasty under the title: Teachings of the Prefect of the City, Dja Ptahhotep ynder the majesty of the king of the South and the North. Assa Djed-Ka-Ra. living eternally forever."
by Hilliard III Asa G. (Editor), Larry Williams (Editor), Nia Damali (Editor)
…Ptahhotep, instructs the ignorant in the knowledge and in the standards of
good speech. A man teaches as he acts… The wise person feeds the soul with what endures, so that it is happy with that person on earth. The wise is known by his good actions. The heart of the wise matches his or her tongue and his or her lips are straight when he or she speaks. The wise have eyes that are made to see and ears that are made to hear what will profit the offspring. The wise is a person who acts with MAAT [
truth, justice, order, balance, harmony, righteousness and
reciprocity] and is free of falsehood and disorder.
—Ptahotep 2350 B. C. E.
The Teaching is set at court, with the highest official (´vizier´ in Egyptological translation), a man named Ptahhotep, requesting retirement from the king. The official paints a bleak picture of old age, evidently to convince the king that retirement is necessary, and asks that he be replaced in office by his son as ´staff of old age´, a term also found in a late Middle Kingdom legal document to denote a son taking the office of his father, presumably on condition that he continues to support the father (UC 32037). This term, the Middle Egyptian syntax and the late Middle Kingdom date of the two earliest surviving manuscript copies, point to a Twelfth Dynasty date of composition.
The king consents to the request of Ptahhotep, with the observation that the young cannot be born with wisdom - by implication they need the experience given by advanced age. The Teaching presents then both a positive and the dramatised negative aspects of growing old in ancient Egyptian society.
1 (Papyrus Prisse, column 4, line 1 to column 5, line 4)
The teaching of the Overseer of the City and Vizier Ptahhotep
before the power of the dual king Isesi living for ever and eternity.
The Overseer of the City and Vizier Ptahhotep declares:
O my sovereign,
Old age has struck, age has descended,
Feebleness has arrived, weakness is here again.
Sleep is upon him in discomfort all day.
Eyes are grown small, ears deaf,
Mouth silent, unable to speak,
Heart emptied, unable to recall yesterday.
Bones ache his whole length.
Goodness has turned to evil,
All taste is gone.
What old age does to people is evil in every way.
Nose is blocked, unable to breathe,
how old (it feels) standing or sitting.
Let a staff of old age be decreed to be made for this humble servant.
Let him be told the speech of those who assess,
the advice of the ancestors once heard by the gods.
Then the same may be done for you,
strife may be removed from the populace,
and the Two Shores may toil for you.
2 (Papyrus Prisse, column 5, lines 4-6)
Then the Power of this god said:
Teach him then the speech from the past
that he may provide the example for the children of the great.
May hearing enter into him, the measure of every heart.
Speak to him. For noone can be born wise.
3 (Papyrus Prisse, column 5, lines 6-8)
Beginning of the collection of fine words
Said by the man of the elite, foremost of arm
god´s father and beloved of the god
eldest son of the king of his body
overseer of the city, vizier Ptahhotep
in teaching the ignorant to be wise
according to the rules of fine words,
something useful to whoever heeds,
and something harmful to whoever transgresses it.
4 (Papyrus Prisse, column 5, lines 8-10)
Then he addressed his son:
Do not be proud on account of your knowledge,
but discuss with the ignorant as with the wise.
The limits of art cannot be delivered;
there is no artist whose talent is fulfilled.
Fine words are more sought after than greenstone,
but can be found with the women at the grindstone.
5 (Papyrus Prisse, column 5, lines 10-13)
If you meet an opponent in his moment
A director of heart who is superior to you,
bend your arms and bow;
do not take up your heart against him,
for he will not be swayed for you.
You can belittle bad speaking
by not clashing with him in his moment;
it will mean he is called a fool,
when your self-restraint has subdued his excess.
6 (Papyrus Prisse, column 5, lines 13-14)
If you meet an opponent in his moment
Your equal, a man from your levels,
silence is how you establish your superiority over him,
while he is bad mouthing,
greatly to the disgust of the assessors,
and your name is the good one in the mind of the officials.
7 (Papyrus Prisse column 6, lines 1-3)
If you meet an opponent in his moment
Who is a poor man, and not your equal,
do not vent your hear on him by his wretchedness.
Put him on land for him to oppose himself.
Do not pour out your heart at the man facing you.
The demolition of a wretched heart is a difficult matter.
What you wish will be done;
beat him with the hostility of the officials.
8 (Papyrus Prisse column 6, lines 3-6)
If you are to be among leaders
at a command for the condition of the multitude,
seek out for yourself every effective moment,
until your condition reaches faultlessness.
What is right is great, and (its) keenness enduring.
It has not been overturned since the time of Osiris.
The one who overlooks laws is punished;
that is what is overlooked in the sight of the greedy.
It is the small-minded that seize riches,
but crime never managed to land its rewards.
Whoever says ´I snare for myself´
does not say ´I snare for my needs´.
The final part of what is right is its endurance;
of which a man says ´that is my father´
9 (Papyrus Prisse column 6, lines 8-10)
Do not cause fear among people
God punishes with the same.
Anyone who says ´I can live by it´
will lack bread for his statement.
Anyone who say ´I can be powerful´
will have to say ´I snare against myself by my cleverness´.
Anyone who says he will strike another,
will end by being given to a stranger.
10 (Papyrus Prisse column 6, line 11- column 7, line 3)
If you are a man at a sitting
at the table place of one greater than you,
take whatever he causes to be set before you,
do not stare at what is before him,
do not pierce it with many glances
Pressing it is an offence to the ka.
Do not speak to him until he has requested:
you never know what may displease.
Speak when he questions you,
and your speech will please.
A great man, when he is at a meal,
behaviour following the command of his ka,
he will give to the one he favours,
that is the night-time behaviour that happens
- only a fool complains about it.
11 (Papyrus Prisse column 7, lines 3-5)
If you are a man of entry
sent by official to official,
be precise in the form he sent you
carry out the mission for him as he says.
Guard against harming with words,
embroiling official with official.
Grasp what is right by its likeness;
an outburst of the heart is not repeated
from the speech of all people.
12 (Papyrus Prisse column 7, lines 5-7)
If you plough for plants on the margins,
the god grants it to be great by your hand
Do not inflate your mouth beside your neighbours;
to inspire awe by being silent is greater.
A master of character who is master of wealth,
he seizes like a crocodile in the council.
Do not scorn the childless man,
do not bemean by boasting over it.
Even a father can have his plenty of grief;
a mother who has given birth may be less happy than a maid.
It is the lone man that the god fosters,
while the lord of a clan may beg to be followed.
13 (Papyrus Prisse column 7, lines 7-9)
If you are weak, follow a man of excellence
and all your conduct will be good before god.
When you have known lesser men before,
do not be proud against him,
from what you knew of him before.
Respect him according to what he has become,
for goods do not come of their own accord.
This is their law for their desire.
An overflow - he has assembled it of himself.
It is the god who makes him excellent,
and protects him while he sleeps.
14 (Papyrus Prisse column 7, lines 9-10)
Follow your heart as long as you live.
Do not make a loss on what is said,
do not subtract time from following the heart.
Harming its time is an offence to the ka.
Do not deflect the moment of every day
beyond establishing your heart.
As things happen, follow (your) heart.
There is no profit in things if it is stifled.
15 (Papyrus Prisse column 7, line 10 to column 8, line 2)
If you are a man of excellence
and produce a son in the favour of god,
if he follows precisely the outline of your character,
and ties your things to their proper place,
do everything good for him,
for he is your son, he belongs to the shooting of your ka
Do not separate your heart from him.
Seed may make a disputant;
if he wanders, and breaks your advice,
and has rebelled against all that is said,
and his mouth wanders into evil speech,
battle him in all his words.
He who attacks you is the one they have condemned.
It means it was decreed that he be smitten (from the time he was) in the womb.
Their guidance does not stray,
their stranded never find a ferry.
16 (Papyrus Prisse column 8, lines 2-6)
If you are in the approach hall
stand and sit at every step
as was ordered to you on the first day.
Do not waver - that causes your expulsion
The sight of the one who enters to report is keen,
the space of the one he has summoned is broad.
The approach hall follows regulations,
every move according to the measure.
It is the god who promotes a place
Those who push forward are not made.
17 (Papyrus Prisse column 8, lines 6-11)
If you are to be with people
appoint for yourself people you can trust,
and be trustworthy.
The man without speech running through his body
is the one who becomes a commander himself.
A master of goods - what is he like?
Your good name is that you do not speak.
Your body is fattened for you more than your contemporaries.
You receive praise from those you do not know.
When a heart heeds only its belly,
it puts resentment of it in place of love of it.
His heart is afflicted, his body unkempt.
The great of heart is the gift of god,
the one who obeys his body belongs to the enemy.
18 (Papyrus Prisse column 8, lines 11-14)
Report your matters without hesitating
give your advice in the council of your master.
Anyone fully fluent in speaking,
will find no difficulty in being a messenger in reporting.
Noone will contest ´but who can know it?´
It is the one who exceeds his field who comes unstuck -
if he intends to prevail by it,
he has to be silent at the words ´I said so´.
19 (Papyrus Prisse column 8, line 14 to column 9, line 3)
If you are a leader
with broad scope in what is commanded to you,
you should do outstanding things,
so as to be remembered in days to come.
A (legal) case does not arise out of the midst of praises.
The hidden beast intrudes - and then there is resistance.
20 (Papyrus Prisse column 9, lines 3-7)
If you are to be a leader
be patient in your hearing when the petitioner speaks,
do not halt him until his belly is emptied
of what he had planned to have said.
The victim loves to sate his heart
even more than accomplishing what he came for -
if a petition is halted,
people say ´but why did he break that rule?´.
Not everything for which he petitions can come to be,
but a good hearing is soothing for the heart.
21 (Papyrus Prisse column 9, lines 7-13)
If you wish friendship to last
within a house you may enter,
as master, as brother, or as friend,
anywhere you may enter,
resist approaching the wife.
It is not good for the place where it is done,
It is not clever to open it up,
A thounited snakesnd men are tied against what is good for them;
a little moment is like a dream,
but death is reached by knowing it.
It is a vile twist to shoot the enemy,
it comes out on his doing, the heart restraining him.
The one who fails by lusting for her,
no plan succeeds by his hand.
22 (Papyrus Prisse column 9, line 13 to column 10, line 5)
If you wish your conduct to be good
and to save yourself from all evil,
resist the opportunity of greed.
It is a sore disease of the worm,
no advance can come of it.
It embroils fathers and mothers,
with mother´s brothers.
It entangles the wife and the man,
it is a levy of all evils,
a bundle of all hatefulness.
The man endures whose guideline is Right,
who proceeds according to his paces.
He can draw up a will by it.
There is no tomb for the greedy hearted.
23 (Papyrus Prisse column 10, lines 5-8)
Do not be greedy over a share,
do not be jealous of what is not your due,
do not be greedy against your kin.
The mild man receives more respect than the strong.
The one who goes out under his kin is a miserable man,
deprived of the profit of speech.
A fraction of the object of greed
creates a quarreler out of a cool temperament.
24 (Papyrus Prisse column 10, lines 8-12)
If you are excellent, found your household,
love your wife within reckoning.
Fill her belly, clother her back,
ointment is the remedy for her body.
Gladden her heart as long as you live.
It is a field of benefit for its lord.
Do not impose her in affairs.
Distance her from power, restrain her.
Her eye is her storm when it sees.
This is what keeps her in your house.
Your quelling her, is water.
The womb puts her in her arms.
In her turmoil a canal is made for her.
25 (Papyrus Prisse column 11, lines 1-4)
Make your staff happy with what has come to you,
it has come to one whom the god favours.
Anyone neglecting the happiness of his staff
is called a spirit of hoarding.
Noone know what is coming, when planning tomorrow.
The spirit of the correct man is the spirit that brings happiness.
If moments of praising arise,
it is the staff who would cheer.
Food cannot be brought to town
staff are fetched when there is shortage.
26 (Papyrus Prisse column 11, lines 5-8)
Do not repeat slander
and do not listen to it.
It is the result of the hot-headed.
Repeat a word after seeing,
not heard entirely skewed.
See, what is before you is fine knowledge.
When a levy is decreed to take place,
the one made to exact it is hated, by law.
Slander is like a moment of dreaming,
See what is the remedy for the dream -
concealment.
27 (Papyrus Prisse column 11, lines 8-11)
If you are as a man of excellence,
sitting in the council of his master,
rally every heart to excellence.
Your silence is more benefit than creeping talk.
You should say what you know how to explain.
There are artists of words in the council,
speaking is more difficult than any labour.
The one who can explain is the one who makes it work.
28 (Papyrus Prisse column 11, line 12 to column 12, line 6)
If you are powerful in causing respect for you,
by knowledge, by calming in speech,
do not order people, except by the guidelines.
The aggressive man ends up in trouble.
Do not have your heart too high, or it will be brought down.
Do not stay silent if it makes you stumble.
When you answer the speech of a fiery man,
distance your sight, restrain yourself.
The spear of a hothead flies past,
but a fine mover has his path smoothed.
A man who worries all day long
will never be allowed a good moment.
A man who lazes all day long
will never have a solid house.
A shot filled is like an oar abandoned on the ground,
when another is taken,
his heart has obeyed the wish ´if only I had...´
29 (Papyrus Prisse column 12, lines 6-9)
Do not block the moment of a great man
do not constrain the desire of one who is laden down.
Barriers from him arise against the one who disputes with him,
there is release for the ka with the one who shows love for him.
This is the gift of sustenance, this and the god.
What he loves is action for him.
When the face is turned back to you, after a storm,
there follows peace before his ka,
and barriers before the enemy.
Planting love brings sustenance.
30 (Papyrus Prisse column 12, lines 9-13)
Instruct the great in what is useful for him
Foster his image in the sight of people,
cause his wisdom to fall in front of his lord,
and there may be rewards for you too before his ka.
The stomach of the loved will be content,
your back will be clothed by it,
his image will be over you for the life of your house,
Your noble, the one you love,
he is alive by it.
When he makes a good gesture, do not be silent.
This is indeed the guarantee of your love in the body of those who love you.
See, it is the ka that loves to listen.
31 (Papyrus Prisse column 13, lines 1-4)
If you play the son of a man of a council,
a messenger for pleasing the multitude,
select the fringes of action.
In speaking do not take sides,
in case he speaks his opinion:
´officials, he sets the case on that side´,
and your mistake is turned into judgement.
32 (Papyrus Prisse column 13, lines 4-6)
If you show mercy on a past failure,
incline to a man for his virtue.
Pass over him, do not recall it,
since he might stay silent for you on day one.
33 (Papyrus Prisse column 13, lines 6-9)
If you are rich after your impoverishment,
and acquire property after lack of it,
in the city that you have known,
with awareness of what happened to you before,
do not place your trust in your wealth.
It came to you by the gifts of the god,
so you will not be behind another like you,
but the same could happen to him
34 (Papyrus Prisse column 13, line 9 to column 14, line 4)
Bend your back to your superior,
your overseer of the king´s domain,
and your house will be fixed on its goods,
your rewards in their place.
The man who struggles with the superior is an irritant.
You live as long as the superior is pleased with you.
The shoulder is not injured by being exposed.
Do not seize the house of neighbours,
do not suppress anything close to you,
it gives no results in anything.
Let him not speak ill of you before you have heard.
A troublemaker is a man with no mind.
Whoever is known as a quarreller,
there is trouble for the struggler in places near to him.
35 (Papyrus Prisse column 14, lines 4-6)
Do not have sex with a child woman
when you knew the approach to the water of its chest.
There is no cooling what is in his body.
Do not go mad on making the approach.
He is cool after damaging his heart.
36 (Papyrus Prisse column 14, lines 6-12)
If you seek out the character of a friend,
do not make your own enquiries, go direct to him,
make the case with him alone
to avoid suffering in his matter.
Debate with him after a period of time,
and try his heart in the matter of the case.
If what he has seen come out through him,
and he does the matter that angers you about him,
or that makes him a friend,
do not seize the sight,
be collected, do not deluge him with words,
do not reply with a slight,
do not react against him by destroying him.
His moment cannot fail to come.
Noone can escape from what is fated for him.
37 (Papyrus Prisse column 14, line 12 to column 15, line 2)
Let your face be bright as long as you live.
Whoever leaves the store cannot enter.
It is the bread of sharing that causes envy.
A man with an empty stomach is a man to complain;
the opponent is born out of impoverishment.
Do not make him into someone to approach you.
Favour is the memory of a man
in the years after ruin.
38 (Papyrus Prisse column 15, lines 2-5)
Know your plumage and your property will last.
Do not be mean in your character towards your friends.
They are his river field when it floods, more important than his riches.
They are the property of one for another.
The quality of a son of a someone is good for him;
good character will be remembered.
39 (Papyrus Prisse column 15, lines 5-6)
Punish from the head, teach by character.
The force against a criminal will be a model example.
Any instance except for results
is what makes a moaner turn into an active opponent.
40 (Papyrus Prisse column 15, lines 6-8)
If you marry a good-time girl
A joyful woman known to her town,
If she is wayward,
and revels in the moment,
do not reject her, but instead let her enjoy;
joyfulness is what marks calm water.
41 (Papyrus Prisse column 15, line 8 to column 16, line 2)
If you heed these things that I have told you
all your conduct will move forward.
Their holding true, that is their wealth.
The memory of them moves in the mouth of people
from the excellence of their phrasing.
When every saying has been brought,
it does not perish in this land forever.
Doing it is a matter for goodness,
the words of the officials follow it.
This is the teaching of a man to speak to posterity,
hearing it he becomes an attentive craftsman.
It is good to speak to posterity, for it will hear it.
If there good cases arise from the one who is the superior,
he will be eternally effective,
all his wisdom will last forever.
The wise man nourishes his soul
by establishing his goodness with it on earth.
The wise man is famed for what he has learned,
it is the official who is after good conduct.
from the action of his heart and his tongue,
his lips are reliable when he is speaking,
and his eyes in seeing,
his ears intent in hearing what is useful for his son.
Who does what is right, is free from falsehood.
42 (Papyrus Prisse column 16, lines 3-13)
Hearing is good for a son who hears,
hearing enters into the hearer.
The hearer becomes one who is heard.
Hearing is good, as speech is good.
The hearer is the master of what is useful.
Hearing is good for the hearer,
hearing is better than any other thing;
love of good comes into being.
How beautiful it is when a son receives what his father says.
Old age is achieved for him by it.
The hearer is one whom the god loves.
The one whom god hates does not hear.
The heart is the creator of its master.
Do not hear from the one who does not hear.
A man´s heart is his life, prosperity and health.
It is the hearer who hears the speaker,
the one who acts according to what is said is the one who loves hearing.
How good when a a son listens to his father.
How joyful is the one to whom this is said.
A son who is handsome is a hearing lord.
The hearer to whom it is said is effective in the body.
Mempory of him is in the mouth of the people,
Those who are on earth, and those who will be.
43 (Papyrus Prisse column 16, line 13 to column 17, line 4)
If the son of a someone receives what his father says,
There can be no wavering for any of his plans.
Instruct your son to be a good hearer,
who will be excellent in the hearts of the officials,
guiding his mouth according to what he has been told,
seen as a hearer.
The son who excels, his steps are distinguished,
but there is no straight way in for the one who fails to hear.
The morning of the wise man will be his security,
while the fool is pressed down.
44 (Papyrus Prisse column 17, lines 4-9)
As for the fool unable to hear,
nothing can ever be done for him.
He sees wisdom as ignorance,
and what is good as what is painful.
He commits every error,
to be accused of it each day.
He lives on what one dies of,
corrupt speect is his food.
His character in this is well-known to the officials,
saying ´living death´ each day.
His faults are passed over
from the sheer number of faults on him each day.
45 (Papyrus Prisse column 17, line 10 to column 18, line 12)
A son who hears is a follower of Horus
It is good for him after he hears.
In his old age he achieves revered status.
He can tell the same to his children,
renewing the teaching of his father.
Every man teaches by his deeds.
He tells on to the children,
and they can tell their children.
Show character, do not pass on your weaknesses.
Securing what is right, is the life of your children
As for the principal who arrives with wrongdoing,
people say what they see
´that is exactly how that man is´
to say to those who will hear
´that is exactly how that man is´ too.
Their everyone sees, and the multitude is pacified.
There is no profit in riches without them.
Do not remove a word, do not add it.
Do not put one in place of another.
Fight against opening up the bonds on you.
Guard against a man of experience saying
´listen up, if you wish to be secure
in the mouth of those who hear;
speak up when you have penetrated the case of the craftsman´.
You speak at the case of closure,
and all your plans will fall into place.
46 (Papyrus Prisse column 18, line 12 to column 19, line 3)
Flood your heart, restrain your mouth
then your plans will be among the officials.
Be straight in character before your lord.
Do as he has said, that is the son,
sothose who hear it say
´indeed favour gave birth to him´.
Say things of distinction,
so the officials who hear may say
´how perfect is the issue of his mouth´.
47 (Papyrus Prisse column 19, lines 3-8)
Do as your master has said for you.
How good is one instructed by his father
when he emerged from him out of his body,
and he told him, while he was in the body, entirely,
May what he has done be greater than what he was told.
See, a good son, by the gift of the god,
surpassing what he was told before his lord.
He does what is right.
His heart has acted according to his set steps.
As you reach me, your body intact,
the king content with everything,
take years of life.
What I have done on earth is not little.
I took 110 years of life
by the grant of the king to me,
favour ahead of the ancestors,
from doing what is right for the king until the stage of revered status.
Imagine if future Kmtyw leaders read this instead of machiavelli's the prince
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