If you have, as leader, to decide on the conduct of a great
number of men, seek the most perfect
manner of doing so that your own conduct may be without reproach.
Justice is great, invariable, and assured; it has not been
disturbed since the age of Ptah. To throw obstacles in the way of
the laws is to open the way before violence. Shall that which is
below gain the upper hand, if the unjust does not attain to the
place of justice? Even he who says: I take for myself, of my own
free-will; but says not: I take by virtue of my authority. The
limitations of justice are invariable; such is the instruction
which every man receives from his father.
Inspire not men with fear, else Ptah will fight against you in
the same manner. If any one asserts that he lives by such means,
Ptah will take away the bread from his mouth; if any one asserts
that he enriches himself thereby, Ptah says: I may take those
riches to myself. If any one asserts that he beats others, Ptah
will end by reducing him to impotence. Let no one inspire men with
fear; this is the will of Ptah. Let one provide sustenance for
them in the lap of peace; it will then be that they will freely
give what has been torn from them by terror.
If you are among the persons seated at meat in the house of a
greater man than yourself, take that which he gives you, bowing to
the ground. Regard that which is placed before you, but point not
at it; regard it not frequently; he is a blameworthy person who
departs from this rule. Speak not to the great man more than he
requires, for one knows not what may be displeasing to him. Speak
when he invites you and your worth will be pleasing. As for the
great man who has plenty of means of existence, his conduct is as
he himself wishes. He does that which pleases him; if he desires
to repose, he realizes his intention. The great man stretching
forth his hand does that to which other men do not attain. But as
the means of existence are under the will of Ptah, one can not
rebel against it.
If you are one of those who bring the messages of one great man to
another, conform yourself exactly to that wherewith he has charged
you; perform for him the commission as he has enjoined you. Beware
of altering in speaking the offensive words which one great person
addresses to another; he who perverts the trustfulness of his way,
in order to repeat only what produces pleasure in the words of
every man, great or small, is a detestable person.
If you are a farmer, gather the crops in the field which the
great Ptah has given you, do not boast in the house of your
neighbors; it is better to make oneself dreaded by one's deeds. As
for him who, master of his own way of acting, being all-powerful,
seizes the goods of others like a crocodile in the midst even of
watchment, his children are an object of malediction, of scorn,
and of hatred on account of it, while his father is grievously
distressed, and as for the mother who has borne him, happy is
another rather than herself. But a man becomes a god when he is
chief of a tribe which has confidence in following him.
If you abase yourself in obeying a superior, your conduct is
entirely good before Ptah. Knowing who you ought to obey and who
you ought to command, do not lift up your heart against him. As
you know that in him is authority, be respectful toward him as
belonging to him. Wealth comes only at Ptah's own good-will, and
his caprice only is the law; as for him who . . Ptah, who has
created his superiority, turns himself from him and he is
overthrown.
Be active during the time of your existence, do no more than is
commanded. Do not spoil the time of your activity; he is a
blameworthy person who makes a bad use of his moments. Do not lose
the daily opportunity of increasing that which your house
possesses. Activity produces riches, and riches do not endure when
it slackens.
If you are a wise man, bring up a son who shall be pleasing to
Ptah. If he conforms his conduct to your way and occupies himself
with your affairs as is right, do to him all the good you can; he
is your son, a person attached to you whom your own self has
begotten. Separate not your heart from him.... But if he conducts
himself ill and transgresses your wish, if he rejects all counsel,
if his mouth goes according to the evil word, strike him on the
mouth in return. Give orders without hesitation to those who do
wrong, to him whose temper is turbulent; and he will not deviate
from the straight path, and there will be no obstacle to interrupt
the way.
If you are employed in the larit, stand or sit rather than walk
about. Lay down rules for yourself from the first: not to absent
yourself even when weariness overtakes you. Keep an eye on him who
enters announcing that what he asks is secret; what is entrusted
to you is above appreciation, and all contrary argument is a
matter to be rejected. He is a god who penetrates into a place
where no relaxation of the rules is made for the privileged.
If you are with people who display for you an extreme
affection, saying: "Aspiration of my heart, aspiration of my
heart, where there is no remedy! That which is said in your heart,
let it be realized by springing up spontaneously. Sovereign
master, I give myself to your opinion. Your name is approved
without speaking. Your body is full of vigor, your face is above
your neighbors." If then you are accustomed to this excess of
flattery, and there be an obstacle to you in your desires, then
your impulse is to obey your passion. But he who . . . according
to his caprice, his soul is . . ., his body is . . . While the man
who is master of his soul is superior to those whom Ptah has
loaded with his gifts; the man who obeys his passion is under the
power of his wife.
Declare your line of conduct without reticence; give your
opinion in the council of your lord; while there are people who
turn back upon their own words when they speak, so as not to
offend him who has put forward a statement, and answer not in this
fashion: "He is the great man who will recognize the error of
another; and when he shall raise his voice to oppose the other
about it he will keep silence after what I have said."
If you are a leader, setting forward your plans according to
that which you decide, perform perfect actions which posterity may
remember, without letting the words prevail with you which
multiply flattery, which excite pride and produce vanity.
If you are a leader of peace, listen to the discourse of the
petitioner. Be not abrupt with him; that would trouble him. Say
not to him: "You have already recounted this." Indulgence will
encourage him to accomplish the object of his coming. As for being
abrupt with the complainant because he described what passed when
the injury was done, instead of complaining of the injury itself
let it not be! The way to obtain a clear explanation is to listen
with kindness.
If you desire to excite respect within the house you enter, for
example the house of a superior, a friend, or any person of
consideration, in short everywhere where you enter, keep yourself
from making advances to a woman, for there is nothing good in so
doing. There is no prudence in taking part in it, and thousands of
men destroy themselves in order to enjoy a moment, brief as a
dream, while they gain death, so as to know it. It is a villainous
intention, that of a man who thus excites himself; if he goes on
to carry it out, his mind abandons him. For as for him who is
without repugnance for such an act, there is no good sense at all
in him.
If you desire that your conduct should be good and preserved
from all evil, keep yourself from every attack of bad humor. It is
a fatal malady which leads to discord, and there is no longer any
existence for him who gives way to it. For it introduces discord
between fathers and mothers, as well as between brothers and
sisters; it causes the wife and the husband to hate each other; it
contains all kinds of wickedness, it embodies all kinds of wrong.
When a man has established his just equilibrium and walks in this
path, there where he makes his dwelling, there is no room for bad
humor.
Be not of an irritable temper as regards that which happens at
your side; grumble not over your own affairs. Be not of an
irritable temper in regard to your neighbors; better is a
compliment to that which displeases than rudeness. It is wrong to
get into a passion with one's neighbors, to be no longer master of
one's words. When there is only a little irritation, one creates
for oneself an affliction for the time when one will again be
cool.
If you are wise, look after your house; love your wife without
alloy. Fill her stomach, clothe her back; these are the cares to
be bestowed on her person. Caress her, fulfil her desires during
the time of her existence; it is a kindness which does honor to
its possessor. Be not brutal; tact will influence her better than
violence; her . . . behold to what she aspires, at what she aims,
what she regards. It is that which fixes her in your house; if you
repel her, it is an abyss. Open your arms for her, respond to her
arms; call her, display to her your love.
Treat your dependents well, in so far as it belongs to you to
do so; and it belongs to those whom Ptah has favored. If any one
fails in treating his dependents well it is said: "He is a person
. . ." As we do not know the events which may happen tomorrow, he
is a wise person by whom one is well treated. When there comes the
necessity of showing zeal, it will then be the dependents
themselves who say: "Come on, come on," if good treatment has not
quitted the place; if it has quitted it, the dependents are
defaulters.
Do not repeat any extravagance of language; do not listen to
it; it is a thing which has escaped from a hasty mouth. If it is
repeated, look, without hearing it, toward the earth; say nothing
in regard to it. Cause him who speaks to you to know what is just,
even him who provokes to injustice; cause that which is just to be
done, cause it to triumph. As for that which is hateful according
to the law, condemn it by unveiling it.
If you are a wise man, sitting in the council of your lord,
direct your thought toward that which is wise. Be silent rather
than scatter your words. When you speak, know that which can be
brought against you. To speak in the council is an art, and speech
is criticized more than any other labor; it is contradiction which
puts it to the proof.
If you are powerful, respect knowledge and calmness of
language. Command only to direct; to be absolute is to run into
evil. Let not your heart be haughty, neither let it be mean. Do
not let your orders remain unsaid and cause your answers to
penetrate; but speak without heat, assume a serious countenance.
As for the vivacity of an ardent heart, temper it; the gentle man
penetrates all obstacles. He who agitates himself all the day long
has not a good moment; and he who amuses himself all the day long
keeps not his fortune. Aim at fulness like pilots; once one is
seated another works, and seeks to obey one's orders.
Disturb not a great man; weaken not the attention of him who is
occupied. His care is to embrace his task, and he strips his
person through the love which he puts into it. That transports men
to Ptah, even the love for the work which they accomplish. Compose
then your face even in trouble, that peace may be with you, when
agitation is with . . .These are the people who succeed in what
they desire.
Teach others to render homage to a great man. If you gather the
crop for him among men, cause it to return fully to its owner, at
whose hands is your subsistence. But the gift of affection is
worth more than the provisions with which your back is covered.
For that which the great man receives from you will enable your
house to live, without speaking of the maintenance you enjoy,
which you desire to preserve; it is thereby that he extends a
beneficent hand, and that in your home good things are added to
good things. Let your love pass into the heart of those who love
you; cause those about you to be loving and obedient.
If you are a son of the guardians deputed to watch over the
public tranquillity, execute your commission without knowing its
meaning, and speak with firmness. Substitute not for that which
the instructor has said what you believe to be his intention; the
great use words as it suits them. Your part is to transmit rather
than to comment upon.
If you are annoyed at a thing, if you are tormented by someone
who is acting within his right, get out of his sight, and remember
him no more when he has ceased to address you.
If you have become great after having been little, if you have
become rich after having been poor, when you are at the head of
the city, know how not to take advantage of the fact that you have
reached the first rank, harden not your heart because of your
elevation; you are become only the administrator, the prefect, of
the provisions which belong to Ptah. Put not behind you the
neighbor who is like you; be unto him as a companion.
Bend your back before your superior. You are attached to the
palace of the king; your house is established in its fortune, and
your profits are as is fitting. Yet a man is annoyed at having an
authority above himself, and passes the period of life in being
vexed thereat. Although that hurts not your . . . Do not plunder
the house of your neighbors, seize not by force the goods which
are beside you. Exclaim not then against that which you hear, and
do not feel humiliated. It is necessary to reflect when one is
hindered by it that the pressure of authority is felt also by
one's neighbor.
Do not make . . . you know that there are obstacles to the
water which comes to its hinder part, and that there is no
trickling of that which is in its bosom. Let it not . . . after
having corrupted his heart.
If you aim at polished manners, call not him whom you accost.
Converse with him especially in such a way as not to annoy him.
Enter on a discussion with him only after having left him time to
saturate his mind with the subject of the conversation. If he lets
his ignorance display itself, and if he gives you all opportunity
to disgrace him, treat him with courtesy rather; proceed not to
drive him into a corner; do not . . . the word to him; answer not
in a crushing manner; crush him not; worry him not; in order that
in his turn he may not return to the subject, but depart to the
profit of your conversation.
Let your countenance be cheerful during the time of your
existence. When we see one departing from the storehouse who has
entered in order to bring his share of provision, with his face
contracted, it shows that his stomach is empty and that authority
is offensive to him. Let not that happen to you; it is . . .
Know those who are faithful to you when you are in low estate.
Your merit then is worth more than those who did you honor. His .
. ., behold that which a man possesses completely. That is of more
importance than his high rank; for this is a matter which passes
from one to another. The merit of one's son is advantageous to the
father, and that which he really is, is worth more than the
remembrance of his father's rank.
Distinguish the superintendent who directs from the workman,
for manual labor is little elevated; the inaction of the hands is
honorable. If a man is not in the evil way, that which places him
there is the want of subordination to authority.
If you take a wife, do not . . . Let her be more contented than
any of her fellow-citizens. She will be attached to you doubly, if
her chain is pleasant. Do not repel her; grant that which pleases
her; it is to her contentment that she appreciates your work.
If you hear those things which I have said to you, your wisdom
will be fully advanced. Although they are the means which are
suitable for arriving at the maat, and it is that which makes them
precious, their memory would recede from the mouth of men. But
thanks to the beauty of their arrangement in rhythm all their
words will now be carried without alteration over this earth
eternally. That will create a canvass to be embellished, whereof
the great will speak, in order to instruct men in its sayings.
After having listened to them the pupil will become a master, even
he who shall have properly listened to the sayings because he
shall have heard them. Let him win success by placing himself in
the first rank; that is for him a position perfect and durable,
and he has nothing further to desire forever. By knowledge his
path is assured, and he is made happy by it on the earth. The wise
man is satiated by knowledge; he is a great man through his own
merits. His tongue is in accord with his mind; just are his lips
when he speaks, his eyes when he gazes, his ears when he hears.
The advantage of his son is to do that which is just without
deceiving himself.
To attend therefore profits the son of him who has attended. To
attend is the result of the fact that one has attended. A
teachable auditor is formed, because I have attended. Good when he
has attended, good when he speaks, he who has attended has
profited, and it is profitable to attend to him who has attended.
To attend is worth more than anything else, for it produces love,
the good thing that is twice good. The son who accepts the
instruction of his father will grow old on that account. What Ptah
loves is that one should attend; if one attends not, it is
abhorrent to Ptah. The heart makes itself its own master when it
attends and when it does not attend; but if it attends, then his
heart is a beneficent master to a man. In attending to
instruction, a man loves what he attends to, and to do that which
is prescribed is pleasant. When a son attends to his father, it is
a twofold joy for both; when wise things are prescribed to him,
the son is gentle toward his master. Attending to him who has
attended when such things have been prescribed to him, he engraves
upon his heart that which is approved by his father; and the
recollection of it is preserved in the mouth of the living who
exist upon this earth.
When a son receives the instruction of his father there is no
error in all his plans. Train your son to be a teachable man whose
wisdom is agreeable to the great. Let him direct his mouth
according to that which has been said to him; in the docility of a
son is discovered his wisdom. His conduct is perfect while error
carries away the unteachable. Tomorrow knowledge will support him,
while the ignorant will be destroyed.
As for the man without experience who listens not, he effects
nothing whatsoever. He sees knowledge in ignorance, profit in
loss; he commits all kinds of error, always accordingly choosing
the contrary of what is praiseworthy. He lives on that which is
mortal, in this fashion. His food is evil words, whereat he is
filled with astonishment. That which the great know to be mortal
he lives upon every day, flying from that which would be
profitable to him, because of the multitude of errors which
present themselves before him every day.
A son who attends is like a follower of Horus; he is happy
after having attended. He becomes great, he arrives at dignity, he
gives the same lesson to his children. Let none innovate upon the
precepts of his father; let the same precepts form his lessons to
his children. "Verily," will his children say to him, "to
accomplish what you say works marvels." Cause therefore that to
flourish which is just, in order to nourish your children with it.
If the teachers allow themselves to be led toward evil principles,
verily the people who understand them not will speak accordingly,
and that being said to those who are docile they will act
accordingly. Then all the world considers them as masters and they
inspire confidence in the public; but their glory endures not so
long as would please them. Take not away then a word from the
ancient teaching, and add not one; put not one thing in place of
another; beware of uncovering the rebellious ideas which arise in
you; but teach according to the words of the wise. Attend if you
wish to dwell in the mouth of those who shall attend to your
words, when you have entered upon the office of master, that your
words may be upon our lips . . . and that there may be a chair
from which to deliver your arguments.
Let your thoughts be abundant, but let your mouth be under
restraint, and you shall argue with the great. Put yourself in
unison with the ways of your master; cause him to say: "He is my
son," so that those who shall hear it shall say "Praise be to her
who has borne him to him!" Apply yourself while you speak; speak
only of perfect things; and let the great who shall hear you say:
"Twice good is that which issues from his mouth!"
Do that which your master bids you. Twice good is the precept
of his father, from whom he has issued, from his flesh. What he
tells us, let it be fixed in our heart; to satisfy him greatly let
us do for him more than he has prescribed. Verily a good son is
one of the gifts of Ptah, a son who does even better than he has
been told to do. For his master he does what is satisfactory,
putting himself with all his heart on the part of right. So I
shall bring it about that your body shall be healthful, that the
Pharaoh shall be satisfied with you in all circumstances and that
you shall obtain years of life without default. It has caused me
on earth to obtain one hundred and ten years of life, along with
the gift of the favor of the Pharoah among the first of those whom
their works have ennobled, satisfying the Pharoah in a place of
dignity.
