Instruction of Amenemope

# Meditations on Good Living Beginning of the meditations on good living, the guide to health and happiness, the various regulations for gaining entrée to officials, and the customs of the courtiers; To know how to reply to one who speaks to you, to bring back a report to one who sends you; To help you enter upon the Way of Life, to keep you safely while on earth, to help your mind withdraw into its chapel— which can provide an oar to steer through evil; To rescue you from the mouths of the crowd, one praised in the speech of good people. Composed by the Minister of Agriculture, wise in office, scribe of the seed-corn of Ta-Mery, overseer of grain, regulator of the corn-measure, who gathers in the harvest for his lord, who registers the islands which are come forth newly according to the Royal Titulary of his Majesty, and places markers at the borders of the fields; Who exempts the king's name from the tax lists, creates the land-register for Egypt, institutes the offerings to the gods, and grants holdings to the poor; Overseer of grain, administrator of provisions, who supplies the silos with their stores; A thoughtful man, just in Abydos of the Thinite nome, vindicated in Achmim; Owning a pyramid in the precinct of the West and a chapel in Abydos— Amenemopet, son of Kanakht, vindicated in This. This for his son, the youngest of his offspring, smallest of his associates, Keeper of the Secrets of Min-Kamutef, who dispenses the holy water of Osiris, Who installs Horus on his father's throne, protects him in his splendid shrine, guards the sacred mysteries for his Lord, observes the omens for the mother of the god, Tends the black cattle of the Terrace of Min, and protects Min in his shrine— His name: Hor-em-maa-kheru, child of a high official of Achmim, And son of a musician for Shu and Tefnut, Taweseret, chief chantress in the Horus Temple. Give ear to hear my words, and give your mind to searching into them. Great benefit is yours if you will place them in your heart, while failure follows the neglect of them. Let them rest within the strongbox of your body, let them provide a lock upon your heart— Sea-lost is he who is a storm of words— let these provide an anchor for your tongue. If you will live your life with all this in your heart, you shall find in it the means to be successful; You will find my words a treasure-house for living, and you yourself shall prosper upon earth. Avoid demeaning the already miserable by any show of strength against the weak. Do not raise your hand against the aging nor criticize the conversations of the great. Do not formulate your messages in an abrasive manner nor envy one who does. Do not raise a cry against the man who injures you, and do not you yourself reply. One who does evil—the deep canal will get him; and its moving waters, they will bear him off! The Northwind, it descends, darkening his hour, dragging him into the howling storm; The clouds pile high, the crocodiles are restless, and this fevered man of yours—how does he fare? It is his voice up there crying before the Highest, and the Moon above shall specify his crimes. ''Ply the oars that the evil one may cross to Us, We have not seen his like before.'' —Raise him up, give him your hand, hurl him into the arms of God; Fill him with bread at your table so that he be satisfied and be ashamed. This too is a thing dear to the heart of God— let a Man go slow before speaking. Do not start a quarrel with the hot-mouthed man nor be disdainful toward him in your speech; Be deliberate before an adversary, bow to a foe, and sleep on what you think before you speak. A stormwind moving like a flame in straw— that is the hot-head in his hour! Yield before him, leave the bellicose man to the god who knows how to mend him. If you spend your days with these things in your heart, your offspring shall live to see them. A man of the temple who is intemperate is like a tree which grows indoors. In a short moment its leaves and blossoming are finished so that its journey ends on the rubbish heap; It floats to its final destination and its burial is fire. But the truly thoughtful man, though he keeps himself aside, is like a tree growing in sunlight; It greens and flourishes, it doubles its harvest, standing before the face of its Lord; Its fruit is sweet, its shade is pleasant, and it ends its days in the garden. Do not hold back the portions meant for the temple— do not be greedy as the way to wealth; Do not defraud God's servant merely to profit someone else. And do not say, ''Alas, today is like tomorrow!'' —How can you arrive at this? Come tomorrow, today is in the past— look, floodwaters brim the well-mouths, The crocodiles are loose, hippos rest in the shadows, the fish are leaping, Small beasts are filled, birds are ecstatic, full nets are drawn ashore. And all the thoughtful men of the temple say, ''Great is the gift of Rê!'' Consider the thoughtful man that you may discover Life, and you yourself will flourish upon earth. Do not move the markers at the edges of the fields⁠a nor alter findings of the measuring-cord; Do not be greedy in distributing the holdings nor violate the boundaries of the widow. The furrows of the plough are cultivated for a lifetime— and the swindler covets them; But should he get them, lyingly and falsely, surely he will fall at last to the Moon's justice. Keep watch on one who does this while on earth— he is a despoiler of defenseless people, He is a foe, wreaking havoc on your very body, and malice dwells in his eye. His household is declared a public enemy and his granaries are leveled to the ground; They seize his goods out of his children's hands, and the little that he had is given to another. Avoid unsettling the boundaries of the fields that the fear which you inspire may be ended; One pleases God through the Moon, his viceroy— and it is he who sets the limits of the cultivation. Take care to keep your own self healthy, and be circumspect before the Lord of All. Do not obliterate the furrow of another; to have his good opinion strengthens you. Plough your own fields to find your own sufficiency, receiving what is made on your own threshing floor. Better one bushel which God gives than five thousand got by fraud. —No one spends time now growing provisions, no one commands that the vessels be filled, Hardly at all do they work in the granary— day breaks and they all are gone. More splendid the poor in the hand of God than an overflowing storehouse; More splendid the loaf, with heart's content, than riches full of care. Let not your heart lust after riches— one can never ignore fate or fortune. Let not your thoughts take you too far— each man is a man of his time. Be not concerned with seeking increase— sufficient to you are your own possessions. If riches come through misappropriation, they shall never stay the night under your roof; Come daybreak, and they are not with you, one seeks their dwelling but they are not there; The ground yawns open and they enter, swallowed, sunk below into the netherworld. They make themselves a hollow fit to hold them and settle into their dark prison, Though they would fashion wings like ro-geese and fly upward to the heavens. Do not let dishonest riches please you, yet do not yearn for poverty— If the bowman is ordered forwards, his hand must be steady and sure. The sea-ship of the greedy sticks on the mud-flats while the skiff of the thoughtful man slips free. Pray to the Aton rising, saying, 'Give me content and health!' He will provide what is needful for living and let you be free from dread. Let your integrity be felt in the vitals of the people, so that each and every one may look to you. Praise the holy Serpent, spit upon Apophis; Let your tongue be free of words which injure so that you inspire devotion in the masses. Thus shall you take your seat within God's house and present your offerings to your Lord; You shall reach blessedness, find rest within your grave, and prosper in the everlasting majesty of God. Do not cry out 'Criminal!' against a man— the circumstances of his flight may be unknown. If you hear a good man saying something evil, leave it outside the place where it was heard; Have the good report ready on your tongue, let the evil be concealed within your body. Do not be friends with the intemperate man nor let him draw you into conversation. Keep your tongue from talking back to your superior, and do not curse him; For he may frame his words so as to trap you or dismiss you for your insolence. Seek advice on answering from a man of your own station and avoid offending him. Pass by the speeches of the always aggravated man faster than wind over wave— He is one who destroys, builds only with his tongue, so that he speaks of things in empty words. He answers, aching to do battle, and his purpose is to injure; He fosters strife among all people, loading his speech with lies. He knits a slippery meaning out of intertwisted words, fighting and quarreling he comes and goes, Then dines at home while his retorts are festering outside. One day his wrongs will rise to censure him, woe to his children then! If only Khnum would take him back into his hands— to the potter's wheel with the hot-mouthed man!— That He might knead some sense into his senseless skull. For he is like the jackal's offspring in the cattle-pen: It turns its eye against its own companions, it makes the herdsmen gibber, It runs before the wind like stormy weather, it dims the brightness of the sun, It flicks its tail like the young crocodile, it leaps upon its prey— Its lips are sweetened, its tongue darts out, and a fire burns in its belly. Make no attempt to humor such a one— let the respect that once you offered be no more. Do not antagonize the angry man with provocations— you only trouble your own heart; And do not praise him with false praise though fear is in you. Do not speak untruths among the people— that is abhorrent to God; Do not divide your thinking from your tongue in order that your schemes might be successful. Be grave and serious before the many— and let the outcome lie with God. God hates lying speech, and he detests the man with a sour belly. Do not covet the little that the poor man has nor hunger for his bread; The poor man's mite sticks in the craw, it is a theft that catches in the throat. Should a man gain his purpose through perjury and lying, his heart will rot in his body; For enmity weakens accomplishment, and guilt is unproductive of good. Should you stand guilt-laden before your superior, you will be unsuccessful, whatever you say— Your flatteries will be countered with curses and your kissing the earth with a beating. Stuffing your mouth with food—gorging and vomiting— cuts you off from your better self. Watch carefully the supervisors of the poor man— staves beat him, His people are confined in hobbles, and his workers hounded to the place of execution. Should you be lax before your own superior, you will be censured by subordinates. See that you act as steering-oar for the poor man on his journey, watch over him and be respectful of his goods. Do not be greedy for a great man's goods when your mouth is filled with food abundantly and freely; Should he appoint you to administer his holdings, his wealth will be an enemy to your well-being. Do not bandy words with an intemperate man nor let the malcontent be close to you. If you are sent to ferry chaff, its very bulk is hateful; But if one fears to carry a demeaning message, he will never be sent out again. Do not deceive, in writing or accounting— that is a hatefulness to God. Do not testify with perjured words nor undercut another with your tongue; Do not give hard reckoning to one with little, and do not let your pen be harsh. If you discover a great arrears borne by a humble man, divide it into three, Throw away two and let the one remain— thus it will be like walking on the path of Life, And you will spend your nights in sleep until the morrow, and find it satisfies like good advice. More splendid the praise from the heart of the people than an overflowing storehouse; More splendid the loaf, with heart's content, than riches full of care. Do not curry favor with any man nor trouble to seek out his hand; If someone says, ''I beg you, take these gifts! There are no needy people here to see it.'' —Do not glance at him, do not nod your head, do not demean yourself by your reaction. Say words if you must, tell him your admiration, so he will cease to bother you. Yet do not totally disdain him at his first arrival lest at another time he might return. Do good in order to attain a richer life; never dip the reed-pen to do wrong; The beak of the Ibis is the finger of the scribe— take care that you are worthy of it. The Baboon sits in his temple at Hermopolis, and his eye roves over Egypt; He watches for the one with cheating finger, and he sweeps that man's subsistence into the flood. As for the scribe who falsifies his writing, his son will not be entered in the scribal annals; But if you spend your days with these things in your heart, your children shall see them happen. Do not displace the balance-beam, nor falsify the weights, nor alter the proportions of the measure.⁠b Do not be greedy for the produce of the fields nor misuse goods belonging to the treasury. The Baboon sits beside the balance and his heart is hidden— O, what god is like great Thoth, the Creator who devised these things for us! Do not make weights to cheat by, they are certain to bring down God's wrath; If you see another cheating, make a wide path around him. Do not be greedy for copper, despise fine linen; What are they for, the linen skirt and the clothing? this is pretense in the presence of God! All this transmuting what glitters into gold— day dawns and it is still straw. Do not falsify the grain measure or tamper with its parts. Do not withhold the overflow belonging to the laborer since his is the empty belly; Measure out as if it were the portion for a friend— your hand thus reaches out toward righteousness. Do not construct a bushel that makes you double portions; rather, act in keeping with the height of this year's flood. The bushel-measure is the Eye of Rê, and it hates the one who robs; The measurer who gives excess dishonestly— the anger of His Eye is over him. Do not expropriate the harvests of the tiller nor set it down in writing to defraud him. Do not conspire with the measurer of grain nor interfere with workers in his employ. Great in its power is the granary threshing-floor— greater than an oath by the Great Throne. Do not stay in bed fearing tomorrow; day breaks, what will it be? Man cannot know what the morrow will bring. God dwells amid His perfections, man must live with his failure; And the words which men speak are fleeting, and the creatures of God pass away. So, say nothing that gives injury, do not you yourself cause pain— Even though harms attributed to God be sealed with His own finger. As there is no perfection apart from God's hand, so nothing flawed lives in His presence; And should He wish to be rid of perfection, He can destroy it all in an instant. Be serious of heart, steady your thoughts, and do not use your tongue to steer by. Or say man's tongue is the rudder of a ship, the Lord of All is still pilot. Do not be careless in court in the magistrate's presence, do not falsify your words Nor ramble in your answers— your testimony must hold firm. Do not hesitate because of the oath to your own lord— speak out in the hall of interrogation; Tell the truth before the magistrate lest he pass sentence on you yourself. If at a later date you enter his presence, make him lean on your every word So that he will repeat what you say to the Thirty in chambers and use it time and again. Do not mislead the members of the Council, and do not undermine the Truth. Do not be swayed by fashionable clothing nor turn away from those in disrepair. Receive no favors from the powerful nor hound the weak man for the great man's sake. Truth bears the greatness of God, He gives it freely through His love; And the might of one who champions Truth ends suffering by destroying it. Do not enact dishonest laws— they defile the legacy of the dead, They are a great forswearing of sworn duty, they are like the garbled speeches of a messenger. Do not blacken someone's character upon papyrus, do not intervene in God's affairs, And do not take upon yourself the wrath of God— it can never bring good outcome or good fortune. Award the world's goods to their rightful owners, and for yourself seek Life; Do not build your mind amid their dwellings— though your bones be destined for the place of slaughter. Never say, ''I have found a powerful overlord; I can abduct any man from your city.'' Nor say, ''I have found an eminent protector; I can hurt the one I hate.'' For truly, you do not know the mind of God, nor can you perceive the morrow; Seat yourself in His arms that your peace may be anchored within them. The crocodile, he roars his invitation out of the waters but respect for him is slight— Do not empty out your belly to the world nor act to lessen its esteem for you; Do not let your words circle among the crowd nor make yourself familiar with the chatterer. More effective is the man whose accusation stays within him than the one who tells it to his own confusion. One does not rush about to reach perfection nor create a thing in order to destroy it. Do not provoke a companion who is agitated nor prevent him speaking out the matter on his mind, Do not fly up to put him in his place— you cannot know what he is thinking. Be aware beforehand of his views, and be calm and soothing to attain your goal. Put the matter to his face that he may empty out his belly, understand the nature of what he has disclosed; Point his feet aright, and do not shame him, respect him, do not turn away. For truly, you do not know the mind of God, nor can you perceive the morrow; Seat yourself in His arms that your peace may be anchored within them. Do not break bread in the presence of a nobleman nor fill your mouth ahead of him. If you would satisfy yourself, pretend to chew— take pleasure in your own saliva, Look at the drink in front of you, and let it suffice for your necessities. The great official in his magnanimity is like the multitude of wellsprings in the Delta. Do not eavesdrop on proceedings of a judge in chambers nor repeat them to anyone outside; And do not have your own opinions broadcast so that your ideas are not compromised. The mind of Man is the breath of God— beware lest He turn His back. And the man in conversation with a high official, make no attempt to overhear his name. Do not laugh at a blind man, do not joke at the deformed, do not contribute to the misery of a cripple, And do not mock a man who is in God's hands or taunt him when he goes astray. Man is clay and straw, God is the potter. He tears down and He builds up every day, creating small things by the thousands through His love; And He creates men by the thousands too as overseers while each is in his hour of life. What joy it is for the creature who reaches the West— he is safe in the presence of God. Do not sit about the tavern waiting to attach yourself to some distinguished person Whether he be newly in his office or a man of years with children. Content yourself with those of your own station and Rê will help you prosper from afar. If you should see a great man in the street, follow along behind him out of respect; Lend a hand to an old man gone on beer, and honor him as his own children would. A strong arm is not weakened by discretion, nor is one's back made safe by bowing. They do not let a man who speaks kind words be poorer than the mighty man whose words are straw; And the Pilot who watches from afar— He will not let His ship capsize. Do not defame a man more eminent than you— he knew Rê before you; Do not complain to Aton when he rises saying, ''It is someone else maligns the great.'' That is bad form indeed in the august presence of Rê, a small man cursing his betters. Say that he beats you—your hand stays at your side! Say he berates you—you remain silent! If on the morrow you enter his presence, he will gladly give you provisions. Remember, the dependant is dog of his master, he barks for the one who feeds him. Do not misuse a widow if you find her in the fields nor fail to set aside your work to speak with her;⁠c Do not let a stranger pass your beer jug thirsty, refill it time and time again before your friends— Give love to the god of the ruined and poor far exceeding your debt to the eminent. Leave no one behind for the River crossing as you maneuver to launch the ferry. If an oar is assigned you in the midst of the flood, stretch out your arms to grasp it; As none are abhorrent to the hand of God, so no distinction is made among rowers. Do not on your own take the ferry out nor be over-concerned with collecting fares; Take the fare from the hand of the one who has it and pass by the one without. Mind carefully these thirty chapters— they delight, they instruct; They are the best of books; they help the ignorant to know. If they are read out in the hearing of the untaught man, he will come to treasure what they say. Peruse them, store them in your heart, help the young interpret them as they study with their teachers. The scribe who is proficient in his calling shall rise to be a trusted Friend at court. Those writers known from the old days, the times just after the gods— Those who foretold what would happen (and did), whose names endure for eternity— They disappeared when they finished their lives, and all their kindred were forgotten. They did not build pyramids in bronze with gravestones of iron from heaven; They did not think to leave a patrimony made of children who would give their names distinction. Rather, they formed a progeny by means of writings and in the books of wisdom which they left. The papyrus roll became their lector-priest, the writing-board their loving son; Books of wisdom were their pyramids, the reed-pen was their child, smoothed stone their spouse. In this way great and small became inheritors; and the writer was the father of them all! What they built of gates and chapels now are fallen, their soul-priests and their gardeners are gone, Their headstones undiscovered in the dirt, their very graves forgotten. But their fame lives on in their papyrus rolls composed while they were still alive; And the memory of those who write such books shall last to the end of time and for eternity. Be a writer! Set your heart upon it so your name shall be like theirs! A book is finer than a graven stele, more than a memorial wall. Those men built pyramids and chapels of the mind to make their names renowned! Surely it is a thing of glory, in the land beyond, that one's name be fresh in the speech of mankind. Man dies, his body is dust, his family all brought low to the earth; But writing shall make him remembered, alive in the mouths of any who read. Better a book than a builded mansion, better than body's home in the West, Splendid above a fine house in the country or stone-carved deeds in the precinct of God. Are there any here today like Hordjedef? Is there another like Imhotep? There has not come in our time one like Neferty or Khety, the best of them all. I give you the names of Ptahemdjehuty or Khakheperreseneb. Is there another like Ptahhotep or the equal of Kaires? Those sages who saw into the future— what came from their mouths came to be; It is found as wisdom and truth inscribed on their papyrus rolls. The children of others are given to them to be co-heirs with their own; And the sacred knowledge they saved for the world can be followed and known in their writings. They themselves are dead and gone, but their names are immortal in books.