The Instructions of Ptahhotep

Hi and welcome back to Mysteries Channel. I know I haven't put anything out there for a minute, but I've been under the weather and I've been hoping that my voice will come back to normal. It's taking longer than I thought it would. Today I'm going to be going over the Prissy Papyrus and the Maxims of Ptahhotep. What are they? The Prissy Papyrus was found in Thebes in 1847 by a Frenchman and it is part of the Maxims of Ptahhotep. Ptahhotep was a visor to the pharaoh. I believe he was like second in command. The pharaoh himself was looked at as a god or the embodiment of god on earth at the time and his visor was his most trusted consort. And as this man, Ptahhotep, was getting ready to die, he wanted his Maxims to be written down. They are basically words to live by and he describes them as a way to conduct yourself in society. Not just society but higher society if you are in the royal court or if you are trying to be in a higher position in life. This is going to be a long video and I don't blame anybody that doesn't want to watch the whole thing. So I'm going to give you a kind of a breakdown real quick. I mean basically in the end it says to follow your heart, speak with precision, do not gossip and gives a guide on how to conduct yourself every day. But especially if you are in a position of leadership. What I ended up doing is I found a translation that was written in the 1870s. It was written in a very very like archaic form of English. I tried to translate it into regular English and then I found other translations of it and just checked to see if they were all similar. There was only one part of the papyrus that was interestingly hard to translate because I could only find one translation of it. It's going to be the 32nd Maxim. When I looked at it from the original, this is a section concerning continence, which would be a bodily function. In another translation it read, this is a section concerning a natural sin. Neither one of them had any words actually written down about it. The only translation I found that went over what it said. It's hard to understand exactly what's going on but I did put it in there. So there's that. Then everything else, I did double check to make sure that the translation I read and re-translated from older English into regular English meshed with everything else that was out there. Anyway, that being said, here is the instruction of Ptahhotep. He said, The nose is stopped and he takes no more breaths because of weakness, whether standing or sitting. Then in the words of old time, Here begin the Proverbs of fair speech spoken by the hereditary chief of the Holy Father, beloved of the God, the eldest son of the king in his body, the governor of his city, the visor, Ptahhotep. When instructing the ignorant in the knowledge of exactness and fair speaking, the glory of him that obeys, the shame of him that transgresses them. He said unto his son, One, do not be proud because you are learned, but discourse with the ignorant man as for the sage. Four, no limit can be set to skill, neither is there any craftsman that possesses full advantages. Fair speech is more rare than the emerald that is found by the slave maidens on the pebbles. Two, if you find an arguer talking, one that is well disposed and wiser than you, let your arms fall and bend your back and don't be angry whether he agrees with you or not. Refrain from speaking evilly, do not oppose him in any way when he speaks. If he addresses you as ignorant on the matter, your humbleness will push away his contentions. Three, if you find an arguer talking, your fellow, your peer, one that is within your reach, don't keep silent when he speaks things that are evil. You shall be wiser. Great will be the applause on the part of the listeners and your name shall be known as good in the knowledge of princes. Four, if you find an arguer talking, a poor man, that is to say not your equal, don't be scornful to him because he is lowly. Leave him alone. He shall confound himself. Don't question him to please your heart, neither put your wrath upon him. And if you feel in your heart this is what you should do, push it out of your heart. Reject it. Overcome this as something rejected by princes. Five, if you are a leader, one that is directing the conduct of the multitude, endeavor always to be gracious. That your own conduct be without defect. Great is truth. Appointing a straight path has never been overthrown since the reign of Osiris. One that oversteps the law shall be punished. Overstepping is by the covetous man. Degradations bear off his riches for the season of his evil doing never ceases. He is the one that will say, I will obtain for myself by myself. He is not the one that says, I will obtain because I am allowed. The limit of justice is steadfast. The ones who act like this learn this from their fathers. Six, do not cause fear among men. Do not scheme against people for God punishes accordingly. If a man says, I shall live that way, he will lack bread for his mouth. If he says, I shall be rich, he may have to say, my cleverness has snared me. If a man says, I will rob someone, he will in the end make a gift to a stranger. People's schemes do not prevail. God's command is what prevails. Live in the midst of peace for what you have, for what they give comes by itself. Seven, if you're among the guests of a man that is greater than you, accept what he gives you, putting it to your lips. If you look at him, your host, do not pierce him with many glances. Do not stare. It is abhorrent of the soul to stare at him. Do not speak until he addresses you because you do not know what is evil in his opinion. However, speak when he questions you. When this happens, your speech will be good in his opinion. The noble who sits before food divides it as his soul moves him. He gives unto him what he would favor. This is the custom of the evening meal. It is his soul that guides his hand. It is the noble that bestows, not the underling that attains. Thus, the eating of bread is under the providence of God. And anyone who disputes this is an ignorant man. Eight, if you are a man of trust sent from one great man to another, be exact when he sends you. Give his message as he said it. Guard against slanderous speech, which embroils one great with another. Keep to ma'at. Do not exceed it. But the washing of the heart should be repeated. Do not speak against anyone, great nor small, for it is abhorrent of the soul. Nine, if you have plowed, gather your harvest in the field, and the God shall make it great under your hand. Do not fill your mouth at your neighbor's table. The crafty man be the possessor of wealth. He steals it like the crocodile from the priest. Do not let a man without children be envious. Let him be neither downcast nor quarrelsome on the account of it. For a father, though great, may be grieved. As to the mother of children, she has less peace than another. Each man is created to his destiny by God, who is chief of the tribe. Trust in following him. Ten, if you are a weakling, serve a man of quality, worthy of trust, so that all your conduct may be well with God. Do not recall if he was once of a humble condition. Do not let your heart become big towards him for knowing his former state. For respect him for what has accrued to him. For surely goods do not come by themselves. They are their laws for him whom they love. He gained, he gathered it himself. But it is God who makes him worthy and protects him while he sleeps. Eleven, follow your heart during your lifetime. Do not do more than is commanded of you. Diminish not the time of following your heart. It is abhorrent to the soul. For time of ease to be taken away. Do not shorten the daytime more than is needful to maintain your house. When riches are gained, follow the heart. For riches are of no avail when one is weary. Twelve, if you are a man of quality, worthy of trust, may you produce a son by the favor of God. If he makes straight his course after your example. If he arranges your affairs in due order. Do unto him that is good. For your son, he is begotten of your own soul. Do not take your heart from him, or your own son may curse you. If he is heedless and breaks your rules of conduct and is violent. If every speech that comes from his mouth is a vile word, then beat him. That his talk may be fitting. Keep him from those that may take light of which is commanded. For it is they that make him rebellious. And they that are guided do not go astray. But those who lose their bearings cannot find a straight course. Thirteen, if you are in the court of justice, sit or stand as fits your rank. Assigned to you on the first day. Do not force your way in, for you will be turned back. Do not be absent, or you will be expelled. Spacious is the seat of him who has been called. The court of justice has a correct method. All behavior is by the plum line. It is God who gives the seat. He who uses elbows is not helped. Fourteen, if you are among the people, gain allies through being trustful of heart. The trustful of heart does not vent his belly speech. He will himself become a man who commands. A man of means, thanks to his behavior. May your name be good without you talking about it. Your body is sleek. Your face turns towards the people. And one praises you without you knowing it. But him whose heart obeys his belly disappears. He raises contempt of himself in the place of love. His heart is wretched. His body is gross. His body unanointed. The great of heart is a gift of God. He obeys his belly, obeys the enemy. Fifteen, report your actions without concealment. Discover your conduct when in counsel with the overlord. It is not evil for the messenger's report to not be answered. Never answer for the prince. Do not pretend that you know the prince's answer. Sixteen, if you are a leader, cause the rules that you have created to be carried out. And do all things as one that remembers the days that come after. When speech won't help you. Don't be lavish of favors. It leads to servility and produces slackness. Seventeen, if you are a man who leads, calmly hear the speech of the one who pleads. And do not stop him from purging his body of that which he planned to tell. A man in distress wants to wash his heart more than his own case to be won. About him who stops the plea, they will say, why does he reject it? Not all pleas can be granted, but a well-taught heart listens readily. Eighteen, if you desire to continue friendship in any abode where you enter, be it as master, as brother, as friend. Wherever you go, be aware of consorting with women. No place prospers where that is done, nor is it prudent to take part in it. A thousand men have been ruined for the pleasure of a little time, as short as a dream. Even death is reached this way. It is a wretched thing. As for the one who lives in evil, one leaves him for what he does. He is avoided. If his desires aren't gratified, he regards no laws. Nineteen, if you desire that your actions may be good, save yourself from the malice of intentions of ill will, and beware of the quality of strong desires or coveting, which is a grievous inner sickness. Do not by chance fall into this. It sets at variance fathers-in-laws and kingsmen, daughters-in-law. It splits apart husbands and wives. It gathers unto itself all evils. It is the girdle of all wickedness. But the man that is just flourishes. Truth goes in his footsteps, and he lives in it, but not the dwelling of strong desires. Twenty, do not be greedy of heart in the division of goods. Do not covet more than is your share. Do not be greedy of heart toward your kin. The kind has a greater claim than the rude. The family of the latter reveals very little, for he is deprived of what speech brings. Even a little of what is craved makes confidence in the cool-bellied man. Twenty-one, if you would be wise, provide for your house, and love your wife that is in your arms. Fill her stomach, clothe her back. Ointment is the remedy of her limbs. Gladden her heart during your lifetime, for she is an estate profitable unto you, her lord. Do not be harsh, for gentleness masters more than strength. Give to her for what she sighs, and what her eye looks toward, so that you shall keep her in your house. Twenty-two, satisfy your hired servants out of things such as that you have. It is the duty of one that has been favored by God. In truth, it is hard to satisfy hired servants. For one says, he is a lavish person. You never know what he will give you. But the next says, he is a person unwilling to spend money or use resources. And when favors have been shown unto servants, they go. Peace doesn't dwell in a town with wretched servants. Twenty-three, do not repeat extravagant speech. Neither hear it. It is the way of expression of the hot-bellied. Report a thing observed, not heard. If it is not negligible, do not say anything. And see, he who is before you recognizes your worth. Let it be ordered to seize what it produces in accordance with the law. Hatred will arise against him who seizes it to use it. Extravagant speech is like a vision against one who covers the face. Twenty-four, if you are a man of quality, worthy of trust, who sits at the master's counsel, bring your whole heart together towards excellence. Your soul is more useful than chatter. Silence is more profitable to you than abundance of speech. Consider how you may be opposed by an expert that speaks in counsel. It is a foolish thing to speak on every kind of work. For he that disputes your words shall put proof to it. Twenty-five, if you are powerful, make yourself to be honored for knowledge and for gentleness. Speak with authority that is, not as following orders. For he who is humble, when in high places, falls into errors. Do not exalt your heart to a point where you must be humbled. Do not be silent, but be aware of interruption and of answering words with heat. Put it far from you. Control yourself. The wrathful of heart speaks fiery words. It darts out of a man of peace that approaches stopping his path. One that reckons accounts all the days has no happy moments. One that gladdens his heart all the days doesn't provide for his house. The moment hits the mark as the stearman reaches land by the diversity of aim. Yet, he who obeys his heart shall command. Twenty-six, do not expose a great man's actions. Do not vex the heart of one who is burdened. His anger manifests against him who combats him. For he shall be hostile towards the one that delays him, but shall bear his soul unto the one that loves him. The disposal of the soul with the God, and that which he loves is his creation. Set out, therefore, after a violent quarrel. Be at peace with him that is hostile unto you, his opponent. It is these souls that make love grow. Twenty-seven, instruct a noble in such things that may be profitable unto him, causing him to be received among men. Let his satisfaction fall on his master, for your provisions depend upon his will. By reason of it, your belly shall be satisfied. Your back will be clothed thereby. Let him receive your heart, that your house may flourish and your honor. If you wish it to flourish thereby. He shall extend to you a kindly hand. Furthermore, he shall implant the love of you in the bodies of your friends. For truth, it is a soul that loves to listen. Twenty-eight, if you are the son of a man of the priesthood, and an envoy to conciliate multitude, speak without favoring one side. Let it not be said his conduct is that of the nobles, favoring one side of his speech. Turn your aim toward exact judgments. Twenty-nine, if you are angered by a misdeed, then lean toward the man only on account of his rectitude. Pass over the old error, do not recall it, since he was silent to you on the first day. Thirty, if you are great after having been humble, have gained wealth after having been poor in the past, in a town which you know, do not put your heart in your hoard, for you have become the steward of the endowments of God. You are not the last, another shall be your equal, and to him shall come the fortune and station of your light. Thirty-one, bend your back to your chief, your overseer in the king's palace, for your house depends upon his wealth, and your wages upon his wealth. How foolish is the one that quarrels with his chief, for one lives only while the other is gracious. Plunder not the house of tenants, neither steal the things of a friend, lest he accuse you in your hearing. A quarreler lacks in heart. Quarreling in the place of friendship is a foolish thing. Thirty-two, now I want you to know that I went through several different translations to find this. Most of them would not translate this at all. Do not copulate with a woman boy, for you know that one will fight against the water upon her heart. What is in her belly will not be refreshed. That during the night she does not do what is repelled, but be calmed after having ended the offense of her heart. That's all it says. I have no idea what it means. Thirty-three, if you want to seek the truth of the nature of a friend, do not ask of his companions, but pass a time with him alone, so that you don't injure his affairs. Debate with him after a season. Test his heart in the occasion of speech. When he has told you of his past life, he has made an opportunity that you may either be ashamed of him or be familiar with him. Don't be reserved with him when he opens speech, neither answer him in a scornful manner. Don't withdraw yourself from him or interrupt him. Do not answer with an act of hostility. Neither encounter him nor humiliate him. His time does not fail to come, for one does not escape what is fated. Thirty-four, be bright-faced for as long as you exist. That which goes in the storehouse must come out of it, and bread is to be shared. He that is grasping in entertainment shall himself have an empty belly. He that causes strife comes himself to sorrow. Do not take one like this for a companion or a neighbor. It is a man's kindly acts that are remembered of him in the years after his life. Thirty-five, know well the merchants, for when your affairs are an evil case, good repute among thy friends, the channel which is filled, is more important than the dignities of a man, for what belongs to one belongs to another. The good deed profits the son of man. An accomplished nature is a memorial. Thirty-six, correct and punish as a commander-in-chief, but also teach the complete form. Vice must be thrown out, that virtue may remain. Nor is this a matter of misfortune. The act of stopping crime is an enduring good example. Crime, except for misfortune, turns the complainer into an aggressor. Thirty-seven, if you make a woman to be ashamed, unrestrained of heart, one known by her town folk to be falsely placed, be kind to her for a space, don't send her away, let her eat. The joyful of heart confer an exact balance. Thirty-eight, a splendid thing is the obedience of an obedient son. He comes in and he listens obediently. Excellence in hearing, excellence in speaking, is every man that obeys what is noble. And the obedience of an obeyer is a noble thing. Obedience is better than all things that are. It makes good will. How good is it that a son should take that from his father by which he has reached no age. Obedience, that which is desired by God, is obedience. Disobedience is abhorrent of the soul. Truly, it is the heart that makes its master obey or disobey. For the safe and sound life of a man is his heart. It is the obedient man that obeys what is said. He that loves to obey shall carry out commands. He that obeys becomes one obeyed. It is good indeed that a son obeys his father and that his father has spoken of the joy of it. Such a son shall be mild as a master and he that hears him shall obey him what is spoken. He shall be honored by his father. His memory shall be in the mouths of the living, those upon earth, as long as they exist. 39. Let a son receive the word of his father, not by being heedless of any rule of his. Instruct your son, for the obedience of man is one that is perfect in the opinion of princes. If he directs his mouth by what he has been confided him, watchful and obedient, your son shall be wise. In his goings, seemly. Heedlessness leads to disobedience on the morrow, but understanding shall establish him. As for the fool, he shall be crushed. 40. As for the fool, devoid of obedience, he does nothing. Knowledge he regards as ignorance, profitable things as hurtful things. He does all kinds of errors, so that he is rebuked therefore every day. He lives in death, it is his food. At chattering speech he marvels, as at the wisdom of princes, living in the death every day. He is shunned because of his misfortune, by reason of the multitude of afflictions that has come upon him every day because of his disobedience. 41. A son that listens is a follower of Horus. He is good after he listens, he grows old, he reaches honor and reverence, he repeats like in the manners to his sons and daughters, and so we're doing the instruction of his father. Let that which you speak implant true things and just in the life of children. Never take away or add your own words when speaking for others. Be exact with your words, be wary of speech when a learned man listens to you. Desire to be established for good in the mouth of those who hear you speaking. 42. Act so that your master will say of you, how accomplished is he whom his father taught. When he came forth from him, issued from his body, he, the father, spoke to him when he was in the belly of his mother, and the son accomplished even more than he was told. 43. Lo and behold, the son, the gift of God, exceeds what is told by him by his masters. He does ma'at, and his heart matches his steps. O my son, with all what is done, may you obtain many years of life. Now we are past the maxims. We will go to C. If you obey these things I have said to you, all your endeavors shall be the best, for virility and the quality of truth is among their excellences. Set the memory of them in the mouths of people, for the proverbs are good, nor shall any word that has been set down cease out of the land forever. But shall be made a pattern whereby princes shall speak well. My word shall instruct a man in obeying, excellent in speaking after he has heard them. Good fortune shall befall him, for he shall be of the highest rank. He shall be gracious to the end of his life. He shall be contented always. His knowledge shall be his guide into the places of security, wherein he shall prosper well on earth. The scholar shall be contented in his knowledge. As to the prince, in his turn, truth, his heart shall be happy, his tongue made straight, and in these proverbs his lips shall speak, his eyes shall see, and his ears shall hear. That which is profitable for his son, so that he deal justly void of deceit. And D. Not small is what I did on earth. I had a hundred and ten years of life, and as the gift of the king, and the honors exceeding those of the ancestors. For by doing, ma'at for the king, the venerated place comes. It is finished, from its beginning to its end, even found in writing.