The Instruction of Ptah-Hotep and the Instruction of Ke'Gemni
own; and a charity which, when certain inevitable shortcomings are
allowed for, bears comparison with almost any later system. Out of
these there are many that may properly claim a place in a series
bearing the seal of the Wisdom of the East, though they belong only to
the more objective and 'practical' side of that Wisdom.
But, as touching the books here translated--the Instructions of
Ptah-hotep and of Ke'gemni--they possess, apart from the curious nature
of their contents, a feature of the greatest interest, and an adequate
claim on the notice of all persons interested in literature and its
history. For if the datings and ascriptions in them be accepted as
trustworthy (there is no reason why they should not be so accepted),
they were composed about four thousand years before Christ, and three
thousand five hundred and fifty years before Christ, respectively. And
the significance of those remote dates is, that they are the oldest
{19} books in the world, the earliest extant specimens of the literary
art. They stand on the extreme horizon of all that ocean of paper and
ink that has become to us as an atmosphere, a fifth element, an
essential of life.
Books of many kinds had of course been written for centuries before
Ptah-hotep of Memphis summarised, for the benefit of future
generations, the leading principles of morality current in his day;
even before the Vizier, five hundred years earlier, gave to his
children the scroll which they prized above all things on earth;[2] but
those have perished and these remain. There are lists of titles which
have a large sound, and prayers to the Gods for all good things, on the
tombs and monuments of kings and magnates long before the time of
Ke'gemni; but those are not books in any sense of that word. Even the
long, strange chants and spells engraven in the Royal Pyramids over
against Memphis are later than the time of Ptah-hotep, and cannot be
called books in their present form, although some of them apparently
originated before the First Dynasty.[3]
Nor do the oldest books of any other country approach these two in
antiquity. To draw {20} comparisons between them let us, in
imagination, place ourselves at the period at which Ptah-hotep lived,
that is, about B.C. 3550, 'under King Isosi, living for ever,' and take
a glance at futurity.
The Babylonians are doubtless exercising their literary talents; but
they will leave nothing worthy the name of book to the far posterity of
fifty-four centuries hence. Thirteen centuries shall pass before
Hammurabi, King of Babylon, drafts the code of laws that will be found
at that time. Only after two thousand years shall Moses write on the
origin of things, and the Vedas be arranged in their present form. It
will be two-and-a-half thousand years before the Great King of
Jerusalem will set in order many proverbs and write books so much
resembling, in form and style, that of Ptah-hotep;[4] before the source
and summit of European literature will write his world epics. For the
space of years between Solomon and ourselves, great though it seem, is
not so great as that between Solomon and Ptah-hotep.
The number of extant texts of the class to which the subjoined
immediately belong is not large in proportion to the rest of Egyptian
MSS., {21} but they seem to be representative of the class, being
diverse in date and subject, but similar in form. There is great
uniformity in the arrangement of most of them, in the following
respects. They have as title the word 'Instruction' (_seb'oyet_), and
are written by a father for the advantage of his son; they are very
poetic in their arrangement of words and phrases, and are usually
divided into short sections or paragraphs by the use of red ink for the
first sentence of each. Such is the Instruction of Ptah-hotep on
morality (the finest of its class); the Instruction of King Amenemhe'et
on the hollowness of friendship and other matters; the Instruction of
Deu'of, the son of Kherti, on the excellence of the literary life; and
others. In many respects and in many details they greatly resemble the
didactic works of the _Old Testament_ and _Apocrypha_.
These 'Instructions' were held in high esteem as text-books and writing
exercises in schools--a circumstance to which we owe the preservation
of many of them. For a considerable number of important and
interesting poems, letters, and narratives are only known to us from
school exercise-books. The pupil at the 'Chamber of Instruction' wrote
out about three pages of these each day, as a means of improving his
writing, as a model of style in composition, and for purposes of
edification. These exercises {22} abound in errors of spelling and
grammar, having sometimes the master's corrections elegantly written
above in red. As may be imagined, a schoolboy's scrawl over three
thousand years old is no easy thing to translate; but _faute de mieux_
the Egyptologist welcomes any version, even the most barbarous.
Fortunately, the MS. from which these translations come is not of this
kind; a detailed description of it may interest some of my readers.
The Prisse Papyrus, which is well known by name and a few extracts to
all persons conversant with Egyptian matters, was acquired in Egypt by
M. Prisse d'Avennes, a French archaeologist of distinction, and
published by him in 1847.[5] The exact place of its discovery is
unknown. M. Prisse is said to have bought it of one of the _fellahin_
whom he employed to make excavations at the burial-ground of Thebes.
This man pretended that he had no knowledge of its finding, as he was
trying to sell it for a friend. It is believed that it was actually
taken by the Arab from the tomb of one of the Kings 'Entef;[6] but this
is not certain. If it were, it would perhaps enable us to fix a
_terminus ad que,_ for the writing of this copy, although tombs often
contain objects of later date. The papyrus was presented in about
1847, by M. Prisse, to the {23} Bibliotheque Nationale (in those days
the Bibliotheque Royale) at Paris, where it still is, divided and
glazed in the usual manner.
Spread out flat, it measures about 23 ft. 7 in., with an average height
of 5 7/8 in., which is about the usual height of papyri of the Eleventh
and Twelfth Dynasties. It contains at present eighteen pages of heavy
and bold black and red writing, in the so-called hieratic character.
At first sight it appears to be in perfect preservation, being entirely
free from the cracks and decay which mar many fine manuscripts of far
later date; but an examination of the contents shows that an unknown
quantity has been torn off from the commencement. Originally the roll
contained at least two books, of which we have the latter part of one
and the whole of the other. Between these there is a blank space of
some 53 in.
The characters are clearly and carefully made, but are not always
correct, as though the copyist had a badly written or very cursive copy
before him, and was not always sure of his spelling.
The first of these books, of which only the last two pages remain to
us, is a treatise on deportment, and is here called the _Instruction of
Ke'gemni_. It has always been attributed to this person since its
discovery, but examination of as much of the book as exists will show
that it is not said to have been written by him. Because {24} his is
the only name mentioned, Egyptologists have concluded that he is the
author. The unnamed Vizier, who called his children to him, can hardly
be Ke'gemni, who was not raised to the rank of Vizier and Governor of a
city until afterwards. Ke'gemni may well have been a son of the
author. This is not of material importance, however, as the date of
writing is given as the end of the reign of Heuni, the last King of the
Third Dynasty, who died about 3998 B.C. This book, then, which argues
a society of some refinement, is, so far as it goes, the oldest in the
world.
After a long stretch of blank papyrus, from which a third book has
perhaps been erased, we come upon the _Instruction of Ptah-hotep_ in
its entirety, divided into sections by red writing, as aforesaid.[7]
In this, also, we get a definite date, for we learn in the opening
lines that its author (or compiler) lived in the reign of King Isosi.
Now Isosi was the last ruler but one of the Fifth Dynasty, and ruled
forty-four years, from about 3580 to 3536 B.C. Thus we may take about
3550 as the period of Ptah-hotep.
Of these two kings there is hardly anything to say. Heuni is only
known to us by mention of his name; we have no record of any act of
his. {25} Of Isosi the only exploit that remains is this: that he sent
his Treasurer, Be'werded, to Somaliland[8] to obtain for him a certain
kind of dwarf; this the Treasurer brought back, and received much
reward therefor. That is all that is left of the reigns of two kings,
who ruled long, who perhaps ruled greatly and wisely, having just cause
to hope that their fame and the report of their good deeds might never
pass away. Such is the fate of kings.
The copy of these Instructions that we have, the only complete copy,[9]
is far later than the later of these dates. An examination of the
writing shows that it is not earlier than the Eleventh Dynasty, and is
probably of the Twelfth.[10] More than this cannot be said; where it
was written, by whom, and when, are not stated, as they are in many
cases. The writing lacks the fine regularity of that of the
professional scribes of the Twelfth Dynasty, and has many points of
divergence therefrom; but the papyrus is assigned by the best judges to
this period. This gives it an antiquity of about four thousand five
hundred years; and it looks good to last as long again, if only it be
not examined over-much nor brought out into the light too often. {26}
It is as fresh and readable as in the year after it was written. Will
the books of our time last one-tenth so long? It is not without a
feeling of awe, even of sadness, that one with any sense of the wonder
of things gazes for the first time on the old book, and thinks of all
it has survived. So many empires have arisen and gone down since those
words were penned, so many great and terrible things have been.
And we are fortunate indeed in having such a book as this of Ptah-hotep
for the most ancient complete literary work extant. For not by any
magical texts, or hymns and prayers, should we be so well shown the
conditions of that early time; but our moralist, by advancing counsels
of perfection for every contingency, has left us a faithful record of
his age. The veil of five-and-a-half thousand years is rent, and we
are met with a vivid and a fascinating picture of the domestic and
social life of the 'Old Kingdom.' We read of the wife, who must be
treated kindly at all costs; the genial generosity of the rich man, and
the scowling boor, a thorn in the side of his friends and relations,
the laughing-stock of all men; the unquenchable talkers of every
station in life, who argue high, who argue low, who also argue round
about them, as common as now in the East, and the trusted councillor,
weighing every word; the obstinate _ignoramus_ who sees {27} everything
inverted, listening open-mouthed to the disjointed gossip of those near
him, and the scholar, conversing freely with learned and unlearned
alike, recognising that, measured against the infinite possibilities of
knowledge and skill, we are all much of the same stature; the master of
the estate or province, treated with infinite respect by his
subordinates in rank and wealth, and the paid servants that are never
satisfied, who leave after presents have been made them; the
hard-working clerk who casts accounts all day, and the tradesmen who
will perhaps give you credit when money is dear, if you have previously