The admonitions of an Egyptian sage from a hieratic papyrus in Leiden(Pap. Leiden 344 recto)

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A. H. GARDINE

The Admonitions
of an Egyptian Sage

GEORO OI.MS HILDESHEIM

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A. H. Gardiner • The Admonitions of an Egyptian Sage

The Admonitions of an Egyptian Sage

from a

Hieratic Papyrus in Leiden

(Pap. Leiden 344 recto)

by
ALAN H. GARDINER

o

1969

GEORG OLMS VERLAG
HILDESHEIM

Die Originalvorlage befindet sich im Besitz der Niedersachsischen Staats- und
Universitatshibliothek Gottingen.

Signatur: 4° Inscript. 1028

Das Format des Satzspiegels wurde gegeniibcr dem der Originalvorlage geringfiigig verkleinert.

Reprografischer Nachdruck der Ausgabe Leipzig 1909

Mit Genehmigung des Verlages J. C. Hinrichs, Leipzig.

Printed in Germany

Herstellung: fotokop wiihelm weihert, Darmstadt

Best.-Nr. 5102 129

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THE

ADMONITIONS OF AN EGYPTIAN SAGE

FROM A

HIERATIC PAPYRUS IN LEIDEN

(PAP. LP:1DEN 344 RECTO)

BV

ALAN H. GARDINER M. A.

LAYCOCK STUDENT OF EGYPTOLOGY AT WORCESTER COLLEGE, OXFORD

WITH 1 8 IH-ATES IN AUTOGRAPHY AND I IN COLLOTYPE

«"

"^f-R

LEIPZIG

J. C. HINRICHS'SCHE BUCHHANDLUNG
1909

INSTITUTE
OF FINE ARTS

NEAf* EAST

14

Dnicli von August Pries in Leiptig

TO

H. O. LANGE

IN

GRATITUDE AND FRIENDSHIP

PREFACE.

More than live years have elajj-sed since Dr. H. O. Lange comnuinicaled to the Berlin
Acaclem\- of Sciences a short but \ery remarkable paper on the literary text that occupies the
recto of the hieratic papyrus 344 of Leiden. The existence of this te.\t had long been known
to scholars, but its linguistic difficulties and damaged condition had deterred all but a few fr(jm
making it the object of their stutlies. Its contents were generally agreed to be of didactic
nature, but no more definite conclusion than this had been reached when Dr. Lange made the startling
announcement that the papyrus contained the prophetic utterances of an Egyptian seer. This
statement was based upon a long and painstaking investigation of the papyrus, and was accom-
panicil b\ a careful anal\sis of the whole and by e.\cellent translations of man\- passages. The
intt!rest arnusctl b) Dr. Lange's paper was considerable, antl the complete edition of the text
which was promised has been expectantly await(;d. It must here be explained why the publica-
tion has been so long delayed, and how it has come about that the book now appears with the
name (jf the present writer, and not that of Dr. Lange, on its title-page.

In the spring of 1905 I made a prolonged stay in Li-iden in order to collate, for the
purposes of the Berlin Dictionary, the numerous and valuable hieratic papyri preserved in the
Museum of .\ntiquiti(!s there, iicing unwilling to let slip sf) good an opportunity of studying the
most interesting text in the entire collection, I applied to Dr. Lange for leave to compare his
transcription of Pap. Leiden 344 with the original, and to utilize the results for the Dictionary;
such additional readings as 1 might obtain would, I thought, also be of service to him in the
preparation of his edition. To this [proposal Dr. Lange willingly consented, and explaining that
his official dudes as Cliief Libr.u-Jan of the Ro\al Library at Copenhagen hatl prevented him
from making tht; desired [progress with his book, further suggested that 1 should j(Mn him as a
collaboratnr. .After some hesitation 1 accepteil this attractive offer, ami subscciuendy devoted
much tiuK- to th(t stud)- of the text. New collations of the papyrus which I undertook in 1906
and 1907 added a number of imiroved or fresh readings. In the summer of 1906 I had the
good fortune to be able to read through the (tnlire text wiili 1 )r. Lange in Copenhagen. Mean-
while I had cnme to the conclusion diat certain modifications were required in tht- interpretation
of the composition as a whole, and many details had become clearer to me. In May 1907
I prepared the autographic plates, and in October of the same year I started upon the writing
nf the Commentary, a preliminary sketch of which I was able to submit to Dr. Lange before
the beginning of December. My three visits to Leiden had afforded me quite exceptional oppor-
tunities of establishing an accurate text, and m\ access to the materials of the Berlin Dictionary
had proved of inestimable value t(j me in the comiiilation of the Commentary. In addition to

yr I Preface.

thesf ;ulvantage.s I had enjoyed almost unlimited leisure. Dr. Lange, on the other hand, had in
tlic meantime been impeded not only by his heavy oflicial duties, but also, 1 regret to say, by
ill-health. In returning mj- manuscript in March 1908, he wrote that he now felt that my share
of the work had become so great as compared with his, that he was unwilling to take to himself
the credit of the joint-authorship. Since Dr. Lange declared his decision to be irrevocable, 1 was
very reluctantly com[)elled to assent to the loss of the fellow-worker who thus so generously
abandoned his prior claims in my favour. One need onh' consult the Commentary to see how
man)- valuable observations are due to him; and his own article stands as a permanent record of
his great m<;rits in connection with the decipherment of the text. Since Dr. Lange will not allow
his name to be placed upon the title-page, 1 gladly welcome the ver)' pleasant alternative of
being able to inscribe it in the dedication of this work.

To Professor Holwerda and Dr. Boeser I am deeply indebted for the liberal facilities of
study afforded to me during m)' visits to the Leiden Museum. I am under still greater obliga-
tions to Professor Sethe, who not only read through the whole of my manuscript and furnished
me with many useful suggestions and criticisms, but also devoted some hours of his valuable time
to discussing with me various points that still remained obscure. Not a few passages of which
I could make nothing have also defied the learning and acumen of Professor Sethe: in such cases
1 have had the consolation of reflecting that I had sought aid where, if anywhere, it was to
be found.

Half of the book was already- in t)'pe when I became acquainted with the London writing-
board no. 5645. The te.Kts upon this board proved to be of such interest in connection with
the Leiden Papyrus that I at once decided, subject to the courteous consent of my publishers,
to print them in an Appendi.x to my work. The indications afforded by this new document have
led me to take up a much more definite position with regard to the date of the composition of
the Leiden Admonitions, and I must beg my readers not to overlook the concluding remarks on
this subject at the end of the Appendix.

The Leiden papjTus is too dark in colour to make a complete photograj^hic reproduction
tlesirable. It is my firm conviction that, in the case of defective and worn- documents such as
this, no mechanical reproduction can render a study of the original superfluous; and 1 considered it
better to induce the student who wishes to check the transcription to have recourse to the actual
document than to offer him an inadequate means of control that would greatk have increased
the price of the work. I have therefore contented myself with giving, as frontispiece, a photo-
graph of the most legible page. The hieratic signs drawn in the footnotes to the autographic
plates do not claim to be more than approximately accurate. The appearance of Dr. Lange's
name beside mj- own on the frontispiece and on the autographic plates is due to circumstances
above explained, and will doubtless meet with the indulgence of my readers.

CONTENTS.

Page

INTRODUCTION i

1. The papyrus, its history, dimensions, palaeography and age ... i

2. Orthograpliy, language and linguistic connection with other texts 2

3. Tlie facsimile anil previous treatments of the text .... 4

4. The contents . 5

5. Conclusions 17

TEXT, TRANSLATION AND COMMENTARY it,

APPENDIX (Brit. Mus. 5045) 95

ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS 113

INDEX OF WORDS DISCUSSED IN THE NOTES . . 114— 116

INTRODUCTION.

1. The papyrus, its history, dimensions, palaeography and age.

The papyrus 344 of Leiden, like all the hieratic manuscripts of the same collection with
the single exception of no. 346, was formerly in the possession of Anastasi, and was purchased
for the Leiden Museum at the sale of his antiquities in 1828. Accordhig to indications furnished
by Anastasi, it was discovered at Memphis, by which Sakkara is doubtless meant. In its
present imperfect condition the papyrus measures 378 centimeters in length; its height is 18 cm.
It is now mounted in book-form, the pages being folded over upon one another so that the
written surfaces touch; however being protected by a layer of vegetable paper as well as by
a coating of varnish, the text is in no danger of injury. At the same time there can be little
doubt that the mode of treatment which now serves to protect the papyrus has, in the past,
damaged it to a very considerable extent. The colour has become very dark, especially near
the edges of the lacunae that are so abundant in the latter part of the recto; here the traces
of the ink can often be discerned only with the utmost difficulty.

Both sides of the papyrus are fully inscribed from beginning to end. The recto, i. e. the
side upon which the horizontal fibres lie uppermost, consists of seventeen complete and incomplete
pages of writing, and contains the literary text with which this volume deals. Each page had
fourteen lines of writing, so far as we are able to judge, with the exception of pages 10 and 11,
which had only thirteen lines apiece. Of the first page only the last third of eleven lines remains.
Pages two to seven are comjjaratively free from lacunae, but in many places the text has been
badly rubbed. A large lacuna occurs to the left of page eight, and from here onwards the
middle part of each page is entirely or for the greater part destroyed. The seventeenth page
was probably the last; at the top are the beginnings of two lines in the small writing typical
of the recto; near the bottom may be seen traces of some lines in a larger hand apparently
identical with that of the the verso.

The verso contains hymns to a solar divinity, of which a transcription and translation have
been published by A. Massy'. Here the writing is bigger and more regular than that of the
recto, and is probably to be attributed, in agreement with Dr. Lange, to the 19 th. or 20th.
dynasties.

The scribe of the recto wrote a somewhat small and crabbed literar)' hand, perhaps con-
sciously archaistic in character. The blackness of the writing and the closeness of the lines give

i) Lc Piifyrui de Lryde I, 344 [rcvers) Iranscril el traJuil par A. Massv. Gaud, Fr. Wacm-Lienders and Paris, Ernest Leroux, 1886.
Gardiner, \

2 Gardiner, The Admonitions of an Egyptian Sage.

a certain ajJiJcarance of neatness to the pages, Ijiit the shapes of the individual signs are ver)-
irregular and often grossly careless. The; only instance of a cursive form that I ha\e observed
is in the writing of ^\^© like 0© in Am (e. g. 14, i. 3) and in wniniw) 8, 5, though simple ligatures
of course abound. In the forms of certain signs (|/l 2, i 1 ; contrast 7, i. 12, 2: the full form of
%\, det. of /i'.V 3, I I ; k=i3 as det. of krs 2, 6) the scribe is visiblj- influenced by the hieroglyphs.
For the vertical determinative of the plural he knows only the form — ; the feather Sw [) he writes
without the adjunct IJV) that usually serves to distinguish it from w//; and | is similarly bereft
of the stroke at tlie sid(; that it has elsewhere in hieratic. The distinction between the deter-
minatives oi fi and itp in i, 2 is apparent!)' unique; and various rare and curious hieratic forms
are found; 1 3, 12; ZC 5, 8; XT=^ 7, 12; I 12, 2; '''=:::^ 9, 2. 4. 12, i; ^^ 2, 10. In spite of these
peculiarities it seems impossible to ascribe the writing to an earlier date than the beginning of
the 19 th. dynasty; the form of (r" in 7, 5. 12, 4. 14, 4 is quite late, as is also the writing of
hw 'to strike' (e. g. 4, 6. 9). There are some indications that the manuscript used b)- the scribe
was an old one, perhaps dating as far back as the beginning of the i S th. dynasty. The unfilled
spaces in 6, I. 8, 7. I 3. 11,13 ^^^ most easily accounted for if we assume that the papyrus from
which tlie scribe copied was torn or illegible in these places, and the frequent omissions of words
are perhaps to be similarly explained. The forms of "W (e. g. 1, i. 2, 2); Q (e. g. 2, 4. 5, 6);
-tl-! 7, 13; ^passim, are archaic, and resemble those found in Hbers, Westcar, and the Berlin
parchment. In a number of cases the scribe has clearly been unable to decijjher his original;
hence the meaningless signs in 2, i. 3, 10. 14. 14, 1. Certain determinatives seem to have occa-
sioned him special difficult)'; thus for Lfl in nirt 6, 11, ■kzt. in hwd 8, 2, and ft in //« 8, i i he

substitutes D ii; in 8, 4 A takes the place of H, of which however we find an approximately
correct form in 5, 4.

The introductor)' formulae which divide paragraph from paragraph are alwa)s written in
red until 10, 13; from there onwards a more sparing use is made of rubrics. Only the first
examples of the oft-repeated phrases shi^u (10, 1 2 foil.) and ku irf Inn {nfr) (13, 9 foil.) are in
red ink. There is no other instance of a rubric in the latter part of the papyrus except the word
ddtn in 15, 13, which marks the beginning of a new speech. Red 'verse-points' are found in
3, 2 — 3, but not elsewhere. Corrections above the line occur in 3, 8, and possibl)' in 8, 5. A
sign in red, which I cannot read, is found before the beginning of 6, 14 and perhaps refers to
a graphical error at the commencement of the same line.

2. Orthography, language and linguistic connection with other texts.

The spelling is, on the whole, that of a literary text of the Middle Kingdom, if this term
be interpreted in a ver)' liberal way; it must be remembered that we have no hieratic literar)'
texts which can with any certainty be attributed to the 1 8 th. dynast)'. For the retention of an
ancient style of orthography the text may be compared with the Miilingen pap)'nis, which like-
wise seems to have been copied from a manuscript of some age. The curious addition of cy^

in 'l^^i^-^^ Pdt i^ 1, Wtnv 3,9, Hisihv 4,8, finds parallels in the Ramesseum text of Sinuhe

'ill
(e. g. 14.62), and the writing of j-g -^ ^ 'some' in 7,3. 13,6 is that of Middle Kingdom papyri

Introduction,

(e.g. Eloquent Peasant /j" 7,47. 48). On the other hand there are some very clear instances of

New Egyptian spellings: ^^_J\\ g) 3. 7-i3- 4,6; IJ.^-^;;^ ^ I 2,6; ^|xl^'^'^- 4,5 = 5. '3;

*e^ 1^6,4; '^D'^n6, 11; and the method of appending the pronominal suffix to

feminine nouns by means of in Swyt-f 7, 13; hryt-f 10, i. The orthography of our text thus

brings us to very much the same results as its palaeography: the date of the writing of the recto
cannot be placed earlier than the 1 9 th. dynasty, but there are indications that the scribe used a
manuscript a few centuries older.

The language of the text is that which we usually consider to be characteristic of the
Middle Kingdom. I have sought in vain for any signs of the influence of late Egyptian idioms.
A few expressions, as for example m biH in 6,13, cannot indeed be paralleled from early texts;
but we have no right therefore to assert that they belonged exclusively to the later language.
Our text shows, both in its vocabulary and otherwise, quite unmistakeable points of contact with
two well-known literarj' texts of the Middle Kingdom, the Gesprdch eines Lebensniuden mit seiner
Seele and the Instructions of Amenetnhet I. The sentence nht hr hib n bw nb in 5, 10 recurs,
with a very slight difference of reading, in Lebensmilde 107. Other verbal resemblances are the
particle ms (cf. L. 142. 143. 145), nb 'h'w e. g. 2, 5 (cf L. 33), hit 'tomb' 2, 7 (cf. L. 52), nhwt 2, 7
(cf. L. 148), ti/iH-ib 12,3 (cf L. 56), knty 'crocodile' 5,8 (cf. Z. 79), ti sp « 5, 13 (cf L. 122), kinr
e- g- 4.3 (= ^^^, ^- 59)' h''^^ ^^ 13, 12 (cf. L. 61). The repetition of a phrase or clause to intro-
duce a series of descriptive sentences is a striking point of similarity in both texts; and the analogous
use of ddtn in 15, 13 and L. 147 is also worthy of notice.

The number of verbal resemblances between the Leiden text and the Instructions of
Amenemhet is smaller, and they are perhaps fortuitous; cf. ts skw 1,3 and Millingen 2,7; nty
zvn 2,2. 3,14 and Mill. 1,7; swi e. g. 2,4 and Mill. 1,6. But in 6,12 — 14 we have an entire
paragraph which reappears, though in a garbled form, in the worse manuscripts of the Instructions.
The Millingen papyrus is unhappily defective at this point, but a sufficient number of signs remains
to show that it contained substantially the same text as our Leiden papyrus, doubtless in a less
corrupt version than Saltier II. This curious fact raises a difficult question. The sense of this
paragraph and the words employed in it' are so perfectly appropriate to our pai)yrus, that the
.supposition that it was derived from elsewhere would savour strongly of paradox. The alternative
seems to be that it is a quotation or interpolation in the Instructions. The obscurity of this
composition is well known, but the general drift, so far as it can be made out, does not harmo-
nize at all with the pessimistic sententiousness of the paragraph in question. It is not very likely
therefore that the passage stood, as a quotation from our text, in the archetype of the Instruc-
tions; but if not, its occurrence both in Millingen and in Saltier II shows at least that it was
very early interpolated. It is unsafe to draw any conclusions hence as to the date either of our
text or of the Instructions.

This section would be incomplete without some reference to the extreme corruption of our
l)apyrus. This will be amply illustrated in the commentary', and a list of errors could be of little
service. It is not unlikely that the scribe of the Leiden manuscript was himself responsible for a

l) The introductory formula iv> tiis is particularly noteworthy. For msw srw 5, 6 may be compared, and the sense of A/ m mrwl
approximately that of dtw hr kinr 4, 3; for the word mruit cf. 6, II.

I»

d Gardiner, 'I'hc Admonitions of an Egyptian Sage.

considerable number of the mistakes. A particularly large class of rorru[)tions is due to the
omission of words.

3. The facsimile and previous treatments of the text

A facsimile copy of Pa/>. Leiden 344 y executed by T. Hooiberg, was published in the
monumental work of Leemans'. Though quite inadequate for the purposes of accurate stud)-,
this copy is nevertheless still serviceable in more ways than one. Not only does it convey an
approximately correct notion of the handwriting, but it also preser\'es traces of a number of signs
now either illegible or completely lost'. A serious error, which was corrected by Pleyte when the
])apyrus was remounted, has been committed in respect of pages 9 and 10 of the recto, a large
fragment of page 9 being treated (pi. 109) as belonging to page 10, and vice versa.

In the introductory text, by Chabas', that accompanied the publication of the facsimile,
a first attempt was made to determine the character of the literarj- text of the recto. Chabas
arrives at the conclusion that the first eight pages contain proverbs or axioms, while the frag-
mentary pages that follow seem to him to be devoted to a text of philosophic import.

The next scholar to turn his attention to the recto was Lauth, who after quoting it in
connection with his unfortunate theory of an Egyptian University at Chennu\ published a com-
plete and very meritorious translation of the first nine pages'. A number of sentences are quite
correctly rendered; but the view taken by Lauth of the work as a whole is that it is a collec-
tion of proverbs or sayings used for didactic purposes.

Many sentences are quoted from the recto by Heinrich Brugsch in the Supplement to
his Hieroglyphic Dictionar)-. His writings will be searched in vain for some indication of his con-
ception of the text as a whole, but we have it on the authorit)' of Professor Erman that he once
expressed a verbal opinion that the papyrus contained a collection of riddles.

Professor Maspero tells us^ that the papyrus formed the subject of lectures that were given
by him at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes.

No other attempt to elucidate the text has to be recorded until the year 1903, when
Dr. H. O. Lange, in a paper entided Prophezeiungen eines dgyptischen Weisen' ^ gave a short
account of the results to which long study of the recto had brought him. The great merit of
this article, apart from the excellent transcriptions and translations that it contains, is that the con-
tinuity of the text, which had thitherto been regarded as consisting of isolated and mutually in-
dependent sayings, proverbs, riddles and the like, is there for the first time clearly enounced, and
its place among other literar}' products of the Egyptians is properly defined. Dr. Lange has
rightly perceived that the composition belongs to that category of poetical and semi-philosophical

1) Atgyptische Monwnenten van het Nedertandsche Museum van Oudheden te Leyden He Afd., 105 — 125. PLntes t05 — 113 give
the facsimile of the recto, plates 114 — 125 that of the verso.

2) Having he.ird from my friend M. Skymocr DE Ricci that some photographs of the Leiden papyri were among the papers of
the late Professor ElsENLOilR, I inquired of Professor Wiedemann, in whose possession these papers now .ire, whether a photograph of
Pap. no. 344 was among them. In his courteous reply to my question, Prof, Wiedemann informed me that this was not the case. I have
not been able to hear of any other early photographs or copies.

3) Reprinted in French m the Biiliethefue Egyplologique, tome to, pp. 133 foil. Also to be had separately: Fr. Chadas, Notices
sommaires des papyrus hUratiques egyptiens I 343 — 371 du Musie d^antiquith des Pays-Bas 1) Leyde, Paris, Ernest Leroux, 1901.

4) Ueber die altiigyptische Hoehscbule von Chennu, in SitzungsbericfiU der Bayerischen Aladeinie^ 1872, pp. 29 — S8.

5) AllHgypHsche Lehrspruche, ibid. 1872, pp. 347 — 404.

6) Cauteries d'Egyple, p. 265.

7) Siliungsieiic/ite der koniglichen Preussiselien Akademie der Wissenscliaflen, 1903, pp. 601 — 6fO.

latroduction.

books of which the Eloquent Peasant and the Gesfirdch eines Lebetismuden are the best-known
examples. The characteristic feature of this group of Middle Kingdom texts is that, while the
setting is that of a tale, the claim that they made to the admiration of their readers lay wholly in
the eloquence and wisdom of the discourses contained in them. In the case of the Leiden papjrus
the introductory narrative is lost, but as Dr. Lange has seen, it must have explained the circum-
stances under which the chief personage named, one Ipw or Jp2u-7vr, came forward to hold a long
and impassioned harangue in the presence of the king and his people. These speeches, in the
opinion of Dr. Lange, are prophetic in character; an era of disasters is predicted for Egypt,
and is even now, as one passage declares, at hand; and it is the king himself who is responsible
for the calamities the bitterness of which he is soon to taste in full measure. Dr. Lange laj'S
great stress on one passage, the colouring of which, according to him, is quite Messianic; here
the advent of a saviour is prophesied, a wise and mild ruler who will restore order among his
people and inaugurate an age of happiness and prosperity. In conclusion, it is suggested that
the book ma)' have had an historical background, and that the writer had possibly in his mind
some such political situation as that of the troublous times which preceded the rise of the
twelfth dynasty.

The interest awakened by the view of the text thus ably propounded by Dr. Lange has
been reflected in the writings of various eminent scholars. Besides a review bj- Maspero recently
reprinted', Eduard Meyer has discussed the Leiden papyrus in its bearing upon Hebrew pro-
phecy*, and Reitzenstein^ and Wilcken* have dealt with it in connection with certain fragmentary
prophetic texts from Eg^'pt written in Greek.

4. The contents.

It has already been seen that our papyrus has suffered grievously at the hands of Time.
The beginning is lost; a first inspection of the fragmentar)' pages at the end would seem to
indicate that the conclusion also is missing, but we shall later show cause for rejecting this view.
The contents of the last eight pages have been reduced by lacunae to about one half of their original
bulk. In addition to these external deficiencies, the possibility or probability of textual corruptions has
to be weighed in almost every line. It is hardly strange, under these circumstances, that the inter-
pretation of the whole should give rise to many difficult and often insoluble problems. A consecutive
translation of the text, given without comments, would not only be incomprehensible, but also could
hardly be made without the tacit assumjjtion of some definite conception of the entire composition.
We must therefore be content with an analysis illustrated by quotations. In the course of the discussion
an attempt will be made to show the relation of the different parts to one another; many ob-
scure and defective passages will be ignored altogether or dismissed in a few words.

The Egyptian author divided and sub-divided his book, or rather the greater part of what
is left of it, by means of a small number of stereotyped introductor)- formulae, which consist of
a few words or a short clause usually written in red and repeated at short intenals. New

1) Cauteries (TEgypte, pp. 265 — 271.

2) Die Israelilen iind Hire Nachbarstdmme, pp. 451 — 455.

3) Ein Stud lielleniilitclier Kleinlilleratur, in Nachrichten der kgl. Gesellsch. der Wiss. t» Gottingeii, phil.-hist. KI., 1904, Heft 4
PP- 309—322.

4) Zur Sgyplischen Prophetie, Hermes 40, (1905), pp. 544 — 560.

g Gardiner, The AdmonitioDS of an Egy|ilian Sage.

reflexions or descriptive sentences are appended to these formulae, which thus form as it were the
skeleton or the framework of the whole. There is a change of introductory formula only when
the writer tires of the constant reiteration of the same words; or when the theme of his discourse
demands a different style of preface. This monotonous mode of composition is also found in
parts of the Lebensmiide , in the hymn to Sesostris III from Kahun and in the so-called poetical
stele of Thutmosis III'.

From 1,9 to 6, 14 we find each section or paragraph introduced by the words U'silil'SQ)
and it is probable that the same formula would have been found in the lines 1,1 — 1,8, if we

had them complete. In 7, i ^^ or ^ ^[in is substituted for iw vis, and is used in a

similar way until 9,8. In 9,8 and the following lines the introductorj- word is*^^^. In 10,3 — 10,6
a single section beginning with the rubric <=> ^^ 0 1| ^^= occurs, and seems to conclude the

purely descriptive portion of the book. The subject of this (i, i — 1016) is the downfall of Eg)pt,
depicted in great detail; the writer tells of civil war and foreign invasion, and of the social upheaval
attendant thereupon; the poor are in the place of the rich, want and misery prevail, handi-
crafts are abandoned and no imports come from abroad. Then follow two series of exhortations;

the first, from ,0,6 to 10, :. has as its burden I'^.^.^X^ I H ?®(.i)^P2=^ *^
second, beginning in 10,12, is characterized by the repeated word Pl^v^' followed by infini-
tives, — injunctions to 'remember' various ceremonial acts and religious observances. A long
section without prefatory- formulae starts somewhere between 11,8 and 11,12, ending only in 13,9.
The first part contains the 'Messianic' passage to which Dr. Lange called special attention. This
leads into a passionate denunciation of someone who is directly addressed and who can only be
the king; after which the text reverts to the description of bloodshed and anarchy. Less gloomy
thoughts form the theme of the sentences introduced by (] ^^'''^^^^'^ ^ J^ , from 13,9 to
the middle of page 14; here the joyous incidents of happier days are recalled, in deep contrast to
the sinister utterances that precede. After a long lacuna we next find ourselves in the midst of
a passage referring to warfare and to relations with foreign peoples: an obscure passage that
becomes totally unintelligible after 15,2. In 15, 13 begins a new speech, announced by the words
'^ ^ Qd^^' t^V§^<2f=^^ i^d^'^'^Pl^ ^^^ ^ c^- The sixteenth page is very fragmentary,

and the last traces of the text occur in 17,2.

The sentence in 15,13 just quoted acquaints us with two of the dramatis personae of the
book. One is a man named Ipuwer'; the other is the king. A speech of the king must have
preceded, as Ipuwer is here represented as replying to him. Since however there is good evi-
dence' that the person addressed in 12,12 foil, is the king, it is jilain that the beginning of the
king's speech will have to be placed in the lacunae of the fourteenth or in those of the fifteenth
page. Now a thread of continuity can be traced from the very beginning of the papyrus down

1) The last-named texts are poetical, and the repeated words may be there fitly termed a refrain. No doubt also in our text
the repetitions seemed to the Egyptian ear to heighten the style, and to give it a certain gr.indeur and solemnity. But in reality they were
merely a clumsy device for facilitating the work ol the writer. He seems to have imagined that these peg5 on which he hung his reflexions
dispensed him from any more refined and logical arrangement of his theme.

2) The reading of the n.ime is not certain, .and still less so, of course, its pronunciation. To avoid the constant use of notes of
interrogation, 1 shall henceforth employ the form Ipuwer.

3) See later, and also the note on the pxssage 12, II — 13,9

IntroductioD.

to the middle of page 14, so that this must be regarded as a single discourse. No other
person besides Ipuwer and the king being anywhere alluded to by name, there can be little doubt
that Ipuwer is here the speaker throughout. It must however be noted that other hearers were
present besides the king, for Ipuwer occasionally employs the second person plural'. We shall
hardly err in supposing them to have been the courtiers assembled around the king.

The analogy of the Eloquent Peasant, of the Instructions of Ptahhotp and of the Lebens-
miidc confirms what indeed is apparent from the text itself, namely that a short narrative must
have introduced and preceded the length)- harangue of Ipuwer. This narrative, had it been pre-
served, would have told us all that we need" to know about the personality of Ipuwer, and about
the circumstances that led to his appearance at the court of Pharaoh. One possibility is that he
had suffered, like the peasant in the Berlin tale, some personal wrong, which made him appear in
his own eyes as the typical victim of a maladministration that had plunged the entire land in
ruin and miser\ . But this theory is not favoured by the general tenor of his words, which seem
to be rather those of a preacher or of a sage. It is more plausible to suppose that he had
been sent for by the king, who wished to consult him for some particular purpose, or that his
coming was voluntar}-, perhaps prompted by some mysterious heaven-sent impulse, like that which
drove Sinuhe out upon his wanderings in distant lands. At all events it is clear that Ipuwer was
no dispassionate onlooker at the evils which he records. He identifies himself with his hearers in
the question what shall we do concerning it? evoked by the spectacle of the decay of commercial
enterprise (3, 7. 13); and the occupation of the Delta by foreigners (4, 7), and the murderous
hatred of near relatives for one another (5, 10), wring from him similar ejaculations. Occasionally
lie speaks in his own name, using the first person*; so in the lament Woe is me for the misery of
these times! (6, 8), and perhaps in the wish of 6, 5 Would that I had raised my voice at that time,
that it might save me from the pain in which I am! And after regarding the land shorn, like a
mown field, of all its former magnificence, he cries (5, 14 — 6, i); Would that there might be an end
of men, no conception, no birth! O that the earth would cease from noise, and tiimult be no more!

Do the descriptions of i, i — 10, 6 refer to the future or to the present.? In other words,
was Ipuwer a prophet, one whom a special visionary gift enabled to forecast, even in the minutest
detail, a coming era of disaster and misfortune.'' Or was he a mere spectator, whose eye dwelt
compassionately on the misery of his country', as he beheld it overwhelmed by calamities un-
mistakeably real and present? Dr. Lange, as we have seen, held strongly to the hypothesis of
pnjphecy. For my own part, I am convinced that the other view is the correct one. It would
be wrong to insist overmuch on the personal note sounded in the speech of Ipuwer, and upon
the occurrence of the word 'today' (3, 6. 5, 2) and of the correlated 'yesterday' (2, 2. 4, 5); for pro-
phets in all ages are apt to represent their predictions as realized, and when they describe the
day of retribution their imagination paints it as not merely imminent, but as actually there. On
the other hand it is justifiable to urge against Lange's view the extreme wealth of detail in these
ten pages of description; even in a post cventum prophecy of the clumsiest kind there is a limit
to the minuteness with which future things may be foretold, and that limit is cleariy overstepped
by our author. Again the particle ms, which is so frequent in the first sbc pages, implies, if I

i) Thus in I, 7 and 5, 7 foil., unless Ipuwer is here putting words into the mouth of some fictitious person. Further in the formula
mitn 7, I foil., and iu the imperatives htlw 10, 6 foil., and shiw 10, 12 foil., the subject of which is referred to by the suffii -In in 11, 6—7.
2) Uncertain instances are also 4, 10. 5, 11.

Q Gardiner, The Admonitions of au Egyptian Sage.

have rightly diagnosed its meaning', a certain nuance of surprise or reproach that the state-
ments which it prefaces have not obtained a greater degree of recognition; this means that
Ipuwer narrates nothing that is not already familiar to his hearers. Moreover it seems to be
hinted that the jjresent miseries were presaged long ago; they were foretold by the ancestors
(i, lo), and decreed in the time of Horns (1,7). Cumulatively these arguments have some force,
but we must look beyond the descriptions themselves for the best evidence. In i o, 6 foil., Ipuwer
charges his hearers to destroy the enemies of the Residence^ hardly, one would think, foes whose
acts of hostility lie in the still di.stant future. Nor are the exhortations to piety in 10,12 foil,
really intelligible, unless they are to be regarded as the remedy for ills already existent. The deci-
sive passage however is 12, 11 foil., where the king is denounced as the true cause of the
ruinous condition of the land: // is confusion that thou bringest throughout the land together with
the noise of tiimult. Behold one 7nan uses violence against the other. People transgress that
'a'hich thou hast commanded. If three men walk upon the road, they are found to be two; tlu
greater number slays the less (12,12 — 14). Note especially the final sentence addressed by the

sage to the king: Would that thou mightest taste some of these miseries., then wouldst thoti say

(13,5 — 6). Dr. Lange himself admits that present, not future, calamities must here be meant'.
But if here, why not also earlier? Lastly, the brief characterisation of a happier age in 13,9 foil,
can, so far as I am able to see, only be understood as an ideal picture which the speaker intro-
duces in order to contrast with it the stern realities of the present.

The artificial mode of composition employed by the author led him to spend but little
pains upon the internal arrangement of the long descriptive passage 1,1 — 10,6. The introductory
rubrics are here more than once changed, but the changes do not seem to be accompanied by
any real progression in the thought^ The entire context from 1,1 to 10,6 constitutes a single
picture of a [jarticular moment in Egj'ptian histor)', as it was seen b\' the pessimistic eyes of Ipuwer.
The details of this picture follow one another in haphazard fashion, in which little or no design
is apparent*. Here and there, as is inevitable, adjacent sections touch upon similar or identical
topics. More often the occurrence of a word in one section seems to have suggested to the
author the subject and the phraseology of the next'. But still more often there is no link, either
logical or philological, to connect a paragraph with its neighbours". If therefore we wish to learn
the nature of the disasters described bj- Ipuwer, we must group his utterances in more syste-
matic order.

i) See the note on 1,9.

2) ,,E^ scheint, d.ass ^Ipw hier den Konig aoredet und zcigen will, dass die VerwimiDg im Lande schon da ist, und das durch
Schuld dcs Konigs".

•5) The words that follow the first occurrence of mitn in 7, 1 might seem to cast a doubt upon this statement; The fire has mounted
up on high, its burning goelh forth against the enemies of the land. If however we carefully scrutinize the paragraphs succeeding this sentence
we sh.ill perceive that the details there described arc of the same kind as those depicted in the first six pages; they are not a whit more
terrible than those, and clearly belong to the same extensive picture. How then is the section above quoted to be explained? I fancy
that it is a fictitious device of the author to justify his abandonment of the introductory formula 1:1' ms, of which he h.is at Ixst grown tired.
The modern reader will certainly not feel that any apology for this course was needful, but the writer seems lo have done so. He there-
fore pretends that he is going to describe calamities still more horrible, and having thus salved his conscience, proceeds in much the same
way as thitherto.

4) There are several repetitions of whole sections, which .amply justify this depreciatory criticism: 4,3 — 4 = 5,6; 4,4 = 6,14;

4. 4—5 = S." — '3-

5) Cf. hmwt{^^ 'female sLives' and dns in 4, 13 — 14; both words occur in the foregoing paragraph. Note too shi 'divulge' in
three consecutive sections 6,3 — 6; hwnv in 6, 10 and 6,11; 3pswt 8,8 and spst 8,9; stnyji 'butchers' thrice within a very short distance of
each other 8,10. 12; 9,1. There would be no difficulty in finding more instances.

6) The second page affords a good illustration of this.

Introduction. q

The Egyptians are engaged in warfare, and the whole country is up in arms. The face
is palei^) The bowman is ready. The wrongdoer is everywhere. Tlierc is no man of yesterday

(2, 2) full of confederates. A tnan goes out to plough with his shield (2, i).

The door\- keepers] say: let us go and plunder. The confectioners The bird\-catchers\

draiv up in line of battle [ The inhabitants!'] of tlie Marshlands carry shields. The

brezvers A man looks upon his son as his enemy (1,1 — 5). A man smites his brother

[the son) of his mother. What is to be done} (5, 10). A man is slain by the side of his brother.

He to save his {own) limbs (9, 3). [He who has] a noble lady as wife, /ler father

protects him. He who has not {they) slay him (8, 8 — 9). [Men's hearts] are violent.

The plague is throughout the land. Blood is ei'erywhere. Death is not lackingij) The mummy-
clothi^) speaks, before ever one draws near to itQ) (2, 5 — 6). The river is blood. Men drink
of it, and shrink from {the taste of.^) people. Men thirst after water (2, 10).

Several of these sentences indicate that the Egy'ptians are not merely fighting against
foreigners, but against their own countrj'men too. Mention is twice made of the "enemies of the
land": The fire has mounted up ofi high, its burning goeth. forth against the enemies of the land
{7, i); No craftsmen work, the enemies of the land have spoiltQ) its craftsQ) (9,6). By this
expression rebels are perhaps meant; so too we read; Men have ventured to rebel against the

Uraetis, the of Re, which pacifies the two lands (7, 3 — 4). Something of this kind must also

be intended by the mysterious allusion in A few lawless m.en have ventured to despoil the land of
the kingship (7,2 — 3). With traitors within, Egypt has also to face the aggression of foreign
invaders from the North: The Desert is throughout the Land. The nomes are laid waste.
A foreign tribe from abroad has come to Egypt (3,1). The Delta is overrun by Asiatics: The
Marshland iii its entirety is not hidden. The North land can boast of trodden ways. What shall

one do} Behold it is in the hands of{}) those who knew it not like those who knew it. The

Asiatics are skilled in the arts of the Marshlands (4, 5 — 8). So deep a root have these barba-
rians taken in the land, that they are no longer distinguishable from true Egyptians': The tribes
of the desert{}) have become Egyptians{)) everywhere (1,9). There arc no Egyptians anywhere
(3, 2). Tents{}) are what they {the Egyptians) have made like the desert tribes {\o, i — 2). It is
tempting to conclude from one injured passage (3,10 — 11) that the Egyptian kingdom recog-
nized by the writer was at this time restricted to the country between Elephantine and Thinis:
Elephantine and ThinisQ) [are the dominion of] Upper Egypt, {yet) without paying taxes owing
to civil strife. Nor is this limited area immune from the disasters that liave befallen Lower
Egypt: The ship of the [Southerners] lias gone odriftQ) The towns are destroyed. Upper Egypt
has become dry [wastesT] (2, 11).

In consequence of civil war- and the prevailing anarchy men are openly robbed. Tlie

zuays are The roads are guarded. Men sit over the bushes until the benighted {traveller)

comes, in order to plunder his load. What is upon him is taken away. He is belaboured with
blows of the stick, and slain xvrongfully (5, 1 1 -12). The plunderer [is] everywhere (2,2). Tlu
land turns round as does a potter's wheel. The robber is a possessor of riches. ( Tlie rich man)
\is become}] a plunderer (2,8—9). Property is destroyed: Gates, columns and walls are con-
sumed by fire (2, 1 1). Boxes of ebony arc broken Jip. Precious acacia-wood is cleft asunder (3,5).

l) The <:enteDces here quoted arc however all somewhat dubionc.
a) fityt 'civil war' 3, 1 1. 7, 6. 13, 2.

Gardiner, _

2

IQ Gardiner, The Admonitions of an Egyptian Sage,

The valuables thus wantonly wasted are not replaced by foreign imports: No longer do men sail
uorlhivards to \Byblos\. What shall we do for cedars for our mummies, with the produce of
jvhich priests are buried, and with the oil of which [chiefs] are embalmed as far as Keftiu.

They come no more. Gold is lacking, the of all handicrafts is at an end{>) (3,6 — 8). The

Egyptians should consider themselves lucky if they still receive the paltry tribute of the Libyan
Oases: IVhat a great thing it is that the people of the Oases come zvith their festival spices {})

2vith fresh rcdtnet-plants .' (3, 9 — 10). The products of Egypt itself are lacking.

Lacking are grain (?) , charcoal The products of craftsmen the

palace. To what purpose is a treastire-house without its revenues} Glad indeed is the heart of
the king, when Truth comes to hint! (3, 11 — 12). Neediness and want are everj'where conspi-
cuous. Princes are hungry and in distress (5, 2). Noble ladies go hungry; the butcliers are
sated with what was prepared for them (9, i — 2). \Men eat] lurbs, attd wash {them) down with

water. No fruit Q) nor herbs are fouttd {for) the birds is taken away from the mouth

of the swine (6,1 — 2). Corn has perished on every side. {People) arc stripped of clothes, spices {?)
and oil. Everybody says: there is none. The storehouse is ruined. Its keeper is stretclud on
the ground (6, 3 — 4) noble ladies. Their limbs are in sad plight by reason of [their) rags.

Their hearts sink{}) in greeting [one another}] (3, 4). Men are like gm-birds. Squalor {J) is
throughout the land. There is none whose clothes are white in these times (2, 8).

Arts and crafts are at a standstill : everyone nowadays is a warrior ( i , 1 — 4). No crafts-
men work. The enemies of the land have spoilt (^) its crafts {}) (9, 6). Nile oversows, {yet) no
one ploughs for him. Every man says: we know not what has happened throughout the land
(2, 3). Indeed men are scarce; many die and few are born. Men are few ; He who places his
brother in the ground is everywhere (2, 13 — 14); Women are lacking, and no {children) are
conceived. Khnutn fashions {tnankind) no fnore because of the condition of the land (2,4). Hence
cattle are left to stray, and t/tere is none to gather them togetfier. Each man fetches for himself
those that are branded with his name (9, 2 — 3).

The political organization of the land is in the utmost confusion. No offices are in their
{proper) place, like a roaming herd zvithout a herdsman (9, 2). The lazes of the judgement-hall are
cast forth. Men walk upon {them) in tlie public places. Poor men break them up (.') in t/te streets
(6, 9 — 11). The great Judgement-hall is thronged by people entering and going forth. Poor men
come and go in the Great Houses (6, 12). Tlie splendidQ) judgement- hall, its turitings are taken

azvay. Laid bare is the secret place (6, 5— 6). Ofjices are opened, and {their) census-lists

are taken away. Serfs become lords of serfs i^) (6,7 — 8). [Officials] are slain and their writings
arc taken away. Woe is me because of the misery in this time\ (6, 8). The scribes of the tmi{m),
tlieir writings are destroyed. The corn (.?) of Egypt is common property (6, 9). The poor man
has come to the estate (?) of the divine Ennead. That {former) systetn of t/ie houses of the Thirty

is divulged (6, 1 1). T/ie judges of tlu land are driven out throughout the land. { Tlic )

are driven out from the houses of kings (7, 9 — 10). The strong men of the la7id, tlu condition
of the people is not reported {to them}). All is ruin (9, 5—6). {He who gathered z«.'] tlu

corn {now) knozos nothing thereof He who never ploughed [for himself] [ Tlu

reaping}] takes place, but is not reported. The scribe [sits in his office Q), but] his hands arc
[idle}] within it (9, 7 — 8).

The social order is reversed, so that slaves now usurp the places of their former masters.

Intxoducliou. ] |

The general condition of the country is compared, in a passage quoted above, to the turning of a
potter's wheel (2, 8). He who possessed no property is {nou>) a man of wealth. The prince praises him
(8, I — 2). Tlie poor of the land have become rich, and {the possessor) of property has become one who

has nothing (8, 2) have become masters of butlers. He who was a messenger {now) sends another

(8, 2 — 3). He who had no dependents Q) is {now) a lord of serfs. He who was a {notable) does commis-
sion{s) himself (9, 5). Abolished is the performance of that for which they are sent by servants in the
missions of their lords, without their being afraid (10, 2). All female slaves are free with their
tongues. When their mistress speaks, it is irksome to the servants (4, 1 3 — 1 4). Gold and lapis lazuli,

silver and malachite, camclian and bronze, stone of Yeb/iet and are fastened on (he necks of

female slaves. Good things are in the land. { Yet) the mistresses of hoitses say : would that we hcui
satnething to eat (3, 2 — 3). The possessor of wealth {now) passes the night thirsting. He who
begged for himself his dregs is {now) the possessor of bowls full to overflowing {}) (7, 10 — 11).
Poor men are become owners of good things. He who could make for himself no sandals is
{now) the possessor of riches (2, 4 — 5). This has happened {to}) men: he who could not build
himself a cell is {now) possessor of walls (7, 9). He who could make, for himself no sarcopha-
gus is {now) possessor of a tomb (7,8; cf. too the next section). He who never built for himself
a boat is {now) possessor of ships Q) He who possessed the same looks at them, but they are not
his (7, I 2). He who had no yoke of oxen is {now) possessor of a herd. He who could find for
himself no oxen to plojtgh with is {now) possessor of cattle (9, 3 — 4). He who had no grain is
{now) the possessor of granaries. He who had to fetch for himself tibt-corn {now) sends it forth
(9, 4 — 5). The possessors of robes are {now) in rags. He who never wove for himself is {now)
the possessor of fine linen (7, 11 — 12). He who had no loaf is {now) owner of a bar 71. His
magazine is fitted out with the possessions of ajiother (8, 3 — 4). He whose hair had fallen out
and who was without oil is become a possessor of Jars of sweet myrrh (8, 4). She who had no
box is possessor of a coffer. She who looked at her face in t/ie water is possessor of a mirror
(8, 5). Those who possessed vessel-stands of bronze — not one jug is adorned for one of tliem (?)
(7, 14). He who was ignorant of the lyre {now) possesses a harp. He who never sang for
himself now vaunts the goddess Mcrt (7, 13 — 14). He who slept without a wifei^) through want
finds precio7is things (7, 14 — 8, i). Noble ladies, great ladies, mistresses of goodly things give
their children {in exchange) for bedsQ) (8, 8). T/ie children of princes are dashed against the
lualls. Tlie offspring of desire are laid out on the high ground. Khnum groans becatise of his

weariness (5, 6 — 7). Noble ladies arc upon Princes are in the storehouse. He who never

slept upon walls {}) is {flow) the possessor of a bed (7, 10). Hair has fallen out for everyone.
The son of a man of rank is no {longer) distinguished from him 'who has no such father ij) (4, i).
The children of princes are cast out{:) in the streets. He who knows says it is so. He who is
ignorant says no. He who does not know it, it is good in his eyes (6, 13 — 14). The wealthy
are in motirning. The poor man is full of joy. Every town says : let us suppress tlie powerful
among us (2, 7 — 8).

It is an age of wickedness and impiety. The hotheaded man (?) says : If I knew where God
is, tlien would I 7nake offerings unto him (5, 3). [Right}] is throughout the land in this its name.
What men do, in appealing to it, is Wrong (5,3 — 4). Magical spells are divulged. Sm-incantatiotts{J)
and shm-incantations (}) are frustrated because they are remembered by men (6, 6 — 7). [A man who
2vas ignorant of] his god {now) offers to him with the incense of another (8, 7). Butchers transgress (?)

2*

, . Gardiner, The Admonitions of an Egyptian Sage.

■with the cadle of the poor (8, lo). Butchers transgress {^) with geese. They are given {to) the gods
instead of oxen (8, 12). He who ne2>er slatightered for himself now slaughters bulls (8, 11)*.

A few sentences phrased in more general terms give expression to the prevailing wretchedness
and misery. That has perished which yesterday was seen (?) The land is left over to its weariness (?)
like the cutting of flax (5, 12 — 13). Noise is not lacking ij) in years of noise. TItere is no end
of noise (4, 2). Mirth has perished^ and is [no longer] made. It is groaning that fills the land,
mingled with lamentations (3, 13 — 14). All animals^ their hearts weep. Cattle moan because of
the state of the land (5, 5). The virtuous man walks in mourning because of what has happened
in the /and {i,S). Great and small (say): I wi-ih I tnight die. Little children say: he ought nei'er
to have caused {me) to live{}) (4, 2 — 3). In an obscure paragraph it seems to be said that men
voluntarily throw themselves into the river, in order to be devoured by the crocodiles (2, 12 — 13).
The fate of the dead is not much better than that of the living. The ozuners of tombs are
driven 07tt on the high ground. He who who could make for himself no coffin is {now) (possessor) of
a treasury (7, 8). Those who were in the place of embahmzent are laid on the high ground
(4, 4). Many dead men arc buried in the river. The stream is a sepulchre, and the place of
embalmment has become stream (2, 6 — 7).

The allusions to the king and to the palace in the earlier part of the book are for the
most part vague and inconclusive. The position of the reigning monarch is nowhere clearh'
defined. There are a few references to the robbery of royal tombs, and to the violation of
their secrecy. The serpent-goddess is taken front her hole. The secrets of the kings of Upper

and Lower Egypt are divulged (7, 5 — 6). He who was buried as a hawk is What the

pyramid concealed is become etnpty (7, 2). It is not improbable that tomb-robber)' is also implied
by the sentence Things are done, that have never happened for long time past ; the king has
been taken azvayQ) by poor men (7, i — 2). There seems to be a contradiction between the state-
ments The palcue is firm and flourishing (2, 11) and The Residence is overturned in a minute
(7, 4). We need not however attach much importance to this inconsistency; what is probably
meant is that while the palace is endangered, still the king is more happily situated than most
of his subjects. Sentences have already been quoted (3, 9. 12) where the poverty of the king
is alluded to; and it is mentioned again in 7, 6 — 7; Tlu Residence is afraid through want. This
is the key-note of the final sentence that leads up to the admonitions of 10, 6 foil.; The North-
land weeps. The storehouse of the king is the common property of everyone, and the entire palace
is without its revenues. To if belongs {by right) wheat and barley, geese and fish. To it belongs

white cloth atui fine linen, bronze and oil. To it belongs carpet and mat, palanquin and

all goodly- produce U '^ ^'^^ ''''' ^^'^'^ ^" ^^^^ palace, would

not be empty (10, 3 — 6).

With these words Ipuwer ends his description of the desolation and anarchy to which
Egypt has fallen a prey. Taking it as his text, he now turns to his audience and admonishes
them to rid themselves of these evils by energetic measures and by virtuous conduct. His last
utterance has contrasted the palace as it is, impoverished and robbed by ever)one, with the
palace as it was in former and better times, rich in wheat and barlc>-, and in all the produce of
the land. His first command is to rid Hgjpt of the enemies whose machinations have brought

l) These three sentences probably all refer to oflerings.

iDtroduction. I 4

tlie Residence to such a pass : Destroy the eiicvties of ilie noble Residence, splendid in courtiers ,

wherein formerly the overseer of the town walked abroad, without an escort Q) (lo, 6 — 7). Again
and again Ipuwer reiterates this charge, each time recalling another trait of the past splendour
of the Residence. The epithets that he applied to it are now lost in lacunae, with the exception
of two, from which we learn that its laws were manifold (10, 8), and its offices numerous (10, i i).

But it will not suffice to drive the enemies from the land, the angrj' gods must be appeased.
Remember \to bring) fat ro-geese, torpu and set-geese ; and to offer offerings to the gods. Remember
to chew natron, and to prepare white bread. [So should) a man {do}) on the day of moistening
the head. Remember to erect flagstaff s, and to carve stelae ; the priest purifying the temples, and
the god's house being plastered [white) like milk. [Remember) to make fragrant the perfume of
the horizon, and to renovate the offering-loaves. Remember to observe regulations., and to adjust
dates. [Remember) to remoi'e him who enters upo7i the priestly office in impurity of body (?) That

is to perform it wrongfully. That is corruptiott of heart Q) Remember to slaughter oxen

to offer geese upon the fire ( i o, i 2 — 11,7)-

These injunctions grow less and less intelllg-jble as the lacunae of the eleventh page in-
crease in size. We cannot tell where they ended ; perhaps the infinitive rdlt in i i , i o is dependent
upon a last example of the imperative 'remember'. At last an obscure passage emerges out of
the fragments of lines. The following translation, full of uncertainties as it is, will give some idea

of the drift lack of people Re; command [J) the

West, to diminish[^) by t/ie \gods}]. Behold ye, wherefore does he [seek}] to form

without {J) distingjiishing the timid man from him whose nature is violent. He bringeth[J)

coolness to that zuhich is hot. It is said: he is the herdsman of mankind. No evil is in his heart.
When his herds are few, he passes the day to gather them together, their hearts being on fire{})
Would that he had perceived their nature (.?) in the first generation [of men) ; then he would have

suppressed evil, he would have stretched forth his arm against it, he would have destroyed their

and their inheritance. Men desired to give birth. Sadness grew up (?) ; needy (?) people on every
side. Thus it jvas (? ?) and it passes not away (?) as long as (?) the gods in the midst thereof endure.
Seed shall come forth from(}) the women of the people ; nofieQ) is found on tfie way[}). A fighter (J)
goes forth, that (he}) may destroy the wrongs thatQ) they have brought about. There is no pilot Q)
in their moment. Where is he{}) today} Is he sleeping} Behold, his might is not seen (i i, 1 1 — i 2, 6).

Dr. Lange saw in this passage the prophecy of a wise and beneficent ruler, whose advent
should restore Egypt to its old prosperity and power; and he made the observation that both
the form in which it is put and the choice of words recall those higher flights of Hebrew pro-
phecy that speak of a coming Messiah. The suggestion implicated in this view is momentous
enough to demand a very careful consideration. Dr. Lange states his case with great caution,
and freely admits, that if the passage stood alone, it might easily be susceptible of another inter-
pretation. When at last he decides in favour of his 'Messianic' hypothesis, he is confessedly
influenced b\- his view of the early descriptive passages'. These he understands as referring to
the future and hence as prophetic in character. Our rejection of that view does not however neces-
sarily invalidate Dr. Lange's conception of the passage now under discussion : it is very well possible

ij „Ich habc mich wiederholt gefragt, ob eine .andere Auffissuny dieses Abschnitts mbglich wire. Es konnten natUrlich auch
gaiiz allgemeine lietrachtungen uber 'deo guten' Kbnig scin. Aber bei Erwagung der ganzen Situation ist es doch wahrscheiolich, dass ^Jp-ji,
ausgehend von der Schilderuog der kommenden sozialcn und politischen Zcrruttung des Landes, auf die Abhilfe durch eineo von deo Gottern
geschickten Konig liinweist" Op. cil. p. 7.

■4

(iardincT, The Admonitions of an l-'^yptian Sa(;c.

that Ipiiwer, thoiijjh hitherto merely a narrator and preacher, should here have given utterance,
as if by a sudden insjiiration, to a prophecy concerning a coming saviour. Certain sentences and
l)hrases seem at first sight to favour this supposition: He bringeth{:) coolness to /hat which is hoi.
It is said: he is the herdsman of mankind. No evil is in his heart. When his herds are few, he
passes the day gather them together. So too tlu; references to the suppression of evils., and the
destruction of wrongs; and the final rhetorical ([uestions in 12, 5 — 6. I cannot but think that
Dr. Lange has overestimated the significance of the metaphor of the herdsman, which was no
uncommon image among the Egyptians for the good ruler. Still the theory put forward by him
has considerable plausibility. The question is, whether the passage cannot be interpreted in a
wliolly different manner, and in one which explains, to some extent at least, the obscure sentences
in 12, 2- — 6. Now a good case can, I think, be made out for the hypothesis that it is the sungod
Re to whom the entire passage refers. It should be remembered that Re was fabled to have
been the first of the Pharaonic rulers of Eg)j)t, and that he stood at all periods in the most
intimate relation to its kings, who were called 'sons of Re' and were thought to possess and to
exercise solar prerogatives. The name of Re occurs in the fragments of 11, 11, and though
the lacunae that follow make the sense of the context impossible to divine, yet the allusion to
the West in 11, 12 suggests that the dealings of that deity with men may there have been the
dominant thought. The question immediately preceding the description of the perfect ruler
(ii, 13 — 12, i) [jerhaps refers to the god as creator (11, 12 — 13); wherefore, it is asked, does
Re shape mankind without distinguishing the meek from those that are violent? The words he
is the herdsman of mankind, there is no evil in his heart are no less applicable to Re than to
a predicted human ruler. I desire to lay special emphasis on the next sentences (12, 2 — 3).
Expression is there given to the wish that the good herdsman had perceived the {evil) natures
of men in the first generation ; then he zvould have suppressed evil., he ivojild have stretched forth
his arm against itQ), he would have destroyed their seed{:) and their inheritance. It is not easy
to .see in what sense these words could be applied to an human ruler whose coming is predicted.
On the other hand the thought is perfectly natural if we take it as referring to Re, the supreme
ruler of the world. The phrase the first generation is, as the philological note will show, closely
allied to the term rn^j] 'the first time', the familiar expression used by the Egyptians in connection
with the age when Re was king upon earth. Nor is there anything strange in the supposition
that Re could, if he had wished, have destroyed mankind and so rooted out the evil of which
they are the originators. Dr. Lange did not understand these sentences, and that is the reason
why his theory takes no account of them. From this point onwards the text becomes more and
more obscure: I venture however to think that the argument must have been somewhat as
follows. Re in his leniency jjermitted men to live. They desired to give birth; hence arose
sadness, and tieedyQ) people on every side. Nor shall the eternal propagation of the race, and
the evils consequent thereupon, ever cease. But a strong ruler — Re himself or his deputy the
king — might succeed in controlling and mitigating the terrible consequences which men, left to
themselves, are bound to reap as the fruits of their wickedness; he might destroy the wrongs
thati^) they have brought about. But now, in this age of wickedness and misery, no such ruler
is at hand ; There is no pilot (.?) in their moment. Where is he Q) today } Is he sleeping } Behold,
his power is not seen (12, 3 — 6).

I do not wish to conceal or minimize the fact that this manner of interpreting the passage,

Introduction.

15

SO far at least as the latter parts of it are concerned, is sheer gnjesswork, at the ver)' best a
rougli ap])roximation to the sense intended by the writer. It has however the advantage of
providing a suitable transition to the denunciation of the king that is soon to follow. I propose
it merely as an alternative, and, as I think, a superior alternative, to Dr. Lange's view. At all
events it seems now to be clear that whichever hypothesis scholars may choose, there is too
much uncertainty about the matter for it to be made the basis of any far-reaching conclusions as
to the influence of I"'gyptian upon Hebrew literature.

After a few more broken sentences, the drift of which is utterly obscure and where it is
best to refrain from any sort of conjectures as to the possible meaning, we arrive (in 12, 11) at a
rather more intelligible passage where a single person is addressed. This is the king, as we soon
perceive from the epithets and predicates tliat are applied to him. Hitherto the discourse of
Ipuwer has run on quite general lines, and personal recriminations are wholly wanting. Even
when the sage speaks of Re, the type and pattern of all kings, and laments the absence of his
guiding hand in the ])resent conjuncture, there is still no clear reference to the reigning monarch.
The long-deferred reproaches that Ipuwer now levels at the head of the king have something of the
force of Nathan's words, when at last he turns on David with the retort 'Thou art the man''
The charge seems to be one of laxity and indifference rather than of any definitely criminal intention,
and the accusations are intermingled with detached and brief descriptions of the deeds of violence
and the bloodshed that are witnessed daily throughout the land. Taste, Knowledge and Tniih,
those three noble attributes of royalt)-, are ivitk thee, and yet confusion is what thou dost put
throughout the land, together with the noise of tumult. Behold, one rtses violence against anotlier.
People transgress ivhat thou hast commanded. If three men journey upon a road, they are found
to be two men; the greater nutnber slays the less (12, 12 — 14). The speaker next imagines himself
to be debating the point with the king, who is perhaps thought to exculpate himself by casting
the blame on the evil dispositions of his subjects. Js there a herdsman that loves death r Then
wouldst thou command to make reply : it is because one man laves and anotlier hates (?) that their
forms {J) are few on every side. It is because thou hast acted so i^) as to bring about these things i^)
Thou hast spoken falsehood. The land is as a weed that destroys men (12, 14 — 13,2). These
are obscure words, but their tenor is, I think, unmistakeable. Then follows a last emphatic
reiteration of the well-worn theme of bloodshed and anarchy ; two sentences are actually repeated
from the earlier part of the book, that which precedes the admonitions. All these years areQ)
discordant strife. A man is killed upon his housetop. He is vigilant in his boundary-house. Is
he brave '^ (T/ien) he saves himself and he lives IJ:) People send a servant Q) to poor men. He
walks upon the road until he sees the flood {^) The road is dragged {with the drag-net >?). He
stands there in misery {}) What lie has upon him is taken away. He is belaboured^) with blou>s
of the stick, and wrongfully slain (13, 2 — 5). Yet once again Ipuwer turns to the king: Would

that thou mightest taste some of these miseries, then wouldst thou say Here we lose

sight, for a few lines, of the meaning of the context.

There follows a description of a peaceful and joyous condition of things, doubtless calcu-
lated to instil into the hearers of Ipuwer a sense of the great losses that their folly and impiety

have inflicted upon them. // is however good, zvhcn ships (.') sail upstream (r) It is

hoivrvcr good, when the net is drawn in, and birds are inade fast It is however good,

when and the roads are passable. It is however good, when the hands of nun

I f. Gardiner, The AdmoDirioDs of Mi Egyptian Sage.

duiVd pyramids. Ponds arc dug, and plantatiotis are made of the trees of the gods. It is however

good, wlun people are drunken. They drink , and their hearts are glad. It is however good,

when rejoicing is in mens mouths. The magnates of districts stand and look on at t/ie rejoicing

in their houses It is however good, when beds are made ready (J) The headrests

of princes are stored in safety (?) The needi^) of every man is satisfied with a couch in the shade.
The door is shut upon him, 7uho{}) {formerly}) slept in the bushes. It is however good, when

fine linen is spread out on the day of the NewyeariJ) (i3i 9 — '4' 4)- A few more

sentences of the same kind, now lost, brought this section to a close.

Here the discourse of Ipuwer may well have ended. After the idealistic picture of a
liappier age, in which a gleam of hope for the future may be discerned, any return to the pessi-
mistic tone of the foregoing pages seems impossible. As was pointed out above*, place must be
found before 5, 13 for a speech of the king. Of the two possible alternatives, by far the more
probable is that the beginning of this speech fell in the destroyed portions of page 14. It is
very unfortunate that the passage following the lacunae of the fourteenth page should be among
the most obscure in the entire work; all my efforts to make connected sense of it have utterly
failed. It is at least clear that warfare and the recruiting of troops are among the topics; and
various foreign tribes are named. The only sentence that we can utilize in this summary of the
contents of the book is one where it is stated that the Asiatics ("f*^^!^^) had made them-
selves acquainted with the internal condition of Eg)-pt (15, i): this confirms the allusions made
in earlier passages to a foreign people that had invaded the land and had found a firm footing
in its northernmost parts. If we may hazard a guess as to the probable drift of the whole
section 14, 7 — 15,13. it may be surmised that the king here answers Ipuwer with general
reflexions concerning the political oudook of those times.

In 15,13 a rubric introduces a new speech of Ipuwer: What Ipuwer said, xv/un he answered
the Majesty of the Sovereign. The next words are crj'ptic: all animals. To be igno-
rant of it is what is pleasant in [their) hearts. Thou hast done zvhat is good in their hearts. Thou

hast nourished them with it{}) They coverQ) their(}) through fear of the morrow (15,13 — 16,1).

I shall endeavour to prove, in the Commentary, that these were the final words of the book. The
theory is no doubt a bold one; but its rejection is attended by a good many more difficulties
than its acceptance. At all events I crave permission to assume its correctness here. It remains
for us to inquire what Ipuwer can have meant by his brief concluding comment on the speech of
the king. The situation presupposed in the book practically excludes the happy ending. No mere
words can remedy the ills that Ipuwer has described at such length. Whatever the king may
have said by way of reply is for this reason wholly indifferent, and it is difficult to believe that
Ipuwer is speaking seriously when he says: Thou hast done what is good in their hearts. It
seems more probable that he here wishes to imply that the king has wilfully fostered his subjects
in their ignorance and callousness, which he likens to that of brute beasts. Upon this parting
sarcasm the Pharaoh is left to ponder: the sage has earlier indicated the courses of action by
which Egypt may retrieve its lost prestige, and his last words are perhaps litde more than a
literary artifice enabling him to make a graceful exit.

1) p. 6, bottom.

Introduction.

5. Conclusions.

17

Having analysed in detail the contents of Pap. Leiden 344 recto, it remains for vis only to
state, in a more general way, our conclusions as to its place in Egyptian literature, as to the date
of its composition, and as to the historical situation to which it may allude. The text belongs to
the same category as the Eloquent Peasant, the Maxims of Ptahhotp and the Lebensniudc ; in all
these books the real interest centres in the long discourses that they contain, and the introductory
tale is merely the framework or setting. The form is thus not very dissimilar to that of the
Platonic dialogues ; and though it may seem rather bold to compare these Egyptian compositions,
for the most part so sterile in imagination and lacking in genuine poetic beauty, with some of
the grandest products of the Greek literary genius, still the analogy is sufficiently close to be worth
insisting upon. There can be litde doubt that the Lebensmude, for example, satisfied the same
kind of intellectual cravings among the Egyptians as did the Phaedo among the Greeks'. The
purely literar>' intention of these Egyptian books has, I think, been somewhat over-emphasized.
Even the Eloquent Peasant, which is richer in metaphors and similes than in its thought, is after
all something more than a mere series of eloquent speeches — eloquent in the Egyptian sense of
the word. It has a definite abstract subject, the rights of the poor man, or, more briefly, Justice.
Similarly the Maxims of Ptahhotp have as their theme the conduct that befits the well-born man,
and more particularly the judge. The Lebensmude gives an answer to the question 'Is life worth
living?' However deficient in philosophical value these treatises are, when looked at from our
modem standpoint, they are none the less that which in the earlier stages of Eg)'ptian history
took the place of Philosophy^

Regarded from this point of view, what is the specific problem of which our text may be
said to treat? I think the answer must be, of the conditions of social and political well-being'.
If we may venture to extract the essence of Ipuwer's discourse, we shall find that the things
which he thought to conduce to the happily-constituted state are three: a patriotic attitude in
resisting foes from within and from without ; pietj- towards the gods ; and the guiding hand of a
wise and energetic ruler. This formulation of the contents seems to be unsatisfactory only in so
far as it ignores the great prominence and extension given to the exposition of the downfall of
the land. The writer was perhaps unable to restrain himself in the presence of the opportunity
here offered to his descriptive powers. However that may be, it can scarcely be denied that the
admonitions which begin on the tenth page form the kernel of the whole. Hence the tide that
I have chosen for this edition of the text. Before leaving the subject of its contents, I must once
more affirm that there is no certain or even likely trace of prophecies in any part of the book.

With regard to the date at which the work was composed, this question is inextricably
bound up with the problem as to the historical situation that the author had in his mind. The
existence of some historical background few will venture to dispute ; unless some support in facts
had been forthcoming for his thesis, the Egyptian writer would have imagined an Egypt given
over to anarchy and foreign invaders not much more easily than an English novelist could

1) The subject of the Lebensmude is more akin to that of the Apology; the form of the latter however is not that which is usual
in the other Platonic dialogues.

2) This generalization roust be qualified by a reference to the curious mythological text about Puh, which Breasted has published
under the title The philosophy of a Memphite piiest (A. Z. 39 [1901], 39 — 54). The rationaliialion of their religious conceptions was another
means by which the Egyptians evolved a variety of philosophical speculation.

3) In other words, it is a sort of Egyptian 'Republic', — to continue the comparison with the dialogues of PUto.
Gardiner. »

. O r.ardincr, 'I'hc Admonitions of an K(;7i>tiin Sage. Introduction.

iinagiiu; an England subject to the Turks. Tin- text tells both of civil war and of an Asiatic
occupation of the; 1 )elta. There are two periods which might possibly answer the requirements
of the case : the one is the dark age that separates the sixth from the eleventh dynasty ; the
other is the Hyksos period. Sethe inclines to the view that it is the invasion of the Hyksos to
which our papyrus alludes. Much may be said in favour of this alternative. Though the tombs
of .Siut give us a glimpse of tlie inti^rnal disruption of Hgypt during the ninth and tenth dynasties,
the monuments are silent upon the subject of Asiatic aggression at that date. Hence if the text
be fhouglit to refer to the earlier period, an historical fact of great importance must be postu-
lated. There is no such difficult)- in the view preferred by .Sethe. A small point that might be
thought' to lend support to tliis liypotliesis is the use of the word )hit 'pestilence' or 'plague' in
2, 5 ; this is the identical word that is employed of the Hyksos in the first Sallier papyrus. On
the other hand certain considerations may be urged in favour of the earlier date. The text
belongs to a group of compositions that we are accustomed, as we thought on good grounds,
to associate with the Middle Kingdom. In particular there are curious points of contact both with
the Leboisniudc and the Inslrnctions of Ameneimnes I. Though, as we have seen', no definite
deductions as to date can be based on these connections, still it is difficult not to feel that they
point towards a pre-Hyksos period. It is true that we have no means of telling in what style of
language literar)' texts of the early eighteenth dynasty were written ; and it is of course possible
that our text may have been composed while the Hyksos were still in the land. But on the
whole the language of the papyrus (and, we may add, the palaeography) makes us wish to push
back the date of the composition as far as possible. Certain administrative details ma\' perhaps
be brought forward as indicative of the earlier period of the two bet\veen which our choice lies.
In 6, 1 2 the six 'Great Houses' are named: we know these to have been the law-courts that
were in existence throughout the Old Kingdom, and it is not improbable that they became obsolete
in or soon after the Middle Kingdom. Again in lo, 7 the 'Overseer of the Town' is mentioned
as exercising office in the royal city of Residence ; before the eighteenth dynastj- this title had
degenerated into a merely decorative epithet of the Vizier. It will be seen that the grounds for
a decision are not very convincing on either side. The view that our Leiden papyrus contains
allusions to the Hyksos has the better support from the historical standpoint, but philological
and other considerations seem rather to point to the seventh to tenth dynasties as those which
have provided the background of events. It is doubtless wisest to leave this question open for
the present.

l) See above p. 3.

TEXT, TRANSLATION AND COMMENTARY.

Preliminary note. The text given below is in the main identical with that of the plates
at the end of the volume, but is here divided into sections, within which the separate sentences
are demarcated in such a way as to exhibit their grammatical structure. Signs enclosed in
square brackets [ 1 are restorations of lacunae in the papyrus. Emendations or dots within
angular brackets ( indicate words omitted by the scribe. The orthography of the original has
been retained as a rule, even where it is obviously incorrect, but here and there a slight alteration
has been made. All departures from the^ transcription given in the plates are shown by dots
beneath the line, e.Kcept when they are already marked by the presence of brackets.

1,1-1,6.

(■•■)| I «T«Z',?,? Tk^ifVlT, YZ.\\

- i:c.3)i nt\.^-%:z\%7:^t-

(■■4)[^] I m\^h%^i^u\-=^

5TVtkliflWt Pra^(.,6)[^(^|

Ill

b

0

gM^I

a. M>. ^^AA.xA \vith a superfluous n, as in wnint-n 3,3. b. Ms, y or |). for various forms of the hieroglyph here to

be read see Bershr/i I 14,8; Rifeh 5, 17; Urkunden IV 758; and in hieratic Anasl. \ 22,6; Millingen 2,7.

The door [-keepers] say : Let us go and plunder. The confectio-
ners The 7oasherman refuses Q) to carry his load.

The bird [-catchers] have drawn up in line of battle | The inhabitants}] of

the Marshes carry shields. The brewers sad. A man looks

upon his soft as his enemy ;

Men abandon their trades and professions to become soldiers ; the evils of civil war are
everywhere felt.

3*

.Q Gardiner, The Admonitions of an Egyptian Sage.

I, I. ^ 'say' with ellipse of dd, see Erman, Aeg. Gravim} § 380: so often below e.g.
2,3. 7; 6, 4. 13 etc.

I, 2. Rhths.1 must be construed as a singular, if the suffi.x of itpw-f be correct. — Fit might
mean 'weighing' or 'advantage', but in juxtaposition with itpiv 'load' (for which we might expect
ilpyt cTntoj must have its literal meaning 'carrying' (infinitive). — For dd both Lange and Sethe
compare the usage Sethe, Verbum II § i5oh, where dd, followed b\' the tense sdmf, means 'to think'
'to plan' (Germ., gedenken). This suggestion is certainly not far from the trutli. though here dd
takes th(^ infinitive, and has a slightly different sense: ^^^ ^^ = 'to refuse'. — For the deter-
minative of Upzv, cf Sethe, Verbiwi I 208 and below 5, 12; similarly hninu 6, i ; 12, 13; hryt 10, 1.2.

I, 3. Ts skiv, aciem instruere, cf Sinuhe B 54; Amosis 37; Urkniidcn IV 758; Sail. Ill 9, i;
R. I. H. 246,73; MUlinge7i 2,7. It is probable that in this expression slew means 'squadrons'
'companies' cf. Bersheh I 14; R. I. H. 235, 18; UrkundenW 653; and that it is to be distinguished
from sky (or skw) 'battle', for which see Mar. Karn. 52, 12; Greene, Fouilles II 23, R. /. H. 117.
Otherwise the suffix sn in Amosis 37 has nothing to refer to (a y.(na avftoir construction being
however not ([uite impossible). As Sethe points out, m Piaiikki ^ ^K. 1 1 L_/l "^^^ '-'^ ^^ *"

we must translate 'Go forth in ordered line of battle {sk /s)\ and must not separate /s from s/.\
as is done by Griffith in his note on Millingen 2, 7.

1, 5. S)im, see on 2, 5. — For the next sentence cf. 9, 8 — 9. — In the following line

Sethe suggests f' FD "^^ ['%J ^ ^t ^^ — \ ^ ^"^"=^1 ''^'^'^ '^'^^ ^"^ is ungrateful to his father': for
sh^ in this sense seeSntl 5, 23 and the note below on 2, 11.

1, 6—1, 9.

V sic b

bT.^m ■ I [W^k^-ITIiW-l

i;>.s^vr= «-'Tkc-9'Mi I t\m

a. Ms. c^ b. This is an emendation, since the traces do not suit. c. Ms. apparently

lo(?) another. Come

predestined for you in the tinu of Horns, in the age of [the Ennead]

The virtnous tnan walks in mourningi^) on account of that which

has happened in the land. The walks The tribes of tlic

desertQ) have become Egyptians Q) ei'erywhere.

I, 7. The present disasters were decreed by fate in the long bygone age, when the gods
reigned u[)on earth. For a similar thought cf. below i, 10. — For ;;/ ;/■ Hr, cf dr rk Hr,
Butler verso 7. — The conjecture m hi'a< \ps(it\ is due to Sethe. wlio compares dr h^w psdt.
R./.H. 177,2.

Text, Translation and Commentary. 2 ¥

i,S. Nb A-(/ 'the man of character' 'the virtuous man'; so already Hal Nzib graffiti 1,3;
12, g. — Q^^^^^^W^' "^g^'" '" 4' '3 ^""^ perhaps Anast. /Fii,6; Brit. Mus. 574, 17 = Sharpe,
^. //wrr. I 79. Q'^s^"^^ ° '" 3' ' ' 's obviously a different word. — M"^ hprt m ti, of. hprt
hi ti 2,3. .^/ ti occurs several times below, cf. 2, 6; 3, i. 3. 14; 5, 3. 10. Compare too
^ rj o -^^ ■ ■ 2,4; 5,5. These phrases show that it is no mereh local disturbance that is
here described, but a great and overwhelming national disaster.

I, 9. The admirable conjecture ^^| '^ "^"^ ^'^ Sethe; for the confusion of cyyi and

"-4—1 cf. on 3, I. Egypt has fallen a prey to foreign invaders (cf. 3, 1), who have taken so firm
a root in the land that they may be said to have become Egyptians. True Egyptians are
nowhere to be found (cf. 3,2); they, conversely, have become foreigners (cf. 15, i). — A'w/ 'Egyp-
tians' — real 'men' in distinction to barbarians — cf. the well-known scene from the tomb of Sethos I,
Champ. y>/(?«. 238 = Rosellini, Moii. star. 155; and below 3,2; 4, i (?) — M st nbt, a favourite
phrase in our papyrus; cf. 2,2.6.14; 3' 2; 4,7.

MPir~^<-M.. .0) [M KPr^^^

1,9-1,11.

'j.'i^iS-^=- (■■■■) I iMMiiiir^^ii

Two or three lines entirel}' lost.

Forsooth, the face is pa/e{>) whichQ)

the ancestors had foretold

I, 9. Here for the first time' we meet with the formula hv ms , which introduces each

new topic in the drearj- description of Egypt's downfall until 7,1, when its place is taken by

1^ /v-Svv or 1^ ./^[in. It is all the more necessary to enter into a detailed discussion of this

.^ 01 I I .^ Di I 111

phrase, since it might be thought to exert a modal or temporal influence over the statements
that follow it, such as would cast them into the dim futurity of prophecy, represent them as
contingent or as yet unfulfilled, or even wholly negative their meaning. In the Introduction (§ 4)
the internal evidence of the papyrus was examined at length, and the conclusion was reached
that the sections i, i — 6, 14 and 7, i — 10, 6 together contain a long exposition of social and
political disorders put into the mouth of a speaker who treats them as existent and undeniable,
who views himself and his audience as the victims of this condition of things, and who uses it
as the text for his admonishments and moralizings. It was pointed out that there is little or no
progress of thought or change of attitude observable when we pass from the first section to

the second; in the latter however ^ is substituted for hu vis, so that the conclusion is

forced upon us that hv ms cannot possess a meaning much more significant than mitn 'behold'.
Still the ver\- rarity of the particle ms precludes the supposition that it is wholh- lacking in colour
and intention, and thus the cjut^stion arises as to the precise nuance of tone or emphasis that it
should be understood to imply. The clearest instances outside our pap)rus are Westcar 2, 5;

l) It is probably mere .-iccidcnt that nn cxamiile of i-a- ms is found in the remaining portions of the prcvion^ Imcs. To judge
from their sense, it is impossible to sejiarate i. I — 9 from what follows.

2 2 Gardiner, The AdmoDilions of an Egyptian Sage.

11,22; and 12,22. In the first of these passages the situation is as follows. Tht,- wife of the
master of ceremonies Webaoner has a guilty passion for a certain man rif low birth, whom she
induces to come and visit her. After a certain lapse of time — now there was a pavilicjn in
the garden of Webaoner — this poor man said to the wife of Webaoner: ()%(tin^^"^£
^ cm 'There is a pavilion in the garden of Webaoner, let us take our pleasure in it'. Here the
sense of the particle nis is very clearly rendered in Professor Erman's translation: 'in dem Garten
des Webaoner ist doch ein Landhaus'; the word ms — in German 'doch' — represents the
existence of the pavilion in the garden as a matter of common knowledge, and implies the
shadow of a reproacli to Webaoner's wife that she had not thought of it and of its possible
convenience thitherto. In the second passage 11,22 a question is put by a mistress to her

maidservant: ^i=^^^^f|iP^ 1\ [Tlo^.^, ? ^ 'weshalb hat man denn nicht GefaBe gebracht.?'
(Erman's translation). Here ms, in German 'denn' — a suitable English equivalent would be
'pray' — betrays the questioner's irritation that so obvious a dut)' has been overlooked. In 12,22
Red-dedet replies to the querj- as to why she is sad with the words: ^\^__.|Tin9(jP^\'^ ^iw
7^ lj(]<=> ^^ "Behold, the maidservant went away saying, 'I will go and betray (thy secret)'".
Erman renders well: „Siehe sie ist ja fortgegangen mit den Worten". The answer is not without
a tinge of surprise that such a question should be asked, the suppressed thought is, would not
another be sad in such a case? Here ms conveys just the same nuance as the German ,ja".
In the Lebensmiidc three declarations about the condition of the dead are prefaced by the words
^^ili ^ (lines 142. 143. 145). Tiu'se statements are contradictions of arguments previously
urged by the man's soul, and the word ms was intended, no doubt, to imply a certain passionate
emphasis, which the English language can perhaps best reproduce by the word 'forsooth'. The
remaining passage where ms occurs outside our papyrus, viz. in _n— fnnaT) Pap. Kahuii 36, 22, is
too obscure to merit discussion'. From the evidence here adduced it seems clear that the par-
ticle ms has the function of abruptly summoning to the mind of some person addressed a thought
that had been overlooked, or had been viewed with indifference. It thus corresponds closely to
the German „doch" or „ja", in interrogative sentences „denn". English, less rich in such particles,
can seldom fidy translate the word; 'forsooth', which we have adopted in our renderings, is but
a poor appro.ximation to its sense. Like „doch" and „ja", ms may be used for many purposes,
to remind, to correct, to reprove, to persuade, or, at its weakest, merely to emphasize. It
belongs essentially to dialogue, and suggests a contrast or opposition between the standpoints
of the persons participating in it. This is well brought out in a common substantival use of
the phrase l] y^ffl 'Q()> of which a single e.xample will suffice; after recounting his virtues at length,
a certain Entef adds: 'This is my character to which I have borne testimony, -Ji—jin.. — °JX

gA(|^\ there is no boasting therein, these are my qualities in very truth, — '^■^^'^0 y|T| '9Qi ^<
there is nothing to which e.xception might be taken therein' {Urkundcn \\ 973). Here iw vis
obviously means that what precedes is open to no 'buts', there is nothing that a critic could
(jbject to in it*. — Having thus ascertained the general sense of )iis, it remains for us to in-

1) Within our papyrus, ms occurs, besides in tw ms, in iTl ' Si/\ '-^I 3.2.6; and further in 6. lo and 10,7.

2) In this expression !w was doubtless originally, as in our papyrus, the I'amili.ar auxili.ary verb which iutroduces a n0min.1l sentence

Text, Translation and Commentary. 2^

quire into the particular nuance of feeling that it possesses in our papyrus. As we have seen
in the Introduction, the dramatic position is high!)- problematical. Yet there can be little doubt
that, as in the Lebemmiidc, with which our te.Kt shows so many points of contact, the speaker's
audience are called upon to open their eyes to facts in respect of which they have hitherto shown
themselves apathetic, and to learn the lessons inculcated thereby. Thus the function of ms is
here to admonish.

T^^^^'^^Lil^ cf. 2,2. Sethe well compares Ebers 42,9 ^ <2 ^ "^-^ ^ "^ "^ 'his
face is pale(.-)'. For the use of hr, see Vogelsang's notes on Eloquent Peasant B /, 60. 188. The
foreign word \it in Pap. jud. Turin 4, 5 is not to be confused with 'id here.

1,10. Cf. QQp'^^ ® ^ "^^ Jl'"^ quotedbyGolenischeff^'.Z. 14(1876), 108 from

Pafi. Petersburg i. — For the sense see above 1, 7 note.

1,U(?)-2,1.

V¥Mm (^o^r^AIMllI ^[k^lii

a. Ms. has a meaningless ligature, which however may easily be emended to m.

[Forsooth] the land full of confederates.. A man goes out to plough

with his shield.

2, I. Hr sni^y, cf. 7, 7. — Sethe suggests: '[The wrongdoers] upon earth have confederates';

but we should then require ® instead of ©. Perhaps some such phrase as [ [-g ] i5) p^

(see A. Z. 34 [1896], 30) should be emended.

If the conjecture m be correct, the sense may be; even those engaged in the peaceful
occupation of ploughing have to carry shields; we should however expect hr for w, cf. 1,4.
Sethe prefers to suppose that the man used his shield {m instrumentally) instead of a plough.
A third possibility is to regard the phrase 'to plough with his shield' as a metaphorical expression
for 'to fight' — 'a man goes forth to fight instead of to plough'.

i^ffihap-r-aira zmC''- i(=-^)ti

.Mio \\ ,vww> aC

Forsooth, the vieek say [ The man who is of\

face is like him who

2, 2. Nti 2on, see the note on 3, 14.

— the nominal sentence being suppressed. As the later spelling \\ ^ .^j^ iA. Z. 44 ['907). 4*) shows, its origin was subsequenUy for-
gotten. — The suggestion that thU /■» mt is preserved in the Coptic verb Smc (A. Z. 41 [1904], 148) has been successfully controverted by
Roeser (A. Z. 42 [1905], 86).

2 A Gardiner, The Admonitions of au Egyptian Sage.

Forsooth^ the face is palei^) The bowman is ready. The wrongdoer is ei'erywhere. There
is no man of yesterday.

2, 2. \Hr\ 'idw, see 1,9 note. — PdiyQ) 'bowman' (note tht; masculine pseudoparticiple
grg) is not found as a singular elsewhere; perhaps we should emend ^ .^, the usual phrase
for 'bowman' in the Middle Kingdom.

Nn si n sf. Probably we should understand, with Sethe: the times are changed, there
are no men of yesterday, — only novi homines, upstarts, men of today.

2,2-2,3.

Forsooth, the plundererQ) everywhere. The servant

to find it.

2, 2. Hikw again below 2,9; 8, 10. 11; see the note on 2,9.
2, 3. This clause is certainly corrupt.

Forsooth^ Nile overfio^vs, [yet) no one ploughs for him. Every man says: we know not
zvhat has happened throtighout the land.

2, 3. Nf 'for him' i. e. for the Nile personified as a god.

Forsooth., women arc lacking, and no {children) arc conceived. Khnum fashions {mankind)
no longer because of the condition of the land.

2, 4. Wir 'be wanting' 'lacking'. So Sethe correctly; not 'barren', as I, following Lange,
had rendered. Lange quotes Piehl, Itucr. I 38,9 — 39, i (tj 5) 1 Iji 9) | ^^:^ I ? "^^ ^^:=x:^j^%
^/ — p^^^ — Khnum is here the potter who fashions men on his wheel; of. below 5, 6.

r-n~i

Cl

TAi. . .

Forsoothy poor men are become owners of good things. He zvho could make for himself
no sandals is [now) the possessor of riches.

2, 4. Swi, opposed to Spsw below 2, 7, to kiudiv below 8, 2; from these and other
p3issa.ges {Millingen 1,6; Sinuhe 2,0^; Mzi. Karnak 37b, 7; Harris 75,4 (contrasted with bwiw"^
it appears to mean 'poor' 'in humble circumstances'. As verb, 'to be poor' on a M. K. sarcophagus,

Text, TransUtioD and Commentary.

25

Rec. de Trav. 26,67; the causative below 7, 2; 9,6. Nb s/)ss, cf. S, 8; Rifeli 4, 59; as Sethe

points out, Ipss 'good things' (especially eatables) (cf. 3,3; 8, 1.8.) has here as elsewhere (e. g.

Westcar 7,21; Urknnden IV ^2. 334. 335. 515) always the geminated form, which thus serves to

distinguish it from ^R^^ 'noble men' (2, 7), and from %iY .. ^ 'noblewomen' (3, 4; 4, 12;

8, 8.9. 13; 9, i).

d a .<H>-

_ The infinitive is doubtless due to the New Egfyptian scribe, who

for this form of the verb liowever usually writes or <=> (Sethe, Verbum II § 683); perhaps

we should read r for / here, though the sign is made small (cf r ky 1,6; )riv 6,5; ^jr 6, 5).
The correct old form after tm occurs below, ^s:^ 7, 8; i 2, 1 1 ; so too -^^^^^ ^1 ' ; '^^ &V^ |^ 9' 4-
2, 5. Nb 'liWy lit. 'possessor of heaps', cf. 2, 9; 7, i 2; 8, 1 ; Siut 1, 247; Lebensmude 33;
Rifeli 7, 50. So in Coptic ^go 'treasure'.

2,5.

Forsooth^ mens slaves, their hearts are sad. Princes do not fraternise with their peopleQ),
when they rejoiceQ)

2, 5. n , in place of a suffix, as often elsewhere, occurs below e. g. 2, 12; 3,8; 12,3;
here doubtless vaguely, 'men's slaves'. — Snm is probably identical with the verb 'to be sad',
hitherto known only from texts in Dendera (cf. A. Z. 43 [1906], 113) and from Canopus 26. 29,
where rr^ anokvaiy tov jierf^ovg is rendered by ['/^ P^ ^ r* • '^'^'^ sense suits well here, and
fairly well in 3,4; in 1,5 the context is lost. Sutn in 12,6 is possibly a different word. — The
conjecture nhm is accepted by Sethe, who translates as above.

2,5-6.

i

Forsooth, {men's) hearts are violent. Plague is throughout the land. Blood is everywhere.
Death is not lackingij). The mummyclothQ) speaks, be/ore ever one comes near itQ)

2, 5. I{i)dt is apparently a term of opprobrium for all malign influences. It is used of
the Hyksos Sail. I, 1,1; cf Pap. Leiden 350 recto 1,13. It is especially frequent in magical texts
n the phrase (1^ ^'i | ^'^^^^ IV 8, 9; 15, i; Pap. Leiden 346, 2,4. 7, where it cannot be
altogether dissociated from the masculine word (]c:^3^i=^ in Middle Kingdom texts; Q.{.Tni Shmt
rnpt idiv, Sinuhe 45; similarly (spelt Q'¥^-;s~^) I^c^- '^^ Trax'. 15, 179; rnpt n tdw L. D. 11 150a, 6;
nbt id^v. Eloquent Peasant li \,\ 20.

2, 6. The verb nkin (or 'kin}) is probably corrupt; a similar word occurs in 4, 2. In
both places the emendation ryi V>'^^ would be suitable. — The translation of the last two
sentences is due to Sethe. The sense seems to be: corpses are everywhere, and the very ban-
dages cry out, so that they can be heard without drawing near to them.

' a r <l I n e r.

25 Gardiner, The Admonitions of an Egyptian Sage

2, 6—7.

n 1

Forsooth^ many dead 7nen are buried in the river. The stream is a sepulchre, and the
place of embalmment has becotne stream.

2, 7. For h^t cf. below 7, 8 and see Erman's note on Lebensmude 52, where the sug-
gested rendering 'bier' may possibly be correct. Elsewhere however the word has the wider
meaning 'tomb', even in prose, cf. Pap. Kahun 12,12; El Amrah 29,6. See too the mastaba-
like determinative in the Pyramidtexts (P 607).

W'bt\\2i% .several meanings: (1) doubtful in the old title ^/^l — ,; (2) 'kitchen' 'refector)''
or the like in d Orbiney 15,7; L. D. Ill 237c, 8; (3) 'place of embalmment', especially frequent on
the Serapeum stelae, cf. Rec. de Trav. 21,72; 22,20. 167; 23,77; (4) in a wider sense 'tomb'
Hanover j^^/^? (M. R.) = Rec. de Trav. 17,4; Vienna stele 148 (late). Here one might hesitate
between (3) and (4); in 7,8 'tomb' is certainly the preferable meaning; in 4, 4 = 6, 14 the con-
text refers to embalmment, so that the third sense is there the most likely.

flk^S17,™?,=^k('.«)

Forsooth., the wealthy arc in mourning. The poor mail is full of ]oy. Every toum says:
let us suppress the powerful among us.

2, 7. For nhwt cf. below 5,3; see Erman's note on Lebensmude 148; Spiegelberg in
A. Z. 43 (1906) 133. — ^wi, see above on 2, 4 — Hr, see the note on i, i. — Kmc, cf. 9, 5.

2,8.

;?.^EKk^^ --JH.9.T^TT ::::PiI^,l<J>P^s

G

Ms. *5$ . b Ms. inserts /wuva> between pi and rk.

I I I

Forsooth, men are like gm-birds. Squalor{r) is throtighout the land. There is none whose
clothes are ivhite in these times.

2, 8. The interpretation suggested for this passage is in the main due to Sethe. The
^<w-bird, of which the female ^^^ 's depicted on the reliefs from Abu Gurab now in the
Berlin Museum, closely resembles the ibis: the allusion may be either to its sombre colouring, or
to its habit of wallowing in the mud.

JeO cf. the word "^J'^^ 'dirt(=V Sinutic 291. ^^^^^j-^J^,^

I

Text, Translation and Commentary. . 27

Ebers %<), i6. i8; and i)ossibly in n'^^''^'^^-7y .^'^-=- [scil. /■? 'the land'), Urkutiden IV 2i,']-,
if sbt is there to be read. — Hd hisw, as epithet, occurs Sinuhe 153; Petrie, Dcndereh 15,4;
Leiden V 6.

il^ii-TW~l^2eM° i^-') --fll^fl^tk-fSir

< >

^kf^sl^

Forsooth, the land turns round as does a potter's wheel. The robber is a possessor of
ric/ies. ( The rich man?) is [become?] a plunderer.

2, 8. Msnh 'to turn round' 'be reversed', first in Zauberspr. f. Miitter u. Kind 2, i; in

the New Kingdom spelt either so (e.g. Pap. Leiden 350, recto 2,6), or without n \^\^ (^'■.
Worterb. 704), often with the meaning 'to turn away' dazzled by the light of the sun. — Nhp
'potter's wheel', Br. Worterb. 795.

2, 9. Nb 'h'w, see the note on 2, 5. — Hikw again above 2, 2 ; the plural hiky below 8, 10. 1 1.
If the form be participial, it can only be that of the imperfect active participle, as the plural hiky
shows (of. Sethe, Vcrbum II § 870). In this case the sense must be: he who was once a robber
is now rich, and he who was formerly rich is now a robber. However both Lange and Sethe
prefer a passive meaning for h^kw 'a man who is plundered' or 'captured as plunder'. — The
lacuna before m hikiv is not nearly big enough to have contained the substantive which the anti-
thesis demands; and it should probably be assumed that nb 'liw, or some synonymous expression,
has been omitted by the scribe.

2,9.

w

.£S>-

w

. Ms. >^

d

Forsooth, trusty servant sij) are {like>\ The poor man [complains^:

how terrible it w(?); what am I to do}

2,9. Kfiib, a good quality of uncertain meaning, cf. Prisse 8,6. 13,8; frequently as

epithet of the .^^, e. g. Bersheh I 20. 29; Rekhmere 3, 33. — For hr-wy the above rendering

is proposed by Sethe.

2,10.

Forsooth, the river is blood, and {yet) men drink of it. Men shrink from i^:) [tasting})
human beings, and thirst after water.

2, 10. Ni as transitive verb in ^ ^''"^'^fl'^M^'^^ Eloquent Peasant £ 2,106

2 J^ Gardiner, The Admonitions of an Egyptian Sage.

(cf. also ibid. B i, i lo) where Vogelsang suggests: 'StoBc nicht ziirlick den, der dich anbettoit".
For 'zuriickstossen' we should prefer 'shrink from', but tlu- ilifference of construction here is a
difficult)'. — ibi apparently nowhere else used transitively.

2,10-11.

Forsooth, gates columns and wallsi^) are consumed by fire; [while) the of the

king's palace stands firm and endures.

(I here and in 7, 10, and tD^ [1 1 7, 9 are possibly plurals of a feminine

word drt 'wall' (? cf. CT [1 9, 14) that has survived in the Coptic r^o, -xoc (.Sethe, Verbum III 92);

here of wood, hence -o^^. Probably quite distinct from two other feminine words ct ^<

'sarcophagus' {Pyramidtexts M. 427) and CT ll[l 'chamber' (ver)' frequent in the temple of
Dendera). In the second half of this section dr(wt) is masculine, and may be identical with an
obscure word ct JE Sinuhe 198, Q^ (jy Totb. ed.'Ha.x. 108,8, 130,14; cf too the masculine
word CT O Abbott 2, 13; Amherst 2, 2; Pap. Turin 42,6, where the meaning 'wall' fits well.
All these words are to be kept apart from imdr, mdr, sdr, examples of which are quoted Rec.
de Trav. 21,39 — 40. — - ^^^5\^^Jv.lA ^^Y be a correct form, if the verb be 2 ae. gem., though
geminated forms arc rare outside the Pyramidtexts (Sethe, Verbum II ^ 106).

P'

a. So Sethe; the traces fit.

Forsooth, the ship of the [Southerners] has gone adriftQ). The to'wtis are destroyed.
Upper Egypt has become dry \wastes}\

2, II. P'^nD'^'Nj^. Several words of similar appearance must here be carefully
distinguished, (i) H^fD^ sivh (or [swhi) 'to praise' 'glorify' 'vaunt'; construed with w, e.g.
L. D. Ill 140b, 4; Inscr. Dcdic. 99; with «, e. g. Pap. Kahun 39, 24; Mission 15, 12, 2 (Luxor);
Pap. Berlin 3049, 3, 7; and with direct object, probably below 7, 14; Anast. I 15, 2, and in a few
other passages. In a bad sense 'to boast" (with «), L'rhundcnW 751. 973. The determinative
'py that is sometimes found in the writing of this word is perhaps derived from shi. (2) [1 fXl

^'ly^ -f/'^ 'to be in confusion' 'to go astray' or the like. Cf.^ r^^pfD ^^^'^^ ^^

of the confusion that took hold of the Shosu, L. D. Ill 128a; □^^^^0]^'}^^ '^^^ '^'^Y
is in confusion* Pap. Leiden 345, recto I i' Z- ^ sirfiilar meaning is appropriate below in 12, 12
(parallel to hnn) as well as here, and possible in 12.9. The writing with a' (here; Pap. Leiden 2,A}i-

Text, Translatioo and CommcDUry.

29

recto 7,2; Pap. Leiden 350, recto 5, 15) may be due to a confusion with swh'^. (3) Possibly to
be distinguished from (i) and (2) is |-j-| "^ ^ {Siut 5, 23; Prisse 14, n; perhaps here 1,5), which
may refer to a bad quality such as 'ingratitude''.

Dpt metaphorically for the shij) of state (so Lange, Sethe) only here. — As Sethe points
out hb^ nwt must be taken together, and separated from the following words: 'the southern town'
would be nt rst, not nt hn (see A. Z. 44 [1907], 5) — ■ One might hesitate between the resto-
rations and ® ; the latter would refer to Thebes.

{o^WXS fell'

2,12-2.13.

Forsooth, crocodiles are glutted^) with what they have captured. Men go to them of their

own accord. It fares ill with the earth too{}}) People say: walk ttot here, behold it is a

Behold people tread [upon the earth}] like fishes. The timid man does notQ) distinguish it
through terror.

2, 12. In this extremely difficult passage Sethe proposes, with great ingenuity, to under-
stand as follows. The crocodiles have more than enough to feed upon; men commit suicide by
casting themselves into the river as their prey. A foreign word \h\fp or \^fp may have stood
in the first lacuna. ^^Q^TT* =-^0 — To continue: we must emend hd-tw n ti or the

like; no better are conditions upon the land. Here people tell one another not to tread in this
place or that, for it contains a sn\ so ever>'one walks as carefully as though he were a fish which
fears to be put in the sn, whatever that may be; cf. Urkunden IV 659 the corpses of the slain

lay |(|<=.^ **^^^ ^ \'^~^SL . Men are so full of terror that they can no longer distin-
guish the earth {sw) from the water.

2, 13-14.

a This reading, no longer recognizable on the original papyrus, is strongly suggested by the Tacsiinile.

I) Such are the conclusions to which my examination of the Dictionary material brought me. Sethe, who has studied the in-
stances .-ifresh, writes lo me suggesting another view. He considers that i-vh{i) originally meant 'to roar', esp. of Typhonic animals, (cf. the
passages from Pap. Leid. j4-( and 350 etc., here too metaphorically „das Schiff der Sildlander kracht"); the meaning 'to boast' 'praise' he
regards as secondary and derivative. It seems tome that if this view Ije accepted the distinction between twA and jAi becomes very dubious;
it is at least remarkable that two words of so similar appearance should both denote Typhonic attributes ; and I veiy much doubt the transi-
tion of meaning from 'ro.^r' to 'priiise'. Therefore 1 prefer my own mode of interi)retation , though of course its assumption of confused
spellings is by no means satisfactory. We sorely need early examples of (1) and (2).

^Q Gardiner, The Admonitions of an Egyptian Sage.

Forsooth, men are feiv. He %vho places Jus brother in the ground is everywhere{^) When
the officiantsQ) have spokeni^), he [fleesr] without delay.

2, 13. 'nd 'few'; the meaning of the word is convincingly demonstrated by the following

quotations: Piankhi 13 O^"*^ AH 'o' "^^j; Pap. Leiden 347,3,3 H^^- — "o^^fl °

•^^"^^ (epithets of the Horus of <S(5.<^^]; and below 12, 14.

Sethe points out that dii sn-f m ti can only be the subject of a nominal sentence in
which 7n st nbt is predicate; but for the meaning 'bury' attributed to d\t m li parallels are wanting.

2, 14. Rhw-tht 'the learned', possibly here the officiants at the funeral ceremony. — The
I)roposed restoration is somewhat too long, a defect that might be remedied by the omission of ^.

Forsooth., the well-bortt man without being recognizedQ) The child of his

lady has become the son of his maidservant.

2, 14. Si sP 'the son of a man', i. e. doubtless a man who was able to point to a well-
to-do father, in opposition to the base-born slave. Cf. below 4, i; //at Nub 8, 3; Prisse 15,4;
Abydos III 29; Vatican Naophoros (contrasted with ^^f %^^) = A. Z. 37 (1899), 72; and

especially Stele of Tutankhatnon 1 7 ^^ vA . o "^ g(\ "^-^^ — I can suggest no plausible
emendation that will suit the traces in the lacuna.

The second clause is not at all clear. Sethe thinks that the sense may be: in these times
when all social relations are reversed it happens that the son of a man's mistress sinks to the
position of son of the same man's female slave. Another and perhaps preferable solution would
be to take ms as the particle (for the writing cf 3,2) and to read 55^ »l.^; 'his mistress becomes

the daughter of his maidservant' i. e. humbler even than his maid-servant. But neither explanation
gives a really satisfactory meaning.

3,1.

© w

©

n Ms ,

O I

Forsooth, the Desert is throughout the Land. The names are laid waste. A foreign tribe
from abroad has come to Egypt.

ii\

3, I. The emendation "^^1 (or ij, which Sethe proposes, is undoubtedly correct;

see on 1 , 9. — Ifbi and not hbUi must be read in the lacuna, feminine plurals taking the pseudo-

l) For the reading si (not s}) cf. the variant I (J W> MtUemiehsUlt |8.

Text, Translation ami Commentary. - .

participle in the form of the 3rd. person masculine singular, cf. 2,4; 4,13; 9, i. — /VjV must be
translated 'a foreign tribe' (Sethe „ein Bogenvolk"), as the feminine pseudoparticiple iyii shows.

3,1-3,2.

ihii.^.°lllill <3. ') llli ~ix ±^fAlKi^^

Forsooth^ people comeij) There are no Egyptians anywhere.

3, 2. If, as is probable, this section continued the topic that was broached in the last,
rmt must be taken to mean 'Egyptians'; see the note on 1,9.

AAAAAA
I I I

I I

a Ms. ^.^^AA^ with a superfluous «, as in I, I.
I I I

Forsooth^ gold atid lapis lazjtli, silver and malachite^ carnelian and bronze^ stone of Yebhet

and are fastened on the necks of female slaves. Good things are in the land.

{Vet) the mistresses of houses say: would that we had something to eat.

3, 2. On hmigH and ibht see Brugsch, Sieben Jahre der Hungerstioih , pp. 129 — 130;
hmigit already Zauberspr. f. Mutter u. Kind., verso 2, 6.

3, 3. Mnh of 'fastening' beads on a thread, ibid, recto 1,3; verso 2, 6: here too the
reference is to costly necklets. — Read "^ f ' f ' "^^^ ^"^1 see the note on 2,4. — irMv®^

sic

|(j^ relative form, for nr^y'=^S[) ; '"'' for A cf ^^^^ |u 3,7 and the formula T|nQ&\^

frequently so written.

3,3-3,4.

mim\ ?jP,TJ^A!ti^,^!]illllll

Forsooth, noble ladies. T/ieir limbs are in sad plight by

reason of {their) rags. Their hearts sinkQ) in greeting [one another}]

3, 4. Snin, see on 2,5, here metaphorically. — Isywt 'rags', again below in 7, i i : either

from 'is'w 'to be old' or from tsy (ekCA.i) 'to be light' or 'worthless'. — Btk, in 9, i determined

ijy "^ , seems to mean something bad; the verbal stem appears in J ^^ J JJ IVeni 29, and in

11^^^^ Totb. cd. Nav. 113, 5; also in some late texts quoted by Br., '^orterb. Supply 463. —

The sense maj- be: noble ladies are now so ill clad that they are ashamed to greet their friends.

^ 2 Gardiner, The Admonitions of an Egyptian Sage.

3,4 3,6.

I nnsix iiAi

I I I ^-B»?sUYi

Forsooth, boxes of ebony are broken up. Precious acacia-wood is cleft asunder

3' 5- Gmgvi transitively 'to tear asunder' of limbs and bones, Pap. Leiden 350 recto 5, ii ;
'to tear up' 'destroy', of papyrus books, on M. K. sarcophagus, Rec. de Trav. 26, 227; intransi-
tively, 'to break' of trees, Shipivrecked Sailor 59.

3,6—3,10.

»iflT-^ik^i.^-u -fifldp- 1\4^,;, rcMiii

Forsooth, the builders \of Pyramids Q) have becotnc] field-labourers. Those who xMre in
the divine bark are yoked together {^). Men do ftot sail northwards to [By bios] today. What shall
we do for cedars for our mummies, 7ciith the produce of which priests are buried, and with the
oil of which [chiefs] are embalmed as far as Keftiu. They come no more. Gold is lacking,

the of all handicrafts is at an end{}). The { > of the king's palace

is despoiled ij) What a great thing it is that the people of the Oases come with their festival
spices Q) zoith fresh redmet -plants of birds

3, 6. This section, together with that which follows, forms the continuation and develop-
ment of the thought first touched upon in the last paragraph (3,4 — 3,6), where the wanton
destruction of precious kinds of wood was alluded to. These costly materials are no longer
replaced by fresh imports; the cedars of Lebanon, so indispensable in the rites of embalmment and
for the construction of the divine barks in the temples, are fetched by the EgAptians from Bjblos
no more, though they are used b\- priests and chieftains as far as distant Crete. The Egyptians
must think themselves fortunate if they still ran obtain the comparatively trivial products of
the Oases.

Tcxl, Translation and ( omnicnlary.

33

After l-chv tlic traces are difficult to read; hpr is rendered likely by tlu- following letter

.=:.; the plural strokes are i)robable, and above them there is some sign like i 1. Perhaps ^

is the right reading; | | does not suit well, for 'to build ships' is in Egyptian usually mdk or
simply irt, but nf)t /</. Tlie sense is not clear: perhaps the 'Pyramidbuilders' and 'those who
were in tiie ilivine bark' are the princes and priests of Eg)pt, who in contrast to the foreign
chieftains and priests mentioned below, are now reduced to the position of field-labourers.

Dpt ntr elsewhere either (i) a mythological ship, cf Pyra7mdtcxts, T 93; Urknndcn IV 366;
or (2) the divine bark used in the temple ceremonies; so often in tomb-formulae where the
deceased man expresses the wish that he may sail therein, or states that he has done so, e. g.
Mission V 545; Brit. Miis. stele 580; Caii-o, M. K. stele 20564. Such divine ships were usually
made of cedar-wood. — - Nlib 'yoked', like oxen to the plough.

3, 7. The conjecture [ p ] >> 1 'Byblos' is due to Sethe, and suits the traces, the

space, and the context quite admirably. It is now well-known that Byblos was the port from
which the Egyptians sought access to the Lebanon; see Sethe, Eine dg. Exped. nach dem Libanon,
pp. 2. 8. — Pzu-lrl (cf. below 3, 13; 4, 6) is the NE writing of the old interrogative particle ptA,
pti, cf. Erman, Aeg. Gramm.^ § 387. — For the spelling of irtti see the note on 3,3; and for
similar phrases, cf 3, 13; 4, 7.

The next two clauses must be taken as relative sentences, in which the suffix of imu-sn and
try in s/t try refer to the word 'sw. This is the explanation adopted by Sethe. I had rejected it
for two reasons, neither of which is convincing; (i) hiw-sti 'their tribute' 'produce' is difficult, if
'their' refers to "^sw 'cedars'; (2) s/i-oW is mentioned in the ancient lists of offering (e. g. Mar.
Mast. C 21 , D47) beside "=^a~sa^" "oS. The metaphor of (1) is indeed hard, but still not
impossibly so. The answer to (2) is that sft is a generic word, and as such may be distinguished
from the more specific expression 'cedar-oil'. But there is no reason why cedar-oil should not
occasionally be called s/f; indeed in the magical papyrus Salt 825, 2, 3 it seems to be specially
so used: the blood of Geb fell upon the ground, and grew; M ^.^^ _^_ O 0 M ^..^ f' \\ "^ m ^^
/>~<^ "^^^ 'thus came into existence the cedar, and from its water the cedar-oil'. In Coptic igc
ncH&e is cedar-wood, and cH6€:ciqi is used for 'cedar-oil' or 'cedar-resin' (see Peyron).

Sdwh 'to embalm" cf ""^f? ^B'^U^^^IS Urkunden IV 538. 913; ^~'^^Q
Pc^>^5, f '^'^ Brit. Mns. stele 378, 9 = Sharpe, Eg. Inscr. I 48. Whether the word
is identical with '„^j in Ebers is uncertain.

3, 8. For the latest discussion of the land Kftiw (here wrongly spelt) see W. Max MuUer,
Mitt. d. Vorderas. Ges., 1904, 2, pp. 13 — 15. — Bd and kn seem to be parallel verbs, though
kn is elsewhere unknown before the New Kingdom. — htyt only here.

3, 9. In kfi Sethe sees the verb 'to be laid waste'; in this case a word must be lost
before nt. Perhaps it would be better to emend yT ' the king's palace is stripped bare .

Sethe is probably right in understanding wr-wy ironically: the products of the Oases were
very insignificant as compared with those of Asia. — Hbyt elsewhere unknown. — Rdmt (often
wrongly transcribed ddmt) cf Harris 8, 4; 27, 11 etc.; Anast. IV 8, 11; and as a product of the

Gardiner. 5

nnnn

nnn

■2 J Gardiner, The Adinuniliuiis ol an Egyptian Sage.

Wady Natrun (A7// limit, reckoned as one of the Oases, 1 )iini., Die Oaseu d. Lib. IVus/e, p. 29),
Eloquent Peasant R 9.

3, 10 i)robabl)' named other articles that came from the Oases.

3,10 3,13.

1 I le !5<=>']l ^^^^1 I 1-^^ (3 ( mp^^*^^^ M.pi I I

Forsootli, Elephantine and jyiinisi^) are [the dominion of}] Upper Egypt ij), {y^f) '^'ithout

paying taxes owing to civil strife. Lacking are grain fj), charcoal.,

The products of craftsmen the palace. To what purpose is a trea-
sure-house without its revenues ? Glad indeed is the heart of the king, when Truth comes to hint 1
L^o, every foreign country \comes}\\ That is our water \ That is our happiness\ What shall we
do .in respect thereof! All is ruin\

3, 10. The translation of the first sentence is that proposed by Sethe. Sm't, as it stands,
is the feminine adjective, and the only suitable substantive that can be emended is itrt. Properly
speaking, the itrt sm t is the old Upper Egyptian palace, the so-called /;--«';■ (.^. Z. 44 [1907], 17)
but since later the expression 'the two itnut' is used as a synonym for 'Egypt' (e. g. Piehl,
Inscr. II 33,5), so here itrt smt might mean 'Upper Eg)'pt'. The sense would then be that the
cicjminion of Upper Egypt is now restricted to the country- between Elephantine and Thinis, which
were, at a certain moment in the XI th. 1 )ynast\-, the actual limits of the kingdom (see Meyer,
Nachtrdgc zur aeg. Chronologic, p. 24). — It is however not quite certain that Tny is to be
understood as Thinis; instead of the expected determinative ©, the Ms. seems to have a ver-
tical stroke.

3, II. \Hi\yt 'civil strife', cf Sinuhc B 7, below 7,6; 13,2. — In \^°\ vft ^^^ should

probably omit W and construe as ab-ive 3, 8. — Irtho possibly a kind of fruit, see Ebcrs 30, 5;
104, 7. — D'bt 'charcoal', see Br. Wortcrb. Suppl., 13S1.

3, 12. Nfr lb. cf below 13, 14; Westcar ^, 14: 12,8. The contrar) is e.xpressed by
c^^_y'^ e. g. ibid. 12, 21; Harris 500, verso i, 5. — The sentence is to be taken, in
agreement with Sethe, ironically; in his poverty the king must feel himself happy, if he
obtain Truth in lieu of tribute. Thus ■ we have a parallel to wi-uy iw IVtku in the last
section (3, 9).

The repetition of is makes it likely that the next clause is also ironical. Perhajjs we should
emend |y^(?l; instead of tribute, every country- comes, i. e. the land is overrun with foreigners.

I'ext, Translation and Commentary. ^c

Mw- H p7ii m?iy be an allusion to tin- phrase 'to be on the water \ '^^^ of someone i.e. subject
to him. .\t all events the first person plural is a comment of the writer.

3, 14. P-cL'-try irt-n rs, cf. above 3, 7. — For zoiw r 'kw cf. below 9,6 and the note on 7, i.

3,13-^3,14.

X ill © oiii

Forsooth^ niirllt has perished, and is \no longer] made. It is groaning that is throughout
the land., mingled with lamentations.

3, 13. Sbt, the old form of cwfee, cf. Shipwrecked Sailor 149; Pap. Leiden 346, 3, i; the
later writings substitute i or /^ for t, e. g. Sail. IS, 11; Piankhi 6; Pap. Bibl. Nat. 198, 2, 5. 6. 11.

3, 14. imt 'groaning' 'grief; as infinitive below 5, 5. 6. Elsewhere known from Metier-
nichstele 56 <=» ^[lT(]^£=:r^ 'she traversed(?) her city groaning'; Pap Leiden 348, verso 1,2;
12, I. 5; ^^(]c=:^e^j 'to grieve', Pap. Turin 135, 12. Possibly too in Sinulie R 11 J^ci

MM4%--k:;±Y '±sik <4.-) s*vg-k>¥:x,^4

O (p I Ci I

a See note p on pl.ite 3.

Forsooth, all dead are like those zuho live{}}). Those who were Egyptiansl>) have become
foreigners^)

3, 14. Hopelessly obscure. — Nty wn, cf. 2, 2 and Millingen 1,7, where Griffith sug-
gested 'the man of importance'.

4, I. This is Sethe's suggestion; rmt as above in 1,9; 3,2. — The last phrase is quite
untranslateable; elsewhere d'lt hr wit means 'to place (someone) on the way' i. e. 'to direct' or
'guide'; cf. Sinnhe 97. 251; Totd. cd. Nav. 75,6.

Forsooth, hair has fallen out for everyone. The son of a tnan of rank is no {longer^
distinguished frofn him who has no such father Q)

4, I. We may have here a reference to the side-lock worn by the children of the wealthy.
— IVSr is conjectured by Sethe. — For si si, see the note on 2, 14. — fwty nf sw is very
unclear; if it is correct we must assume the word 'father' to be understood out of the words si st;
the phrase )wty sw occurs in a vague sense also in other texts, e. g. 1^^^ o t^ Cairo

J

/: GardiQcr, The Admooitions of an I^gyptian Sage.

stele M. K. 20539, 5; Urhmden IV 48; possibly too in -w^ ffi I ~«~« v,!^ Cairo stele

M. A-. 20537; ATtJ?-^^]^^ ^'"- "^^ ^''"- ' '77- However ^'^ZlA^'k '^""''^
be an easy emendation.

Forsooth on account of noise. Noise is tiot lackingi^^.) in years of noise.

There is no end \to\ noise.

4, 2. There is clearly some pla)' upon the word htw here, the point of which is to us
obscure. — For a suggestion with regard to ki see the note on 2,6.

4,2-4,3.

Forsooth, great and small (say : I wish I might die. Little children sayQ): lu ought
never- to have caused (me)- to IweQ}).

4, 2. Wr, the hieratic sign is different to that employed b>- the scribe for sr (e. g. 4, 3);
see Gardiner, Inscr. of Mcs, p. 12, note 9. — After Sr'i we must emend hr or hr dd. — Mt-'i
is perhaps not impossible (see Sethe, Verbum II § i5of), though the infinitive would be preferable,
the subject of nit being already implied in wr-i.

4, 3. Very obscure. I have adopted the interpretation preferred by Sethe; sw here refers
to the father of the children. Another possibility is to understand tm sw elliptically and to read
"^^^[l^TT '^'"^^ children say 'would that it did not exist' concerning life'.

. . . [II (4, 4) ,

(? I

ek^^t1=k°i(5>rt?ST4Y.'

Forsooth, the children of princes are dashed against the walls. The offspring of desire
arc laid out on the high ground. Khnum groans because of hts zueartness.

4, 3. This section is repeated below in 5, 6 with a short additional clause. Both versions
are here given together. — Hytw\ for the strange form cf. below 4,9; ^-^ 4, 1.4; 5, 6; |i^ ^
^\ 5^^^ 6,8. — Nhbt 'neck' is clearly meaningless, and should be rejected in favour of ntit in 5,6;
nht seems to be used in the sense of 'to pra\- for' 'wish for' children already in the Pyramid
te.xts. cf. {y<\ D ^ ffl"'~^'T''^^111 ^^'•6°'- ^" '^"^' '" ^'^^ '^^*^ ^*"-'^^' ^^ ^^'^'^- 923-

Text, Translation and Commentary.

37

^

^ cf. l)clow4,4; 6, 14; 7,8; Abbott 4,3 '(the possessors of tombs) Q^jl^^ a
. .0 ^jN . I are cast out upon the high ground'. In Lebenst>ii(de 59 'burial' is said to be

'that which snatches a man from his house l"^- — °^^'^'^k k^TT ^"^ casts (him) on the
liigh ground' i. e. on the \\\^\\ c^ebei; the resemblance between this and the Abbott passage is suf-
hcientlv close to warrant the identification of the? words kinr and /■i-?. Another instance of the

transition of i to iir (/.■') may possibly occur in the words

.j^

(in the name

ff-m-minr. Pap. jud. Turin 4,9, L. D. Ill iige) and — ^ .^

'■<3>- _Bf^ _M^I I I I

Six Temples 12,12, if these and
Harris 17a, 14 are really derived from 7nii 'to see'; and a third case of the
same kind may well be 'W^'^ iT^^ ^"^ W "m^' ho\!a. of them particles meaning 'would
that'. This change of sound is of course not to be confounded with the class of spellings dis-
cussed by Erman, Znr dgypt. Wortforsckung, pp. 13 — 14.

5, 7. The sense must be: Khnum groans over his wearying exertions in creating children who
are doomed to perish at once. For Khnum as creator of mankind cf. 2,4; and for m/, see 3, 14 note.

\

,^^0

'1)

n

4,4 (= 6,14).

in] ri p I •

[^,TJ'

I

(6, i4)(l^i|lPi

,^"0|

(2 i

kn

aLJ Q (2 I

■ n
III

— " — c:\

ny-ip

^ X I n

O 11

^ el]

o

*^9

^U?'

Forsooth^ those who were in the place of embalmment are laid on the high ground. It is
the secret of the embalmers{^)

4, 4 = 6, 14. — For wbt, see the note on 2,7. — Ditw hr kitir seems to have the same
sense as hi hr k^nr in the Abbott passage quoted above in the note on 4,3.

The second half of the paragraph is probably corrupt. The sense that we might expect
is: the secret art of the embalmers is thereby made useless.

4,4-4,5 (=5,12-5,13).

The next section, beginning with the words \tw m\s nfi ikw, is repeated below in 5,12 foil,
as part of a longer paragraph; its consideration is therefore deferred until we reach that passage.

^i[i]u.6)!l=.M;.ii^i.-^;

G ^

\\ (4, 7;

'\Y.-

°°\^.

? ? >ic

I Q w e ■

;i'

1 @

101

<4'«' ^Yil= S^I^IS^.^ tk^ Wki^v r,^— 'l^i^ii^

58

Gardiner, The Admonitions of an Egyptian Sajjc.

Forsooth^ the Marshlands in their entirety arc not hidden. Loiocr JigypI can boast of

trodden roads. What shall one do} There are no anywhere. People shall surely Q)

say: cursed de{}) the secret place \ Behold, it is in the hands o/Q) those who knew it not like
those who knew it. The Asiatics are skilled in the crafts of the Marshlands.

4, 5. The Marshlands of the Delta, hitherto barely accessible to the Egyptians themselves,
are now opened uj) and (ncrnin by Asiatics, who ha\e made themselves masters in the crafts
of those regions.

4, 6. There is apparently paronomasia between idhw and dg^ytwf and between mh-id and
Ti-inli. — Dg 'to conceal', Sinnhe 4; Prisse 5, 10; the causative sdg is much more common. —

Mtnw hw, either 'trodden' or 'levelled' roads; cf. ^ ^0^,^,^0 ^I^^O^-^T fl^
yy ^^ g "B "^^-^ 'roads that were blocked on both sides are (now) trodden(.')', Urkunden I V 2,^ ^,
kK ll:k^i^^?T^ ^°^hem. Edfoul.s. Piehl, Inscr. II 20..

4, 7. Sethe*s conjecture ^\\\ 1, seems too big for the lacuna. — For w^ r, see the

LI AA/SAAA-J [III]

note on 7, i. — We must read J] A ^ ^is x I '^"^^ secret place'; for this phrase, see below 6,6;
Cairo stele M. K. 20003; Bersheh II 21; Louvre C41; Benihasan 2, 14; and, with a less literal

meaning, Urkunden /F966. — In ^ ^^■['^ ^ -^^^ '^ ^^"^ P\\ (Sethe).

4,8. H7H 'skilled' e. g. Cairo stele M. K. 20539; Urkunden IV 555; construed, as here,
with m, cf. Anast. /, 1,1.

4,8—4,13.

"^ t ilC

III ttk^lTfm-i^Jl ^f^S'^ltii^^]. J^°(4,-)S:i(lT

.1 Ms. *~vw^ [\ I. Ms. >5^ "^ sii ^ Q (] c Ms. 'nrf d ^''- n ,v

Forsooth let citizens beij?) placed over corn-rubbers Q\ Those who were clad in fine linen

are beaten (?) Those who tuver saw the day go forth unhindered Q) Those who

were on the couches of their husbands, let t/uvi sleep upon ^fQ) ^ ■^'y(-^) '*^

is heavy to nie' concerning Q) laden icith nthvoil. Load thcm(r) with vessels filled with

\Let}\ them know the palanquiti. As for the butler, 'wear him out{?r). Good

c d

Text, Translation anil CommcDtiry. 7g

are the remedies thereof. Noble ladies suffer ij) like slave-girls. Musicians are inQ) tlu chambers

within the halls {>). What they sing to the goddess MerlQ) is dirges Q). Story-tellers \^)

over the corn-rubbers.

4,8 — 4,13. This paragraph teems with difficulties, and the interpretation here offered is
put forward with the utmost diffidence. The poim seems to lie in the words good are the
remedies thereof {^,\i — 12), which must hv. ironitally meant, as the next clauses go on to say
that noble ladies S7iffer{}) like slave-girls, the female musicians sing ncuhing but dirges, etc. The
phrase phrt try suggests that some desperate remedy by which the Egyptians might find an
issue out of their afflictions had been proposed — not seriously of course — in the preceding
lines, and the occurrence of an imperative 'nni (4. 10) seems to confirm this hypothesis. Now the
first sentences of the section appear to speak of the degradation of citizens to menial duties, and
there are references to the palanquin, to buders, and to myrrh and spices. Is it not possible that
the general sense ma\- be as follows? However brutally individuals may compel others to cater
to their personal lu.xury, all such striving after diversions is vain and futile; the noble lady cannot
isolate herself from the surrounding misery, and suffers no less than heV maid-servants; even the
singers and storj'-tellers within her halls have no odier theme than the common woe.

4.8. Hnmio is discussed by Griffith in liis note on Pap. Kahun 12,5. ^ J 0 Vr— . '"
Urkunden /K831 is a species of stone; here however it seems, as in some other passages, to
mean the stone upon which female slaves grind corn with the 'corn-rubber'; cf. the statuettes of
female domestics from Middle Kingdom tombs and the similar methods employed in bread-making
that are still practised in Lower Nubia (Garstang, Burial Customs pp. 63 — 64 and 128). In the
magical treadse Pap. Leiden 343 recto 2, 8 (= verso 4, 3) the malady or evil spirit is thus ad-

dest thou (corn) over a corn-rubber, so servest thou over the corn-rubber of P and D\ Simi-
larly Prisse 5, 10: 'A good saying is more hidden than a gem; it is found -^ j 1 i^'. | J r\
\\ci in the hand of female slaves over the corn-rubbers' i. e. among domestics in the lowest
station of life. Note how suitably the preposition hr is used in this connection. Here therefore
it seems to be said that citizens are degraded to the vilest menial duties. Bmvt occurs again
below in 4, 1 3. — Observe that ^ — " is here the passive of the sdmfiorm., not the pseudoparti-
ciple; an action, not a state or condition, is therefore here described, and in accordance with the
view of the passage above suggested 1 venture to translate it as an optative.

4.9. As Sethe points out, hbsy, tmy and 'c<.'ny are imperfect, not perfect, participles; perhaps
they refer to customaq' action in the past — 'those who used to be clad' etc. The meaning of
the first two clauses (those introduced by hbsy and tmy) is not clear. For 2L<ny we ought appar-
entl)- to read the feminine plural.

4, 10. The imperative /;«/', on the view of the general drift above proposed, is virtually
conce-ssive in sense: 'however much those who are on the beds of their husbands be caused (now)

to lie on (i. e. whatever brutal degradation men may inflict on women of rank)

(yet all such) remedies are futile'. No doubt this interpretation is difficult; but it may perhaps be
more easily reconciled with the rest nf die context than Sethe's proposal; he regards this as a wish

,Q Gardiner, The Admoiiilloiis of an Kj^ptian Sage.

of the speaker, who desires such luxury to be done away with. — Sdw, here determined with a
sign that seems to be an imperfectly made ^e*&, has .~jor. as determinative in 7, lo; in both pas-
sages th(-' word is contrasted with linkyt, and <jhvioiisly denotes some less agreable place of
repose, hi 9, i ^^pW| 'waterskin' appears to occur in a similar, though obscure, context.

^^^, as it stands, can only be a commcMit of the speaker: if we accept this view, hvf

dns r) y (for dns r cf. 4,14) must be translated 'it (i. e. this state of affairs) is heavier to me
than' — what follows being a mere elaborate metaphor for a particularly heavy burden. But(i)
such a comment would be insufferably abrupt and cannot be made to fit in with the [)receding
sentence, and (2) it seems far from likely that the mention of 'myrrh' 'vessels' 'palanquin' in a
context clearly alluding to lu.\urious life (cf. 'butlers' 'musicians' 'story-tellers') is merely figurative.

Therefore I should prefer to emend: ^p^ Sr^°^P 'When the say 'It is heavy to

ine' concerning Scha (unknown) laden with %itiw-o\\, (then) load them with vessels full of ;

[let] 'them know (the weight of) the palanquin'. The sense would be: do not spare your servants,
when they complain of the heaviness of their burdens; and this would be another of the 'remedies',
the futility of which is soon to be pointed out.

4,11. A'/z-.f/ would then be an imperative, like hni sdr-sji above, and ijossibh" like /id-SK'
below, hi'/i has two meanings 'to load (a person)' and 'to carry' 'support' a load'. — For 'ndw
cf. Mar. Mas/. 1) 10.41; Ebers 64,6; Cairo stele M. K. 20514.

4, 1 2. On the view here adopted nfr pzo phrt iry is the climax and answer to what
precedes: fine is the cure which such callous luxury brings! Nfr would then be used ironically,
as in 3, 1 2.

"^^^fl'^^ cf. 13,5; in Totb. cd. Nav. 42,22 a[)parently an intransitive verb for 'to suffer'
or the like; ^ (S^e. infirmae) seems to occur in a similar sense in the Pyramidtexts (cf. Sethe,

Vcrdum 1% 265); as substantive 1 "^ Mctternichstele 55; WAAA^■^ Rochem. Edfou I ^2\.2,2.\.

Huyf 'female musicians' c{. JVcstcar 10,1; 11,24. In a Theban tomb {Uri-i/ndo! /F 1059)

«~<AAA *5ja, of Anion and other gods are depicted carrying the w«/V and sistrum, and are therefore

o 1 I I

'musicians', rather than 'dancers' as Erman proposed. — ^ r~l ' ^^- ^i^f^^^^ ' '3- Mclterniclistele 48;
Sail. // 7, 2 ; 11,2.

4, 13. A word <=i' |i occurs in Zanberspr. f. Mutter u. Kind 2,5, but it is difficult to
see what it could mean in this connection. We ought doubtless to emend <=> .^3- ^ , for which
see 7,14 note. — For irtku see the note on 1,8.

l) The transition of me.^ning is interesting: it consists in the conversion of some thing or person more remotely affected by the
meaning of the verb into its object. Simil.ir instances that I have noted are: rffi and vd 'to plant' trees, and 'to plant' gardens with trees;
hn 'to nod' with .approval over something, then 'to approve", /f/ 'to lay bare' something, 'to uncover', then 'to remove' the covering: tiw
'to takeaway' something from somebody, then 'to rob' a person; a;</' ' to divide ', especially 'to decide' a case for somebody, then 'to judge';
<nm 'to feed* someone, then 'to feed upon' something.

Text, Translation and Comnicnlury. *•

Forsooth^ all female slaves are free with their tongues. When their mistress speaks, it is
irksome to the servants.

4.13. Shn m means 'to possess' 'have rights over'; the meaning must therefore be:
female slaves feel themselves at liberty to say wrhat they like.

4.14. Dns r, see above 4,10.

4,14-5,2.

Forsooth, trees are destroyed^}) / have separated him and the slaves

of his house. People will say, when they hear of it: destroyed are cakes ij) for most (J) children.
There is no food Today, like what is the taste thereof today ?

4,14. This passage again is full of difficulties, and there can be little doubt that the text
is corrupt. The first clause has no verb, unless we assume that sk and ivn are pseudoparticiples,
to which the scribe, misunderstanding them, has given wrong determinatives. — Iwd-ni etc. is in
itself a perfectly intelligible sentence, but the pronoun siv lacks an antecedent and the meaning
of the whole context is a riddle, twd is usually construed with (jne direct object and the pre-
position r (e. g. Sinuhe 224; Ebers 108,5; below 12, 11), but the construction with two objects is
also found, cf. Mar. Karn. 37,31; Mar. Abyd. I 7,70.

5,1. Hcl intransitive, or passive, cf. 3,8. 11. — Fki 'cake' e. g. Ebers 17,4; 22,7; 44,2;
Eloquent Peasant /? 1,301. — For hiw followed by a genitive Lange quotes x " W *^

5, 2. Min is probably repeated twice by error. — The metaphorical use of dpt 'taste' for
the taste of evil, death, etc., is by no means rare; cf. below 13,5; Sinuhe .5 23; Anast. VII 1,1.

5,2-5,3.

I

HMil^^,?^-.^.TP±^ \^^Ml^^\ C"IIMIII|(5-3)T

/VS/S/W\

O o2i/i

Forsooth, princes are Imngry and in distress. Servants are served {^)

.... by reason of mourning.

5,2. Sicn 'to be in pain' or the like, cf. below 5,14; Rochem. Edfou 7403,4. The cau-
sative ssivn (in the phrase sswn \b below 11,5; 12,7) is far commoner, and is chiefly employed
of the 'chastisement' of enemies. A substantive swnyt 'pain' occurs in Zauberspr. f. Mutter u.
Kind, recto 3,2.

Gardiner, 6

, _ Gardiner, 'I*hc Admonitions of an fcl^jyptian Sage.

Forsooth^ the hot-headed {>) man says: If I knew where God is, /hen ivould I make offerings
unto him.

5, 3. Tiw thus used, only here; Prisse seems to have in a similar sense f=)^^ll
11,5 and n^^ n I '-'3- — '^ seems impossible to suggest an a[>propriate reading for the
indistinct signs that follow Ir, yet there can be little doubt as to the meaning of the section as
a whole, especially as the particle /6^ is elsewhere found introducing the apodosis of a conditional
sentence, e. g. Pap. mag. Harris 7, 2; d'Ordiney 8, 5. — Tn, in Coptic Tom, again below 12,5.
— trt, here 'to make offerings' (Lange, Sethe); the verb occurs in this sense not only in the
phrase Irt Iht, but also elsewhere, e. g. Urkunden /F123.

5,3-5,4.

L

Forsooth., \Right}] is throiighojit the land in this its name. What men do. in appealing
to it, is Wrong.

5,3. The rendering of this passage is suggested to me by Sethe; he understands m rn-st
pivy to mean .„dem Namen nach\ The sense obtained is good; but the traces shown by the
facsimile after hv ms do not seem to suit the conjecture Mi t.

5,4-5,5.

^PiP J^-f,Q^^1^?-llB,TIII (s. 5) -flV^^^li

e CI

Forsooth, runners robber. All his property is carried off.

5.4. The first part of this section is hopelessly corrupt. — Shsw cf. Israel stele 5.

5.5.

Willi nY?iP,T.-k^^ ==-fe)iTfl=¥i^p^:r,n:

Forsooth, all animals, their hearts weep. Cattle tnoan because of the state of the latui.

5.5. For the writing of \^^\^ cf. below 15, 14; A. Z. 43 (1906) 35, 7; 37,17. — The
metaphorical use of rmy with 'ib 'heart" is ver\- curious. — For mit see the note on 3,14.

5.6 5,7.

This section = above 4,3 — 4 with a brief addition. It lias been dealt with above p. 36 — 7.

5.7 5,9.

r I >l I I

¥L--:i^'^>^^^''^im\t:?^t^.^ <i™^k^p±fti:;ii

43

Text, Tra,ns1atioii and Co mmcntary.

a Ms.

Forsooth^ terror slaysij). The timid man says^f): your enemies. Few

are Is it by following t/te crocodileQ) and cleaving it asunder}

Is it by slaughtering the lion, roasted on the fire} Is it by sprinkling^?) Ptah

wherefore that you give to hijn} ItQ) does not reach him} It is misery^)

that you give to him.

5, 7. Here again the suggested renderings can serve no other purpose than to display
the grammatical structure of the sentences, and to convey some slight impression of the subject
with which they deal. It is possible that the greater part of the section may not consist, as the
translation implies, of the words of the timid man; the speaker may be addressing his audience directly,
and scoffing at their inability to cope with their enemies. — S'd., in parallelism with sndw., is
probably the wrong, but by no means uncommon, spelling of // 'terror'. — For nd twt cf. the
equally obscure expression nd hprw-sn in 13,1.

5, 8 — 9. We have here three rhetorical questions of like construction following the scheme
hi iw m (infinitive) n (substantive). Sethe suggests that hnti may be the rare word for 'crocodile'
known from Lcbcnsmu.de 79; Pap. Leiden 350 recto 3, 19. — For wot see Erman's note on West-
car 8, 17. — For """^ IP of ^^ ^^^- ^^ vc\vl?,x. clearly read '^f'r^ (Br. Worterb. S70).

5,9. ind 'calamity' 'misery' cf. below 6,8; Metternichstele 56. 234; the causative stnd.,
Lebensmiide 57.

a Ms. ^\ b Perhaps nothing lost.

Forsooth, slaves {}) throughout the land. The strong man sends Q) to

all people. A man strikes his brother [the son) of his mother. What is to be done}

ruin.

5,.o. Cf. ui..s„m ,0; \\~? ^■^^wL'i^^w ±i\^m

Whether our text borrows from Lebensfniide or vice versa, or whether both have taken the phrase
from some other literary' composition, may be disputed; but it is obviously necessar>' to emend
one or the other. In favour of hiw being the more correct reading it might be argued that
the intrusive b in hib is due to the proximity of bw-nb. But in other passages the antithesis to
sf is nht and not nht hr (see Erman's note on the Lebensmiide text) and hib may be under-
stood as 'to send for help'. The question must be left open.

, , Gardiner, The Admonitions of an Kuyptiiii Sage.

44

Sn-f H mt-f d. Westcar 12,13; •>"«''■/ " vit-f. Abydos\\\\i. The crime here spoken of
was a particularly heinous one, for in all lands where relationship is counted on the mother's side
(Egypt represents the transitional stage), specially close ties exist between a man and his maternal
brothers and uncles. — Isst pw tryt, compare the analogous phrases above 3,13; 4,7.

5, I 1. It is tempting to emend "^^^^^^f"^ ('^f- 3' '3) ^^ ^ comment of the speaker.

5,11-5,12.

AA/V^A

a Ms \^ b Ms. vft

Forsooth, the ways are The roads are giiaided. Men sit ozrr the bushes tintil

the benighted [traveller) eomes, in order to plunder his burden. What is upon hint is taken away.
He is belaboured with blows of the stick, and slain zvrongfully.

6, I I. H^zvy, if correct, must be a nisbe-ioxm from h-i'dy 'night' meaning the traveller who
returns home in the night-time; else the suffix of Hpw-f would be left without an antecedent.

5,12. The latter part of the section, from nlpn onwards, is repeated below in 13,5. —
Hnm only here in this sense; it is perhaps the verb 'to smell" metaphorically used. — M nf,
cf. below 11,3; 13,5; Rekhmere 10,18; Shiptvreckcd Sailor 149.

Ms.

Forsooth, that has perished, which yesterday was seetiQ) Tlu land is left oi<er to its

tvearitiessQ) like the cutting of flax. Poor men are in affliction

Would that there might be an end of men, no conception, no birth\ O that the earth would cease
from noise, and tumult be no morel

'Vc\t, Translation and Commentary. . -

5.12. For the first part of the section we possess a duplicate in 4,4 — 5, here given in
the lower line of the bracketed text.

5.13. The second clause has some resemblance to Lebensmude 121 — 123; 'To whom do

I speak today; :;^ r> ^^^ %, f ,^, 7T n® ^ ^ "^ m ^ P "T .1*1 'here are no just men, the land
is left over (lit. 'remains') to wrongdoers'". The sense would here be: the land is left over to
its weariness(?), as desolate as a mown field. The comparison fits in well with the first clause,
where it is said that the old order of things, visible only a day ago, has perished. It is however
somewhat difficult to take mii as a passive participle referring to nf^^ from which it is separated
by the predicate ikzv; if this be felt to be too hard a constmction, \^\ may be emended for
I and nfi ^kiv divided from what follows. The translation would then run: 'The old order
has perished. He who sees the dawn [hd-li)^ the occasions of his weariness(r) are like the cutting
of flax' — this being taken as the type of a fatiguing occupation. On the whole the former
interpretation is to be preferred, supported as it is by the Lebensmude passage. — Gnu 'to be
slack' 'weak'; a substantive gmvt is not elsewhere known. — Wh^ 'to cut' corn, or 'to hew'
stone, is a triliteral verb; wliH in 4,5, if infinitive, must be wrong.
5, 14. For swn see the note on 5,2.

^' '■ b 0 (2/^^11 ''^"'""''^ 'uproar', an abstract word expressing the contrary of litp

(Br. Worlerb. Suppl. 934 — 5); it is already found in the Pyramidtexts e. g. P 662; cf hrw hnnw

below 12, 13; Pap. Leiden 346, 2,8. The nomen agcntis 'brawler' is similarly written e. g. Pyratnid-

texts 7^245. For the determinative "m see the note on Hpiv 1,2.

6,1-6,3.

Forsooth, [men eat] herbs, and wash {them) down with water. No fruitQ) nor herbs are

found \for the birds is taken away from the mouth of the swine

hunger.

6.1. Men are reduced to eating the food of animals, so that nothing is left over for the
latter. — After iw ms there is a blank space, in which we must restore wnmtw. Wnm is
frequently construed with m in the Pyramidtexts and the religious literature; elsewhere the direct
object is usual. — ^w, always followed by w, means 'to wash down' food with a licjuid, and
frequently occurs together with ivnm e.g. /f^^rj 4, i i. 16. 2 i ; 38,2.

6.2. Kiy, doubdess the word ^^k'^m "'^ ^'^ Ebers papyrus, the product of several
kinds of tree. — Before ^pdio we must clearly emend either n for' or 'tn 'by'. — The last
clause is utterly obscure, and very probably corrupt.

l) So I prefer to translate: Erman renders ,Die Erdc ist ein Kail von Cbeltatern".

1^ Gardiner. Tlic Admuiiitions of :m Egyptiau Saf^c.

6,3 6,5.

b

Si

MPi-.n^^^t?i-- m\mMih^\z^\^o\^r

/W\^V* /Vt/VW^

I n

a The traces suit this reading. b Ms, inserts «/ before mrht. c Ms. ^-3] 1 d Ms. O

I

Forsooth, gram has perished on every side. {People) are stripped of clothes, spices {}) and
oil. Everybody says: there is none. The storehouse is ruined. Its keeper is stretched on the grotoid.

It is no{>) happy thing for my heartQT) Would that I had made my

voice [heard) at that motnent, that it might save me from the pain in which I aviij)

6.3. .S7/ rt' here perhaps 'stripped', either impersonally and passive, or some words being
lost before it. — _^ 'o^'^ 1^ Ydl I I °'^'^"''^ often in Ebers as a product of the Nubian district
i)t Mdi\ possibly some kind of spice.

6.4. The suffix of siivf demands that the plural strokes of wdi should be omitted.
From m sm onwards the text becomes very obscure. Probably it was a comment of the speaker.
— Syn is an old word for 'deed' or 'event' and occurs in the phrases sm nfr and sm 'i, see
Erman's note, Die Sphinxstele, p. 5. So here sm mr — for the writing of the old word V\

\t\ see A. Z. \\ (1904), 76 may be an equivalent for the phrase sp mr "happy event' that

is found Siui Tf,^; Brit. Mus. 581 = Sharpe, Eg. Inscr. 11 83. If this be so ~^ should be emen-
ded in place of m.

6,5-6,6.

a Ms. apparently d

Forsooth, the splendidij) judgement-hall, its rvritings arc taken away. Laid bare is the
secret place that was [such formerly}}).

6,5. ^j— ] occurs below in hpw nw ((P r- 1 6, 10; and in /rnP^n 6, 12, where it stands
in parallelism with J ^^ m\. — . ] . In the two later passages the meaning 'judgment hall '

seems necessary, and it is not unsuitable also here. We may further compare Pap. Leiden 347, 1 2, i i ;

'If this book be read he (the reader) hungers not, and tliirsts not, 0 -^ <=>^

r— ,_(L-[j^ ^ cp ^^ 1 SA ' Q ^;j. "^-^ he does not enter into the law-court, he does not come forth
judged from it; (]<=> p -'^ >^^=_ <=> ^ ^ 4-. CD *^^~^ V^^^I'dl) if (however) he enters into

the law-court, he comes forth acquitted.' The suffix of j-i'w-y"(6,6) shows that the preceding word

Text, Irinslation anil (ommentary.

47

(^[^ is masculine and therefore probably to be. read hat, a supposition which is confirmed by
the paronomasia with hnii in 6, i o. It thus seems necessary to distinguish /^ [7^ '" ""J"" pai^iynis
from the feminine ^ ^=t Rekhmerc 2, 14, where the context points to the meaning Mawcourl'
or 'prison'; the latter significance seems required by !^ r-\ '" Wesicar 'i,\'^ for which compare

ilic ver)' late writing ® fl^fl in a similar passage Petrie, Koptos 20a 8. It ai)i)ears that in the
writing ^i^ the Egyptian scribes inextricably confused several words derived from rmh £)
'in front of and ^/S^^l|£)^ 'to hold back'. An examination of the examples collected for the
Berlin 1 )ictionar)- shows the problem to be highly complex, and it must here suffice to quote a
few examples of (fp3i from elsewhere, disregarding several other words possibly related but
differently spelt, such as rW\ '=^ 'hall', etc. Thus we have ^^ (i) probably meaning 'fortress'

ic-zi
or 'stronghold' Hat-Nub graffiti \, a,, 8,9; Louvre Ci; Urkundcti /F184. 758; (2) in dta

o

Amcnemheb 45; (3) in ^^ CI Cairo stele M. K. 20023, which in spite of the variant

"^n ibid, (also Florence 1543.2506; Vienna 66) seems to contain a word elsewhere written
^ , since (4) the frequent title ^ ^~vw^ ^ ra , usually so written e. g. Cairo stele M. K. 20360. 20477
{wr qualifies the whole of what precedes cf ragPa^ — p^ ibid. 20322), is given in his tomb to
a man who in Pap. Cairo 18 bears the tide fft'^(iPn[^ cf A. Z. 28 (1890), 65; and in (5)
J n Rckhmere 11, which similarly 7nay be identical with 5^^111 Ber shell \ 27; Vienna 62.
As illustrating the confusion of the verbal stems hnr and hnt it may be added that n 'harim'
(N. K. only), which doubdess (cf. the variant E_n Horemheb decree^ contains the old word
® *^^^ J — 'women of the harini' (e. g. Deir el Gebrawi \\ 7) is written in the papyrus from

Gurob Pap. Kahun 39,33 '"? fWl ^ \\ -9 ^^ ,f ■ ■ — ^'"*^^ <^n ''^ ^'5 '^ masculine ^^Cl must
be read, though the letter ■=> is made small like <^\ see the note on 2,4.

6,6. St sti{t\ see above on 4,7. — Wnt, if correct, can only mean 'which (formerly)
was {Stit)\ an extremely unnatural and doubtful use.

6,6-6,7.

i

Forsooth, magical spells are dimilged. SmincantationsQ) and shn-incantationsQ) are fru-
stratedQ) because they are remembered by men.

6, 6. This passage affords the direct proof that in Egypt magic, as such, was by no means
regarded as a forbidden art. It was only when magic was used for illegal purposes, as in the
case described by the Lec-Rollin papyri, that it became punishable; in such instances it was the
end, and not the means, that incurred the penalties of the law.

48

Gardiner, The Admonitions of an Egyptian Sage.

Smw, sknw, possibly particular species of incantations beginning witli the words ^-^ ^|\ J\
and O {\ (cf. FD^^dll)' however only mentioned here.

6,7. Snhi the causative of a rare word nhi (cf. nhil-ib 12,3) meaning 'contrary' 'per-
verse' and hence perhaps 'dangerous'; see Br. Wlh-lcrb. 793; Suppl. 689. The causative again
only Pap. Turin 133, 13, where Isis, having induced Re to tell her his name, says to Horus;

l!I'S'^£yi¥l'^S^f'©"^l5§ '^ ^^"^ frustrated(?) him by a divine oath(r) - a very
obscure sentence. Here one may hesitate between two interpretations: (i) incantations are 'made
dangerous' because people repeat them; magic has always the tendency' to be employed for evil
ends, and is therefore best confined to a small number of professional practitioners; (2) incanta-
tions are 'endangered' or 'frustrated' because so often repeated. This is perhaps the more likely
meaning: mysterj' is of the essence of magic, and incantations too generally bandied about must
perforce lose something of their efficacy.

6,7-6,8.

a Kxtremely uucertain ; see note k on plate 6.

Forsooth, public offices are opened and (their) census-lists are taken away. Serfs become
lords of serfs Q).

6,7. For ^t' 'public office' ^diwan see Newberry, /'r^'^r. 5. i?. -(4. 2 2, 99 foil.; the word being
masculine, the suffix of ivpwt-s must be wrong. Read h^w and wpwt-sn. — JVpwt 'specifications'
'schedules', technically used of the 'census-lists' made of people's households. See Griffith's note
on Pap. Kahun 9, 2. The destruction of such lists would naturally result in slaves claining an

independence to which they were not entitled. — ^S*!!]^^^ doubtless a periphrasis for the

common ^^ ^iS 'serfs'.

6,8. The reading ^S is very uncertain; at all events it is meant that serfs usurp a
position which legally is not theirs.

6,8.

w

X Ms. ; the same corruption below 9, 8.

oil'

Forsooth [-officials] arc slain, and their writings arc taken aii.<ay. Woe is vie

because of the misery in this titne\

6,8. For the form of the pseudoparticiple smim-{tw\ see the note on 4,3. — Ind,
see on 5,9.

Text, Translatioii and Commentary. •_

6,8-6,9.

Forsooth, the scribes of the tmi(m\ their writings are destroyed. The cornQ) of Egypt
is common property.

6,9. Shv nw tmi{m), similarly spelt out Rekhmere 3,2,6; a scribe who later 'reckoned the
corn in Upper and Lower Egypt' previously bore the title ^^ — ^s=>^/^i Brit. Mus. 828; so
too we must read the title |iravww> . n Leiden V 3 (the same man is 'overseer of fields'): Cairo

^t-^^l ^""^^^^Jiii (together with 'overseers of fields')
Rekhmere 3,18. Though these officials have clearly to do with agriculture, yet the determinative
31 makes it difficult to connect tmiini) with tmi{m) 'sack (of corn)' (e. g. Harris 53a 14); nor is
it probable that it has anything to do with tmi{m) 'mat' (e.g. Westcar 7,15; Capart, Monu-
ments 1 30). — Dr, of writings, cf. Petrie, Koptos 8, 7.

The reading "^nht is not quite certain, and no such word seems to occur at an early date;
cf. however "?■ '.'t^ in the Ptolemaic texts, e. g. Mar. Dend. I 18; II 42b. — The expression hii-i
intw-ni occurs below 10,3 in a ver)' similar context, and is evidently a proverbial phrase like our
'common property' 'dirt cheap'. The original meaning 'I go down, there is brought to me' doubt-
less conveyed the miance 'I have only to go and help myself. The facility with which the
Egyptians coined such phrases and employed them as simple substantives is surprising. I have
quoted several examples Rec. dc Trav. 26,14; see too below 6,12 pr-hif.

6,9-6,11.

?

a Ms. inserts m before ma. h Ms. ^

Forsooth, tlu laws of the judgement-hall arc cast forth. Men walk upon {them) in the
jmblic places. Poor men break them up (r) in the streets.

6,10. |/p| — |, see the note on 6,5. — Diw r hnt only here; for the meaning assigned to

r hnt some support may be found in the expression ^-^ a <=> ym\ \ ■ which means ' to go
out' in Lebensmiide 82. 131; r hit in Shipwrecked Sailor 66 is quite obscure.

The reading *^ R 'on account of it' gives no sense; possibly we should emend hr-sn,
referring to hp2u and understand smt hr-sn literally 'walk upon them'; with this emendation the
second and third clauses become parallel. — Iwyt 'c|uarter' of a village or town; see Spiegelberg,

1) This sign is only approximately correct.

Gardiaer.

so

Gardiner, The Admouitioos of ait Kgypliaii Sage.

Rcchmmgen p. 55 — 6. Hitliertcj the word was unknown before the N. K; it occurs however in an
unimblished magical text of the Middle Kingdom from the Ramesseum.

Ng (3ae infirmae) 'to break open', rf Eloquent Peasant Ji 1,277; Pap. Kalutn 28,42;
Berlin 13272 = A. Z. 36 (1896), 25. The construction witli m is elsewhere unknown; should we

read „ ^R ?

6ii X I I I I

6, II. Mr I., or more properly tnrrt [p (^Siut IV 31) means 'street' or the like;

cf. below 6, 13 and Erman's remarks A. Z. 39 (1901), J48. A particularly clear instance is
Sail. II 5,4 = Quibell, Hieratic Ostraca 76; 'the barber betakes himself t\ LTlr— ]<=> ^^r~\

from street to street to seek whom he may shave'; see too Diimichen, Baugcscliichte 39. M linw
tnrrt in an obscure context Eloquent Peasant B i , 300. The reading of the Ms. ^ f! *K\ n ]

is due to the misunderstanding of tht; determinative P or |j~l (the latter already Benihasan I 44)
by the scribe. As in ^rco^ below 8,2 and /tn 8, 11, he has substituted u for the unfamiliar sign;
then, reading this /i, he has added the jjhonetic complement ,'; the spelling thus obtained is the

exact counterpart of °^?X^^5'^| ^^^ ^"l' 5. '3; -^ P ??*> ]l ff"" »'V 6,4; similar writings

occur elsewhere in N. K. papyri, cf. A. Z. ^\ (1904), 76. In 6, 13 however, if m\ reading of
the traces be correct, Lf] has been properly retained.

6,11.

n

Forsooth, the poor man lias come to the estate {}) of the divine Ennecui. That [Jornur)
procedure of the houses of the Thirty is divulged.

6,11. The first clause perhaps means that through the publicity now given to the legal
code poor men presume to sit in judgement like the gods themselves. — M'biyt; note the writing
with b, which is conclusive as to the reading of the word. Cf. M|yn(|(]<:3 ^ ^^0^^^^

fp ^ "^ ^ -^-^ (epithet of the Vizier Nebamon) R. /. i¥. 4 7 ; 4) ^ ^ ^ Cairo stele M. A. 205 39 ;
and the obscure passages Totb. ed. Nav., 125,14; Totb. ed. Budge 115,6. This evidence is suffi-
cient to establish the connection o{ mb^yt with the frequendy mentioned officials called 'the Thirty'
nrfi"!^, whose judicial character is rightly emphasized Br. Worterb. Suppl. 927 — 9 and Maspero,
Et. Egypt. II 197 — 201. Maspero (1. c.) points to the late colouring of the account given by
Diodorus 1,75, who describes the supreme tribunal of Kg)pt as consisting of three boards of ten
judges chosen from the three cities of Heliopolis, Thebes and Memphis; and he therefore refuses
to regard this tradition as anything but romance. For Maspero n in mb^yiv and tn'b^yt has nothing
to do with the sense of those words, but has a purely syllabic \alue. This view is difficult to
accept; it seems far more probable that a court of thirty members did exist in Kg\|Jt at some
early period, and that the account given b\- Diodorus contains a reminiscence of it, though in
describing it he is guilt)- of anachronisms. Nor is it impossible that the titles 'great of the Ten of
Lower Egypt' and 'great of the Ten of Upper Egypt' (see A. Z. 44 I1907I, 18) are in some way
connected with this tribunal of Thirtv, though in what manner we have no means of ascertaining--

Text, Translation and Commentary. > .

6,12.

Forsooth, the great judgement-hall is thronged (^). Poor vien come and go in the Great Houses.

6,12. For (JPn see the note on 6,5. — Pr hi-f lit. 'he goes out and in' must be an
expression analogous to hii-t tntiv-nl that was discussed above in the note on 6,9; its meaning
here is apparent from tin- context. Slight!)- different in Urkunden IV 387 'I consecrated their
temples J=i ^\ ^ y^ ' LJ ,^^,^ (^so that they were) provided with throngs of people (.-') '.

Smt iyt, cf Benihasan 144,2. — Hwt wryt elsewhere only in tides like that of the Vizier
^^ . The si.x 'Great Houses' appear first in the 5th. Dynasty {A. Z. 28 [1890], 48),

on

and though still mentioned in such titles as late as the New Kingdom (e. g. Rekhmere 4) had
doubtless fallen into disuse long before that period. ^

6,12-6,14.

J (6,,3) ^p.^jii.ai\^^s,pnj Tiir]»i "I

^?kj^z.n=,i r:--TrM:-<'>.'4){kr-

a For the reading of the Ms. see note o on pl.ite 6.

Forsooth, the children of princes are cast out{}) in the streets. He who knows says it is
so. He who is ignorant says no. He who docs not kno^v it., it is good in his eyesQ).

6,12. The whole of this passage occurs in a corrupt and somewhat different version in
the Instructions of Amenemhct I. The text as given by Griffith, A. Z. 34 (1896), 48 is here
quoted in extenso for purposes of comparison: —

MiUinia. yijl||lej^,| I

^1 ltZ-TrP°P-'^ktl

5- l'\h^,'--rZ.t:'^1lV¥4.\.tl

In spite of all differences of detail it is easy to recognize that the quotation from the
Instructions is essential!)- the same as the section 6, 12 — ^6, 14 in our ])apyrus. The literar)- question
raised thereby has been discussed in the Introduction [). 3.

6,13. Mrt, see the note on 6, 11. — I^QA ''^ ^^V Y^^ ''■'' ^'cb, c{. Louvre C 218;
Sail. Ill 10,4; similarly |l®^ d' Orbiney 19,5 and Erman's note A. Z. 29 (1891), 59; hence

the concessive particle jl'? gft y-^. Z. 43 (1906), 42.

7*

r 2 G.irdincr, The Adinonilioiis of :iii Kgyptian S.igc.

AI biit was conjectured l<j mean 'no', thouj^li on somewhat scant) e\idcnce, in my Inscription
of Mes, |). 1 8, note 34. Besides the jiresent conclusive passage, other instances are now forth-
coming, in .III interesting mythological text hitherto overlooked (/•«/. Turin 134,6 — 135,6) Seth
tries to prevail iqion Horus to reveal his true name. Horus re])lies witli all manner of ridiculous

an-swers, to which .Stith always retorts ^x^ 10^.^ QA J, ¥jx ,-^ 'no. t^hou art not' — repeat-
ing the name that Horus has mentioned. Finally Seth abandons his (juestionintj in despair. M bi^t
further occurs after 'he says' or the like in several New Egyptian texts: an unpublished letter
from Gurob (Petrie Collection); Louvre Ostracoii 697; Pap. Turin 92, col. 1,2. See too ^\ jOSA

in fibers, and Schafer's interesting comments in A. Z. 42 (1907), 132 — 3.

As the text stands, a distinction is made between ( i ) the man who knows and admits the
fact that the children of princes are cast out in the streets, (2) the ignorant man who denies it,
and (3) the man who does not know of it, and is indifferent to its truth or falsehood. While
possible, this interpretation is not quite easy; the distinction between (2) and (3) is trivial and

artificial. It is therefore possible that we should read \ -j^-. _ with Millingen — a far

better text than our Leiden papyrus. In this case we should have to translate: 'The ignorant
man says no because he does not know it; it is fair in his eyes', i. e. his ignorance makes things

seem to him quite in order. Perhaps too [) s> '^^ of Millingen is preferable to .^3- JI in the

Leiden text; 'it is emj)t}', meaningless' instead of 'fair, good'.

6,14 (4,4).

The section 6,14 = 4,4 above, and has already been translated and annotated on p. 37.

7.1.

I I E

Behold, the fire has mounted up on high. Its burning goes forth against the enemies
of the land.

7,1. From here until 9,6 the beginning of each new paragraph is marked by the words
mitn or mitn is, these words replacing the formula iw vis that served a like purpose from i , 9
to 6,14. Between mitn and mitn is there is no difference of meaning beyond the slight shade

of greater liveliness imparted by the enclitic is. The use of tiie plural »iitii instead of V\

is an indication that a number of persons are here addressed, a point that is later confirmed by
the plural imperatives hdw and sikiw and by the use of the pronoun of the second person plural
on the tenth and eleventh pages.

Unlike the sentences that precede and follow we have in 7, i a reflexion of a more general
kind'. The 'fire' referred to must be an image for the accumulated evils previously described
with such wealth of detail. So terrible has the conflagration become, that even now it is on the
point of consuming the 'enemies of the land' to whose agency it is due. Ominous words, quite
in the spirit of Hebrew prophecy!

i) On this sentence see the Introduction, p. 8, note 3.

Text, '['ranslatioti and Ciimmeiilary. Cl

H^'i >■ occurs often in our paj)\riis, and parlicularU otUtn on its seventh pag(;, 1 take this
opportunity of discussing its idiomatic use. A large number of examples are collected by Breasted,
{Proc. S. J>. A. 23,239 foil.) who jjroposcs to translate 'to be about to' 'to begin with'; thougli
as ho himself admits, cases (jccur where neitiier rendering is vttry suitable. What Breasted ap-
pears to have overlooked is that in almost all the instanc(;s <juoted by him the reference is to
the occurrence of something e7ii/. The onh' unequivocal exception known to the Berlin Dictionary

is Totb. ed. Nav. 30b; 'This chapter was found by Hardief, wiio found il ^jx ■/f)'^^ ■=*

1(] i when he was about to hold an inspection in the temples'. Everywhere else the

notion of a logical development in a wrong direction, deterioration^ is present in a greater or

less degree. In some instances the physical movement seems to be uppermost in the thought of

the writer, as in Breasted's instance no. 16 'the troops of the jjrince of Naharina .

had come to fight with his Majesty'; more metaphorically no. 7 'this road which C]i=s^<:=:>\^

\!l tv;^ becomes narrow' i. e. grows narrower the farther one proceeds along it. In other
examples the idea of movement is restricted to a minimum, as in instance no. i ^ "^^SO J'j
■^t^^ *5=2 <:3> M <=> ^, A^ *^ cz^D 'an evil thing has come to pass in this ti;niple', where Breasted
translates, to my mind wrongly, 'a bad thing is about to happen in this temple'. Quite con-
clusive are such instances as no. 10 (cf. 11 — 13) (1 [I o -'i^ ^,.vw, y vi ^ i^pS <=> 1 ^r, 'his Majesty
found (the temple) gone to ruin', clearly not 'beginning to go to ruin'. In these and many other
cases the sense of deterioration, harmful development, seems alone to be connoted by wi. From
this constant association of w.^ with words of evil import must be derived the curse exemplified
in *5^^^^ '(perdition) befall his name', Petrie Koptos 8, 5; ^ ^ ^ i^ '^ 15a <;r=. 0 '
"do not swear (.'): 'perdition befall his Majest)''" Sinuhe 74; and "^ ^ ^'^^V^^'^*^
V 1 1 "he who shall speak evil saying: 'may her Majesty fall (into perdition)'" Dcir el Bahari b\, 16.
This usage is probably the origin of the Coptic •xi-ota. 'blasphemare'. The instances of wi r
contained in our papyrus are difficult, but may be e.\plained at least in part in the light of what
has been said above. Here in 7, i the 'fire' is regarded as something disastrous; whence the idio-
matic employment o'i zu^. A curious impersonal use is found in several passages; in wi r ik 3, 13;
9,6; wi r sSwi 7,2; zui r sb't 7,3; wi r hbi 15,1; quite normal on the other hand are wi r
Swt 7,2; W'i r hkrw 9, i with preceding nominal subject; so too the obscure wUi r sl-mw in 7,4.

W^ r st-Sti{t) in 4, 7 is perhaps an example of the curse.

@ J , (1 occurs in the Ebers for a 'burn' 'Brandwunde', but is not known elsewhere in
the abstract sense 'burning'. — Hfliw ti, cf. 9,6.

7,1-7,2.

<2>
U_j_i.ll Qi I I

vi-fi\i^ ^ni7,^)]zM-i

'**»*^

y

^

Behold, things are done, that have never happened for long time pasHJ): the king has been
taken azuayi^) by poor men.

54

Gardiner, The Ailmoiiitions of a» Kjjyptian Sage.

7, I. The construction ol tlu: lirst two clauses is strange, and tlic proposed rendering is
not beyond suspicion. — For/?, see my forthcoming article in A. Z. 45. — ^ *K\ ^r as adverb
of time, cf. Deir el Bahari ^^^(^, L. D. Ill 140c, 6, in both examples with sr 'to decree'.

For id we may hesitate between the renderings 'is educated' and 'is taken away'. The
following sections suggest thai ihi; latter alternative should be given the preference; perhaps here
already the reference is to the robbery of royal tombs.

7,2.

Behold, he who ivas buried as a hawk is What the pyramid concealed is be-
come empty.

7, 2. AW in b'lk i. e. ol course the king, whose comparison to a hawk is too common to
need illustration: the death of the king is described as 'flying to heaven' Sinuhe R 7; Ur-
kunden IV 58. 896; J Orbiney 19, 3. — ^fdt possibly a 'bier', to judge from the determinative (here
not quite accurately reproduced) in the only other instance that we have of the word: this is in
the Theban tomb of Intf-ikr, where among the scenes depicting the burial ceremonies men bear-
ing a kind of chest on their shoulders may be seen; tho accompanying words are as follows:

^^^ i) 'ily I c^^nO?^. Without altering the te.xt we might now render: 'He who

was buried as a hawk is (now) a (vacant) bier"; but this meaning is strained and not ven,- probable.

In the second half the section 'that which the Pyramid concealed' may be, as Sethe points
'>ut, the sarcophagus: but such a periphrasis would be harsh and artificial in the extreme. Should
we emend \\ c^^n 'the hidden chamber of the Pyramid'.' In either case we might expect
Witt instead of tvi.

Thus much at least i.s clear: the passage refers to the robber)' of royal tombs. It is the
earliest known allusion to this theme, of which the later history of Egjpt has so much to tell;
see the interesting account given in the introductory chapter of Newberr)' and Spiegelberg's Ex-
cavations in the Theban Necropolis.

I I ll <=> I I I

Behold, a few lawless men, have ventured to despoil the land of the kingship.

7,2. On the impersonal and deprecator)- use of wi see the note on 7,1. — Sswi pro-
perly 'to render poor' 'to impoverish'; cf. 9,6 and the note on 2,4.

7,3-7,4.

.^fflVSPJ^1J,fer^Ml^r^o^(ira^(7,4)

n n

Behold, men have ventured to rebel against the Uracils, the of Re. which pacifies

tlu two lands.

Text, IrinsLition and Commi-ntary.

55

7,3. Wf, see on 7,1. — Instead of s/ir, that could only be construed as an attribute
of Re, we should doubtless read 0(111^^ ^ . agreeing with /'rV.

iiiiaaD

ra

A^^AW

.1 Ms

Behold^ the secret of the la?i(t, whose lunits wei-e unknozuit^ is divulged. The Residence is
overturned in a minute.

7,4. For the passive participle hnun see Sethe, I'erbum II § 927. — Hn should obviously
be emended to whn., the primitive sense of which is 'to overthrow a wall' (so Totb. ed. Nav. 169,6);
the verb does not seem to be found intransitively used, so that probably the sdmw-f form ivhn-f
should be read.

7,4-7,5.

Behold., Egypt has come to pour out zoater. He who poured zuater on the ground, he has
captured the strong man in misery^.}).

7, 4. Sethe points out tliat this section, as it stands, is susceptible of the above trans-
lation. — Styt mw always means 'to pour water' as an offering (for Pa/ieri (),^2 see Sethe's
note Urkunden IV 123) and this may have been regarded as a servile action.

7, 5. The second clause may be corrupt, as the literal translation )ields no satisfacton-

sense, ti a '^~^~^ looks like a gloss (Lange).

7, 5-7, 6.

3| I I

flfl^jii^riS

Behold, the Serpent is taken from its hole. The secrets of the kings of Upper and Loiver
Egypt are divulged.

7, 5. Krht is an interesting word, the meaning of which has not been duh" appreciated
hitherto. It is clearly the spirit of a place or a family, conceived of in the form of a serpent
(///// is decisive on the last point). In the description of the ruin that had befallen the temple

of Cusae it is said: 'children danced upon its rooftop .-j^ i[C>l lm^~^ V*^ 1 ^^'^

spirit of the place affrighted (them) not' Urkunden W 3S6. Similarly Hathor is called 'the good
krht who stands upon her soil' Mar. Dendera II 79. Princes of ancient race regarded themselves

^f: Gardiner, The Admonitions of an Egyptian Sage.

as incarnating the family spirit in tlieir own persons, and arrogated t<j themselves such epithets

as ^I^T^P^'^W '^P'"^ °'" ^""''^"^ '^^>'^' ^'"^ 4,8; ^|^^^®^rT^, '^ ^^"''^^''
spirit remaining in the land' Hat Nub Graffiti 1,3; 11, 2; a princess is called X^fml S^

Cairo stele M. A'., 20543. Here the spirit of the old Pharaonic stock must be meant. The word
occurs again below 7, 7.

7,6-7,7.

-t^ ^JU. A

III AA^AAA 1

^J^^ (7, 7)

Behold^ the Residence is afraid through want. in order toQ) stir feuds

unopposed.

7,6. M g^wt, cf. below 8, i. 14; the substantive ^^^zt'A Prisse 13,7; Pap. med. Kahun 1,21.
The expression n gho 'without' (see Erman's note on Lebensmude 64) contains a substantive with
similar meaning, but of masculine gender. — The beginning of the second clause is certainly
corrupt. — For h^'yt see on 3,11.

7,7.

^ 0| I I I IT _^_

AAAftAA

4i^q«i,f, L^n.^'\~z\.-%^-',

Behold y the land has with confederates. The brave man, the coward

takes away his property.

7,7. 7j-«/ cannot be translated as it stands; should we read ts-nf skw as in 1,3.' — Hr
smiy, cf. 2, I.

7,7-7,8.

^,-T-,^i-5^?«iiwzM» ('. 8) ^,t, ^kSAjak-f ^

d

Behold^ the Serpent the dead. He who could make for himself no sarco-
phagus is {now) possessor of a tomb.

7.7. On krht see above 7,5 note. — Nnyu' 'the tired ones' a common designation of
the dead, see Br. Worterb. 775; already in Lebensmiide 63.

7.8. For hit see the note on 2,7.

7.8.

"rT"i@iiif j'ii/^L jjr(i<=> A I " -S^i III 1 1 >==.

™^n=&i^iS1T-^,T,T:i ^k=^PC:k(--:nin

.Ms.

Behold, the possessors of tombs are driven out on the high ground. He who could make
for himself no coffin is {now) {possessor) of a treasiiryQ).

Text, Translation and Commentary. ey

7,8. Wdi is here to be translated 'tomb', see the note on 2, 7. — For kinr see 4, 3 note.
— M pr-hd 'in the treasury' makes little sense, and one possible solution is to insert nb before
pr-hd. There is however another possibility, namely that a word is lost after Ir nf: 'He who

made for hunself no < > is buried out of the treasury' i. e. his burial ecjuipment is furnished

from the royal treasury. In favour of this view it might be urged that krs is here determined
as though it were a verb; but the use of the preposition m would be quite exceptional. The
first alternative is to be preferred.

7,9.

?

„-T-,^p"s:i^<°>=S'S ^k^ffiiz.T^k-sfljii

Behold, this has happened {to}) men: he who could not dtiild himself a cell is now posses-
sor of walls.

7,9. Rnif cannot be attached to what follows; of the numerous sentences in our papyrus
similar to the second clause here (2,4; 4,9; ■/,8 6is. 10. 11. 12. 14; 8, i. 11; 9,4. 7; 12, 11) the
subject is always tm, never rmt tm. The simplest way of emending the text is to insert <=>
before rmt; the sense is however not very satisfactory, and the first clause may well conceal some
deeper-seated corruption. — For drit see the note on 2, 10.

7,9—7,10.

]i.i\^^^i

a Ms. <CZ> -. » b I" the Ms. 'W stands, not here, but after

Behold, the judges of the land are driven out through the land. The are driven

out from the houses of kings.

7,9. The correct reading may be either r ti or ht ti\ one of the two prepositions given
in the Ms. is superfluous. — A substantive has obviously been omitted before the second dr. —
Pryt is not uncommon in the New Kingdom as the writing of the plural of ^-^ e. g. Jnscr. dedic. 47;
Horemheb decree 34. 36. 38;. perhaps we have here the plural of '--'1

7,10.

iS^^'

rrn)

Behold, noble ladies are upoti Princes are in the storehouse. He who never

slept upon walls {}) is {no7i>) the possessor of a bed.

7,10. Sdzv, as was pointed out in the note on 4, 10, must refer to some particularly un-
pleasant kind of sleeping place. — $n 'the storehouse' is often mentioned as the place where
the slaves captured b} the Pharaoh in his wars were confined or employed; thus to say that

Gardiner.

58

Gardiner, The Admonitions of an Egyptian S.ige.

'princes are in the storehouse' is equivalent to saying that they are reduced to the position of
slaves. — Driwt 'walls', see the note on 2, 10; if this be the meaning of the word here, and if
hr be correct, we must understand die phrase to mean 'he who never slept even upon a wall',
where he would be safer from snakes and scorpions than if he slept upon the ground. We
should expect however 'within walls' or 'on the floor'; and it is fK)ssible that driwt has some
other significance here.

7,10 7,11.

II I I

j.'^c^.-op^Hy^Ei ^\\~^^-zi\h^\

Behold, the possessor of wealth {noui) passes the night thirsting. He who begged for hitn-
self his dregs is {now) the possessor of boivls full to oi'erflowingQ).

7, I T . Tiht — the word is feminine and has here a wrong determinative — occurs fre-
quendy in the medical literature, where it is found in the phrases n'^x^'^iii ^ icml^k
{Kahun tned. Pap. 2,27; 3, 15; and so often in Ebers) and in tiht nt irp [Ebers 33, 15. 17).
The suffix of t^/it-f refers to nb iht. — Shrw is elsewhere unknown.

7,11-7,12.

™^,i\C5ik«ra.<55i ■z%.A'■^■^-^:A'z^^^^^A

Behold, the possessors of robes are [now) in rags. He who never wove for himself is {now)
the possessor of fine linen.

7,11. Diyt, see Br. Worterb. Suppl. 1390. — For isywt see the note on 3,4.

7.12.

^ - ^ »v|ee™^=|^s^|^^f^i Y^I'T'^kl^

If I i^^gnr

n --n

Behold, he who never built for himself a boat is {now) possessor of ships. He who pos-
sessed the same looks at them, but tliey are not his.

7,12. Sethe's conjecture v 1 is extremely probable, as it gives a good contrast to /;;/
7ndh nf hnw and is easier as the antecedent to iry and st than yAi in the compound

expression nb fiw 'wealthy man' (see on 2,5) would be.

I iq\\

Behold, he who had no shade is {now) the possessor of shade. The possessors of shade arc
storm.

Text, Translation and ComincDtar)*.

59

7, 13. Szcy/, of which this was the only example known to Brugsch {Worterb. SuppL i 173)
is by no means an uncommon word. Wherever it occurs in an intelligible context it appears to
mean either 'shade' or 'shadow'. A few instances will suffice: a man prays 'to go in and out

from my tomb, /i jjV^ PVH^'^ ^^^ ^ "^^^ '^^ ^°°' '" ''^^ shade' Louvre C ^^, 'the king

sat down V;,^ \ -' ■>-=> in the shade of this great god' Side of the Sphinx 8'; Isis

-CHS- " (^^'^ to^.p Ys^' ' ' 'gives shadow with her wings' Bidl. NaL, Hymn to Osiris 15;

'a town fl^lli^^ pleasant of shadow' Paheri 3; (1 % ^^ [V^ ''^^^j [J % 'j^ 'when the shadow
had moved round' (i. e. when it was afternoon) Urkunden I\' 655. — The importance of shadow
in an eastern land has often been emphasized by travellers. The first clause must mean: he who
was formerly unable to shelter himself can now do so. The second clause must somehow contain
an antithesis to the first, such as: 'those who (formerly) found shelter are now exposed to the
stormy winds'. Wh'i is however obscure; Griffith, in his note on Millingen 1,8 [A. Z. 34 [1896], 40)
connects it with zohi 'pillar', but he is wrong in his interpretation of Iwyt here.

7,13-7,14.

AAA/VA/

Behold, he who coas ignorant of the lyre {now) possesses a harp. He who never sang for
himself [now) vaunts the goddess Mert.

7.13. DhUt, see Br. Worterb. Snppl. 1395, who quotes the words written above the
picture of a harper in the tomb of Rameses III l^j) '^"^^^ '^^^ harper(r) who is in the
netherworld'. In the very late Pap. Leiden 32 (partly published by Brugsch, Thesaurus 519 — 524)

? sic

we read (3,.8): i* ^J I^ l^.'^' f JfllT^ ^^ P«^ t P JikiiS^T-^i *■
khantenmerti, his hands are upon the harp. He who is in front of Kiis plays upon his lyre .
Hence too evidently comes the phonetic value -xe for the hieroglyph of the harp in Ptolemaic times.

7.14. For swh 'to praise' 'vaunt' and its construction with a direct object, see the note
on 2,11. — ^^-^3-^ is the name of each of a pair of goddesses who are distinguished as
S^^ 'Mert of Upper Egypt' and ^^ J 'Mert of Lower Egypt'; see A. Z. 44 (1907), 18;
'L^vaont, Diz. di Milologia, 317 — 8; and the evidence collected by Gr^baut, Rec.de Trav. i, 125 — 6.
I am indebted to Dr. Junker for calling my attention to some Ptolemaic passages where these
goddesses are connected with music. In Mar. Dend. II 66 a. b. they are depicted playing the harp
before Hathor, and bear the titles ^V^ and "^"^"^1""^ 'lady of the throat'. This epithet,
no less than the likeness of the names, has no doubt contributed, as Dr. Junker points out, to
the frequent confusion of the yJ/r/goddesses with the goddess of Truth Mi't e. g. Mar. Dend.W 2. 62 a.
Further instances of the iI//-/-goddesses as musicians may be found e. g. Dumichen, Resultate 19,2;

l) Erman is wrong, in his note on this passage, in understanding « as the equivalent of m; for 'in the shade of the Egyptians
usually wrote n huyl. This is ])erhaps due to the fact, that the visual sense 'shadow' was .always in the foreground; a man therefore sits
down not 'in the sh.idow of a building — this m.iv have seemed a (ontresens — but 'because of its shadow'.

8*

^ Gardiner, The Admonitions of an l*]j;y|)liaii baj^c.

21,4; 50, I i; Rochem. Edfou I 341. It is not at all improbable that the yJ/r/-goddesses were singers
from the outset; their arms are extended like those of singers, and the determinative .^-^ is that
\vlii( h in the Old Kingdom accompanies the verb Iflo^-Si 'to sing'. Two male deities, both of them
forms of Horus, cannot be wholly dissociated with the J/r /-goddesses: the one is ^^ ^ 4>a()j-intf^os
of 3dn (Brugsch, Did. Geogr. 505), and the other t\ fW] ^ '^_^ M/intiifurti or M/mtnirtl
(e. g. Pyramidtexls P 44. 494; To/d. ed. Nav., 18, 11); it can hardly be mere accident that the
latter god is described :is playing on the harp in the late papyrus above quoted. Above 4, 1 3
<^> T| is probably, as we have seen, to be emended into

7,14

^""="!U..!'.i^^.!.--^f^.ra^8j^ ::;-,(!

(VVSAiVN

Behold.^ those who possessed vessel-stands of bronze — not one jug is adoi-ned for one
of them {} }}.

7,14. JVd/i is the name given to vessel-stands fitted out with the vessels that belong to
them, see Br. Worterb. 301 and Griffith, Hieroglyphs pp. 54 — 5. — The meaning of -wnh here
is uncertain; perhaps it may refer to the custom, well-known from tomb paintings, of garlanding
such stands with wreaths of flowers. — It seems more than likely that the text is out of order.
We expect two parallel or contrasted sentences; possibly a few words may be lost after 'bronze'.
The Ms. reading of the last words must be transliterated hnw w n w im; the words zv' im can
hardly refer to nbzv, and if referring to ivdhw, emphasize the plurality, of that word in a strange
way. Possibly the archetype had hmv 'a' )m 'a single vessel thereof.

7,14-8,1.

a Ms. has a tall meaningless sign after ^jiry.

Behold., he who slept zvithout a 7vife{J) through want finds precious things. He whom he
never sawQ) stands and (?).

8, I. H^ry, the masculine word from which hi?-t or hirt 'widow' is derived, only here. —
M giwt, see the note on 7, 6. — Swdn only here.

Lange conjectured ^H '^ ai for ^00"^^, but as Sethe observes, this emendation is
open to the objection that a stronger word than gm would be required. Sethe jjroposes to join
tmnfmii, with which he compares the frequent expression ^^ s^ ^^ Kk"^-"^ ^^^^' '^o '*^^^'-

precedes, and to translate „ hndet Herrlichkeiten, die er nie gesehen, dastehend und durch

ihre Last erdriickend". This does in fact seem to be the only way of dealing with the text in
its present state, but I am unable to convince myself that this is what the scribe meant; the sen
tence seems intolerably long and heavy.

Text, Iranslition and Commentary. g |

8,1—8,2.

„?,;^^!:^-k--!Ai^ («.^>ftttiiPxx^^'

AAA/IAA

Behold, he who possessed no property is (now) a man of wealth. The prince praises hint.

8, I. Nb 'h'zv, see the note on 2,5. — The second clause obviously means that princes
now have to adopt an attitude of deference towards men who once were poverty-stricken.

8,2.

a Ms. O

Behold, the poor of the land have become rich, and the possessor of) property has become
one who has nothing.

8, 2. Hwd 'rich' is not a rare word, e.g. Hat Nub Graffiti ?>,\o; Eloquent Peasant B i.ig,
still more frequent is the causative shwd 'to enrich' Rifeh 7, 22; Urkunden IV 60. 163. The sign D
is substituted by the scribe for the less familiar determinative ■<=>. , which was doubtless unknown
to him; for this sign cf Rifeh 7, 22; Mission \ 8, 37 {Tomb of tbi); the form € Siut\ 247 is
marked by Griffith as not clearly legible. — The restoration of nb before iht is a necessary and
certain conjecture.

8,2-8,3.

ifra^jT^^fl^^

Behold, have become masters of butlers. He who was a messenger (now)

sends another.

8, 2. The first word is evidently incomplete; the name of some kind of domestic servant
is required; hrpw will clearly not suit.

8,3-8,4.

^v^lA^

a Ms. 1, Ms

O

Behold, he who had no loaf is owner of a bam. His magazine is provided with the
possessions of another.

8, 3. P't a kind of cake or loaf of bread; Pap. Kahun 26a, 16; Ebers 49, 1 1 ; Harris i8a, 3;
Anast. /F14, I. — Hnn 'to provide', cf. Br. Worlerb. 963; Harris 57,6; Amherst 2,^.

g , Gardiner, The Admonitions of an Egyptian Sage.

Behold^ he whose hair had fallen out atid who zvas without oil is become a possessor of
jars of sweet myrrh.

8, 4. W^, of the falling out of hair, cf. Ebers 67, 3. — Hbb 'oil-jar' hitherto known onl)'
from Ptolemaic texts, see Br. Worterb. 1065; hbhb in the same sense Piankhi iio. — 'nt\w as an
unguent for the hair, e. g. Zauberspr. f. Mutter j<. Kind 3, 5.

8,5.

:\ Ms. inserts tii before ^fis.

Behold, she who had no box is possessor of a coffer. She who looked at lur face in t/ie
7vater is possessor of a mirror.

8,5. Ghs 'a bo.x' especially for clothes; cf Westcar 2, i ; 12, 5; Anast. I 12,2; 16,3;
Piankhi 33. ^ — itp^ elsewhere unknown; Sethe suggests that it may be identical with the word
pd., ipd 'furniture' discussed by him A. Z. 44 (1907), 134 — 5.

8,5.

Behold^

8, 5. Left incomplete by the scribe: Sethe points out that this beginning of a paragraph
maj- verj' well be transferred to the blank space in S, 7, where Lange had conjectured ^

8,5-8,7.

I I I

('■rt liKxiZ H«= ^buu, Mine left blank. <^,-f-,(lflo [y.^l^^f5^?l

Skll^lfm™— fl^t -T3II

Behold, a man is happy when he eats his food. '^ Partake of thy possessions in joy of heart,
turning not back\ It is good for a man to eat his food' . Jlic god allows it to tmn whom he

praises [Behold, he who was ignorant of] his god {now) offers to him luith the

incense of another; not hnoii'n

Text, Translation and Commentary. iC

J

8, 5. The blank space in 8, 7 is doubtless due to a lacuna or illegible passage in the
Ms. that lay before the scribe of the Leiden papyrus, or before one of his immediate predecessors.
The question now arises as to whether this lacuna contained the introductor}' formula tn'itn or not;
or in other words, whether we have here two sections or one. If we emend ;«//« is km at the
end of the gap, inserting the fragmentar)- words in 8, 5 in accordance with Sethe's suggestion,
from this point onwards we get a paragraph intelligible in itself, and quite in the style of our
papyrus. On the other hand the earlier part ending with hs-nf can hardly be quite complete;
for the section would then be mere pointless moralizing, whereas every separate paragraph hi-
therto (with the partial e.Kception of 7, i after the change of introductory' formula) has been de-
scriptive in character, filling in some new detail in the picture of Egypt's ruin. The first part of
our text would be made conformable to the conte.xt if some such words as 'the food of everj'
man is taken from him' or, 'all men now hunger' be lost after hstif. We can then follow the
train of thought: it is a good thing for a man to eat his own food, and it is a right that the
god concedes to those of whom he approves; now however this divinely-given privilege is
ilenied to men.

8, 6. Sntu (Br. Wor/erb. 1248; Suppl. 1073'! usuall)' means 'to feed' someone witii (prep. »i)
something. The sense 'to feed on' something, with the thing as object, appears to be secondary; cf.

^^dl^v'^M'^^ '^^ ^§J Thebes, Tomb of Paser (unpublished); ^-(]^^==»®^1

<=r> I jJ^'^::^ Culte d Atonou p. 40. — Nn )ik hn/in; this construction is more usual in the

New than in the Middle Kingdom, see Sethe, Verbum 11 § 563; cf. however Lebens7nude 77. —
Snm kt-k and the following words are probably the substance of the divine decree afterwards
alluded to.

8, 7—8, 8.

a b

(«■ ») ,^iPi=iiS^eiT^('Nrr,T?i.»iiP,T~™|&^»n

a Ms. _^ 0 b Ms /\» fl

Behold, noble ladies, great ladies, mistresses of goodly things give their children for beds Q).

8,8. Sethe conjectures that rdit n here means 'to exchange for'; and though this con-
struction seems hard it must be admitted that the use of -vv-w. as equivalent to the later r dbi
cTfie' may be defended by .such passages as Urkundeti IV 118 — "— ^^ I ^""^ ("^ "^^j A J
^|i; cf. Rekhmere Z, 2^. — Hnkyt 'bed' is also elsewhere determined by n cf. 4, 9; 9, i ;
Millingen 1,12.

8,8—8,9.

^n'^< )?P>^k^{^--'

Behold, a man {who obtains] a noble lady as wife; her father

protects him. He who has not ( ) slay him.

64

Gardiner, The Admonitions of an Egyptian Sage.

8, 9. The probable sense is: he who has acquired riches, obtains a wife of noble birth and is
protected by his father-in-law. The man ulio lias no means is not protected, but killed. Unless
some words have fallen out after iwty the construction is quite abnormally elli[)tical: we require
something like m>ty \nf, rmt nbt\ /ir sm^m-f.

8,9-8,10.

II I lllll \

mr. -^^M^m iiiiiii («. -) ,¥,?i°,¥,i',T,-f

\.A\iJi^

Behold^ the children of courtiers are [Rick men hand over the] calves Q})

of their coias{}) to plunderers.

8,9. The incomplete word might be emended to QIH ^^^*^ 'criminals' (Sethe) or
^^S] 'rags' (cf. 3,4).

8, 10. Hlu\ the reading of the Ms., must be corrected to (|§^j or to | ^ (i^, — '^^^
sign read 0 is e.vceptionally large, and indistinctly made; possibly it should be read (5. In this
case we might restore: '[the herdsmen (or 'overseers') of] cattle [deliver over] the best of their
cows(.?) to plunderers'. — For hikyw^ see the note on 2, 9.

ftAAAAA

8,10-8,11.

) I I I

tm^.

Behold, butchers transgress (J) wzth the cattle of the poor

plunderers.

8, 10. Stnyw below 8, 12; 9, i, is evidently a word for 'butcher' 'slaughterer'; the render-
ing 'kings' is quite impossible in 9, i, where the determinative ^ is significant. It is curious
that the word should be of such rare occurrence; we might certainly have expected to find it in
the Hood papynis. The connection with the late verb 0 ^ ^5,^ Br. Worterb. Suppl. 1158 is
e-Ktremely dubious, and the only likely example outside our papyrus is d'Orbiney 16,7 (lo'^JI?

VTk2rr,~^U?Wgn'!3-flP-V=^^i3^^55t^ -nhe^e the
reading is slightly doubtful, the transcription used for the Berlin Dictionary giving 1 ^ O *^ ^. —
Knkn elsewhere means (i) 'to beat' a person with a stick; (2) 'to beat' 'pound up' in the medical
literature; (3) 'beaten' 'flattened' of bronze. The construction with m occurs only here and in 9, 12.
It does not appear likely that the verb is here used merely as a rarer circumlocution for 'to kill';
it is perhaps preferable to assign to it a metaphorical sense, as in the Decree of Horcmhcb 26,
where it seems to be used of official abuses: 'they went from house to house fl%"'f
U-Zl I I e^A^S ^^^'■'"S ^'- ^- coercing people) and without leaving hides ....

l) Tpt H is here uothiog more than a faulty writing of the preposition tf m 'before'.

Text, Translation and Commentary. ge

8,11-8,12.

. -^ ""-^^tP^^i^V. ^k--lls^?^^[^]

•— ' t?N Jill -"^-^ -^s^^

lllllllllli («. -)

Behold, he zvho never slaughtered for himself now slaughters hills. He who knew not
. sees all

8, I I. I '^I D''^ should probably be read | '^ ^ , the signs D*^ being due to the
misunderstanding of the determinative P^'^ see the note on jnrrt, above 6, ii.

8,12.

sic

Behold, butchers transgressQ) with geese. They are given (to) the gods instead of oxen.

8, 12. For stny and knkn, see the notes on 8, lo. — The preposition « must clearly be
restored before iitrw.

8,12—8,13.

^.^.!T,MIIIIIIII(«-'3)T-r?l^.^Dl^n ^mii^Ti.. ......

i

squares lert unfilled %

Behold, female slaves offer geesei^). Noble ladies

8, 13. In place of iphw we ought doubtless to read ipdw; this conjecture receives some
support from the fact that such words as w«w-oxen, iziyi-bulls and ri-geese occur in the pre-
ceding lines.

8,13-8,14.

a 1-or the traces in the Ms., sec plate 8, note ».

Behold, nobles ladies flee. The overseersQ) Their [children}] are cast down

throtigh fear of death.

8, 14. Pth 'to cast down' niooT, e. g. Pyramidtexts P 603; Petrie, Koptos 8,6; Eloquent
Peasant B i, 197. ^®^ (Br. Worterb. 505) is merely the New Egyptian writing of this word.
— M Slid n, cf. n snd n 16, i; [m:] snd n 9, 12.

Gardiner. 9

gg Gardiner, The Ailmonition^ of an Egyptian Sage.

8,14.

(

"•I i' <=^ Q

.ir— ill

MM.

(Behold the chiefs of the land flee. There is no for them because of want

8, 14. Tliis section being clearly parallel to the last, m'ltn should probably be restored at
the beginning. — Nt is obviously wrong; read | (?). — The meaning of /^«/ here is obscure. —
M' giwt, see 7,6 note. — \i mitn be restored at the end of the line, only 2 — 2^., squares remain
for the sentence beginning with nb hsQ).

8,14-9,1.

[Behold] those who possessed beds {ii07v lie) on the ground. He who passed the night in
squalor^) is (now) one who preparesi)) for himself a watersktnQ).

8, 14. As was pointed out in the notes to the last paragraph, the restoration of mitn leaves
but little place for the preceding sentence.

9, I. For btl: see the note on 3,4; the meaning of the word and its construction here

are equally obscure. — For "^"^^ see on 14, 2. — Sdw is here written as though the word
for waterskin were meant; it should possibly be identified with the word discussed on 4, 10. —
The second clause here is clearly andthetical to the first; but its exact meaning is uncertain.

9,1-9,2.

a Ms. ci-

Behold noble ladies go hungry ; the butchers arc sated with' what was prepared for them.

9, I. For wi r see the note on 7, i, and for stny that on 8, 10.

9, 2. irt nsH either (i) 'that which was made for them', i. e. that which formerly was pre-
pared for the ladies who now are famished; or (2) 'what they have done' i. e. the animals which
they, the butchers, have slaughtered. The former alternative is preferred b\- Lange and myself,
but is rejected by Sethe on the ground that -ch=- I| l] would be required.

/1 1 1 1

Behold, no offices are in their {right) place, like a frightened herd without a herds7nau.

Text, Translalion ami Commentary.

67

9, 2. For 'nir compare the examples collected by Loret in Rec. de Trav. 18, 205 foil.; and
see too Griffith, Hicros;lyphs y. 41. The singular suffix of viinw-f (for this word cf. A. Z. 42
[1905], 119) proves that idr is a singular noun with collective meaning. — Tiid/j, cf. ^ 5^ ?
l(2vj-T^^^ '^ li»-=.p4x^ 'thou art a l)alance; swerve not' Eloquent Peasant B i ^ 161 (similarly
too ibid. 97); of the Hittite chief ^ ' ^~° 0^^ ^ J't^J^ J^^^ '^'^ '^^'^^ 's averted and
shrinking, his heart is faint' Champ., Mon. I 22 = L. Z?. Ill 161 ' = R., /. H. 240, 39' = ibid. 2 16, 33;
in a pessimistic context ^ ^ l!r~A '"^'^^ face(?) shrinks back(.?)' Brit. Mus. 5645 recto 12*; and spelt
'^ Jl A '" ^^ obscure passage Naville, Goshen 6, 3. Lastly, in the Pap. Keller 5, 3 ^ J-^v^^
stands in parallelism to snd and should obviously be corrected to tnbh. To judge from the
determinative in the Eloquent Peasant passages, the original meaning may have been 'to swerve,
shrink, recoil' (cf. /V) like a gazelle. The determinative ^ here is doubdess a corruption of 7^. —
The words mi idr nn m'lmv-sn reappear in the Coronation stele from Gebel Barkal, Urkunden III 8 7 ;
the captains say to their troops; 'Come, let us crown a lord for us, (who are) like a herd that
has no herdsman'. Tiiis may be a quotation from the Admonitions.

9,2-9,3.

^,~f,'fe)!kf'flfll i,:c:?flfl«('.3)iip^ f;-?jiTZTJ

a Ms.

Behold, cattle are left to stray, and there is none to feather them together. Each man
fetches for himself those that are branded with his name.

berg appositely quotes the present passage in commenting on this sentence, but wrongly proposes
there to emend |^(](|^ ^ (-^- ^- 34 [1896], 22). |^^5i^i >" Sinnhe B 118 (where we
should not read hww) is in all probability the same word. — Nwy, cf below 12,1; the verb is
elsewhere used of assembling people, see my Inscription of Mes, p. 19, note 48.

9, 3. For ^.b 'to brand' catde, see Brugsch, A. Z. 14 (1876), 35 — 38; Horemheb decree 26.

9,3.

Behold, a man is slain beside his brother. He to save his {own) limbs.

9, 3. In the second half of the section fD "^ 7^ (1 .^ 1 5 is clearly corrupt. 'We
might expect: 'he abandons him and liastens away to save his own skin'. — J\dikt hiwf,
cf below 14, 12.

1) With the ileterminalive ^ . 2) See the Appendix.

9»

gfi Gardiner, The Admonitions of an Egyptian Sat;e.

9,3-9,4.

hrr. (9.4) ^vM^^fi,-k-'fl^S-'55»i ^k^klZ

a Ms. L Ms. inserts m after ni.

I I I

Behold, he who had no yoke of oxen is (now) possessor of a herd. He who could find
for himself no oxen to plo7<gh with is {now) possessor of cattle.

9, 4. With the help of the two simple emendations adopted in our text, the passage be-
comes perfectly clear. — Idr, see 9, 2 note. — Ski possibly Pap. med. Berlin 8, 5, but nowhere else.

9,4—9,5.

"■ — ° I I I g^ w

iinr^.',?,-k-ioi^ai (9,5) ±zfe^j-';°k

Behold, he 2vho had no grain is {now) the possessor of granaries. He who had to fetch
for himselj tibt-corn {now) sends it forth.

9,5. In and d'lt pr seem here to mean 'to fetch' and 'send out' from the granarj- re-
spectively. — Tibt is a rare word for some kind of corn: cf """^ "^ 3 ^ -^^—D ^ ^ J '"^^

Twill ^^"^^ persistent in giving grain to the Thebans' Rec. de Trav. 16, 59 (collated by Sethe);
'-^^ Jj ,__^ ^raf p ^f °^ _QQ^ de Rouge, Edfou 21, 13. Brugsch is clearly wrong in regarding tibt

as a measure of corn {Worterb. Suppl., 1400); the Edfou example speaks decisively against
this view.

9,5.

Behold, he who had no dependents Q) is no7C' a lord of serfs. He who was a {notable) does
conimissioji{s) himself.

9i 5' Sihw. The meaning 'neighbours' (Br. Worterb. 1276; Siippl. 1094) does not seem
at all satisfactor)- here, and one is tempted to connect the word, not with sih 'to draw close'
'approach', but with sih 'to present' 'reward'; the determinative ^^ is quite negligeable in a Ms.
of this kind, and s^h is used of 'presenting' a man with s\z\&%{Urkunden IV ^8). It must be ad-
mitted however that the meaning 'neighbours' is certain in at least one passage {Harris 500
recto 2, 10), where the love-sick swain is visited by his 'neighbours'. In the obscure context
Prissc 14, I, sihw seems to be parallel to tkn imk, so that there too 'neighbours' is the probable
meaning. On the other hand Paheri 6 seems to make in favour of the rendering 'dependent';
a number of 'attendants' (3 0^^) carrj'ing sandals etc. are followed by a man who brings a couple
of bags and i,s calletl ''^'T^ flA^ ' '''''^ beloved dependent (.^)'. Sihu'-ti 'neighbours'

Text, Translation and Cummentary. Ar\

Sail. I 6,8 = Anast. V 15,8 is possibly a different word. — After wn m a word has been left
out. The conjecture sr (often above translated 'prince'; neither this rendering not yet 'official'
covers the whole connotation of the word) is supported by the fact that the sr is often described
as despatching messengers; cf. Prisse 8, 12 — 13; Rekhmere 2, 10 foil.

9,5-9,6.

. _ n _ n fn (=,^

llll www (? <=if=j I I I IT

j^ - 9 X io=-^p (,,6, 2flrtirjj^-^,-T^fl-^^ii fi

Behold^ tlic powerful men of the laiui^ the condition of the people is not reported (to them}}).
All is ruin\

9, 5. The expression knzv nu> ti is curious: for hnv cf. 2, 7.

9, 6. The facsimile shows traces, now quite illegible, that seem to [xjint to the reading

lynOgT) ^1 p'"^^^. But as Sethe points out, the omission of n-sn is intolerable, and we

ought to emend lyOffA"'^ I '^'' ^XMSi) • — Lange suggests that shrw n rhyt

should be taken with the following words; the objection to this is that w? r ikw occurs above
in 3, 13 impersonally, and it is hardly possible to understand it differently here.

9,6.

c\

a Ms. ^^ b Ms. "^

III III

Behold, no craftsmen work. The enemies of the land have spoiltQ) its crafts (J)

9,6. Sswi, see 7,2 note; in that passage 'to impoverish' someone 'of (preposition ;«);
here apparently 'to make poor' i. e. '.spoil'. The construction could be made like that of 7, 2
by emending m before hmwtf and understanding A' as the object of die verb; but it is better
to construe hft'iw ti together as 'the enemies of the land'; cf. 7, 1.

9,7-9,8.

= --m&T^- Wi('.«)iiiiiiiii

[Behold, he 70/10 gathered /«'] the harvest [now) knows nothing thereof. He who never

ploughed [for himself] [ The reaping}\ takes place, but is not reported.

The scribe \sits in his office^), but] his hands are [idle}] ivithin it.

<^Q Gardiner, The AdmoQitions of nn Kgyptian Sage.

9, 7. This section refers to the decay of agriculture and to the laxity of government
officials in collecting the tax on corn. — After [m///i\ Lange conjectures 'he who gathered in';

this would give a good parallel to s^i in the second sentence, but % ^^, the most usual verb
in this connection, is too small for the lacuna and does not suit the signs still preserved y^-
Perhaps we should read T^ ^/^(inn^^ ®1 1^ 'behold, he who registered'; for sph- cf. Sa//. I 6, 2;

Pap. Bologna 1086, 24; Pap. Leiden 370 recto 8. — If im be correct, it must be understood
partitively: 'he knows nothing of it". — For the form of the sentence beginning with /;;/,
see on 7, 9.

9,8-9,11.

__IV^i about 14 s<,u:ir<;s lost I '^'^ ^ <^::^ ® ^ \\ iffi^

^Py A /WVS^rfVA

? ? ?

,^ii -^ (9, .0) !.,„,,,,.,„ Ill (i^is^^'^i (9. ..) iv..,.„..„j--ni

a Ms. as above 6, 8.

Destroyed is {J) his in that time. [jEvery}] man looks

upon \as\ his adversary Q). The infirm man brings coolness [to that

which is hot\ fear Poor men

The land is not light because of it.

9, 8. The long series of sections introduced by miln here gives place to a few para-
graphs of which each begins with the word hd (9,8; 9,11; [9,14']; 10,2). These paragraphs are
to be distinguished from the later series in 10,6 foil., where the reiterated formula is not the
isolated word hd but the sentence hdii' hftlw n-w hn-w. There, as I hope to be able to show,
hdw is to be understood as an imperative, and in 10,6 we pass from the descriptive to the ad-
monitory part of the composition, the jjaragraph ushered in by rmy rf Ti-mhiu 10,3 — 6 serving
as a very suitable transition. In the sections 9, 8 — 10,3 there is no internal evidence for supposing
that the admonitions have already begun. On the contrary, the sentence m^i si etc. 9,8 — 9,9
is apparently analogous, both in form and in substance, to mSi si sif m hrvjyf in 1,5. The
text from 9,11 to 10,2 is sadly mutilated, but seems to deal successively with several topics
already familiar to us. In 10,2 T ^^^^, despite its plural determinative, cannot be construed
as an imperative; not only there but also in 9,8 and 9, i i it should be understood in the same
manner as in 3,8 and 3,11'. In other words, the series of paragraphs from 9,8 to 10,3 is to
be reo-arded as a continuation of tlie pessimistic descriptions which Ipuwer afterwards uses as the
te.xt for his exhortations.

9,9. Fn is a rare word that seems to express the opposite of rwd 'to be strong' 'to
flourish'; cf. Eloquent Peasant 7v 115; ibid. B 1,22,2. Benihasan \\6QY, 'he drives away (sr-un-f)

I) See too the note on lo, 2. 2) This example I owe to the kindness of Dr. Vogelsang.

Text, Translalioii and Commentary. yj

thirst from thee, ^^^^^^'S^^-^^^fll^i ^"<^ ^° ^^^^^ ^■"^ strong, thou art not
weak thereby!?)' Mission \\ Tomb of Neferhotep, plate 3'; yjl^ ^ ^ ?^ f o^rT. '^'^^''' hearts are
faint in their bodies' Stele of Tulankhamoii 9 ~ A'fr. d'c 7>az>. 29, 164; a man calls himself
nT* n ^'^'^'^^ 'the shelter of the infirm'-, Urkunden IV 972'. — The emendation kblno
[Ar /iz<y] is suggested b)- 11,13 below.

9,11-10,2.

l|,-,..,.„..,.Jvr7',flTKP,T, (9,.=)|,.,.„„,..,|^i,iil[fl

^n>^|

A2i)^ '^ i •''j'"" 9 S'l"»f« lost i D ^\\_A^ "^ll ^^' '-5^ i about 6 squares lost ^

|...,..,..„.,o.,|[»]ao \-S^\\^ f-'),^!^^ ::::ifl^-'^'^,?,^

a Suggested by the facsimile. b The Ms. reading might be either 5 or ^. c Ms. 5-

Deslrqyedi^() are their food [is taken away}] from them.

[Ihrojtgh] fear of the terror he inspires^). The poor man begs

the tnessenger, without time. He is seized^ laden with his pos-
sessions, taken away men pass by his door , . .

chambers with hawks{j) morttQ). Is the poor man vigilant'' The day dawns upori

him, without his dreading it. Men flee TentsfJ) are what

they make like the dwellers of the hills.

9,11 — TO, 2. It is quite possible that lid may have occurred once or twice in the lost
portions of this passage, and that it ought in consequence to be divided up into several para-
graphs. The subject of 9,11 — 12 seems to have been the deprivations of the poor, that of
9,12 — 13 the robber)- of messengers. It is wholly obscure what meaning is to be attached to
the greater part of 9, 14. At the end of tliat line and in 10, i, it seems to be said that by
vigilance in the nightime the poor man may assure his own safety. What then follows is quite
untranslateable. Lasdy — if the reading imw be correct — the Egyptians are described as
reduced to making tents for tiiemselves, like the barbarians of the deserts.

10 I. For the determinative o{ hryt see on Hpw 1,2. — The obscure sentence beginning
with shs-tzc, if translated literally, seems to give the following meaningless phrases: 'men run on
foreheads, strained through the wryt-c\ot\\ of Tayt in the midst of the house (?.?)'. For shnk 'to
strain' a lif]uid through [m) a cloth, see the note, in the Appendi.x, on shjk., Brit. Mus. 5645 recto 3.

10,2. Read

I I

1) These examples I owe the kindness of Dr. Vogelsang. 2) Hitherto wrongly divided nkl a l/n.

^2 Gardiner, The Admonitions of an K^pliao S.igr.

10,2-10,3.

1 I I !<=>

\\l I I

Destroyed is the pcrJor»iance of that for zvhich they are sent by servants in the missions
oj their lords, without their being afraid of them. Behold they are five men. They say, they
sayQ): go ye upon the road "whieh yc know of; ivc are come.

lo, 2. The tirst sentence is exceedingly clumsy, but, with the slight correction (Tl'^v \ A'
grammatically defensible. For hd with an infinitive as its subject cf. Eloquent Peasant B i, 201 T ^^
■^^^ ^^ ^ i'"^' ^^ should be observed that fD^ 1^„ cannot be read hib-tw.

for not being found in hieratic before the 2 1 st. or 22 nd. dynasty. — The latter part of
the paragraph is obscure, but the meaning must be that servants now give orders to their masters.

— Si ^ recalls the word '^ — ZwJ in the title ^ ^'^^^ — Z^J Benihasan I 8,19, where it
has been translated 'a party of fi\e servants'. However it is to be noted that ^^%^ in the
Old Kingdom (e. g. Davies, Ptahhetep II 7) is applied to women only, and it is uncertain how
much importance should be attached to the determinative in the Benihasan title.
10, 3. The repetition of ddsn may be due to dittography.

10,3-10,6.

?

a Ms. only 1

Lower Egypt weeps. The storehouse of the king is the cotntnon property of cveryotie, and
the entire palace is without its revenues. To it belong {by right) zvheat and barley, geese and
fish. To it belottg zvhite cloth and fin^ linen, bronze and oil. To it belong carpet and mat

palanquin and all goodly produce If it had not been

in the palcue, would not be empty.

10,3. Hill Intw-nl, see 6,9 note; perhaps ;;/ should be restored before this expression,
as in 6, 9.

Text, Translation and Commentary.

73

10.4. In CT n J- is doubtless a corruption of nt. — The proper writing of 'without' is
^@^\ -ft- (e. g. Sinuhe B 205), but the writing m hmt is frequent in the N. K. (e. g. Pap.
Turin 59,3) and occurs also quite early (e. g. Sinuhe B 44. = ibid. R 68). — Ntf^ emphatic, 'to
the palace belongs (by right) '; for this usage c\. A. Z. 34 (1896), 50. — Hdt and pkt to-
gether, Urkunden IV 207; 742.

10.5. Psi{l) and hi occur together Pap. Kahun 30,44 — 5; for the meaning of these
words see Griffith's additional note (p. 105) on the passage quoted. — lyfhiv is quite obscure. —
/r ivdj is the New Egyptian spelling (cf. Totb. ed. Nav. 89, 3; Pap. Tmin 122, i) of the old
expression (]<=>%^^^^^|] for which see Sethe, Verbum II § 148b. — Sk\ with ^ as determinative,
is unknown, and it is not clear what sense should be given to it.

10,6-10,7.

I I /\A/V\/VA

a Ms

Destroy the enemies of the noble Residence, splendid of courtiers /;/ it like

The Overseer of the to7i>n 7valkcd abroad, without an escort{?).

10,6. From 10,6 to 10,11 we find a number of short sections beginning with the words
hdw hfthv inc> hnw {pf) sps'i. Unfortunately not one of these sections has been preserved com-
plete, and in most of them only a few words remain. So far as can be seen, the introductory'
formula was followed by ejiithets agreeing with liinv, which were succeeded in their turn by short
circumstantial clauses descriptive of the orderliness and magnificence of the royal Residence, as it
was in times of peace and prosperit)-. It seems likely that the essentially descriptive part of our book
— that in which the ruin of the land was depicted — ended in 10,6, the last paragraph 10,3
— 10,6, which paints the desolate condition of the king's palace, forming a very appropriate
transition to a series of admonitions or commands to destroy the enemies of the royal Residence.
On this view hdzv is a plural imperative, parallel to sh^w in 10,12 and the following lines. It is
obvious that we cannot here translate 'destroyed are the enemies of the noble Re.sidence' giving
hd the sense assigned to it in 9, 8, for one of the main points of the descriptive pa.ssages has
been that Kgypt owes its misfortunes to the machinations of the 'enemies of the land' (see
especially 7,119,6); nor is there any good ground for such a translation as 'harmful are' or
'woe unto' the enemies of the Residence. In the only two instances where the first word of the
introductory formula is completely preserved the plural strokes are found, and as it stands
I ^°^ S^ c^n l3f. explained grammatically only as a plural imperative. It may be objected that
hd is but rarely employed of the 'destruction' of people; the only known instances .seems to be
the name of the gate |'^^^^£_^o^'^'^c^^'^^5j* in Totb. ed. Nav. 145 B {Pg); 146,9
{Aa has as variant "^l- However the rarity of hd in this sense may be due to the very strong
meaning of that word, wliich signifies rather 'to efface' 'to obliterate' than merely 'to destroy'. —

(> a r il I n ' I.

_ . Gardiner, Thr Admonitions of an K|;yptiaii Sa|;e.

^' in hnw pf Spsi 10,8.10.11 seems to indicate that the glory of the Residence described by
ilic following epithets is a thing of tht; past, (for a similar use see 6,11 above and iifi in 5,12),
and the use of the reproving particle 7ns in 10,7. 1 1 (?) may hint at the same fact.

10,7. S^Si is perhaps the official whose title often occurs in the N. K., and who derives
his name from the rare verb s^Si 'to repress' Harris 28,6; 57, 13; 58,6; Mar. Abyd.W 55,34.

10.7 10,8.

ii:ai4-^i?H?«^p^j i-. »' y^mi .-,..... ,0., I

\Destroy the enemies of the noble Residence], splendid

10,8-10,9.

.-iiei^iiiiif I. -,.,..•.. ....I

[Destroy the enemies of\ that {formerly) noble Residence, manifold of laws

10,8 — 10,9. Not improbably to be divided into two paragraphs.

10,9-10,10.

[Destroy the enemies of\ that [formerly) noble [Residence]

10,10-10,11.

xli I .^0- ^1 I ^ © ^ '^^Li^r.e^iz.Ji about 7 squares lost i ^ ' °' "^ ^„ T 7^ £i 2 1 4-5
squares lost ^

Destroy the enemies of that {formerly) [noble] Residence A^o one

could stand

lo, II. Perhaps some phrase like f ^ ^ ¥iv ITI ^ @ '^^^l' <^^- Snnihc B s6;

Piankhi 95, both times in reference to the king.

10,11-10,12.

squares lost I ('O' '2) |

a Ms. '^ b Ms. ^ (D

[Destroy the enemies of] that {formerly) glorious [Residence], abundant in offices (j)
lo, II. I *i^ ^\ en! is unknown; doubtless T *^ 2 CTI ' 'offices' should be read.

Text, 'Iranslaliun aiiJ CdnimciiUiry. >» c

10,12 10,13.

w

a Ms. ^ b Ms. ^^

Revicnibcr to i>m)ierse(>) him who is in pain{>) whenQ) he is

ill in his limbs his god. He

His children

lo, 12. The reiterated command to destroy the enemies of the royal Residence is here
succeeded by a number of solemn exhortations to pious conduct and to the observance of reli-
gious duties. These exhortations are introduced by the plural imperative Pl^^yl)! followed by
infinitives; the construction is a natural one, but does not seem to have been noted in other texts.
There is no reasonable ground for doubting that sh^w is an imperative, especially as the suifix
of the 2nd. person plural occurs below in 11,6.7.

^ jj-3CrM means 'to immerse' or 'dip' something in a liquid, or 'to irrigate' or 'soak'
land. The former sense is common in the medical literature, and the context here suggests that
the sentence referred to some act of healing sick persons. — ® c^^^*^ l^i in ' ^°'' ^^'"''^^ ^^^
singular must be read, if h^w-f be correct, seems to be the participle of a verb whd; for this
word see the note on Brit. Mus. 5645 recto in the Appendix to this book.

10,13. The meaning is wholly obscure. — For ® (2 a cf. below 13,4.

10,13-11,1.

HNkra

D O
©III

a Ms.

I I I

Remember to ; to fumigate with incense, and to offer water in a jar

in the early morning.

I I, I. f^n- which might equally well be read 1^^, 's here hardly to be translated
'granar)'', that word being out of place in the present context, which clearly deals with religious
rites. — M nhpw, cf. Totb. ed. Nav. 178,22; Mar. Dend. Ill 33; IV 74,21.

11,1-11,2.

-inii

a Ms. O

lo*

-g G.irdiacr, The Admonitions of .111 Eyyplian bajjc.

Remember (to bring) fai ro-geese, torpu and sel-gecse; and lu offer offerings lo lite goda.

I I, I. An infinitive has obviously been omitted after shiw.

1 1,2. St, d. %^ often in the Old Kingdom; ['^^^^ Zmcberspr. f. Mutter u. Kind 4, 1.

Remember to chexu natron^ and to prepare while bread. {So sitould) a man (do^) on the
day of moistening the head.

11,2. Purificatory rites are not to be forgotten. — Ws'- hsmn, cf. Totb. ed. Nav. 172, 1.
The cleansing properties of natron are frequently mentioned; in Pap. Turin 58,10 fD 0i'v.~>^
n^^=» (j -wv^^f ni^^^^ J ° jg ^,^^fl Qf t]jg period of purification which priests had to undergo. —

Aah tp, only here.

11,3 11,4.

Mil

si'-\fv,wflfc(".4)»i n%.m^n fr^T^m\i^\

a Ms. b Wrongfully transcribed as <:i^> on tlie plate.

Remember lo erect flagstaff s, and to came stelae; the pnest purifying the temples, and tfu
god's house being plastered [white] like milk; {rcmefnber) to make fragrant the perfume of the
horizon, and to perpetuate bread-offerings.

11.3. 11^ .should probably be corrected to snyt\ cf. nirajl(l(lo Urkunden W 56.
— Twrl 'to cleanse' a palace, Urkunden IV 975; sacred places Mar. Dend. Ill 25; Dumichen,
Jiaugeschichte i,"], in giving the verb the determinative , the scribe doubtless thought of ,_^0
( "vl 'reed', on which see Erman, Lebensmiide 92 note. — Skih{i) cf 'I Ijuilt their temples,
n ^:! ''^ 8 %> U-il <=> %^ c=^3 ^ j n ~w.^ their stair-cases were plastered(')' Cairo stele M. K. 20512.
To judge from the determinative here, and the comparison with 'milk', the verb may well
mean 'to cover with plaster' and be a causative derived from the noun ^^^?| , , (for deriva-
tives of the kind see Sethe, Verbiitn I § 352). K^h is possibly K*.g 'Nile-mud' (Sethe); the paint-
ings in Egyptian tombs are made on a surface of Nile-mud covered with a coating of whitewash.

So too Breasted {Proc. 5. i?. A 22,90) understands the passage O^f^^ "^"^ tf','^'^ t, ,
<=.^-^(||n% ^ ^rr^\%'\ U^^^'^'^'^*'^ I^ 57- The word has probably nothing to do with
MXr J. in Harris 15b. 10 etc., (always with ^ 'wood').

11.4. Srwd piwt. cf. Pap. Kahun 2, 1; Siut I 269; Cairo stele M. R. 20539, and so
often later.

TcxI, Traiibhilioii anil Commentary. -j -,

11,4-11,6.

s\oe8\. ~7^i^ (ii> 6)iiiif M.^T"

Remember lo observe regulations, and to adjust dates. [Remember) to remoz'e liivi who
enters upon the priestly office in impurity of bodyi^). That is to pcrfortn it wrongfully. That
is corruption of hearti^) day .... eternity, months yearsi^)

11.4. Here the observance of religious times and seasons is enjoined, and the due jjer-
formance of the religious duties connected therewith.

Ndr tp-rd, cf. Sethe, Urkunden IV 384; 489. — Sbsb occurs in several obscure passages
(e.g. Rekhmere 7,9); here it has clearly some such sense as the Coptic lyifee mutare. — Sw in
the old language is not simply 'days' but 'days of the month' 'dates'; doubtless the reference is
to the astronomically fi,\ed festivals, the "^^ ^ ^ <=> ^ P P |7| P , , , Urkunden IV 112, and to
the lunar months used in the temples.

11.5. W<bt 'priestly service' and hs'i of bodily impurity seem to be elsewhere unknown.
in Pap. Turin 58,9 foil, a if/<(5-priest is accused of infringing the rules as to purification. This
sentence suits the foregoing conte.xt, as th<'. four classes of 7f<(5-priests served in monthly relays
(cf. Otto, Priestcr und Tempel \, p. 23, note 4). — In ^^^ ^l probably refers to w^bt. —
J/ «/ see the note on 5,12. — Ssxvn ih, cf. 12,7 and consult the note on 5,2.

11,6.

Remember to slaughter oxen you.

11,6-11,10.

»-.«iD^.:irxx'"S (■■■«) iiiiiis,M°'T,z:.sq^[=r]|....n..-ii

\ \ t c>

Remember to go forthQ) who calls to you. [Remember) to offer geese

upon the fire the bank of the river

linen \Rcmember>] to give to pacify you[}) ....

11,6 — 11,10. After another injunction in which there is a reference to burnt sacrifice
(see ^. Z43I1906I, 10 top), the text becomes too fragmentarj' to be understood. It is possible
that sentences introduced by sh:iw continued down as far as 1 i , 1 o or even further.

j^ (ianlinur, I'lic Ailnioiiilioas of an l'!;iy|»liaii Sajjc.

11,11-12,6.

fiiii (".-) iiiiiiiir^^fMi^iiii^:—iz:'s«is-. ..«....!

.T,kr^^«21 \iW^'l-^^Y, i^-I^-rr P!-flfli!

a Ms. *^^~^

/aci- of people Re, comniandQ) ....

i/w West lo diminish (?) /ly the \gods'':\. Behold ye, where-
fore does lie \seek\ to [fashioti iiianhiiid:], without distinguishing the titnid man from him

whose fiature is violent. He bringethQ) coolness upon that which is hot. It is said: he is the
herdsman of mankind. No evil is in his heart. When his herds are feiv, he passes the day to
gather them together, their hearts being on firel^). Would that he had perceived their nature in
the first generation [of 7nen), then he would have repressed evils, he ivould have stretched forth
{his) arm against it, he would have destroyed their seedQ}) and their inheritance. Alen desired to
give 6irth{:). Sadness grew up{}); needy people^) on evety side. Thus it was{}?), and it passes
not away{>), so long as{>) the gods in the midst tfureof endureQ). Seed s/iall come forthi^) from
the women of the people; tiotieQ) is found on the way{}). A fighter Q) goes forth, that {he}) may
destroy the wrongs that{}) they have brought about. There is no pilotij) in their moment. JVhere
is heQ) today} Is he sleeping} Behold, his might is not seen.

I, 1 1 — 12,6. A new section, wholly different in character to all that precedes, now emerges
out of the lacunae following upon ii,6; its beginning fell certainly before 11,12 and probably

Text, Translalitiii an<l C!iiinnii.-iitary.

79

after 11,9. Here the cont(;nts arc ncitlifr descriptive nor admonitory, and the introductory for-
mulae by which the text lias been hitherto divided up into sections of restricted length are for
a time abandoned. That Ipuwer is still the speaker is probable from the absence of any hint to
the contrary, and will appear increasingly likely as we advance towards th(; (Mid of the book.
The audience is th(; same as heretofore; cf ntUn 'behold ye' 11,13; '2,5.

The theor)' put forward by Lange with regard to this passage has been criticized at some
length in the Introduction (p. 13 — 15), and though a few references to his view will be inevitable
in commenting on the text, it seems superfluous to cover the same ground over again, h will
suffice to remind the reader that Lange thought it possible here to discern a Messianic ])r(jphe(y,
which is thus describcil bj' him: „Der Pro[jhet \erkundet hicr den I'lrretter, der das \\)lk wieder
sammeln und Heil und Hilfe bringen wird".

The crux of this obscure section is the identity of the being to whom tlie pronoun of
the 3rd. [jerson singular in 11,12 — 12,2 is to be referred. Since we find sw as far back
as 11,12 and as there is no reasonable ground for supposing that the antecedent of this pro-
noun differs from that of the pronoun in }fiu/ {11, it,) and in subsequent verbs, it is plain that
the antecedent in question must have been named in the context that precedes 11,12. liiat
context is unfortunately too fragmentarj- to yield a certain solution to the problem: but we find
in it a mention of the sun-god Re (i 1, 1 1), whirli may prove to be the clue that we are seeking;
at all events it is a clue that we are bound to consider care-fully. Following closely upon the
name of Re comes the word wd 'to command', then after a brief interval Imnlt 'the West' and

a little farther on a word ending witli the determinative j| that is appended to divine names (11,12).

Thus there is here already some sligiit justification for supposing that the theme of the passage
is the control exercised over mankind, eith(;r now or once, by the gods. In tiie next sentences

11,12 — 13 the important word was doubtless NL, pjl^^i which may possibly allude to the

creation of men. 1 have proposed to restore and render: zulicrefore doth he (i. e. Re) \seek td\
fashion \mcn\ n'ithout distinguishing the meek and the violent''. In other words, why has Re not
created all men good alike- If he had done so, the present evils woukl ne\er have arisen. This
however, it must l)c admitted, is pure conj(x-ture. In the next sentences the text goes on to de-
scribe a beneficent ruler: he bringcth (we might translate the verb broiigJit or will brings alter-
natives between which we have no means of deciding") cooling upon that which is hot. It is said:
he is the herdsman of mankind. No evil is in his heart. When his herds are feiv, he passeth
the day to gather Ihcvi together, even thoiighij:) their liearts be aflame. There is no inherent reason
why these phrases should not, as Lange imagined, have reference to a good king whose coming
is prophesied; but they may equally well be taken as a description of Re, wliom ancient legends
regarded as the first king of Egj'pt, and whose reign was looked back on as upon a sort of
Golden Age. We now reach, in 12,2 — 3, a group of sentences beginning with a regretful wish
uttered by Ipuwer: Would that he (that is, the ideal king just described) had perceived their
nature in the first generation [of men), then he would have repressed evils, he would have put
forth {his) arm against it, he i^'ould have destroyed their seed{rc) and their inheritance. Unless
the translation be at fault, only one meaning can be attached to these words: if the ideal king
here envisaged had known, from the very beginning of things, how wicked human nature is, he
would have exterminated mankind and thus have rooted up the seed from which the present

8o

(jardincr, The Admonitions of an Egyptian Sage.

chaos and abuses have sprung. It is liardly conceivable that such a thought could have been
tVanicct in reference to a future ruler of human or even semi-divine birth. How could such a
rul<-r, whose advent ex hypothcsi is a thing of the future, be imagined as capable of having
discerned, in the far distant past, the; frailties of mortal men? And what means could he have
employed to annihilate the human race- In other words, if die Messianic hypothesis be right, my
conception o\. the meaning of Ipuwer's wish must \n- utteri\- wrong. The passage becomes both
intelligible antl rational if w(; accept the view that it refers to Re. Nor is that all; in this case
it will b(; seen to accord well with the famous story according to which Re, having become
aware of die plots which men made against him, conceived the plan of destroying diem, but
relented at the last moment and forbade die godden Sekhmet to compass their complete destruc-
tion'. Thus we seem now to be in possession of tangible evidence that the clue afforded bj- the
mention of the name of Re (ii,ii) is the real key to the whole section. To my mind the

>

decisive proof is given by the expression P ^ (5) ^ j 'die fir.st generation" in 12,2. The

philological note on this e.xpression will show that it is verj' nearly synonymous with n /^ (S> ,
the phrase which was technically used by the Egyptians to designate the age following im-
mediately upon the creation of the world, the age, in fact, when Re was king upon earth.

Whatever interpretation be given to the remainder of the passage, the central fact that
it refers to Re may now, I think, be reckoned as a fait acquis, hi 1 2, 3 — 6 we are confronted
by difficulties of a more serious order; grammar and .syntax are here so obscure that we can but

guess at the sense. The words | and ^a ^ in 12, 3, (Jj ' v '" the following sentence,

and "ip'cillf]^ further down (12,4) make it fairly clear that the propagation of the human

race is in some way under discussion. Interwoven with these words are others referring to
misfortunes, adversity or the like (;?/^?/-/<^ 12,3; s^ry 12,3). Combining these data and translating
as best we may, we can dimly discern a train of thought not inappropriate to the preceding
context. It has been said that if Re had known all the evils which would spring up in con-
sequence of men's wicked natures, he would have destroyed men and so have prevented the sub-
sequent disasters (12,2 — 3). This was not done; and the lines 12,3 — 6 seem to describe the
result. Men desired birlhi^t). Hence sadness grew up{J)y and needy people^}) on every side. So
it was{})y and it shall not pass aivayl^), so long asQ) the gods in tlu midst thereof endure{}'i:).
Seed shall come forth from (or in) the women of mankind; the implication is that this is the cause
of all evil. After this we appear to return to a consideration of the future prospects of Egypt.
It seems to be hinted that someone will come, who{^) shall destroy the wrongs that t/iey (i. e. men)
have brought about. But the7-e is{}) no pilotQ) in their moment — this may perhaps mean, that
now, while the authors of evil still live, the saviour is not yet at hand. At last we touch firm
ground in three sentences that clearl)- refer to the looked for (but not necessarily prophesied)
redeemer. Where is lu today"'. Doth Iw sleep perchance} Behold ye, his might is not seen (12,5 — 6)!
11,13. Fo"" ^^^ contrasted words sndw and shm-ib cf. Kekhmere 8,38; 10,23. — o '"

V"

-^ jl n^^ , if not corrupt, must be used as an auxiliary verb. This usage however is not ver)-

1) See Ermin, Die iigyftisclie Rtligion pp. 32 — •s\

2) The meaning of this unknown word can only be conjectured from the determinative.

Text, Translation and Commentary. 8 I

wdl authenticated; besides the example cited by Erman, Gramm.' ^ 252, Sethe quotes the
obscure phrase -^^"^^fl^P (var. hnf) Biers 106,5; 108, 19. — /w i-i/im lir liw is, as
we have seen, possibly to be emended in 9,9 aljove, where the context is quite unintelligible.

12.1, For the metaphorical use of mi mo 'herdsman' as applied to princes. Homer's tioj-
ftfva Xawr, of. J. Z. 42 (1905), 121; the image, which is no uncommon one, is continued in the
following sentences. — For W, uir and nun see the notes on 2, 13; 9, 2; and 9,2 respectively.

12.2. /// may here, like t^w above in 11,13, be a metaphor for the discord that inflames

the hearts of men; cf. 7, 1. — i^^" kl 'would that' 'then', cf. below 13,5—6;

similarly witii // ? ;//, Brit. Mus. 5645, recto 13 (see the Appendix); and with hw for hi, Rekh-
mere 7,10 |^^^(](1'^ t^^^^=^'^^^^.T'."='inP '° "^^^ thou wouldst act as
I say; then would Right rest in its place'; an instance with "f^"^ '^'Y'^ ^^ wish-particle Cairo
Lffvesong 13. The use of ki in the apodosis of a conditional sentence (cf 5,3 note), implied or
expressed, is one of its chief employments; cf the Arabic o- The protasis may be replaced by
a wish, as here, or by a rhetorical question, as below 12, 14; 14, 13. 14; or else by an imperative
('do this, [and if thou dost so] then '), e. g. Weskar 11,25.

The words ^nd bit occur once again in a biographical inscription of the Middle Kingdom

Brit. Mus. 574 = Sharpe, Eg. Inscr., I 79 ^\ J''--'p2ii)''^P^ "l =^^ J^v= c^ ^

'His Majesty used to greet me, for he perceived my quality {b'lt-i) of ever>' day' i. e. he recognized
that I was always excellent. The verb ' nd 'to perceive' or the like, is verj' rare. The only other early
instance known to me is not quite certain; at the bottom of a stele of the early Middle Kingdom
from Gebelen(?), Brit. Mus. 1372, (belonging to the ^ ^^i^-*=-3'^^ whose 'good name'
was ^"^"^1])' we read the two following lines: •'"^ ® "^ ^^AA^A <==> ^^ ^^ ^ ^Ij<^ i

ilk^^P=-ft;f,kft*T1T— - ■' •-- "»' ■'<'"■=*» <i«* of any

small man, I have done the deeds of a prince and overseer of ^ in return for there

being made for me a field to support a w<^b-\ix\^'=X on it(r?), and (in return for) there being given
to me cloth, oil and honey. I have moreover done what men love, in the knowledge of the

princes, in the moment of making '(?)'. Here m 'nd {srw) is probably the equivalent of

the phrase w/ r/i n [rnit or biv-tib\ on which see Rec. de Trav. 26, 13. Later instances of <nd zre:
^3cx (^^^0„^^_ 'because he had perceived his excellence' Louvre C112; .j\_5cx(j^|^^_

|T U, 'his form and his complexion are not known' Rochem. Ed/ou 430, 3; Piehl, /nscr. II 2 C J. —
J(]ci"^ p'l^^ is a word meaning 'quality' 'character', originally (like ^'^) neutral in sense, but
tending to signifj- 'good character' owing to its frequent employment in such common phrases as
J^ J1^^ (e. g. Nat Nub Graffiti 1,9) and (|^J(j^^^ (e- g- Urkunden IV 133). In

l) Xot the least interesting part of this little text, which seemed worth quoting entire, in spite of the irrelevancy of so doing, is

the abbreviation "^^v Q f°' ""^ "^'"^ Sebko\ note the final letter ; as in (1 (I (1 for (I ^\ ; and sec Sethe's

article A. Z. 44 (1907), 90.

21 Read imy-ri hv/l-.i'{/), for this title Griffith .luotcs to me Pctric AlhriUs 2; for the word nv6w cf. Urkunden 1, X.
3) Priib.il.ly nothing is lost after . " ■ For the obscure words at the end, cf. tVrni 36 — 7.
Gardiner. "

^2 (iarilincr, 'I'hc Ailinrmilitms i>f ;iii l-'^y|ili:in Sayc.

tilt' [jrcseiU instanct; tli<' im[)li(aii()ii is tlial men's (■lKiract('rs an- liad: ii is iini ims\' to liiul a closi;
liaiallcl lor this sense, but the neutral (etliically uncoloured) meaning of b'll is attested hy llie
Irequency with whicli its significance is supplementi'd by the epithets ufrt or //vV, and by tiie
fact that in such sentences as <=> ^=37 ^^^ *| J fl '^^^ bU is often replaced by such colourless
words as -^Ql "f nT ; cf. further Louvre C 26,21 JJ^^^'^fJ % "^ ^^"^"^^ 'This is my
character in very truth' [led occurs in a parallel clause in the preceding line). Three words
must be carefully distinguished: (t) The word J(]<2ig> or J (| »==■ 'character' is never early
written either widi '^' or with "^Hc (for old instances cf. 5/«/3, 12; 5,22; Prissc 15,4; Proc.
S. B. A. 18, 196, 15), and this statement holds good also of the i8th. dynasty, with the single
exception of the instance quoted above from Louvre C 26; its reading is therefore probably 61/,
not biU. (2) BiH 'wonder', on the other hand, is at an early date written widi ? (cf. fllj^^. ^
/.. D. II 149c, Hammamat, 1 1 tJi. dyn.) or with y^^ (i8th. dyn. passim; and implied in the stroke
\ of JO (](|^ "^^^ in the Westcar) and is derived from a verb 'to wonder' which is spelt with
"^ as early as the Pyramidtexts (cf. N 789). (3) Different both from b'lt 'character' and 3i>V 'wonder'
is the masculine word J (] '^ ^, which is found in the Eloquent Peasant B /, 109, and in the
phrase irt bi, Prisse 5,5; 17, 13; Turin 2.

^ ^ ^ © ^ J 'the first gencTation ', cf. Bnt. A/us. 5645, recto 6 (see the Appendix);

ri^^fllD^^^+.^l^I^i^l ^^^'^^ ''^- Nav. 133, 10; Hathor is called ^fl^^^,®!! 'queen
of the first (divine) g(;neration', Mar. De/id. Ill 73d. /// is, properly speaking, 'a body' of men

(cf. .iffcU), but is specially usctl in the sense ' treneration ' ; cf. [1 ^^ <6\ a/Sva H ,„^,^ v^n^

^ "=> Ii I I'' ^ I 5=3v2i/i III o I ^ I

'tell it to generation after generation' Leiden V i; **"°'?~n~Jj^ 'generations pass' Max Miiller,
Liebeslieder 1,2 (Tomb of Neferhotep); Statue of Horemheb 4; Mar. AbydA 51,36. For ///.
cf. f die 'Urzeit'.

A^^^l'^^' '^ ^ common phrase, often found in tin- Totenbuch. The exact mean
ing of sdb has still to be determined; for its use in non-religious texts cf. Pap. Kahun 13.34,
where 0 J Ip^ should be read; Rekhmere 2, 14. — I'^^r^n^T^ '"^o stretch forth the arm', in
a hostile sense already in the Pyramidtexts, W 607; N 924 (with m 'against'); cf. too Rec. dc
Trav. 16,125 (late stele from Lu.xor, with ;-).

12,3. Nliit-ib, ci. J^bensmiide ^6, where we ought perhaps toreadl|«==> _ l'^9()'^~^

^p[|Sj ]'f''^o'7'@' Ei^nian however read hH (Br. Worterb. Suppl. 780), which is also

possible. In an unpublished literar)- papyrus from the Ramesseum (M. K.) occurs the sentence

i) It should be noted that scvcr.al words of tli,e stem l<ii are |>crsislently written bi without the final radical i, as for example
J (J ^r\ 'mine', which is proved to have the reading biiw by an isolated variant, Weill, Kecutil 57,3; | (J k»j 'hc;iven' 'lirmamenl'
should perhaps by analogy also be transliterated bU or ^/ir.', though not a single instance with i is known in early texts. However the
case with bit 'character' is dilterent, as the oldest instances arc without the determinatives , in which the reading *<i seems to be

implicitly expressed.

translated m. „iinter Eiirli", whicli of course demands the correction ^ m aaS,a ; Sethe is

..^ Ol I I Jif^^ Hi I I

Text, Translation and Commentary. o -

"^■gxflfl^l I'ltrif, Pcmh-rcli 2b, 6; lib. Otiicr examples are <|U()tcd by Erman on Lebens-
miide 28.

12.4. ^^ J\ 'to pass by' oTcine , see my note Rec. dc Trav. 26,11. — Styt , infinitive
of the verb W \ ("f- f' *\ Benihasan II 4. — Hwiiy r Iir, cf. Millingen 2,2; Amada stele 3. 7;
fiiscr. di-dic. 99; Urhinden III 60; on the form with -ny see Sethe, Verbum II §§ 117,4. 683,6c.

12.5. Dr iw, compare the examples quoted above on 12,3; and Lepsius, Alt. Textc 1,9.
— /<\ («) kit, a 'pilot' on board a ship, cf. Urkiinden IV 310; Anast. II (), 2. — As Sethe points
out hi he rf tn is as impossible as man vbi} would be in Latin; one of the two interrogative
words must be omitted. Possibly two sentences have here been blended into one. — Lange

ww> ..imter Euch", whic'- ■'" — -' '- ''-- '- - »^ *^ "^

loubtless right in rendering 'behold'.

12,6-12,11.

>

\\
ra ^ '/A '-y, -M w-K M '/A zc zc \ o

i^'^llili (-.") ^k^'-Sliii-MIIIIIIII!-- ^„

If icr liad been / sho7t/d not have found t/ieeQ); I sliould not have been

called in vahi^:) a sayingi^) that is on the

lips of eve>ybody. Today fear .... more than a million of people. Not seen enemies . . .

enter into the temples . - weep His

'.cords go adrifti;) the statues -wouldQ) \not}\ be burnt, their{}) tombs

would be safeQ) see himi>) on Ihei^) day of all ... . He

who ne-.'er made for himself ■' ) between heaven and earth fears on account of everyone.

12,6—12,11. These lines are too much interrupted by lacunae to be intelligible. If the
prnnuun ^ in ;/ gm-nt tiv be correct, tlie king must already here be addressed. The last sentence
seems by its form to belong to a descriptive passage; and the same conclusion is suggested by
the reference to the burning of statur-s in 12,10.

12,6. Snm is here clearly transitive, and cannot therefore be identified with smn 'to
mourn" (sec <.m 2,5) in spite of the dctcrininativc I.ant^e proposes to cmtrnd v//;;/ 'to feed", and

84

Gardiner, The Admopitions of an Kgyptian bage.

to render; 'If w<- liad been fed, we should not have found thee (i. e. soujjht thee out), 1 sliould

not have been called ' — Sswn id, cf. 11,5.

12,7. (Z{. Proc. S. B. A. 18,203, lin*^ '^ '^ '-' ^ J^J 'that proverb which is on

the lips of the great'; perhaps before liry ri we should emend ^A Sll- — ^°'' ^^*^ faulty

writing of mtn^ cf. 5,2.

12.9. S[u')hi see on 2,11.

12.10. Wdd hvt cf. 16,14.

12,11-13,9.

n-mz%^ (■3.o^^x,^ ,-ku^u-k^ipyk^^
-El's- Tk'^z'?-- ^JkikP!^rr, ^j-^kt.^

f ^i^^li^k ra (.3.6) ^,M-~->^^-t^^,flT Siit-

k^|.;,.r........|0||--C3.7)kK-"fl^^k^SJ«Dlkf^'|.^...A

> f >

kk^i"=^nf mHHI -re .h.n ■/, •- lost | (>3, 9) ||

£^

<=>o2i/nl @

or a

line lost ^ - - ■ ■ v,v,yA, \

C30

a bee note / on plale 12. b Ms. c Ms. \\ d Ms. ^^ ■'^^

what thou hatest to takeQ). Taste,

Kno^i'ledgc and Truth are with thee. Confusioti is -what thou dost put throughout the land,
together ivith the noise of tumult. Behold one uses violenee against another. People eonforni to

Text, Translatirm and Commentary.

85

that which thou hast covimanded. If three men journey upon a road^ they arc found to he two
men; the greater number slay the less. Is there a herdsman that loves death} T/un wouldst thou
comtnand to make reply: it is because one man loves and another hatesQ), that their forms^) are
fexv on a'cry side. It is because thou hast acted so(?) as to bring these things about(?). Thou
hast spoken falsehood. The land is as a weed that destroys men. Then people would not reckon
!tpon(J) life. All these years areQ) discordant strife. A man is killed upon his housetop. He is
vigilant in his boundary-house. Is he brave} ( Then) he saves himself, and he livesQ). People
send a servant^) to poor men. He walks upon the road until he sees the fiood{}). The road is
dragged {with the drag-net}}). He stands there in misery Q). What he has upon him is taken
away. He is belabouredi^) with blows of the stick, and wrongfully slain. Would that thou

mightest taste some of these miseries] Then ivouldst thou say from

another as a 7i'allQ) hot years

12,11 — 13,9. The speaker now turns to the king, and passionately denounces his callous
indifference to the scenes of bloodshed daily witnessed upon the public highways. The Pharaoh
himself, to whom Religion and Literature ascribed the attributes of Taste, Knowledge and Truth,
is the cause of the confusion and tumultuous noise that fill the land (12,12 — 12,13). '* is
due to his commands that every man's hand is against his fellow (12,13). '^ three men travel
together two of them conspire with one another against the third, whom they kill (12, 13 — 12, 14).
Is it possible, asks the speaker, that a ruler, the shepherd of his people, should wish to see his
subjects die (12,14)? Here the king is imagined to reply to the charge brought against him
(12,14 — '3'0- The answer is obscure, but the king seems to shift the responsibility on to the
people themselves (13,1). Nay, it is what thou hast done that has brought these things to pass;
thou lies/ retorts the sage, who then proceeds to illustrate anew the murder and rapine that meet
his gaze wherever he looks. He ends with the bitter wish: Would that thou mightest taste some
of these miseries, then wouldst thou tell another tale (13,1 — 13,6). — The passage is by no
means lacking in obscurity, yet there can, I think, be no doubt but that it is the king who is
here addressed with such vehemence. We know from 15,13 that the king was among the
dramatis pcrsonae of the book, and various expressions in the passage before us cannot well refer
to any other personage. Such are the words Hw S'li Mit in 12, 12; ivd 'command' in 12, 13. 14,
mtnw 12,14 (see above on 12,1); and finally the wish in 13,5 — 13,6, which could only be said
to one who was relatively little affected by the devastation of the land (cf. 2, 11).

12.12. Hw and Sh are very often associated with one another (cf. already Pyramid-
texts W 439) as attributes of the king; compare \\> ^, ' — . ^^^-^ ''^^^ ^k. S() "^^^ 'iir~f^
•^=::^IU.l» 'Taste is in tiiy mouth. Knowledge is in thy heart, thy tongue is the shrine of Truth'
Kuban stele 18; similar phrases are addressed to king Rehotep, Petrie Koptos 1 2, 3. — Shi.,

-.see on 2, 1 1.

12.13. For hnnw, see the note on 6,1. — Wd is often used with an object such as

^"^.^ — °(]0 ^ ^ (cf- 7,6), or '""^^'^^^^ of 'exerting' violence or the like against some-

one. For the absolute use here exemplified no better parallel is forthcoming than the amulet
Pap. Leiden 358 fl ^ © ^^^^^ ^ "^ e ^^^ ^ "^=* ""^^^^ ' <> thruster, thou dost not thnist (i. e. use violence)
against him' — Sn followed by r seems never to mean to 'transgress', but either (i) 'to be like

86

Gnrtlincr, The Admonitions of an Egyptian Sage.

or (2) 'to make like' 'copy' 'imitate'. For the latter meaning cf. Urkundcii W 5S 'I shall be

praised for my knowledge after years (| ^ ^<=>"o" A "^^^ o ^ ^ '^*^' ^

imitate what 1 have done'; and another instance, determined by J\, A. Z. 14 (1876), 107; for
other examples, either with ^g or with tiz) only, see Krebs, Dc Clineviotliis uomarchi inscrip-

tioiie, p. 42. Here we have an extension of this use which may be paralleled by ^_^^ 0x2,3,

S? R J^^ ~v^ <;;^ rn ■^ ^"^1 ^^\\ 'I am a noble pleased with triitii, conforming to the laws of the
Hall of Truth' Turin 154 = Jiec. dc Trav. IV 132.

12,14. The two particles hr ki in close juxtaposition are curious, but in literary texts an
accumulation of i)articles is by no means rare; cf. )w irf hvi below 13,9; 7u)k /n\ Rckli
mere 10,9.23. — irl 7t>U, cf. Urkunden IV 970; L. /A III 140c, 12.

13.1. The answer of the king is extremely obscure. Mr^vt 7t'' and msd ky are evidently
opposed to one another. Is it perhaps meant that murder arises through the diversity of men's
desires, because the one wishes that which the other abhors? — /;-;//• h pw r shpr tifi is shown
bv the repetition of is p7v to belong to the king's answer. The clause is difficult, but might
possibly mean: 'thou hast acted (in such a way, as) to bring these things about'. Cf 12,3 for
;//•? and 12,5 for shpr.

13.2. K><ki is very frequent in Ebers and elsewhere; from the passage describing the

various possible forms of death that may befall a man Pap. Ttirin 121,4 ^^^'"^ ITI "^

'b)- a death owing to trees, by a death owing to plants(?), by a death owing to all kinds
of reeds, by a death owing to all kinds of vegetable' we may perhaps conclude that k'^ki is
a generic word for 'plants' or 'shrubs', not the name of a particular species. — Hfyl above
3. 11; 7.6.

13.3. hvf rsf eXc, cf. the similar sentences 9,14 — 10,1; by constant vigilance the man
who is brave may succeed in saving himself, but all others perish.

13.4. B^iut, an unknown word, may be corrupted from some such term as wb^ 'the
butler' 'servant', an antecedent being required for the suffix of stn-f. — '^Zl^ JS" ^° written

also in 10,13, may ijossibly be an error for p ^^ 'sweeping inumdation' 'flood for

which see Griffith's additional note on Pap. Ka/mn 2,12. If so, it might be meant that the
messeno-er o-oes along the raised gisr or embankment above the inundated land, until he reaches
the point where it is broken down, and where men are dragging with the fish-net. There he makes
a halt, and is promptly robbed and slain. — For i/h-hu Ji-V we might compare Mar. Ahyd. I 496,

^©(|^|c>^=(] = |J(]^|/^|5^ 'I set(?) for thee the drag-net in the Marshlands,
I drag for thee the region of the Cataract", where it/i has the (juite exceptional meaning of 'to
use the drag-net in' a place; //// is used of the fish-net below in 13,11.

13,5. For siiii'i see the note on 4,12. The following words are repeated from 5,12
above. — Hi ... . k^, 'would that' .... 'then', sec on 12,2.

'I'lxI, ■^^.l1l^l;lli^)ll anil (.'uiinnciilary.

87

13,9.

MSzMiHS f r.^.t *:; Will ,. ., .., 1 "3. -) im

iiir'-fl^ii.i'iPii

a Traces of a rubric. b Ms. /\ I

I

// is /icni'ei'er good, when s/ii/>s{?) sail up s/ream{}) [no one}]

rods I hem.

1 3, 9. Closely following upon, and in vivid contrast to, the sinister picture disclosed in the
jjreceding lines, comes a series of short sections describing the joy and prosperity of the land in
a hapi)ier age. The introductory formula iw irf hm{io) nfr, with which each of these sections is

introduced, jjrobably means no more than: 'how good is it when ', hvi being, as Lange saw,

the particle often used to mark a contrast, cf. Erman, Aeg. Gravim} % 344. Sethe is probably
right in preferring this view to another which I had suggested, namely that hmiv is a word for
'ruler' and that the formula should be rendered: 'is there a good ruler, then . . . .' The main
objection to this is that no such word for 'ruler' is known, though very iwssibly the Egyptians
knew of a verb li»t connected with ci^v %i\_ 'rudder' (often used of the stedfast, safe ruler,
e. g. Eloquent Peasant B /, 90) and with ^Viv (](]^\~. 'steersman' (e. g. ibid. 126. 222). It would
turther be strange that the determinative ^ should in not a single instance follow ln)m\ and my
suggested translation would perhaps require (1a/wvv.[]p instead of simply (1©.

I ^^ ^, the reading of the Ms., could, as Sethe remarks, only have its usual sense
'position'. I suspect that the archetype had ' liio hr hntyt 'ships sail upstream', as emended above.

13,10.

// is ho'wever good., when

13,10-13,11.

X 7) e

a Ms

I

// is hozoever good, zuhcn the net is drawn in, and birds are made fast

I 3, I I. For Q"^ ^? we should undoubtedly read 0^^6 'drag-net'; Br. Worterb. i 52
(juotes an example of the phrase ith 'ndt 'to draw in the net'. — Mh 'to bind" elsewhere ap-
parently only in the Pocui on lite Chariot {A. '/.. iS |iSSo|, 95), 29 — 30 0'='^^'^^i^6

Qg G;irdiner, The Admonitions nf .in Kfiyi'tL-in S.igc.

bind those who are wicked'. For the substantive juA 'bonds' 'fetters' <:('. Anasl. K i 7, i = Sail. /6, 7;
Harris 500, v(;rso 2, 5. «S. 12.

13,11 13,12

// is however good, when \thc lombsr\ The 7numtnies{}) {are restored}] to

them. The roads are passable.

13,12. S Inv 'dignit}'' 'office' does not seem to be suitable here, and possibly s hw 'mum-
mies' (cf. 16, 14) should be read. We might then have the converse of 4,4 = 6, 14 above, where
the dead are said to have been taken from the tombs and exposed on the high ground.

13,12-13,13.

I I I

"Ti T™°?|&, ral()'j„'ni5^i

a Ms. I . „ 1,. I b Ms.

I A— llcz«=.l \\l I I I III

It 2S ho7.uever good, when the hands of men bnild pyramids. Ponds are dug. and plan-
tations are made of the trees of the gods.

13.12. The emendation hws-su for shw-si-sn is obvious and certain; hws nir, cf. Lebens-
miidc 6 1 . We ha\e alread\- found a clear case of the disintegration of one xyord into two
above in 5,8, where "^0^^, must be read for "^^I^P.

13.13. The larger and better-equipped tombs of all periods had their ponds and their
gardens, as Maspero has shown {Etudes dc Myth, et d'Arch. IV 241 — 8). — The reading mnw
' monuments ' is evidently wrong, and wc can hardly hesitate to emend '^^^^ ^ () i • This word else-
where means 'trees' and not precisely 'garden', but it is speciaHy used of trees in a plantation
(e. g. Urhunden I\' 73; Loiivre C 55; Harris 7, 12), so that its employment here would be but a
slight extension of the usual significance. — The 'trees of the gods' are perhaps those which
come from the 'divine land' T. '.. .

I I I 0 <=>

// is however good, zohen people are drunken. They drink and their hearts are glad.

13.13. For the spelling H ^ (]'~^d^ with x cf. .£"<J^rj- 21, 14; and similarly ^ I ^^^ °
si-wr. ibid. 9, 1 3. — ^[yl, only iiere.

13.14. Nfr, of the heart, see on 3,12.

Text, Iranslation and Commentary, Qq

13,14-14,1.

o<

^^2^^'^ ^ ^

• o I r © c^> u ^ il 1 iiA <=> w

a NJs. has meaningless signs; sec the plale. b Ms. ^

// « hmvever good, 7i>hen rejoicing is in [mens) moulks. The magnates of districts stand
and look on at the rejoicing in their houses Q), clothed in {fine}) raiment, purified in front, made
to flojirish in the midst {?}).

13, 14. The word mii 'to see' has a strong suggestion of the wall-paintings of the tombs,
where the nomarch srands and inspects his dependents busy with their crafts or indulging in
various forms of amusement.

14,1. The emendation CU I' is both easy and suitable, but it is difficult to conceive how
so simple a wort! could have been misunderstood by the scribe. — /f^tl 'a garment' is, as
Sethe points out, the Coptic g^ociTc; cf. below 14,4; Veir el GedrawiW 13; Pap. med. Kahun 2,8;
Zaubcrspr. f. Mutter u. Kind S, 3. The word is here corruptly written. The three participles
hds, tivry, and srzvd seem to refer to bwiw, but it is not easy to fatliom their meaning. The
parallelism of r hit and w hr-ib leads one to suspect that Jibs may originally have been followed by

kf ^® '"^'^^'^ ^^'^ '^'^'•

14,1-14,3.

a Ms. b Ms. \\

// is however good, when beds are made ready {J). The headrests of princes are stored in
safety^). The need{J) of every Tnan is satisfied ivith a couch in the shade. The door is shut upon
him, who(r) {formerly}) slept in the bushes.

14.1. For the spelling of Hhvt cf. ^. |00't=;f° Piankhi i 10; the old form is

14.2. The verb idt seems both here and above in 9,1 to be used of 'making ready'
a sleeping place, but no such word is known to the dictionaries. — Tir is a word of rare oc-
currence; the earliest of the known examples Urkunden IV 84. 896 are quite obscure; perhaps 'to

keep safe' in ^f'^'^^^^O^ ^"^ol'' P '^~^ '^^y "^^'^ '^ '^^P* safe(.'') for thee' Festival
Songs 11,2; ' O Osiris, offered to thee is the mn-wr, (] ^ T) ?^ , , O | ^ *?) thy flesh

being preserved, thy bones being sound' Mar. Dcnd. IV 51a. — Sirt elsewhere means 'wisdom'

Gardiner

QQ Uaidiner, The Admonitiuiis oT an E);y|jtian Sage.

'sense' (sec tlie note on i6, i), no feminine word meaning 'want' or the like being found else-

where: cf. however leg *K^ ^^^ ^^ and the note on 12,3. — For izvyt see on 7, 13.

14,3. Sethe proposes to take sdr m bit as (jualifying the preceding suftix; unless this is
done, we must assume that some words are lost.

14,3-14,5.

than 1/2 of a line lost '$, [Tl o V I ^^ "^1 I ^ 4V3 lines lost ^
a Ms. Q (3 ^

// is however good^ wkcn fine linen is spread out on the day of the A^ewyearQ)

onQ) the bank. Fine linen is laid 07tt{}), garments are on the groundi^). The overseer Q)

trees. The poor

14.3. The section seems to have to do with the use of fine linen f(jr festival purposes,
people no longer fearing to leave it spread out in public places. — For ^^ a , of clothes,
cf. Eloquent Peasant B /, 34; of papyrus-rolls, cf. Rekhmere 2,2.

14.4. HHi, see on 14,1. — -^c^-s^ j^ unknown; should we emend j^.Y,?

14.10-15,13.

Q^M?i-Tii- k:^^ ('4. .3) if;,- ii-~-^jrai» Sir

"nS^-'ApZ^^^iK T^^k'^W-^m" ^'" "°

s}^^ q™.-;p[f]t^njp-(,5.4)i,_3.,.„,,..,i,i'k-pf7i,;',

Text, Translation and Commentary. ^|
■^ ^1 6-7 s,,uar« los, 1 1 ® 1 1 S ^ .T"J 5-6 s<,u„« los, | ('5, S) | ,,„„, 5 „,„,„. ,„,, f^I] i

@ 1 1 1

a See plate 14, note f.

\in the midst}] thereof like Asiatics

Men their manner. They have come to an end for themse/vesQ'^). There are none found to

stand and [protect}] themselves^}) Every man fights for his sister, he protects htm-

selflj). Are [they) Negroes} Then we protect ourselves^}). Multiplied are uiarriors(}}) to repel the
people of the Bow. Is it Temhi} Then we turn backQ). The Mazoi are^ happy Q) with Egypt. How
should every man slay his own brother} The troops which we recruited for ourselves are become
a people of the Bow, and have come to destroy Q). What has happened{}) .... through it{}}) isQ) to
cause the Asiatics to kjiozv the condition of the land. All foreign tribes are full of its fear. The

taste of men without giving Egypt It is strong{J)

say concerning you after years devastate itself. He who rematnsQ)

makes their houses to liveQ}) to cause his children to live

Generations^) said} f^^^

gum most{}) provisions

14,10 — 15,13. A gap of more than four lines introduces a long section which, if it had
been preserved complete, might well have shed a clear light upon the historical situation pre-
supposed by our book. In its present mutilated condition even the general trend ol the passage
is obscure. The first words of 14, i i compare someone with the Asiatics ( Ji \\^^|?m)' ^^ whom
allusions have been made in several passages above (cf. 3,1; 4,5 — 8; 10,1 — 2), though without
explicit mention of their ethnical name. In 14,12 — 13 some people, perhaps the Egyptians them-
selves, are apparently reproached with cowardice. A series of difficult and elliptical sentences
in 14,13 — 14 appears to refer to the relations of Egypt with its foreign neighbours on the South
and West. These sentences are followed by the rhetorical question: how should every man slay
his own brother} The only thing that is here plain is that the Libyans and Nubians are some-
how contrasted with the more dangerous enemy on the Eastern boundary. The Asiatics are
again named in 15,1, and in the foregoing sentence it is possibly explained how they came to
knoiu the condition of the land. Sethe thinks that the words d^mw ts-n nn hpr m Pdt hint at a
mutiny of Asiatics, whom the Egyptians, following their ancient custom of employing foreign
mercenaries, had enrolled in their army. These Asiatics, he understands, had fallen to plundering
and had made themselves the masters of Egypt. The hypothesis is attractive, but the words
hpr tn Pdt are too little intelligible for one to feel any great confidence as to their meaning.
In 15,3 we may guess that this national disaster was spoken of as a thing which would remain
as a blot in the memory of the Egyptians for many generations to come. After this the con-
text once more becomes shrouded in utter darkness.

92

Gardiner, The Admonitions of an Kgyplian Sage.

A graver difficulty tliaii ilu- obsc urity of the individual sentences that compose this section
is the fact that we have now no loiij^^er any certitude as to the identity of the speaker. From
tilt' words what Ipuwer said^ when he made ansiver to the Majesty of the Soi'ereign in 15, 13 it
may safely be concluded that a speech of the king precf^ded. It is of course wholly impossible
to regard the king as the speaker from the very beginning of the papyrus down to 15,1 3.
From I, I down to 14,5 we were able to trace, though with ciifhculty al sonn- points, a continu-
ous thread of thought; and in 12,11 — 13,9 we found unmistakable evidence of the king's being
directly addressed. The reflections of Ipuwer may fitly have ended w'ith the passage 13,9 — 14,5,
where after many pages of gloomy forebodings and violent recriminations a picture of peace and
prosperity is unfolded. That passage describes a jo\ful and harmonious era, such as Egypt had
known in the past and might still perhaps know in tiic future. It is by no means likely that
Ipuwer, after holding out this hope, reverted any more to the disasters that had overwhelmed
Egypt. For this reason the most probable hjpothesis is that the commencement of the king's
words fell in the gap between 14,5 and 14,11. However as no internal evidence on this point
can be found in the passage 14,11 to 15,3, there remains the possibility that the king's speech
began in the midst of page 15, where the context is completely lost.

14.12. M)k liw-f, possibly in a disparaging sense, as in the obscure sentence 9,3.

14.13. H(;re there are two elliptical questions, each of which is answered by ^?; on this
use of the particle, see 12,2 note. — It is unnecessary to emend m iws to in iwsn, as the
singular suffix may refer to Pdt^ which was treated as a feminine singular above 3, i.

15, I. For wi see on 7, 1. — fjp'i'l 'if i^'f is obviously corrupt, as the suffix is without
an antecedent. The meaning must somehow be: 'the result of this was that '

15,13-16,1.

ii.l1i^[^t ^-J^i— ~M.sa^ I,,..,..,.., I (5. .4)1

0

^ - -^ ■ ^.°wk^T? fl'gi:sT?iP,"r, pfT^s^^flk

I I I

p,T, wj^»iP,T,c^.oftir;p~-^

a Ms.

What IpuiverQ) said, when he answered the Majesty of the Sovereign all

cattle. To be ignorant of it is what is pleasant in {their) hearts. Thou hast done what is good

in their hearts. Thou hast nourished people with itQ). They coverQ) theirQ) through

fear of the morrow.

15, 3 — 16, I. That a speech of the king has just ended is a legitimate deduction from
the opening words of this section. The sage, whose name we here learn for the first time, now
answers him. Does his reply mark a new stage in the debate, and did argument and counter-
argument continue to alternate with one another far beyond the limits of the papyrus in its pre-
sent mutilated Ibrmr Or are we here approaching the end of the book? The former view has
a prima facie plausibility, for amid the sparse fragments of the sixteenth i^age there is no ex-
ternal sign of discontinuity with what precedes; and when the left margin of the papyrus is reached

Text, Translation and Commentary. q_

in 17, I — 2, sentences are there cut into halves by it'. Nevertheless there are strong grounds
for tliinking that the Admonitions of an Egyptian Sage ended with the word dzviyt in 16, i.
The argunient.s that make in favour of this conclusion will be set forth in the notes on 16, i — 17, 2;
here it will be best merely to consider the consequences that will result from its acceptance.
The Gesprdch eines Lcbensninden viit seiner Seele, an ancient literar\' text edited by Erman from
a Berlin papyrus, has often been mentioned in tliis work, and its close relationship to the Ad-
monitions both in form and in vocabulary has been emphasized in th<- Introduction (p. 3). Now
if our Leiden te.vt ends in 16, i, its conclusion will be seen to show a very con.siderable resem-
blance to that of the Lebensni'iidc , where the debate as to whether life or death be preferable
is abruptly terminated by a brief speech introduced by the phrase ^^ *.

The concluding words of Ipuwer, if such they be, are by no means so clear as we could
wish. The Egyptians are apparently likened to cattle, for whom ignorance is bliss. The sage
now turns to the king: thou hast done ickat is good in their hearts. Thou hast flourished them
iL'ith itl^). These words can hardly be understood otherwise than ironically; the king has fostered
the Egyptians in their lack of knowledge, so that they go their ways heedless even of their own
misery and without will or intelligence to better their condition. The last sentence may perhaps
be guessed to mean: they veil their facesQ}) because of the fear of tomorrow, that is, they fear
to look the future in the face. At all events the phrase fear of tomorrow touches the keynote
of the book, and may ver}' appropriately be its last utterance: today sorrow is everywhere; un-
less people mend their ways, what hope can they have for tomorrow'

15, 13. The namelj^'^ "^"^ '1^^ Yw* '^ ^^ "° means a rare one, and names com-
pounded therewith can also be exemplified; cf. (]d^|v\ Louvre C 7; Og yl^ Pa her i 6; and
(|D^reW> ipivwr. Pap. Kaliun 14, 55. There are no grounds for taking |^, in the name as
given by the Ms., to be a determinative; if the reading be correct, Ipwsr or Sripw must be read.
It is however more probable that the scribe has for once confused the hieratic signs for sr and u<r
(see 4, 2 note) and that Ipwwr is to be read. — Nb r dr, of the king, cf. JUillingen 2: so too
in Sinuhe 172 it is probably the queen who is designated as nbt r dr.

15, 14. For the spelling of lot, cf. 5, 5 note. — Im-sn may be a corruption of im-s, as
there is no suitable substantive for the plural suffix to refer to.

16, I. kv hbsu>-sn hnty-sn is obscure; hhsto may well be an error for the verb hbs. —
A'' snd n, see the note on 8, 14.

^-TTTD '^^ n^l^r^®

p*^

^ c^

^^

nil

MMa

S!

16,1-17,2.

^i,..ii......pi.,.i,,..,i (■«■■') 111^^,-T-, ±~|.,.„.„„,o.,| (■«.'3) HIT

1) Ue it observed, however, that at ihe bottom of p. 17 scribblings are still visible that cannot belong to the Admonitions.

2) Tills relative form is somewhat unusual, but its literary use is not entirely confined to the conclusions of books: it occurs also
in 1. 30 of the LebemmiiJe, where see Ermau's note. For the juristic employment of tjdtn see my Iiiscnflion 0/ Atti, p. 12, note 2.

94

Gnrdiiicr, I'he Admonitions of .in Kgyptian ba|fc.

r,T ^^i\\^§Zin V. o... «.. .... l-k-^r M,-.......».| (''■ -4) II

I I t I I

.8^"»(.7..)Jlir;r5«.„J.,..n..,..,|(.7.^)~~~J.D'^ut,T:l

// is to be{}) an aged man who has not yet died, and his son is youttg and without under-
standing. He begins He does not open [his] mouth [to] speak{>) to you.

)'e seize{}) him in the fatei^) of deathQ). Weep go

after youQ). The earth is on every side. If men call to

Weep their , enter into the sepulchres., burn the statues

the corpses of the mummies of directing work

1 6, I — 17, 2. Were the opening words of this passage to be found on a scrap of papyrus,
isolated from the surrounding context, no scholar would have the least hesitation about pro-
nouncing them to be the beginning of a taleV Here however, if they are looked upon as the
continuation of the speech of Ipuwer, they can only be accounted for by supposing them to con-
tain a description of the king as aged and incompetent, while his son is still a babe unable to
take the place of his father. The extreme improbability of this view can easily be shown.
Ipuwer has, we must remember, begun to answer the king, whom he direcdy addresses in the
second person singular, while the Egyptians at large are referred to by the pronoun of the third
person plural. At this point intervenes the supposed description of the king, without any pre-
liminary word of warning, and from the following line onwards the audience is addressed in the
second person plural. The abruptness of this change of attitude is, to my mind, quite intolerable,
even when liberal allowances have been made for the greater freedom of I{g}'ptian idiom in its
use of pronouns. It has been seen in the notes to the foregoing section hcjw well the Ad-
monitions might end with the words 'through the fear of tomorrow' (16, i). These considerations
lead one to frame the hypothesis that dzu^yt was really the last word of the Admonitions., but
that the scribe of the Leiden papyrus, not perceiving that he had reached the conclusion, went
on copying mechanically from the Ms. before him, in which a tale followed upon the Admonitions.
This hypothesis fails however to account for the second person plural in the next line and is
finally disposed of by 16, 13 — 14 below, where expressions occur that are almost identical
with phrases that have already been read in the Admonitions. The onl)' way out of the diffi-
culty seems to be to assume that the words wn si pw really belong to the Admonitions and
contain a description of the king, but that this description, together with the rest of page 16,
is out of place. In favour of this view it should be observed (i) that the phrases in 16, 13 — 14
are all paralleled by expressions on tlie twelfth page of the Leiden Ms. and in a part of it where
the king is evidently being unfavourably criticized, though not as yet directly denounced in the
second person; (2) that the papyrus from which the scribe copied was clearly defective', so that
a column of it may easily have been torn off and have been read by the copyist in a wrong

1) Doe would ID this case tr.iDslalc: 'there was once an aged man' etc.; sec the philological note.

2) See the Introduction, p. 2.

Text, TransIatioD and Coinmenlarj. —>

place; (3) at the bottom of page i 7 there are traces of writinjj in a different hand to tliat of
the Admonitions, so that this work was either left incomplete or else came to an end not much
farther on than 17, 2. On the strength of this evidence I think that the most natural conclusion
(though of course there can be no question of arriving at a certain decision on so problematical
a point) is that the passage 16, i — 17, 2 represents a column or page that had become detached
from the Ms. utilized by the scribe of the Leiden papyrus, and that this page ought to be
inserted at some point between 12,6 and 12, 12.

16, I. For the resemblance of the words wn s'l pw tni etc. to the beginning of a tale,
one might compare "J]" J i^fl 0^^ ^0^^^"^ Peasant R \. — ® "^ with the sdmf-
form cf. I . ""^i^^^ "1 ^liip'^'f'^'^ked Sailor 33 and possibly too the first examjjle {Sdtwf})
in Sethe, Verbum II § 555 k. — For swdi 'to die' Sethe quotes Harris 22, i, 77, 12; perhaps
also to be emended in ^^7^%^ ^ i^^-^ Sinuke B 170 — i. This word is probably not to
be confused with 'I "^^ which is used of 'going' to one's tomb e. g. Sheikh Said 19; Mar.
Mast. D 10; Breasted, A new historical Stele 12. — S^rt 'understanding' 'intelligence', such as
is lacking in a tiny infant, ^f^- ^^'^'=^^=1 ^^ ^^P^^^^^^^ Turin statue of Harem-
heb 3; 'the children of Re whose words are puissant and whose lips are knowing PtQi^^'^^^^^ j|

Pi ,-^| , , K^"^^ ^"*^ '•'^^''' understanding (i. e. the fame thereof) reaches heaven' Pap. Turin
132, 14; and so often.

16, 13. Hr wH nbt, cf. 12, 3; 13, i. — Ir i^(^)stw n, cf. 12,6. — Rm{y\ d. 10,3; 12,9.

16, 14. 'k r hwt-ki, cf. 12, 8. — Wbdw twlw, cf. 12, 10.

APPENDIX

Brit. Mus. 5645 (plates 17—18).

While visiting the British Museum I had often noticed the writing-board no. 5645, which
occupies a conspicuous place among the hieratic ostraca in the Third Egyptian Room'. Its peculiar
script, more archaic than that of the tablets around it, made me single it out as a promising
object of study; red verse-points indicated its contents to be literary, and the few short extracts
which I jotted down in my note-book seemed to correspond to no known text. However it was
not until half of this book was in print that I found an opportunity of statisfying my curiosity
with regard to the writing-board. My surprise and pleasure were great when many of the rare
words known to me from the Adtnonitious made their appearance one by one, as I advanced
with the transcription; it seemed almost as though this new text had been written for the ex-
press purpose of illustrating my Leiden papyrus! Nor were the resemblances confined to the
vocabular)' alone: the latter parts contain a pessimistic description of the world that vividly recalled
the descriptive portions of the Admonitions. At the same time I noted differences both in the

1) See the official Guide lo the Third and Fourth Egyptian Rooms, p. 1 1 there the description of no. 7 (B. M. 5645) has been
erroneously inlerchaiiijcd with th.it of no. 13 {B. M. 5646).

qA G&rdiner, I'he Admonitions of &n E^ptian Sage.

form and in the matter which made a comparison with the Admonitions particularly instructive;
and 1 soon became aware of an especially important point about the writinijboard, namely that
its date can be fixed with certainty. From every point of view therefore it seemed advisable
to publish this new document as an Appendix to my work on Pap. Leiden 344.

Brit. Mus. 5645 is a wooden board 55 cm. long and 29 cm. high, covered on both sides
with a coating of stucco. The stucco is laid upon the wood by means of a coarse network of
string, which was attached to the board with some adhesive matter. In the middle of the right*
hand side is a small hole, which made it possible for the board to be suspended from a wall.
The text consists of four paragraphs of varying length, three of which are upon the recto; the
verso contains the fourth paragraph, and, lower down, two lines of larger writing that have
nothing to do with the preceding literary text. The entire board is covered with dirty reddish
marks which may verj- easily be confused with the red verse-points, and all the more so since
the latter have become verj' pale in colour. The writing is in places verj- faint, and the task
of decipherment was in consequence not always quite easy.

The hieratic hand is perhaps more nearly related to that of the Westcar papyrus than
to any other well-known text; however I am inclined to assign it to a somewhat later date, at
all events not posterior to the middle of the i8th. dynasty'. For Vv the scribe always employs

the large uncial form, except in two instances of the ligature -^ (recto 8; verso 4). The plural
determinative even after a tall sign is often written 1 1 1 horizontally, an indication that the old
mode of writing hieratic in vertical columns still continued to influence the horizontal script. The
complete form of Sa in used in recto 8. 13, and in recto 8 the fish <Qo \n is drawn in great
detail. The leather hv is not distinguished from that of 7ni t. The sign '>^ exhibits a pecu-
liarity not known elsewhere, the end of the tail being crossed by a short thick transverse stroke.

PARAGRAPH 1 (Recto 1—4).
Recto 1.

a Original apparently sS^sg

The collection of zt'ords, the gathering together of sayings^ the quest of utterances with
ingenious mind, made by the priest of Heliopolis, the , Khekheperre-sonbu, called Onkhu.

I . This is the title of the composition. — With the original before me I read 1 x ,, ^°)

both c-^-^ and o seemed clearly legible. In any case the parallelism of shwy mdwt, kdf tsw and

l) The fact that the text is written on a wooden board also points to this conclusion. We haTe several such boards dating from
the 12th. to the l8th. dynasties in Cairo and elsewhere. In the 19th. .ind 20th. dynasties they seem to have gone out of fashion. In the
2 1 St. dynasty the use of wooden boards instead of ostraca appears to have been revived , though the boards of this date are generally not
covered with stucco. Of course local conditions may here have determined the choice of writing-materials; in Thebes limestone ostraca
were more accessible than, for instance, in Memphis.

Appendix.

97

dir hiiw shows that 0 ? , . "W ^^^ must be read. — | r . is unknown; Sethe proposes, and
I think rightly, to identify tlie word with kwtcj 'decerpere' (fructus, flores). — M hhy n i6, cf. the
epithet of a god -<S3- pT" ^\ 5 q -A ~»<~^ | 'who created the earth with ingenious mind' lit. 'with
searching of heart' Leiden K i.

The word following zv6 n Inw is difficult to decipher; see note b on plate 17. For a
moment I inclined towards the reading '■ Sny son of, but it is far more likely that sny is a title
of some kind. — The name of the author is compounded with the prenomen of Sesostris II
( 1 2 th. dyn.), and tliere is no reason for doubting that this gives us the actual date of the com-
position; on the form of the name see A. Z. 44 (1907), 52 — 3.

Recto 2-4.

(O-- fM¥l.?^,l,^kk^'r!=Lib3""-'

a Original apparently

He said: — Would that I had words that are unknown , utterances that are strange,
{expressed) in new language that has never occurred {be fore), void 0/ repeiitiotis; not the utterance
of past speechi^.}) , spoken by the ancestors. I squeeze out my body for {J) that which is in it, in
the loosing^) of all that I say. For what has been said is repeated, whenij) what has been said

has been said; there is no the speech of men of former times, whenQ) those of later

times find it.

2 — 4. The writer wishes that he had new and original things to say, not merely repeti-
tions of what men of former generations had said before him.

2. For 0^^_^ see the note on © ^ ^ _rt_ Admonitions 7, 4; the ending -i is

correct for the perfect participle passive, if hnw be taken, as Sethe suggests, as a singular. —
© Q (| (] ^ j must be an adjective or participle parallel to hmm. Sethe well compares the words

^\ ■'i^ ^^137 -. „ c=it3 ' all strange plants' in the descriptive sentences accompanying the pictures
of the Syrian plants brought back by Thutmosis III from his Asiatic campaigns, Urkunden IV 775.

'Back, thou messenger of every god! Hast thou come to this my heart of the living as a stran-

ger.P' //../.././ 336; P[i]^?n^J:^^ffjngD-^l2(|^^^^©-^ 'he is of

heart, he seeks ounsel for things that are strange like (= with the same facility as for) things

l) Lacau i/» I ; the original has the same sign as that which determines Vnai, Pap. A'ahuii i, 5; hrwy, ibid. 2, 16; A/W Prisse 9, 12:
and the proper name of a foreigner IJntitwi, Siimke 320.

Gardiner. ■»

qO G&rdincr, The Admonilions of ati l-'.^yjitiaii Siig**.

that are intelligible (lit. 'that in presence of which the heart is')' K. /. //. 24, 7 = Piehl, Inscr
/tier. Ill 74. Derived from this adjective must be, as Sethe points out, the word for 'sayings'
(perhaps 'original sayings') '" ^ ()^|I'=*|yOT^|l '^^ *=* n p ^ (| 'hear ye me, and speak
good concerning my words, do not say fie(?) concerning my sayings' Vienna 172, 7 (late).

I m^ ^^^H'^Pill ''■cpf^'^''^'ons', only here in this sense, for which cf. below recto 7. The
doubled m is curious and inex[)licable. Whniyl in Shipwrecked Sailor 35. 104 is obscure. —

"TV *=>1h?\: for the hieratic writinsr see Plate 17 note c\ 5A has verv nearh' the form of

tiiat sign elsewhere in this te.xt, and |, as it stands, can hardly be anything else. However sbt
r hw is unknown, and is open to the objection tliat hrw ought to be written | ^ ^. Sethe may well
be right in conjecturing ~Tr 1 ^ <=r=»|gQ.

3. I a r - is not rare in the medical literature for 'to strain' 'squeeze out' some pre-
paration through a cloth, cf. Pap. Kahun 6, 4, Ebers 19, 22; 63, 6; Hearst 2, 10; 3, 16: always
accompanied by the words m hbsw except in Ebers 17, 18. 22. For shik the Berlin medical
jiapyrus writes l~^x ^ [Pap. Berlin 3038, 11, 11; 16, 7; 20, 4. 5. 9) and in Admonilions 10, i
link is probably a mistake for slink. Here metaphorically used for searching out the body' for
such precious utterances as it may be able to produce. This interpretation is preferable, as Sethe
points out, to that which I had proposed, 'to purge' the body of the thoughts that oppress it.
Sethe takes hr to mean 'and' here, but I think it is better to translate it 'for' 'because of.

With V\ /^ Sethe hesitatingly compares the old verb ^\^^ °°° 't<> pass corn

through a sieve' (L. Z?. II 47; 71a; Perrot-Chipiez^ fig. 28), but the determinative speaks strongly
against this suggestion. On the other hand, the presence of ,ww« after the infinitive is unusual. —
Instead of ^°^^^37 we might expect ddt-'i nbt; cf. however — ^^. ^ below recto 6 and

2^^^==^ ^1 verso 5.

The sentences introduced by Y must have given the reason win th<: words of the

ancestors were insufficient to serve the author's purpose, but this reason is quite obscure. The
writer indulges in pla)' upon the word dd in much the same way as Prtsse 1 6 plays upon j/ V\ ,
and we shall find this kind of literary artifice again below in 11. 5 — 6.

PARAGRAPH 2 (Recto 5—9).
Recto 5-6.

^tflT* rp.T.ar- m-^^'ZixM^^---- («"^^°-

sic
=> <J=. I I I (? I i -K^ 21/ ^-=^ 2i/ <::i W I I I

i) For the body as the se»t of thought, cf. such expressious as sk Ijrt it ht (e. g. Prot. S. /?. A. iS, 196, 12}; hjp ht, see the note
below on recto 13; and especially the series of images in Brit. Afiis. 566 = A. '/.. 12 (1S74), 66.

Appendix.

99

Not speaks one ivho has {already) spoken^ there speaks one that is about to speak, and of
whom another finds what he speaks{}). Notlj) a tale of telling afteriuards: 'they had tnade^})
(it) before'. Not a tale which shall say^): 'it is searching afterQ>) what hadQ) perished, it is
lies; there is none xvho shall recall his name to others'.

5 — 6. These words, which contain the same artifice of style already noted in 1. 3, are
exceedingly obscure. The end of the section suggests that the writer is there defending his
work from any imputation of untruthfulness that may later be cast upon it, and I therefore trans-
late the first sentences as a refutation of a possible charge of plagiarism. There are however
ver)- serious difficulties connected with this view. Sethe thinks that the passage must be apho-
ristic, the writer returning to the discussion of his own affairs only in the words ddt nn hft mini
(1. 6), and he proposes the alternative rendering: 'nicht sagt ein Sagender (etwas), damit einer,
der sagen wird, (es noch einmal) sage und ein anderer finde, was er sagte; nicht redet man fiir
den, der spater reden will'. My objection to this view is that I cannot connect it in any way
with what follows. In the following philological notes I endeavour to support my own hjpothesis,
though without, I must confess, having great faith in its correctness.

5. "^^ perhaps perfect participle active, sharply contrasted with the following verbal
adjective ddt'ifi. Sethe doubts whether this is possible. — Gmy probably passive participle; the
construction may be an extreme case of that discussed by Sethe, Verbum II §§ 899 — 902. —
For -JL,!"'^^^' I think we must emend "^1^^^^^^ in order to make this parallel to the following
"'^ I ^^^^ ^ ' in which the plural strokes should perhaps be omitted. Here cannot be trans-

iated 'there is not', but must be an example of the rare use of this negation to negative an

sic ?

isolated word or phrase. Cf. "^"^^J^flA above 1. 2, and the sentence l] 1^ -= — 0 . . '^^0

l^]^P|pp|-^«?-|-^l^^g|-^|'^5lf|^ "^Mll 'IJo ""t allow him to drink

nor wax, nor honey, nor sweet beer, for four days' in an unpublished magical text in

Turin; see too Steindorff, Kopt. Gramm} § 460.

For the construction kis dds in a relative sentence Sethe compares Rekhmere 10, 14.
With the present reading kis dds (not kisn ddsn rs) we must render 'not a tale which shall say'
i. e. not words which show on the very surface their inconsistency with the truth. This seems
however highly improbable.

6. The verse-point after shitift seems to be wrong, as it certainly is in several instances
below. Shi 'to mention', cf. Shipwrecked Sailor 128, and a less certain case, without dative but
with rn 'name' as object, Petrie, Koptos 8, 6.

Recto 6—7.

/ have said this in accordance with what I have seen, beginning with the first generation
down to those who shall come afterwards; they arc like ivhat is pastQ}).

l) The letters ill arc here and in ihe two following instances written with a ligature which might possibly be read -dw.

'i*

IQQ Gurdincr, The Admonitiuns of nii Ejjyplian Sage.

6 — 7. The writer claims that his moralizings are in accordance with a comi^rehensive
view of all iiistory, beginning at the first age of human existence and not (excluding the future.

6. For 7nin'i, for which we expect fu^/ni, see above on M/, 1. 3. — For A/ Ipt see the
note on Adiiioiiihons 12, 2.

7. For J\^^ I r ^^- ^^^- Abydos II 10, where these words are used of future kings;
so too iy hr si of future days Prissc 9, 2. — The last words are very obscure; the sense may
possibly be that the writer can look into the future as easily as he can review past events. For
sn r see Admonitions 12, 13 note.

c <•>

Recto 7—9.

Would that I knciv that of whichij) others are ignorant, even things that have never
been related: in order that I tnight say them, afid my heart might answer me; that I might ex-
plain to it concerning my sufferings, and thrust aside for it the load that is itpon 7ny back, (that
I might speak) 7vords{}r) about that zchich oppresses meQ), that 1 7night express to it what I suffer
through itQ), that I might say .... about my mood.

7 — 9. After the pretentious boasting of lines 6 — 7 the return to the theme of line 2
seems exceedingly naive.

7. For \1/ ^^S()^k, ^^^ Eloquetit Peasatit B i, 111 and Vogelsang's interesting note in
his thesis Die Klagen des Bauern p. 30—31; for two more examples of the jiarticle i, see
Sinuhe 217. 260. — The writing ©^J^^vJ^ 's curious; it has probably nothing to do with the
Other words ending in that are discussed by Erman in his edition of the Lcbcnsm'nde p. 57
and by Sethe in A. Z. 44 (1907), 85, but may be simply the past relative form with a super-
fluous \\; this \\ may be due to the influence of the dual word kkvi, cf. A. Z. 40 (1902), 94
ad fincm '.

8. Slid here clearly means 'to explain' 'elucidate' and is construed with ;• on the analog)'
of dd 'to say'; I have been unable to find any other instance of this usage. — The masculine
itpvj 'load' 'burden', e. g. Pap. Kahun 1 5, 62 ; 30, 38. 42 ; Admonitions 1,2. — )>\ "^ r n ''^^ repel"
'thrust aside', cf. verso 3; so too metaphorically, of setting commands on one side, C/rkunden \V 546;
Piankhi 143. Literally, 'to thrust' a person 'aside' Totb. cd. Nav., 154, 3. 'to push away' food,
Prisse i, 10. — The sentence beginning with htnn is obscure; we should expect to find a verb
parallel to zctn-i, sSr-'i and the preposition w and the spelling sfii-n-ici are inexplicable. Sfi is
apparently an active participle, and has therefore nothing to do with the word sfn 'mild'; it is

i) Sethe considers Ihis view very improbable, and prefers to t.ike -ny here too as eiuiv.ilent to the pronoun -sn or -si: 'would
that I kuew, while others do not know it'.

Appendix. ,Qj

obviously the causative of the verb /;/ 'to be infirm' that is discussed in the note on Admoni-
tions 9, 9; the only other instance of the causative is Sinu/ic 161 'God hath sliown me favour(?);

may he do the like <=> I 0 1 IN^ v v aaa^vv *^— '^r^ so as to adorn the end of him whom he

hath afflicted'.

I 0 gA is probably a variant writing for _^g7j', which seems to be nothini^r more tiiaii
a clioice word for 'to speak'; cf. M— ^\ i Rekhuicre 2, is, ' ■ ^ w '^^ o\ ~wwv wl

g .asaa 'tiic heart of Re that knoweth what is, the tongue of Tanen that ultercth what

exists' Rochem. Edfou I 273 (cf. op. cit. 1 274); n'Sf), .o^^-*-A^ '^ create for thee

praise in uttering thy beaut\ ', op. cit. II 63. Cf. too g ^ 'tongue' and the word 5 S()

'utterance'; the latter is not at all rare in Ptolemaic limes, e. g. '—Ii ^T^-^ 81)1 1 1 '•'^^ heart
rejoices at hearing our words' Mar. Dcnd. Ill 60 g. — -^ '<-=— perhaps 'what I suffer through it'
i. e. the heart.

9. (IsgTj perhaps an e.\clamation of relief; an interjection 0^ QA expressive of pleasure
is found Israe/ stele 22; Rochem. Edfoii I 267.

The date at the end of line 9 is doubdess merely a memorandum of the scribe as to how
far he had ad\anced in his work by a given date: such memoranda are b)' no means uncommon,
cf. Pap. Bologna 1094, to quote but one instance.

PARAGRAPH 3 (Recto 10 — 14).
Recto 10.

I m 4S1 I e — I ii I I ^'oj' I "-' m^ 1^ ^1 n

G Jill

^- g

a OrlgiDal has

/ atn meditating on what has happened, the things that Iiave come to pass throngliout the
land. Changes take place; it is nol like last year. One year is more burdensome than the
otiur. The land is in confusion and has become waste {}); it is made into

'°- ^ ^^ occurs again below z/^r^^ I ; cf. the epithet ^^|)|;^P^^^I|2^^
'meditating upon the plans of his mistress' Urkunden IV 46, where the verb is construed with ;;/
as here. A^ki seems to be ver}- nearly s}'nonymous with wiiv^ 'to ponder' or 'plan' cf.

j "Vv ^1 0" I ' but taking counsel with his heart' Urkunden IV 434; ^^

"^ I "^ ^^ <==ril I I'^z^ m*^^ JN'^ K ' '^^*^^^ ^^'h^^ \s^x<^- in subjection to the lord of the two

l) Cf. s'si for ssi in Ship\i*yecked Sailor 139.

WQ2 Gardiner, The Admonitiuns of an Ei^ptiao Sa^e.

lands have planned and plotted reb(;llion'' Urkundcn IV 138. — Hpr hi /?, see the note on .Id-
monitions 1,8. — For hprw 'changes' I can find no exact parallel.

II „ , is the Coptic cuoTq; cf. | | 1 Maxinies d'Ani 7, 6. 8, both times in contrast

with ci^x I I 'this year', and see Sethe's remarks A. Z. 40 (1902), 95. The Ptolemaic spellings

are G and 0 e see Br., Worterbuch i 209. — For the metaphorical use of dns cf. Ad-

monitions 4, 10. 14; and for sh^ the note on Admonitions 2, i i may be consulted.

Recto 11-12.

e I <=> 1 I I I II CJ I «~.~^ f"- ~j — 0 <=> I I 1 1 r I I ~ vvvN~v I n .B'S ■ ■ — \Wj Will

^ 11

a Ungin.il « (3

Right is cast outside. Wrong is inside the conncil-chamber. The plans of the gods are
violated; their ordinances are neglected. The land is in distress. Mourning is everyivhere. Tcnvns
and provinces are in sorrow. Everybody alike is subjected to wrongs. Reverence, an end is
put to it. The lords of quiet are disturbed. MorningQ) occurs every day, and the face(:) shrinksQ)
at what has happened.

II. The converse of the first two sentences is expressed in the prophecy Cairo 25224

>

(Daressy, Ostraca., p. 53, parallel text to Pap. Petersburg i) (|%>.-«^^ (read ^^ ) "^^^

For 2vn 'neglect' see Sethe, Die Etnsetzung des Vezicrs^ note 90. — Jllhrw is an inter-
esting word of somewhat elusive meaning, which cannot always be rendered in English with the
same term; it seems to be derived from the preposition hr and to signify 'that which appertains
to' or 'is requisite for' somebody or something. A man applies to himself the epithet T ^\ "^
^^^n 'good of dealings in the house of his lord' {Munich Glyptotek 40) or claims to be
one '^ '^^ V "^"^^ 'whose intelligence performed his business' {Leiden \ 4; Brit.

Mus. 572). A pyramid is ^\ ^ ^ %:> I <=> r| ^ '^^"^ 'superior in arrangement to all (other)
places' Louvre C 3. /;-/ mhrio means 'to provide for' someone; in a general sense, cf. Ur-
kunden IV 656. 968. Esjjecially of 'government', d. irt mhrw ti, Urkunden IV 60; srwd mhrw
idbwy, Urkunden IV 1075; government by the gods, cf. Lyon 93 'O thou Ennead that art in
Abydos -csc>-^v ffl ^v>w,a^ which govemest the two lands'; so perhaps here

I) It is not certain that sbit is to be connected with hml nkil.

Appendix. I O ^

Lastly ht ni/iru< is commonly used for 'providinjj for' bodily wants; and so ultimately
i)i/ir2c comes to mean little more than 'food' (cf the English 'provisions') and is sometimes spelt
'^ [](] ^ cf. Dlim. Gcogr. Insc/ir. IV 125.

Snviiif is a compound word meaning 'distress' 'calamity' or the like. Cf. (] O vSftl
^"Ss^ t=De^^^^|^||| .Qrigf |g ij^ jj^g Netherworld, distress in '

Zanberspr.f. Mutter v. Kiuii <^, 8; ^7^^ T'" '^ "^^^^ '^ "^ ^^^^^ ^f Tntankliamon 8 = Rcc.
lie Trav. 29, 164; 1111 1\ ^^W^'^^^^^ Cairo 25224 (= Daressy, Ostraca p. 54, where
S ^^^^ is read); U U U ^J\^ '^^ ^^ ^, '" ^ very obscure conte.vt, L. /J. Ill 256 a, 8; and finally
n .r>^ Metternichstelc 240. — For 0(<s=-J^ a7\ see the note on Admonitions 1,8; the

lacuna is exactly of the shape of -«e^, so that there can be no doubt as to the accuracy of
the restoration.

12. (J ^8Ai c'- '^'^^ hrst quotation above in the note on sn-vint, Eloqjicnt Peasant R i 15

^V n yO o [yr'^\,]^ ra yO '^ ^'" ''^'J^"" ^^''''^ g^rief (similarly op. cii. fragm. Ill 13); parallel to

)nnv 'grief, Pap. Leiden 348, verso 12, 5. As verb, perhaps in (j c^ yQ()i ^| 0 JM^^JO

gTv 'j- "NL o f\^v/i 'the thirsty man groans (emend 0%> for tw) to himself in the desert' L. Z>. Ill

140b, 2. However (I O v>S])^ ^t^ the beginning of invocations in Totb. ed. Nav. 12, i; 14, i;

102, 6 appears to be an e.vclamation of joy.

Sfyt is that qualit)- in things or people which commands respectful admiration; 'reverence',
the word whicli I here use to render xfyt, is properly speaking too subjective in its meaning. —
Rd'it si r 'to annul' 'put a stop to' cf. ""^"^ %. "tf <=> (] fl '^"^ "^ Bibl. Nat. 20, 24 (hjmn to Osi-
ris); similarly Horemheb decree 20. 37.

Nb^v sgri 'the lords of quiet' probably a circumlocution for 'the gods'. Nb sgr is an
epithet of Osiris in Busiris (Br, Diet. Gcogr. 757), and it is perhaps Osiris who is so called in
Eloquent Peasant B I, 2j. 2(). Cf. too the epithet -a— ^ T I v^ ^\ n ^^37 H S ^ UrkundenW \02,\.
As the last quotation shows, sgr must mean 'quiet' 'peace' or the like, a sense for which we
may comjjare (^o^^ ra® ftj^f ^ Sinuhe R, 8, and the word sg discussed by me A. Z. 42

(1905), 32.

rn '^ V^llTl o^^"*"^ again below verso 2. If the word has here its usual meaning 'morn-
ing' (as in ;;/ nhpzi\ Admonitions i i, i), it is clear that the sentence nlifnv fir hpr r< nb must
be closel)' connected with what follows, since 'morning takes place ever)- daj' in meaningless as
an isolated clause. So Sethe, for whose interpretation see below. If this view be not taken
— it should be noticed that the neighbouring clauses are all short and independent of one another —
the only possible alternative is to connect nhfyiv with the phrase rr-i fi Sft f ''^^ ^^""^ '^^*'" Isrcul
stele 13; Inscr. in the Hier. Char., 29, 12. 13; Pap. Turin 147, col. 2, 9, and to translate 'cares
come about every day'. The determinative seems however to make against this view.

For tnbli see the note on Admonitions 9, 2. The meaning which seemed to result from
the examples there quoted was 'to swerve, shrink back, recoil' especially from fright. For

II Scthe liowever points out that the gcuilivc following wArw is cUewhere always an objective gcuiti%'e, and therefore prefers to
render mlir-ii-sii as ' care for them ', i. e. ' iheir cult '.

I04

Gnrtlincr, The Adnionitiuns of au KyypUaii Sayc.

a further instance (with omitted n as in msli for msnh) of. Pup. Turin 26 col. 2, i Qpi k 1 \\ A
<:r> ^ Pi 'they shrink from filling tiieir mouths(?)', in an obscure context. Sethe proposes
iiere to render: 'every day there comes a morning (i. e. one from which some improvement might be
hoped), and yet it returns back to its former state'. I very much doubt wiiether tnd/i can be
uscil in the sense here suggested, though the determinative /V in three passages tells somewhat
in favour of it. Is it not better to render 'the face slirinks at what has happened', comparing
the note on Admonitions i, 9 for the use of lir}

Recto 12-13.

A^/i^AA VjV

/ Speak concerning iiQ). My Limbs are heavy-laden. / rt;;/(-) distressed because o/Q) my
heart. It is pain/n/{}) to hold my peace concerniitg it. Another heart would bend (inidcr such
a burdeti}}). A brave heart in evil case is the cofnpanionfj) of its lord.

12. Dit ri, cf. verso 4; Urhcnden IV 271. 353; Rec. de Trav. 26, 11 footnote. — For
hrsn we ought probably to reatl Ins.

13. P'or the writing ^^ for )tp, compare Eloquent Peasant B i ., 70 with R ^^^^, and
ibid. B I, 2-j6 with B 2, 33.

For snni see the note on Admonitions 4, 1 2. If snnt wi be correct, ic'i must be taken
as the subject, just as sw in the next sentence appears to be the subject of u>hd\ for this con-
struction see Sethe, Verbum II § 173; A. Z. 44 (1908), %i\ and especially I"^"^^ v|^^ n^

Sinnhe B t^i , I "^^^0 <=>®"^^^ Shipwrecked Sailor 134. — | 'because of, not 'in' (Sethe).

]Vhd 'to suffer', see the note on Admonitions 10, 12; below in 14 and verso 4 absolu-

'^'>'- ^f- TlTa^ J.^ — A^ — ^®S11© '^ ^"°^^ '^^' '^'^ sufferest when
it (Truth) perishes in Egypt' Stele Rameses IV, 14 = A. Z. 22 (1884), 39. Apparently transitive

below verso 5; cf. Pap. med. Berlin 3048, 13, 4 'His clothes are too heavy for him, --x-ra^^^O
X J P(^ ""^^ ^^ cannot bear many clothes'. Here, according to Sethe, JZi' must be taken
as anticipating the following infinitive hip (cf. the use of sw in ''^^ "S^ | ^ | ^ ? ^ Paheri 2,),
and zahd must mean 'painful'; cf the similar use of mr 'to be ill' in the phrase fnr-zvsi 'how
painful it is'. — Hip lit hr 'to keep silence about' a thing, cf. Urkundcn IV 47; Louvre h 60;

Turin La.eso,.,s ,4 /l^^f ^,";fi,n-=>^k I^^^^T; -^^° »;'«■■

Ks metaphorically, only here; for the spelling Sethe compares — ^ -^r '^^ Urkunden
'^^ 385- — In the last sentence Sethe proposes to understand sn-nw in the sense of 'companion';
that this is the real meaning is proved by Shipwrecked Sailor 41 — 2 'I spent three days alone
^^^l 0 V^"^ ^^'^'^ '">' ^^^'''- ^^ "^y (o"'y) companion'. For nb 'lord' 'possessor' in
reference to )b 'heart', cf. Prisse 16, 8.

Appendix. ,q^

Recto 13-14.

a Erroneously omitted (in plate iS.

Would that I had a heart alile to stiffer! Then I ivotttd rest upon it. I zoould load it
loith words of / would ward off fro7n it my malady.

13. Hi ki, see the note on Admonitions 12, 2.

14. Whd must here be infinitive, in spite of the final P, and must have the nuance of
meaning found in tlie passage from the Berlin med. Pap. quoted above, namely 'to bear' 'endure'
suffering, not merely 'to suffer' passively. — Irt skny, cf. L. D. Ill 140 b, 2; Munich, Antiqua-
riiim 38; Totd. ed. Nav. 64, 42 (variants).

The signs following ^^ % fc^ are not easy to read, but if 1 e be correct, it is preceded
by a small sign like 0. The emendation Hpi szv seems probable from the parallelism. — For

y^^^\ one is tempted to conjecture tniir 'misery', but we have then the difficulty that this

clause would verj' nearly contradict that which follows it. In any case the last sentence is strange;
the preceding context would lead one to expect drf n'l mn-'i 'that it might ward off from me
my malady!'

PARAGRAPH 4 (Verso 1 — 6).
Verso 1.

He said to his heart. Come, my heart, that I may speak to thee, and that thou may est
answer for me viy words, and tnayest explain to me what is in the land

I. -wv after an imperative cf. Destruction of Men (Sethos), 3. 16; Kuban stele i i ; Piankhi 86':

later 1^ (j(lg7j Pap. Bibl. A- at. 198, 2, 17; Mayer A, 2, 18; see too Junker, Grammatik § 245.
The last words ntho hd pth are quite incomprehensible to me.

Verso 1—3.

\^- Tfii^i^z- r:=-a-kP^rr,3r htm

l) Erinan still connects /«' in Went 41, 45 with this particle (A. Z. 43 [1906], 24); I can however see no reason for explaining
those instances otherwise than I have done in Proc. S. B. A. 1902, 351 — 2.

Gardiner. I4

IqA Gardiner, The Adraooitions of nn E^plian Sa(;c.

l^k^^.Y; J^SiMITTL- rloiZSk'^.Y; t^T^

/ a)>i vicdilaiing on what has happened. Afflictions have entered in today; in the morn-
ing, have not passed away. All people arc silent concerning it. The entire land is

in a great stir. There is nobody free from wrong: all people alike do it. Hearts arc sad. He
who gives commands ts as one who receives commands: both of them are content.

1. Nkiy., see above on recto lo. — ihw again below 4; sec Br. Worterb. Suppl. 15 — 16;
ihw is certainly identical with ^^ fQ^"'^-

2. Nhpw, see above recto 12, note. Here, if 'cares' were really the meaning, one might
understand the sentence to mean 'cares, (they) have not passed awa\' since the ancestors', cir drw
then being an equivalent of CT ^^ ^O rr "^^^^ ^1 Urkztnden W 429. Sethe's proposal is how-
ever far superior: he takes tihpw, not as 'cares' parallel to lh'a\ but as 'morning' i. e. 'tomorrow',
contrasted with nilii 'toda)'. In this rase drdrw is the rare word written ^ ^ ^^ S
in Lebensmude 117. In spite of the strange determinatives this word must signify an evil quality

d.\ (l^^^^^Cread DSSfl'^rr.'^^l^'^fel'^ SallicrW 1,2.

Shr <i perhaps in a sense similar to that of the English slang expression 'to be in a
great state', i. e. in great perturbation. — The determinative of iSf '^ probably correct, nn lit
here meaning literally 'nobody'.

Snm, sec c^n Advionitiofts 2, 5. — Dit hr, see Sethe, Die Einsctzung des Veziers, note 144. —

Y'wwvK , nn J must mean 'the heart of both of them is contented', that is to sav, both the
I ^\\<=>U _____

ruler and the ruled are indifferent as to their miserable lot; "^ is doubtless the suffix of the
3rd. person dual; the preceding ^vw<a is inexplicable, and as Sethe suggests, should either be
omitted or emended to 1 1 r.

Verso 3—4.

a Origiii.il @, .is below I. 6.

People rise in the morning to ( find) it (so) daily, and (yet) hearts thrust it not aside.
The state of yesterday therein is like today, and resembles it because of muchQ). Men's faces
arc stolidQ), there is no one wise (enough) to knoic, there is no one angry (enough) to speak out.
People rise to suffer every day.

3 — 4. The thought of tlic callousness and submissiveness of men to their own and other
people's troubles is here further developed and elaborated.

Appendix.

107

3. The suffix s and the absolute pronoun si must refer to the general state of affairs.
— //r sn rs n 'Si is explained by Sethe as a circumstantial clause explaining the previous sen-
tence; H <si is however rather difficult and dubious.

In th<; following sentence Sethe takes /ir to be the preposition. I prefer to understand
it as 'face' and to compare the .sentences mentioned above recto 12, note, ad fiiiem. — Dri
seems to be a anai. liyu^ihvov , unless one may compare o' o"^, which is apparently used of
the baneful properties of a herb Zavberspr. f. Mutter u. Kind 2, 4.

The meaning a 'to know' 'perceive' appears to have been first recognized by

Sethe. Transitively 'to know' a thing cf Reklwicre 7, 9; Louvre C 240; Prisse 2, 3'. More often

oW I I I i.

,=^

I I I

^i^'

adjectivally used in the sense 'skilled in' or the like: cf. for example

'^i* ® 'whose hearts are skilled in seeing excellence' Piehl, hiscr. Hicr. Ill, 45;

^/ — < — ^ 1 %>U-Ji 'commander of troops, skilled in warfare" Mar. Abyd. I 53;

Karnak, Temple of Chons, ^~° f "^ P ['o' ^J "^ "8^ d|) 'wise in knowledge' Anast. I 2, 4. — ^si
as verb, e. g. Shipwrecked Sailor 139.

"^O^^^ 'angry', cf. the word ^°1c^a<^ in the Pyramidtexts; a good instance of dud
'anger' at a later date, will be found in Siiit I 224. For the spelling here one may compare
Ebers 102, 10; an unpublished magical papyrus in Budapest contains several more examples of it.
In Ebers the word dnd seems to refer to madness, and this might possibly be the sense here,
where dnd is contrasted with ' rk. However it is more likely that the opposition is rather between
the cool thinker and the quick-tempered fanatic ; one might quote Juvenal's facit indignatio versum.

D}f r^, see the note on recto 12. — For the construction of dzu^ see Sethe, VerbumW
S 5 5 5 d 'V.

I /j AAVsAA

I

A[

b

Verso 4-5.

I I

■^111

(jra'^J^ecinJ

?p

/T--..S> •

A

M.,

D

3 >

I I I

d

A

=Q

a Original

b Original inserts

after i

J^Si^X-T^JJ-'-- J^

c The sign read '^ on the plate may well be oX ; fo*"

both here and in grg below we ought probably to read

d See note c.

l) This last instance demands some further comment. The 'passage runs; 'The Vizier caused his children to be summoned

:^ 7i^^-^ I) --^^^^.^tlljq^^ljP^T^^I^jq^^l^ when he had perceived the

manner of men, and their nature revealed itself to him^??J'. The usual translation is 'when he had finished the instruction of men'. The

determinative of rk here tells heavily against the meaning 'to finish". Nor does shr mean 'instruction' for which j^iy/ is the Egyptian word.

lastly, however wc may uuderbtand ni ilt /r-/, the words bit sn 'their character' must be parallel to shr rtn(, for hit sec on Admoni-
tions 12, 1.

[ og Gardiner, The Ailmonitiuus of an F.gyplian Sage.

Long and heavy is my malady. The poor man has no strength to protect himself) from
him who is stronger than himself. It is pain to keep silence about things heard. It is misery
to ansioer one who is ignorant. To find fault with a speech breeds hostililyQ). 'The heart
does not accept the truth. The reply Q) to a speech^) is not toleratedQ). All that a man loves
is his (otcn) iitterance. Everyone puts his trust in Rectitude has abandoned speech{}).

4 — 5. Till- writer complains that Ik; has no om: in wliom lie can confide his woes, as
ihost; who know their cause wilfully shut their eyes to the trutli and refuse to listen.

4. The emendation nhmf S7u is based upon the common (^[nthet ?ihm m^'ir w/< a'jr rf
e. gf. Petrie, Denderch 8. — //;, see above verso i note.

5. Hsf is here used in its familiar meaning 'to criticize' 'find fault with' (Sethe); so
especially of criticizing or correcting letters. — The substantive smi has here perhaps the sense
of 'an.swer' 'rejoinder', as apparently in U 'yUaA''~'~^T 'Copy of the reply to this com-
niand' Sinuhe 204. — Whd has here apparmdy its transitive sense: see above recto 13 note.

The construction of mr nb si tsf is difficult. For nir one e.vpects w;V, Ijut see the note
on recto 3. Sethe is doubdess right in translating 'all that a man loves is his (own) utterance',
i. e. he will pay no attention to anyone's words except his own.

Grg hr, compare Admonitions 5, 4. — H<bb cf. l%v JJI^ Eloquent Peasant B i, 107
in an obscure context: the determinative, which I cannot identify with an\- known hieroglyph,
looks as though it might represent the jaws of the hippopotamus {hib).

J^^7;\ 'to leave' 'abandon' cf. "^ "^"^^^ ^ J^^7^1'2 'Enter in to him, do not
leave him' Ebers 40, 7; 41, 21; 42, 5; ^-^'^ — ^ -n- 1)^^ -A ci'^ 'Thy j^^a is with thee, he
does not leave thee' Urkunden IV 500 (similarly ibid. W 117); (|<=>^>^ . ^s;- f] O^O ^ J
"^'^l^^X J [p '^ well-born man who does it (scil. "evil"), his (own) father abandons him in

the lawcourt' Ayrton-Currelly-Weigall, Abydos III 29. Sethe however doubts the transitive sense
liere, and thinks of J yv 'to run' {Pyramidtexts , e. g. 140. 253), rendering 'die Richtigkeit der
Rede ist weggelaufen'. However bt is not fcnmd in this sense outside the Pyramidtexts, unless
it is preserved in the word Jin "^5 -A Sinuhe B 154; Pap. Kahun 35, 13.

^ c'

Verso 5-6.

]3^_(6)"7^ " Bx^^=^ ^ -^ ^ ^ ?-^

■^■'gil^;:^^^ ' I £il c3oJ) Hi/ ar <=>Sli I J\

» Original (2, as above 1. 3.

/ Speak to thee^ my heart; answer thou me.- A heart that is approached does not keep
silence. Behold t/u affairs of tlu slave are like [those of) the master. Manifold is that which
weighs upon thee.

5 — 6. Since other people will not listen to him, the author turns to his heart, whose
interests are bound up with his own, and who is forced to sliare his burden with him.

Appendix.

109

6. Setlif- is douljllcss rij;lu in taking ph as a passive participle, though I prefer the ren-
dering 'approached' to liis 'angegriffen'. — The translation of the last sentence is also due to
Sethe, who points out that '^j is the late Egyptian writing of the verb, if the spelling be correct.

TRANSLATION.

The collection of words, the gathering together of sayings, the quest of utterances with

ingenious mind, made by the priest of Heliopolis, the , Khekheperre-sonbu, called Onkhu.

He said: — Would that I had words that are unknown, utterances that are strange, (ex-
pressed) in new language that has never occurred (before), void of repetitions; not the utterance
of past speech(??), spoken by the ancestors. I squeeze out my body for(?) that which is in it, in
the loosing(?) of all that I say. For what has been said is repeated, when(?) what has been said

has been said; there is no the speech of men of former times, when(?) those of later

times find it.

Not speaks one who has (already) spoken, there speaks one that is about to speak, and
of whom another finds what he speaks(?). Not(?) a tale of telling afterwards: 'they had made(f')
(it) before'. Not a tale which shall say(?): 'it is searching after (??) what had(?) perished; it is
lies; there is none who shall recall iiis name to others'. I have said this in accordance with
what I have seen, beginning with the first generation down to those who shall come afterwards;
they are like what is past(?r). Would that 1 knew that of which(.') others are ignorant, even
things that have never been related: in order that I might say them, and my heart might answer
me; that I might explain to it concerning my sufferings, and thrust aside for it the load that is
upon my back, (that I might speak) words(?.?) about that which oppresses me(?), that I might
express to it what I suffer through it(?), that I might say .... about my mood.

I am meditating on what has happened, the things that have come to pass throughout
the land. Changes take place; it is not like last year. One year is more burdensome than the

other. The land is in confusion and has become waste (?); it is made into Right

is cast outside. Wrong is inside the council-chamber. The plans of the gods are violated; their
ordinances are neglected. The land is in distress. Mourning is everywhere. Towns and pro-
vinces are in sorrow. Everj'body alike is subjected to wrongs. Reverence, an end is put to it.
The lords of quiet are disturbed. Morning(?) occurs ever)' da)-, and the face(?) shrinks(.') at what
has happened. I speak concerning it(?). My limbs are heavy-laden. I am(?) distressed because
of(?) my heart. It is painful (?) to hold mj- peace concerning it. Another heart would bend
(under such a burden??). A brave heart in evil case is the companion(?) of its lord. Would
that I had a heart able to suffer! Then I would rest upon it. I would load it with words of
I would ward off from it my malady.

He said to his heart. Come, my heart, that I maj' speak to thee, and that thou mayest

answer for me m)- words, and mayest explain to me what is in the land

I am meditating on what has happened. Afflictions have entered in today; in the morning, . . .
have not passed awaj-. All people are silent concerning it. The entire land is in a great

J jQ Gardiner, Ihc Admonitions of nn Egyptian Sat;c.

Stir. There is nobody free from wrong; all peopk; alike do it. H<arts are sad. He who gives
rommands is as one who receives commands, both of them are ccjntent. Peoph; rise in the
morning to (tinil) it (so) daily, and (yet) hearts thrust it not aside. The state of yesterday therein
is like today, and resembles it because of much(?). Men's faces are stolid (.'), there is no one
wise (enough) to know, there is no one angry (enough) to speak out. People rise to suffer every
day. Long and heavy is my malady. The poor man has no strength to protect himself from
him who is stronger than himself It is pain to keep silence about things heard. It is misery
to answer one who is ignorant. To find fault with a speech breeds hostility (■). The heart
does not accept the trutli. The reply (.?) to a speech (?) Is not tolerated (.'). All that a man loves

is his (own) utterance. Everyone puts his trust in Rectitude has abandoned speech(.?).

1 speak to thee, my heart; answer thou me. A heart tiiat is approached does not keep silence.
Behold the affairs of the slave are like (those of) the niast(>r. Manifold is that which weighs
upon thee.

CONCLUSIONS.

The opening paragraphs of the new London te.xt are something of a no\elt\'. The few
samples of the Egyptian Wisdom-literature hitherto known conform, with hardh- an exception, to
a uniform pattern, the ethical or philosophical issue with which they deal arising out of a brief
introductory narrative of a dramatic kind'. Here however the usual dramatic preface is
abandoned in favour of a very quaint and unexpected confession of the author's literan' aspira-
tions. His craving for an original theme antl for choice, unhackneyed words is confided to us
with a good deal of naivete; and it is amusing to note that the only touch of originality that the
writer shows consists of the verj' words wherein he seems to cast doubts upon his powers in
that respect. The two sections which contain this candid revelation of the writers ambition
are very artificially and obscurely expressed, and it is not at all easy to make coherent and con-
sistent sense out of them. .After the hesitating and diffident tone of the first words the pom-
pous boast that the reflexions in the book rest upon a broad survey of all histor}- comes as a
surprise. If thus we are unable to obtain a clear conception of the author's pretensions from
liis own lips, yet the title at tiie beginning gives us a fairly just estimate of his actual achieve-
ment. This title describes the work as a collection or anthologj' of wise sayings ingeniously put
together by a Heliopolitan priest named Khekheperre-sonbu.

When in the third paragraph the writer reaches tiie main topic of his book, namely the
wickedness of men, the corruption of society and his own grief and despondency thereat, he at
once lapses into the conventional language of Egyptian pessimism. It is for this reason that the
text serves so admirably as a philological commentary- to the Admonitions. It might be em-
ployed almost equally well to illustrate the ideas of the Berlin papyrus containing the dialogue
between an existence-weary mortal and his soul, fust as there tlv unhappy hero turns to his

l) The only real exception seems to be Ihe Song of the Ilirper in the tomb of Xeferhotep and in Pap. Harris 500. .\ particular
variety of this literary genus is the kind of composition known to the Egyptians as a shoyft 'teaching', in which the dramatic situation
la lather instructing his son, or a scribe liis pupil) is summarily indicated by the title of the work; cf. the Instructions of Amene»;mfs I.

Conclusions. Ill

soul for help and solace, so hertt the; writer makes an appeal to his own heart. The refrain of
the Lebensuiiide 'To whom shall I speak today?" has its counterpart on the London writing-board
in the author's denunciation of the indifference that is shown to his complaints. In the Introduc-
tion to this book I have called attention to the points of contact between the Admonilions and
the Ledensmiide, on comparing the resemblances there noted with the considerations here adduced,
it will be seen that there are good grounds for classing the Admonitions, the Lebensm'ude and
the new London te.xt together as a historically-related group of te.vts.

Now this conclusion is not without a certain significance in connection with the problem as
to the age of the Adtnoniiions, for the text of the London writing-board can be definitely dated
back as far as the reign of Sesostris 11'. Thus there seems to be a slightly increased likelihood
that the Admonitions are to be reckoned among the literary products of the Middle Kingdom.
However there is an essential difference to be noted between the pessimism of the London frag-
ment and that of the Admonitions. Egypt had, by the time that Sesostris II came to the throne,
long since recovered its old prosperit)-, and there is no evidence for any social or political distur-
bances at this flourishing moment in the Twelfth Dynasty. It follows that the pessimism of
Khekheperresonbu is of a quite general and literary qualit)-, at the most an unconscious echo
of that troubled period preceding the rise of the earlier Theban Empire which had first tinged
h'gyptian literature with melancholy. There can, on the other hand, be no question that the
pessimism of Ipuwer was intended to be understood as the direct and natural response to a real
national calamity; the references in the Admonitions to Asiatic aggression in the Delta and to
the devastation of the land through civil war leave no room for doubt on this point. But,
although the Adynonitions have an indubitable historical background, it need not be too hastily
assumed that their composition was contemporary with the events to which the)- allude; historical
romance was always popular in Ancient Egypt, and there is no inherent reason wh)' the Ad-
monitions, even if referring to the conditions of the Tenth Dynasty, should not have been written
under the Twelfth.

This is, in fact, the conclusion to which the balance of evidence would seem to incline,
but for the historical difficulty that was emphasized in the Introduction. But is this difficult)-
realh- so great after all" It should be observed that if the Admonitions really refer to the
Hyksos invasion, Ipuwer has been guilty rather of understating than of overstating his case. There
is no indication in the Admonitions that a rival monarchy had been established in the North by
Asiatics, nor is any clue given us as to the extent or the duration of the encroachments
of foreign hordes in the Delta therein alluded to. Moreover — and this is an important point
entirely overlooked in the Introduction — there does exist some evidence that the internal dis-
ruption of Egypt after the YIth. l))'nasty was taken advantage of by its Eastern neighbours.
Golenischeff thus describes a passage contained in the still unpublished Papyrus no. I of St. Peters-
burg": 'Dc la page 7 commence sans interruption un autre texte dont It; commencement meme
m'est jusqu'a present fort embarassant. Je vois seulement qu'il est aussi parfois entrecoupe de
differents prcceptes. .\ la lign<- 11 de la meme page nous trouvons la phrase suivante ecrite en

rouge: 'Cela est dit par le porteur de Tare' Apres cela on mentionne les dmuXesi

(1 p)^ ■^^) '^^ mauvais .\siatiques. Le te.xte fort embarassant ct assez endommage des

l) See the note on recto I. 2) A. Z. 14 (1876J, 109

112 Gardiner, The Admoiiilions of an IC^yptiriii b.ii^c.

pages VIII et IX ne me permet pas d'en saisir exactemcnt le sens. J'y trouve seulement souvent
employes les mots: asiatiqu(!s, combattre, ville, soldats, I'Egypte du nord, les ennemis — cc qui
sanble proiwer, ijii'il s'as^it dc quelque narration sur 2ine incursion if Asiatiqiics dans I'Egypic du

nord. On y Iroitve anssi Ic nam dc yercti \Z^\\\\-_X^^ ^'^ ^^ VIII' dynastie^.' The histo-
rical value of this t(>xt may of c(jiirse be small; but it seems to hint that in the days of a king
Akhthoes, possibly tiic same as the ruler mentioned in the tombs of Siut, tin- 1 )(]ta was ravaged
l)y Asiatics. We know further that the king Amenemmes I built a strong wall on the East of
the I)(;lta to keep back the Heduins'. These defensive constructions may well have been merely
the restoration of more ancient fortifications due to some Pharaoh of the Old Kingdom; but that
the first monarch of the Twelfth Dynasty undertook this work at a time when so much reorga-
nization was needful throughout the entire length of the land^ shows that he considered it a
vital and i)ressing precaution. I'Voni tiiis alone; one niiL;ht conclude that the Asiatics had not
abstained altogether from interference in the Delta under the weaker rulers of the intermediate
period. In the newly-discovered Temple of Deir el Bahari scenes depicting battles with Asiatics
liave been found \ In a word, there is scanty but indisputable evidcuice that already in the period
between the VI th. and XII th. Dynasties Egypt had been liable to periodic incursions on the part
of the Beduins of the Sinaitic Peninsula and of Palestine.

More evidence than this is hardK' necessary to account for the references to the Asiatics
in the Admonitions^ . and the historical objection to an early date for that work therefore dis-
appears. Still in spite of all that has been said, there remains the possibilitj- that .Sethe may be
right in his opinion that the work was composed at the end of the Hyksos period. I am myself
now strongly inclined to adopt the view that the Admonitions are a product of the XII th. Dynasty,
that prolific period of Egyptian literary activity; but I must conclude by reminding my readers that
on this point we have no means of attaining anything more than a strong presumptive probability.

1) The italics are miae.

2) It was called inlmt hki 'the wall of the Prince'; cf. Simihe R ^1: Daressy, Osliaka z^22\. That this wall was built by Ame-
nemmes I is clear from the latter text, which is a duplicate of the second half of the above-mentioned Petersburg papyrus, and contains a
fostnientuni prophecy of the happy era to be inaugur.ited by king Imny. Kor a translation, by Ranke, of this text, see Gressniann, Alt-
orientalische Texte zum Alfen Testament^ p. 204 IT.

3) See the inscription of Chnemothes, passim.

4) Naville, The XI th. Dynasty Tt'mple ut Deir el Bahari, I 14. — There is one more point which 1 mention 'juilc tentatively;

in the Twelfth Dynasty the title 1 ^\ 'Asi.atic' for a particular kind of servant (especially in the temples) becomes very freijuent; were

such servants really always of .\siatic birth, or does the name dali: from a time when the Egyptians were at war with the .Asiatics, and
utilized their prisoners as domestic slaves?

ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS.

1'. S, line 5. It should he noticed tliat tli<^ l--gyptian future tense hvf r sdm does not
occur once in this long descriiJtive passage. On the other hand the Cairo writing-board 25224,
which really contains a |)rophetic text (see |>. 112, footnote 2), constandy employs that ronstrurtion.
This difference between the two texts is striking and significant.

P. 8, line 12: for transgress read conform to.

P. 9, line 23: for Nortii land read Lower I'-gypt.

P. 12, lines 12. II from bottom:/*?^ North-land read Lower Egj'pt.

P. 15, line 22: foi- transgress read conform to.

P. 20, lines 4. 5: de/e the parenthesis '(for which we might expect .V/_y/ cthuj) ' ; see p. 100.

P. 23, footnote, line 2. However the writing OmPyA occurs already in the 12 th. Dyn.,
cf. L. /). II i36h, 14 (.Semneh stele).

V. 26, line 21: for Hr read Hr.

V. 26, last line. The examples quoted are hardly applicable: in Sinuhe 291 the right
reading is ~T^\~i^^\ in the Ebers passages sbt is probably an adjective.

P. 29, lines 15. 16. The last sentence must surely be translated: The timid man does )wt
distinguish himself from those who are cautious, for //;- 'prepared' see now A. Z. 45 (1909), 74,
footnote 2. This alteration may require a modification of Sethe's view of the first sentences in the
section; the anxiety and fear that reign throughout the land seem to be its chief topic.

P. 31, line 18. The real meaning of mnh here is doubtless 'to arrange'.

P. 36, note on nhbt 4, 3. l-'rman suggests Tragehiiid, (lit. children of the neck)^ or as we
should sa)-, 'children in arms'. Prol)ably that was the interpretation of the scribe responsible for
this variant; but which of the two, nhbt or nht^ was the reading of the archetype is hard to decide.

P. 40, line 3: for agreable read agreeable.

P. 49, line 4: for destroyed read suppressed.

P. 61, line 19. Krman proposes wdpxv 'butlers' for the faulty word at the beginning of
the section. Tiiis may ver) well be the correct reading, though ^vdpiv is never written out in
full except in \.\\c Pyramidtexts {q.{. Pyr. 120. 124). Perhaps the simplest course is to emend D
to '\ which would give the same reading in its usual N. K. form.

P. 67, line 4. II. Mbller thinks that the determinative of tiibh in the Eloquent Peasant
may be a hedgehog. This seems quite a likely suggestion, and if tnbh were the name of that
animal, the sense of the verb derived from it would not be difficult to account for. At all events
my conjecture that the determinative depicts a gazelle cannot be uplield.

P. 69. line 13: for \\\^ read [\\^.

P. 87, note on 13, 9. Perhaps after all //wr.' may here be .simply a variant of hmy
•steersman'; Erman points out that the reference to ships in the first section where //w/ei' occurs
would be \(Ty appropriate, if wc render Is there a good steersman, then ships sail upstream, etc.

C :( r il i II e r

INDEX OF WORDS DISCUSSED IN THE NOTES.

i, enclitic particle, lOO.

ibw 'to brand' cattle, 67.

ibiu 'I'^lephantine', 34.

ikw 'aflriictions' (cf. i/n^'), 106.

Up 'to load', abbreviated writing

of, 104.
itp vj-^ 'coffer', 62.
itp-w 'load' 20. ICXD.
it-t 'bed', 89.

/i</' plague', /'irt'-/' baneful influence ',
see id-'w, id-t.

iid-t 'drag-net', 87.

ioi-vj 'grief 'groans', 103.

t'li-iv, exclamation of joy, 103.

Ui H hit 'pilot', S3.

iw, J\Q., as auxiliary verb, 80— Si.

hv 'evils', 'wrongs', 83 (cf 102. ic6i.

iwy-t 'quarter' of a town, 49—50.

hc-tiis 'liable to a but' 'exceptio-
nable', 22. 1 13.

iw/t 'to load', 'carry' .'i burden, 40.

/Wj'{.'), followed by s'u', 35.

Iwd'lo separate', construction of 41.

Hi 'to thirst' transitively, 28.

ibh-t 'stone of Yebhet', 31.

' Ip't.i.', in compound names, 93.

iinizv) 'to grieve', 35.

m-yt , meaning unknown, 33.

in-w 'the produce' of trees, 33.
ind 'calamity' 'misery', 43.
ir 'to make offerings', 42.
iry, in place of a suffix, 25.
irtiw, a kind of fruit, 34.
irthv 'mourning', 21. 103.
//;ic' 'afflictions' 106.
/'//, interjection, loi.
isy-wt 'rags', 31.
itr-t h/i'-f. Upper Egypt, 34.
//// 'to draw in' the drag-net, 86; 'to
use the drag-net in' a place, 86.

N.B. The numbers refer to pages.

id-w 'plague', 25.

id-f, of malign influences, 25.

idr 'herd', 67.

<id 'to be pale (.')', 23.
tw-( 'cattle', spelling of, 42.
•nh-t 'corn', 49.
tuthv, as hair-oil, 62.
<iid 'to be few', 30.
Old 'to perceive', 81.
•ndti' 'jars', 40.
<rk 'to know' 'perceive', 107.
t/u-7v heap' in the phrase iib </mi.'
'a wealthy man' (cf 6.00}, 25.

HV r, meaning of 53.

jfiii'-ii' 'long ago', 54.

ti'i-/ 'road'; (//' fir ic'^-/ 'to direct'
a person, 35.

win 'to thrust aside', 100.

iU'b-t 'priestly service', J"/.

u'<b-t n 'refectory' 'place of em-
balmment' 'tomb', 26.

wbd-t 'burning' 'burn', 53-

fi'/>-ri'/ 'specifications' 'schedules', 48.

zmiJ\'\.o pass by ''neglect' 1 cf orcinc),
83. 102.

wiifi 'to adorn' vases (with flowers.?),
to.

ivr, spelt , 88; hieratic writing

of, 36.
whm-yt 'repetitions', 98.
whn 'to overthrow' a wall, 55.
xvhi 'to cut corn' 'hew stone', 45.

whi iZ-l, meaning obscure, 59.

w^d 'to suffer', 75. 104. 105. 108.
wi. 'to fall out', of the hair, 62.
jfic lismii 'to chew natron', 76.
U'lb\ ill wib 'to replv', 86.
ich- 'to be wanting' 'lacking', 24.

wd 'to exert' violence etc., 85.

Zf/ij^-ji' 'butlers', 113.

wdf; ir wdf 'if ... . not', 73.

wdfiw 'vessel-stands', 60.

tffl'i 'to sever', 43.

ludw, xi'dy 'cattle left to graze', 67.

7vd'iw, meaning obscure, 75. 86.

Bi-U'/, meaning obscure, 86.
bi, 82; /';-/ bi, S2.
bi-/ 'character', 82.
/;/'i' firmament' 'heaven', 82 footnote.
bii-w 'mine', 82 footnote.
bil-t 'wonder', 82.
bii-t; III bii-t 'no', 52.
bitw-t, a kind of stone, 39; 'corn-
rubber', 39.
bti 'to run', 108.
btk, obscure word, 31.
b( 'to run', 108; 'to abandon', 108.

P'-t, a kind of cake, 61.
piv-tri, see ///'.
//'that', of past time, 74.
//- Zri-/ 'thronged (?)', 51.
pi-yt, plural of//- 'house', 57.
ps's-t 'carpet', 73.
pk-t 'fine linen', J},,
pti 'what.= ', 33.

pth 'to cast down' (cf niogi), 65.
pd-t 'a foreign tribe', 31.
pdt-y ' bowman 1^.")', 24.

Fi-t 'carrying', 20.

fn 'to be in affliction' 70—71; see

too sfn.
fki 'cake , 41.

Mhir = mii, 37.

;///', enclitic particle after impera-
tives, 105.

Inticx of words discu<;se(l in the notes.

1 I

iiiiir.x.' 'hcnisman', 67; metaphori-
cally, Si.

mik--t fi'iv-f'to protect one's limbs',
67. 92.

M<6i-j'(' the Houses of the Tiiirty', 50.

///</• ' happy ', spelt ;//<;?/, 46.

///f/f'to pass (grain) throut,'h a sieve',
■ 98.

m/i7o A I 'plantation', 8S.

1/111/1 'to arrange' be.ids un a thread,

3'- >i3.

Mr-l, Goddess of Music, 59.

iitr-t 'band' of cloth, 40.

inrr-l 'street', 50.

w/< "to bind', 87— 88.

iiihr-w 'business' 'ordinance' 'provi-
sions', 102—103.

Ills 'doch' 'denn', particle, 21 — 23.

iitsii/i {iiis/i) 'to turn round', 27.

.■V 'in exchange for'. 63.

ui-t 'hair, 40.

uJ 'to shrink from(.-)' 27—28.

-//_;', termination, 100.

ii7i.y 'to gather together , 67.

ii/> 'possessor' of the heart, 104; ii/>

r dr, of the king, 93.
iif 'wrong', 44.
iifr id 'happy', 34.
nil 'not', negativing a single word, 99.
mtj'-to 'the tired ones , designation

of the dead, 56.
iilip lir 'to care for, 103.
///i/>-ii' 'morning', 103. 106; in nhpic, 75.
nil 'to pray for children, 36.
nhi-t lb ' sadness (?)', 82.
n/ib-t ' neck ' ; hrd-w iiif iilil>-t ' children

in arms(.-)', 113.
iihp 'potter's wheel', 27.
ii/rw-t 'mourning', 26.
iikhiQ), doubtful word, 25.
nkiy 'to meditate", loi.
//;,'• 'to break open , 50.
//// ii.'«, meaning obscure, 35.
////"'belongs to it', 73.
ndr tp-rd'\.o observe regulations', 77.

Riiit 'Egj'ptians', 21.
idiii-t, a plant, 33 — 34.

//.'/'-/' intw III 'common property', 49.

//^ ki 'would that'

'then, 81. 105.

//(i)-7i'/(?) Xy.'iyt 'the (sixi great Hou-
ses', 5r.

hi-l 'tomb', 26.

/lii-yt 'civil strife', 34.

fiiti', followed by a genitive, 41.

(lip //-///;• 'to keep silence about', 104.

(linr = //J?, IJ.

/likw 'plunderer', 27.

Iiitt 'garment' (cf gocrrc), 89.

///' sdb 'to repress evils (f)', 82.

/// 'to tread' of roads, 38.

Hw 'Taste', 85.

hiv-iiy r III- ' fighter (?)', 83.

hb-yt 'festival spices(?), 33.

Inn, particle, 87. 1 13.

/iiii-z,.' 'rudder', 87.

/itn-y helmsman', 87. 113.

fim 'skilled', 38.

/iinij^i-t 'carnelian', 31.

fmn 'to provide', 61.

hnk-yt 'bed', 63.

Ijr, preposition, with ellipse of dd
'say', 20

//;- 'face'; di Ijr 'to command', 106.

Hr 'Horus', 'in the time of, 20.

//;■-)' ; i 'in the mouth of, 84.

Iiliy 'to seek'; m liliy n ih 'with in-
genuity of mind', 97.

hsinii 'natron', for purificatory jjur-
poses, 76.

hd 'to be destroj'ed', passive or in-
transitive, 41 ; with infinitive as
subject, 72; 'to destro\' people, 73.

hd hbsw 'white of clothes', 27.

hd-t 'white cloth', 73.

//i 'diwan', 48.

hiw-y 'benighted', 44.

hibb, see hibb.

hir-y, connected with ^i;--/" widow',

60.
ikzcs mr 'to build a pyramid', 88.
h'i^'d 'rich', 61.
fjbb 'oil-jar', 62.
Itpp '.strange', 97.
hpi-w 'changes', 102.
/jfthu /j 'enemies of the land', 53.
km; in Inn 'without', "J},.
hmiH 'unknown', 55. 97.
^n-yt 'musicians', 40.
/////// 'belaboured with(.')' blows, 44.
Ijnr-t, and similar words, 46—47.

hnt If^ I — ij, and similar words, 46

—47-
//////' 'crocodile', 43.

Ijiiho; r linlw 'out' 'forth', 49.
j /// ti 'throughout the land', 21.
Ijl 'fire', metaphorically, 81.

102.

//-/ 'generation', 82.
//-/ //-/ 'the first generation', 82. 100.
It:ibb, meaning doubtful, 108.
Jlinn-10 'K.hn\im , as the potter who

creates mankind, 24.
linin-'L^j 'citizens', 39.
Itnii-ii.' 'tumult', 45.
hsi-yt, a variety ofNubian spice(f), 46.

Si 'back'; rdi si r 'to annul', 103.

si «''the son of a well-born man', 30.

sir-t, meaning doubtful, 89—90.

sir-t 'understanding', 95.

sir-y 'needy(?)', 82—83.

sili-w 'neighbours' ' dependents (?)',
68-69.

si 'man', reading of, 30 footnote.

Sli 'Knowledge', 85.

s^m 'to wash down' food in 'with'
drink, 45,

S'ii 'to repress', 74.

sill 'day of the month', 77.

s'u<n 'to be in pain', 41; see too ssun.

swh 'to boast, 28.

sivtkxjQ), in the title iiny-ri swthuQ),
8i.

st^'di 'to die', 95.

sb-zo 'dirt(.'j', 26. 183.

sbi-ii'':) 'past speech (.?'}', 97.

sbt 'to laugh', 35.

spill- 'to register' corn, 70.

.(/// 'to atflict', 100; see too /n.

sft 'oil' 'cedar-oil' (cf. cHfic: ciqi), 33.

sin 'deed' 'event', 46.

smi 'answer(.")', 108.

sn 'to spread out', go.

sn, title (.'), 97.

sii-f n inict-f 'brother by the same
mother', 44.

sn r 'to be like' 'imitate' 'conform
to', 86. 100.

sii-tu {^'' sii-yl) 'flagstafifs', 76.

sn-innt 'distress' 'calamity', 103.

-siib-ic, in compound names, 97.

.w/'last year' (cf cuo-)'|i, 102.

sum 'to be sad', 25. 106.

Sinn, transitive verb of obscure mean-
ing, '^l-

sum 'to feed' 'feed on', 63.

sniii 'to suffer', 40. 104.

siilii 'to make dangerous (.^)' 'endan-
ger (.?)', 48.

'5*

ii6

Gardiner, The Admonitions of an Egyptian Sa^c.

xiid 'fear'; ;// snd n, n siid u, 65.

sr'^vd pi-wt 'to perpettiate bread-
offerings', 76.

slii 'to be in confusion', 28.

shi 'to be ungrateful (?)', 29.

slii 'to remember', followed b,\' in-
finitive, 75; 'to mention', 99,

shny\ irt sffiiy 'to rest', 105.

s/tii-2v ' incantations (?>', 4<S.

j'^//-rt' ' bowls full to overflowing(?)',58.

sfys-w 'runners', 42.

s/tii 'to strain' 'squeeze out', 98.

ss^c/t li 'corruption of heart (?)', 77;
see too S7ii>i.

shi.'^ 'to impoverish', 54. 69; see too

sir, see isr.

ski/i{i) 'to plaster', 76; see too ii/r.

s/,- Q7|, obscure verb, 73.

s/,-i 'ox for ploughing', 68.

si--j' 'battle', 20.

sJi'-w 'squadrons', 20.

sj;'j- 'quiet' 'peace', 103; nfi-tv sgr'i,

the gods, 103.
St 'goose', 76.
st-t ' ground (?)', 90.
.SV/'u' 'Asiatics', 91.
sty-t viw 'to pour water', 55.
stii-yw 'butchers', 64.
sty-t 'to generate', 83.
sdwh 'to embalm', 33.
sdl>\ hi sd/> 'to repress evils', 82.
sd^-t 'to go' to the tomb, 95.

i'ji'i 'poor', 24.

.hi\y)-t 'shadow', 59.

}/>}6 'to regulate' (of ijjifce), j;/.

S/>s-%u iips-t) 'noble man (woman)', 25.

.J/.vfti' 'good things', 25.

ify-l 'reverence', 103.

ifd-yt 'bier', 54.

hii-w 'incantations(?)', 48.

in, meaning obscure, 29.

isr 'to say', 101.

isr 'saying', lOi.

isr 'tongue', 101.

iti 'secret'; s-l il^-t 'the secret

place', 38.
id-iv, meaning obscure, 40. 66.

K-iy (kiJ) ' fruit (?)', 45-

ki/ir = ki.i 'high ground', 37.

ii/i 'Nile-mud' (cf K&g), 76; see too

ski// (i).
kn 'to end', t,^.
kit 'mat', ~l.
kn-w 'powerful men', 26.
Krh-t 'Serpent-goddess', 55.
kd 'character'; nb kd 'the virtuous

man', 21.
kdf 'io cull' 'pluck' (cf luoiqX 97.

Ki, 'then', particle, uses of, 81.

kU-i 'plant', 86.

Kpiiy 'Byblos', 33.

kfi lb, a good quality, 27.

Kflh^' 'Crete', 33.

Jcs 'to bend', writing of, 104.

Gitv-t 'want' lack', 56.

gin, a bird, 26.

gingin 'to tear asunder' 'break', 32.

grg lir 'to rely upon', 108.

gljs 'bo.\' for clothes, 62.

7'^'Il• ' hot-headed (.=V, 42.

tili-t 'dregs', 58.

tiw 'to say yes', 51.

//-' 'before', as conjunction, 95.

/«/, negative verb, construction of, 25.

tut '■'in), the scribes of the, 49.

//; 'where?' (cf Twn), 42.

Tny 'Thinis', 34.

tiihfi 'to shrink' 'swerve', 67. 103—4.

'13-
tf^h 'to immerse' 'soak', 75.

Tib-t, a kind of corn, 68.

tir 'to keep safe', 89.

ts skw 'aciem instruere', 20.

Di 'to give'; di in ti 'to bnry(.')',

30; di ri 'to speak', 104; di /ir

'to command', 106.
dw-t ' servants (.') ', 72.
d/>-t 'taste' metaphorically, 41.
d/>{7i')-t 'ship', of state, 29; dp(w)-t

ntr 'divine ship', 33.
dns 'heav\' metaphoricallj-, 40. 102.
dr 'to repel'; dr siw 'to suppress

writings', 49; dr /ii- 'repress

wrongs', 83.
dg 'to conceal', 38.

/Ji ' 'to stretch forth the arm'

against, 82.
di-yt 'robes', 58.
didi-f 'harp', 59.
d'b-t 'charcoal', 34.
dnd 'angry', 107.
dr; lib r dr, of the king, 93.
dr 'wall(.')' masculine, 28.
dr-t 'wall' (^cf -so. -sot), 28. 58.
dri 'stolid^.-)', 107.
di-yt 'chamber', 28.
dr-ii't 'sarcophagus', 28.
drdrw, an evil quality, 106.
dd 'to say'; ;/ dd with infinili\e 'to

refuse', 20.

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