欧宝娱乐

“THE INSTRUCTION OF PTAHHOTEP

Instruction of the Mayor of the city, the Vizier Ptahhotep, under the Majesty of King Isesi, who lives for all eternity. The mayor of the city, the vizier Ptahhotep, said:

O king, my lord!
Age is here, old age arrived.
Feebleness came, weakness grows,
Childtike one sleeps all day.
Eyes are dim, ears deaf.
Strength is waning through weariness,
The mouth, silenced, speaks not,
The heart, void, recalls not the past,
The bones ache throughout.
Good has become evil, all taste is gone,
What age does to people is evil in everything.
The nose, clogged, breathes not,
Painful are standing and sitting.

May this servant be ordered to make a staff of old age,
So as to teil him the words of those who heard,
The ways of the ancestors,
Who have listened to the gods.
May such be done for you.
So that strife may be banned from the people,
And the Two Shores may serve you!
Said the majesty of this god:
Instruct him then in the sayings of the past,
May he become a model for the children of the great,
May obedience enter him,
And the devotion of him who speaks to him,
No one is born wise.

Beginning of the formulations of excellent discourse spoken by the Prince, Count, God's Father, God's beloved, Eldest Son of the King, of his body, Mayor of the city and Vizier, Ptahhotep, in instructing the ignorant in knowledge and in the standard of excellent discourse, as profit for him who will hear, as woe to him who would neglect them. He spoke to his son:

Don鈥檛 be proud of your knowledge.
Consult the ignorant and the wise;
The limits of art are not reached,
No artist鈥檚 skills are perfect;
Good speech is more hidden than greenstone,
Yet may be found among maids at the grindstones.

If you meet a disputant in action,
A powerful man, superior to you.
Fold your arms, bend your back,
To flout him will not make him agree with you.
Make little of the evil speech
By not opposing him while he's in action;
He will be called an ignoramus,
Your self-control will match his pile (of words).

If you meet a disputant in action
Who is your equal, on your level,
You will make your worth exceed his by silence,
While he is speaking evilly,
There will be much talk by the hearers.
Your name will be good in the mind of the magistrates.

If you meet a disputant in action,
A poor man, not your equal.
Do not attack him because he is weak,
Let him alone, he will confute himself.
Do not answer him to relieve your heart,
Do not vent yourself against your opponent,
Wretched is he who injures a poor man,
One will wish to do what you desire.
You will beat him through the magistrates鈥� reproof.

If you are a man who leads,
Who controls the affairs of the many,
Seek out every beneficent deed,
That your conduct may be blameless.
Great is justice, lasting in effect,
Unchallenged since the time of Osiris.
One punishes the transgressor of laws,
Though the greedy overlooks this;
Baseness may seize riches,
Yet crime never lands its wares;
In the end it is justice that lasts,
Man says: 鈥淚t is my father's ground.鈥�

Do not scheme against people,
God punishes accordingly:
If a man says: 鈥淚 shall live by it,鈥�
He will lack bread for his mouth.
If a man says: 鈥淚 shall be rich'
He will have to say: 鈥淢y cleverness has snared me.鈥�
If he says: 鈥淚 will snare for myself,鈥�
He will be unable to say: 鈥淚 snared for my profit.鈥�
If a man says: "I will rob someone,鈥�
He will end being given to a stranger.
People鈥檚 schemes do not prevail,
God鈥檚 command is what prevails;
Live then in the midst of peace,
What they give comes by itself.”
― Miriam Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature, Volume I: The Old and Middle Kingdoms

“THE INSTRUCTION OF PTAHHOTEP
Epilogue
Part II

The fool who does not hear,
He can do nothing at all;
He sees knowledge in ignorance,
Usefulness in harmfulness.
He does all that one detests
And is blamed for it each day;
He lives on that by which one dies.
His food is distortion of speech.
His sort is known to the officials,
Who say: "A living death each day.鈥�
One passes over his doings,
Because of his many daily troubles.

A son who hears is a follower of Horus,
It goes well with him when he has heard.
When he is old has reached veneration.
He will speak likewise to his children,
Renewing the teaching of his father.
Every man teaches as he acts,
He will speak to the children,
So that they will speak to their children:
Set an example, don鈥檛 give offense,
If justice stands firm your children will live.

As to the first who gets into trouble,
When they see (it) people will say:
鈥淭hat is just like him.鈥�
And will say to what they hear:
"That鈥檚 just like him too.鈥�

To see everyone is to satisfy the many,
Riches are useless without them.
Don鈥檛 take a word and then bring it back,
Don鈥檛 put one thing in place of another.
Beware of loosening the cords in you,
Lest a wise man say:
鈥淟isten, if you want to endure in the mouth of the hearers.
Speak after you have mastered the craft!鈥�
If you speak to good purpose.
All your affairs will be in place.

Conceal your heart, control your mouth.
Then you will be known among the officials;
Be quite exact before your lord.
Act so that one will say to him: "He鈥檚 the son of that one.鈥�
And those who hear it will say:
鈥淏lessed is he to whom he was born!鈥�
Be deliberate when you speak,
So as to say things that count;
Then the officials who listen will say:
鈥淗ow good is what comes from his mouth!鈥�
Act so that your lord will say of you:
鈥淗ow good is he whom his father taught;
When he came forth from his body.
He told him all that was in (his) mind,
And he does even more than he was told,鈥�

Lo, the good son, the gift of god,
Exceeds what is told him by his lord,
He will do right when his heart is straight.
As you succeed me, sound in your body.
The king content with all that was done.
May you obtain (many) years of life!
Not small is what I did on earth,
I had one hundred and ten years of life
As gift of the king,
Honors exceeding those of the ancestors,
By doing justice for the king.
Until the state of veneration!”
― Miriam Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature, Volume I: The Old and Middle Kingdoms

“I believe that pain and suffering go hand in hand and are analogous. Their effects have the same purpose: the development of the body and the soul, respectively. Essential to our evolution is the moment when we learn to appreciate the arrival of both with intelligence and wisdom.”
― Raydrich Rocha, Consci锚ncia: Del铆rios e Galopes