penetrates him who hears it, and that which it says produces no satiety.
II
Beginning of the arrangement of the good sayings,[1] spoken by the noble lord, the divine father, beloved of God, the son of the king, the first-born of his race, the prefect and feudal lord Ptah-hotep, so as to instruct the ignorant in the knowledge of the arguments of the good sayings. It is profitable for him who hears them, it is a loss to him who shall transgress them.
He says to his son: Be not arrogant because of that which you know; deal with the ignorant as with the learned; for the barriers of art are not closed, no artist being in possession of the perfection to which he should aspire. But good words are more difficult to find than the emerald,[2] for it is by slaves that that is discovered among the rocks of pegmatite.[3]
III
If thou findest a disputant while he is hot,[4] and if he is superior to thee in ability, lower the hands, bend the back, do not get into a passion with him. As he will not let thee destroy his words, it is utterly wrong to interrupt him; that proclaims that thou art incapable of keeping thyself calm, when thou art contradicted.
If then thou hast to do with a disputant while he is hot, imitate one who does not stir. Thou hast the advantage over him if thou keepest silence when he is uttering evil words. "The better of the two is he who is impassive," say the bystanders, and thou art right in the opinion of the great.
- ↑ Ptah-hotep arranges the good sayings of the past in verses in order to render them unalterable.
- ↑ Literally, "the good word hides itself more than the emerald."
- ↑ Literally, "being found by female slaves." The emerald is usually found in pegmatite, a compound of feldspath and quartz, out of which it was picked. The "Papyrus Ebers" informs us that the powder of pegmatite was used in the composition of a dentifrice.
- ↑ Literally, "in his hour." A god is said to be "in his hour" when he is warlike.
