Hello
everyone –
Next
Wednesday, August 29th, is the ancient Egyptian New Year’s Day! In
honor of the occasion, I have included a poem about ancient Egypt in this
fortnight’s issue, along with an article about the world’s oldest known book, a
collection of proverbs by Ptah-Hotep, Grand Vizier of Egypt some 4500 years
ago.
“Egypt”
(1882)
By
Gerald Massey (1828-1907)
Egypt!
How I have dwelt with you in dreams,
So
long, so intimately, that it seems
As
if you had borne me; though I could not know
It
was so many thousand years ago!
And
in my gropings darkly underground
The
long-lost memory at last is found
Of
motherhood – you mother of us all!
And
to my fellowmen I must recall
The
memory too; that common motherhood
May
help to make the common brotherhood.
Egypt!
It lies there in the far-off past,
Opening
with depths profound and growths as vast
As
the great valley of Yosemite;
The
birthplace out of darkness into day;
The
shaping matrix of the human mind;
The
cradle and the nursery of our kind.
This
was the land created from the flood,
The
land of Atum, made of the red mud,
Where
Num sat in his Teba throned on high,
And
saw the deluge once a year go by,
Each
brimming with the blessing that it brought,
And
by that waterway, in Egypt’s thought,
The
gods descended; but they never hurled
The
deluge that should desolate the world.
There
the vast hewers of the early time
Built,
as if that way they would surely climb
The
heavens, and left their labors without name –
Colossal
as their carelessness of fame –
Sole
likeness of themselves – that heavenward
Forever
look with statuesque regard,
As
if some vision of the eternal grown
Petrific,
was forever fixed in stone!
They
watched the moon re-orb, the stars go round,
And
drew the circle; thought’s primordial bound.
The
heavens looked into them with living eyes
To
kindle starry thoughts in other skies,
For
us reflected in the image-scroll,
That
night by night the stars for aye unroll.
The
royal heads of language bow them down
To
lay in Egypt’s lap each borrowed crown.
The
glory of Greece was but the afterglow
Of
her forgotten greatness lying low;
Her
hieroglyphics buried dark as night,
Or
coal deposits filled with future light,
Are
mines of meaning; by their light we see
Through
many an overshadowing mystery.
The
nursing Nile is living Egypt still,
And
as her lowlands with its freshness fill,
And
heave with double-breasted bounteousness,
So
doth the old hidden source of mind yet bless
The
nations; secretly she brought to birth,
And
Egypt still enriches all the earth.
“The
Wisdom of the Elders: Ptah-Hotep”
By
Rob Chappell, M.A., Assistant to the Honors Dean
Adapted
& Condensed from the February 2014 Issue of the Secretariat’s Newsletter
Ptah-Hotep was an Egyptian sage who flourished around 2400 BCE. He was prime
minister (grand vizier) to King Isesi, a Pharaoh of Egypt’s Fifth Dynasty.
Ptah-Hotep was renowned for his great learning and wisdom, along with his
remarkable longevity (he lived to be 110 years old!). His chief claim to fame,
however, is his authorship of the oldest known book in world history, the Maxims
of Good Discourse, in which he instructs his son with wise proverbs and
common-sense advice so that he can acquire good leadership qualities and
achieve success and fulfillment in life.
Here are some of the lessons that Ptah-Hotep recorded in his book and that
still speak to us today, across a gulf of 44 centuries. (I have slightly
modernized the spelling and grammar of this translation from 95 years ago.)
B. Here begin the proverbs of fair speech, spoken by the hereditary chief, the
holy father, beloved of the gods, the eldest son of the King, of his body, the
governor of his city, the vizier, Ptah-Hotep, when instructing the ignorant in
the knowledge of exactness in fair speaking; the glory of him that obeys, the
shame of him that transgresses them. He said unto his son:
5. If you are a leader, as one directing the conduct of the multitude, endeavor
always to be gracious, that your own conduct may be without defect. Great is
Truth, appointing a straight path; never has it been overthrown since the reign
of Osiris. One that oversteps the laws shall be punished. Overstepping is by the
covetous man; but degradations bear off his riches. Never has evil-doing
brought its venture safe to port. … But the limits of justice are steadfast; it
is that which a man repeats from his father.
25. If you are powerful, make yourself to be honored for knowledge and for
gentleness. … Exalt not your heart, that it not be brought low. Be not silent,
but beware of interruption and of answering words with heat. Put it far from
you; control yourself. The wrathful heart speaks fiery words; it darts out at
the man of peace that approaches, stopping his path. One that reckons accounts
all the day passes not a happy moment. One that gladdens his heart all the day
provides not for his house. The bowman hits the mark, as the steersman reaches
land, by diversity of aim. He that obeys his heart shall command.
34. Let your face be bright what time you live. That which goes into the
storehouse must come out therefrom; and bread is to be shared. … It is a man’s
kindly acts that are remembered of him in the years after his life.
D. If now you attain your position, the body shall flourish, the King shall be
content in all that you do, and you shall gather years of life not fewer than I
have passed upon Earth. I have gathered even 110 years of life, for the King
has bestowed upon me favors more than upon my forefathers; this is because I
wrought truth and justice for the King unto my old age. It is finished, from
its beginning to its end, even as found in writing.
You
can read the complete text of Ptah-Hotep’s Maxims of Good Discourse
in Brian Brown’s classic 1923 book, The Wisdom of the Egyptians,
at http://www.sacred-texts.com/egy/woe.
Until
next time –
Rob
