These books I will not open, but end my hasty survey here. I end it with a deepened conviction that the knowledge of Good and Evil has been complete in the world from the beginning of history, and that mankind has had nothing to learn since but the application of it.

THE OLDEST BOOK IN THE WORLD

SOME account of the discovery of the papyrus containing the precepts of Ptah-hotep, and of the conclusions reached by Egyptologists with regard to the period of antiquity from which it has come down, are given in the introductory essay. Among the eminent scholars who have devoted time and labor to the decipherment and study of the papyrus, M. Philippe Virey appears to have been the most patient. The results of his "Etudes sur le Papyrus Prisse," begun in 1881, were published at Paris in 1887. Three years later he contributed an English translation of the "Precepts of Ptah-hotep" to the third volume of Professor Sayce's "Records of the Past," from which translation the following selection of a few among the precepts is taken.

A SELECTION FROM THE PRECEPTS OF PTAH-HOTEP. (From "Records of the Past," edited by A. H. Sayce, N. S., v. 3.) Precepts of the prefect the feudal lord Ptah-hotep, under the majesty of the king of the South and North, Assa, living eternally forever.

The prefect, the feudal lord Ptah-hotep says: O God with the two crocodiles, my lord, the progress of age changes into senility. Decay falls [upon man] and decline takes the place of youth. A vexation weighs upon him every day; sight fails; the ear becomes deaf; his strength dissolves without ceasing. The mouth is silent, speech fails him; the mind decays, remembering not the day before. The whole body suffers. That which is good becomes evil; taste completely disappears. Old age makes a man altogether miserable; the nose is stopped up, breath

ing no more from exhaustion. Standing or sitting there is here a condition (?) of . . . Who will cause me to have authority to speak? that I may declare to him the words of those who have heard the counsels of former days? And the counsels heard of the gods, who (will give me authority to declare them?) Cause that it be so and that evil be removed from those that are enlightened; send the double

.

The majesty of this god says: Instruct him in the sayings of former days. It is this which constitutes the merit of the children of the great. All that which makes the soul equal penetrates him who hears it, and that which it says produces no satiety.

Beginning of the arrangement of the good saying(s), 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 saying(s). 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 thou knowest; 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, for it is by slaves that that is discovered among the rocks of pegmatite.

If thou findest a disputant while he is hot, 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.

If thou findest a disputant while he is hot, do not despise him, because thou art not of the same opinion. Be not angry against him when he is wrong; away with such a thing. He fights against himself; require him not [further] to flatter thy feelings. Do not amuse thyself with the spectacle which thou hast before thee; it is odious, [it is] mean, [it is the part] of a despicable soul [so to do]. As soon as thou lettest thyself be moved by thy feelings, combat this [desire] as a thing that is reproved by the great.

Inspire not men with fear, [else] God will fight against [thee] in the same manner.

If thou art an agriculturist, gather the crops (?) in the field which the great God has given thee, fill not thy mouth in the house of thy neighbors; it is better to make one's self dreaded by the possessor. As for him who, master of his own way of acting, being all-powerful, seizes [the goods of others] like a crocodile in the midst [even] of watchmen, his children are an object of malediction, of scorn and of hatred on account of it, while [his] father is grievously distressed, and [as for] the mother who has borne [him], happy is another rather than herself. [But] a man becomes a god when he is chief of a tribe which has confidence in following him.

If thou abasest thyself in obeying a superior, thy conduct is entirely good before God. Knowing who ought to obey and who ought to command, do not lift up thy

heart against him. As thou knowest that in him is authority, be respectful towards him as belonging to him. Fortune comes only at her own good-will, and her caprice only is her law; as for him who. God, who has created his superiority, turns himself from him and he is overthrown.

Be active during the time of thy existence, doing more than is commanded. Do not spoil the time of thy activity; he is a blameworthy person who makes a bad use of his moments. Do not lose the daily opportunity of increasing that which thy house possesses. Activity produces riches, and riches do not endure when it slackens.

If thou art a wise man, bring up a son who shall be pleasing to God. If he conforms his conduct to thy way and occupies himself with thy affairs as is right, do to him all the good thou canst; he is thy son, a [person] attached [to thee] whom thine own self hath begotten. Separate not thy heart from him. [But] if he conducts him

self ill and trangresses thy wish, if he rejects all counsel, if his mouth goes according to the evil word, strike him on the mouth in return. Give orders without hesitation to those who do wrong, to him whose temper is turbulent; and he will not deviate from the straight path, and there will be no obstacle to interrupt the way.

If thou art a leader, setting forward thy plans according to that which thou decidest, perform perfect actions which posterity may remember, without letting the words prevail [with thee] which multiply flattery, [which] excite pride and produce vanity.

If thou art a leader of peace, listen to the discourse of the petitioner. Be not abrupt with him; that would trouble him. Say not to him: "Thou hast [already] recounted this." Indulgence will encourage him to ac