Instruction of Ani - Any - Anii

Instruction of Ani

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Beginning of the instruction made by the palace scribe Ani, servant in the house of Queen Nefertari.

Take a wife while you are still young, so that she may bear you a son while your strength remains. It is fitting to establish a household. Fortunate is the man whose family is numerous; he is honoured because of his children.

Keep the festival of your god at its appointed time, and do not neglect its recurrence. The god is angered when his feast is forgotten. Let witnesses be present when you make your offering, so that your devotion may be remembered when the record is examined.

Song, dance, incense, and reverence are the food of the god. Through these his name is made great, though it is the worshipper who drinks deeply of the feast.

Do not enter another man's house until he has welcomed you. Do not search about with curious eyes. Let your eyes see and your mouth remain silent. Do not carry outside what you observed within, for speech carried from a house may become a deadly offence.

Beware of a woman who is unknown in her town and separated from her husband. Do not stare after her when she passes, and do not seek intimacy with her. She is like deep water whose course cannot be seen. She may speak pleasantly in secret, yet the matter becomes destruction when it is exposed.

When the great enter, do not leave in disorder, lest your name become foul. In a quarrel do not rush to speak. Silence may preserve you.

Do not raise your voice in the house of the god, for shouting is hateful there. Pray alone with a loving heart, keeping your words hidden. He will hear what you say, grant what you need, and receive your offering.

Pour out water for your father and your mother who rest in the necropolis. When the gods see the deed, they will declare it accepted. Do not forget those who have gone outside this life, for your own son will act toward you as you act toward them.

Do not surrender yourself to beer. You may speak evil without knowing what left your mouth. If you fall and injure yourself, no companion will lift you. Those who drank beside you will stand and say, "Take the drunkard away." When one comes seeking you, he will find you stretched upon the ground like a child.

Do not leave your house without remembering the place where you will finally rest. Know it and keep it before you. Prepare your place in the valley, the tomb that will conceal your body. Consider it among your chief concerns.

Look to the honoured dead who lie at peace in their tombs. No blame rests on the one who prepares for his end. When the messenger of death comes, let him find you ready.

Do not say, "I am too young to be taken." You do not know the time of your death. Death seizes the infant from his mother's arms as surely as the one who has reached old age.

I give you these counsels so that you may place them in your heart. Do them and you will prosper, and many evils will remain far from you.

Guard yourself from fraud and from words that are not true. Drive malice from within yourself. A quarrelsome man does not rest even on the following day.

Keep away from the hostile man; do not make him your companion. Befriend the upright man whose conduct you have observed. When your truth agrees with his, friendship stands in balance.

Keep your hand over what belongs to your house. Wealth grows for the one who guards it. Do not scatter it among strangers until it becomes loss.

What is placed wisely may return increased. Make a store for what belongs to you, so that your household may find it when need comes. The careless man is reduced to nothing, but the active man is honoured.

Learn how a man establishes his household. Make a garden and enclose a plot beside your field. Plant trees around your dwelling for shade. Gather the useful plants your eye sees, for each may be needed in its season.

Do not depend on the goods of another. Guard what your own labour has gained. Do not lean upon another man's wealth, lest he become master in your house.

Build a house, or acquire one lawfully. Do not trust that the house of your mother's father will always be yours. When brothers divide an inheritance, your portion may be no more than a storeroom. Let your children be able to say, "We dwell in our father's house."

Whether hungry or satisfied, a man is sheltered by his own walls. Do not live without thought, and your god may grant you substance.

Do not sit while an older or higher-ranking man stands. A good character is not reproached, but a corrupt character brings blame.

Your people will rejoice with you in joy and weep with you in sorrow. In prosperity the strong look toward you; in loneliness you discover your kin.

Learn the writings and set them in your heart. Then your speech will carry weight. Whatever office a scribe receives, he must consult the writings. Offices do not pass by blood alone; the skilled hand is chosen.

Do not uncover your heart to a stranger. He may turn your own words against you. Harmful speech that leaves your mouth may be repeated until enemies rise around you.

A man can be destroyed by his tongue. Therefore be watchful. The belly holds many answers, like a granary filled with different stores. Choose the good reply and speak it; shut the evil reply within.

A harsh answer brings blows. Speak gently and you will be loved. Do not answer an aggressor in the same manner, nor lay a trap for him. The god judges the one who is in the right, and the appointed fate of the violent man will overtake him.

Make offerings to your god and guard against offending him. Do not treat his images with contempt. Do not push forward irreverently during processions or disturb the oracle. Help protect what is sacred, watch for divine anger, and bow to the ground at his name.

The god gives strength in countless forms. The one who magnifies him is himself raised up. The god upon earth is represented by the sun in heaven, while his images stand among people. When incense is offered daily, the lord of dawn is satisfied.

Give your mother twice the food she once gave you. Support her as she supported you. She carried your weight and did not cast you away.

After your months were completed and you were born, she remained bound to you. For three years her breast was in your mouth. When your filth disgusted others, she was not disgusted and did not ask, "What am I to do with him?"

When she sent you to the house of instruction and you learned writing, she watched over you each day, with bread and beer ready in her house.

When you become a young man, take a wife, and establish your own household, give heed to your child. Raise him as your mother raised you.

Do not give your mother cause to accuse you. Otherwise she may lift her hands to the god, and he will hear her cry.

Do not eat while another person stands hungry beside you. Stretch out your hand and share with him.

Food remains in the world, but man does not remain. One man is rich and another poor, yet food endures for the one who shares it. The man wealthy last year may be wandering this year.

Do not be greedy to fill your belly, for you do not know your end. If want comes upon you, another person may show kindness to you.

The watercourse of last year may disappear, while another river flows today. Great pools become dry ground, and sandbanks become deep water. A man's path is not fixed; the lord of life overturns what he expects.

Attend to your position, whether it is low or high. Do not thrust yourself forward. Move according to rank.

Do not force your way into another man's house. Enter only when called. His mouth may say, "Welcome," while his heart mocks you. One may feed the person he dislikes merely because the uninvited guest has entered.

Do not hurry to strike the one who attacks you. Leave him to the god. Present the matter before the god day after day. Tomorrow may resemble today, but you will see what the god does when he deals with the one who harmed you.

Do not enter a crowd when it is in uproar and men are close to fighting. Do not even pass near their disturbance. Keep away, lest you be taken before the judges when inquiry is made.

Stay apart from hostile men, and keep your heart quiet among fighters. The outsider who has not joined them is not brought to judgment; the one who knows nothing is not bound by written charges.

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Do not command your wife in her own house when you know that she manages it well. Do not ask, "Where is this? Bring it," when she has already put it in its proper place. Watch quietly, and you will recognise her skill.

It is a joy when your hand is joined with hers, though many men do not understand this. If a man withdraws from strife in his house, he will not meet its beginning. Every man who founds a household must restrain his hasty heart.

Do not pursue another woman, lest she steal away your heart.

Do not answer an angry superior with anger. Let him finish. Speak softly when he speaks bitterly, for gentleness is the remedy that quiets the heart.

Contentious answers bring the stick and cause strength to fail. Do not torment yourself. When the hour of his anger has passed, he may return and praise you.

When words please the heart, the heart accepts them. Choose silence and submit until the anger is gone.

Be on good terms with the officer of your district. Do not provoke him. Give him food from your house and do not dismiss his requests with contempt. Say to him, "You are welcome here." No blame rests on the man who acts wisely toward him.

The scribe Khonshotep answered his father, the scribe Ani:

"I wish I were like you, as learned as you are. Then I could carry out your teaching, and the son would attain the place of his father.

Each person is led by his own nature. You are a master, your aims are high, and every word you speak is chosen. But a son understands little even while he repeats what is written in books.

When words delight the heart, the heart receives them gladly. Do not multiply demands beyond measure, so that a person may still lift his thoughts toward you. A youth does not always follow moral instruction, even when the writings are on his tongue."

The scribe Ani answered his son, the scribe Khonshotep:

"Do not lean upon such empty thoughts. Beware of what you are doing to yourself. I judge your complaint to be wrong, and I will correct it.

There is nothing useless in the words you wished to shorten. Even the fighting bull that kills in the stall can abandon the arena, master its nature, remember what it has learned, and become like a well-fed ox.

The savage lion can leave its rage and become gentle. The horse enters its harness and goes out obediently. The dog hears a command and walks behind its master. The monkey carries the staff though its mother did not teach it. The goose returns from the pool when it is driven back to the enclosure.

A Nubian can be taught the speech of Egypt, and so can a Syrian and another foreigner. Say therefore, 'I will learn even as the creatures learn.' Listen, and understand what they do."

The scribe Khonshotep answered his father, the scribe Ani:

"Do not display your power merely to force me into your path. Does a man not sometimes loosen his hand in order to hear a fitting answer?

A man resembles the god in his own way when he listens to another man's reply. Can one man fully know his fellow? If the multitude is like beasts, can one man alone possess understanding?

All your sayings are excellent, but doing them requires strength of character. Ask the god who gave you wisdom to set those virtues upon my path."

The scribe Ani answered his son, the scribe Khonshotep:

"Turn away from these many words that are not worth hearing. A crooked stick left on the ground is bent further by sun and shade; but when the carpenter takes it, he straightens it and makes it into a nobleman's staff.

Even a straight stick may be bent into a collar. Foolish heart, do you wish to be taught, or have you chosen corruption?

[Meaning uncertain]

The infant in his mother's arms desires what sustains him. When he finds speech, he says, 'Give me bread.'"

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