The Literature of the Ancient Egyptians

by Sir E. A. Wallis Budge

This peasant came the eighth time to lay his complaint [before Rensi], and said, "O my lord steward, a man falleth because of covetousness. The avaricious man hath no aim, for his aim is frustrated. Thy heart is avaricious, which befitteth thee not. Thou plunderest, and thy plunder is no use to thee. And yet formerly thou didst permit a man to enjoy that to which he had good right! Thy daily bread is in thy house, thy belly is filled, grain overfloweth [in thy granaries], and the overflow perisheth and is wasted. The officials who have been appointed to suppress acts of injustice have been rapacious robbers, and the officials who have been appointed to stamp out falsehood have become hiding-places for those who work iniquity. It is not fear of thee that hath driven me to make my complaint to thee, for thou dost not understand my mind (or heart). The man who is silent and who turneth back in order to bring his miserable state [before thee] is not afraid to place it before thee, and his brother doth not bring [gifts] from the interior of [his quarter]. Thy estates are in the fields, thy food is on [thy] territory, and thy bread is in the storehouse, yet the officials make gifts to thee and thou seizest them. Art thou not then a robber? Will not the men who plunder hasten with thee to the divisions of the fields? Perform the truth for the Lord of Truth, who possesseth the real truth. Thou writing reed, thou roll of papyrus, thou palette, thou Thoth, thou art remote from acts of justice. O Good One, thou art still goodness. O Good One, thou art truly good. Truth endureth for ever. It goeth down to the grave with those who perform truth, it is laid in the coffin and is buried in the earth; its name is never removed from the earth, and its name is remembered on earth for good (or blessing). That is the ordinance of the word of God. If it be a matter of a hand-balance it never goeth askew; if it be a matter of a large pair of scales, the standard thereof never inclineth to one side. Whether it be I who come, or another, verily thou must make speech, but do not answer whether thou speakest to one who ought to hold his peace, or whether thou seizest one who cannot seize thee. Thou art not merciful, thou art not considerate. Thou hast not withdrawn thyself, thou hast not gone afar off. But thou hast not in any way given in respect of me any judgment in accordance with the command, which came forth from the mouth of Rā himself, saying, 'Speak the truth, perform the truth, for truth is great, mighty, and everlasting. When thou performest the truth thou wilt find its virtues (?), and it will lead thee to the state of being blessed (?). If the hand-balance is askew, the pans of the balance, which perform the weighing, hang crookedly, and a correct weighing cannot be carried out, and the result is a false one; even so the result of wickedness is wickedness.'"

This peasant came the ninth time to lay his complaint [before Rensi], and said, "The great balance of men is their tongues, and all the rest is put to the test by the hand balance. When thou punishest the man who ought to be punished, the act telleth in thy favour. [When he doeth not this] falsehood becometh his possession, truth turneth away from before him, his goods are falsehood, truth forsaketh him, and supporteth him not. If falsehood advanceth, she maketh a mistake, and goeth not over with the ferry-boat [to the Island of Osiris]. The man with whom falsehood prevaileth hath no children and no heirs upon the earth. The man in whose boat falsehood saileth never reacheth land, and his boat never cometh into port. Be not heavy, but at the same time do not be too light. Be not slow, but at the same time be not too quick. Rage not at the man who is listening to thee. Cover not over thy face before the man with whom thou art acquainted. Make not blind thy face towards the man who is looking at thee. Thrust not aside the suppliant as thou goest down. Be not indolent in making known thy decision. Do [good] unto him that will do [good] unto thee. Hearken not unto the cry of the mob, who say, 'A man will assuredly cry out when his case is really righteous.' There is no yesterday for the indolent man, there is no friend for the man who is deaf to [the words of] truth, and there is no day of rejoicing for the avaricious man. The informer becometh a poor man, and the poor man becometh a beggar, and the unfriendly man becometh a dead person. Observe now, I have laid my complaint before thee, but thou wilt not hearken unto it; I shall now depart, and make my complaint against thee to Anubis."

Then Rensi, the son of Meru, the steward, caused two of his servants to go and bring back the peasant. Now this peasant was afraid, for he believed that he would be beaten severely because of the words which he had spoken to him. And this peasant said, "This is [like] the coming of the thirsty man to salt tears, and the taking of the mouth of the suckling child to the breast of the woman that is dry. That the sight of which is longed for cometh not, and only death approacheth."

Then Rensi, the son of Meru, the steward, said, "Be not afraid, O peasant, for behold, thou shalt dwell with me." Then this peasant swore an oath, saying, "Assuredly I will eat of thy bread, and drink of thy beer for ever." Then Rensi, the son of Meru, the steward, said, "Come hither, however, so that thou mayest hear thy petitions"; and he caused to be [written] on a roll of new papyrus all the complaints which this peasant had made, each complaint according to its day. And Rensi, the son of Meru, the steward, sent the papyrus to the King of the South, the King of the North, Nebkaurā, whose word is truth, and it pleased the heart of His Majesty more than anything else in the whole land. And His Majesty said, "Pass judgment on thyself, O son of Meru." And Rensi, the son of Meru, the steward, despatched two men to bring him back. And he was brought back, and an embassy was despatched to Sekhet Hemat.... Six persons, besides ... his grain, and his millet, and his asses, and his dogs.... [The remaining lines are mutilated, but the words which are visible make it certain that Tehutinekht the thief was punished, and that he was made to restore to the peasant everything which he had stolen from him.]

The Journey of the Priest Unu-Amen into Syria to buy Cedar Wood to make a new Boat for Amen-Rā

The text of this narrative is written in the hieratic character upon a papyrus preserved in St. Petersburg; it gives an excellent description of the troubles that befell the priest Unu-Amen during his journey into Syria in the second half of the eleventh century before Christ. The text reads:

On the eighteenth day of the third month of the season of the Inundation, of the fifth year, Unu-Amen, the senior priest of the Hait chamber of the house of Amen, the Lord of the thrones of the Two Lands, set out on his journey to bring back wood for the great and holy Boat of Amen-Rā, the King of the Gods, which is called "User-hat," and floateth on the canal of Amen. On the day wherein I arrived at Tchān (Tanis or Zoan), the territory of Nessubanebtet (i.e. King Smendes) and Thent-Amen, I delivered unto them the credentials which I had received from Amen-Rā, the King of the Gods, and when they had had my letters read before them, they said, "We will certainly do whatsoever Amen-Rā, the King of the Gods, our Lord, commandeth." And I lived in that place until the fourth month of the season of the Inundation, and I abode in the palace at Zoan. Then Nessubanebtet and Thent-Amen despatched me with the captain of the large ship called Menkabuta, and I set sail on the sea of Kharu (Syria) on the first day of the fourth month of the Season of the Inundation. I arrived at Dhir, a city of Tchakaru, and Badhilu, its prince, made his servants bring me bread-cakes by the ten thousand, and a large jar of wine, and a leg of beef. And a man who belonged to the crew of my boat ran away, having stolen vessels of gold that weighed five teben, and four vessels of silver that weighed twenty teben, and silver in a leather bag that weighed eleven teben; thus he stole five teben of gold and thirty-one teben of silver.

On the following morning I rose up, and I went to the place where the prince of the country was, and I said unto him, "I have been robbed in thy port. Since thou art the prince of this land, and the leader thereof, thou must make search and find out what hath become of my money. I swear unto thee that the money [once] belonged to Amen-Rā, King of the Gods, the Lord of the Two Lands; it belonged to Nessubanebtet, it belonged to my lord Her-Heru, and to the other great kings of Egypt, but it now belongeth to Uartha, and to Makamāru, and to Tchakar-Bāl, Prince of Kepuna (Byblos)." And he said unto me, "Be angry or be pleased, [as thou likest], but, behold, I know absolutely nothing about the matter of which thou speakest unto me. Had the thief been a man who was a subject of mine, who had gone down into thy ship and stolen thy money, I would in that case have made good thy loss from the moneys in my own treasury, until such time as it had been found out who it was that robbed thee, and what his name was, but the thief who hath robbed thee belongeth to thine own ship. Yet tarry here for a few days, and stay with me, so that I may seek him out." So I tarried there for nine days, and my ship lay at anchor in his port. And I went to him and I said unto him, "Verily thou hast not found my money, [but I must depart] with the captain of the ship and with those who are travelling with him." ... [The text here is mutilated, but from the fragments of the lines that remain it seems clear that Unu-Amen left the port of Dhir, and proceeded in his ship to Tyre. After a short stay there he left Tyre very early one morning and sailed to Kepuna (Byblos), so that he might have an interview with the governor of that town, who was called Tchakar-Bāl. During his interview with Tchakar-Bāl the governor of Tyre produced a bag containing thirty teben of silver, and Unu-Amen promptly seized it, and declared that he intended to keep it until his own money which had been stolen was returned to him. Whilst Unu-Amen was at Byblos he buried in some secret place the image of the god Amen and the amulets belonging to it, which he had brought with him to protect him and to guide him on his way. The name of this image was "Amen-ta-mat." The text then proceeds in a connected form thus:]

And I passed nineteen days in the port of Byblos, and the governor passed his days in sending messages to me each day, saying, "Get thee gone out of my harbour." Now on one occasion when he was making an offering to his gods, the god took possession of a certain young chief of his chiefs, and he caused him to fall into a fit of frenzy, and the young man said, "Bring up the god.[1] Bring the messenger who hath possession of him. Make him to set out on his way. Make him to depart immediately." Now the man who had been seized with the fit of divine frenzy continued to be moved by the same during the night. And I found a certain ship, which was bound for Egypt, and when I had transferred to it all my property, I cast a glance at the darkness, saying, "If the darkness increaseth I will transfer the god to the ship also, and not permit any other eye whatsoever to look upon him." Then the superintendent of the harbour came unto me, saying, "Tarry thou here until to-morrow morning, according to the orders of the governor." And I said unto him, "Art not thou thyself he who hath passed his days in coming to me daily and saying, 'Get thee gone out of my harbour?' Dost thou not say, 'Tarry here,' so that I may let the ship which I have found [bound for Egypt] depart, when thou wilt again come and say, 'Haste thee to be gone'?"