"Oblation in honor of the head of the house." (Here follows the name.)
"The religious laws of Egypt obliged families on certain days in the year to present offerings to deceased parents. One stela, consecrated to the memory of Entef, who lived at the beginning of the twelfth dynasty, is only a representation of one of these festivals. Entef is seated beside his wife. His sons and daughters present themselves before him. Some are saying the prescribed prayers; others bringing food and perfumes. The last scene depicted is interesting from the variety of representations. Besides parts of animals already sacrificed, the servants are bringing live animals."[189]
We may judge of the sentiments of the ancient Egyptians with regard to paternal authority by the following passages from an ancient document, the authenticity of which has never been contested:
"The son who receives his father's advice will live to be old. Beloved by God is obedience. Disobedience is hated by God. The obedience of a son to his father is a joy,... he is beloved by his father, and his renown is on the lips of the living who walk the earth. The rebellious son sees knowledge in ignorance, and virtue in vice; he daily commits all kinds of frauds with impunity, and lives thereby as if he were dead. What wise men consider death is his daily life. He keeps on his way laden with maledictions. A son docile in the service of God will be happy in consequence of his obedience...."[190]
We cannot help recognizing in this precious document the moral ideas of primitive times, the tradition of which is so faithfully preserved in the Bible. The fourth precept of the Decalogue is found here almost literally: "Honor thy father and thy mother, that thou mayest be long-lived upon the land."
Upon a mortuary stela described by M. Mariette in his Notice du Musée de Boulaq (No. 44, p. 72), Maï, the defunct, is seen receiving the homage of the members of his family. "One of the sons of Maï is called Men-Nefer. For some unknown reason, his name is erased from the list of the family, and, in fact, his whole image is hammered down. Another son likewise incurred this mark of infamy, which is only given to the proper name of the personage."
Respect to parents naturally leads to that for the aged. "The Egyptians have this custom in common with the Lacedæmonians," says Herodotus; "young men, when they meet their elders, turn aside for them to pass; at their approach they rise from their seats."
The obligations of parents towards their children were strictly enjoined in ancient Egypt, as is evident from a curious passage from Diodorus, which, at the same time, shows how the manners and laws favored the fecundity of marriage, the only source of a robust and numerous population:
"Parents are obliged to rear all their offspring in order to increase the population, which is regarded as the chief source of the prosperity of a kingdom.... They provide for the support of their children at little expense, and with incredible frugality. They give them very simple food: the stems of the papyrus which can be roasted, roots and stems of palustrine plants, sometimes raw, sometimes boiled and roasted, and as all children go unshod in that temperate climate, the parents do not estimate the expense of a child before the age of puberty to be more than twenty drachmæ (a little less than twenty francs).
"The children of the common people are taught the trade of their parents, which they are to practise for life, as we have remarked. Those who are initiated into the arts are alone charged with teaching others to read."