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Bibliothèque Egyptologique, t. VII
TO HIS SON USERTESEN I, Xlith DYNASTY ^
To establish a correct text of this important work I had at my disposai : 1° Papyrus Sallier II, pi. 1, 1. 1-pl. III, 1.9; 2° tbe unpublished Papyrus MiUingen, a facsimile of which I owe to the kindness of M. Jacques de Rougé ; 3° Papyrus Sallier /, pi. VIII verso; 4° Ostracon 3623, and 5*^ Ostracon 3638 of the British Muséum. The manuscript 4920 of Louvre, which contained at least the fîrst half of the text, is alraost entirely illegible and was of no use to me.
Out of the five available sources, only one contains a complète copy of the Instructions of Amenemhat, and that most incorrectly, viz. Papyrus Sallier II. The Papyrus MiUingen is correct enough, and when entire contained the whole of the work : it is unfortunately mutilated in the end, and fails exactly where it was most wanted. Sallier I,
1. Extrait des Records ofthe Past, 1" Séries, 1874, t. II, p. 9-16. Une partie du même texte fut traduite à peu près vers le même temps, et indépendamment de moi, par Dûmichen, Bcricht iibcr cinc Harcmccrschœôrunr/ untcr Amcncmha I, dans la Zeitschrift, 1874, p. 30-35. Une paraphrase de ma première traduction, rectifiée sur quelques points à l'aide de notes prises à mes cours de l'École des Hautes Études et des passages cités dans mon Histoire ancienne, 4° éd., 1884, a été insérée par Amélineau, Étude sur les préceptes d'Amenenihàt /",dans le Recueil de Troxaux, 18s8, t. X, p. 99-121, et t. XI, p. 100-116. On en a enfin une traduction anglaise de GrifiBth, The MiUingen Papyrus, Teaching of Amenemhat I, dans la Zeitschrift, 1896, t. XXXIV, p. 35-51.
Ostracon 3623 and Ostracon 3638 hâve only portions of the text, indifEerently written by careless scribes. Taking llie Instructions ofAmenemhat to hâve been divided as they are in the Papyrus Millingen into fifteen verses, there is for each of thèse the following authority : — Verses i-vii^ Papyrus Sallier I, II, Papyrus Millingen, Ostracon 3623: — Verse viii, Papyrus Sallier II, Papyrus Millingen, Ostracon 3623 ; — Verse ix, Papyrus Sallier II, Papyrus Millingen, Ostraca 3623-3638; — Verses x-xii^ Papyrus Sallier II, Papyrus Millingen, Ostracon 3Q38; — \^ erses xiii-xv, Papyrus Sallier II, fragment of Papyrus Millingen. M. Goodwin gave an analysis of the text in his paper On hieratic Papyri, in the Cambridge Essays, 1858, p. 269, and translated about six or seven Unes of it.
§ I. — The beginning of the Instructions — made by His Majesty the King oî Upper and Lower Egypt Rashotephet — Son of the Sun Amenemhat — deceased : — He says in a dream — unto his son the Lord intact \ ^— says he rising up Jike a god : — « Listen to what I speak unto thee : — Now thou art a king of earth ^ rulest thou now over the three régions, — act even better than did thy predecessors '.
§ IL — Let concord be kept between the subjects and thyself *, — lest people should give their hearts up to fear. — Being amongst them, do not isohite thyself ; —let not (only) the landed lords and noblemen fill thy heart like brothers, — and grant not access unto thee to people whose friendship bas not been long tried '.
1. Kch-cr-zer, the Lord intact, a titleof Osiris in opposition with Sep, Sept, Osiris dismembered by Set.
2. Thus after Sallier I, 1. 2, and Papyrus Millingen, pi. I, 1. 2.
3. Litt. : « Act more than the Grâces, nowre; » the word notrre, like our title Sa Grâce, being reserved to kings, Gods or men of high rank.
