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For an additional charge. all photographs are available in black and white standard 35mm slide format.* ‘For more information about black and white slides o enlarged paper reproductions, please contact the Dissertations Customer Services Department.Perry, Evelyn, A CRITICAL STUDY OF THE "ELOQUENT PEASANT" The Johns Hopkins University PHD. 1986 University Microfilms International soon. zeee ros, ann Arbor, 48108 Copyright 1986 by Perry, Evelyn All Rights ReservedA Critical Study of the Eloquent Peasant by kvelyn Perry A dissertation submitted to The Johns Hopkins University in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Baltimore, Maryland 1986 Copyright by Evelyn Perry 1986 All rights reservedABSTRACT The Eloquent Peasant is one of the two longest literary texts preserved from ancient Egypt. It is also one of the most difficult to interpret. Perhaps for this reason no comprehensive study of the text has been undertaken since Vogelsang's text edition, Kommentar zu den Kiagen des Bauern, and Gardiner's improved translation and reading notes, Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 9, 5-25, were published in 1913 and 1923 respectively. The present study is an attempt to fill that gap. Although many translations of the The Eloquent Peasant have appeared in print, none has departed from the first translations developed by Vogelsang and Gardiner. My first task in working on the Peasant, therefore, was to establish a fresh transcription and translation of the hieratic text,- iii - based on a study of the four extant versions of the work preserved on papyri now housed in Berlin and London, Thus the dissertation includes a new translation of the text as well as a line-by-line commentary on the grammatical, philological, and epigraphic problems presented by the text and discussed in the secondary literature. Finally, in the Introduction the difficult problems of style, date, provenance, and authorship for this unsigned, undated text are taken up. A Heracleopolitan date of composition for the work is rejected in favor of a Twelfth Dynasty date. Khety, well-known as the creator of other Twelfth Dynasty literary works, is proposed as author of the Eloquent Peasant. The introduction concludes with observations on the author's literary style and, in particular, his approach to verse-writing.iS CURRICULUM VITAE Evelyn Perry completed a B.A. in Biblical Studies from Wellesley College in 1967, In 1969 she was granted the Master of Theological Studies degree (area of concentration, Old Testament) from Harvard University, and in 1980 she received the Dipléme a'Etudes Approfondies in literary criticism from the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (Paris). For the past five years Ms. Perry has been teaching in the Department of Linguistics and Modern English Language at the University of Paris IX.eo ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS To Professor Hans Goedicke, whose suggestions and guidance contributed immeasurably to the present manuscript, I would like to express my deepest gratitude.qr - oS ‘TABLE OF CONTENTS page INTRODUCTION Section 1 2 Section 2 6 Section 3 22 Footnotes 69 COMMENTARY Frame-story, introduction .. co 98 Petition I .....eee pop 166 Frame-story, continued ..... 231 Petition 248 Petition 314 Petition 360 Petition 416 Petition 430 Petition 462 Petition VIII .. 491 Petition IX ..,s.eeseee = 523 Frame-story, conclusion 00 539 TRANSLATION ...- neeeee teens 549 Abbreviations .. ewes 595INTRODUCTIONTHE MANUSCRIPTS The Eloquent Peasant is, together with the tale of Horus and Seth, one of the two longest literary texts that have come down to us from ancient Egypt. It is also the most complete. In all, almost 420 lines of text have been preserved on four different manuscripts. Three of these are now in the Staatliche Museen in Berlin: Berlin Papyri 3023, 3025, and 10499, known as Bl, B2, and R respectively. The fourth, Papyrus Butler, or British Museum 10274, is in London. ‘The Bl and B2 manuscripts were acquired by the then Kénigliche Preussische Museum in 1843 as part of an important. purchase of objects and papyri from «he Athanasi Collection 1. The bulk of the Peasant tale, including both the frame-story and nine petitions (see below, Section 3), is included on these two papyri. Bl, the longer of the two, contains 326 lines of text but lacks both the beginning (approxi- mately 50 lines) and end of the work. Only 142 lines of the B2 manuscript have been preserved: all of the introductory frame-story, the first five petitions, and part of the sixth petition are missing. It isa the B2 manuscript, however, which has furnished us with the conclusion to the Eloquent Peasant, as well as the peasant's ninth petition 7. An additional 138 lines of text, including the approximately 50 lines missing from the beginning of Berlin Papyrus 3023 (Bl), were recovered in 1896 with Quibell's discovery of the Ramesseum papyri, found in a box beneath the magazine of that edifice, the funerary temple of Ramesses II 7. only 40 lines have come down to us in what remains of Papyrus Butler *. These 40 lines are also from the beginning of the Eloquent Peasant text and provide an interesting contrast with the R version. (See especially the long list of items the peasant takes with him to sell in Egypt. This list consists of only 14 entries in the Butler version, compared to 27 in the R text.). A group of papyrus fragments, known as the Amherst fragments after the private collector to whom they belonged >, have been identified as missing 6 parts of the Bl and B2 manuscripts Scholars agree on a Middle Kingdom date for all four of the Peasant papyri. Although no archaeo- logical information is available for the Bl, B2, or Butler papyrus, the three can be dated on epigraphicevidence to the Twelfth Dynasty 7’. The Ramesseum papyrus is most probably the work of a Thirteenth Dynasty scribe ®, The faint traces visible at the end of the B2 manuscript { +) are almost surely the beginning of a copyist's colophon of a type known from contemporary Middle Kingdom texts, e.g., the Shipwrecked Sailor and the Lebensmiiden: iw.f pw b®t.f = phwy.fy mi gmyt m si beginning to its end, just as it was found in wri- +, "It is finished, from its ting." The presence of the colophon shows that B2 is a copy, not the original version, of the Eloqueni Peasant. Although this evidence is lacking for the truncated Bl, R, and Butler manuscripts, it is un- likely that any of these papyri is the very first version of the text. In PSBA 14 (1892) 451 ££. P, Ll. Griffith published a photographic facsimile, transcription, and partial translation of Papyrus Butler. Prior to that, Lepsius, who was responsible for acquiring the four Middle Kingdom papyri purchased from the Athanasi Collecton, had published Berlin Papyri 3023 and 3025 in the Denkmfler. P. 3023, which appeared in J.D. VI, 104-107, was designated as "No. II"; P. 3025, published in L.D. VI, 113-114, was called "No.IV." In 1908, an excellent photographic fac- simile edition of the Bl, B2, and R manuscripts was5 brought out by F. Vogelsang and Alan Gardiner. This publication, Hieratische Papyrus aus den Kéniglichen Museen zu Berlin IV: Literarische Texte des Mittleren Reiches I, included transcriptions of all three papyri as well as Vogelsang's proposed rendering of the Eloquent Peasant story. F. Vogelsang's Kommentar zu den Klagen des Bauern, a revised translation of the Peasant, together with a complete transcription of all extant manuscripts including the Amherst fragments 9, and a full set of philological notes, appeared in 1913 almost simultaneously with Lexa's much less penetrat- ing study of the work in Recueil de Travaux 34, 218-231 (1912). In JEA 9 (1923), Sff., Alan Gardiner submitted a new rendering of the text, accompanied by several pages (pp. 22-25) of suggested improvements in earlier transcriptions. The Belgian scholar Emile Suys presented a new study of the Peasant in 1933; G. Lanczkowski reviewed the Peasant material exten- sively for his examination of prophecy in ancient Egypt, Altgyptischer Prophetismus, which came out in 1960. Although many translations of the Peasant, as well as several scholarly articles 1° treating specific technical or interpretive problems presented by the long and difficult text, have appeared in the intervening years, no comprehensive treatment of thePeasant has been undertaken since Vogelsang published his pioneer edition in 1913. DATE, AUTHOR, AND PROVENANCE OF THE TEXT Egyptological scholarly opinion is almost evenly divided on the Peasan’: text's date of composi- tion. In their anthologies of ancient Egyptian ql 13 literature Lichtheim 1, simpson 1, nefebvre’?, and Maspero 14 classify the Eloquent Peasant with other works from the Middle Kingdom, whereas in similar collections of ancient texts edited by Erman 15, Donadoni 1, and Bresciani ‘7, the work is dated to the First Intermediate Period or, more specifically, the Heracleopolitan Period (Dynasties IX and X, 2222-2050 B.c.) 18, the later, Middle Kingdom date for the text is also favored by Drioton and vandier 19, s, Herrmann 7°, Goedicke 71, Gardiner ?, and Hayes 23, wilson 74, Lanczkowski 7°, recht 76, and Kemp 27, however, would support the earlier Hera~ cleopolitan date. With the notable exceptions of Lanczkowski and Fecht, whose arguments will be examined below, most scholars who have assumed a First Intermediate Periodor Heracleopolitan date for the Eloquent Peasant have based their conclusions on the only historical evidence given in the Peasant text, two references to a King Neb-kau-Re. ‘The evidence from Bl, 71-72 and R117-118, the beginning of the prose section (Bl, 71-87/R 117-138) which divides Petition I from Petition II, consists of a single sentence: ist rf dd.in shty pn mdt tn m rk bm n nsw-bit Nb-k?w-R! m?'-prw, "Now this peasant made this speech in the time of the Majesty of Neb-kau-Re, the justified." In the conclusion to the frame-story (B2, 130-131) Rensi sends for “His Majesty the King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Neb-kau-re." The identification of the Neb-kau-Re mentioned in Bl, 71-72/R 117-118 and B2, 130-131 with the King Nebkaure Akhtoy, one of three King Akhtoys who reigned during the Heracleo- politan Period, has been universally acknowledged 7°. ‘The identification provides us with a terminus post qaem for dating purposes but furnishes little useful information, in that King Nebkaure Akhtoy is unknown to Egyptologists outside the reference cited above and an attestation of his name on a weight found by Petrie at Er-Retaba 7°, The mention of Nebkaure's name in the frame- story cannot be taken as evidence that the text was first composed during this ruler's reign.The name Neb-kau-Re encircled in the royal cartouche is followed by the expression m3'-prw, "the justified," a term applied only to deceased kings. Thus it is quite possible that a Middle Kingdom author of the Peasant text used the name of King Neb-kau-Re precisely to set the scene of his tale in a time well removed from his own era. As such, it is a literary device designed, at least in part, to give universal significance to the text's message, to remove it from the sphere of purely contemporary concerns. The same literary device is used in line 1 of the Prophecy of Neferti, a Twelfth Dynasty composition 3° whose action is said to take place during the reign of Snofru, a much respected Fourth Dynasty monarch. Lanczkowski 71, whose vision of the Peasant as a work of prophecy will be discussed below, bases his First Intermediate Period date for the composition on a history-of-religions approach. He observes that: concurrent with the break-down in central authority and the consequent political turmoil at the end of the Old Kingdom, there occurred a number of new developments in Egyptian religious thinking, namely the emergence of monotheism and a new ethical concept of individual responsibility for one's acts. Since the theme of individual moral accountability is one-9- Lanczkowski sees as the foundation stone of the peasant's petitions, he can only imagine a First Intermediate Period date of composition for the Peasant. Lanczkowski further cites certain thematic affinities between the Eloquent Peasant and other works to which he ascribes a First Intermediate 32 Period date, e.g., certain Coffin Text spells ““, the 33 Lebensmiiden 37, and the Harzers' Songs >4 as proof of an early date for the Peasant. Lanczkowski's reasoning can be refuted on two counts. Firstly, the period of so-called political turmoil to which he refers has now been shown to be largely a result of an overly fertile Egyptological imagination 35, This highly _controversial_ interpretation of the Pirst Intermediate Period is thus in no way a sound basis for dating a text. Secondly, thematic comparisons with Coffin Text material, the Lebensmiden, and the Harper's Songs are of little value in establishing a date for the Peasant, since these texts present innumerable dating problems themselves. The examples from the Coffin Texts are particularly ill-chosen, inasmuch as the composition and elaboration of Coffin Text material was a highly complex, multi-phased process on which it is virtually impossible to pin a precise date °°,= 10 - Gerhard Fecht's more recent defense of a First Intermediate Period date for the Peasant 37 is based on somewhat different arguments. Like Lanczkowski, Fecht assumes that the First Intermediate Period was an era beset by political, social and military strife. He therefore sees the choice of the “pea- sant" for the text's central figure as reflecting the emergence of a militant, urban lower class at that point in Egypt's history 3, For recht the emphasis placed on the peasant can only be interpreted as revealing a First Intermediate Period date for the text. As we have seen above, Egyptologists are no longer unanimous in accepting the interpretation of the First Intermediate Period as an era of agitation and unrest 3°, Yet even if we assume some measure of social unrest for the period, Fecht's arguments are not persuasive. It is difficult to see our shty as the symbolic representative of an increasingly socially aware and militant class of city-dwellers, since he is identified so emphatically with an isolated area outside any political or administrative framework. Indeed, I would argue that the peasant is presented as the physical embodiment of his home, the Sht-bmt, since in the introductory frame-story his name is mentioned only once. After being introduced-u- at the very first of the story as Khun-Anup, the peasant's name is consistently (38 times!) given as the sbty, the one from the sht. The place and the man thus become one. Khun-Anup is the incarnation of the edge of civilization, that narrow band of non- arable land which separates Egypt from the desert. In no way is he linked to a group of city-dwellers or, for that matter, to any group whatsoever. Nor could our shty be described as an agitator or revolutionary. Not once does he threaten the use of force, even though force is twice used against him. ‘The only weapon he brandishes is his oratory. It would thus seem that the choice of the peasant as a porte-parole cannot be used, as Fecht tries to do, to determine a date for the Peasant text. Fecht suggests, too, that a Middle Kingdom, or twelfth Dynasty, date for the text is impossible, since the later dating would make the Eloquent Peasant contemporary with the Satire of the Trades and the two Twelfth Dynasty Loyalist Instructions 4°. Fecht would see the juxtaposition of the Satire and the Peasant as no less than grotesque, since illiteracy is treated with utter scorn in the Satire while apparently considered a virtue in the Peasant .-12- I would argue that the thematic incompatibi- lity of two texts is insufficient grounds for assign- ing different dates to thé two. The Satire of the Trades and the two Loyalist Instructions, used by Fecht as examples of typical literature of the Twelfth Dynasty, indeed have little in common thema- tically with one another; but this is a matter of @ifferences in genre, not of date. Fecht's exclusion of the Peasant from the corpus of Twelfth Dynasty Egyptian literature is based on an assumption that within a given politically unified period all literature produced will bear the same stylistic and thematic stamp. This is far too simplistic a view of literary creation, one which makes no allowances for genre variations within a single historical period. There will, of course, be wide differences in 42 ana a style and literary themes between a satire series of persuasive petitions. The author of each has an important point to make and will use literary devices and images appropriate to his own chosen form. ‘The first duty of a satirist is to attack. Human frailties are described in the most humiliating terms possible. In the Satire of the Trades all vocations except that of the scribe are attacked pitilessly - albeit humorously - and derided in order to enhance the position of the scribe in ancient= 3S Egypt. Naturally, when the author's goal is to glorify the scribal profession, illiteracy will be 43 that the converse is xidiculed. Fecht implies true in the Peasant, that the shty's lack of formal education is made into a virtue; in reality, Khun- Anup's lack of schooling neither helps nor hinders him, He is described (Bl, 75/R 120-121) as “one of those shtys whose speech is truly beautiful." The Peasant's lack of formal training is not praised as such, but is simply used as a foil so that the peasant's disquisitions on maat will be seen as simple phrases, devoid of sophistry, which spring from the heart, not the intellect. It is not the peasant's illiteracy which is praised, but his remarkable powers - natural powers - of oratory which mark the peasant as a representative of Nature, as opposed to Culture or Civilisation. In short, the arguments marshalled by propo- nents of a Heracleopolitan or First Intermediate Period date for the Peasant remain unconvincing. Is the case for a Middle Kingdom date more persuasive? I would reply in the affirmative for the following reasons: 1) A close grammatical and lexicographical analysis of the Peasant (both the frame~2) 3) -14- story and the nine petitions) reveals a text written entirely in the idiom and style of Middle Egyptian. As Lefébvre pointed out, its language is "la belle langue de la x1I@ pynastie." 44 ‘he remarkable semantic similarity between the Eloquent Peasant and the Lebensmilden, 2 late Eleventh or early Twelfth Dynasty composition “5, not only argues for a Middle Kingdom date for the Peasant, but also points to the possibility of common authorship for the two literary texts *°, A comparative study of the Peasant and Khety's Hymn to the Nile shows an extraor- dinary overlap in the use of certain crucial words and expressions. I have found eighteen such terms common to the Peasant and Khety's Twelfth Dynasty Hymn, including iti, bw-nfr, ‘wn-ib, dns, shpr, s'nb, skdd, g’w, and pst ‘7, all terms which not only occur in the Peasant but have been used by the Peasant author to develop the text's central theme of iri mi't, Tt seems unlikely that the semantic similarity of the Peasant, the Lebensmilden,-15- and the Hymn to the Nile is the result of pure coincidence. The repeated use of a Limited set of expressions suggests, at the very least, that the three texts were written within a limited time-span during which these terms enjoyed immense scribal favor, Since Khety's Hymn can be firmly dated to the early Twelfth Dynasty ‘®, and since the late Eleventh or early Twelfth Dynasty is the most likely date of composi- tion for the Lebensmiiden, a Middle Kingdom date for the Eloquent Peasant seems certain on linguistic grounds. If, moreover, we credit the notion of common authorship for all three works, acknowledging Khety not only as the originator of the Hymn and the Satire of the Trades 4°, but of the Elo- quent Peasant and the Lebensmilden as weil 5°, we can hypothesize a date of composition for the Peasant some time early in Dynasty XII, during the reign of Amenenhet 1 (1991-1962) 1, with whose reign Khety is traditionally associated *, or of his son Sesostris I (1971-1928) 5%. Strong support for this theory comes from Papyrus Chester Beatty IV, 3, 5, where4) 5) = 16 - Khety is qualified as "their best" (p2y.sn tpy) among a list of eight authors and scholars from Egypt's past, heroes whose examples should be emulated by poster~ ity 54, such a reputation certainly adds weight to the theory of Khety's authoring both the Lebensmiiden and the Eloquent Peasant. Indeed, it seems more likely that these two speculative and thoughtful works would have earned him his literary reknown than an oeuvre composed only of the Satire, the Hymn to the Nile, and the Instructions of King Amenemhet 1 55, The foregoing hypothesis, which inter- relates the issues of the Peasant's author and date of composition, is corroborated by further semantic similarities between the Peasant and The Prophecy of Neferyt, a text which could not have been composed before the beginning of Amenemhet I's reign °5, The early Middle Kingdom (Dynasty XII) date thus proposed is again buttressed by the Peasant author's obvious familiarity with the bureaucratic and legal problems of his 57 day 57 and his more than passing acquain--17- tance with a rather sophisticated set of legal terms and concepts 5°, the author's use of this material in the Peasant implies that he was writing the work at a time when the Twelfth Dynasty was firmly established and the bureaucracy had had time to expand. Siegfried Herrmann has indicated that the P ¢ author's knowledge of both juri- dical traditions and practices 59 points to a date at the height of the Middle Kingdom. My own study of the text confirms the Peasant author's thorough grounding in jurisprudence. The petitions, in parti- cular, are replete with technical legal vocabulary ©, the author's familiarity with and use of such technical terminology furnishes us with proof of his own erudi- tion and, perhaps, legal training and reflects the growth and development of legal institutions attested for the Middle Kingdom period ©, Likewise, we can argue that the author's preoccupation with such themes as bureaucratic corruption and injustice presupposes the expansion of the Egyptian administrative machinery attested for the same period ©, on these grounds a mid-Twelfth Dynasty date would seem appro-6) -18- priate for the Eloquent Peasant. Georges Posener, in his Littérature et politique, p.16, n.15 °, ‘Twelfth Dynasty date to the Loyalist In- » assigns an early structions, arguing that the themes therein contained, namely the glorification of the sovereign and a solicitous attitude toward the common laborer, correspond to the prevailing socio-economic conditions of the early Middle Kingdom. Posener alludes to local wars and famines experienced during this period when demographic movements made labor scarce in some areas. Hence the value put upon the working man's happiness in the Instructions, w itten prior to Egypt's recovery of social equilibrium in the course of the Twelfth Dynasty. If we apply Posener's criteria to the Eloquent Peasant, we see that no special attention is directed to exalting the position of the king, and that Khun~Anup's encourter with Nemty-nakht reflects a tendency to mistreat, not cater to, the laboring man. In the Peasant, the Egyptian king enjoys a respected position. His2) oa authority is never questioned; indeed his instructions to detain the peasant and make him speak play a pivotal role in advancing the action and outcome of the story. The complete absence of the two themes deemed by Posener to be of capital importance for the Instructions and other early Twelfth Dynasty texts is revealing: it suggests that the Eloquent Peasant was first com- posed well into the Twelfth Dynasty, when the pretensions to the Egyptian throne of 64 Ameni/Amenemhet I and his descendents were well established. It is appropriate to note here that the four existing manuscripts of the Eloquent Peasant offer no information which can be brought to bear on the difficult problem of dating the Peasant. Although the dates of the four papyri can be established on epigraphic grounds (see above, Section 1), it should be pointed out that none of the extant text versions can be considered to be anything but a copy of the original text. The Middle Kingdom date assigned to them, therefore, neither corroborates nor excludes a Middle Kingdom date of= 20 - composition for the Eloquent Peasant. Nor can the fact that none of the surviving copies ante-dates the Middle Kingdom be used as proof of a Middle Kingdom date for the Peasant. other papyri, not yet found by archaeologists, may still be uncovered. Given the highly perishable nature of the papyri on which literary texts were written- , any number of other copies might have existed in ancient times but subsequently disappeared ©5, similarly, Egyptologists generally agree that the Bloquent Peasant enjoyed great popularity during the Middle Kingdom but fell out of literary favor uring the New Kingdom. This assumption, based purely on the Middle Kingdom date of the four extant Peasant texts °°, is no more methodologically sound than its con- verse, that the work was unknown before the Middle Kingdom because no First Inter- mediate copies have been discovered. Nothing can be said with certainty as to the provenance of the Eloquent Peasant. References within the text to the reign of King Neb-kau-re (Bl, 72-73), to the temple of Harsaphes (Bl, 196),-21- and to the peasant's journey to Hnes (Heracleopolis) to appeal to Rensi (B1, 33) indicate a Tenth Dynasty, Heracleopolitan setting for the Peasant story. It would be methodologically unsound, however, to assume that this setting and the Peasant author's milieu were one and the same. As shown above, the referen- ces to the Tenth Dynasty King Neb-kau-re are actually allusions to the late King Neb-kau-re, as indicated by the designation m?'-hrw. There is no reason to suppose that the geographical setting for the tale i! meant to be taken any more literally than its "date." Both, in my view, were literary fictions designed to put distance between the story and the events and concerns of the author's times. This long-ago-and- far-away setting was an effective way of giving a measure of universality, transcending time and place, to the Peasant's contents. There is reason to believe that the Bl and B2 manuscripts, as part of the Athanasi Collection, originally came from the Theban area. Athanasi is known to have carried out most of his excavations in or near Thebes. No records of the circumstances in which Bl and B2 were found have been preserved, however. Even if a Theban origin for these two copies could be documented, this would not necessar- ily imply a Theban provenance for the originalSmo Eloquent Peasant FORM, CONTENTS, AND SIGNIFICANCE OF THE TEXT The Eloquent Peasant is an interesting blend of straightforward narrative and colorful rhetoric, of simple, folk traditions, simply recounted, and eloquent poetic discourses on the concepts of justice and truth, The first 100 lines of the text consist of a narrative or "prose" ©” section which relates the story of an oasis-dweller named Khun-Anup, who has run out of provisions and must travel to Egypt to secure food for his family. Khun-Anup, consistently referred to as “the peasant" by Egyptologists °°, sets forth with a large variety of wares to be traded ©? for grain, but soon encounters a major set-back. As he passes through the district of Per-fifi, Khun-Anup's donkeys and goods are seized by a certain Nemty-nakht, a low-ranking local figure whose superior is Rensi, son of Meru, an important Egyptian official at the royal Residence. Nemty- nakht's patently flimsy excuse for confiscating Khun-Anup's possessions is that one of the peasant's donkeys has trespassed on his land by eating a few wisps of barley from his field. This "theft" is, in= 23 - fact, schemed and orchestrated by Nemty-nakht him- self. When he sees Khun-Anup approaching with his enticing load of exotic produce, Nemty-nakht orders his servant to lay a cloth across the peasant's path. In order not to tread on the cloth, the peasant is forced to stop and seek an alternative route, but this is an impossible task since the narrow path is flanked by water on one side and Nemty-nakht's barley field on the other. While he is hesitating, the inevitable happens and one of the peasant's donkeys helps himself to a mouthful of grain. Nemty-nakht then seizes the peasant's goods and beats the peasant with a tamarisk branch. The peasant spends ten days trying to get his goods back, but Nemty-nakht pays no attention to his appeals for justice. Finally, the peasant decides to take his case directly to Rensi, the High Steward of the region. Rensi, although advised by his magis- trates not to bother with the case, allows the peasant to give the facts of the incident to one of his servants and listens while the peasant makes the first of nine impassioned pleas for justice to be rendered. Impressed with Khun-Anup's finesse and elegance of expression - his mdw nfr(w), “beautiful= 24 = phrases” - Rensi refers the matter to King Nebkaure, who in turn instructs Rensi to make a verbatim transcript of the peasant's speeches, to provide Khun-Anup with food and drink, and through resolute silence, to encourage him to speak as long as he will. ‘The peasant's response to this treatment is another eight petitions which, while occasionally referring rather obliquely to the circumstances of his own case, are actually long speculative poems on the nature of maat or justice ”°, although the final lines of the text are in poor condition, it is clear that the work concludes with Rensi's pronouncement of a decision in Khun-Anup's favor, awarding him some or possibly all of Nemty-nakht's goods for damages. Egyptological discussion of. the Eloquent Peasant has tended to focus on the relative impor- tance of the work's form versus its content. Most scholars have emphasized what they see as an ancient Egyptian preference for elegance of style over meaning. F. Ll. Griffith, one of the first to provide at least a partial rendering of the entire Peasant text, was of the opinion that the nine petitions sss" appear to contain no argument and no notable thought: they consist to all appearances of an immense stock of what we must regard as commonplaces in Ancient Egypt, disposed in alternating bundles of-23- flattery, prayer, and reproach." 7+ Spiegelberg 7, went one step further, sugges- ting that the text was actually a parody of the worst in hackneyed Egyptian writing, a deliberate display of the literary bad taste of the era, achieved through an overemphasis on florid turns of phrase. Similarly, schneider 7? understood the work as a Thirteenth Dynasty satire, only somewhat incidentally aimed at a corrupt Egyptian bureaucracy, but primarily mocking the over-blown oratory of earlier Egyptian literature. Thus for Spiegelberg and Schneider the form of the Eloquent Peasant was inseparable from the contents; the form was the message. A slightly different point of view was taken by Maspero 74 + who compared the peasant's "discours interminables" with the empty rhetoric of a modern Egyptian fellah who ++" se croit obligé de parler beau pour atten- rir son juge et rassemble tout ce qu'il sait d'images et d'arabe élégant, le plus scavent sans se soucigr du sens ni bien calculer ses effets." For Maspero, then, the lack of coherence and intelligence, and the obscurity of language in the peasant's speeches are the results of the peasant's overriding desire to please his superior and his= 26 - pitiful inability to present his cas.» both eloquently and clearly at the same time. The emphasis on beautiful phrases, at the expense of logic, is some- thing which Maspero saw as intrinsically acceptable to the Egyptian, but incomprehensible, if not comic, to the European. Maspero's views were heartily shared by Eduard Meyer, in whose history of ancient Egypt 7° the entire corpus of Middle Kingdom litera- ture is described as overly embellished and arti- ficial, insatiable in its quest for yet another alliterative phrase, assonance, or word play. In Meyer's opinion, the more mannered a turn of phrase was, the more likely it would be to please the Egyptian ear. Among the early scholars to comment on the text, only Erman 77 argued for the pre-eminent importance of meaning over literary style. In the introduction to his study of the Lebensmliden, Erman compared this work to the Eloquent Peasant, noting that in both of these literary texts short stories served as the bases for long discourses. In the Peasant, these discourses were built around the central themes of speaking and doing truth and justice (maat). Erman judged these themes, and hence the Peasant 8 content, to be of greater importance than its “Wohlredenheit."| Elsewhere he stressed-27- that although the Peasant text was indeed an example of the ancient Egyptian taste for fine language, its real importance lay in its message, contained in the nine petitions, “die, soweit wir sie verstehen, zur Gerechtigkeit gegen Arme ermahnen." 7° It is against this background of late nine- teenth and early twentieth century Egyptological opinion that we must consider the impact of Friedrich Vogelsang's Kommentar zu den Klagen des Bauern, which appeared in 1913. While admitting a certain unifor- mity of imagery used, particularly among the meta~ phors involving the balance or navigational imagery, Vogelsang reversed the trend of earlier work on the text in asserting + "von den Reden des Bayern wird nicht nur gesagt, dass sie arm an wirklichen Gedanken seien,_ sondern auch, dass sie eines verntinftigen Sinnes entbehrten. —_Den letzten Vorwurf wird man nunmehr nicht mehr aufrecht erhalten kénnen. Aus der Darlegung des Inhalts im Anfang dieses Abschnittes geht deutlich hervor, dass dem Buche ein planmdsajger Aufbau der Gedanken zugrunde liegt." Vogelsang affirmed a well thought-out struc ture for the Peasa: , and insisted upon the primary importance of the text's ideas over and above its form. He flatly rejected the then prevalent notion that the Eloquent Peasant was, to use Maspero's phrase, "un exercice de style noble." The author's= 28 = reason for composing the Peasant text, Vogelsang asserted, was not to display his own erudition or oratorical powers; it was to give expression to the moral imperative ir m>'t. This message, according to Vogelsang, is conveyed both positively, by a series of injunctions to do and speak the truth, and nega~ tively, by harsh descriptions of the corruption and inertia which plagued the Middle Kingdom bureaucracy. Any interest in the beauty of language exists not for its own sake but for its usefulness, its power to get across the author's message °°, Although Vogelsang's excellent philological work in the Kommentar advanced our understanding of the Peasant enormously, certain scholars continued to adopt a rather condescending attitude towards the text as a work of literature. Illustrative of this disdain are disparaging comments from Gardiner and Lefébvre. In the introductory comments to his trans- lation of the Peasant in Jea 9 ®!, sir Alan Gardiner contrasts Sinuhe, praised as “a great literary masterpiece," with the Peasant in terms very unflat- tering to the latter. Sinuhe is perceived as a ghef-d'oeuvre on the basis of its "simplicity... its conciseness, its variety of mood and its admirable= 29 - felicity of expression," whereas the Pe: described as follows: The narrative portions are indeed straight- forward and unobjectionable, but the nine petitions addressed to Rensi are alike poverty-stricken as regards the ideas, and clumsy and turgid in their expression. The metaphors of the boat and of the balance are harped upon with nauseous insistency, and_the repetition of the same words with different meanings shows that the gythor was anything but a literary artist." Gardiner goes on to explain that the absence of literary artistry cannot be explained by supposing that the Peasant author was trying to imitate the rude, unlettered speech of a simple peasant. Indeed, the whole story turns on Rensi's genuine admiration of the peasant's eloquence. For Gardiner, this is clearly an incredible notion °°, G. Lef@bvre, although more balanced in his evaluation of the Peasant's literary merits than Gardiner, reflected that "on pourrait dire encore que certaines phrases sont d'une impénétrable obscurité, ajouter que 1'éloquence de l'oasien est souvent décousue, les idées se, ,suivant en désordre, sans aucun lien...." Lef€bvre recognized a certain number of points in the Peasant author's favor: his sometimes clever argumentation, an ability to coin phrases that have- 30 - the ring of authentic proverbs, and a gift for onoma~ topoeia exhibited through alliteration, assonances, and repetitions; but concludes that these strengths are outweighed by the text's too abundant use of flowery rhetoric, at the expense of natural expres sion: Lef@bvre predicted that, unlike the contemp- orary Sinuhe and Shipwrecked Sailor, the Peasant would never attract the attention of the general 85 public Lefabvre's predictions proved to be prophetic. In the years following Gardiner's translation of the Peasant (JEA 9, 1923), the text not only failed to find a wider audience with the general public; it evoked very little interest among Egyptologists themselves. Only two scholars undertook major studies of the long and still imperfectly under- stood ce text. In 1933, Emile Suys from the Pontifical Institute in Rome published an annotated translation of the Eloquent Peasant ®7 in which he suggested several new hieroglyphic transcriptions of the hieratic text and to which he appended lengthy introductory comments. It is these introductory remarks, rather than Suys' philological and tran- scriptional work on the Peasant, which are of-31- interest today, since Suys' translation of the text proposed very few changes - and most of these were of dubious value °* - in the prior work of Vogelsang and Gardiner. Suys points out several factors which must be taken into account in assessing the contents of the Peasant. In so doing, Suys puts himself on the side of those scholars who had maintained that there was 5s message, that the text was not simply an exercise in art for art's sake but a serious attempt at moral philosophy. Suys warns that any translation of the Peasant must deal with the rich diversity of language and language registers found in the text: proverbs and popular sayings, some rather folksy expressions from the spoken vernacular designed to portray the peasant realistically, and equally erudite metaphors, contrasts, and turns of phrase belying the Peasant author's true identity as aman of letters °°, we underlines the importance of rendering the text's dialectical style and reminds us that, according to Egyptian traditions of juris- prudence, the first duty of the magistrate was to listen and reply to a petitioner's plea °°, a point later developed in greater detail by Siegfried Herr- mann 91, Pinally, Suys issued the following caveat concerning what is for him a fundamental contradic- tion in previous translations:-32- "Une chose m'a paru inadmissible dans les interprétations données jusqu'a présent. Clest que le juge y est traité par le plaideur, et depuis sa seconde harangue jusqu'a la fin, comme un prévaricateur et jn criminel. 11 n'y a pas d'injure, pas d'insinuation désobligeante qui lui soit épargnée. Or cela est doublement invrai- semblable dans un pays ... dans 1'hypo- thése du conte, of le juge jouit d'un universel renom’ de justice et a recu le plaignant avec bienveillance.... Car le fellah le plus lourd est tout de méme apte & comprendre qu'il a moins & gagner gp in- sultant son juge qu’en le flattant." As will be seen in an examination of my commentary on the text passim, Suys' approach to interpreting the Peasant is very close to my own. I do not see the work as a mockery of legal procedures in ancient Egypt, but rather as an accurate reflec- tion of Egyptian juridical practices, which are used as a backdrop for the peasant's long discourses on justice and truth. ‘The mise en scéne had to be authentically presented if the author's message on the proper applications of maat was to be taken seriously. If we accept this hypothesis, it is, as Suys rightly observes, unrealistic and, indeed, unthinkable that the peasant would take the liberty of insulting the very judge who would decide his fate. The most recent comprehensive treatment of the Eloquent Peasant appeared in 1960 in G. Lanczkowski's AltUgyptischer Prophetismus. It was not Lancz-= 33- kowski's aim, in re-examining the Peasant, to provide a new critical study of the manuscripts but rather to look closely at the text from a religious or ethical standpoint, in order to establish the nature - if any - of its link with ancient Near Eastern prophecy. Lanczkowski concluded that the Peasant did indeed belong to this genre of religious writings. This he demonstrated through an extensive comparison of the Peasant with the salient characteristics of Biblical and other Near Eastern prophetic literature. Lancz— kowski argues for an interpretation of the Peasant as prophecy on the grounds that: 1) The peasant is introduced as a shty from the Sht-bm’t, identified by Lanczkowski as the Wadi Natrun 94, The shty, living on the edge of civilization, is an outsider who belongs to the same tradition of prophets emerging from the wilderness °° so often attested in the Old Testament, e.g. Isaiah 4 Ezekiel 13:4; Amos 2:10; 5:25; Jeremiah 2:1ff. As if to prove his point, Lanczkowski observes that in Christian times the Wadi Natrun became the site of a monastic cloister. 2) The peasant is provoked into delivering his3) 4) 5) 6) -34- petitions (his “prophecy") by a specific instance of flagrant wrong-doing, namely Nemty-nekht's seizure of his goods 76, As is the case for many Old Testament prophets, the peasant's harangues are given a religious setting (Bl, 195 ff, Petition IV), and the "prophetic" message is criti- cal of prevailing cult practices 97, As in other prophetic traditions, there is a marked political content to the peasant's speeches °, The intrepid peasant/prophet is undaunted by the suffering his speeches cause him 9? and exhibits that inner compulsion, or divine inspiration, to preach the truth regardless of the consequence which charac- terizes all true prophets 10°, Both the form 11 ana contents 1°? of the peasant's petitions are typical of prophetic speeches. ‘The form, or style, is characterized by the harsh, acid observa- tion (Geisselsprache) 1°, the scolding statement (Scheltwort) 104 105 » the rhetorical question and the use of irony,-35- allegory, sustained metaphors *°°, ana antithetical formulae 1°7, The message put forth in prophetic dis- course is, above all, eschatological in nature and rooted in a monotheistic world 108 view 98, Lanczkowski's efforts to interpret the Eloquent Peasant as a work of ancient Egyptian prophecy are, at first glance, impressive, buttressed as they are by literally scores of examples taken from Akkadian, Old Testament, Islamic, and Zoroas- trian sources. Yet the attempt to fit the Peasant text neatly into the literary category of prophecy ultimately fails. Lanczkowski is unconvincing both because his definition of prophetic style is too broad and, paradoxically, because the abel “prophecy” is too limiting as a description of the Peasant's contents. In defining the style of prophe- tic writings as characterized by imagery, allegory, irony, rhetorical questions, the barbed comment, thinly-veiled threats, and antithetical formulations, Lanczkowski describes a genre of literature so vast as to be meaningless. The same description might be given for literary forme as diverse as parody, satire, sermons, and political campaign speeches.= 36 - Moreover, Lanczkowski begins his study of ancient Egyptian prophecy with an attempt to define the prophet and his socio-religious function 199, but tends to overlook elements of his own definition when they are inconveniently lacking in the Peasant, e.g. the often ecstatic nature of prophesying, totally absent in the Eloquent Peasant. The predictive nature of prophecy, fundamental to any ordinary understanding of the term +19, ana Lanczkowski's own insistence on the importance of a 111 are not central religious background for prophecy concerns for the Peasant author. . Only one of the peasant's speeches is delivered in what might be termed a religious setting. This is Petition IV, which the peasant addresses to Rensi as the latter leaves the door of the temple of Harsaphes (Bl, 194- 196). Although Lanczkowski wants to see in this passage a “temple,” i.e. cultic, setting for the text as a whole, such an interpretation is not warranted. The backdrop chosen for the peasant's pronouncements is not religious but legal, as demonstrated in the reference to the peasant's initial encounter with Rensi (Bl, 34-35) who is said to be on his way to the 42k2w.é nfy) trryt, his “courthouse barge," and in the incident described near the end of the third petition (Bl, 184-185) when the peasant accuses Rensi-37- of leaving the courthouse ('rryt) before rendering his verdict. The reference to the temple entrance in Bl, 194-196 must be seen within this larger juridical framework as an allusion to a place where petitioners regularly filed legal claims and awaited judg- ments ae . Lanczkowski himself tacitly admits how weak his arguments with respect to the Peasant's cultic concerns are when he recognizes that this theme, by his own definition central to the notion of prophecy, is more readily found in other Egyptian works, namely the Lebensmilden. Again, if we apply Lanczkowski's criteria for prophecy to the Eloquent Peasant, we find the essen- tial "political" component - the tension between temple and state - entirely lacking. As Siegfried Herrmann 113 has so ably pointed out, the peasant's most urgent task is to warn against the increasing corruption and injustices he perceives among Egyptian administrators. This is not a matter of prophet versus priest, of the pious outsider, the holy man of God, inveighing against the corrupt or syncretistic ie practices of religious officials (cf. Hosea 10:2). It is a protest against observed miscarriages of justice, of officials taking bribes and/or failing to act on the claims of petitioners. The peasant's impassioned remarks are not designed to launch- 38 - religious reforms, to bring wayward believers or priests back into the fold. His petitions must be understood within a bureaucratic rather than reli- gious or cultic framework. The peasant pleads for the re-establishment of true justice 114, which, for the ancient Egyptian, was the very basis of civilized society. He is concerned by the absence of maat in everyday legal proceedings. To link these fundamentally ethical and social concerns to the Old Testament prophets' desire to reform and purify the cult is to miss the point of the Eloquent Peasant entizely. one of Lanczkowski's more persuasive arguments linking the Peasant to other ancient Near Eastern prophecy, occurs in his observations on the peasant's identification with an isolated, unimportant loca~ lity. This identification is very strong in the Peasant story. The main character's name, Khun-Anup, is given only once at the very beginning of the text. Thereafter he is known simply as the shty, the man from the marshland or oasis }45, vet 1 would suggest 126 in the that the treatment of the wilderness motif Eloquent Peasant is completely different from its use in Old Testament prophecy. In the Peasant the main character is consistently called the shty in order to efface all personal character traits and give the- 39 - hero of the tale universality through quasi-~ anonymity. ‘The Old Testament prophets certainly do not retreat behind a veil of anonymity. To the contrary, their individuality is highly developed. The Old Testament prophets are loners, individuals prepared to fight against the powers that be, convinced that God is with them in their struggles. Thus the mere presence of an outsider figure in the Peasant is not sufficient to mark the text as a work of prophecy. The motif of the peasant who lives outside the formal boundaries of Egypt and who is forced to seek food in that land for his family can more plausibly be interpreted as a combination of several motives common to folktales of many cultures. 1) A lack 117 of some essential commodity - be it food, as in our tale, money, or a suitable husband for the king's only daughter (lack of an heir to the throne) - sets the scene and provides the impetus for the plot of countless folktales. 2) In order to procure the missing element, one of the characters from the story must make a journey. If the lack occurs within3) - 40 - a family context, it is usually one of the 118 parents who undertakes the journey as happens in the Pe nt. The “hero" of the tale is frequently a "stranger" either a true foreigner or someone who enters his own country incognito 7 . The peasant's status as a foreigner in Egypt thus echoes a folk motif in which the one who saves the day or miraculously performs the impossible is the unpre- possessing stranger, assumed by all to be unequal to the task at hand. - The peasant's humble station and lack of formal education fulfill the other require- ments for this role. Judged on appearances alone, the shty would seem hopelessly inadequately prepared to do battle with the Egyptian administration. Yet his gift for oratory - an intellectualized version of a magic wand, ring, or potion 17° - brings him victory against all odds.-41- Finally, the Eloquent Peasant's use of folk motives, seen above in the treatment of the shty qua outsider-hero, is also apparent in other features of the frame-story: 1) The triple repetition of a single event or the so-called “law of three" 121; the peasant's thrice delivered reply to Nemty-nakht nfr mtn.i, "May my course be true!" after each of the latter's three warnings to the shty not to trespass on his property (Bl, 1-13 / R5,1-63 / Butler 36-40). 2) The beginning of the tale is set in the far-distant past, at an unspecified time 172, the "once upon a time"/"il était une fois" formula designed to detach the story from any specific historical consi- derations. tn the Peasant this formula is expressed as s pw wn 173, 3) The unfolding of the tale in three acts a4 t a) an initial wrong is perpe- trated; b) the "hero" responds to right the wrong; c) justice is done, balance or the missing element is restored, giving the4) = 42- story an —_‘“and-they-all-lived-happily- ever-after" ending. Nemty-nakht's theft of the peasant's goods, the latter's impas- sioned pleas for justice, and Rensi's judgment in favor of the peasant fit perfectly into this tripartite scheme. The "twinning" of all minor characters 175, e.g., the pair of guards called forth, toward the end of Petition III, to thrash the peasant (Bl, 186-187) and the pair (presumably the same pair) who make two appearances in rapid succession in the conclusion to the frame-story. The two escort the peasant before Rensi to hear the transcripts of his nine petitions read back to him (B2, 116 ££). They are again sent to fetch Nemty-nakht when Rensi pronounces his final decision in the case (B2, 134- 135). An interesting variant on this motif shows up in the prose passage linking Petitions I and II. When the details of providing food for the peasant are describ- ed, we learn that Rensi does not give the peasant's rations directly to him. Rather the daily supply of ten leaves and two jugs of beer are first given to "a friend"5) = 43 - (ynms) who then gives them to the peasant. Although Rensi could certainly not be called a minor character in the Peasant, he appears in this passage (Bl, 85-86) in a minor role which we would expect a minion or guard to execute. In this role he is given a "twin," made one of a pair, osten- sibly so that the peasant will not know the true source of his provisions 126, A maximum of only two main characters interacting at any one time 127, For most of our tale these two are, of course, Rensi and the peasant. The pattern . recurs, however, several times throughout the story. At the very beginning of the frame-story the peasant and his wife are the only two actors on stage. Children are mentioned but are not present. In R 47-48, Nemty-nakht is alone with his servant, but as soon as the peasant appears and the two begin talking, the servant sinks without a trace, leaving Nemty-nakht and the peasant as the only two present. After spending ten days in fruitless appeal to Nemty- nakht, the peasant seeks out Rensi, whose reputation for justice was widespread=a (Bl, 34 ££). ‘There follows a brief scene in which the peasant appears alone with Rensi's servant who takes the shty's deposition (Bl, 39 ff). Again, in the narrative linking Petitions I and II the stage is occupied by only two characters, Rensi and King Nebkaure (Bl, 72-88). The only exception to this "rule" of folk literature occurs when Rensi turns to his officials (srw) for advice on the peasant’ case (Bl, 42 ff). Although Rensi is in the presence of several advisors, the effect is nonetheless that of an interaction between only two characters, since the srw speak, chorus-like, as if with a single voice. We have seen that Lanczkowski's attempt to categorize the Eloquent Peasant as "prophecy" is, in the final analysis, unconvincing. If Lanczkowski's label is an inaccurate one for the Peasant, to which literary genre should we assign the text? In my view, the Eloquent Peasant does not fit neatly within the contours of any single literary text type. References to the work as rhetoric 18, a narrative or folk tale 129, a philosophical treatise 1°, or 131 wisdom literature are too confining. The Peasant= 45 - is rather a mix of several genres, categories so masterfully intertwined as to blur the distinctions between them. In formal terms, the work is composed of a frame-story and a series of nine long speeches or petitions. ‘These two structural elements are played off against one another to enliven the presentation of the text's true subject: the nature and practice of maat. In contrast with the abruptly truncated frame-story which serves as an introduction to the discourses of Neferyt 137, the Peasant's narrative sections are found not only at the beginning of the text (R1-95) but also at the end of Petition I (B1, 72-88 / R 117-139), toward the end of Petition III (Bl, 184-185), and at the end of the peasant's final address to Rensi (B2, 115-118). The narrative sections are not included merely to give the peasant a pretext to deliver his speeches to Rensi, but are artfully used both to punctuate the poetic sections, providing stylistic variety and interest 139, ana, amidst the many examples the peasant gives of abuse of power and injustice !34, to illustrate how the principle of maat can be properly served. The Eloquent Peasant is, therefore, neither pure narrative nor pure oratory, but a felicitousao blend of the two, As demonstrated above, the text's reflections of motives frequently encountered in folk literature are numerous, but there is no way of knowing whether the author reworked an existing folk tradition for his own purposes or deliberately created a tale in the style of folk literature. In either case, the aim would have been the same, to 335, py begin- ning with a deceptively simple story which would wit, to disarm the author's audience belie the highly philosophical nature of the text's real message. This uncomplicated "folk tale" would introduce, in the most natural way, the story's central character, the shty, whose unsophisticated origins are needed to justify certain strong symbolic contrasts with Rensi aoe and thus to give enhanced meaning to the peasant's message. The use of apparently simple folk literature to convey philo- sophically (or politically) complex messages is not unknown, as an analysis of Perraults's Contes de_ma mare 1'oye will attest 137, The division of the Peasant into two formal, structuring elements corresponds to marked stylistic differences between what I have called the “narra- tive" sections and the more "poetic" petitions. What, precisely, is meant by these two terms? Very broadly speaking, we can say that the narrative or-47- prose sections are typified by extensive use of the sgm.in.f, and, to a lesser extent, the 'b'.n sgm.n.f verb forms as well as by the infinitive + pw + sgm.n.f construction. The sgm.in.f is used repeatedly to signal a change in speaker 138 and therefore most commonly, occurs with the verb dd, "to speak, say." The 'b'.n sgm.n.f forn 139 marks the beginning of a new phase in the basic story , like the sgm.in.f "and then" form, line but is not used with the verb "to speak." Interestingly, major shifts in plot are marked, not by a pure verbal form but by the more static nomina~ lized infinitive + pw + (nominalized) sgm.n.f con- struction 1° which, although "verbal" in appearance, is actually a variant of the atemporal Noun, + pw + Noun, (or Noun 1 = Noun 2) construction. hese three forms do not occur in the petitions }41, except in the brief introductory formula which appears at the beginning of each 12, sivein rf shty pn x spr mf sp __, gd.f, and then this peasant came of his own accord to petition him for the —*" time. He said ...". This sdm.in.f ... sgm.f se~ quence should be seen as part of the text's narrative petition in almost the same form structure which resurfaces at the beginning of each= 48 - petition, subdividing the long text into shorter units 43 of different lengths. The petitions or "poetic" sections are cha~ racterized by a much higher percentage of relatively short, tightly structured verse lines, most often arranged in three- or four-line units or stanzas ***, although some stanzas are considerably longer. Moreover, the verses within stanzas are more deliber- ately and artfully tied together than most sets of consecutive sentences in the narrative sections. The devices used to create tight, discrete units of verse are alliteration and assonance, including word-plays, the repetition of important lexical items, and the repetition or alternation of certain grammatical constructions. A few examples will illustrate these comments: 1) Bl, 54-62 (Petition I). This long passage consists of a two-verse introductory section, an eight-verse middle section, and two final verses. The two initial verses consist, grammati- cally, of an ir sqm.f£ and a bare sgm.f line, the proclitic subordinating particle~ 49 - ix serving to introduce a dependent adverbial clause in an initial (anticipa- tory) position, "When you go down to the ‘Lake of Justice’ The following eight verses are united as a single, long stanza by the negation nn at the beginning of each line. The eight verses are broken down, however, into two smaller units of four lines each through the use of a unifying grammatical feature: the first four lines of the section are nn + infinitive lines while the second four verses are nn + nominalized sdm.f lines. The change in structure is made to coincide with, and thereby bring to the reader's attention, a shift in emphasis. The nn + infinitive stanza speaks of a potential malfunctioning of the boat or some part thereof: its sail, mast, or yards. In the second quatrain, the nn + sdm.f verses evoke, in more general terms, other sorts of sailing mishaps, such as running aground or being engulfed in massive waves, accidents which are not attributable to structural flaws within the craft but which come from without, primarily from the river, The first of the two quatrains manifests a concern with the strength and quality of Egypt's judiciary. The boat, an- 50 - oblique allusion to Rensi's “courthouse barge" (Bl, 35) symbolizes existing legal structures in ancient Egypt. The shift in grammatical structure at the beginning of the second quatrain signals the introduction of another, albeit related, theme: unforeseeable obstructions to the proper carrying out of legal proceedings. The final two lines of the twelve-line stanza are again sgm.f constructions. Thus the central eight-line section is symmetrically framed by a pair of sgm.fs at each end: two pairs of dynamic or verbal (sdm.£) constructions encapsulate the long series of negative, nominal (static) clauses. The first pair of sgm.fs sets up the conditions for a symbolic sailing expedition on the "Lake of Justice." The eight negative, nominal clauses of the middle section are used to, describe a number of potential navigational disasters which will not occur if these conditions are respected. In the final couplet a return to the sgm.f form is used to underline the positive results from the successful completion of a voyage on the "Lake of Justice." In other words, grammatical elements are used to advantage to high~ light thematic shifts. The structure of the entire twelve-line segment can be shown as follows:-51- iz + sdm.k - verbal - affirmative sqm.k - verbal - affirmative infinitive nominal infinitive nominal infinitive nominal infinitive nominal an nn an an negative negative negative negative | atte nominalized sgm.f nominal nominalized sgm.f nominal nominalized sdm.f nominal nominalized sgm.f nominal neg. neg. neg. neg. sgn.f verbal - affirmative at sgm. verbal - affirmative a’ This schematized rendering of the passage demonstrates, at a glance, how tightly structured and neatly symmetrical the passage is. The expert manipulation of grammatical units to underline both the negative and positive aspects of a quest for true justice and to give an aestheti- cally pleasing sense of balance to the whole is the work of a true artist, not, as Gardiner and others (see above) would have us believe, the incoherent ramblings of an illiterate hack. Nor is there anything in these carefully controlled and structured verses to support Spiegelberg's and schnei- der's claim that the peasant's speeches were meant to parody a grandiloquence favored by Twelfth Dynasty authors.52 2) Bl, 65-67 (Petition 1 146 This five-line section is introduced by a relatively long imperative sentence, followed by four shorter lines of equal tength 147, each containing a nominal construction: 1. imi iry.i nf 2) skmw Ew 3. we awm 4. ‘sktm(w) grg 5. sbpr m't 1. Cause that I establish your "nature" (literally, "name") as “this land in accordance with every.proper law." 2. Leader, free from greed, 3. Great One, free from pettiness, 4. Destroyer of falsehood 5. Establisher of truth (maat). The architecture of the stanza can be shown schematically as follows: 1. Imperative 2. Noun + adjectival phrase (w m + noun) 3. Noun + adjectival phrase (wm + noun) 4. Noun (participle) + noun-object 5. Noun (participle) + noun-object The long introductory line, containing ten words, contrasts sharply with the remaining four verses. Of these, the first couplet is composed of two four-word lines; the-53- verses of the second couplet halve this length. As suggested above 14° , the notion of line length in Egyptian poetry is a dangerous one, in that, having no vowel indicators in the script and no on-going tradition of pronunciation, we have no precise way of knowing how many syllables there were to a line. Thus for the present example, Bl, 62-64, we can only note that there would appear to be a deliberate playing with line length in the two couplets to achieve a desired rythmic or aesthetic effect. Such an assertion, although impossible to prove, is none~ theless corroborated by the presence of other demonstrable devices used to elevate the lines into the realms of poetry: a) the repetition of the Sw m + noun adjectival formula in the first couplet; b) the alliterative effect produced by the repe- tition of the s (sh) and w (oo) phonemes in the first line of that couplet and in the s+ gutteral repetition (sktm/shpr) of the second couplet; c) the juxtaposition of both the first and final words in all four lines of the two couplets to create a series of likes and opposites. The initiallikes covosicest 3: Spent = 54- words "leader" and "great one" (s&mw, wr) of the first couplet form a pair of similar concepts, as do the two final words from these verses, "greed" and "pettiness" (twn=ib, ngyt). In the second couplet two pairs of opposites are created in the same vein: "destroyer" and “establisher" (shtmw, sbpr(w)); "falsehood" and "truth" (grg, Upon closer examination we see that the final words of the four lines form yet another set of contrasts: the first and fourth (!wn-ib, m3't) are well-known opposites; the second and third (ngyt, arg) are very similar in concept. These inter~ locking sets of synonyms and antonyms can be depicted more graphically as follows: likes likes opposites | S57__jopposites what could have been a perfectly balanced arrangement of two sets of like terms (sSmw/wr; wn-ib/ndyt) in the first couplet3) 55 and two sets of opposites (shtm(w) /shpr(w); grg/m?'t) in the second is enlivened and given a dynamic asymmetry by the inclusion of a third set of two synonyms (ndyt/grg) and two antonyms ('wn-ib/m?'t) which cuts across the couplet boundaries, inter- relating the two. Once again, I would argue that passages such as this one exhibit poetic craftsmanship at its best and should put to rest any notions that the Peasant's author lacked finesse of poetic expression. Bl, 208-213 (Petition IV). This eight-line section bears some resem- blance to the passage analyzed in 1) above, Bl, 54-62, in that a pair of couplets using similar grammatical constructions frames a central unit unified by the repetition of a contrasting construction. In our first example, the framing couplets were verbal sentences encasing a core of negative nominal constructions. In Bl, 208-213 this situation is reversed: a four-line core of verbal constructions is framed by two sets of negative nominal clauses.= 56 = The verbal/non-verbal alternation is further accentuated by differences in line length. ‘The two non-verbal couplets which begin and end the section are of approx- imately equal length (five words each for the first pair of lines; six and seven words for the concluding couplet). They contrast sharply with the first three of the four middle lines, each of which contains only two words (a verb and its direct object). The fourth line of the middle section is roughly twice the length of the three preceeding lines. Indeed, it is impossible to know if the ancient Egyptians felt this clause, x nfr bss-grw, as the continuation of a long third line or as a fourth and separate verse line. For the purpose of our analysis here, this problem is not of great importance. It is clear that a central three-or-four-line verbal section is sandwiched between two non-verbal couplets which act as a frame for the passage and provide the same kind of symmetry we saw in example 1) discussed above. The symmetry and balance provided by the two non-verbal couplets is achieved by a repetition of the nn negative in allSia four lines and by an echo effect, involving the use of compound nouns, set up between the introductory and concluding verse pairs, The first couplet, Bl, 208-209, reads: an pebor?, Sw m wirw, ian iseib, dns shr-pt. “there is no fast-talker who is free of distorting the truth, There is no one mindless ("light of heart") who is weighty of thought.” In the second couplet the two compound nouns from Bl, 208-209, p*h-r? and is-ib are echoed and reformulated in the p®h-ib of Bl, 212-213, an example of creative repetition in which one couplet recalls without reproducing the other. Similarly, the repetition of initial nn to negate both lines of Bl, 208-209 is varied slightly in Bl, 211-213, where nn negates the first line and nn wn the second line of the stanza. It is thus clear that the author has striven to achieve a sense of balance and unity that is, however, not synonymous with absolute symmetry. This is seen in the way the two framing couplets are used to reinforce one another, and it can also- 58 = be seen in the treatment of the (three or) four middle lines of the present passage. This section consists of either two imper- ative sentences, the second one very long, interrupted by a sdm.f or, if we read the x afr bss-grw as a separate verse line, an imperative / non-imperative alternation: imperative/sdm.f / imperative/x + sdm.f. Using the four-line approach to the middle section, we can represent the structure of the entire passage thus: + compound noun + adj. phrase (non-verbal) a + compound noun + adj. phrase (non-verbal) a erative + noun object (verbal) b ek + noun object (verbal) c imperative + noun object (verbal) b r+ sgmé (verbal) ce! Bn + (nountm+compound noun) (non-verbal) a! jan wn + compound noun, sgm.tw.£ (non-verbal) a” 4) Bl, 201-203 (Petition IV). Another example of conscious structuring of lines occurs in this four-line passage. The quatrain reads as follows:= 59 - 1, Who, indeed, can sleep until daybreak? 2. When destroyed is: a) going outside by night, 3. b) travelling by day, 4 ¢) causing that a man stand for his good case of what is the truth. The stanza breaks naturally into an intro~ ductory, interrogative line followed by a set of three similarly constructed verses. only in the first of these three does the sdm(w).£ passive verb hd(w) appear;. it is present by ellipsis in the two following lines. The structure of the passage can be schematized as follows: nm + participle a ‘sgm(w).f + infinitive + (m + noun) b infinitive + (m + noun) bt infinitive (rdit) + bt dependent sdm.£ The example is interesting in that, when taken together with the passages examined above, it shows something of the Peasant author's range of poetic expression. The notion of balance or structured verse is present in this example as it was in examples 1) and 3) but is expressed in a much looser way than it was in those "sandwich" passages. Example 4) has more in common with example 2) in its taste for= 60 - controlled asymmetry. The repetition of the infinitive + m + noun construction in lines two and three, as well as the more elaborate infinitive + sgm.f construction of the quatrain's fourth line, binds these three verbal sentences together into a unit, to which the introductory non-verbal (participal) clause has only a loose relation, although to some extent the longer lines, one and four, act together as a counterweight to the two shorter middle lines. That the Peasant author can be shown to be capable of more than one or two types of poetic stanzas is the mark of a true literary talent, which also serves as a warning to those who would force all Egyptian poetry into slavish adherence to a given set of rules 149, The examination of the foregoing passages 150 leaves no doubt as to the poetic character of the peasant's speeches, thereby documenting cur initial statement on the mix of literary genres to be found in the Peasant. As demonstrated above 151, the Eloquent Peasant begins and ends as a folk tale ‘5? but soon blossoms into poetry of the highest calibre. Nor is the term "rhetoric" inappropriate in a= Gl discussion of the peasant's oratory, if by "rhetoric" we understand the art of effective or persuasive speaking, involving both an eloquence and a technical mastery of language on the speaker's part 153, In light of the unfortunate, but frequent, pejorative use of "rhetoric" - all too often occurring as "empty rhetoric" 154 = to designate modern political bombast or propaganda devoid of real content, I have tried to avoid the term in the present study of the Eloquent Peasant. In preference to "rhetoric" I have used the word "oratory" 155, If the formal criteria heretofore discussed provide the Peasant text with the labels of narrative tale and poetic oratory 15°, the contents of the peasant's discourses add to this list the designation of philosophical speculation. In his speeches the peasant seeks the answer to one of life's most fundamental problems, the true nature of justice (mat). To the extent that the peasant explores this theme, formulating the proper applications of an abstract notion, maat, to legal proceedings and to encounters between weak and powerful men, he philosophizes. In his more speculative moments, the peasant compares maat to goodness, nfrt, a concept which is= 62- not specifically defined but is said to ensure eternity (nbb): © every good one, may you be good, For goodness is indeed good, As Maat is forever, Tt goes down with its performer into the Necropolis, When he is buried and interred. His name is not eradicated on earth, But he is remembered for goodness. (B1, 306-311). Again, in Bl, 320-322, the peasant exhorts Rensi to speak and practice maat, praising maat as powerful (wr), great (13), and enduring: "its worth has been proved, as it leads to veneration." (B1, 321-322). Maat is thus given pride of place on the scale of Egyptian values. Practicing maat is the essence of goodness, the road to immortality. Practicing maat is seen in philosophical opposition to iri iyt, "creating evil," (Bl, 305-306). Finally, in Bl, 146 maat is called "breath for the nose," an Egyptian stock phrase for the essence of life itself. The peasant's moments of pure philosophical reflection, however, are few. More often he de~ scribes the practical consequences of adhering to the principle of maat. In Petition I, Bl, 64-67, the establisher of maat is defined as one devoid of greed ({wn-ib) and pettiness (ndyt). The shpr m*'t is the= 63 - "destroyer of falsehood" or, put more positively, one who seeks truth (the peasant's formulation is in the negative, however: Bl, 67). Yet Bl, 64-67 is not a passage which develops an abstract notion of one who pursues maat; it is a portrait of the ideal leader or administrator (s3mw), a description which the peasant wants desperately to see in Rensi, whom he has just invited (Bl, 54 ££) to take a journey on the “Lake of Justice" and whom he has praised (Bl, 62-64) as the defender of the defenseless: the orphan, the widow, the divorcee, and the motherless. Thus a specific socio-political content is given to the lofty ideals of establishing maat and destroying falsehood (grq)- In the final section of Petition I, the practice of maat is further defined in legal terms a! the rendering of a judgment in the peasant's case (Bl, 68-71). The peasant makes it clear that his previous descriptions of a voyage on the “Lake of Justice" were meant to incite Rensi to a merciful judgment. He explains that he is speaking in order that justice be served: Do that which is just, o praised one, whom the praised ones praise! Expel my troubles! Lo, I am burdened, Examine/judge me! Lo, I am suffering!= 64 = "Doing justice" is equated with ending the peasant's tribulations, interpreted in legal language in Bl, 70-71 as ip wi, “examine me (my case)!." ‘The concept of the irw m?'t as the protector of the defenseless is taken up again in Bl, 137-138, where Rensi the protector becomes the one who brings a drowning man to shore, Similarly, in Bl, 129 the protector role is expressed in terms of building shelters and defending the shores against the croco- diles lurking in the harbor. In Bl, 237-239, the same motif recurs. Here the protector is compared to a dam, a safeguard against drowning. The same protector image is the subject of a five-line stanza, Bl, 221-224, in which the peasant addresses Rensi in the following way: Steersman, do not steer off-course! Life-sustainer, do not let one die! Provider, do no let one perish! Shadow, do not change into sunlight! Shelter, do not let the aggressor snatch! As we saw in Bl, 65-66, the practicer of maat is typically contrasted with the greedy man (!wn-ib). This theme is repeated in Petition II, Bl, 117, and expanded in Petition VIII, Bl, 290-292: When one falls to greed ~ be afar! The rapacious man lacks success. When he does succeed, it is for nought. Insofar as you are greedy, it (success) is not for you. Let a man defend his just and true case!- 65 - The passage is then followed by a more personal admonition to Rensi reminding him that he lacks nothing in material terms, that his belly is full, his grain-mesure full to overflowing - a theme stated earlier in Petition II (Bl, 93-95; 124-125) and picked up again in Bl, 300-303. The practice of maat is repeatedly developed by the peasant in relation to the concept of false- hood, grg. In Bl, 241-242, the peasant beseeches Rensi to: Bring about goodness (shpr by ab nfx), Bring about maat (s| tt), Destroy evil (sktm bw- A lord should seize (sis) a lie!." In the second half of a long twelve-line section in Petition III, the peasant twice implores Rensi not to speak in lies (nn gd grgiw)), Bl, 159-160, but to take charge of the situation, acting to ensure that justice be done (B1, 156-159). In Bl, 182-183, and again in B1, 197-198, the peasant refers to the goal of exterminating falsehood (literally, "throwing the back of falsehood to the ground"). The peasant devotes long passages of his speeches throughout the text to instructions to- 66 - judges on how to -and how not to- carry out maat. one of the most impressive of these appears in Petition II, Bl, 97-103. The section begins with an announcement that maat is fleeing from her rightful place. The reasons for this, given in the following lines, are stated in eight different ways, all varieties of judicial misconduct. Among the examples given, iri iyt committing a wrong, is mentioned twice, first in connection with the magistrates or officials (srw), then in relation to the hsfw, the one who should punish (evil). The sgmw, or investi- gators, are accused of “snatching” illegally (perhaps confiscating property?); the ps’w, the arbitrator, is said to be a robber (‘wnw). Some judges apparently hesitate to render harsh verdicts even when they know justice is being perverted; others are not lenient enough, even in exceptional circumstances such as drought or famine (Bl, 100-101). This catalogue of judges' errors, representing the miscarriage of justice or maat, is a theme taken up in a more positive vein elsewhere in the petitions, where judges are instructed on proper conduct, in compliance with maat. Magistrates are told not to be impetuous or impatient, to examine (their cases) with both eyes, to repel the violent man and to give the same attention to all contenders' cases: Bl, 211-215, Bl, 234-239, B2, 103 ff.= 67 To summarize the Peasant's message we can say that whereas in some passages the peasant lauds an abstract notion of maat, comparing it to truth, goodness, and generosity 15°, the Peasant author's real concern is to emphasize the practice of maat. Maat is not only a metaphysical idea an all-encompassing approach to life. To be brought into being maat must be spoken (gd) and enacted (ixi). It is, above all, the duty of the rich and powerful to put maat into practice in their professional lives.Introduction FOOTNOTESFOOTNOTES 1) H. Goedicke, BA, 1, n.3; Erman, SPAW 1896, 3; Gardiner, Hieratische Papyri Berlin, V, 4, 67 Griffith, PSBA 14 (1892), 451. 2) The B 1 manuscript, or what remains of it, stops with the end of Petition VIII. 3) Quibell, The Ramesseum, 3. 4) Griffith, PSBA 14 (1892), 451. It is not known how Dr. Butler, a former head-master of Shrews- bury School obtained the manuscript subsequently named for him. Griffith is of the opinion that the Butler papyrus came from the same find as Berlin papyri 3023 and 3025. The Peasant story is contained on the recto of Papyrus Butler, as first noted by Goodwin in Chabas (ed.), Mélanges Egyptologiques, Time Série, 1864, 249-272. 5) The fragments are from the collection of Mr. Tyssen Amherst of Didlington Hall, Norfolk. They were identified by Newberry as part of the Eloquent Peasant. Most of the fragments come from the= 70 - beginning of the Pi nt tale. Ibid., 452. Griffith, op. cit., 459, points out that the line placements in the Amherst fragments show it to have been copied from the same original as the Butler Papyrus. 6) For a complete table showing how the four papyri and the Amherst fragments fit together and/or overlap, see Vogelsang and Gardiner, Literarische Texte des Mittleren Reiches, Leipzig, 1908, 7; cf. Griffith, op. cit., 459. For a discussion of the dimensions of the Berlin papyri, see Borchardt ZAS XXVII, 11 + cf. Griffith, op. cit., The Butler. 7) G. Lef@bvre, Romans et contes égyptiens, Paris, 1949, 45; G. Fecht, LA I, 642; Gardiner, JEA 9, 5. 8) Lef@bvre, op. cit.; echt, op. cit.; Gardiner, op. cit.. 9) F. Vogelsang, Kommentar zu den Klagen des Bauern, Untersuchungen zur Geschichte und Altertums- kunde Agyptens, VI, Leipzig, 1913; reprinted by Georg Olms Verlagsbuchhandlung, Hildesheim, 1964. 10) The following list of publicationsSi includes only articles whose major interest is their treatment of the Eloquent Peasant. The list is arranged alphabetically, by name of author: i) Berlev, Vestnik Drevnei Istorii, I (107), 3-30. ii) Blackman, JEA 20, 218-219. iii) Donadoni, Annali, Istituto orientale di Napoli, vol. XVIII (28), 441 ff. iv) Edel, ZAS 96, 7. v) Fecht, LA II, 638 ff. vi) Fischer, Fs. Otto, Fragen an die Alt&gyptische Literatur, Wiesbaden, 1977), 155 ff. vii) Gardiner, JEA 9, 5 ££; PSBA 35, 264-276; PSBA 36, 15-23; 69-74. viii) Grapow, Géttingen gelehrte Anzeigen, 1913, nr.12, 735-751 ix) Gunn, JEA 12, 282-284. x) Herrmann, 2AS 80, 34-39; 82, 55-57; Unter suchungen, 79-93. xi) Leprohon, JARCE XII, 97-98. xii) Miosi, ZAS 101, 150-152. Polotsky, Etudes de syntaxe cupte, 81-82. Ranke, ZAS 79, 72 ££. Roccati, Pap. mag. Turin, 35. Vogelsang, ZAS 48, 164 ff. xvii) Wente, JNES 24, 105 ff. xviii) Westendorf, Ps. Otto, 503 ff.-72- Lichtheim, M, Ancient tian I. University of California Press, Berkeley, 1975, 170 ff. 12) Simpson, Wm. K. The Literature of Ancient Egypt. Yale University Press, New Haven, 1972, 31ff. 13) Lefebvre, G. Romans et contes &gyptiens de_1'6poque pharaonique. Paris, 1949, 41-69. 14) Maspero, G. Les contes populaires de l'Egypte ancienne, 4, Paris, 35 ff. 15) Erman, A. Die Literatur der Agypter. Leipzig, 1923, 175 ff. 16) Donadoni, Storia della Letteratura Egiziana antica. Milano, 1957, 95 ff. 17) Donadoni, 5 and Bresciani, E. Letteratu- rae Poesia dell'Antico Egittu. Torino, 1969, 95 ff. 18) Por these dates, see Drioton, E. and vandier, J. L'Egypte : des origines & la conguéte g'Alexandre. PUF, 1938, 226. 19) Drioton and Vandier, op. cit., 266; 275, no.8.73 20) Herrmann, ZAS 82, (1957) 55-57. 21) Goedicke, BA, 7, n.40; see also James, Pharaoh's People, London, 1984, 74. 22) Gardiner, JEA 9, 5; Legacy of Eqypt!, Glanville, ed. Oxford, 1947, 75. But see Egypt of the Pharaohs, 112, where Gardiner seems to ascribe a Heracleopolitan date to the work. 23) Hayes, CAH, vol. I, part 2, 525. 24) Wilson, The Burden of Egypt, 120-123. 25) Lancskowski, G. Alt&gyptischer Prophetis- mus. Weisbaden, 1960, 42-45. 26) Fecht, LA II, 643. 27) Kemp, B., "Old Kingdom, Middle Kingdom and Second Intermediate Period," Ancient Egypt: a Social History (Trigger, Kemp, O'Connor, Lloyd), 116. 28) Vogeisang, Komm., 77; Faulkner, Lit Anc Eg, 35, n.12; Lalouette, Textes sacrés et textes profanes de l'ancienne Egypte, 331, n.21; Gardiner, Egypt of the Pharaohs, 112.ee 29) Gardiner, op. cit.. 30) Goedicke, Neferyt, 12; BA, 3; Posener, Litt6rature et politique, 60; Lichtheim, op. cit., 134, 31) Lanczkowski, Prophetismus, chapter 2, 41-47. 32) Ibid., 42, n.11. 33) Ibid., 43, n.15; 44, n.22. 34) Ibid., 45, n.24; n.25. 35) Lichtheim, op. cit., 10; 134. Kemp, op. cit., 116. 36) Goedicke, BA, 63, n.40. 37) Fecht, LA II, 638 ff. 38) Ibid., 643-644. 39) See note 35 above. 40) Pecht, op. cit., 643.Sts 41) Ibid. 42) A satire is a "composition in which human frailty is held up to ridicule," written in a comic rather than tragic vein, "in a mood of scornful amusement at human weaknesses and foibles, at knavery and folly." A Handbook of Literary Terms, H.L. Yelland, S.C. Jones, K.S.W. Easton, eds. London, (1970), 180. Cf. The Shorter oxford Dictionary, Oxford, (1967), 1792: (satire) "a poem, now occasion- ally a prose composition, in which prevailing vices or follies are held up to ridicule." similarly, Webster's New World Dictionary of the English Language, College Edition, (1968), 1295. 43) Fecht, op. cit., 643. 44) G, Lefabvre, Romans et contes, 45. 45) For a discussion of the striking semantic similarity between the two works, see Goedicke, BA, 4. Terms and expressions common to the two texts include ihm, mir, sgm mdw, dns, wh-ib, ky, sf, zp bin, and the exceptionally rare 'd? and mr used to introduce a hortative construction. Inasmuch as the latter apparently idiosyncratic form is not attested outside the Peasant and the Lebensmtiden, it- 76 - constitutes a strong argument for common authorship of the two texts. 46) See note 45 above. I owe this idea to Professor Goedicke, who first published it in BA, Introduction, 4 ££. Cf. Goedicke, Neferyt, 18 ff. 47) See Foster, JNES 34 (1975) 1-29, for the line numbers given below for the Hymn to the Nile: 34, 41 skdd 59 113 Ww 87 19 bet 21 79 sh 26,135 31 48) Foster, op. cit.; Posener, Littérature et elitique, 19. 49) See Goedicke, BA, 6, n.35. 50) Goedicke, op. cit., 4-8. 51) For these dates, see Gardiner, Egypt of the Pharaohs, 439. 52) Goedicke, BA, 7. 53) For these dates, see Gardiner, Egypt of the Pharaohs, 439.So 54) Gardiner, Hieratic Papyri in the British Museum, Third Series, plate 19, p.39; cf. Goedicke, op. cit. 5 ff. In a second reference to Khety, in Papyrus Beatty IV, 6, 11 ff, the scholar-scribe's name is invoked in a prayer for his ka: "O that excellent one, whose utterances are choice! I shall hand on his name to eternity, It is he who made the book consisting of instructions of King Sehete- pibre...." (Translation taken from Goedecke, BA, 6.) 55) This notion was first brought to my attention by Professor Goedicke. Cf. Goedicke, BA, 6 f. 56) Posener, Litt. et pol., 19; 21. 57) S. Herrmann, Untersuchungen, 85-87; 96. 58) e.g., B1, 32-36 / R 62-85; B1, 49-51 / R 93-95; see note 60 below. 59) S. Herrmann, ZAS 82, 52-55. 60) The following terms are used in the Peasant as technical legal vocabulary: web to give a formal reply waa to query 5 an investigator- 72 - aa to come (before a judge) sort | 3 28 accusation ‘ Fis? grg rt? to put an end to lying Be ry = £5 to put an end to lying xdi Ew to pardon ary a verdict wst to neglect one's duties thw to transgress the law Fai pr as to show partiality iri ‘a nb to draw up a provisions order to pass judgment to judge two contenders a case E BRE | ara t ek bn a complaint psd to divide (into shares) rryt a recognized seat of justice BE to be judged, to come out of court (innocent, guilty) 61) S. Herrmann, Untersuchungen, 79; 83-857 ZAS 82, 55. 62) See Hayes, JNES 12 (1953), 31 f; Helck, Verwaltung, 12-13; 192-193; Leprohon, SSEA Journal X, no.2, 1980, 161-171. 63) Posener, Hommages a Claire Préaux, 663-664. 64) Posener, Litt. et pol., 23, n.6. 65) Several important literary texts from the Middle Kingdom are known to us through the existence of a single copy, e.g. The Shipwrecked Sailor, the tales from Papyrus Westcar, The Admonitions ofIpw-Wer, The Complaints of Khakheperre-Seneb, the Lebensmiden, and the tale partially preserved on Papyrus Butler, verso. 66) This argument from silence is, in any case, misleading since there is evidence that the Peasant was known in Ramesside times. On a Ramesside limestone ostracon, which describes an idle student- scribe of the times, Peasant B 1, 28-29, "You beat me, you steal my goods, and now you take the complaint from my mouth!" is inaccurately but recognizably quoted as "you kill (kdb), you take away my asses, and take the lamentations from my mouth." Gardiner, JEA 9, 25. Thus it would seem that the Peasant story was still told, at least in scribal circles, in the late New Kingdon. 67) For definitions of the terms "poetry" and “prose” and the problems involved in applying them to ancient Egyptian literature, see J. Foster, Thought Couplets and Clause Sequences in a Literary Text: the Maxims of Ptah-Hotep, Toronto, 1977; cf. Foster, JNES 34 (1975), 1-29 on the Hymn to the Nile, and JNES 39 (1980) 89-117 on the structured narrative style of Sinuhe. See also, M. Lichtheim's discussion of literary categories in ancient Egypt, in the intro- duction to her Ancient Egyptian Literature, volume I,= 80 - Berkeley, 1973, 3 ff. Cf. H. Grapow, "Beitrage zur Untersuchung des Stils 4gyptischer Lieder," ZAS 79 (1954) 20; G. Fecht, “Die Form der alt&gyptischen Literatur: Metrische und stylistische analyse," ZAS 91 (1964), 11-63; ZAS 92 (1965), 10-32; AHAW, 1965, no.1; AHAW, no.2 (cf. Handbuch der Orientalistik Band I: Agyptologie, Abschnitt II: Literatur, 19-51); I. Shirun, "Parallelismus membrorum und Vers: Fragen an die alt&gyptische Literatur," Studien zum Gedenken an Eberhard Otto, Wiesbaden 1977, 463-92, Lichtheim's rebuttles of Fecht's ideas in JARCE (1971-1972) 103-110. 68) The problems involved in translating the Egyptian term shty are treated in my discussion of the introductory frame-story, R 1. 69) For a recent discussion of the ancient Egyptian's system of barter, with references to the Peasant, see T.G.H. James, Pharaoh's People, London, 1984, 240 ££. Real coinage was not introduced until the Thirtieth Dynasty (380-343 B.C.) in Egypt. 70) For a discussion of the term maat, which incorporates modern notions of truth and justice and was, for the ancient Egyptians, no less than the organizing principle of society, see below,-81- Petition I, note i (B 1, 54-55). 71) F. Ll. Griffith, PSBA 14 (1892), 17 ff. 72) Spiegelberg, Die Novelle in alten Agypten, 1898, 17 ff. 73) H. Schneider, Kultur und Denken der alten 2 Agypter *, Leipzig, 1924, 173 ff. 74) G. Maspero, Contes populaires de 1'Rgypte ancienne, Paris, 35 ff. 75) Ibid., 44. 76) E, Meyer, Geschichte des alten Agyptens, Berlin, 1887, 270 ££. 77) A. Erman, Gesprich eines Lebensmiiden_mit seiner Seele. 1896, 5. 78) A. Erman, Aus den Papyrus der kSniglichen Museen, 1899, 46. ~ 79) F. Vogelsang, Kommentar zu den Klagen des Bauern, 22.SOic 80) Ibid., 17 £. 81) A. Gardiner, JEA 9 (1923), 6-7. 82) Ibid. 83) Cf. Gardiner's description of the peas- ant's discourses on maat as “the long and tedious complaints of a peasant who had been robbed of his merchandise" in Legacy of Eaypt ', Glanville,ed. oxford, 1947, 75. 84) G. Lef@bvre, Romans et contes égyptiens, Paris, 1949, 44. 85) Ibid., 41-45. 86) Cf. Gardiner's comments on the difficulties he had encountered in translating the Eloquent Peasant: JEA 9 (1923) 5-6. 87) E. Suys, Etudes sur le conte du fellah plaideur, récit égyptien du Moyen-Empire. Pontifico Istituto Biblico, Rome, 1933. 88) See A.M. Blackman, "Notices of Recent Publications," JEA 20 (1934) 218-219.= 83 - 89) Suys, op.cit., pp. XVIII; XXVI. 90) Ibid., XXVI. 91) S. Herrmann, ZAS 82 (1958), 55-57. 92) Suys, op.cit., XVIII. 93) G. Lanczkowski, AltSgyptischer Prophetis~ mus, Wiesbaden, 1960; see especially chapter 3, 49-93. 94) See my note on sht-bm*t, R1, under “frame-story, introduction." 95) Lanczkowski, op.cit., 52-57. 96) » 58-59. 97) Ibid., 60-61. 98) Ibid. 1 63-67. 99) Ibid., 67-68. 100) Ibid., 68-70.- 84 - 101) Ibid., 70-73; cf. 73-77. 102) Ibid., 75-83 (ethical content); 94-88 (ideas on the Deity); 88-93 (eschatological state- ments) . 103) Ibid., 70, n.1~4, 104) Ibid., 71, n.10. 105) Ibid., 71, nll. 106) Ibid., 72, n.16,18,19,21; 73, n.22,24. 107) rbid., 73. 108) See note 101 above. 109) Lanczkowski, op.cit., 9-16. 110) C£. The American Heritage Dictionary, Delta, New York, (1976), 566: "prophecy," 1) a prediction, 2) the inspired utterance of a prophet; "prophesy," 1) to reveal by divine inspiration, 2) to predict (my underlining); Le Petit Robert, diction- naire alphabStique et analogique de la langue fran- gaise, Paris, (1978), 1547, "prophétiser" 1) prédire= es en se proclamant inspiré de Dieu; 2) prédire par divination; 3) deviner par pressentiment ou par conjecture et annoncer ce qui va arriver (my under- lining) . 111) See note 96 above. 112) J. Leclant, Bibliotheca orientalis 19 (1962) 248; cf. Lanczkowski, op.cit., 59. 113) S. Herrmann, Untersuchungen, 85 ff. 114) Petition I: B 1, 54-55; B1, 67; B 1, 68; Petition II: B1, 97; Petition III: Bl, 146; B1, 157; B 1, 158-159; B 1, 182; B 1, 202-203; B 1, 210; Petition VI: B 1, 241; B 1, 250-251; Petition VII: B 1, 274-275; Petition VIII: B 1, 303-307; B1, 320- 322; Petition IX: B 2, 95; B 2, 97. See n.69 above; cf. S. Herrmann, op.cit. 83 ff. 115) See my discussion of Fecht's arguments for a Heracleopolitan date for the Peasant in Section 2 above, notes 39 and 40. For shty, see my note on R 1-2 in the introductory frame-story. 116) See note 94 above.= 86 - 117) V. Propp, Morphologie du conte, Seuil, Collection 'PoStique,' Paris, 1970, 92 ff; 165. 118) Propp, op.cit., 367 46. 119) Ibid., 74. ‘The shty would appear to be more of an outsider nd hence impartial observer - than a true foreigner. He obviously lives well within the Egyptian cultural and linguistic sphere, since 1) he says he knows Rensi, an Egyptian admini- strator and magistrate, at least by reputation (B 1, 17-18), and 2) he apparently has no difficulty understanding or being understood by Egyptians and is, indeed, complimented by Rensi on his eloquence (B 1, 75-76). 120) Propp, op.cit., 166, motif F; J. Demers, Lise Gauvin and Micheline Cambron, "Quand le conte se constitue en objet(s)", Les Contes, Littérature, no.45, February 1982, 79-111. 121) Axel Orik, ‘Epic Laws of Folk Narrative,' The study of Folk Lore, A. Dundes,ed. 1965, 133; Propp, gp.cit., 90. 122) Propp, op.cit., 146, Appendice 1, Tableau I, “Situation Initiale," 1. "Définition87 - spatio-temporelle (‘dans quelque royaume')." 123) See my note a) on the frame-story introduction. 124) BE. M6l6tinski, L'Etude structurale et typologique du conte, Seuil, Collection 'Poétique,' Paris, 1970, 241-242, n.52. 125) Axel Orik, op.cit., 136. 126) Likewise Nemty-nakht is suddenly given a "twin," his servant (unnamed), to perform the menial task of fetching an ifd from Nemty-nakht's house, R45 £. 127) Orik, op.cit., 133. 128) Gardiner, JEA 9, 6; Lefébvre, Romans et gontes, 42; Erman, Literatur, 158. 129) Gardiner, Legacy + (1947), 75. Simpson (ed.) The Literature of Ancient Egypt classifies the Peasant, along with the Shipwrecked Sailor, Sinuhe, and King Cheops and the Magicians (P. Westcar), as "Narratives and Tales."- 88 - 130) See Goedicke, BA, 4. Goedicke does not use the term "treatise," but refers to the Peasant as “a representative of speculative literature," an opinion I would endorse. See also Faulkner's “literary essay," Lit Anc Eg, 31, translator's note. “Essay” fails to convey the poetic character of the petitions. 131) K, Kitchen, “The Basic Literary Forms and Formulations of Ancient Instructional Writings in Egypt and Western Asia," Studien zu _altdgyptischer Lebenslehren. E. Hornung, 0. Keel, eds. 1979, 237 £., groups the Eloquent Peasant, the Lebensmilden, Neferyt, and the Admonitions of Ipu-wer together as examples of "Social Literature," thereby rejecting the category of Wisdom literature for these works. Kitchen emphasizes the strong concern with admini-~ strative abuses witnessed in the Peasant and the Admonitions, which distinguishes them from, e.g. Ptahhotep, and other Wisdom texts more concerned with the individual and his proper conduct. 132) The introductory frame-story consists of seventeen lines of text; it ends when the king takes up scroll and palette to record what Neferyt would say. The rest of the text consists of Neferyt's message. There is no return to the frame-story or= 89 - attempt to integrate the story and Neferyt's "prophecy." The initial situation is simply a pretext for calling on Neferyt to address the King. 133) It is interesting to examine in detail how the author wove together his narrative and poetic sections. ‘he initial 100 lines of narrative are followed by approximately twenty lines of verse, Petition I, which is in turn followed by another significant narrative section, approximately 15 lines long. Petition IZ is interrupted roughly in the middle, by two lines of prose (B 1, 103-104), during which Rensi temporarily breaks his silence. The next major interruption in the poetic discourses comes at the end of Petition III, B 1, 184-187, some 81 lines later. After this passage there are no further prose sections until the 27-line conclusion immediately following Petition IX, except the one or two lines of narrative introduction to each petition. Thus the ratio of narrative to poetry starts out heavily in favor of narrative, but by about half way through the 430-line work has reversed itself, so that Petitions IV-IX are interrupted by narrative intrusions. 134) See, for example, Petition II, B 1, 97- 103, where various types of judges and officials - bsfw, srw, sdmw, psSw - are described as guilty of- 90 - corruption, all of which is announced under the general heading that Maat is fleeing from her (right- ful) place: justice is not being served. Cf. Bl, 115-116 where the peasant tells Rensi that mercy has passed him by; B 1, 294 ££., where it is implied that magistrates (srw) are not fulfilling their role of keeping evil at bay, acting as protectors of the poor and weak. 135) I use the term "audience," rather than "reader," since very few Egyptians were able to read. An "audience" of readers would have been limited to trained scribes. There is simply no evidence, archaeological or inscriptional as to how literary texts were transmitted to the non-reading public, if at all. This, of course, raises the question of using literature as political propaganda, a theme developed at length by Posener in his Littérature et politique. The notion of written propaganda has been called into question by Goedicke, Neferyt, 5 ff. The Peasant is a work whose themes of doing justice and redressing wrongs have political (or bureaucratic/ governmental) ramifications but which is not overtly propagandistic in the way Posener uses the term to mean legitimating the powers-that-be through elabor-~ ately woven tales that pass as explanations from history.-91- 136) The contrasts are several: 1) Rensi is comfortably well-off; the shty is rapidly running out of food and facing famine 2) Rensi, a magistrate, is well-educated; the peasant is seen as a poor country boy of skimpy education who is lucky enough to have a way with words; 3) Rensi is the lord of an establish- ed farming area; the peasant is not a farmer but a trader; 4) Rensi is silent; the peasant loquacious; 5) Rensi holds considerable power in his region; the peasant has none. 137) For a penetrating study of the political and personal motivations behind Perrault's recasting of many well-known fairy-tales, see M. Soriano, Les Contes de Perrault: culture savante et traditions populaires. Gallimard, 1968. 138) See note h), commentary on the frame- story introduction. 139) See Gardiner, Gram. § 480, nl; Callender, Middle Egyptian, 31. The tense is used to express subsequent events, usually without a stated agent. 140) See R 7, R 36-37; B 1, 337 B 1, 73-74.= 92- 141) The petitions proper start after gd.f, the last word in the introductory formula. These poetic sections are marked by a much higher percent- age of non-verbal sentences than the narrative sections, by shorter line or verse length, and by a more obvious structuring of verses into stanzas. 142) The repetition of this formula is useful in that it reminds us of how long the peasant has been at his task. In all petitions except Petition Iv, the peasant also addresses Rensi as imy-r? pr wr, nb.i, “O High Steward, my lord." This is perhaps comparable to saying "Your honor" to the judge in English or American courts of law. It would be interesting to know if it was omitted from the beginning of Petition IV on purpose. 143) It seems unlikely that this refrain was used as a mnemonic device to aid the oral poet's memory, since it occurs only nine times in the text at extremely irregular intervals, sectioning the text into units of unequal line length. 144) By “line” I mean, of course, a poetic line, not a line of text running from one side of the papyrus to the other. A text line would be much longer than the average verse line.- 93 - 145) J. Foster, Thought Couplets and Clause Sequences _in a Literary Text: The Maxims of Ptahhotep. SSEA Press, 1977, 22. 146) See Ranke, ZAS 79 (1954), 72 for a discussion of this passage in relation to the imitation of the five-fold royal titulary. 147) It must be remembered, however, that in the absence of vowel markers in Egyptian, any discussion of line length, a concept based on a syllable count, is severely handicapped. When I refer to line length, therefore, it is with respect to the number of words per line. 148) See footnote 147 above. The second couplet also forms a bridge to the following section. 149) See note 67 above, especially the references to Fecht and Foster. 150) Although the terms "poetry" and "poetic" are elusive and, to a certain degree, subjective and/or culture-specific, literature that rises to the level of poetic expression can be said, in general, to demonstrate a concern for, indeed a love of, language. This can be expressed in unusual or potent~ 94 - imagery, euphony (e.g., alliteration, assonance, rhymes), or both. Poetry has noticeable rhytmic effects; it is a form of music. The rhythmic qual- ities of poetry are sometimes, but not always, expressed in verses (lines) which "scan," with rigid restrictions on the number of syllables allowed per line. Such restrictions, insofar as we can judge, were not imposed on Egyptian poetry; but this judg- ment is by definition imperfect in that, lacking vowel indicators for the ancient Egyptian language, we cannot count the number of syllables per line. C£. Lichtheim, op.cit., 11; 169, where she describes the peasant's speeches as "poetic" within the frame- work of her three-fold division of all Egyptian literature into 1) prose, 2) poetic, and 3) orational styles. See also, Foster, Thought Couplets, 8-12, for a different interpretation of the terms "poetry" and "prose" with reference to ancient Egyptian writings. Foster is of the opinion that prose in the sense of “straightforward (i.e., unstructured) discourse" did not exist in Egyptian literature, an opinion shared by G. Fecht (see footnote 67 above) although Fecht and Foster would disagree on many other aspects of ancient Egyptian conventions of poetry writing. 151) See pp. 47-59 above.= 95 - 152) For a recent discussion of a similar, but much later, use of folk motives in Egyptian literat- ure, see G. Posener, Papyrus Vandier, Introduction, especially 14 £; 19; 23 £. 153) As defined by the American Heritage Dictionary, Delta, New York, (1976), 605, rhetoric is "the art of effective expression in speech or writing." Cf. Le Petit Robert, Paris, (1978), 1713: "art de bien parler; technique de la mise en oeuvre des moyens d'expression." Likewise, the Oxford Shorter Dictionary, 1713, defines rhetoric as "1. The art of using language so as to persuade or influence others... 2a. (obsolete) Elegance or eloquence of language; 2b. speach or writing expressed in terms calculated to persuade; hence language characterized by artificial or ostentatious expression (my under- lining). Cf. Handbook of Literary Terms, Yelland, Jones, Easton,eds., 169 £., "That rhetorical devices are generally regarded with suspicion as productive of ostentatious and insincere composition is due to the fact that they are studied and artificial, that... they are sometimes used to bolster a weak case." 154) These negative connotations can be seen in the definition of the adjective "rhetorical" given= 96 - in the American Heritage Dictionary, Delta, New York, (1976), 605: “concerned primarily with style or effect." Hence, without significant content. Similarly The Oxford Shorter Dictionary, 1713. 155) Ibid., 500, “oratory : 1. The art of public speaking; rhetoric. 2. Rhetorical style or skill." Although “oratory" and "rhetoric" would appear to be synonyms, common usage has placed more emphasis on the "skill" component in oratory, leaving rhetoric to designate overblown speech with no real message. See notes 153 and 154 above. 156) I would reject any notion that the Peasant was of a genre composed of small units of older traditional material (of diverse sorts) put together like building blocks to construct a longer text. This patchwork theory, espoused = by S. Herrmann, ZAS 80, 34-39, suggests a make-shift arrangement in which units of material are added on willy-nilly. This does not do justice to the Peasant, a text which certainly makes use of proverbial material and legal traditions known from Pap. Prisse and elsewhere, but assimilates them to a larger whole to illustrate the theme of iri m3'tCOMMENTARYCommentary FRAME-STORYSo INTRODUCTION TO THE FRAME-STORY : R (R 1) There was a man *), Khun-Anup was his b) °, name . A “peasant” of the Sht-bm3t was he (2) He had a wife. Mrt was her name “), then this peasant said to this his wife, "Look, I am going down to (3) Egypt in order to bring back food from there for my children ©), But I shall go (only) after I have measured the grain (4) which is in the barn, namely the remainder of the grain of the ynarvest/ £), then he measured for her /26/ heqats of grain. (5) And then this peasant said to his wife, "Look, /I can give/ you /20/ heqats of grain for provisions together with your children. (6) And you will make for me 6 hegats into bread and beer for every day on which /I will trave1/ 9).= 99 - Notes: a) The formulation s pw wn, literally "a past man is it," situates the story in the vague and distant past. A similar formula (s pw wan) occurs in the first line of a Middle Kingdom autobiographical text: ASAE 59 (1966) Tb. XLVIII,1; cf. Lebensmiden line 17, p? is pw prr and Sethe Nominalsatz, 62, $ 89; 90; 92 Vernus RdE 30, 115-116; Gardiner, Gram. § 325; Vogelsang, Komm. 26. The nominalized Noun + pw + Participial Noun construction used to introduce the peasant underlines the static, universal nature of the shty, who functions as a type of Everyman figure within the Peasant text. This is seen in contrast to the ist sgm.f verb form used in R 1-2 to introduce the peasant's wife and to point up the ephemeral quality of this minor character. b) Khun-Anup, or Hw-n~Inpw, means "the one protected by Anubis." As pointed out by Vogelsang, Konm., 26-27, this type of name, composed of a nominally used participle (relative form) and a theophoric element, was common in the Old and Middle- 100 - Kingdom, e.g. won-Pth (L.D, II 23.115b-g). Hw-n-Inpw is not otherwise attested. The name is given once only in the story; all subsequent references to the main character are to the shty, the "peasant," the man from the Sht-bmt. The name Khun-Anup is, therefore, less important to the story as the name of the main character than as a hint of what the tale will be about. Ev2king the name of Anubis, a god closely associated with death and the necropolis, suggests the dire straights the peasant will find himself it B 1, 26-30; B 2, 115, At the same time, it implies that the peasant will not meet an untoward end since Anubis is his guardian angel. For the use in Middle Egyptian of the otherwise archaic construction Noun, + Noun, in PN rn.f sentences, see Garnider Gram. § 125-126; 127,n.1. The construction is used four times in the Peasant to give Khun-Anup's, Mrt's, Nemty-nakht's and Isry's names: R 1, R 1-2; R 39; R 40. c) Following other interpreters, I have consistently referred to the shty of our story as the “peasant." The translation is not particularly apt, however, in that it conveys none of the flavor of the- 101 - Egyptian term shty. A shty is, first and foremost, one who lives in that narrow strip of Egyptian land which divides the arable soil from the desert. He is not, then, a farmer or “paysan" in the modern sense of the word. From the little we learn of his life in The Eloquent Peasant he would seem to depend on trading for his livelihood. (The products that he takes with him to sell for 'kw in Egypt do not suggest a settled, agricultural existence but the life of a hunter, fowler and dealer in exotic wares.) It is indeed unfortunate that calling the shty of our story "the peasant" reveals nothing of the Egyptian term's suggestion of a man literally living in that narrow zone between life and death, where life is possible but insecure. The symbolic implications of the terms sht and shty would have been very strong for an ancient Egyptian, for whom the agricultural land, flooded annually by the Nile, meant life and for whom the desert or "the West" was synonymous with death and burial. It is thus far from insignificant that the unlikely hero of our tale is repeatedly referred to as the shty. It is noteworthy that, although he is first introduced by a proper name, Khun-Anup - in itself a reference to the judgment of the deceased - he is throughout the rest of the story called simply "this shty." His own name= 102 - is never mentioned again. This device has a double effect; it transforms a particular individual into a figure with whom almost everyone can identify, an Everyman, and it stresses both the marginality of the peasant's social position and the fragility of his position vis-a-vis the authorities in his struggle for justice. In effect, through the use of the term shty, the man Khun-Anup becomes an incarnation of, or living allusion to, Maat. Maat, too, is a concept whose moment of application comes in that timeless zone between life and death, when the deceased is evaluated and judged against the standard of Maat. Thus we see in the introduction to the peasant story the first suggestions of the idea which will be developed explicitly throughout the nine petitions, the theme of Maat and the straight and narrow path she calls on men to walk. For sht see Montet, Scénes de la vie privée, + Goedicke, K8nigliche Dokumente Ag Abh 14, 167; cf. Urk. I, 295,5. ‘The sht-bm?t is usually translated as the Wadi Natron, e.g. Lichtheim, Anc Eg Lit 7, 170, nel; Faulkner, Lit Anc Eg, 31; Vogelsang, Komm., 27} Gardiner, JEA 9,7,n.1; ‘This identification seems unlikely since the peasant's home-town should be,- 103 - according to R 6, no further than 100-kilometers or a six-day journey from the capital city of Heracleo- polis. Thus the Wadi Natron is too far away. I would suggest a location somewhere in the marshes of the Fayyum area, which would fit with other information found in the text, namely that the peasant's home was literally a "salt-marsh," that was to the north of Heracleopolis (R 36-37), and that Nemty-nakht on one occasion used a known Fayyum dialect word, sdb. See note q) below. a) For the proclitic particle ist see Vogelsang, Komm., 27; Meeks I, 77.0467; II, 78.0493; Gardiner, Gram. § 231; § 324 (before sdm.fs); CD 31. For ist rf see Peas R 44, B 1, 71; B 1, 184, and Vernus RdE 30, 120; n.21: "but," "then." The restoration of an initial m to complete the female name /M/rt is universally acknowledged. The name was popular during the Old and Middle Kingdom periods. Vogelsang, Komm.; 27. e) This is the first use in the Peasant of the= 104 - literary past tense sgm.in.f, a construction employed to denote consecutive action. The form is used frequently throughout the text's narrative sections, most often with the verb gd to signal a change in speaker. It appears a total of nineteen times in the introductory portion of the frame-story. Sixteen of these occurrences are with gd. These are consistent- ly rubricized in the R manuscript although not in the Butler Papyrus or Amherst fragments. The form appears three times, in the long introduction to the frame-story: with wn, "to be," Bl, 247 again with wn, "to come," in R 96. ‘These occurrences are not rubricized. Cf. R 51/ B1, 1 (A)/Bt 36, where B 1(A) and Bt preserve iw.in rf shty pn br wt nt rmg and R has the non-verbal construction Smt pw ir.n sht} pn, For the feminine singular, mt of mk, a "particle of ‘close! address," (Callender, Middle Egyptian § 3.5.4.2,) see Gardiner, Gram. § 234, § 44,2; § 119,17 § 133; § 142; § 414,13 § 422; § 450. Callender, op. cit. 33, describes the mk particle as an "old optative" which “involves the audience in closer attention." Gardiner, op. cit. § 234, argues for a derivation from an imperative form. The mt (G92) form from R 2 and R$ is a later development of of an original mt (SX@), Gardiner, op. cit. § 234,= 105 - notes 10 and 11. The restoration of / A / “2 for the missing verb is universally accepted. Traces of the top, right-hand portion of the sign are still visible on the papyrus. The peasant tells his wife that he will go down (h3i) to Egypt to bring back provisions for his children. Two points deserve our attention here: 1, It is likely that the peasant family's lack of food is an anecdotal reflection of a much larger problem in Egypt, namely famine. This is a theme found in other Twelfth Dynasty literary texts, such as the Admonitions and Neferyt, which are certainly from the same period as the Peasant and quite possibly by the same author, Khety. (For a fuller discussion of these problems, see above, Introducton, Section 2.) 2. In R 3 the peasant refers to his children as the subject of his concern; in R 5 he tells his wife that he is leaving her 20 heqats of grain for her and her children, The change in pronoun reflects the change in Mrt's status when her husband is away. As long as Khun-Anup is at home, he is the- 106 ~ official head of the household. The children and Mrt his wife are his responsibility, his depend- ents. Apparently in the absence of a male pater familias, an Egyptian woman could assume this responsibility for her children. The unquestioned legal authority of the male head of household is also reflected in Petition I, B 1, 62-63, where Rensi is thrice compared to a male protector of a female or child bereft of husband or father respectively. Note that the shty's destination is Egypt or Kmt, "completeness," which, like the name Khun-Anup above, may have had a symbolic as well as a literal meaning. On one level the shty's declaration that he will go down to Egypt places him outside the frame- work of Egyptian administration, giving him the status and perspective of an impartial observer. But the peasant's intention to go to "completeness" also gives a hint as to the story's message and conclusion - albeit a rather oblique clue if we do not already know the story. f) This short sentence is usually translated as an imperative. Such an interpretation is- 107 - possible, in that the first person singular suffix does not appear in the text (as it frequently does not in sgm.i or sgm.n.i constructions). Thus, either reading is possible epigraphically and grammatical- ly.) The usual rendering, "Go, there, and measure out for me (3m im; h? n.i....), however, does not coincide with R 4, where it is said that the peasant measures out (20) heqats of wheat for his wife. If we adopt the generally accepted translation, we are then obliged to emend R 4 to 'b!.n hi If we read Sm(.i) (swt), this emendation is unnecessary. The story stands as written, In addition, there is collateral evidence that the shty, and not his wife, would most likely have measured the grain. In ancient Egypt winnowing grain was a female occu~ pation, but measuring grain was a task reserved for men. On this topic see Maspero, Etudes égyptiennes, 100; Vandier, Manuel VI, fig.9, pl. XXI; Blackman, JEA 6 (1920) 206. 4 For the reading swt (¥A ) rather than Vogelsang's (Komm., 27) im (‘/I3*), see Gardiner, JEA 9, 22. For a discussion of the definite articles p%, rs Kroeber, Die NeuSgyptizismen vor der Amarnazeit, and n3 used in Middle Egyptian texts, see- 108 - TUbingen, 1970, 14-30; cf. Note h, Frame-story, continuation, B 1, 75. For @3t, "remainder," see CD 318; WB V, 517, 4-8; Meeks I, 77. 5134. A restoration of 424 O/ Smw, “harvest,” would seem to fit the lacuna following g?t-it-n(y) .--- 9) For measuring grain see note c) above. The number of heqats measured out by Khun-Anup for his wife is entirely illegible. We can, however, hypothesize that this number would be the total of the heqats kept by Mrt for herself and her children and the hegats used by Khan-Anup for provisions on his journey. The latter figure (R 6) is easily read: 6. The former, Mrt's share, could be interpreted as 2 or 20, Reading 2 would lead to certain internal inconsistencies within the text: 1) The shty's concern for his wife and children manifested in R 2-3 would not mesh with his taking for himself three times the amount of food he left behind.- 109 - 2) In B 1, 86, we learn that Mrt and her children are to be given 3 heqats a day by Rensi during her husband's absence. This figure is probably an accurate reflection of how much was actually needed by the family per day. (Cf. the peasant's rations, also furnished by Rensi, are the same as the minimum wage for a low-ranking worker. See below, B 1, 86/ R 134.) We can further postulate that Rensi took a hegat (or two?) a day for himself; six heqats for a six-day, one-way trip to Heracleopolis. The return journey would also have taken six days, so Mrt and the children would have needed about (3 x 12) or 36 hegats ideally. See below Bl, 31, for an indirect confirmation of those figures. Since Khun-Anup was running short of food, his reason for going to Egypt in the first place, his wife and family had to make do with what they had, namely 20 hegats. (For the reading of the two strokes as 20, not 2, see MBller, Hieratische Palwographie I, $§ 704; Gardiner, JEA 9, 7, n.2; Griffith, PSBA 14 (1892) 425.) There are traces which suggest an h-sign ( 0 ) at the beginning of the lacuna after hrw nb. I would therefore suggest hbi, "to travel."- 110 - R7- 36 / Bt 1-15 R 7-15 Bt 1-8 R 15-18 Bt 9 This peasant went down to Egypt (literally, "a going down was it that this peasant made to Egypt"). h) After he had loaded his asses with: vines (grapevines) rushes natron salt sticks (wood) from Hstyw staves from the Farafara Oasis panther skins jackal/wolf hides (aquatic) n3?-plants stone tnm-plantsR 19-21 Btl R 22-25 Bt R 26-29 Bt 12 R 30 Bt 13-14 R 31-34 Bt R35 =. - bpr-wr plants shwt-resin (?) Bt 10-11: ‘nw-pebbles s®kswt-pellets -+- stone mi-swt-plants snt-stone 'b/3/w-stone ibs*-plants inbi-plants pigeons (mn.w) nir.w-birds gutted birds (wgs.w) tbw (cf. R 31, tbsw) -plants/pellets wbn-plants/pellets tbhsw-plants gngnt-pellets "earth-hair": plant inst-pellets a full measure of all the good products of the she-bme. +)- 12 - Notes: h) Note that the infinitive + pw + sgm.n.f construction is used here as a literary past tense, comparable to the preterite in English or the passé simple in French. See Callender, Middle Egyptian, 41£ ("The Literary Past Tense II: Verbs of Motion"). C£. Sh.S 172; Peas. R 36; R 37; Bl 73. i) When we compare the list of 27 items from the R manuscript with the much shorter, 14-entry list from the Butler Papyrus, it becomes apparent that neither of these texts constitutes the original list. The R and the Butler lists contain a common nucleus of eight items. Since these eight articles appear in both lists as the first eight entries, we can assume that they comprised the original list of Khun-Anup's goods. This original list is actually a series of four pairs: two plants, two minerals, two types of wood, and two kinds of animal hides. I would suggest that there is a further structuring of the list into two groups of two pairs: the first four articles were- 113 - well-known, commonly available products; the second two pairs are more exotic items, two being specific- ally mentioned as "foreign" or non-local goods, from Histyw and the Farafra Oasis. Panther skins and jackal hides were not foreign in origin but classi-~ fied with the two types of wood as rare and costly goods. The first three pairs can be further broken down into a male and female component in that order. The final pair preserves the masculin/feminine contrast in a different form, The two types of hides or skins are both feminine nouns; the animals provid- ing the hides are both masculine nouns. For i2? as “the grapevine," see Meeks, Bib. d'gtudes 59, 10, ne Borghouts, Anc Eg Mag Texts 27 (37); cf. WB I, 27, 7 and 9, For the reading ystyw in R 12/Bt 5, see Edel ZAS 96, 6 £, The reading is entirely convincing, but the location is still unknown. ‘The original eight-item list has been develop- ed very differently in the two traditions preserved in the R and Bt manuscripts. The Butler Papyrus’ list of fourteen entries follows the pattern of like pairs seen above in the first eight entries. The six additional items consist of two types of stone, two vegetable substances determined with the pellet-41u4- marker, and two other types of pellets, no doubt of a different category from the two preceding items, given the Butler list's rigid adherence to the principle of matched pairs. The R list adds nineteen products to the original eight, abandoning, as far as I can deter- mine, any strict organizing principle for this part of the list. Some entries, e.g. R 27-29, three types of birds, or R 18-19, two plants, seem to belong to the same general category; for others there is no apparent connection or structuring, e.g. the five final entries, R 30-34, consisting of two plant- pellets, a third pellet, a plant, and a final pellet: wbn, tbsw, gngnt, Sny-t?, and inst. In my opinion the R list (R 16-34) represents a scribe's virtuoso performance in naming all the exotica he could think of, most likely simply to show off his own erudition. The fact that many of the items listed in R 16-34 are known from the scientific sources of the day, i.e., medical or funerary contexts, would buttress this interpretation. In the light of the foregoing discussion, it is highly unlikely that all the items listed in Bt 9-14 and, especially, in R 16-34 came from the Sht-bm*t, as is so often claimed, e.g. R. Germer, Untersuchungen Uber- 115 = Arzneimittelpflanzen im Alten Sgypten, Hamburg, 1979, 286-287 (n33); G. Charpentier, Recueil de matér: ux Spigraphiques relatifs a la botanique de _1'Egypte antique, Paris, 1984, $1380, tnm, "une plante de l'ouadi Natrun; ibid., § 831, hpr-wr, “une plante médicinale qui pousse en particulier & 1'Wadi Natrun." For the problematic identification of the Sht-bm’t with the Wadi Natrun, see above, note c).- 116 - R36 - 41 (36) ‘This peasant sailed south (37) toward Heracleopolis. J) He came to the district of (38) Per-fifi to the north of Mednyt. He found a man (39) standing on the pier there. *) wemty-naknt 1) was his name. He was the son of a man (40) named Isry, who was a subordinate of the High Steward (41) Rensi, son of Meru ™, Notes: j) For the infinitive + pw + ir.né construction see note h) above. The infinitive hntyt can mean either "to sail south/upstream" or "to go south." In light of R 39 and R 44-45, it seems likely that a good part of the peasant's journey was by boat. There may, in fact, be two traditions here: one of overland travel, the other of travel by boat; see B 1, 33 versus R 82 where only the R version preserves pntyt. The peasant went r Nn-nsw(t),17 - "toward" Heracleopolis, the Tenth Dynasty capital, but stopped short of the city in a district known as Per-fifi, north of Medynt. Per-fifi's location is unknown, but this type of place name formed with pr was used to designate small localities throughout the Heracleopolitan period. See Fisher, CdE 50 (1980) 13, notes 2 and 3; Nims, JEA 38 (1952) 45, fig.3; vandier, Mo'alla, 163; Cerny, JEA 47 (1961) 7; Clére and Vandier, ‘Textes de la _premi@re période intermédiaire, § 18(3); § 30(3); JEA 61 (1975) 35, fig. 3. Manyt is attested as the ancient name of the modern Atfih, or Aphroditopolis, the capital of the twenty-second nome of Upper Egypt: LA III, 1253; Nims Ar Or 20 (1952) 343-346; Montet, Géographie, II, 202-205. This identification does not seem appropri- ate for the Peasant, in that the rest of the action is situated to the west of the Nile, while Atfih is on the east bank: Gardiner, JEA9, 7, n.8. It seems plausible, therefore, to read mdnyt, "dyke," in R 38, rather than a municipality Mdnyt. The A-fragment version (A 5) would lend some support to such a reading, as the word is determined with rather than the town determinative found in R 38 and Butler 19. This is the usual determinative for dnit "dam" or “ditch, dyke," CD 314; CT II, 7; Merikare 104.- 118 - The word mdnit might well be an m prefixed noun whose meaning would be virtually identical with dnit, “dam" or "dyke." ‘The same mdnit/dnit alternation can be seen in Merikare 99 and 104. The idea of interpreting the mdnit of Merikare 99 as a dyke or moat first came from Scharff, SAW Munich 1936, 34, and was accepted by Faulkner in his translation of the text in Lit Anc Eg, 188, The mdnit of Peasant, R 38, could be such a dam or dyke for which an area near Heracleopolis was named. For a discussion of dams in connection with irrigation projects in ancient Egypt, see EAS 106 (1979) 37-51. For ™ swt, Heracleopolis, see LA 11/8, 1124-1127 and Mokhtar, Mohammed Gamal el-din, Ihnasya El-Medina (Herakleopolis Magna), Bib. d'Etude XL, 1983. k) In R 39 and Bt 20 we learn that the peasant meets a man who is standing on a mryt. This term has generally been rendered as 'riverbank," i.e. a natural topographical feature. Lichtheim (Anc_ Eq Lit, 7, 170), Faulkner (Lit Anc Eq, 32), Gardiner (JEA 9, 7), Lexa (Arch. Or. 7, 372), and Suys (Etude, 193) all understand mryt in this way.- 119 - Vogelsang, Kommentar, 33, translates without commentary, "...einen Mann auf dem Damm stehen," a somewhat ambiguous rendering since "Damm" can mean either a natural feature (embankment) or a man-made construction, such as a pier, dam, or dyke. We can infer, however, that Vogelsang was thinking of a man-made element, since he uses “Ufer" to translate the 'hmt/ipmt of R 57/B 1, 6. See, too, Lefébvre, Romans et _contes, 48 where mryt is translated "1a digue." I would agree completely with Vogelsang and Lefébvre. Mryt should be translated as "a pier which extends into the water," in contradistinction to ‘hmt/ipmt, the natural riverbank. For further discussion of mryt, see Meeks, Hommages Sauneron, I, 248, n(54). Endesfelder, ZAS 106, 44, ("Uferdam") as/opposed to the ("Quer)damm"; JEA 12,133; 15,173 ("quay"); Goedicke, BA 128, 174, ("place of mooring," or "washing," with reference to P. Westcar 7,11; 8,2, the Sh.S. 169; 172; Pap. Anast. V, 16,5. 1) The rendering Nemty-nakht was first proposed by 0. Berlev, Vestnik Drevnei Istorii, I, (107) (1969), 3-30. Berlev shows that the old rendering Dhwty-nakht was based on a misreading of the hieratic, the \S/-sign having been interpreted- 120 - a Fy. ane nane nentp-nattt 1s of a type comon during the Middle Kingdom: Vogelsang, Komm., 34. Nemty-nakht means, literally, "Nemty is powerful," a rather ironic play on the logical incongruity between Nemty, the “short-of-leg," the "dwarf," and the physical might and strength denoted by nht. For a discussion of the origins of nmty, see Meeks, RAE 28, 91, n.32; n.34, The sarcasm inherent in the name would have served to belittle or ridicule Khun-Anup's adversary, a blatant obstructor of justice. The name Nemty-nakht thus seems to fit him much better than the nobler Dhwty-nakht, since Dhwty (Thoth) is the irw m3't, "the maker of truth and justice": E, Brovarski, Fs. Dunham, 38, n.I7 n. ccy Anthes, Hatnub, 82; 118. m) In R 39-40/Bt 20-21, Nemty-nakht is called the "son of Isry," literally “the tamarisk one.” Although using the names of plants for personal names was not uncommon in ancient Egypt, the use of Isry in this passage seems rather pointed: in B 1, 22 Nemty- nakht will pick up a handy tamarisk branch and use it to thrash Khun-Anup, Like father, like son! See Pisher, ZAS 105 (1978) 42-59 for sportive allusions to personal names. For examples of other plants usedas personal names, see Ranke PN II, 180: inst; II, 181: n53; II, 180: inb; RT 31 (1909) 13: tbhsw (CT Iv, 152,f); Meeks III, 79.0253 and Martin, Hetepka pl. 25(30): inb3; 79.0251 (ibid., pl. 21): inb; IZ, 78.0175 (Caire CG, OK III, 1, n. 57007): i%amt. Names of animals were also used as personal names in ancient Egypt: Ranke, ZAS 60, 76-83. In addition, Nemty-nakht is referred to as a "son of a man," a 5? ns, a “freeborn man." By using the same type of grammatical construction, Noun + pw (+ Noun), to introduce Khun-Anup and Nemty-nakht, the Peasant author draws attention to’ the contrast in their station. Khun-Anup is described simply as shty pw; his adversary is said to be, politically speaking, a free man, "the son of a man." For @iscussion of this term, see Goedicke, Neferyt, 133 f, n. 64; cf. Gardiner, Admonitions, 30 and Blackman, JEA 22 (1936) 104, As Goedicke, op. cit., points out, the designation s* n s does not imply noble birth or a superior social status but rather certain political privileges. Little specific information is known about this privileged status, however. It is unclear, from the way R 40 is worded, if Nemty-nakht or his father is the gt-vassal of Rensi.- 122 - It is specified in R 122, however, that the peasant's goods have been stolen by someone in Rensi's service (‘k3yw), so whether or not Nemty-nakht is one of Rensi's gts, he is responsible to Rensi- For a recent discussion of the term dt "subordinate" as one of a series of non-standardized terms used to denote personnel, see 0. Berlev, "Communal Relations in Egypt of the Middle Kingdom," Moscow, 1978, 35-62; “The Working Class Population in Egypt during the Middle Kingdom," 175-262 (both in Russian). Cf. WB V, 510, 10-13; CD 318; Helck, Merikari 10; P. Kahun 10, 8.22; 11.4 (singular); 10, 7.21; 11, 1; (Urk. IV, 368, 10 (plural). The reading “Rensi, son of Meru,” was discerned by Sethe, ZAS 49 (1911) 95; cf. Vogelsang, Komm., 36. Cf. Peas. B 1, 187 and B 2, 133 where Rensi is referred to simply as "son of Meru." The designation s? nly) PN shows that Rensi and Nemty-nakht have the same standing vis-a-vis the law and the Egyptian administration. The name may be a punning reference to rn, "name , reputation" and the High Steward's outstanding reputation for fairness and justice (B 1, 18). Likewise Rensi's father's name, Meru, is the male equivalent of Mrt, "beloved," the shty's wife's name, and was, therefore, most- 123 - likely a deliberate choice on the Peasant author's part, to link the peasant and his cause to his future judge. For the title imy-r? pr wr "High" or “Chief Steward," see CD 18; Gardiner AEO 7, 45°; Ward, Index of Egyptian Administrative and Religious Titles of the Middle Kingdom, Deirut, 1982, 22, $141 and references; Martin, G.I., Egyptian Administration and Private-name Seals Principally of the Middle Kingdom and Second Intermediate Period, Oxford, 1971, passim.; LA II, 153. The title refers to the head of an administrative district, a pr (WB I, 514, 7 - 515, 5) whose duties were in part judicial, as the Peasant shows. The title imy-r? pr wr was apparently synonymous with imy-r? pr '2: see Ward, op. cit., 22, $140 and JEA 35, pl.4.- 124 - R42 - 51 And then this Nemty-nakht said, when he saw (42) this peasant's donkeys, and those things which he coveted, (43) "If only I had some (potent - Bt 25) nm) , I could seize (44) this peasant's goods with itl" Now the house of this Nemty-nakht was above the landing (45) at the beginning of the road. It was narrow; it was not wide. (46) It aid not exceed the width of a loin-cloth ©). one side of it was (47) under water; the other side was under barley. And then this Nemty-nakht said to his servant, "Go, (48) bring me an ifa from my house." >) And it was brought to him at once. (49) Then he spread it out on the landing at the beginning of the road (50) so that its fringe was on the water and its hem (51) on the barley @. n) For 3 n, see Grapow, Anreden III, 77.- 125 - For '3byw, see Sethe, Komm., Pyr. II, 279 and Ptahhotep 342 (zaba, Ptahhotep, 147). According to Faulkner, CD 38, the term should be translated by “pleasing, desirable" when applied to objects; but by either "pleasant" (Pyr. 471; Urk IV, 844,15) or "selfish" (Ptahhotep 342) when applied to persons. This apparent contradiction can be resolved, at least insofar as the present passage (R 42/Bt 24) is concerned, if ‘byw is taken as a substantive, a nominally used participle of the verb, whose root meaning must be approximately "to covet, to desire selfishly." R 42/Bt 24 should be translated when he saw) this peasant's donkeys and those things coveted of his heart." This rendering makes sense for Ptahhotep 342, iw gd.tw k? pw '%b, as well: "one says (as to one who fails to satisfy those in his service - ‘kw.f) the ka is it, a covetous/ coveting one." Hence the contradiction between possible negative and positive meanings for the term is resolved. ‘The connotation is always implicitely negative although this may give a positive allure to the goods coveted. Note that the idiom “coveted of his heart" is expressed with the preposition hr (byw pr ib.f) in A 9 (=B 1) and Bt 24 but without any preposition, i.e. as a direct genitive, in R 42. The use of the word Ssp in R 43/Bt 25 presents- 126 - another problem in this difficult passage. Although sp is usually translated as "idol" or “talisman,” these renderings are not satisfactory. A 3sp (WB IV, 536, 1-11) is not a small good-luck charm which can be held in the hand; it is a large statue or like- ness, usually of a god: Meeks I, 77.4289, Zivie, Giza 128,1.7; 140 n. ££, 240; Fs Otto, 157, n.9, "sphinx"; S2p ntrj, KR I, II, 586,9; 590,15; "sphinx," ibid. 361,11; 727, 7.13. In a story such as the Peasant tale in which great care has been taken to convey details realistically, Nemty-nakht's exclaimed desire to magic up a large spinx-like object out of nowhere seems out of place. I would suggest that a confusion has occured here between the 3zp, "sphinx, statue" of WB IV 536,1-11 and the Szp “cloth” of WB IV, 284,8. Cf. Meeks I, 77.3871 and Arch Abousir II, 343-3447 362-363 b29; Meeks I, 77.4290 and Arch Abousir II, 363, for the confusion sp (WB IV, 284, 8-9)/Szp (not in WB), a confusion which would have been phonetic~ ally possible only in the Old Kingdom but which could have persisted in later orthographic variants, all to be pronounced 3zp. Hence the confusion in our passage, resulting in a sphinx rather than a cloth determinative in R 43 and Bt 25. Since this type of confusion is more likely to be the result of audial rather than visual errors, this passage may point to the Peasant author's use of an already known, perhaps- 127 - oft-recounted 01d Egyptian folk tale, in whose Middle Egyptian (oral) version the Szp/gsp confusion was already well entrenched. The intended meaning of Szp/3sp "cloth" clearly makes much more sense in light of Nemty-nakht's efforts to block the peasant's path with an ifd-cloth in B 1, 32 £./R 48 £. For the Ssp/%zp interchange, see also Meeks II, 78.3826, Andreu-Cauville RdE 30,18; Vernus Athribis, 103, n.(a). The use of an ordinary object endowed with magic properties is, of course, a motif known from folk literature around the world. See V. Propp, Morphologie du conte, motif F, 55-63; S. Thompson, Index, D 800-899, "magic objects." ©) Note the ist rf construction used here and in B 1, 70-71 and B 1, 184 to introduce sentences giving crucial additional information, i.e., the exact location of Nemty-nakht's house in relation to the road and the water in the present passage, the "date" or temporal setting for the Peasant story in B 1, 71-72, and an indication as the location in B 1, 184. Note that in R 44/Bt 27 ist rf precedes a non-verbal sentence with an adverbial predicate, whereas in the two other passages cited above, the expression introduces a verbal (sdm.in.£) sentence.- 128 - The character of the sm?-t? n(y) r2-w3t has not been correctly understood, in the eyes of this translator, in previous treatments of the Peasant Gardiner, JEA 9, 7 and Faulkner, Lit Anc Eg 32, “riverside path" (likewise Lefébvre Romans et contes 48, "la chaussée riveraine" and von Bissung, Lebens~ weisheit 155, "Uferweg"); Vogelsang, Komm. 39, -Rande (?) eines BSschungs (?) Weges," and Licht~ heim, Anc Eg Lit, I, 170, "the beginning of a path." Lichtheim, op. cit., n.5, recognized the inaccuracy of the Gardiner-Faulkner tradition of “riverside path," but did not render sm?-t3, hence failing to come to grips with the entire passage. Vogelsang, op. cit., 39-40, rejected an interpretation of r3-w?t as "beginning of the road" on the grounds that Bt 28 alone preserved r3-ny-w>t and that the r>-wt of R 44 and All could not be rendered “beginning of the road," but simply "road" (citing Sinuhe R 35) or, in later times "surroundings, proximity (Nahe)." Suys, Etude, 193, proposed “Or la maison de Thoutnakht (sic) se trouvait prés d'un embarcad@re de la digue." Suys' rendering is far from precise but deserves a mention in that it suggests the notion of a landing or pier for the passage. I would translate the first half of the phrase, sm-t? as “a joining to land," "a landing= 129 - place," from WB III, 448, 11 sm3-t?, "to land." As argued above in note 1), the information given in the frame-story introduction collectively points to a journey at least partly undertaken on water: the verb bntyt of R 36 and R82 to describe the peasant's trip: the use of mryt "landing" in R 39 to describe Nemty-nakht's position when the peasant first encounters him; the occurence of ‘hmt/ipmt in B 1, 7 and R 56, as well as that of sm’-t? in the present passage, R44 f. See also CD 226; Urk I, 122, 8 199, 3. The second half of the expression, r°-w°t, means contra Vogelsang, Kor 39 £, the "beginning (or literally 'mouth') of the road." See WB II, 398, 2, x2=b3t, the "mouth" of the river. The mouth of a river is, of course, the end, not the beginning or source of the river, but the "mouth" refers to the widening shape of this part of the river as it fans out to meet the sea. The "beginning" and "end" of a path or road are relative terms dependent upon the traveller's direction, In R44 the "mouth" of the road (wt) is where the road and landing merge; that would be the "beginning" of the path for someone approaching the wt on water but the "end" of the road for someone approaching the water by land.- 130 - “the landing place" is described as very narrow, so narrow, in fact, that a diw, a loincloth (WB V, 417, 3-7), is wider. A d?iw could also be read as "a 5-cloth" with reference either to a weaving technique or to the width in number of cubits. See Arch Abousir II, 342, n.9; 361; RGE 29, 86 £; Meeks I, 77.5315 for the latter interpretation, whereby the signs oe AL , etc., refer to pieces of cloth 10, 20, 30, etc. square cubits in surface area based on widths of 1, 2 and 3 cubits respectively. See also CD 213 and TR 20, 91 for sis, “a six-weave linen.” Although the wt is said to be no wider than a “five-cloth" in R 46, Nemty-nakht ultimately more than covers it with an ifd or "four-cloth" (R 49-51). It is quite possible that this playing with numbers was amusingly ironic to the ancient Egyptians. In any case, punning with numbers is an attested Egyp- tian literary device, e.g. the "finger-counting riddle" of CT v, 73, f-g, (see Sethe, ZAS 54,167 Gunn “pinger-numbering in the Pyramid Texts," ZAS 57,71; PECT II, 23, n.2), CT V, 115-116 (puns on numbers "be the ‘two' (the equal) of these three." Cf. Dawson and Peet, JEA 19, 167 ff; Gardiner, Admon., 8, line 12, 12-14: "If three men walk along the road-131- they are found to be two; the greater number slays the less." A word of warning should be issued, however, on this interpretation of the d°iw/ifd contrast. It is extremely difficult to establish the actual dimensions of the ifd and div garments. According to Janssen, Commodity Prices 273 and note 119, it is probable that the div is to be equated with a type of workmen's skirts which are almost uniformly 160 x 50-60 centimeters in size. The ifd is virtual- ly impossible to pin down. The word itself, based on the root for "4" gives no clue as to width or length. In the Peasant we know that the ifd in R 49-51 was a garment belonging to Nemty-nakht, since it is refer— red to as such (hbs) in R53, From R 51-52 (see below) we know that this garment had both a fringe and (probably) a hem. Janssen, op. cit. 292 makes the somewhat risky assumption that a new kingdom ifd may have been double the size of a mss-tunic, since it brings double the price. Yet even if we accept Janssen's assumption (based on other price/size ratios from Deir el Medina), how can we calculate the size of an ifd as 2 x a mss when no two mss-garments are exactly the same size? A tunic (mss) from Leiden measures 140 x 130 centimeters; two others from the Metropolitan Museum of New York measure 75 x 90 cm- 132 - and 90 x 120 om (Janssen op. cit. 254; Hayes Sceptre, II, 187). Pinally, if the ifd were, in fact, a shawl as is often supposed, there would be an even greater potential size range. Janssen, op. cit. 273 quotes an example of one shawl measuring 430 x 60 cm; another measuring only 150 x 55 cm. p) For the problems involved in the interpre- tation of ifd, see note 0) above. See also Janssen, JEA 49, 69; Commodity Prices 291; 586; Barta Opfer~ liste, 130, 132; Peet, Tomb Robberies, 100, n.9; Jéquier BIFAO 19, 39; Frises d'objets (MIFAO 47, 36); Meeks II, 78.0285; Westcar 10,12; 10, 19-20; dl, 12. Smsw, “servant, retainer" is a general term used to denote a subordinate: WB IV, 485, 6-486, 15 ; the 3msw is inferior in station to his master, but the term is relative: a 3msw nswt would be someone of high social standing. See El-Sayed BIFAO 79, 182, n.(av); Koenig, Hommages Sauneron I, 205, n.(s)i Martin, MDIAK 35, 217, n.4 ; Meeks III, 79.3010. In R47 the term designates a simple domestic servant: Berlev, ObchOtn 49, 138, 206 f. Cf. CD 267; Sh.S. 1; Sinuhe R 2; Ward, Index of Egyptian Administrative- 133 - and Religious Titles of the Middle Kingdom, 175; JEA 39, 38. @) While the rendering "fringe" for sdb can be ascertained by the use of the same root in a modern Egyptian Arabic dialect from the Fayyum region for the fringe of a shawl or piece of cloth, the word npapt is otherwise unattested. It is a plausible hypothesis that, as the end opposite the fringed edge, it was the selvedge edge or the hemmed edge. For sdb, see Blackman, JEA 22, p.40. The existence of sdb in modern times as a dialect term from the Payyum gives corroborative linguistic evidence to the theory, outlined above (note c)), that the Sht-bm3t was a name for a "salt-marsh" somewhere in the Fayyum area. R52 - 60 / Bl Now this peasant came along the public (R 52) road. (B 1, 1 And then this Nemty-nakht said, "Be careful, peasant! (2) Will you tread on my clothes?" *) and then (3) this peasant said, "As you- 134 - wish! May my course be true!" 5) (4) So he went upwards. And then this Nemty-nakht said, (5) ‘Will my barley be your path?" And then this peasant said, (6) "May my course be true! The bank is steep. The (only) course in under barley, since you are blocking (8) our road with your clothes. Will you then not let us pass by on the road?" ((R 59-60) Then he stopped speaking this plea.) *) x) The public road: literally, wt nt rmt nbt, "the road of all the people." Note here and through- out the frame-story introduction that a distinction is made between wt and mtn, which in other circum- stances, as pointed out by Vogelsang, Komm. 47, ca be synonymous. Mtn is used for a route or way which is not necessarily a recognized path, such as when the peasant makes his way across Nemty-nakht's field of barley. The wt is the official, established road. Mtn may also have the broader meaning of "course" (of action) in the passage. This section is introduced by iw.in rf shty pn in the B 1 and Bt texts and by Smt pw ir.n shty pn in the R manuscript. The interjection ir(w) hrw of R 52/B 1, 1- 135 - means literally “make/to quiet, peace!" and is universally taken as an idiom for "watch your step." See Vogelsang, Komm., 467 CD 159. Note the use of "clothes," bbsw.i in Bl, 2. ‘The term confirms the meaning of ifd as a garment in the R 48-51 passage. See P. Westear 10, 12; 10, 19-20; 11, 12 where a new-born child is put br ifd m @b?t, "on an ifd-cloth in the shape of/as a cushion (a gb3t (brick)-shaped roll of cloth? cf. Borghouts OMRO 51, 56-57). The use of the plural of bbs to designate one or more items of "clothing" or "cloth" is common; see Sinuhe B 88; Westear 5, 12 ("clothing"); Peas. B 1, 155; Ebers 19, 22; P. Ram III A 20 ("cloth"). For in hnd.k hr hbsw.i (R53/Bt 39) Bl, 2 has n (@**) bnd.k br bbsw.i. The use of n (~-*— ors ) in (des) before iw is well attested: Silverman Interrogative Constructions, 52, n.293; Satzinger, Die negativen Konstruktionen, 34 but see James, Hekanakhte, 102. The occurence of n for in in B 1, 2, however, points not to an abbreviated formula for in iw but to a more general phonetic similarity leading to the confusion. See Gardiner, Gram. $104; cf. Peas. B 2, 87/B 1, 322-323, where the B 2 text has n (>A) for Bits 444; silverman, op. cit= 136 - 66, ex.(; 20, n.1l4. s) Iry(.i) r bst-k is a formulaic, conversa- tional expression, known from the Old Kingdom, which frequently accompanies scenes from everyday life. Gardiner, JEA 4 (1917) 33, qualifies it as “the conventional formula of assent." It can be used with one's peers (Tomb of Ti, Maspero, Etudes éqyptiennes, II, 98) or, as in B1, 3, to a superior: Gardiner op. cit., cites a scene taken from the Tomb of Akhtoy, probably of Middle Kingdom date, in which a workman, instructed by his foreman to "cause milk to be produced," replies iry.i r bst.k. It can be used, as it is in B 1, 3, to address a high-ranking super- ior: Urk. I, 133, a "lord," nb; Urk. I, 100, "His Majesty," hm.f. For other examples see Grapow, Wie die Alten Agypter sich anredeten, 53-56; Erman, Reden und Rufe, 7; Guglielmi, Reden, Rufe und Lieder auf alt&gyptischer Darstellungen, 77; 109; 169; 238; Montet, Sc8nes de la vie privée, 172; Kémi 6 (1936), 141. In B 1, 3, the peasant exclaims, "nfr mgn.i,” which I take as a hortative sgm.f. As is frequently the case in folk tales, this exclamation is repeated three times in the story (see Introduction, p. 40, footnote 121).- 137 - The in iw nek it E wt, (shty) of R 56/B 1, 5, again shows the difference between a wt and a min. Nemty-nakht sarcastically asks the peasant if he intends using his grain as a wt, i.e. tramping over it as though it were the (public) road or a marked path. Silverman argues that the in-iw formula stresses the importance of the adverbial element (x w%t) in the iw statement transformed into a question, a hypothesis borne out by the present example. When the peasant repeats nfr mtn.i in B 1, 5-6/R 57 he adds an explanatory phrase, pointing out that the 'hmt (bank) is steep, that the mtn - not "my" mtn but the only min - is br it, “under,” i.e. “through” barley since the official road, wt, is blocked by Nemty-nakht's clothes. For imt/'hmt, “riverbank,” see Pyr. 279; CD 29; Meeks I, 77.0434, WB I, 125, 17 (ihmt) and I, 225 (‘hmt). See Silverman, Interrogative Constructions 67, n.380; 96, ex.13 for Bl, 8-9/R59. Silverman concludes, partly on the basis on this sentence, that the presence of the rf particle does not automatic- ally imply a rhetorical question, Note the text variations between R and Bl. R 59: Bl, 8: sw2.n. 59-60 preserves an end to this section- 138 - ("Then he stopped delivering this plea") which is lacking in B 1, 8-9. Bi, 9-19 And then one among these donkeys filled (10) his mouth from a clump of barley“). and then this Nemty-nakht said (11), “Look, I am going to seize your donkey, peasant, for (12) eating my barley. Look, it shall tread out grain for its offense." (13) And then this peasant said, "May my course be true! Only one (clump of barley) (14) was destroyed. Could I buy back my donkey for its (the clump's) value if you seize it (15) for filling its mouth from ) But 1 (16) know the lord of a clump of barley? “| this domain. It belongs to (17) the High Steward Rensi, son of Meru. He, indeed, is one who punishes every robber in this (18) whole land, Shall I be robbed in his district?" “)- 139 - Notes: u) N2 nly), as a variant of nn nly), “these,” is also known from Pap. Kahun 12, 13; Gardiner, Gram. § 111, p.86. C£. Peasant R 3-4, h3.n.i. n? n(y) it nty m p> m'hr..., where n? n(y) also precedes a singular noun. For nn nly) used with the singular, see Gardiner, ibid., note 6. As noted by Gardiner, nn n(y) plus the singular noun usually occurs when preceded by » “one of." Such is the case in the present passage but not in Peas. 4 3-4. For n3 nas a later form of nn n, see Kroeber, Die NeuSgypt- izismen vor der Amarnazeit, TObingen, 1970, 14-30. See also my note on Peas. B 1, 75, where the express- ion w! m n? nly) + substantive "one from among these...," is also used. It would seem preferable here to translate b3t as "clump", rather than as the usual "wisp," cf. Faulkner, CD, 77. The word is used in Sinuhe B 5; 18 and in Bersheh II, 16 as "clump" (b3t nt n¥3, "a clump or thicket of bamboo," in one case; in the same scene, a clump of papyrus is designated simply “p3t.") or "bush." For b’t as "bush," see WB I, 416, 5-10 and Meeks I, 77.1162; II, 78.1207 (Ward, Four B? Roots, 134). The peasant's donkey probably nibbled- 140 - a few stalks of barley, hence justifying the use of b3t, a small bunch. The m in mb.n ... rn.f m b2t nt it is partitive, as it is in the phrase w' mn? n(y) 13, used to express the subject of the same sentence; cf. B 1, 75/R 120. v) In B1, 11-12 we have two mk + dependent pronoun + (x + infinitive) sentences in rapid succession. For the conversational use of mk, see R2 and R5 above. See also Lichtheim, JNES 30 (1971), 69-72, for the iterative use of mk, particul- arly in poetry; see Faulkner, JEA 41 (1955), 23, note 4, for the repeated use of mk, in the Installation of the Vizier Rekhmire, where he sees its function as being "to stress the contrast between what one might imagine the vizierate to be and what it really is." Faulkner favors a rendering of "indeed," "certainly." When used in direct address, as in B1, 11-12, the best translation is some form of attention-getter, such as "Look" or “See here, ... peasant," but the notion of emphasis or stress is certainly present. Note that the donkey, an animal domesticated in Egypt in the late Predynastic period would be equally useful to our shty, a trader, and to Nemty-- 14 - nakht, a grower of grain. Hence the latter's threat to confiscate the offending donkey for use on his farm, Nemty-nakht says the donkey will have to plough (hb) to compensate for the barley he has destroyed. As is often true in the Peasant story, this detail fits perfectly with what we know of daily life in ancient Egypt. For the contemporary use of donkeys in ploughing, see Vandier, Manuel VI, fig.91; XXXII. Motalla, 87-90; 112-113; pl. VIZI-1: I owe the interpretation of B 1, 13-14 to Wente, JNES 24 (1965) 105)109; cf. Lichtheim, Anc Eq Lit I, 171, n.6. For 3n', "price," see Wente op. cit.; James, Hekanakhte 103; Helck, Wirtschafts- geschichte des Alten Agypten, leiden, 1975). w) For the High Steward Rensi, son of Meru, see above, R 40-41/Bt 19-20. The present passage is crucial to the development of the Peasant story as it is here that the High Steward's unblemished repu- tation for justice is first put forward. This reknown gives the peasant reason to believe that his pleas will ultimately be heard and judged fairly. The concept of meting out punishment, psf, to criminal offenders recurs throughout the peasant's petitions;~ 142 - e.g-, B1, 477 102; 106; 193; 218; 296. It is seen for the first time here. The expression t?-r-gr.f was a political slogan of the early Middle Kingdom which reflected a recently reunified Egypt. The expression, which occurs three times in the Peasant (B 1, 17-18; B 1, 263; B 1, 267), occurs frequently in non-religious texts of the early Twelfth Dynasty. See Goedicke, JSSEA XII-4, 157-164. Its occurrence in the Peasant corroborates a Middle Kingdom date for the work. In R68 the participle irw, "the doer" - by conventional usage "the evil doer," CD 27; Pei 193 - can be read at the beginning of the line, giving (R 67-68) + ntf grt psf ‘w? nb irw mt? pn 5 @x.f, “He, indeed, is the one who punishes every robber who does evil in this whole land." Irw does not occur in the B 1 parallel. There is, obviously, no difference in meaning between the two passages, since a "robber" 'w>, WB I 171, 3-12, is by definition an evil doer. The final sentence of this section has been discussed by Silverman, Interrogative Constructions, 96, ex.12 24, ex.25, as a possible example of the Egyptian rhetorical question. Silverman is interest- ed in the positioning of rf within the sentence.~ 143 - According to Gardiner, the occurrence of rf anywhere other than immediately after the interrogative particle in automatically meant that a negative response was implicit in the formulation of the rhetorical question (Gardiner, Gram, § 491,3; HPBM? I, 29; Silverman, op.cit. 89, n.514). Silverman cites the present passage, B 1, 15-18, as an example of an exception to Gardiner's "rule," suggesting that the force of the question - marker in in B 1, 18 (in 2.tw.i rf m gitt.£?) “is directed toward the adverbial adjunct, not the verb. Silverman rightly points out that the rhetorical question is used in Bl, 18 to “express the peasant's astonishment that he is being robbed at just this place." He is not querying whether or not his goods will be confiscated (Silverman, op.cit. 96). Hence Gardiner's rule concerning the placement of rf in rhetorical questions would seem not to cover cases in which the negation is not aimed at the sentence's verbal component. Apparently rf will immediately precede the clause to be negated, in the present case an adverbially used prepositional phrase, m g?tt.f, or m sp*t.f, see below. I am inclined to read sp*t, "district," here since the reference is to Rensi's sphere of influence, not his private land holdings. I would144 - read g3tt for the same word in B 1, 24, where Nemty- nakht's estate is meant. See Vogelsang, Komm., 51; gD 319. Bl, 19 - 24 And then this Nemty-nakht said, (10) “Is this the complaint that people make -(20) 'The name of a poor man (hwrw) is pronounced only on account of his lord?’ 1 (21) am the one speaking to you; yet the High Steward is it whom you have invoked." *) (22) Then he took a branch of fresh tamarisk for (23) himself, and thrashed all his limbs with it. His (the peasant's) donkeys, (24) which had been brought into his district, were taken ), Notes: x) For the use of ddw rmt to introduce a proverbial or popular saying, see Gunn, JEA 12,- 145 - 282, n.4. The meaning of the proverb quoted, and its significance for the Pt nt story, however, remains obscure. It would seem that Nemty-nakht is trying to put an end to the peasant's protests by telling him that he is not following the proper (legal) proced- ures, Presumably Nemty-nakht thinks of himself when he brings up the authority that Rensi has over the ‘sp*t, Perhaps the proverb should be read dm.tw rn bwrw br nb.f (taking n as a datival n), "a name is pronounced for the poor man because of (by the good graces of/ “on account of" - based on the lord's good name/reputation?) hislord." This might mean, in a legal sense (?), that a name/reputation is conferred upon ("pronounced for") a bwrw out of respect (or lack thereof) for his master, his superior. Nemty- nakht tells the peasant that it is no use talking about the good name of Rensi when, by implication, he, Nemty-nakht, is the peasant's lord. In support of this interpretation, we can cite Rensi's condem- nation of Nemty-nakht's actions. The sr.w assume that the peasant is Nemty-nakht's shty: shty.f, B 1, 44. Nemty-nakht could thus be seen to cite the proverb "the poor man's reputation is mentioned (only) because of his master" (or, his reputation is conferred on the basis of his master's reputation) as a threat to the peasant, a warning that the peasant's future or livelihood is contingent on Nemty-nakht's= 146 - good will and that flattering or threatening xemarks about Nemty-nakht's superiors would get him nowhere. For Bn n mét as “complaint” rather than "proverb," see B 1, 37/R 86 (ts m mét) and Silverman, Interrogative Constructions, 63 £. The bwrw of B 1, 19-20 is someone at the bottom of the economic and social ladder. The term is broadly applied to the poor, the disadvantaged, and the lowly: see Peas. B1, 169; B1, 106; 232; Prisse 4, 1; Urk IV, 122, 15; IV, 863, 8; cf. Peas. B 1, 106; 168: bwehwrw, "evil," with the connotation of "criminal." For a discussion of the criminal implications of bwrw, see Goedicke JEA 51, 43; JARCE 9, 69-72; Spiegel, Social und weltanschauliche Reformbewegungen im alten 4gypten, 16; Parant, Sinowhé, 78-79; Mo'alla I, , 3; II, , 2+ Admon. 6, 11; 6, 12; 7, 2; Siut IT, 38. On Nemty-nakht “the son of Isry Tamarisk," see R210 and note m) above. Why does the peasant's adversary choose to go after him specifically with a branch of tamarisk? First of all, since neolithic times the plant has always grown plentifully along the banks of the Nile. Hence a tamarisk branch would- 147 - have been readily at hand for Nemty-nakht, who was standing near the water's edge (R39) when he encountered the peasant. A. Lucas, Ancient Egyptian Materials and Industries, 447. ‘Thus once again the Peasant story proves to be true-to-life in its smallest details. Secondly, the tamarisk is a plant indigenous to Egypt and, therefore, to some extent coterminous with Egypt. The plant's iconographic value lies in its connections with Egypt's agricultural areas, i.e. the land on either side of the Nile, the seat of the Egyptian administration. It is the commonest of Egyptian flora, Its misuse or abuse in the Peasant could be seen to symbolize a corruption of Egypt and her principles, a failure to practice m There may be an additional symbolic aspect to the passage. In the Pyramid Texts, Utterance 669, 1962, the deceased is told "Yours is rebirth in the nest /of/ Thoth within the Field of Tamarisk in the protection of the gods." The association of Thoth, the god of wisdom, laws, and sacred writings, with the Field of Tamarisk links the plant to the notion of justice. The link between Thoth and justice/maat is strong in the Peasant: e.g., B 1, 148-150; 305; and especially B 1, 268-269, where Thoth is described- 148 - as the judge (wa!) who is not partial. If the association of Thoth with the tamarisk was well known to the Peasant author and his audience, the use of the tamarisk in a complete miscarriage of justice would have been a wry twist in the Peasant tale. It is not far-fetched to think that this tradition, linking the tamarisk to maat, was still part of a general Egyptian culture in the Middle Kingdom, since it reappears in CT VI, 309, where the Pyramid Text passage quoted above is almost wholly reproduced, and where the deceased is called "a god who judges the Contestants and separates the two parties; his mother Nut bore him in the Field of Tamarisk which protected the god in the nest" (FECT II, 247). The verb '2q is written defectively in B 1, 23 as '3 . The correct spelling '*g in R73 is con- firmed in Peas. B 1, 186-187, For the meaning and derivation of the verb, see WB II, 168, 7 and Black- man, JEA 22 (1936) 43 (25). Blackman sees the etymology of the verb '%q in the noun '2gt "hoof." ‘The verb '9q originally meant literally "to kick" and became, more generally, "to thrash” (in the sense of ‘to punish’). Blackman cites a similar development from the noun s*b, "toe," which engendered a verb 8°b, "to toe it" (in the womb) i.e., "to jump about," which eventually became "to kick," Pyr. § 959c.- 149 - Likewise gb', "finger," was the root on which the verb gb', "to point the finger," was formed. The term occurs at Siut; see Griffith Inscriptions from Siut and der Rifeh, Tomb III, Plate XI, 9. For the noun '#gt see Meeks I, 77.0581; III, 79.0430; Vernus, BIFAO 77, 82, n.3. For the reading g#tt in B 1, 24 see my note “? on B 1, 16 above. Bl, 25 - 30 And then this peasant was (25) crying greatly (was sobbing) for the pain of what had been done to him, (26) And then this Nemty-nakht said, “Do not raise your voice, peasant! (27) Look, you are going to the city of the Lord of Silence (Osiris)!" *) And then this peasant said, (28) "You beat me, you steal my possessions, and now (29) you take away the complaint from my mouth. 0, Lord of Silence, give me my (30) goods, so that I can cease the screaming which you fear." °#)- 150 - Notes: z) For the identification of Osiris as the "Lord of Silence," see Vogelsang, Komm., 55-56. For Aichrw, “loud-voiced," see Siut I, pl.4, 229; CD 275) Urk. Iv, 1031, 9; Gardiner, Gram. § 347, 5; Assmann, Mutirdis, 79, n.65; Vernus, Athribi + 203, The tradition of Osiris' fear of and hatred for shouting is reflected in CT I, 144-145 (Spell 36) and I, 151 (spell 37): Do not shout, for the detestation of Osiris is a shouter... (FECT I, 28). Inasmuch as the expression k?-hrw is associated in CT Spells 36 and 37 with the successful entry of the’ deceased into the mansions of Osiris, and, therefore, with the final judgment, it may have technical legal implications, but these are unclear. aa) The verb bwi (B 1, 28/R 77), "to beat, strike, smite" confirms the definition of '3q (B 1, 23) given above, note y). WB III, 46, 1-48, 15; Helck, Merikare, 58, 87; CD 165. For Osiris' fear and loathing of screaming, see note 2) above. Here sbb, WB IV, 90, 11-18, is given as a synonym for k? hrw, see note z) above. See Goedicke, Neferyt, 101 (ak) for the noun sbh "outcry."- 151 - (31) And then this peasant spent a period of ten days petitioning to (32) Nemty-nakht, who did not pay attention to it. This (33) peasant went (R 82: sailing south) to Heracleopolis in order to petition the High steward >>) (34) Rensi, son of Meru. He found him (Rensi) there coming out of the door of his house, in order to go down to his }%k?w-boat to the court °° (36). And then this peasant said, "Would that one might allow me to inform (37) you concerning this complaint! A case is it (38) that one might allow your favorite servant to come to me, and I could inform you (Rensi) (39) about it (my case) through him (literally 'I could send him to you about ity. a) And then the High Steward Rensi, son of Meru, (40) allowed his favorite servant to go right away. This peasant informed (41) him concerning his case in its (42) entirety.= 152 - Notes: bb) The Egyptian "week" was a ten-day unit. This usually included nine consecutive working days, followed by a day of rest. Miosi, ZAS 101 (1974) 150-152; G. S6e, Grandes villes de 1'Egypte antique, 48; LA I, 1035 £; Janssen, SAK 8 (1980), 132. It is important to point out here that by now the peasant has been away from home for at least ten days, probably eleven, if we assume that his arrival in Per-fifi and his encounter with Nemty-nakht took up a full day and that the ensuing ten-day period of formal petitioning to Nemty-nakht began the following day. From the indications given in R 5-6, we know that the peasant had taken provisions for only six days and that he had left his wife and children with only twenty hegats of barley. This would constitute enough food for six or seven days if we consider that the provisions Rensi later sends to the peasant's family (B 1, 87) are congruent with their real needs. Such an assumption is not unrealistic in light of the quantity of bread and beer the same donor gives to the peasant whilst he is being detained; see my note to B 1, 84-85, below.- 153 - If the peasant expected to be away approximately twelve or thirteen days, which seems implicit in his taking six days rations for the journey down to Egypt, he presumably thought his wife and children would be able to live on only 20 hegats of grain for twelve days. This would have been under seven day's worth based on the amount Rensi had sent to the family, or ten day's worth at two-thirds rations. On the same basis, the peasant would have had only half that much per day for his first six days away, but we do not know how much of a hardship this would have been, since we have no indication of how many children were sharing Mrt's rations. Note the expression rdi m?' x, literally "to put the temple to" a place to eavesdrop; CD 155; P. Westcar 12,4; P. Salt IV, Rs. 6, 5; WB II, 24, 9-16 (m3!); IZ, 24, 11-13 (di m3‘). The phrase is an idiom meaning “to pay attention," but was most probably used here to underline, by means of asson- ance, the idea of giving justice/maat, a (near) homonym. For a similar homophonic word play with m3! "good wind," WB II, 23, 15-24, 5, see Petition I, Bl, 54-55, where the intended reference to m't is more explicit. R 82 reads Smt p/w ir./n shty pn m pntyt ©- 154 - Nn-nsw(t). The B 1 text omits m bntyt; cf. R 36-37/ Bt 16-17 where both text traditions preserve 3mt pw ir.n shty pn m pntyt r Nn-nswit). See my note j) on R 36-37/Bt 16-17 above for the likelihood of a river voyage for the peasant. For the technical, legal use of spr, "to petition (a judge), to present one's case," sprt, "an official request presented before a judge," and sprw, "the petitioner," see Parant, Sinouh&, 202; 357, n.6197 Be Bol, 188 (spr); B2, 128 (sprt); Louvre, Stela C, 26, 1.16 and Urk. Iv, 971, 12 (sprw), Meeks I, 77.3532, WB IV, 103,13 - 104,3, and cD’ 223, (spr). cc) The phrase k*k*w n ‘rryt from B 1, 34, is usually translated by "courthouse barge" (Lichthein, Anc Eg Lit, 171) or “state barge," (Faulkner Lit Anc Eg, 34). Gardiner, JEA 9, 8, n.10 renders it “his barge belonging to the judgment hall." Little is known about the ?k?w-barge described by WB V, 14, 5 as a river-going craft. The same boat type occurs in KRI, II 286,4 (cf. Meeks III, 79. 3103) as a transportation craft; in Louvre C- 155 - 123 pt, ?k3w and kbnt (a seagoing vessel - cf. CD 285) are mentioned together. No one, to my know- ledge, has suggested why the boat/barge is called a i2k2w. The etymology might come from a type of wood, i2k2w (not in WB but see Meeks I, 77.4361) from which it is made, although I know of no other ancient Egyp- tian craft named for the materials used to build it. The word !rryt (WB I, 211,8-14; variants Irtyt, f'zyt) is well attested and known to have several distinct meanings, i.e., 1) a lintel piece or half a door lintel, 2) a (full) lintel, 3) a doorway, (and therefore symbolically a household), and 4) @ court of justice (Carter and Gardiner JEA 4, 147.) Gardiner, ZAS 60, 65 (cf. M. Miller, ZAS 26,90) proposed a definition of "the ‘gate’ just outside the palace, where a public court was held," arguing that for all occurrences of the word a "close connection of gate, place of judgment, and palace is apparent." From Hayes, JEA 32, 6-7, and P. Posener-Kri@ger Arch Abousir, Bd Et 65, 28 ff., we learn that the 'rryt/ ‘Ierwt was the temple vestibule where royal decrees were attached to the back of the door and to the walls; cf. Gardiner ZAS 60,65 and Urk IV, 965; 968,7. Posener-Kriager, op.cit. 38 ff. Its association with the pharaoh and hence the administration no doubt led to the use of the term to mean "department" of an- 156 - institution, an administrative department or office: Meeks II, 78.0758, (cf. O. Berlev ObchOtn, 178, 258, for a discussion of the administrative titles Xmsj (n) frrjt, sdwtj nm trryt, and sd°wtj Emsj trryt connected to this use of the term). It is this official administrative use of the term that Lefébvre, Romans et contes, 50, n.2, correctly saw in Pe nt Bl, 35, The °k*w n 'rryt of this passage refers to a boat made available by and/or for the administration. Inasmuch as Rensi the High Steward and magistrate is leaving his house to board this craft when the peasant encounters him, it is possible that some sort of peripatetic legal services were available in ancient Egypt, hearings being held by circuit judges like Rensi who travelled from one village to another within their judicial districts by (official) boat. Cf. suys, Etude, 18-19, who, like Gardiner, ZAS 60, reaches similar conclusions con- cerning the term ‘'rryt based on a study of the Eighteenth Dynasty Rekhmire inscriptions, Urk. IV, 1071-1175. da) For the use of swg?-ib, an epistolary greeting, to mean "to inform, to communicate," see Bakir, Epistolography, Bib. d'Et. 48, 95 f£.; Helck, Aktenkunde; Vernus, R4E 30, 192; Meeks II, 78.3414;- 157 - III, 79.2488; KRI, II, 91, 233, 894, 137911, 13; 912, 1; Vogelsang, Komm., 164; P. Kahun 27, 8 - 29, 2. In both B 1, 37 and R 86 we see an early use of the Late Egyptian demonstrative p?. See Kroeber, Neudgyptizismen, 19-44. As has been pointed out by Silverman, Interro- gative Constructions, 64, n.366, hn n mét occurs in both B 1, 19 and B 1, 37. It ds an expression known only to B1. The R version of B 1,19, R 69, omits this indirect genitive construction and preserves nothing which takes its place. In the R parallel to B 1, 37, R86, the expression pn n mdt is replaced by $8 a mét. Unless we take the ts (2 Sh) of R 86 as a phonetic mistake for s(t) (45%) "complaint," the rendering of Bi, 37 is still uncertain. Both the $s of R 86 and the pn of B 1, 37 literally mean "speech" or "utterance." Thus both ts n mat and hn n mdt mean literally "the utterance of that which is/was said." It is obvious from the context of Bi, 37 / R 86 that something like "complaint" or "accusation" is what is meant by hn n mét / {sn mét. Gardiner's "narration" (JEA 9, 8-9), Faulkner's “affair” (Lit _Anc Eg 34) and Vogelsang's "angelegenheit" (Komm. 59) seem too weak. The context (see below) is an explanation of how cases come to be heard (or not) by a high-ranking judge~ 158 - such as Rensi, Hence a more technical term than “affair, concern" is needed. I would opt, with Silverman, op.cit. and Lichtheim for "complaint" in the sense of an official protest. The formal accusa~ tion (srht) is made by Rensi to his jurors in B 1,42. Sp is used in B1, 37-38 in its technical legal sense, a "case." Cf. B 1, 46-47 sp pw n bsf.tw ‘An Nmty-nbt pn "Is it a case of one punishing this Nemty-nakht?" i.e., are the merits of the (peasant's) case such that Nemty-nakht should be punished? Cf. ep 221. For Smsw, a subordinate, see note p) above. A Smsw.k n(y) brt-ib.k is a "sexvant/subordinate of your favor." For the expression prt-ib, "favor," rather than "wish, desire," see British Museum 614,5; Urk. IV, 944, 2; 954, 2. ‘The indirect genitive linking Smsw and prt-ib shows that what the peasant means is a servant of your favor, i.e., enjoying your favor, which I have rendered as “your favorite servant." The peasant is not asking Rensi to send any servant he might choose or desire, which he would do in any event, but rather a 3msw he particularly favo's or likes. In this way the peasant will be sure of getting his case put before Rensi in the best possible light.- 159 - For h%b... (br), "to inform (someone) in writing (concerning) ," see Caminos, Tale pl. 12, 4; WB II, 479, 13 - 480, 18; 0, Tor 57009 vs. 1; Meeks II, 78.2472 and references. We observe in B 1, 40 £. that official complaints brought before Rensi, and presumably all magistrates, were first screened by an administrative subordinate or clerk, who would probably decide which cases deserved a fuller hearing before the magistrate. The use of h%b inB1, 39/R 87 suggests that such a clerk would take a deposition in writing to be handed to the judge himself. B 1, 39 preserves, h3b.i n.k sw br.s, "...so that I could send him (the ¥msw) to you concerning it" which does not necessarily imply writing down the peasant's deposition. R 87 reads simply h*b.i br.s, "...S0 that I could write (or inform) about it," which leaves open the question of whether the peasant's testimony was transcribed.- 160 - B1 43 - 49 And then the High Steward Rensi, son of Meru, accused this (43) Nemty-nakht to the jurors °©), and then they (44) said to him, probably this peasant has gone to another beside him, (45) "See, that is what they do against peasants who go to (46) others beside themselves. See, that is what they do **), 1s this a case of (47) one punishing this Nemty-nakht for a little natron and (48) a little salt? If one orders him to give (49) compensation for it, he will give compensation." 99) The High Steward Rensi, son of Meru, (50) was silent 5), ye aid not answer (give an official reply to) (51) these jurors. He did not give an official reply to the peasant 14),- 161 - Notes: ee) The jurors addressed by Rensi in B 1, 43, are referred to with the phrase "the officials who were beside him," srw nty r-gs.f. For sr "official" in a juridical context, see Parant, Sinouhé, 45, 52-58, 263; Goedicke, Neferyt, 76, n. pi 81, n. uF 148, n.11; KOngl. Dok. 186; Th€odorid8s, RIDA 20, 66-82; Helck, Merikare, 17, 21, 24, 26, 62; LA II, 352; WB Iv, 189, 15 - 190, 17. The shrt of Bl, 42 / R 89 is the formal accusation (of Nemty-nakht) by Rensi. He has now heard the peasant's account of his encounter with Nemty-nakht, as told (or read, see above note dd)) to him by a clerk or subordinate, 3msw. He has obvious- ly decided that the peasant's side of the story is persuasive. He therefore brings a formal accusation of the peasant's adversary before the jurors. For shr “denounce, accuse" as a graphic variant of srh, WB IV, 199, 1-6, "to make known" in the same sense of "to make known a wrong, a crime," see Meeks I, 77.3717; 77.3832; Peasant B1, 209 and the present passage B 1, 42 (cf. srby, “accusation, reproach," in Peasant, B2, 8 versus the shry of~ 162 - B1, 255. See also Faulkner, JEA 42, 38, n.101; Urk. IV, 484, 9; 511, 8; JEA 16, 195, 5; Merikare P. 56 (Helck, Merikare, 31); CD, 236. f£) R 90 preserves dd.n.s/n/ n.f, nb.i s/m/wn is shty.£ pw 3m n ky rgs.f. The vocative nb.i missing in B1, 44, and iw n ky r-gs.f replaces $m n ky rogs.f. These two slight differences, which do not substantially change the meaning of the passage from one version to the other, reveal two slightly different manuscript (and/or earlier oral) trad: ‘tion: Although the omission of nb.i could be due to a simple scribal copying error, the change from sm to iw or vice verse is inexplicable in terms of either a visual confusion of signs in hieratic or a phonetic confusion. Hence at least two slightly different Middle Kingdom versions of the Peasant must have existed. The repetition of mk irt.sn pw in Bl, 46 is probably an error (dittography) since it is lacking in R 92, the parallel text.- 163 - gg) Another indication of two somewhat differ- ent versions of the Peasant story occurs in B 1, 46-47 and R92. The B 1 text reads, sp pw n hef.tw n Nmty-nht pn ...; The R text, unfortunately not perfectly preserved here, begins with in bsf pw n Nmty-nht pn. Another instance of the in/n confusion seen in R 53 / B 1, 2, although in the latter, R preserves 4+ (along with Bt 38) whereas B1 contains n (#41), ‘This variant probably is a phonetic confusion, however. Note the use of hsf with the direct object introduced by n, which occurs again in B 1, 218; P. Westcar 12, 10; cf. cD, 197. Er nhw n bemn, bn’ nhw n met, "for a little of natron, and a little salt," i.e, for a mere trifle. A somewhat callous attitude towards the peasant's plight and his need for these exotic goods to trade in for food. For gb3, "to give compensation," see Goedicke, BA, 86 Lebensmtiden, 2); CD 321; P. Kahun, 3, 15; P, Westcar 6, 6; Urk. IV, 162, 16; Helck, Merikare, 75, 78. hh) This line presents no technical difficul-- 164 - ties, but it is vastly important because it esta~ blishes the posture of non-response that Rensi will adopt throughout the peasant's speeches. Later, B 1, 79-80, the same policy is recommended to him by King Neb-kau-re as a strategy to keep the peasant sponting forth mdw nfrw. It is the tension resulting from this utter lack of response on Rensi's part that keeps the peasant talking and ultimately produces the nine petitions. In light of this stylistic device, it is very surprising to find wSb.f n shty (with reference to Rensi) in B1, 51. The n (@**) negative has surely fallen out through scribal error. See, e.g., B 1, 224-225, where the peasant despairs of getting any response from Rensi and says, “The fourth time I petition you! Shall I go on all day?" ii) Wab means more than "to reply." It is used in the Peasant to mean "to give an official, legally binding reply." See Goedicke, Neferyt 110; cf. Helck, Prophezeiung (1970) 39 (xi); Peas. Bl, 154.Commentary PETITION I- 166 - PETITION I Bl, 52-54 Bl, 52> Then this peasant came (a) to petition 53 for the first time (b) the High Steward Rensi, son of Meru Bi, 53- He said: O High Steward, my lord, (c) 54 Greatest (d) of the great, (e) Leader (f) of all that is and all that is not! (g)- 167 - Notes: a) Note the consistent use of the sgm.in.f form in the introductory section of each petition. The form is not otherwise found in the petitions, although it occurs frequently in the narrative sections of the Peasant, namely in the Introduction and Conclusion to the frame-story and in the short section of narrative linking Petitions I and II, B 1, 71-77/R 117-122. For the verb spr...n, "to appeal to someone,” "to petition," see WB IV, 103,13 - 104,37 CD 2237 Meeks I, 77.3532. As pointed out by Parant, Affaire Sinouhé, 200-202, both the verb spr and the derived substantive sprt should be understood as references to formal requests for (oral or written) decisions to be handed down by judicial or administrative authorities. For sprt, see also WB IV, 104, 11-18; Meeks II, 78.3468; III, 79.2524. b) The phrase “for the first time," sp tpy, occurs in R96 but does not appear in the B1- 168 - manuscript. Cf. WB III, 435, 1; 438, 12; CD 221; Meeks I, 77.3519; II, 78.3450; III, 79.2512. c) ‘The formula iv.in rf shty pn x spr n imy-r? prowr / n.f...n spy gd.fs imy-r? pr wr, nb.i is common to all nine petitions, with the exception of Petition IV, where the two vocatives imy-r? pr wr and b.i are missing, and a long sentence is inserted between faw nw sp and dd.f. It is interesting to note that in what remains of the R text, the introductory section to each petition (Petitions I, II and III) is rubricized. such consistency is not found in the B 1 manuscript. Of its eight petitions, only two - Petitions II and III - have their begin- ning lines set off in red ink. The B 2 manuscript, which contains Petitions VII, VIII and IX, rubricizes the phrase iw.in ré at the beginning of each of these. Such comparisons point to an erratic usage of xubra by the B 1 scribe. For a full discussion of the use and misuse of rubra in the Middle Kingdom texts, see G. Posener, JEA 35(1949), 77 ff; SEA 37 (1951), 75 ££. For imy-r? pr wr see the Frame-story introduction and my note on R 40; for nb, see my note on R70 / B 1, 20 and R 90. 4) For the superlative expressed through the- 169 = indirect (B 1, 53) or direct genitive construction, see Gardiner, Gram., § 97, notes 2 and 3; Peas, B 1, 88; Westcar 9, 7. R 97 was intended as a direct genitive, wr wrw. ‘The nb-sign between wr and wrw is not, in all probability, an error for the genitive n-sign but a dittography influenced by the similar orthography of the two preceding words, (imy-r? pr) wr, mbei. e) The term wr is applied to someone in a position of power vis-’-vis the speaker. The word is general in meaning: a wr is a “great one," a "dignitary," a person to be reckoned with who exerts some measure of influence in political or admini- strative realms, An unqualified wr is not, however, used as a title except in reference to non-Egyptian rulers. The wr is frequently contrasted with the the "commoner," or the iwtyw, the "have-not.” Cf. WB I, 328,14 - 329,20; CD 64; Meeks I, 77.0958; II, 78.1016, III, 79.0708. f) Like wr, the word sSmw is not a precise title but a term of respect used by a subordinate with reference to his administrative or social superior. The sSmw is one who conducts, guides or- 170 - leads: cf. sim, WB IV, 285,7 - 287,20; CD 247, "to lead, guide." Hence Gardiner's translation "ruler" (JEA 9, 9) is somewhat misleading although in Rensi's case the expression ssmw clearly refers to someone with juridico-political powers. The lack of explicitness in the term is better conveyed by Vogelsang's "Leiter," (Komm., 64,) Lichtheim's "leader," (Anc Eg lit, I, 172), or Faulkner's and Lalouette's "guide," (Lit Eg Lit, 34; Textes sacrés et profanes, 200). Cf. also Meeks I, 77.3874; Zivie, Giza, 128, 1.12; LA ii, 192; Meeks III, 79.2777. g) Iwtt, ntt. When used in combination these two terms mean "all," "everything." Gardiner, Gram., $ 203-4 and 252; JEA 9, 9 note 4; Vogelsang, Konm., 64. The nt(t) of B 1, 54 is written defectively.Bi, 54- 55 Bl, 56 Bl, 56 Bl, 56~ 57 Bi, 57 Bi, 57- 58 -an- When you go down (h) to the "Lake of Justice" (i), May you sail on it with good wind (j). Without the unravelling (k) of the fastener of your sail (1), Without the laying dead of your boat (m), Without the occurrence of a mishap in your mast (n), Without the breaking of your yards (0).Bl, 58 Bl, 58 Bi, 59 Bi, 60 Bl, 60- 61 Bl, 61- 62 172 - Without your drifting, nor running aground (p), Without a wave carrying you away (q), Without experiencing the river's perils (ry Without seeing the face of the Feared one (s). Fish will come to you as ensnared ones (t), You will catch plump fowl (u).- 173 - h) The use of h?j m in R99, rather than the h3j x of B 54-55, is anachronistic. H®j m, commonly used in the Pyramid Texts to mean "to go (down) to," is generally replaced in Middle Egyptian texts, however, especially in navigational contexts, where the expression h?j m (wit), "to board (a boat),” is attested along side h?j rx (wi) in different versions of the same text. The same fluctuation we find in the R and B 1 variants of the Peasant occurs in Coffin Text Spell 473 (CT VI, 13, e): whereas the BIC and BIY versions use hx r, BIC preserves the older h?j m form. A recently published fragment of the Instruction of Amenenhet for His Son, Ostracon OIC 13636 from the Oriental Institute of Chicago, is another example of 24 m used for boarding a boat in Middle Egyptian. Thus the expression h?j m did not die out completely in Middle Egyptian and should be regarded here as a variant of the more common h?j x, "to go (down) to." For discussions of h3j mas "to come down from," see Goedicke, JNES 40, 5; C. Zivie, Giza, 41, £. n. (a); Edel, Phraseologie, MDAIK 13, 47-48 and 71; Janssen,- 174 - Autobiographie, I, 46-47, 59-60 and 83-84; cf. Polotsky, Untersuchungen Agyptens, XI, 278. For a metaphorical use of h?j m, see Peasant B 2, 106 and Gardiner, JEA 9, 20, n. 4. i) It is doubtful that the B1, 54-55 refer- ence to a $n m't is an allusion to a real body of water 1, Although the funerary texts preserve a tradition of “two great lakes (8) -- or lagoons (s§) -- in Ninsu, the provenance of the Peasant tale, this tradition is, apparently, a literary and mythological one. The textual evidence pointing to the existence of a geophysical feature known as the 3 n m3't can be summarized as follows: (1) The existence of a lake (8) in the Ninsu (Hera~ cleopolis) area is suggested by the name of that city's chief deity, Harsaphes (Hry-5.f), liter- ally "he who is on his lake," ? and by an early reference to a § in the temple of Harsaphes in connection with the 'h'.w ritual performed there: Palermo stone, 3, 9 vs. * (2) Coffin Text Spell 335 locates two such 3s in Heracleopolis 4, the § n bsmn and Sn 5 In the basic text > the deceased says, “while I was(4) - 175 - on earth I came from my city, I have got rid of my wrongdoing, I have dispelled my evil, I have removed the falseness which was on me, I have bathed in those two very great lagoons (s$.wy) which are in Ninsu, in which the oblations of the plebs are cleansed for the great god who is in it ®." the precise identity of the two great lagoons is given in a gloss preserved in several text traditions: “what are these two great lagoons in Ninsu? They are the Lake of Natron and the Lake of Maat," (3 pwn ysmn gn' 3 n A slightly more elaborate tradition is preserved in Sqisq. 216c¢ and 219c-g, where the Lake of Natron is called "Sea" and said to be in On, while the Lake of M3't is called "Seed of the Seeker" and identified as being in the western 8 of waref. As Naref is without area (?) question to be located in Heracleopolis °, the gloss does not contradict the notion of a Lake (of) Maat in Heracleopolis. It simply reflects a tradition of only one lake, rather than two, in Heracleopolis 1°, A similar tradition is found in the Book of the Dead, Spell 17.8 “I have cleansed myself in the(5) (6) - 176 - two great, stately ponds that are in Heracleo- Polis on the day (when) the common folk (make) offerings to this great God who is therein. What are they: The name of the One is Million; the name of the Other is Sea. ‘They are the Natron Lake and the Maat Lake." 11 The theme of being cleansed in the Lake of Maat and the Lake of Natron is also found ona New Kingdom stela from the Agyptische Abteilung der Kunsthistorischen Museum in Vienna. "He makes his purifications in the Lake of Natron, He is made pure in the Lake of Maat." Finally, the existence of a sacred lake in or near Heracleopolis is again suggested by a late historical inscription from the Louvre 13, he late Saite inscription from a statue of General Hor describes in great detail the general's renovations of various temples in the Heracleo- polis area. We are informed that he has restor- ed (sm%wj) the sanctuary of Upper Egypt, the sanctuary of Lower Egypt, the sanctuary of the17 - North and South, and the temple of Nehebkaou. He has “built a wall around the Lake Maat* kd.n.i. inb h? § m9't) and has, in general, done a really excellent job (ir.n(.i) k*t !2(t) m pr Hr(y)-8.£ nb nfrw momty) in Harsaphes' domaine. The texts reviewed in (2), (3), (4) and (5) above reflect a Heracleopolitan religio-literary tradition concerning ablutions for the deceased preparatory to life in the Beyond. Although the tradition is an old one and persisted at least into the New Kingdom, it cannot be said to confirm the existence of real geophysical features known as the Lake of Natron and the Lake of Maat. The ritual washings referred to in the funerary texts could easily have been performed in basins located within the temple of Harsaphes at Heracleopolis. Indeed the evidence from Palermo Stone 3, 9 vs. would seem to indicate as mich. Finally, the only evidence for a § in mi't of the Saite text would seem to be an archi- tectural feature, around which General Hor was able to construct a wall. No trace of such a s has been found, however, in three different excavations at Heracleopolis 14, We can thus tentatively conclude that the Lake of Maat/Truth associated with the Harsaphes cult at Heracleopolis was a rather small, probably mobile basin and certainly not a "lake" in- 1728 - any geophysical sense of the term. j) Unlike gnti and psfw, "to travel, sail sail upstream or southwards," and pdi, "to trav: downstream or northward," the verb skdi, “to sail," expresses travel by boat without reference to the direction taken. The abstract noun, skdwt, “journ- ey," occurs in The Report about the Dispute of a Nan with His Ba, line 70, with regard to trips made by an official "ship of the Residence," the dpt-Jnw, whose function was to collect tax revenues. R 99 preserves the plene writing (skdw.k) of this causative, III-inf. verb. C£. WB IV, 308, 7 - 309, 8. CD 250, Vogelsang, Komm., 66; Sethe Verbum I, 441, 3; II, 301. Note the homophonic word play between the (s n) mitt of B 1, 54 and the mw of B1, 55/ R99 35, For m@'w, "a good wind,” see WB II, 23, 15 - 24, 5; €D 102; Meeks II, 78.1612. There may be a triple pun intended by the B 1 scribe, inasmuch as m'w is also attested as an (unidentified) part of a boat 1, 1 would suggest that a ship's m'w might be a designation of its "temple," or prow. C£. WB II, 24, 9-16 and CT V, 136-179- a, b, where the ship's m?'w occur in the same context as another obscure boat part, tentatively identified by Faulkner as “bow-timbers." 17 he phrase skdw m m3'w would then mean something like "to sail by the bow-end, to sail straight ahead in the desired direction." Vogelsang, Komm., 66, assumes that the papyrus roll determinative of R 99 is an error. It is possible, however, that the R scribe understood the passage as a sgm.f + m+ infinitive construction, in which case the m! of R99 would be the infinitive of the intransitive verb m', "to set out (on a journey)." See WB IV 23, 1-6; CD 102. k) The verb kf (WB IV, 119, 4-19; CD 285) is broadly applied, both literally and figuratively, to acts of undoing, removing and uncovering '®. the root meaning of the verb may well come from the term ke (SAN), used to designate a knife or flint, a word not found in the Worterbuch 1°, his etymology would suggest an original meaning of kf as "to cut {away)." Used metaphorically, kf can refer either to removing something in a destructive way, namely plundering, despoiling or depriving (Urk. I, 78, 20; Sinuhe B 146), or to uncovering in the sense of @isclosing or revealing 7°. ‘The notion of removing, and thereby destroying, something is appropriate to- 180 = Bl, 56, where the kf of the sail's fastener (see note i below) heads a list of eight potential sailing catastrophes. In light of the nature of the ndbyt~ fastener, I have freely rendered its undoing or removal as “unravelling.” For a discussion of the literary form on this passage (B 1, 54-62), see Introduction, pp. 47-50, above. 1) The word ndbyt in B 1, 56, has consistently 21 confounded translators ** of the Peasant precisely because it is known to occur only twice, both times in the Peasant text: B 1, 56 and its parallel R 99, and B 1, 156. Both contexts are navigational. In B 1, 56, the ndbyt is connected to or associated with the sail; in B 1, 156, it is linked to the (proper) manipulation of the mw, the steering oar. Neither context dictates a meaning for the term. We must, therefore, attempt to advance our understanding of the word itself. The term ndbyt, in my view, can only be under- stood as a metathesis of the verb nbd, WB II, 246, 4-5. Two isolated instances of a b/d metathesis for the verb have been pointed out by Fakhry and ganssen 27, but no one, to my knowledge, has studied- 181 - the inversion as a recurring phenomenon, The following list of examples can be given for a nbd/ndb confusion. 1) Theban Tomb 365, Nefermenu (Fakhry, ASAE 46, 44). In this inscription from the time of Tutmosis III we find the title bry-ndb.w n Ipt-swt (Imn), "chief hairdresser of the Ipet-swt of Amun." We would expect the title of bry-nbd.w, not brycndb.w. The substantive nbd.j/ndb.j(WB II, 246, 10-11), "the hairdresser" or "the wig-maker," as well as the nouns nbd "wig" and nbd.t, “lock" or "curl," are well attested derivatives of nbd, WB II, 246, 4-5. All other occurences of nbd concerning hair or hairdressing (with the determinative “W) preserve the spelling nbd. Clearly in the Nefermenu inscription we have simply an orthographic variant of the same word, again with the hair determinative. 2) Two almost identical building inscriptions from the eighteenth dynasty speak of doors (!3) which In both are b?k.w m nbw and néb.w or nbd.w m km. Urk. IV, 168, 5 and Urk. IV, 1709, 16 the doors in question are fashioned of cedar (!8): Urk. IV, 168, 3; 1709, 16; worked in (b%k m)gold and decorated (?) in a different way (nbd) with km,- 182 - black copper. There is no consensus as to how the word nbd/ndb, in Urk. IV, 1709, 16 and 168, 5 respectively, should be translated. The crucial point here is that nbd and ndb occur in identical contexts. It cannot, therefore, be doubted that we are dealing with the same word in both passages and that ndb and nbd are variant spellings of the same lexical item. As ndb the word occurs on two other Dynasty Eighteen building inscriptions in passages remarkably similar to the two already cited: Urk. Iv, 387, 3, and 766, 1. 3) The same b/d inversion for pbd occurs with reference to flagstaffs decorated with metal: nd(b) in Luxor 533 and nbd in Denderah, Thes. 1375. 4) Deir el Medineh Ostracon 131, vs. 1, uses ndb rather than nbd in referring to a d3iw. Having thus established nbd and ndb as variants of the same word, we must analyze its range of meanings and see how it fits Peasant B 1, 56 and 156. Although the term is often rendered as "to plait," Janssen has shown that, at least insofar as baskets are concerned, the translation is wholly inappropriate. Baskets in the pharaohnic period were- 183 - not woven or plaited but coiled 23, ‘the word nbd, when applied to baskets, must thus be translated as "to twist around, to wind." In addition to its frequent use with baskets, nbd is also used with respect to hair 74, he activity intended by the term nbd has frequently been translated by “braiding, plaiting." Again Janssen has shown that this rendering does not fit what we know of women's hair styles, especially for the New Kingdom 75, Rather than plaiting their hair, he suggests, Egyptian women arranged “two broad tresses flowing down to the shoulder on both sides of the head." The kind of activity required to effect this style would be more appropriately termed "twisting, winding or curling.” Similarly, the nbd m Snty of Papyrus d'Orbiney 10, 7, would be a "curl" rather than a “braid.” The idea of a coiling or winding motion for nbd is equally suitable to a reference in Papyrus Boulag 3, 3, 15 to a dead man's hands and feet being wrapped in linen, nbd m '3t nw sSr. Here nbd means winding a cloth around parts of a corpse as part of the mummi- fication process. Caminos has published a fragment of an Eighteenth Dynasty papyrus in which a man's arm is said to be nbd.(w) m ...2%, with...." This occurence would seem to confirm the "to be wrapped meaning of nbd/ndb as either "to wind" or "to twist"~ 184 - something (a cloth, a lock of hair) around something else or simply "to coil." A metaphorical and highly pejorative use of word is also known: non-Egyptians are sometimes called nbd.w kd, “twisted of character." 77 Thus it seems very likely that the use of nbd in connection with metalwork found on temple doors and flagstaffs refers to strips of metal twisted or wound around (or crisscrossing?) these objects 78, the frequent parallism of nbd / 00 km/stt with b?k.w m nbw shows that this banding or crisscrossing of metal was considered to be opulently decorative. The notion of decoration might also be present in the use of nbd for hair-styling, but would not necessarily pertain to the use of nbd for the coiling technique used in basket-making. To return to the Peasant B 1, 56 passage, how can the above information help us to make sense of the sentence nn kf ndbyt bt? ? As the ivt of B 1, 57 shows, the first four verses (B 1, 56-58) of this eight-line section (B 1, 56-60) are nn + infinitive clauses 22. B1, 56 consists of negative nn, an infinitive, kf and its object, a direct genitive ndbyt-bt?. In the light of the discussion of nbd/ndb above, a pt?'s ndbyt would be something coiled belonging to or attached to the sail. This points to the lacings which bind the sail to the upper and- 185 - lower yards 3°, ropes which give the appearance of having been wrapped or coiled around the yards in much the same way that bandages would be wrapped around the limbs of the deceased. I would thus tentatively identify these rope bindings as the sail's ndbyt or, as rendered above, its "fastener." Finally, the interpretation of ndbyt in the present passage and in B 1, 156 as a type of cord or rope fits well with the parallelism in B 1, 156-159, where ndbyt and nfryt are used as the end words in the first and third lines of a four-line stanza in which the intentional pairing of lines one and three and lines two and four is abundantly clear, in that the final phrase of both the second and fourth lines is irt m't 71, qhe identification of nfryt as the "tiller-rope" 3? is reasonably certain. The use of a separate determinative >? for ndbyt in B1, 56, as well as its occurence as an independent term in B 1, 156 point to the ndbyt as an article attached to, but not an integral part of, the bt*-sail °4. For bt, "sail," see WB II, 182, 16; CD 179; Urk. IV, 1546, 8 Meeks I, 77.2883. m) Used intransitively, as it is here, the verb ihm means "to be slow, to go slowly," in- 186 - opposition to the verb p®h, "to hurry." See Peasant, B 2, 104; Goedicke, BA lines 18-19, 99-100, 120 £., 190, n. 41, and Gardiner, Notes on Sinuhe, 58, n. 1. (cf. "Phe Lingerer" (Zhmw) of CT VII, lle: FECT III, 5). For ihm used transitively, meaning "to detain," see Smither, JEA 25 (1939), 220. In navigational terms, going slowly or coming to a standstill is called "laying dead." For the retention of the original third radical w of dpwt in the B 1, but not in the R text, see B 1, 221 and B 2, 103 and the discussion by Vogelsang, Kommentar, 67. But cf. R 98 for skdw.k as opposed to the skd.t of B1, 55. There are no parallel texts for the other two occurences of the plene writing dpwt in the B 1 manuscript. For dp(w)t, see WB V, 446, 1-1 gD 312. n) Vogelsang, Kommentar, 68, suggests that the different wording of the two texts in B 1, 57 / R 100 might stem from the R scribe's aversion to using two variants of the verb ii/iw, "to come," one after the other. This argument is unconvincing, since else- where in the text we have examples of deliberate playfulness with language through the repetition of the same or similar words. Cf. R 98-99 / B 1, 54-55;- 187 - R 60-62 / B 1, 120-121, The infinitive form iwt in B 1, 57 shows that the first four lines beginning with nn (B 1, 56-58) are nn + infinitive, not nn + sdm.f constructions. Morenz, M6langes Michalowski, 1966, 139 ff., has linked the semantic evolution of iyt from "that which will come/happen" to “misfortune, trouble" to the political and social upheavals of the First Inter- mediate Period and the Eleventh Dynasty. The word continued to be used, however, in its strictly neutral sense: Posener, Enseignement _loyaliste, (1976), 45(5): pmt iyt, “celui qui prévoit l'avenir"; Gaballa, JEA 63, plate XXIII, 1, 4: sr.n.f iyt, “he foretold the future." Cf. Fecht, ZAS 105, 34 £. In our passage it is clear from the context that a negative meaning was intended. Literally B 1, 57 should be rendered "misfortune in your mast will not come." Lichtheim, Vogelsang, Gardiner, and Faulkner have all translated, "mis- fortune will not befall or affect your mast"; Vogelsang: "so wird kein Unheil in deinen Mastbaum kommen." These translations are misleading, in that they imply that the trouble (iyt) would come from outside the boat and interfere with the mast (ht).~ 188 - The sentence should actually be read as an assurance that no trouble will come from (literally "in": m) the mast. For pt instead of pt-t*w as "mast" see CT V, 92 b; 233e; Urk. V. 156, 5. ©) For the translation of sgrgw in B 1, 58 / R 100 as "yards" see Naville, Mythe d'Horus 7, 5 and Gardiner, JEA 9, 9, n. 6; FECT III, 204 (cf. CT V, 190 c; 205, 1; VII, 17, q). The rendering is not certain. In the present passage, however, it is logical to suppose that the sail, the mast, and the yards would all be referred to in the same four-line section, since the three elements can be seen as constituting a whole, the sailing mechanism for the boat. The association of these three elements with B 1, 56-57 / R 100 clarifies the meaning of that line, nn ihm dpwt.k. ‘Together the four lines form an assurance that no part of the sailing mechanism will malfunction and that the boat will not "lay dead" or stop moving due to insufficient winds. p) B1, 58 / R101 is a particularly difficult line, in that it contains two verbs for which the proper translation is uncertain: 1) shm/*sdw and 2) B2''/b9g, the first and@ second verbs in the~ 189 - sentence from the B 1 and R texts respectively. the reading shm §) for the first verb in B 1, 58 is certain. Until recently the parallel verb in the R 101 text was read tsdw (CI , an otherwise unknown word. Westendorf (Festschrift Otto, 505 £.) has demonstrated that the traces visible in the badly demaged R text should be read shm (4°R™ | 2 variant of the verb $OM3~* sound in Peasant, B 1, 211, He postulates that the (20Q4 of R101 and the $Q4 of B 1, 58 are graphic variants of the same verb, shm/zhm, WB Iv, 269, 13-14, (cf. Coptic cegm, Westendorf, Koptisches Handworterbuch, 213). Westendorf, op.cit., 504, rightly argues that the alternation of } and 4 is well attested for Middle Egyptian. We can point to two other instances of the B1 author's use of h rather than : 1) pert for Wert in B1, 63 / R106; 2) sh for sh in B 1, 188. The interchangeability of z and s is also well documented for Middle Egyptian (Callender, Middle Egyptian, 9). For further evidence of z/s shifts, see Ward, SAK 5, 280 ff; WB Iv, 342 and WB III, 443, 15 ff; Prisse 15, 1 and Prisse 1, 10. Westendorf further identifies the second two verbs in the passage: b2'' and q®g. Although the reading of the signs is beyond debate, Westendorf assumes- 190 - that the second ayin of *b?'' is not to be read as a sign but as a determinative. He identifies the resulting verb b?' with the 9g of R101 on the basis of the known identification of Semitic ' with both Egyptian @ (§) and h and the occasionally attested alternation within Egyptian of p and g: pa?/ph?; ng?g* nh2h3. See Goedicke, ZAS 80 (1955), 32-34 for the b/d alternation in Egyptian; Westendorf op.cit. 507, The meaning of shm/zhm is "to found- er (?)," (Faulkner, CD 241). The meaning of b*'/b3q is less certain but probably has a root meaning of "to deviate (from the proper course)." Combined with br t?, as it is in B1, 58 / R101, §3'/b3q would mean literally " a deviation upon ground,” or "running aground." q) The word nw(j)t occurs in both a masculine (WB IZ, 221, 3-13) and feminine (WB II, 221, 14-16) form with a wide range of meanings: water, flow of water, flood, wave. The translation "wave" here is substantiated by Shipwrecked Sailor 35 and 104-105, where nwyt clearly refers to a wave of gigantic proportions: nwyt im.f nt mb 8. In a passage similar to Bl, 59 / R102 we find the verb iti used transitively in combination with the masculine form- 191 - of nwi: it nwy, “the waves take their toll," BA, 657 cf. Goedicke, BA, 128. ‘The transitive use of iti in B1, 59 / R102 calls for a rendering of the verb as "to carry (you) away." I take the << 44 of R 102 as an abbreviated hieratic form of nwit. The use of a single stroke to replace more complicated signs occurs twice in R 102 with nwit and dp. rx) For B1, 59's and R102's more abstract rendering of dp, literally "to taste," as "to experience" see Shipwrecked Sailor, 124; 181; Goedicke, Ag. Abh. 30, 43; 70; Gardiner, ZAS 45, (1908), 65. Cf. also CD 312; KRI, TI, 319, 11: dp grt, literally "to taste the hand," meaning "to experience (someone's) strength.” s) Note the alternate spelling m2n.k for the verb "to see" in R 103, rather than the m3.k of B 1, 60. Mn is an orthographic variant attested for both the geminating and non-geminating forms of m?(*). ‘The non-geminated form m?.k in the B 1 parallel makes it likely that a non-geminated form was intended by the R scribe too. Cf. Gardiner, Gram., § 448, note 4= 192 - for min as the non-germinating sgm.f; § 299, note 1 and $439, note 4, for the geminating sdm.f. See also, Faulkner, FECT I, 26, n. 3 (= CT I, 136, a) and FECT IZ, 23, note 9, (= CT V, 73, n). For br, "face," in the sense of “presence,” see Foster, JEA 67, (1981), 36-47. Cf. Goedicke, BA, 167 and Erman, ZAS 38, 27, with reference to the snk sbtm brw / br-rmg, "darkness appearence, presence) of a man "Hymn to the Sun’ makes the ‘sight! vanish." The “face of the feared one" is a person- ification of death. Egyptian funerary literature is replete with references to a fear of water, as shown in B 1, 59; hence the need to be ferried across the vI, 409, £. Winding Waterway. See, e.g., CT IV, See CT I, 267-268 and V, 8, a, for the theme of dominating the waters as a means of dominating Death. t) The basic meaning of En', B1, 61 / R 104, in the Middle and New Kingdom was "to detain"; cf. Blackman, JEA 22 (1936), 41, with reference to Gardiner, Gram. 309 (= Leyden 88) and to Piehl, Inscr. Hierogl. III, 77; Gardiner JEA 38 (1952), 297 Faulkner JEA 39, (1953), 41; Prisse, 10, 12.- 193 - Despite the fact that the translators of this passage as well as WB IV, 505, 13, have seen in Sn'yw a hapax unrelated to Sn', “to detain," and have imputed to the word either the notion of being skittish and afraid or, the result of such a state, the idea of darting about, there is no reason to suppose that we have anything other than a plene writing of the plural perfective passive participle of nt. Vogelsang opted in favor of an unknown verb ‘*#3nty; others (see Lichtheim, Anc_ Eg Lit, 7, 108, note 15) have recognized in 3n'yw a form of the verb Sn!, but have given to it a meaning, e.g., Lichtheim "darting," which does not fit the word in its other occurences. In light of the above discussion, Peasant B 1, 61 should read: “detained (i.e., trapped, snared) fish shall come to you"; R 104 should read: "fish, namely detained ones, shall come to you." It is noteworthy that 3n' is not among the verbs normally employed for catching or trapping fish. Among such verbs grgt, b?m, and Ssp are attested for fish only; rsf and bb for both fish and fowl. (See below, p. 30, pb). It seems probable therefore, that the use of 3n' here is deliberate; B 1, 20 where catching fish and snaring fowl are expressed as ph xmw and sht paw- 194 - respectively. §n' may well have been chosen here since it would afford the author the opportunity for punning: "detainees," such as the peasant himself, will come (to present their cases) to Rensi. For di/iw used in a technical legal sense as “to come before a judge (= to appear in court), see Ptahhotep 268-269, mr i'w i'-ib.f, x irt iytemf bref, “one who is in distress wants to vent his feelings more than (he wants) to be done/accomplished that which he came on account of," i.e. more than he wants to win his case. A further play on the Sn'-fish may have been intended since we know from R 8-35, and Butler 1-15 that the Peasant story seems to inspire scribes to display their knowledge of both Egyptian and foreign flora and (See WB IV, 507, 10-11; Valbelle, Catalogue des poids, 25; BIFAO 77, 135; Gamer-Wallert, Ag Abh 21, 44). The translation of ph as "bag" or "catch" in Bi, 61 / R104 is based on the similar use of the word with respect to fish in Peasant B1, 207, (Faulkner, CD 92: "spear" fish) and with respect to human prey in B 1, 207, (CD 92, “attack"). The use of the same words with reference to either fish or fowl can be seen in with wgs, Neferyt 31, cf. Goedicke, Neferyt, 89, note z, and wp! (WB I, 350, 1-6), which can be translated both as the fisherman- 195 - and the fowler, cf. BIFAO 77, 135. See also the verbs rsf and bb (CD 153, 167) used to denote catching both fish and fowl. For wgs see James, Hekanakhte, 83, note 13. The m before the direct object is used here as a partitive element; cf. Goedicke, BA, 166, note 2547 James, Hekanakhte, 104. For a different interpretation of m + direct object see Silverman, "an Emphasized Direct Object in Middle Egyptian," Orientalis 1980, where he proposes the translation of "only" for the formula. The abundance of fish and fowl, evoked by the peasant in B 1, 60-62 / R 104-105, is symbolic of plenty and physical prosperity in general in ancient Egypt. See Goedicke Neferyt, 88 (Nef. lines 30-32) when fish and fowl are used as synonyms for material success; cf. V. Condon, MAS 37, 39, Pl. 22, lines 8-9.- 196 - Bl, 62 ~ 64 Bi, 62 For you are father of the orphan, ‘) Bi, 63 Husband of the widow, ‘Y) Bl, 63 Brother of the divorcee, “) Bl, 63- Loincloth of the 64 notherless. (*) Notes: u) These four lines owe much in spirit to certain formulaic expressions known from the Old and Middle Kingdom autobiographical inscriptions, wherein the author was desirous of proving his attention to the poor and afflicted during his earthly life. For the first two lines of the passage similar phrases or even vertabim parallels can be found in other older or contemporary Egyptian texts. The task of finding parallels to the second two lines is much more difficult. The last line is entirely original in its present form.- 197 ~ For a full discussion of the autobiographical formulae in the Old Kingdom, see Edel, Phraseologie, MDAIK 13, 1944; for autobiographical texts prior to the New Kingdom, see Janssen, Autobiographie I, II; and Polotsky, Untersuchungen XI. Cf. the Inscription of Nefel heshem-Re, Urk. I, 200; Goedicke, JEA 48 (1962), 25 ££, "A Neglected Wisdom Text," 26, 6-15; Merikare, 47; the Stela of Intef, Hierogl. Texts from the Br. Mus. II, pl. 23, col. 16-17; the stela of Horemkhaf, Metr. Mus. 35.7.55, Hayes, JEA 33, (1947), 3-11, pl. IZ, 10-13. It n nmb and its variant, it n brd, are well attested; Hatnub 24, 5 £; 12, 11-12; cf. Janssen Autobiographie, II, 175; New York, Metropolitain Museum 12184.11 (Mentu-wsr); Hannover 11, 47 Instruction of Amenemhet to his Son, III, cf. Helck, Amenemhet, 23-25; Urk. VII, 4, 17-19; Amarna, v, pl. 4, col. 4; cf. CT I, 163, £, and BD Spell, 125, T.G. Allen, BD, 97. In two of the above cited texts, Hatnub 12, 11-12 and Urk. VII, 4, 17-19, there is a reference to the father (it) of the brd. The other texts contain references to the it n nmb. The pairing of the care of the nmb and the h®rt, attested in the Peasant B 1, 62 / R105 passage, also occurs in four of these texts; Hatnub 24, 5 £; N¥ 12184.11; Hannover 11, 4, where the exact phrasing of the- 198 - Peasant text is found: it n nmy and hy n birt; and Cairo 42155. Further, in Hatnub 24,5 f. acting in the capacity of it to the nmk is associated with the care of the mir (reconstructed on the basis of Motalla V, y , 3, where the mir and the pert are mentioned together). In Hatnub 12, 11-12, the author calls himself the son of the iw, it of the grad and the sm of the bkr. In Amenemhet III, c, we read: sbpr.n.i nmb, din.i pb iwty nf, nty wn, "I gave to the beggar, I brought up the nmb, I caused the one who had nothing, as well as the one who was well-off, to succeed.* The repeated linking of the nmb to the beggar, the hungry man, the man who has nothing (iwty nf), and the pauper (mir) clearly places the nmb in n underprivileged or, more precisely, an unprotected position. Unfortunately the exact nature of the it's responsibilities is not made plain in these texts. We cannot say whether or not the author is referring to specific, formalized responsibilities with legal implications. We know, however, that at least as early as the Middle Kingdom women could be designated as nt niwt, which is best translated as "wards of the city." This translation is supported by the use of nmp in Berlin Ostraca 10.627, 9-11: "as for him who has no child he should acquire for himself- 199 - another (child), a nmb to bring him up, and he will pour water over your hands as a true eldest son." The nmb of B 1, 62 : R105 is then someone who would come under the protectorship of the it; the it is the guardian. The nmb is someone who has been deprived of his father and is therefore in need of a legal protector. The absence of the father is specified in Hatnub 24, 5 £, iw Sd.n.i nm iwty it.f, "I have educated the nmb/orphan who has no father." For the adoption of nmjs, see S. Allam, Oriens Antiqua XI, 278; Guilmot, Caz 40 (1965) 235 £; Bakir, ASAE Cahier 18, 48. For the later development of nmb as "freeman" see Lorton, Juridical Terminology, 153, note 2; Gardiner, RAE 6, 121, note ny JEA 19, (1933), 21; Spiegelberg, 2AS 53, (1919), 116-117; Thompson JEA 26, (1940), 74-75. v) In conventional Egyptian wisdom, as expressed in the autobiographies and the instruct- ions, a concern for the birt often went hand in hand with a concern for the mx and the nm, (see above, note u) and Merikare 47). In Mo'alla v, Y , 3- 200 - (vandier, Mo'alla, 242), Ankhtifi boasts of protect- ing the weak man, (mz) from the powerful man, (wsr) and of "hearing" (sgm), the case (mdw) of the bert. In Hatnub 20, 6, protecting the h2rt and the mr is linked to bringing up the youth (%d...njn) and giving the elderly a proper burial. The Mentu-wsr inscript- ion connects the it n nmk to the sm b%rt, the one who “succors" the widow or perhaps helps in filing official complaints. In Hatnub 24, 5 £, the birt, identified as “she who has no hy, husband," is "made to breathe (snf)." The apparently vague expression probably had very specific fiscal implications: those “made to breathe” were probably the recipients of tax relief. See Goedicke, JEA 48, (1962), 34, note al; Peas., Bl, 279, and Siut v, 11; Amenemope XVI, 5-6. Goedicke's reconstruction of the preceding passage shows the context to be that of taxes charged to widows, orphans, and commoners (ngs). C£. Hatnub 14, 10 and 25, 12, where the bwr.w and the xmt-nbt are the objects of snf. Another curious and rather obscure reference to the care of the bert is found in the Stela of Mentu-hetep, PSBA XVIII, (1896), 195 ££, and JEA 48, (1962), 25 ££, line 10: "I anointed (wrb) the bert"= 201 - which follows the statement, "I nourished (snm) the children (hrd.w) with my deeds." Does the term wrb imply conferring a legal status as Hatnub 12, 12-13, "anointing the unanointed (hs?)" seems to suggest? Does the "protection" of the widow (nbm...hrt) involve specific obligations or duties? To the modern reader these terms are frustratingly vague. The textual evidence is insufficient for us to determine the precise definitions of terms applied to the widow. We cannot say to what degree the relat~ ionship(s) between the prt and the wrb(w), the snf(w), or the nbm(w) were formalized, legal or administrative ties. Finally, there is no textual evidence on the role of the hy n h3xt. The term occurs elsewhere but with no clarification of his role (Hannover, 11, 4). We can only infer that it was the hy, or substitute husband, who acted in the capacity of guardian to the husbandless. The definition of p®rt in Hatnub 24, 5 f£, states simply that she has no husband, thereby including both the widow and the divorced woman. The distinction in Peas. B1, 63 / R 106 between the widow (b2xt) and the divorced woman (wd't) is not always maintained; cf. Urk. I, 266, 16, where the one- 202 - who speaks (pleads) on behalf of the pert is defend- ing the divorced woman, as he is said to be pleading on hrw n wg! hmt, the "day of separating the wife (from the husband)," i.e., the day of divorce. w) Sn was the kinship term used in ancient Egypt to designate, not only the brother, but also, on occasion, the brother-in-law, the mother's brother, the brother's son and the sister's son, in short, any male relative. Anthes, Hatnub, 74-75; Hatnub Gr. 6, 6; 31, 97 40; 44;°45; 48; 48a, 3. Anthes demonstrates that sn cannot always mean biological brother in these dedicatory inscriptions, since one of them refers to the "brother" of Htpj as Mntj, son of Krj, whereas elsewhere Htpj is called Intef's son. The rendering "brother" in that case is valid only in the sense of sharing the same mother but not the same father. Anthes proposes, therefore the rendering of relative, cousin, or simply friend. See also Robins, "The Relationships Specified by Egyptian Kinship Terms of the Middle and New Kingdom," CaE LIV, (1979), 197-217, 202. For sn '3, "uncle," and sn $rj, "nephew," see Ursula Konler, GM 1, (1972), 17.= 203 - Unlike the expressions it n nm and hy n birt to which it is parallel, the phrase sn n wd't of B 1, 63 / R106 seems to be a hapax. That a woman who had no husband needed help in legal and financial matters is obvious from the numerous references to the protection of the husbandless (h°rt) cited above. Cf. note v) above; see Siut V, 5 and Beni Hasan I, pl. VIII, Col. 20, for references to giving food to the bert. A distinction between the p?rt and the wd't is established in Peasant B 1, 63 / R106. ‘The wa't, like the hirt, is husbandless, but the cause of this situation is specified by the use of the feminine singular perfective passive participle wd'(y)t. The wd't has been “cut off," in other words divorced, from her husband. See note v) above and Urk. I, 266, 16; for a discussion of wd', see Goedicke, MIO VIII, 333 ££, The use of the perfective passive participle in the feminine singular and with reference to a woman is not otherwise attested, although wd't "judgment" occurs as an abstract noun, Hatnub, 14, 9. The economic burdens consequent upon divorce have recently been pointed out by S. Allam, JEA 67, (1981), 121-123. In general, the divorced woman fared better than the divorced man, but the woman who= 204 - had herself asked for or provoked a divorce would find herself in an undesirable financial situation. It is perhaps in this light that the needs of the wa't should be regarded. x) The final line of this four-line section, B1, 64 / R107, is curious. In the first: three lines the peasant compares Rensi to flesh-and-blood figures who serve as guardians to the weak, poor, and legally unprotected. In the fourth line there is a sudden change of metaphor and Rensi is likened to a Endyt, a kilt or loincloth (WB Iv, 522, 2-7). Trans- lators of the line have generally assumed a figur- ative meaning for the phrase, since 1) a literal meaning would be absurd and 2) no custom involving the symbolic use of the Sndyt garment to acknowledge guardianship is known to us from ancient Egypt. See Ruth 3: 9 for such a custom in ancient Israel. Hence, Gardiner took Sndyt as a metaphor for the mother, whose function it is to clothe the child: JEA 9, 9, note 7; similarly Lefébvre, Romans et contes, 51, "il assure un vétement & l'enfant qui n'a pas de mére pour lui en faire un"). Suys, Etude, 23, note 63, notes the literal meaning “le pagne," but translates “le protecteur." Vogelsang, Komm. 73,= 205 - suggests "der Schurz des Mutterlosen," without further comment. Although initially the Sndyt was a garment worn exclusively by the king, I think it would be a mistake here to take Sndyt as a symbol of royal authority. By the Middle Kingdom the 3ndyt had become an ordinary piece of clothing worn by fisher- men and hunters, as well as by field workers: see vandier, Manuel, VI, 302. Bl, 64 - 66 Bil, 64- Cause that I establish your name 65 (nature) as "this land in accordance with every proper law." ¥ Bl, 65- Leader, free from greed, 66 Bil, 66 Great One, free from pettiness, Bl, 66 Destroyer of falsehood, Bl, 66 Establisher of truth 7 (maat).- 206 - y) Ranke (2AS 79, (1954), 72-73), was the first to point out that the expression iri rn (WB II, 425, 21-23) is never applied to a private person. It is the technical phrase used exclusively to establish the five-fold royal titulary. For rn as "reputation" or "nature" see Nefer yt, 62 (Goedicke, Neferyt, 134, note bh; Vernus Athribis, 204, note g; cf. BIFAO 78, 375 for rn as the "names" of the royal titulary. The first "name" given by the peasant, “this land in accordance with every proper law," is tant- amount to a political program, similar to such royal epithets as the sm’-t2wy, "unifier of the two lands," of Mentuhotep I of the Eleventh Dynasty or the shtp.t®wy, “pacifier of the two lands," known for King Teti of the Sixth Dynasty. It is, of course, the peasant's own agenda. The two expressions P? t? and £9 pn are frequently used to designate Egypt or a part thereof: see Goedicke, Neferyt, 75; Helck, Prophiezeiung, 17 (III f); Caminos, Tale of Woe, 30, note 8. For a discussion of hp in the singular as statute and in the plural, hpw, as codified law, see- 207 - especially Lorton, JESHO XK, 56; 59-61; Goedicke, Neferyt, 106, note ap; Bedell, Criminal Law in the Egyptian Ramesside Period, (1973), 11-12; Théodor- id@s, RIDA 14, 127-134. 2) The five appellations are not those of any known Egyptian king, although the second, simw (w m wn-ib), is somewhat reminiscent of the Horus name attested for Sesostris II, sSmw t?.wy. The fifth name, sbpr m3! sh'-m3't, one of the two Nbtj names attested for may have suggested the phrase Sesostris II, or bkn-m-m?'t, the Horus and Nbtj name of Amenemhet II: Von Beckerath, Lexikon III, 456. Ranke, ZAS 79, 1954, 73, identifies s&@m/ t?.wy as the Horus name of Amenemhet II, but see Gardiner, Egypt of the Pharaohs, 439, and Von Beckerath, Lexicon, III, 546, where the name is assigned to Sesostris II. Ranke is careful to say that the allusion is too vague to be used as an indication of the original date of composition for the Peasant. It is noteworthy, however, that the one explicit refer~ ence to a specific time period in the Peasant is the mention of King Neb-kau-re in B1, 73 and that Neb-kau-re is known as the prenomen from the titulary of Sesostris II's father, Amenemhet II (see Gardiner,= 208 - op.cit.). Since it is highly unlikely that the Peasant was composed in the Heracleopolitan Period (see Introduction, 5-12), it is tempting to see in the allusions cited above veiled references to the rulers that were the author's contemporaries, namely Amenemhet II and Sesostris II. This sort of detect- ive work is ultimately impossible to prove. There is also a strong argument against a date of composition during the reign of Amenemhet II or Sesostris II. This is that it is doubtful if our proposed author Khety, having written the Prophecy of Neferyt some time late in the reign of Amenemhet I (or early in Sesostris I's reign?) would still have been alive and writing some forty-six to fifty years later under Amenemhet II, or even later under his son Sesostris II. For a discussion of the poetic merits of this passage, see Introduction, 51-54. For !wn-ib, "covetousness," the antithesis of maat's nature, see Morenz, Egyptian Religion, 115 and + 22, With reference to Peasant B1, 292, Morenz defines ‘wn-ib as “ruthless personal accumulation involving every unjust means including deceit and violence." Cf, WB I, 172, 12; CD 40; Prisse 10, 5 and 6; 10, 1; Siut, pl. 5, 231; Foster, JNES 34, 17.= 209 - Najt, WB IZ, 369, 9; CD 144; Prisse 6, 67 means “baseness" (CD 144) or “iniquity” (Vernus, Athribis, 184, n. (a). C£. Zaba Ptahhotep 119. wandee, Death as an Enemy, 288 (Stela of Beki, Spiegel, Totengericht, 72) translates "wickedness." In Prisse 6, 6, the terms ngjt and ‘wn-ib are also found together. The themes found in B 1, 64-67 are taken up again in B 1, 241-242: shpr m?'t, sbpr bw nb nfr, shtm bw-/dw/. Bl, 67 - 70 Bl, 67- Come on behalf of the call which my 68 mouth gives! Be aia Put an end to evil! °* Bl, 68 I am speaking so that you may adjudicate! Bil, 68 Do that which is just (maat), 0 praised one, whom the praised ones praise! bb B1, 69- Expel my troubles! 70- 210 - aa) For prw, "call," a more technical legal sense is probably in order here, e.g. "plea." Ddi r? can be rendered either, as above, which (my) mouth gives, or as the idiom, ddi-r*, a noun meaning literally "he who continously gives the mouth." For the probable juridical implications of ddi-r? as "the pleader," see Vernus, Athribis, 301, note b. Cf. Gardiner, Admonitions, 104; 106; Kadish, JEA 59, (1973), 82, note ss. The expression occurs in the same line with the verb iw, which may also have a technical juridical meaning in certain contexts: Zivie, Giza 179, 18. The R text shows a completely different tradition, using the expression rdi xr t?, "to terminate," CD 155; Goedicke, BA, 161. Bi, 242, For bw-/dw/, “evily," cf. Pea: where the word after bw is missing. bb) For sam as "to judge," "to adjudicate," see FECT II, 17, note 4 (= CT V, 55, e, Spell 387); Faulkner CD 259; cf. sdm(j), "judges": Faulkner cD 259, Peas. B 1, 99; Gaballa, Mose, plate LXII, (S7). Prisse 16, 4; (plural: Prisse 5, 14; Peas., B1, 99.- 21 - For references to other occurrences of iri m't, well attested in the Old Kingdom autobiograph- ies and at Hatnub, see Edel, Phraseologie, § 32, 40, and Janssen, Autobiographie I, 42, § 33-47; cf. also James, Hekanakhte, 104, (6), and Silverman, Orient- alia, 49, (1980), 201, for a discussion of the variant iri m m!'t (see above, note). The imperative is followed by an extended vocative construction, a three-fold repetition of the verb ksi, in a display of ornamental language similar to that in Peas. B 1, 303-304; 306; B 1, 88-89. See Gardiner, Notes on sinuhe, 83, who refers to this sort of word play as a "jingle," "a common trick of Egyptian style" and refers the reader to the present passage, B 1, 69. For dr as a legal term meaning to grant a pardon, see the expressions dr sdb (Rekhmire, 1, 13+14) and dr iw (Admonitions 12, 4-5) and the recent discussion of the problem by R. Parant, L'Aaffaire Sinouh&, Aurillac, 1982, 212-213. The words sir and s?ir-j also occur as technical legal terms, much more restricted in meaning than the usual translations of "need" and "the needy one." ‘Two passages suggest a juridical~ 212 - usage: 1) Merikare 53, where the s?irj will be judged (gt): 2) CT IV, 329, n, in which the s3ir.w of Nu are proclaimed (iww) to Thoth, who then takes them in writing to the Snwt imyt sbht, "the company in the portals," otherwise referred to as the tribunal (g2ast): CT Iv, 329, t. The presentation of a sealed document containing s?ir.w before the tribunal points to a rendering of “charges” or "pleadings" for sir. This translation finds support in CT VI, 206, a, where the sirj is described as one seeking (bh), "extending the mouth," (g°i x2). Faulkner, FECT II, 88; 189, n. 4) translates here "to extend the mouth in search of sustenance," but the context of the passage does not dictate this rendering. The phrase can also be used in a juridical context to mean "to oppose," RIDA 24, 36, n. 56. The document carried by Thoth to the tribunal would be, then, either charges or counter-charges (opposition). The s?irj of Merikare, 53 would be, in light of this discus- sion, “the accused," rather than "the needy" or (Helck, Merikare, 31) "the guilty party." In B 1, 69-70, the peasant is pleading to be acquitted of the charges brought against him.Bi, 70 - 71 Bil, 70 Lo, I am burdened, R114 Lo, I am burdened with sorrow, 116 Lo, I am weak on account of it, Bi, 70- Examine me! 7 Bl, 71 Lo, I am suffering. °° Notes: cc) In B 1, 70-71 / R 114-116, as in B1, 69-70 / R114, the peasant uses to advantage certain terms which may have either technical (juridical) implications or much more general connotations. In the preceding line we saw this use of deliberately ambiguous language with dr and sir. In the following three (R: four) lines we see the same effects created with i'nw and ip.= 214 - In R 114-116 (absent in B 1), the peasant says that he is burdened (2tp) with (his) i'nw. This word may mean “care” in the sense of "woe" or "pain," or "care" with the implication of “a duty": to leave a matter in someone's care. But an i'nw may also be an intercession, a formal plea or appeal: Jelinkova, Djed-Hor, 71; 75; cf. Simpson, JEA 52, (1966), 42 and cr iv, 1, g; CT VI, 251, e. The peasant is pained and grieved by his present situation, a distress which is given concrete form in his plea, i'nw, to Rensi. For 3tp see Sh. Sailor 146; 166; Goedicke, BA, (line 69), 133, For i'nw see Gardiner and Sethe, Letters to the Dead, 20; Gardiner, Admonitions, 102-103; Baer, JAOS, 83, (1963), 2, note 5, (d), (e), (k); CT V, 244, by For the verb fn, in the R text only, see Gardiner, Admonitions, 70-71; 101; Notes on Sinuhe, 60 and Faulkner, CD 98. This rarely attested word has no legal connotations. It means simply "to be weak or infirm” as opposed to rwd, "to be strong" or "to flourish," and is used here to describe the physical consequences of the peasant's ordeal. The verb ip, B 1, 70-71, on the other hand, is= 215 - used in a quasi-juridical way as "to examine," "to evaluate." The same usage of the term occurs in CT VIII, 452, £, (= FECT III, 164, note 10). Vogelsang, Konm., 76, assumes that the nhw of Bi, 71 is a mistake for 2hw since the two words are written identically except for the initial conson- ants. In fact, there is no need to assume that one version is "right" and the other "wrong." The alternation of 3 and n is a well-attested phonetic shift in Egyptian, no doubt one of the regional differences in pronunciation about which we know so little. See pb?/hbn (to destroy); m(?)/mn (to see); h3n/hnn (Caminos, LEM, 244); infw/i?fw (Meeks II, 78.0366; WB I, 96, 10; CT VI, 229 a; FECT II, 201, n.3); n as a replacement of the particle 2 (Meeks 78.0001; CT VI, 413, dy FECT II, 306, n. 2; cf. CT VII, 32, a; FECT III, 21, n, 1); WB I, 12, 9: 2ha/nhd (7). For 2hw, see Goedicke, BA, (line 18), 99; Ptahhotep 171; 195; Merikare, P 39 (Helck, Merikare, 22). For nhw, consult Sh. Sailor, 7-8; Hammamat 113, Siut XIX, 25; Urk. VII, 15; cf. Scharff, ZAS 59, (1924), 26; 35036. Simpson, Pap. Reisner, I, 36; 42;- 216 - suggests that the translation "absent," appropriate to P. Reisner, may be a more accurate rendering for the military contexts as well. Cf. Simpson, op.cit., III, 40-41, and Demarée, Bi. Or. 19, (1962), 186-187, for nhw as “deficiency and "remainder," as in a mathematical operation. None of these translations fits B 1, 71 in a literal sense. The peasant might say that he is “in deficiency" meaning "in need." Lichtheim uses this rendering but without explan- ation: Lichtheim, Anc. Eg. Lit. I, 172, Simpson's “absence” may be the correct translation for the difficult ih ir.k m msb skn. of B 1, 178: make an absence of greedy crocodiles.... In other words, eliminate greedy crocodiles/judges.- 217 - FOOTNOTES TO PETITION I 1) Most translators of the text seem to consider the 3 n m3't to be a purely imaginary body of water, a figure of speech: e.g., Gardiner, JEA 9 (1923), 2 n. 5; and Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature I, 183, n. 10, comment on the metaphorical quality of the following lines and the homophonic word play of m3't and nm? respectively without commenting specifically on the Lake of Maat as a geographical entity. Faulkner, Wilson, Maspero, and Lexa make no comment at all, translating "Lake of Truth" (Faulk- ner, in Simpson, The Literature of Ancient Egypt, 34), "the lake of justice" (ANET, 408, Wilson), “(1e) lac de justice" (Lef@bvre, Romans et contes, 51, and Lexa, Arch. Or., 7, 374). Exman (Die Literature der Aegypter, 161, note 5, queries whether the § is a "Wirklicher See" or "nur ein bildliche Bezeichnung," but does not attempt to answer his own question. only vogelsang (Kommentar, 66, (54)) and Suys, (Etude, 21, (54)) have raised the possibility of a non-metaphorical use of the phrase.- 218 - 2) Morenz, Egyptian Religion, 262; Kees ZAS 65, 71. 3) Schifer, Ein Bruchstuck altSgyptischer Annalen, Abh. Berlin, Vs. 23, ; Breasted, Ancient Records II, 61, b; 4) cP IV, 213, c,d,ey also the Sqlsq text's gloss, CT Iv, 216, c219 g. There is a reference to a $ m3! in Pyr. 1084, where the § m3" is parallel to the Winding Waterway, but it is not specifically linked to Heracleopolis or to a § (n) bsmn. 5) See Faulkner, FECT I, 262, note 1 and Heerma van Voss, De oudste versie van Dodenboek 17 a, Leyden, 1963 for the division of the spell into a basic text, two originally separate spells, and glosses on the basic text. Heerma van Voss concludes that the spell dates from the Ninth or Tenth Dynasty and that its place of composition was Heracleopolis. 6) FECT I, 260. 7) So BHIBR 213, c,d,e and Tic 213 e; although I have translated § n m? as "the Lake of Justice," the term m?'t means more than either "truth" or "justice." It is the central concept of Egyptian ethics and is thus virtually untranslatable. For a full discussion of the concept maat, see Morenz,= 219 - Bg Relig, 112-126; LA III, 1110-1119. 8) The reading of this word is uncertain ( 3 Z). FECT I, 267, note 26 suggests “area?". 9) LR Iv, 3 and 4, 5 and 6. Grieshammer Ag Abh 20, 168; Brugsch, Dictionnaire, I, 248-249; Blackman, JEA 3, 204; Assman MAS 19, 69, n. 1, 2 and 3. 10) Assman op.cit., 69; Heerma van Voss, op.cit., 24-25, 65-66. 11) Allen, Book of the Dead, 28; cf. BD 17, 22: 3 pw n bsmn pn! 3 n mitt. 12) Wreszinski, Agyptische Inschriften aus dem K.K. Hofmuseum in Wien, Leipzig, 1906, Stela no. 102, 63, v, 7, 8. Cf. 61, IV, for a reference to as n m'ty, See also Mem. miss. fr I, 130, the Theban grave of Chaemhet, for a purification in the § n m't only, without reference to a 3 n hsmn: iry.k wib.w m Son m3 Cf. Kees ZAS 65, (1930) 73 for a translation of BD, Chap. 175, 21-23, where a purification in the holy lake of Heraclespolis is mentioned. Kees points out that the text shows a tension between the two traditions concerning sacred lakes illustrated in the glosses to Spell 335- 220 - discussed above (see n. 7 and 8). BD 175, 21-23 speaks of a single lake but, in Kees' opinion attempts to reconcile the two opposing traditions by explaining that the lake is composed of two different elements, the blood and discharge from Osiris' head. 13) Louvre A 88, line 11. Pierret, Inscriptions, II, 16; Vercoutter, BIFAO 49, 1950, 89-90. 14) Petrie, Ehnasya, 1904, EEF 26; Naville, EEF 11; Lopez, Oriens Antiquus XIII, fasc. 4; XIV, fasc. 1. There is, however, a great deal of work left to be done on the town site. 15) Lichtheim, Anc Eg Lit I, 172, n. 10, 16) See Meeks II, 78.1616; WB II 25, 14; FECT III, 203: "meaning unknown," and II, 38, n. 33. See also Meeks I, 77.1595 and RdE 29, 180, n. 7, where the m3'w of a ship is identified as its "side"; cf. WB IT 25, 1. 17) FECT II, 38, n, 34: ibsw/ibsyt. But see note 16 above for the alternative translation of the m'w as the ship's side. If R 99 is to be understood as "may you sail with the ship's m?'w," the rendering of m3! as the ship's "temple" or prow makes better sense- 221 - than that of "side," since "to sail with the ship's side" would seem to be a very unlikely navigational expression! 18) Gardiner, Notes on Sinuhe, 55; 191; cf. The Shipwrecked Sailor, 60-61, kf.n.i. br.i, "I uncovered my face," and Urk. IV, 1383, 16, where kf refers to gathering flowers. 19) Posener-Krieger, Archives Abousir I, 164, (A6); cf. Andreu-Cauville, RdE 30, 19. For kf, "knife," see Faulkner FECT II, 105, n. 47 (= CT V, 396, a) and WB V, 120, 1-2, kft. 20) See Helck, Merikare', 38; cf. Hornung, Sonnen- litanei I, 131; II, 130, n. 308 for kf as "to chase away the shadows," and Goedicke, BA, 174 (line 139) for the idiomatic expression kft pt, literally "a clearing of the sky," used to indicate an absence of problems or obstacles. Cf. also Siut Iv, 10 for this idiom, 21) No translation whatsoever is proposed by either Erman or Vogelsang. In his note on B 1, 56 (Komm. 56-57) Vogelsang only discusses the different gram- matical options for rendering the line; he does not attempt to translate ndbyt. Gardiner, JEA 9, 9- 222 - renders "sheet (?)" without giving any explanation for this tentative suggestion. Wilson, (ANET, 1950, 408) and Lichtheim, Anc Eg Lit I, 173, like Gardiner, ibid. see the sentence as an nn sdm.f, with ndbyt as the subject of the sgm.f verb. This rendering cannot be maintained for reasons explained in note 29 below. Both Lichtheim and Wilson translate nébyt as "squall." Neither gives an explanatory note, but they have apparently assumed that the ndbyt of our passage is an early occurrence and/or variant of the noun ndb "Wind o. a.," WB II, 368, 1 otherwise attested only for the Greek period. As our discus~ sion below will show, we need not look so far afield for an occurrence of ndb. Suys, Etude, 195, suggests "gréement" or “rigging” but, again, fails to say why. Like Suys, Lexa, Arch Or 7. 374, sees the ndbyt and the bt? as two separate items, translating "que tes auriques et tes voiles ne soient pas abaissées." No justification is given for the rendering "auriques" (lateen sails, shaped like a shoulder of mutton.) It is unlikely that two unrelated ship parts were intended, despite the presence of two determinatives (see note 33 below), since the suffix pronoun -.k is written only once after bt?, thus pointing to a direct genitive expression. Lefebvre, Romans, 51, and Faulkner, Lit Anc Bg, 34, "l'étoffe de ta voile" and "the bunt of your sail" respectively, seem to= 223 - base their renderings on the cloth determinative, an indicator which would not seem sufficient in the light of the evidence discussed below. von Bissing's "soll dein Segel nicht schlapp herabhangen" (Leben: weisheit, 158), is too free a translation to be of any help. It is regrettable that none of the translators of the text to date has given any indication at all of how he arrived at a translation for ndbyt. In the absence of any explanatory material, we can only suppose that the renderings cited above were simply educated guesses, based on context or ndbyt's cloth determinative. 22) Fakhry, ASAE 46, 44; Janssen, Com Prices, 136, n. 1, and Cerny, Ag Studien (Festschrift Grapow), n. 29 (1955), 33. 23) Janssen, op.cit., 139, n. 39; cf. LR II, 261-262 for a discussion of Egyptian basket weaving, including the technical terms tm’, sht and néb. For further discussion of ancient Egyptian basketry, see G. Crowford in Chas. Singer, A History of Technology, I, Oxford, 1955, 413-424; R. Forbes, Studies in Ancient Technology, IV, Leiden, 1956, 172-191; Lucas, Materials, 128-133; 136 £. 24) Janssen, op.cit., 137; cf, Frandsen, Ac Or Dan,- 224 = 40, 295; Meeks III, 89.1521. 25) See Madame Gautier-Laurent, M61. Maspero, I, 673 ££.; Vandier, Manuel III, 485 (G); Wild, Hom Sauneron I, 318 and pl. XLVIIZ. 26) Caminos, Lit. Frangments ("The Pleasures of Hunting and Fishing"), pl. 7, frag. 4; see p. 21. Cf. Sauneron, Rituel d'Embaumement 9, 1. 27) CD 130; Gardiner, AEO I, 134. 28) Meeks ITI, 79,1523: NBD, "@tre cerclé de métal" with reference to Kitchen, Ram. Inscrip., II, 544,147 606,12; 607,2; 611,2; 616,27 656,5. 29) K£(i) is not a III-inf, verb, despite indica~ tions to the contrary given in WB V, 119, 4-19, but rather a strong verb whose third radical is sometimes written as -i, sometimes as -2, The latter spelling is well attested for the Eighteenth Dynasty: CD 285. Cf. Gardiner, Si , $5. For the i/? phonetic inter- change, see Cermak; Die Laute der Aeqyptischen Sprache, III, n. 79 ££. (OK); 181, n. 113 ££. (MK). other verbs whose third radical oscillates between ~i and -3 include pb3/hbi (Ward, Four B? Roots, 42-43 nf2/nfii (Meeks II, 78.2085); bt#/bti (Gardiner,= 225 - Admonitions, 108; cf. Sinuhe B 154 and Pap. Kahun 35, 13). C£. also n¥i (WB IZ, 337, 11; Meeks I, 77.221 for which *n¥? is not attested, but whose infinitive, like the infinitive of kfi in B 1, 54, does not show the weak form, ‘*nSit but is written as nis: Nianchcnum 126. See also, nb3: Meeks II, 78.2060; MedWb I, 4527 CD 128; Borghouts Anc Eg Mag Texts, 17 (20), “enrouler" (2). Or should the spelling attested in the Magical Texts be seen as a defective writing of nbd, WB II, 246, 4-5 ? See note j) above. 30) See illustration I. Faulkner, FECT III, 204 (index) tentatively identifies both sdw (cT v, 191, a; 205, 3) and matm (CT V, 74, 87 129, ar VI, 39, 0) as “lacings." Even if one or both of these render- ings were to be confirmed, this would not preclude a translation of “lacings" for ndbyt, inasmuch as there is often more than one nautical expression attested for the same or similar boat part, e.g., ht and bt-t’w for "mast"; bt?, tnfyt and tiwt for “sail.” It is, of course, possible that these varying terms more specifically and exclusively applied to parts of ships we cannot identify precisely on the basis of texts known to us, but it is also plausible that this variety was due to local or dialectical differences in the Egyptian language. Cf. Vogelsang's discussion of the term in Komm., 135.- 226 - 31) The passage in question reads as follows: Bl, 156 irek bmw x ndbyt Bi, 157 ($4 wgnw r irt m3't Bl, 157-58 s3w b?.k £.k br nfryt Bil, 157-59 ‘Syt nt t3 irt m't Bl, 156 “put the steering oar against the binding rope (Take direction against the commotion) , B 1, 157 Remove the floodwater against the doing of justice B 1, 157-58 Beware of backing up beyond the back-rope, Bl, 158-59 The balance of the land consists of doing justice." In light of the foregoing discussion on nbd/nbd, I propose “put the steering oar against the binding (i.e. the coiled) rope," with reference to the rope wound around the post to which the steering oar is bound: Winlock, Models, pl. 70. 32) But see BW IZ, 262, 8 and 9 and Belegstellen where we see a confusion between nért (II, 262,8), "rope, cable," (also sometimes nfryt: Med Habu, 777) and nfryt, WB II, 262, 9-10, whose profusion of- 227 - determinatives, including the branch/wood determin- ative, makes it unclear if the nfryt is always a rope or cable or if it is not, on occasion, used as the name of an oar or paddle. We cannot exclude the hypothesis that ndbyt and nfryt are paired in the B 1, 156-159 passage due to phonetic rather than functional affinities. Cf. Faulkner, CD 132. 33) This is the cloth determinative in both B 1, 56 and B 1, 156. It is doubtless this determinative that has led several scholars (see note 21, above) to see the ndbyt as a part of the sail, a section thereof, the cloth from which the sail was made or even a type of sail. ‘The presence of the cloth determinative is, in my view, insufficient evidence to support any of these renderings (cited in full in note 21 above). In B 1, 56, the cloth determinative for ndbyt may have been written under the influence of the same determinative given for the preceding word, kf. The use of two different determinatives for ndbyt and bt? in B 1, 56 and ndbyt and nfryt in B 1, 156 ££. seems more likely to have been motivated by a desire to differentiate between the nature of two items. Thus if our translation of “lacings" is correct for nbdyt, the cloth determinative may have been used to indicate that these lacings or cords were not of the same variety or material as a nfryt- 228 - or other ship ropes determined with the § -sign. In B 1, 56, the ndbyt is distinguished from the sail by the use of the older sail determinative for bt?, rather than the more commonly used cloth determin~ ative. See Vogelsang, Komm., 67, (56, b and Méller, Palfographie Bd. I, 379, n. 1 for the identification of the determinative as a sail without a mast. 34) On the basis of the above discussion, we can now propose a new translation of Deir el Medineh Ostracon 131, vs. 1: iw.i nbd(.i) d?iw(.w) 2. The line has been rendered by Cerny, "I will weave (ndb being of course a mistake for nbd, NOYBT) two d2iw garments." The translation of "weave" for néb now appears imprecise, in that the act of weaving does not involve the same type of movements described for ndb/nbd above. Weaving does not involve twisting, winding, or curling. Further; the act of weaving is conveyed more normally by the verb sht. It is, in fact, sht which occurs on another Deir el Medineh Ostracon, 428,5-vs.2, where the weaving of a d?iw garment and a pair of is(h) is mentioned. The néb of Ostracon 131, vs.1, is associated with the verb tp, "to stitch, to sew." More precisely, Tp is known to indicate a kind of stitching or sewing done to sandals in need of repair. Ostracon 240 records, in an inventory of sandals, that nineteen single sandals- 229 - were "set aside to be stitched (tp)." The fact that nineteen single sandals had been put to one side suggests a context of repair work rather than that of manufacturing sandals. In Ostracon 131, vs. 1-3, on msg-shirt is to be stitched (tp), one btri n ish, a pair of ish garments, is also to be stitched (tp), and one d?iw garment to be nbd-ed. It seems likely that here, too, the context is one of garment repair, as in Ostracon 240. There is a kind of sewing or stitching appropriate to a cloth garment such as the @?iw which also conforms to the definition of ndb delineated above. This type of stitching is darning, in which a thread is wrapped around and around a tear in the material with much the same movement as would be employed to wrap a linen cloth around and around the arm of a mummy, Ostracon 131, vs.1-3, should thus read: I will darn 2 d?iw garments, I will stitch (repair) 1 mss-shirt, I will stitch a pair of ish garments.PRAME-STORY, CONTINUED- 231 - rame-sto} tinued: Bl, 71-77 / R 117-122 4 (72) this peasant made > this (B1, 71) Now speech in the reign © of his Majesty, King of Upper and Lower Egypt, (73) Neb-kau-re %, the justified °. Then the High Steward Rensi (74), son of Meru, went before his Majesty 9. He said: My lord (75), I have found one of those " peasants who are eloquent of speech + in very (76) truth J, whose goods * were eed) robbed (R 122) by aman in my service}, see he has come to petition me about it. Notes: a) The return of the narrative or prose section is marked by the use of ist rf. For the use= 232 - of ist in initial position, see Zivie, Giza 67 1.11; 68 1.19 and 23; 128, 1.4,5,6,7 and 141 n. gay Hornung, Sonnenlit. I, 223; Gardiner Gram. § 219; cf. Peas. R44 where, as here, the non-enclitic particle plus rf is used to change from one subjective to another and to provide new information; CD 31; Meeks II, 78.0493; Vernus, RAE 30, 120, n.21. b) In Egyptian gd mdt, "to speak a speech." Mdt may also be intended in its more technical legal sense as "plea." See Meeks I, 77.1945, Goedicke, Neferyt 59; Helck Prophezeiung (1970) 7 (11), 11 (II 3); WBIT, 181, 7 ~ 182, 4. c) Literally "period, time." For rk (WB Il, 457, 4 - 458, 3) followed by the name of a god see Meeks II, 78.2449 and Luft, Stud Aeg 4, 155 ££. CE. Helck Merikare 91; CD 153. Rk is frequently used to indicate an era in the (distant) past, cf. dr rk N, "since the time/era of N": Helck, op.cit. 56,62; Lacan, Chevrier, Chap Hatsh 137, 1.14~-18, or as here m rk N or DN, "in/from the time of (the ancients, a king, a god)"; cf. Arch Abousir I, 100 n.d.- 233 - 4) Nebkaure Akhtoy, a Tenth Dynasty king whose capital was Heracleopolis. The reference to Nebkaure here and on a weight found by Petrie in Er-Retaba are all that remain of his reign: Gardiner, Egypt of the Pharaohs, 112; Vogelsang, Komm., 77; Griffith, PSBA 14 (1892) 469. e) For m3'chrw, literally "true of voice," or by convention "the justified," see Goedicke JEA 48 (1962) 31, n. vi cf. Stewart Stl UC IZ, pl. 18, 10. The designation is applied only to deceased kings. See Goedicke, BA, pp. 6-7; cf. Berlandini, BIFAO 79, 258, for £2 n m3'-hrw as the necropole; and hwt nt m?'-prw as the funerary temple in KRI, II, 331. £) Tp m, “in front of," "in the direction of," "before" (of time): Gardiner, Gram. § 1797 CD 296. Cf. m-tp "before," Meeks I, 77.4775. g) Bl, 74: tp m bmf, “before His Majesty"; R119, tp im.f. Vogelsang, Komm., 77.~ 234 - h) Bl, 75: w! m nn a shty, R120: wim nn shty. N32 n is a later, weaker form of the plural demonstrative nn n. It has the force of a definite article, e.g. Peas. R4, n? n it nty mp? mhr, "the corn (grain) which is in the storehouse," where the common plural n? n and the masculine singular p? occur in the same sentence. The definite articles p? t2 and n? n are rare in Middle Kingdom texts but common in later New Kingdom literature. In Middle Egyptian the weaker forms are a sign of the intrusion of the spoken into the written language. Hence they occur in direct quotes, as here and the R 4 passage cited above, as well as in R 66, where t? sp?t replaces the spt tn of classical Middle Egyptian preserved in the parallel from B1, 16. See Gar- diner, Gram. § 112; Vogelsang, Komm. 77; Callender, Middle Egyptian, 15; Kroeber, Neudgyptizismen, 19-44, i) Néx maw: “eloquent” speech in the sense of effective, convincing oratory. For mdw, “speech, word," see sh.S 18; Sinuhe B 183; Peas. B 1,75; Prisse 5, 3; CD 122; WB II, 180, 4-12. Mdw (variant mdt) is also technical legal language for "plea": JEA 17 (*32) 59; Goedicke, BA 106, 129; Parant, Affaire Sinouhé, 4, 43-48, 75-76; Peas. B1, 234. In the- 235 - present passage both meanings are no doubt intended, since Rensi's comment follows the presentation of the peasant's first plea or petition. The ultimate effectiveness of the peasant's speech is an illustra- tion of a dictum from Ptahhotep 58-59: "Good (i.e. meaningful) speech (mdwt nfrt) is more hidden than feldspar. Yet it may be found among maidens at the grindstone." Put differently, mdwt nfrt is a talent, a gift from the gods, not the result of intensive training; the simplest peasant (boy or girl) may be capable of effective speech. For mét nfrt, see Helck, Merikare, 19. j) For newn-m3', "real, true" (variant, wn-m2't), see Peas. B 1, 203; B1, 269-70; B 2, 109, C£. Meeks II, 78.0962 (WB I, 310, 7-12); III, 79.0672; Van Dijk, GM 33, 36; Assmann, RdE 30, 26; KRI, II, 717, 3.10. k) gow (WB III, 107, 1-11) "jar, bowl" or, more broadly, "possession, chattel," Westcar 6, 7; "goods, chattel" (in the plural): Peas. R 43 / Bt 26; Bl, 28; P. Kahun 18, 1; P. Westcar 12, 6. The R 43~ 236 - / Bt 26 and B 1, 28 occurrences apparently refer to the peasant's donkeys and the exotic produce they were carrying, all confiscated by Nemty-nakht. Cf. (D, 172; Meeks I, 77.2738; III, 79.1992 (singular). 1) "By a man in my service," in s nty © ‘Ng{wei, occurs only in R122. No agent is given for the sgm.w passive ‘w2(w) pnw.f in B1, 76. For 'kow , see WB II, 234, 2; Meeks I, 77.0765; II, 78.0814; III, 79.0559; for r='k? "opposite," see KRI, II, 361, Zonhoven, JEA 65, 90, 2. m) A mk + dependent pronoun + Old Perfective construction. Cf. Vogelsang, Konm., 78.- 237 - B1, 78 - 87") (78) And then His Majesty said, "As surely as you wish to see me in health, you shall detain him (79) here, without replying to anything he says °). In order that he continue (80) speaking, be silent. ‘Then one will bring (his words) to us in writing, so that we may hear them >), (a1) But provide for his wife and children. Lo, these peasants (82) come here right before their houses are empty 1. (and) provide for this peasant (83) himself. You shall cause food to be given to him without letting him x know (84) that it is you who are providing it He shall be given ten loaves and two jugs (85) of beer every day ®), The High Steward Rensi, son of Meru, gave it (the provisions). He gave it to a friend of his and he (86) gave it to him (the peasant). Then the High Steward Rensi, son of Meru, wrote to the mayor of (87) the Sht=bmt concerning giving food to this peasant's wife, a total of three measures of grain every day ) .- 238 - Notes: n) The R manuscript of this section of the frame-story presents the same information contained in B 1, 78-87, but in a slightly different order and with several marked differences in phrasing. For a full translation of the R tradition, see the running ‘translation, p. 12. ©) The use of a hortative construction intro- duced by the verb mri is paralleled only in Lebens- milden 1. 150. The grammatical form used here as a frozen introductory particle was perhaps originally an imperative of mri or possibly a corruption of the Old Egyptian proclitic particle mi, "lo." See Edel, AltSgyptische Grammatik § 612. For further discus- sion of its use in Lebensmiiden 150, see Goedicke, BA, 184, n. 314. Cf. P. Westear 9, 8. The very restric- ted, indeed, idiosyncratic use of the expression points to common authorship of the Peasant and Lebensmilden texts. For the notion of "detaining" the peasant, the R text uses /s/ihm, "to cause to slow- 239 - down"; see Petition I, B 1, 56-57, where ihm is used of a boat. Cf. WB I, 118, 19; CD 28 ("restrain"); JEA 25, 220; Lebensmiiden 18; 49; Goedicke, BA, 4, 99 7 120 £., 190; Vogelsang, Komm., 67; 81 f. The B 1, 78 text prefers swdf, another s-causative verb, based on waf, WB I, 388, 12 - 389, 5; ("to delay, to be late"); CD 73, ("delay"). Cf. Sh.S 70; Peas. B 2, 122. Once again, the difference in the two text versions is minimal for the meaning of the story, but clearly points to two discrete written traditions. This means that the R and Bl scribes did not copy from the same text source, since such differences as swdf and sihm cannot be accounted for on the basis. of a scribe's misreading of ambiguous signs in hieratic. The rule of silence observed by Rensi in order to make the peasant talk more and more is presented in B 1, 80 although not stated in the R parallel, as an official instruction from the King. Rensi had already assumed the mantle of silence, however, before the peasant delivered his first address, B 1, 51 / R 94-95.- 240 - p) The difference in the R and B 1 versions of this passage is, once again, proof of two distinct Middle Kingdom text traditions for the Peasant story; cf. note 0) above. B1, 79-80 reads in (sic) mrwt wn, f£ br gd, grew , "in order to keep him talking, be silent." The continuous aspect of the verbal action is emphasized through the use of the br + infinitive construction. This sentence is followed by an ih + sgm.tw construction, ih in.tw n.n m s¥, which explains the consequences of and, therefore, the reason for making the peasant talk as long as pos- sible. A shorter version of this passage is preserved in R 124-125. The ih has disappeared in this later copy, as has the wn.f br gd, and the n mrwt has been attached to the sgm.tw passive of ini. The oddly spelled in-mrwt of B1, 79 is correctly written as n-mrwt in R125. In addition the word mdw.f has been inserted between the datival n.n and m s¥, giving the verb in.tw a direct object. The meaning of the two passages is much the same, despite these differences. The discrepancies are interesting because they affirm the presence of more than one traditional version of the tale. In conjunction with the in-mrwt /n-mrwt contrast, see B 1, 2 / R53, where the R text again preserves the correct spelling in of the- 241 - interrogative particle whereas the B1 scribe has written n (~*") for in, due to the phonetic simil- arity of the two. q) Literally "one of these peasants," w't mn? ‘n shty, the same turn of phrase used by Rensi in R 120-121 to tell the king about Khun-Anup, the peasant who could speak so extraordinarily well. See note h) above. In the earlier passage the w' mn? n + Noun construction is found in R; B 1, 75 uses the older demonstrative, w! m nnn sbty. In the present passage the w' mn? n shty occurs in Bl. The R version seems garbled: w! im nb n /shty/.... Thus we cannot say that either the R or the B 1 manuscript is consistently more reliable, since mistakes appear in both; cf. note p) above. For x Swt pr.f r t3, Vogelsang, Komm., 82-83, reads "um den Mangel seines Hauses 2u beseitigen,” seeing in the r t? an ellipsis for rdi rt? , "to put an end to." This interpretation is attractive but problematic. It seems unlikely that the B 1 scribe would have deliberately chosen to omit the verb in this construction, since the phrase occurs elsewhere in the text and is written out fully with the verbal- 242 - element, e.g., B 1, 182-183 rdit s? grq xr t?. Cf. B 1, 197-198 pth s* grq £ t* where a different verb is used. The omission of rdit after r in B 1, 82, could, of course, have been an unintentional error. The R text parallel is too fragmentary to be of any help, but as occurs passim throughout this prose section, seems to preserve a different tradition. The remaining traces do not suggest rdit but iw or another similar verb of motion ASA SOIR S =S I would opt, therefore, for an interpretation of B1, 82 as written, without emending or assuming the elliptical use of rd: This gives us the (literal) rendering, "One of these peasants, against/ at the emptiness of his house, comes to this land." In other words the noun shty is qualified by the prepositional expression r 4wt pr.f. The verb iw is modified by the adverbial phrase r t* "to this land,” i.e. to Egypt, at the end of the sentence. The positioning of r Swt pr.f directly after shty indic~ ates that it should be taken as a modifier of that noun. This creates a very long subject, or subject + qualifying phrase, which cuts off the verb iw from its adverbial modifier r t?. ri ‘nh, meaning literally "to make life" or- 243 - "to make live" is transcribed by Vogelsang, Konm., 78, as iri 'nbt. For the final character of the second word, I would read either -n or three plural strokes, the latter perhaps by analogy with WB I, 205, 8: + Ti . the reading is not certain since the three signs linked vertically are written in a difficult cursive script. The datival n makes the most sense grammatically. The R parallel is of no help since the signs between ~* and bmt are no longer legible. See Vogelsang, Komm., 82, for a discussion of the passage's difficulties and other attestations of the idiom iri ‘nh. See further, Meeks II, 78.0416 and Dendara VIII, 155, 4 for iri ‘In, "fournir les moyens de subsistance." Cf. Ibid. 112, 4, dri prt “procure daily rations"; iri mw (Assuan 60), "provide water." ‘The R version of the passage, iri ' n(y) ‘nh /n/ mt shty pn preserves a variant that reveals a detail of the administrative procedures involved in the process of iri 'nh that the B 1 text passes over in silence. The R text speaks of a "document" or "order" ( 2—" | ) of provisions to be made out. Since the same variant occurs twice in this section, R 125 and R 128, with reference to both the peasant's wife and the peasant himself, the ' cannot be dis~ missed as a slip of the scribal pen. Rather the- 244 - nly) ‘nb must correspond to a written provisions order known to the Thirteenth Dynasty R scribe, even if it is a misunderstanding of an earlier iri 'nl which makes no mention of such a written document. See P. Bologna 1094, 10, 4; Sinuhe B 87; P. Westcar 9, 20; and P. Sallinger I, 5, 8, for the theme of providing a detainee with food. r) Note that in B 1, 83, a reference is made to giving the peasant ‘kw , "wages," a term not used with respect to the ‘nh sent to his family. Presum- mably the peasant is earning his keep by continuing to spout forth mdw nfrw. For ‘kw "provisions," see D. Miller, JNES 34 (1975) 255; Leprohon, JARCE XII, (1975), 98, n.6; Hekanakhte I, 15; Il, 6, 7; VII, 8} IX, 1; Hammamat 87, 16. Both B 1, 83 and R 129 stress that the peasant should not be told who is providing him with food and drink, a curious detail. Should we assume that the authorities fear that the peasant will think his case is as good as won if he realizes that the king him- self has ordered his provisions? In any case, this strategem was not successful, as we know from the frame-story conclusion (B 2, 125-126) where the- 245 - peasant says to Rensi "Will I go on eating your bread and drinking your beer forever?" s) The ten loaves of bread is the same amount of bread given in wages to an ordinary worker in the Hammamat quarries in the reign of Sesostris I. Thus, yet again, we see that the peasant text is faithful to the details of everyday life in the Middle Kingdom as we know it from non-literary sources. The peas- ant's wages as counted in rations of beer, however, were six times that of a contemporary Hammamat quarry worker. Leprohon, op.cit., 98, playfully queries if the extra jugs (ds) of beer were not intended to loosen the peasant's tongue and thus to amuse the court. It is possible, though that the extra beer rations were not necessarily to be taken literally but as an indication of the peasant's total earnings, which would then be considerably more than the average quarry worker's daily wage. In the use of bread and beer as accounting units in the Middle Kingdom, see D. Miller, JNES 34 (1975) 249-263. See also Helck, Das Bier im alten Agypten, Berlin, 1971, 53-65, for beer as a form of compensation.- 246 - t) For the motif of not revealing the source of his food to the peasant, see note s) above. In B 1, 87 Mrt receives three hegats of grain a day. If we compare this with the peasant's ten loaves, we can assume that this is an ordinary, but not extravagant amount of food for her family. since we know that she had only 20 hegats in all at the time of the peasant's departure, an amount which was to last at least 12 days, we can see that the family was indeed running low on food supplies when the peasant left for Egypt. As noted above in the Commentary on the frame-story introduction, note e), this probably reflects a general problem with food shortages in Egypt and her outlying areas. It is unclear how much grain per day Mrt was given in the R version of our story. The quantity indicated in R 134 would seem to be only one hegat of grain a day. Cf. Mller, Paldographie, § 695; James, Hekanakhte, Pal. 15, E. I can only assume that this is an error. See Vogelsang, Komm., 84.Commentary PETITION 17om Pee PETITION 12 Bl, 88 Then this peasant came to petition him of his own accord a second time. R 139- (He found him coming out of...) 140 Bl, 88- He said: 0, High Steward, my lord! 89 Greatest of the great, Weightiest of the weighty °, Notes: a) In the introduction to Petition II (B 1, 88-89 / R 139-141) the peasant, still hoping for a swift and favorable judgment from Rensi, prefaces his- 249 = second plea with a series of laudatory remarks addressed to the High Steward. The introductory remarks are a variation on the theme established in Petition I, B 1, 53-54 / R 97-98, The introduction to Petition I alludes to the political nature of Rensi's authority through the use of the terms wr and s3my. In the introduction to Petition II, the term wr has been retained while s%mw has been replaced with pwd. The description of Rensi as the "greatest of the great" and “weightiest of the weighty” should not be looked upon as mere gratuitous flattery. In using the term hwd, the peasant calls to mind the Egyptian notion of the rich man as the impartial judge, as put forth in Merikare 40-45. (Cf. Helck, Merikare, 24, 26 and 49). According to this tradition, he who is not lacking in life's comforts cannot be bribed. Only the rich man is above suspicion. The poor man cannot be trusted to speak the truth. By introducing the term pwd with reference to Rensi in his prefatory remarks, the peasant evokes the theme described above. Its converse will be explored in the course of Petition II, B 1, 123-125. Theft (43wt) is the act of one who has nothing (iwty htef). But if it is to be expected among the indigent, it will not be tolerated among those whose- 250 - bellies are full. In Petition v, B 1, 231-235, this point is further developed. To deprive a poor man (pwr) of his worldly goods (pt) is tantamount to taking his life. The magistrate must protect the poor (mir) against his enemies. In Petition VIII, B 1, 294-295, Rensi is again reminded that he suffers from no material needs. It is regrettable that the R version of this part of the text, R 139-141, is extremely fragmen- tary. Although it is clear from what remains of the manuscript that the R text contains an extra line, R 139-140, very little of this line is legible. Vogelsang, Komm., 85, transcribes /g/m.n.f sw m pr/t/.... Whereas the m pr/t/ at the beginning of line 140 is clearly distinguishable, what remains of line 139 in the unpublished photograph generously provided by the Staatliche Museen of Berlin does not resemble the gm.n.f of the gmn.f gs in R38, Vogelsang's reconstruction relies heavily on two other similar passages from the Peasant story: B 1, 34 / R 84 and Bl, 194-195. The former is again partially damaged in the R version and therefore of only limited value in restoring R 139-140. In the photograph only the reinforcing m ( G4) of gm, possibly the final tip of an -.£, and the botton third of a sw sign (¥) followed by traces which- 251 = could be the remains of an w (<) and walking legs (A) are visible. For the superlative construction rendered by the genitive, B 1, 88-89 / R 141-142, see Gardiner, Gram., § 97, note 2. Bl, 89- Who is always 91 great for his great ones, weighty for his weighty ones, a steering oar of heaven °, a beam of earth °, a plumb-line which carries the weights ?. Bi, 91 Steering oar, do not deviate! Beam, do not tilt! Plumb-line, do not vacillate!- 252 - Notes: b) The epithets bmw n pt and s*w n t? from B 1, 90-91 / R 143 are probably not original with the author of the Peasant: cf. Gardiner, JEA 9, ('23), 10, note 3 and Selim Hassan, Hymnes religieux, 102, who point out that the two phrases are stock expres- sions known from the Middle Kingdom through Saite times. An exact Saitic parallel occurs in Turin Sarcophagus n.2201 where bmw n pt and stw n t? are combined with sb? n yr n pr.f to describe the vizier Gem-nef-hor-bak: R. El-Sayed, BGE 69, ('75), 126, note bp, and Selim Hassan, ibid. In Urk. IV, 16, 5-6 (Bulogy to Ahmosis, Assmann, AHG, 482, n.232), the elements of the two expressions have been inverted: s’w n pt, bmw /n t3/, cf. Legrain, ASAE, 4, 1903, 28, line 6. In the Book of the Dead, Chapter 148, the sun is called the bmw nfr n pt itbtt. The appel- lation gmw nfr is found again on a Saitic stela where it is said not to deviate (zbn) as in B1, 91 / R 144, The second half of our text, s3wnt%, is used in relation to Amon, Urk. VIII, 84, h, cf. Borghouts, OMRO 51, 147-48 and note 351. We find it again in a- 253 - Ptolemaic eulogy to Ramesses II, Gauthier, La grande inscription dédicatoire d'Abydos, 37, immediately preceded by wh? n pt, “pillar of heaven." The usual rendering of "rudder" for bmw is an anachronism. In ancient Egyptian times, the rudder, a “vertically hinged plate mounted at the rear of a vessel or aircraft used for directing or altering its course," had not yet been developed. Cf. Faulkner, Catalogue of Egyptian Antiquities, II, 1972, Glos- sary, 68; FECT III, 203; CD, 169. A boat's steering mechanism consisted of a large oar mounted by means of ropes to a stanchion in the rear-of the boat. For the definition of a rudder, see The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Delta Edition, (1977), 615. See Bjorn Landstrom, Ships of the z hs, 76-77, figs. 321-322 (= Cairo EBM 4942; 4921) for illustrations of craft of the Middle Kingdom with a single large steering oar; see figs. 292 and 293 for illustrations of contemporary funer- ary craft with two steering oars. The use of the term bmw describes Rensi's power to guide and determine the course of events. The term may have been chosen, in part, as a refer- ence to Rensi's power to guide the administrative "courthouse barge" encountered in the frame story,- 254 - R35. It is also, more generally, a reference to Rensi's ability to determine the peasant's fate as well as that of others appearing before him in his role as magistrate. Selim Hassan, Hymnes religieux, 102, points out that the expression "gouvernail de la justice" exists in modern Egyptian Arabic too. He notes the use of a similar phrase, hpt n(y) m?'t, "gouvernail ou rame de la justice" as a Dynasty IV queen's name; cf. Borchardt, 2AS 36, ('98), 143. For the Egyptian, according to Hassan, the king was "l'homme qui dirige les affaires de son pays, comme un pilote dirige un bateau." For an interesting discussion of the inter- relations of rudder (sic), heart, tongue, and balance imagery in ancient Egypt, see Herrmann, ZAS 79, (54), 106-115. Herrmann takes up primarily the imagery found in the Wisdom of Amenemopet and its much later development in the Epistle of St. James. In both Amenemopet and James (3: 4-5) the "rudder" and the tongue stand as symbols of the whole organ ism, i.e., the boat and the human body respectively. Each is a small but very potent member. Herrmann, op.cit. 106-107.= 255 - c) The word s?w is well attested as a (wooden) be: WB III, 419, 14-17; Helck, Materialen, V, 903 and references; Glanville, JEA XIV, 298-99, note 4; Janssen, Commodity Prices, 372 £; Frandsen, Ac Or Dan 40, 297; Borghouts OMRO 51, 147, §351 and references; Gardiner, JEA 9, 10, note 3; Grapow, Bild. Ausdr. 165 £; James, Hekenakhte, 54; Accounts Doc. §6, vs. 10. The term is used here to mean a length of timber which serves as a supporting member in construction. In this usage, sw is sometimes associated with roof supports: Glanville, ibid.; CT I 254, a (FECT I, 55, note 14); Pap. Leiden I 348, vs. 12, 2-3; Borghouts, OMRO 51, 147, §351. Elsewhere, as in our passage, the stw is said to support the earth while the "roof," i.e. the sky, is described as resting on columns or pillars: Pap. Leiden 347, rt. 5, 9-10; Inscrip. dedic. 37 (= Kitchen Ram. Inscriptions, II, 326, 13); cf. Urk. VIII, $84, h, In all the examples given above the sw designates a horizontal support. It is frequently specifically contrasted with vertic- al elements: Pap. Leiden 347, rt. 5, 9-10; Inscrip. dedic. 37; CT I, 254 a. As Borghouts, ibid. has pointed out, s*w often seems to have a cosmic signif- cance connected with Egyptian ideas of creation: Pap. Leiden I 348, vs. 12, 2-3; CT V, 277, d; 301, 3 (sow n dt, "beam of space,"); Urk. VIII, $84, hy+ CT I, 254, a.= 256 = The description of Rensi as a s*w n t? shows the fundamental importance accorded to that role in ancient Egypt. The magistrates, as upholders of justice, were considered to be the very basis upon which society (t%) was built. For £3 used to describe a country as a socio- political, rather than as a purely geographical, entity, see Meeks, op.cit. I, 410, §77.4714, citing Helck Prophezeihung, 42, (XI b) and Merikare 22; Caminos, Tale of Woe, pl. 10, 4; Goedicke, Neferyt, 113-114 argues that the £? of Neferyt 51 has "a geophysical rather than a political meaning," thus acknowledging by implication the existence of t? as a political entity. 1% as a social designation can be seen in the expression t?-tmw, Kitchen Ram. Inscrip. II, 266, 1 and Meeks, op.cit., 318, §79.3334, a)'The addition of a third metaphore in B 1, 91 / R143, Rensi the judge as h?j, again underlines the importance of scrupulously fair judgments. This is done through playing on the two meanings of b*j as “plumb-line" and ‘measuring tape." For B34 as plumb-line see WB III, 223, 21; CD, 183; Pyr. T. 1196; JEA 46, 30; for 2} as “measuring tape" see~ 257 - WB III, 223, 20; Cerny, Sinai Inscriptions I, pl. LII and II, p. 141, note b. The h?j is the measure, or test, of rectilin- earity, which for the ancient Egyptians symbolized moral rectitude. This is an idea which has survived in twentieth century Western culture in such expres- sions as "to keep to the straight and narrow, "to go straight (after committing a crime)" and "le droit chemin, la voie droite; suivre le droit chemin; marcher droit". The use of p?j as a measure of moral conduct is also known from Prisse 8, 5, and the auto~ biographiical inscription from the tomb of Rekhmire: Urk. IV. 1076, 8; cf. Gardiner, ZAS 60, ('25), 68, "(I was) ...the balance (iwsw) of the entire land keeping aright their hearts according to the }'j." Thus to call Rensi the h3j is to describe him as one who is morally upright, a model of virtue for others. The theme of straightness as the visual, physical equivalent of fair dealing and justice is developed at some length in Petition II (B1, 95-97; 98; 99-100; 106-107; 131) and echoed in Petitions III (B 1, 173-174, VE (B1, 262-263), and VIII (B 1, 322-323). ‘The interpretation of h?} in this passage as a moral yardstick is corroborated by the- 258 - qualification of the term as £3j(w) wdnw. F%j(w), an imperfective participle used adjectivally, can mean either “to carry, to support" or "to weigh:" WB I, 573, 15-19; Faulkner, CD, 97; Valbelle, Poids, 3, note 11; Meeks, Année Lexicographique II, § 78.1563. H°i £24 (w) wdnw can be read either as a literal description of the plumb-line with its weight, or plumb-bob, attached ("the plumb-line which carries the weights") or as "the plumb-line gua moral standard that weighs burdens (wdnw)." In the latter interpretation, the wdnw would be burdens or weights in the figurative sense of a moral burden, i.e., a sin to be weighed against the deceased at the Final Judgment, (see below). For the verb wdn used metaphorically, see Kitchen, Ram. Inscrip. II, 387, 15: wdn br ib, “to weigh (heavily) upon the heart. The author of the Peasant has deliberately set up this ambiguity through his use of wdnw in the plural to designate the plumb-bob. We would expect only one weight to be suspended at the end of plumb- line. The use of the plural opens up the possibility of the second interpretation given above, in which £34 is rendered as "to weigh" in the sense of a moral evaluation, such as occurs when the heart of the deceased is weighed at the Final Judgment. For this use of £2j see CT I, 181, d-e, Suicidal, line 29, and- 259 - Goedicke's discussion of the two passages in BA, 193 and notes 78 and 79. The entire phrase, h?j £2j(w) wdnw , then, functions on three levels. First, it suggests a visual image of absolute and unvarying straightness and thus, by association, absolute fairness. At the same time, the choice of the terms )*j and especially £34 evokes the notion of the Final Judgment and the removal or erasing of the deceased's sins, his moral burdens, as described in CT I, 181, d-e. Finally, we must remember that h?j is not used alone but in bmw n pt and sy n t3, pt and t? are paired repeatedly in conjunction with two other metaphor: Egyptian texts, particularly hymns, to symbolize and epitomize the concepts of height and breadth. The addition of h?j, the instrument which plumbs the depths, gives us the third dimension of the physical world, indirectly suggesting that Rensi as judge must not make superficial judgments but must rather study a case in depth. Cf. Grapow, Bild. Ausdr. 25: praising Amon to the heights of heaven, the breadth of the earth, and the depth of the sea: Cairo 7, 4; cf. Berlin 20377. For similar phraseology concerning Chnum, see Urk. Iv, 142, 10.- 260 - e) In B 1, 91-92 / R 144-145 the bmw, s°w, and B24 are addressed and asked not to deviate from their proper positions. The bmw is besought not to “turn wrongly" or to "steer off course," (zbn): Faulkner, €D, 220; WB III, 433, 7-16; Goedicke, BA, 148 and note 197; Corteggiani, Hommages Sauneron, I, 131, note k. The verb recurs in Peas. B1, 126 and 221. In these two passages zbn describes undesirable or apparently inexplicable movements of a ship at sail. In B1, 221 zbn is the verb used to refer to the boat's lack of direction and is best rendered in this context as "to drift." ‘The verb has given its name to the zbn -fish, the Synodontis batensoda, "qui peut nager sur le dos, le ventre en l'air," P. Lacau, Etudes d'égyptologie, BdE 60, 52. The zbn-fish was, in turn, used as a metaphor for human beings who have lost their way: Goedicke, ibi The peasant begs Rensi not to turn his back to him as the zbn-fish does, not to go astray from the path of justice. Gs3, meaning "to tilt or lean to one side," (Faulk- ner, CD, 292; Condon, Royal Hymns 15, 3, 8) is used again in Petition III, B 1, 92 and 96, in reference to a balance which malfunctions, which does not stand straight. The term can also be used figuratively to mean "to be partial" (Helck, Merikare 25) or "to pervert justice," Gardiner ZAS 60 ('25), 71. Used in- 261 - conjunction with the preposition n plus a nominal or pronominal object, gs? means "to favor someone,": Gardiner, JEA 9, 10, note 4; Faulkner, CD, 292. It is obviously against the background of these more abstract uses of gs? that the peasant implores Rensi not "to tilt.” Rensi as h°j is asked not to vacillate (irj ‘nwdw), not to deviate from its absolute straightness or fairness. For a discussion of nwd “vacillation" see Goedicke, Neferyt, 132; Priv. Rechtsinschriften 115; 93: irw(t).sn nwa, "to err, to stray." See also The Autobiographical Inscription of Rekhmire, line 15-16, Gardiner, ZAS 60 ('25), 68, for the expression Awdw-ib, "those who are vacillating of heart," i.e., those who are disloyal, who are further qualified as iwty '?.sn, “lacking in straightness, i.e., virtue or fairness." See the discussion above on h?i, note d).Bl, 92 - 97 Bl, 92- 93 Bl, 93- 95 Bl, 95 - 262 - When the rich lord (Nemty-nakht) takes possession of nothingness (a trifle), And its possessor (the peasant) is robbed for one thing *, The (usual/basic) income in your house is one hin of beer and three loaves, But what are you doing to truly satisfy the "hunger" of your dependents? 9 A mortal man, along with his under- lings, must die.- 263 - Will you be a man of eternity without injustices, Bl, 96= such as: a balance that tilted, 97 a plummet that strayed, something truly precise transformed into a random roamer? + Notes: £) The peasant, in B 1, 92-93, plays on the double meaning of nb, “administrator," and nb, owner, possessor." His adversary, Nemty-nakht, is both a low-level figure in the administration (a gt or son of a dt) and a relatively wealthy and powerful Property owner. The peasant describes himself - ruefully or sarcastically - as a nb iwtt, see below.- 264 - For nb as "administrator," see Goedicke, Nef. line 47, 108, n. as; Helck, Merikare, 26; 72; Meeks, annfe_lex., II, § 78.2038, “le supérieur hiérar- chique." Cf. Goedicke, op.cit.; Meeks, OLA 6, 645, n.182, for nb as "owner." For the idiom iti m, "to take possession" see Faulkner, CD, 34 and JEA 27, 1147. The basic meaning of iti is "to seize forcefully,": Goedicke, BA, 206, n. 249; Neferyt, p. 107, n. ar; cf. Edel, Phraseo- logie, § 25, for the definition of iti in the Old Kingdom as “to confiscate goods outside legal action." In Peasant B 2, 67-68 we find iti used in this same sense. Iti is paired in that passage with being an 'w.y, a robber. Iwtt, "nothing," is an ironic reference to the nhy n bm*t, nhy n bsmn from the frame-story intro- duction. This is the phrase used in B 1, 47-48 / R 92-93 by Rensi's jurors to describe the peasant's goods confiscated by Nemty-nakht. For 'g? "to rob, plunder" see Sethe ZAS 47, 80-81 and CD 164. See Goedicke's discussion of the term in BA 162 f; cf. Redford, Fs. Edel, 339, n. 8. The w!, “one thing," of B 1, 93 is the single= 265 - "crime" committed by the peasant's donkey, B 1, 9-10. g) In B 1, 93-94, the peasant reminds Rensi of his comfortable position in terms of everyday needs. To understand the point of this line, we must look at the root meaning of brt, namely "that which is under, that which carries or supports." Thus prt, usually translated as "possessions" or “portion,” means the basic minimum necessary to support life. Although it is sometimes used to mean an “allowance” or fee, it is not to be confused with "income," 'k.w in Egyp~ tian, or the basic wage rate. Cf. Prisse 7, 10, and Foster's translation of "daily requirements," Thought Couplets, 39. When prt is understood in this way as a term denoting life's physical necessities, the second half of this line makes sense. The stipulation of Rensi's rt is not, as Faulkner, Lit Anc Eg 36, n. 16, suggests, an attempt at satirical humor by means of understatement. The hin of beer and three loaves of £3 are the peasant's estimate of an adult's minimum daily food requirement and should not be taken as a sarcastically low figure describing Rensi's income. Hence, there is no implied comparison between B 1,- 266 ~ 92-93 and B 1, 83 £., where the peasant himself is said to receive ten t? loaves and two ds-jars of beer a day. These figures are clearly specified as the peasant's 'k.w, his income, and represent a wage rate, the peasant's position on the royal pay-scale; cf. Miller, JNES 34, 1975, 249-264. For further discussions of the term prt, see Goedicke, W2KM 5 (Priv. Rechtsinschriften), 18, 125, 130 and note 12, 145 and the Old Kingdom references cited therein: Urk. I, 123, 4; 133, 5; 164, 8; 212, 13; 213, 3; Harari, ASAE 54 ('57), 317 ££; Theodor- ides, RIDA 18, ('71), 117 and note 13; RIDA 17, ("70), 142; RIDA 7, ('60), 89, n, 181; Goedicke, Kéngl. Dokumente, 73; Moret, Chartes d'immunité dans l'ancienne Egypte, III, ('17), 414; Faulkner, CD, 203. The ptr pnk.k m sstyt twiw.k of Bl, 94-95 means literally “what do you expend in satisfying your dependents’ hunger?" Pnk, "expend," CD 89, is the verb used to denote baling water out of a boat or emptying a vessel, literally or figuratively. Cf. Peas. B 1, 220; 278. In the present passage it means what are you giving (pouring forth) of yourself. For ss3/zz> (WB III, 474, 17; Iv, 275) as~ 267 - providing or caring for physical needs, see Goedicke, Nef., 44, n. 92; Schenkel, Bewdsserungsrev., 44, n. 182; Varille, ASAE 40, ('40), 604, n. 2; Vandier, M61. Maspero, I, 138, and the noun from the same root, ssw, “provisions, sustenance," CD, 245; Urk. I, 131, 15. The twiw referred to in this line are economic, social or political dependents. For the etymological development of the term, see Gardiner, JEA 9, 19, n. 8. In economic terms the tw? is a “have-not," categorized as such, along with the sw?.w, the m°. The Communal Relations in Egypt during the Period of the Middle Kingdom, chap. 3. In social terms, he is , the bwr.w and the , by Berlev, a man of humble origins: Gardiner, Notes on Sinuhe, 47. We is sometimes seen in contrast with the sr, the notable or magistrate: Griffith, JEA 12, 211. Elsewhere, he is distinguished from the equal (mi) Siut I, 223, 225. In political terms, the tw? is the subject, Sinuhe B 272-73; Semna Boundary Stela of Sesostris III, where the tw3w are qualified as “relying on mercy," ‘R' br sf: Blumenthal, Unters....Konigtum, In some contexts, the rendering of “claimant” may be more appropriate for the tw? . As Gardiner- 268 - points out in JEA 9, 19, n. 8, the verb tw? in conjunction with the dative of person means "to make a claim upon someone." The noun tw? also means * claim." A more specifically juridical use of the word i.e., "to argue a case (in court)" is suggested by Peas., B 1, 300 and B 2, 105. In the former, the peasant's claim (tw) is clearly the case he has argued before Rensi. In the latter, the peasant describes himself as “one who presents a claim upon you," tw? tw. This more restricted meaning of tw® is not incompatible with the passage from the Sesostris III boundary stela cited above or Peas. B 1, 93. It is with special reference to this second meaning that the peasant queries Rensi on how well he is ful~ filling his duty to those claimants, such as himself, who appear before him. h) For a discussion and slightly different interpretation of this passage, see Silverman, Interrogative Constructions, 26, ex. 29, n. 146. The expression s ny mbb is a type of set phrase also attested for s nly) mty, “a man of exactness" (BM 562, 8; CD 120), s ny sf, "a man of yesterday," Admot 2 and s nly) mitt, "a man of- 269 ~ maat," Vogelsang, Komm., 91. A “man of eternity" is another way of expressing the ancient Egyptian notion of a man who is remembered (for his good deeds) after his death. See B 1, 109; Admon. 2, 2. For n (@*--) as a graphic variant of nn, see Gardiner, Gram., § 104. Is as a non-enclitic par- ticle is discussed in Edel, AltSg. Gram. § 858; cf. Faulkner JEA 68, 28 (CT V, 156, a), who rotes its usage, sometimes in conjunction with 2 , as a pro- clitic intensifier. For pw as a substantive, see Faulkner, op.cit., 27. Literally B 1, 95-97 would, then, read: "Will you be a man of eternity; without injustices, indeed, is it: a balance, etc...." I have rendered the is pw more idiomatically in English as "such as." i) In B 1, 96-97 the peasant gives three examples of injustices, echoing the three negative imperatives of B1, 91 above. The author further recalls the B 1, 91 triplet in using the verb gs?, "to tilt," one of the three verbs from B1, 91. He expands the balance metaphor, introduced with hey of B 1, 91, through the use of iwsw, the "hand balance." The iwsw as a metaphor for justice and fair dealing- 270 will recur, along with the mb*t, "stand balance" regularly throughout the Peasant. For a discussion of the balance imagery in the Eloquent Peasant, see S. Herrmann, Untersuchungen 83 f. and Gardiner JEA 9, 10, n. 4. For th "plummet," see Gardiner op.cit.,; Caminos LEM 148 (Anast. IV, 4, 7); WB V, 323, 7-117 zandee Crossword, 12; Blackman and Fairman, JEA 30, 18; see Urk. IV, 453, 17; 4541 where Diwy-nbh is described as the “plummet of the king, the stand- balance of the Lord of the Two Lands, and the stout- th n nswt, mbit n nb hearted one of the ntr nfr’ 3.wy, shm-ib n ngr nfr. For thm, "to stray," see Vogelsang, Komm. 92; WB V, 311, 13 - 312, 6; Gardiner, Notes Sin., 42 (Sinuhe B96); Peas. B1, 131; 148; 188. Note the ‘nm plant listed among the peasant's goods in the frame-story introduction, R 18. Tbh, "to swerve, to roam randomly," is discussed by Vogelsang, op.cit. and Faulkner, JEA 50, 32; cf. Admon. 9, 2; WB V, 311, 7-12; Gardiner, Admonitions, 66-67. Cf. Peas. B 1, 161.Bl, 97- 103 Bl, 97 Bl, 98 Bl, 99 - 21 - Behold, the Maat weight - she is fleeing from you - having been chased from her rightful place, 7 When magistrates commit wrong, * When he who is in charge of examining the plea shows partiality, + When hearers (investigators) snatch illegally, When one who should apprehend (the verdict): “a mutilator of the wording (agreement) in its accuracy is it" vacillates in this, ™= 272 = Bl, 100- When he who should give respite 101 because of need (gw) -on account of the land being parched- causes that one pant, ™ Bi, 101 When the arbitrator is a robber, ° B 1, 101- When the one who should pardon is 102 the one who orders, "make the harbor into its flooded state," B1, 102- When he who should punish evil 103 commits wrong! P Notes: 3) Cf. Neferyt 68-69; Goedicke, Neferyt, 136-37, n. bm; and Admonitions recto 11 (Khaheperre- seneb); Gardiner, Admon., 102; Kadish, JEA 59, ('73), 78, note jj; Gardiner, Grammar., § 450, 2; Morenz, Egyptian Religion, 221. In the Neferyt text it is- 273 + said that Maat will come back to her proper place (st). In both Nef. 68-69 and Admon. recto 11, there is an opposition of Maat and Isfet: Justice, Truth, order versus Disorder, Evil. After mk m't I read twh rather than Vogel- sang's 3h, Komm, 92. ‘wh is a scribal mistake (metathesis) or variant spelling for wth, "to flee,” WB I, 381, 6. k) It is difficult to find an English word that conveys the precise meaning of the Egyptian sr. The frequent translation of the term as “official” lacks the judicial implications of the Egyptian expression. A sr was an official in the vizier's administration who had judicial functions: Goedicke, K6nigliche Dokumente, 186; Parant, L'affaire Sinouhé, 45; 52-53. The assembly of sr.w (sk n sr.w) seems to have had the power to deliberate and to make zecom- mendations : Parant, op.cit.. Thus the rendering "magistrates" given here is inexact in that it could lead to confusion with the "judges," the sgmy.w. Cf. the verb sr, "to pronounce," Goedicke, Nef. 81, n. u. It is possible, as suggested by Parant, op.cit., 53, that the word sr was used to designate a function- 274 - rather than a title, while sdmy.w would refer to the official name or title given to judges; see also Meeks, Année Lex. II, 78.3659 srj, “agir en qualité de magistrat," with reference to Faulkner Egyptian Coffin Texts (FECT) II, 179 (sp. 573), n. 20 (= CT VI, 182, e) and FECT II, 293 (sp. 760), n. 4 (= CT vI, 390, h). For further discussion of sr, see Theodorides, RIDA 20, 66-82. 1) I take bsb here in the sense of "to examine" with court-room connotations: Meeks, Année Lex., I, 77.2848, and Gaballa, Mose, pl. XXIX. The tpy-bsb n mdt would be the chief examiner of the case (mét) or the plea; see note m) below. For rdi br gs as “to show partiality" of a judge, see Faulkner, CD 291; Peas. B 1, 269; Urk. IV, 1082, 13 and Meeks, I, 77.2452; Peas. B 1, 149. m) For sdmy.w as "hearers," i.e., "investiga- tors," see Faulkner, CD 259 and Prisse, 16, 4; 5, 47 BeniHasan I, 26, 15 Meeks, Année Lex., III, 79.2891.~ 275 - For iti, "snatch, apprehend," see Goedicke, BA 162-63. The mutilator or deformer (Faulkner, CD 212) of a matter must refer to a liar or perjurer. For mdét as a legal plea, see CD, p. 122 and Peas. Bl, 234. ri nwdw, "to vacillate" also occurs in B 1, 92. n) Beginning in B 1, 100 we have a series of expressions revolving around the image of life-giving breath. ‘The first of these is the rdi $9w of B 1, 100, which is usually translated in judicial contexts as "to set at liberty." Cf. Gardiner, JEA 22, 190, n, 3; Caminos, LEM 58, note on Pap. Anast. II, 9, 17 Peet, Great Tomb Robberies, 24. In a recent discus- sion of the term, Parant, op.cit., 269-72, has suggested that someone who is “given breath" is probably not the accused but a witness, who is no longer needed by the court and allowed to return to his daily life. Parant's discussion is based on a study of the term as it occurs in Pap. Abott and in Sinuhe. See also Lorton, Jur. Terminology 137. In light of the context in the present passage, the expression rdi t?w should probably be seen as a type of tax relief. The Egyptians used several terms for= 276 - breathing in a technical legal sense; see nip “to pant," in B 1, 101 and snf, "to make breathe," Hatnub 24, 5 £; cf. Petition I, note v) above. we do not know precisely what such expressions implied in terms of legal obligations, since this is never spelled out in the texts, but the juridical use of the terms is clear. The infinitive of gw "to lack, deprive," cf. (D 288, ie used nominally as "a lack, need." See Gardiner Admon., 56. The reference to the land's being parched in B1, 100, br t# srf.w is an allusion to the then recent problems of famine and drought; cf. Goedicke, Neferyt 16 £; 27. See Peas., frame-story introduc- tion R 2-3; cf. B 1, 94-95, See also ng(?)w, "to be impoverished," Goedicke, Neferyt, 96, n. af. Faulkner, CD 140, renders n¥p in this passage as "to pant." Likewise, Gardiner, JEA 9, 11. The term is usually translated "to breathe." Cf. Grimm, GM 31, 38, nm, 1; Fairman, ASAE 43, ('43), 237, Nr.247a, Inasmuch as the Egyptian language had several terms which we translate loosely as “to breathe," the choice of n&p for this passage is undoubtedly not without significance, but the nuance- 277 - of meaning intended i3 beyond our grasp. ©) Por psSw, “arbitrator,” (B 1, 101) see CD 95. The noun is derived from ps3, WB I, 553, 6 - 554, 1, “to divide." Cf. WB I, 554, 2; James, Hekanakhte, 30, I, vs.17 and Peas. B 1, 248. The use of ps’w as a type of judge is clear. Each line of this eight-line section (B 1, 98-103) speaks of the injustices committed by a different kind of adjudicator, e.g. the sr, the sdmj, the rdiw-t*w, the hsfw, the drw-s3ir. p) For the legal implications behind the expression dr s?ir, "to pardon," see my note on B 1, 69-70. The "one who pardons" is contrasted with the wdw, "the one who orders (a punishment)." The punishment is quoted as anim wdnw.£, "may he make the harbor into its flooded state." The reference is to the Egyptian notion of the official (usually the king) as the dmi or dnyt (harbor, dyke) against the wdnw, floodwater. Ordering the dmi to be turned into a wdnw means turning justice upside down or perverting justice. It is unclear if this phrase is a poetic variation upon a well-known theme or more precise legal language whose specific contents remain- 278 - elusive to the modern translator. For the meaning of dmi as either "riverbank" or "landing place, quay," see Goedicke, JEA 43 ('57), 79-80; Blackman JEA 22, Simpson, Pap. Reisner II, 20. Dmi can also mean a (capital) city (Gaballa, Mose Pp. 27) or a port, a harbor (Meeks, op.cit., III, 79.3563; II, 78.4799. The two renderings of dmi as “quay/riverbank" (cf. Goldwasser, GM 40, p. 21) and port/harbor are related in that they have as a common denominator the notion of a safe or protected spot along the riverbank which can serve as a docking place for boats. This notion of safety - and perhaps the additional feature of shallow water - are contrasted with the deep, swirling waters of the wanw. Wdnw used as a metaphor for (political) unru- liness, against which the Egyptians were protected by their king, is known from Pap. Kahun, 2, 12: Grapow, MIO 1, ('53), 2031; Goedicke, JARCE 7, ('68), 25. The section ends as it began with a reference to those who commit wrong, the sr in B1, 98; the hsfw, “punishers" in B 1, 102-103. The irw iyt is the antithesis of the irw m!'t. For iyt, see my note on Petition I, B 1, 57.- 279 - Bl, 103 Bl, 103 And then the High Steward Rensi, son of Meru said: B11, 103 “are your possessions more important to you than a servant's (Nemty-nakht) being arrested?" 7 Notes: q) For the second time, the peasant is inter- rupted. The first time, B 1, 71-87, the interrupter was the narrator, the author himself, who chose to insert some material pertinent to the historical, or- 280 - Pseudo-historical, background to the peasant's story. Here it is the magistrate Rensi who breaks in - for the first and only time - to question the peasant as to his motives. He asks the shty which is more important to him, recovering his goods or bringing the malefactor Nemty-nakht to justice. The peasant replies indirectly with a long passage, B 1, 104-110, exhorting Rensi to act. In other words his goods are only of secondary importance to him. For iti "to arrest (someone)," see Goedicke, BA, 162 £. Bi, 104 - 111 Bil, 104 ‘Thereupon the peasant said: Bi, 104 If he who should measure out grain heaps is cheating for himself,1, 1, 1, a 1, 1, a 105 105- 106 106 106~ 107 107 108 108 - 281 - If he who should pay another in full is diminishing his part, * If he who should govern according to law is ordering theft, Who, then, will punish wrongdoing? * If he who should put an end to weakness vacillates, If he who should straighten another acts crookedly, * If he who should criticize another gives himself to evil, & Pray -may you find out for yourself:Bl, 108- 109 109 109 109- 110 110 110- 1 qi = 282 - “punishment is short, misfortune long, “ But a good deed comes to its ‘place of yesterday'." * The decree concerning it is this: "Do to the doer in order that he will acti" ¥ This is thanking someone for what he does, Removing something before throwing, Entrusting a matter to a craftsman. 7= 283 - Notes: £) I read the causative sist for “KK ; see WB IV, 32, 1-4 and James, Hekanakhte, 21-22. For mb, “to pay in full" see Gardiner, ZAS 43, 34, n. 26; Goedicke, Neferyt, 105, n. ao; 108, n. at. ‘The hks(w) diminishes the possessions (h°w: WB II, 478, 14-18) of the other. The -.f£ suffix pronoun with h2w refers to the ky. ‘The two verbs mb and hk? are frequently paired and are considered opposites, mb meaning to fill up or restore, make whole; hk? Bl, signifying to diminish, take away. Cf. Peas 251 and Urk. V, 32, 3 (BD Chapter 17, Abschnitt 16) and WB II, 503, 3. s) Por a recent discussion of hp, "law" see Lorton, JESHO XX, 53 ff. The expression bw-bwrw occurs again in Peasant B 1, 263; cf. Admonitions 6, 11; 6, 12; 7, 2. See other references to bwrw cited by Goedicke in JEA 51, 43, ‘The bwrw was the criminal. The bw-bwrw is the- 284 - abstract noun denoting criminal action or wrongdoing. C£. also Goedicke, JARCE 9, 69-72. t) An alliterative effect is achieved through the use of nw and nwdw. For the moral implications of iri nwdw see the note on Peas. B 1, 91 above. Htbb is a variant writing of the verb beb/p2b, WB III, 229, 7-11, "to be curved, crooked; to incline." For a discussion of the term and its etymological links to Arabic hlb/mihlab, see Roccati, JEA 54 ('68), 18, £. H®b and the feminine h*bt are seen in contradistinction to m't. Maat is order; bebt is disorder. Conversely, b*bt is "that which is curved"; maat, "das Nicht-Krumme": Hornung, GM 6, 1973, 59; Roccati, op.cit. See also *b used adverb- ially (written 8b ) in Urk. 77, 14, where it is associated with gw, “evilly" and iw, "sinfully." Thus the term is a strong one and should perhaps better be translated “acting counter to truth, order, and justice," were that not such an awkward phrase. u) For wf? as "to criticize," see Parant,- 285 - L'Affaire Sinouh&, 42 with reference to Sinuhe B 40-41, where the word is paired with the expression psg x br: n wf*.tw.i; n psg.tw r br.i., "I was never criticized; no one ever spit in my face." Parant suggests that both expressions are used to designate society's approval and acceptance. Cf. Posener, Lit. et pol., 99 and Barns, Five Ramasseum Papyri (Pap. I, B, II, 21); Gardiner JEA 16, 22, 4; Notes on Sinuhe 31. Vogelsang, Komm. 97, reads n for the sign directly under the man determinative for ky. Gardiner, Literarische Texte des Mittleren Reiches I, tafel 8a, n.a, suggests a cursive ir. I read, with Gardiner, a cursive —m : the wf? of another is an ixw iyt, freely rendered "one who gives himself to evil," literally a “doer of evil." What we would expect here, of course, is another Noun + (br + infinitive) construction, as in the two preceding lines, as well as in the first triplet (B 1, 104-106) of this section (B 1, 103-110). Whether by design (deliberate asymmetry) or error the br + infinitive construction is missing from B 1, 108. v) Note that B 1, 104 - B 1, 108 consists of- 286 - eight verse lines, grouped in the following manner: 341, 341. ‘The first set of three lines, Bl, 104-106, is set apart and unified by the triple repetition of a br + infinitive clause. On the second triplet, B 1, 106-108, see note (u) above. In B 1, 106 and B 1, 108 the triplets are interrupted by an extra line. In both cases the peasant shifts from a series of three conditional sentences to an exclam- ation directed to Rensi. The structure of the last seven lines of this long passage consists of a four-line stanza, followed by a triplet. The four-line stanza is an excellent example of the author's use of traditional wisdom and proverbial material for his own purposes, by incor- porating two pithy popular sayings (B 1, 108-109; B 1, 109-110) to make his point that Rensi should act, render a judgment. The final quatrain and triplet are linked thematically in that the triplet gives three examples of how to ensure a successful operation are given. This is an elaboration on the final line, B 1, 109-110, of the quatrain in which immediate action (on Rensi's part) is emphasized. Structurally this link is consolidated by the- 287 - use of a noun + pw construction in B1, 109, the third line of the quatrain. This construction is expanded to Noun + pw + adverbial phrase and repeated in each line of the triplet. w) The interpretation of B1, 109 was established convincingly by Gunn in R.T. 39, 102. x) In other words, a good deed is not forgotten. Cf. Faulkner, Lit anc Eg, 37, n. 22. This is a familiar theme in ancient Egypt where "a man's deeds are his monuments." Cf, Merikare (P) 41, “happy is he who remembers the boatless," as an illustration of the principle. There are numerous variations on this theme in ancient Egyptian literat- ure, e.g., (1) wnn rn.f mn m maw; n btmon irt.mé x £3, "His name shall endure as a monument, and what he has done on earth shall not perish." Mokhtar, Bib. @'Et. XL, 116-118, Stela of Amenemhet, pl. XXII, 1. 10. (2) mnw pwn 5 w%h-ib, "The monument is it of a man, (his) patience." Posener, Enseignement loya~ liste, 46; § 13, line 3. (3) mnw pwns nfrw.f, "The monument of a man is it, his goodness" ("A man's- 288 - goodness is his monument"). Gardiner, Gram. § 130; PSBA 18, 203, 16. (4) in ib.i shrt st.i, "It was my understanding which advanced my position.” Faulkner, CD 14; Leyden V, 4, 6. For more variants and discussion of this theme, see Vernus RdE 28, De Meulenaere, BIFAO 63, 28; Annuaire du Collage de France 72, 437; Meeks II, 78.130 Vogelsang, Komm. 199; Gunn, JEA 12, 282 £. y) For this Egyptian proverb, see Gunn, JEA 12, 283, n. 5 and 6; cf. Peas. B 2, 108. See Vernus, Athribis, 70, n. (p): iz n icw n ir is pw irw n tm ir, "on agit pour qui agit; il n'est personne pour agir en faveur de celui qui n'agit pas," a rephrasing of the usual adage that would have been dear to the peasant's heart! See Vogelsang, Komm., 101 £. z) See Faulkner, Cb 74 for wd as "to entrust (n-"to")." Nb bnwt literally, "the possessor of an occupation, a craft." See note v) above.- 289 - Bl, 111 - 113 Bl, 111- 0 for that moment when it ends 113 (namely): 2 The turning inside out of your xwi-birdnet, PP ‘The diminishing among your birds, The ravaging among your migratory fowl. Notes: aa) H2 2 2 shtm, “o for (that) moment of (its) ending." The peasant hopes for the termination rather than the destruction of the three phenomena specified in B 1, 111-113, each of which is related= 290 ~ to birds. The three-fold repetition of the bird theme is perhaps a symbolic allusion to lofty and noble concepts, especially, of course, maat. This type of symbolism seems to be present in the fishing and fowling scenes in tomb paintings and reliefs, where fishing is connected to man's lesser, more human tendencies (cf. the connection of fish with bwt, abomination) but fowling pictorially represents man's attempts to reach up to loftier spheres. This interpretation is based on a suggestion made by Professor Goedicke. If it is correct, the peasant is lamenting the turning inside out (pn') of justice in Egypt and praying for a speedy end to this distrubing situation. bb) The determinative following the word rwi/dwi was read as the vine on props (Gardiner M 43; MBller, Palfogr. I, Nr. 267) by Vogelsang, Komm. 103, leading to the interpretation of the otherwise unattested rwi or dwi as "vineyard": Vogelsang, op.cit.; Lichtheim, Anc Eg Lit, I, 174; Gardiner, JEA 9, 12; Faulkner, Lit Anc Eq, 37 and CD 148. Bidoli, Abh. IDK 4, 45-46, points out that Mdller no.267 is sometimes used as a substitute for the net determin- ative t here as the land's "balance," in the sense of equilibrium or exactness.- 327 - u) Lines 159-161 consist of four couplets in which iri m't, the practice of justice, is spelled out in concrete terms. The importance of the message is underlined by the peasant's delivery, in which every couplet begins with a short negative imperative (m + verbal complement). The first two couplets combine the negative imperative with an iw.k + 01d Perfective construction; the second two couplets substitute an ntk + noun line for the iw.k + Old Perfectives of the first two couplets. In addition the first negative imperative in each set of two couplets is the same, m grg, "do not tell lies.* The use of two-word sentences, the insistent repetition of the negative imperative and the double occurrence of m grg combine to effect an abrupt change in poetic rhythm from the preceding section, B 1, 156-159 to B 1, 159-161, giving a sense of urgency to the message. Por tnbh, see B1, 97, Petition II, note ide- 328 - Bl, 161 - 168 161- 162 162- 163 163 163 163- 164 164 164 165 165- 166 You are as one person with the hand-balance. If it tilts, then you tilt (show partiality). % (So): Do not swerve. © When you take charge, But pull upon the tiller-rope! * Do not steal, When you act against the stealer. Not is it a great one who is great in avarice. ¥ Your tongue is the plummet,- 329 - Bl, 166 Your heart is the weight. Bl, 166~ Your two lips are its arms. 7 Bl, 167 If you disregard the violent man, Bl, 168 Who will punish wrongdoing/criminal acts? 9? Notes: v) B1, 161-163 serve as a bridge between B 1, 159-161 and another tightly structured section, B 1, 162-166, restating the identity of the judge and the iwsw, symbol of justice. This identity is developed further and expressed in corporeal terms in Bl, 165-166. w) The artistry of this section invites a closer look. The passage reads as follow:- 330 - Bl, 163m sb a" negative imperative Bl, 1630 irek bow b adm.t Bl, 163-4 a pr nfryt a imperative BL, 166m dt(w) a' negative imperative Bl, 164 irek r dgw b adm Bl, 165 nvr de py, ce! m+ noun + is + pw + noun2 in fos BL, 165-6 BL, 166 Bl, 166-7 nounl + py + noun? nounl + pw + nown2 nounl + py + noun2 The section breaks down naturally into three units of three lines each. The triplets contrast with the preceding and following sections, both of which are organized on groups of two or four lines. The overall structure of the nine lines can be shown as follows: a-b-at at-b-c! c-e-c The signs a and a‘, as well as c and c', represent the affirmative and negative forms of a single structure: = imperative negative imperative noun, + pw + noun, =a negative noun, + pw + noun, clause.- 331 - From the schematic representation of the stanzas above, we can see that the lines are so structured that the end, or third line, of the first triplet leads into the beginning of the second and that the end of the second triplet introduces the negative of the structure that will constitute the third stanza. Such careful interweaving of the three triplets seems far too artfully done to be the result of pure chance. What we cannot know is whether the structuring of these verses was an original creation of the author's, subject only to his own inner sense of beauty, or if it obeyed certain norms of Egyptian poetry. There is an echo effect produced by the repetition of the negative imperative followed by the sdm.k form of iri in the first two lines of the first two triplets. ‘The second triplet further contains a play on the word iti which occurs at the end of both the first and second lines of the stanza, as a verbal complement with m and a nominally used participle respectively. x) In Bl, 163-164 we see the Peasant- 332 - author's mastery of the double entendre. $a pr nfryt can be read either as a navigational instruction (as translated above) or as "protect/save that which is good." Inasmuch as navigational imagery is used throughout the Peasant text as metaphors for moral conduct, particularly the conduct of those in Power or “at the helm," the Passage is manifestly a plea to Rensi to keep the administration of justice firmly under control. For a fuller discussion of this imagery, see my notes on Petition II, Bl, 90, ff. Cf. B 1, 56; B1, 156, I have rendered ir.k bmw, "when you do/ply the steering oar," as "when you take charge," follow- ing the metaphor of the bmw-oarsman as the one in charge, the leader, developed in Petition II, B 1, 126-127, y) The n we is pw wr im 'wn-ib of B 1, 165 is a reference to the beginning of Petition II, B 1, 88-89, where the peasant calls Rensi "wr n wrw ... aty wn wr n wrw.f, "greatest of the great...who is always great for his great ones." 2) In B 1, 165-166 the author identifies- 333 - Rensi, as a representative of all Egyptian magi- strates, with the balance, an expansion of B 1, 161-162, where Rensi is called tp-w' bn’ iwsw. The parts of Rensi's body specifically mentioned are significant. The author has singled out Rensi's tongue, his heart, and his two lips. By ib, “heart,” understanding (of the case) is meant. In choosing the tongue and lips, the Peasant author puts a heavy emphasis on the importance of Rensi's verbal part- icipation in the legal process, pronouncing the verdict and hence bringing the case to its conclus- ion. His point is that the balance does not function if any of these elements - th, dbn, rmnw - are missing. For the moment Rensi's silence, his failure to render a judgment, is incapacitating the balance. For th, the plummet of a balance, see Petition II, B 1, 96, note i). The abn was the weight used in the scale-pans of a balance, as opposed to the th-weight or wdnw-weight (B 1, 91; Pyr. 1993) used at the end of the plumb-line. Gardiner, JEA 9, 10, n.4; Gram. § 266,47 Urk. IV, 338,2. For ib, "heart," to designate the mind or seat of human intellect and comprehension, see Helck, Prophezeiung (1970), 34 (IXd); Caminos, Tale, pl.4,5;- 334 - Faulkner, CD 14 and references to Prisse 5, 1; Leyden V, 4, 6; Gardiner, Notes Sinuhe, 97-98. aa) For pbs-br (B 1, 167), literally "to hide or clothe the face," as an idiom for "to ignore or neglect (deliberately) ," see University College of London Stela (UC) 14333, line 1 Goedicke, JEA 48, (1962), 33, note ae; Stewart, stl UC II, pl. 18,13; see also Meeks III, 79,1934; WB III, 64, 13-147 Williams, The Stela of Menthuweser, 24, 26 f. Por nt-br, “forceful of view," as “the violent or aggressive man," see Goedicke, BA, (line 107), 160; Admon., 5, 10; WB II, 315, 27; Faulkner, cb 138. Note the difference between the iri psf of B 1, 168 and the ir(w) psft of B 1, 147, The present passage is an example of the rare periphrastic use of iri in the sdm.f followed by the infinitive of another verb: see Caminos, LEM, 28 (Pap. Bologna 1094, 10, 5). The more commonly attested version of this periphrastic use consists of iri in the imperative + the infinitive of another verb. For discussion of this usage see Gardiner, Grammar §338 with reference to Sinuhe B 188; James, Hekanakhte,- 335 - 109, note £; Gardiner, Letters to the Dead, 187 Edgerton, Griffith Studies, 61 ff. The B 1, 147 example is the imperative of iri + the noun form of bsf, hsft, "punishment"; sft, "do or inflict punishment." For bw-bwrw, B1, 168, see Goedicke, JEA 51, 43: "Hwew, especially in the Heracleopolitan Period, has the connotation of political criminal; cf. Motalla I, x ,37 IZ, y ,2¢ Admon. 6, 11, 127 Siut II, 38." See also Spiegel, Sozial und weltanschau- liche Reformbewegungen im alten Agypten, 16. Bl, 168 - 177 B1, 168 One can be a crook of a dyer, 7 greedy for destroying a friend, One who abandons his personal attendant (pnk) for his dependent (tw?), his “prother" who comes “bringing for him" (ive., comes with tribute). °°- 336 - Bi, 171- One can be a ferryman who (only) 173 takes across the possessor of a fare - aa his fairness is gone. Bl, 173 One can be the head of a storehouse who does not allow a “poor one" to bypass the recora © Bil, 174- One can be a falcon to the common 176 people (xbyt), one who lives off the weak ones of the birds (*pdw). *f B1, 176 One can be a cook ("butler"), whose joy is slaughtering: there is no injury to him from it. 99 Bi, 177 one can also be a guardian of evil. " Notes: bb) The reference in B 1, 168 to a burw n/n(y) xbty remains obscure. Probably some kind of pun is intended between the rhty of B 1, 169 and the rhyt of B1, 174-175. The rhyt would stand as a symbol for the lowest classes of society. It is also possible that a pun on the term for an erudite or- 337 - scholarly man (rb-ht), with reference to Rensi, was intended: see WB II, 445; 443, 28-31 and Meeks, op.cit., II, 78.2428. The R text, R 219-220, although fragmentary clearly shows a different tradition. Rather than the puzzling rhty, R preserves ...mitw.f, "his equal," cf. P Bl, 283. Unfortunately nothing else of this line remains, so that it is impossible to push the comparison of the two texts any further. For the criminal implications of hwrw, see note aa) above. For hdi, "to infringe" or "to destroy" an agreement, see Goedicke, Neferyt, 106, note ap (line 46), and his references to Siut I, 281; Peas. Bl, 275; SNES 19, (1960), 261, 1.10. The legal implica~ tions of the term, i.e., as breaking laws, is clear in Nef., 46: ‘The land perishes, as laws (hp.w) are decreed for it, which are annulled (hgi) by crimes (izyt) . I have translated the six mk tw m + noun sentences from B 1, 168-177 as “one can be a ...." It is virtually unthinkable that the peasant would attack Rensi directly with such searing criticism: see Introduction, p. 30 £. and Suys, Etude, XVIII. With this in mind I take the tw as the pronoun "one," not the second person masculine singular.- 338 - cc) The signs following pnms in B 1, 170 are to be read 4 DA and not the bttn recorded by Vogelsang, Komm., 139. In support of this reading see Goedicke, BA, 163-63 (line 113), The t-sign following the DB sign is a phonetic reinforcer, not a separate sign. The word is thus a variant of WB I, 484,12, be? (n); cf. CD 86, “to forsake, abandon." For the alternation of 2 with either n or 2n, see Cermak, Die Laute der Agyptische Sprache I, 103, § 72. Goedicke, op.cit., has pointed to the juridical use of the term in the phrase bt(*) m §nbt, "to forsake in court," although the full implications of this expression are not clear. ‘The use of both bt? and bdi in this passage (B 1, 168-171), however, shows a desire on the peasant's part to suggest that Rensi has abandoned his legal responsibilities vis-A-vis the common man, symbolized by the rhty. Mbnk, WB II, 129, 7-8 is a term used to designate an artisan working directly for a person of high authority: Théodorid&s, RIDA 26, 59, note 114 and Meeks I, 77.1834; III, 79.1323. See also LA II, 332, where the title mbnk nswt m k3t Sn, "hairdresser to the king," is discussed. I have thus rendered the word as “personal attendant," to show a close tie- 339 - between the craftsman/servant and his master/employ- er. The criticism in B 1, 170-171 is aimed at someone who would forsake a (faithful) servant in order to make money from a tw%, "dependent," here defined as one who brings in tribute (see below). For tw} see also Petition II, B 1, 94-95, note g), where the legal use of tw® as "plaintiff" or “claimant" is discussed. The use of ii inn nf, “one who comes bringing tribute for him," was established by Blackman in JEA 13, (1927), 190 ££. 4d) The fair/fare pun in the translation reflects a similar homophonic word-play in the original where we have ‘ky 'k?.£ fdk.w, literally "a fair one whose fairness is gone/splintered." We can take hmt 'k3y as a unit meaning "exact, fare." ee) Bl, 174 has gw, “an empty (poor?) one"; R 225 has /Sn/'y, "an arrested one," possibly a dittography from the Sn'yw (bry-Sn'yw) cf the preceding line. The "record" is the |, "the document."- 340 - ff) The fnbr, WB V, 384,12, is a type of falcon attested only twice outside the Peasant in an old Kingdom relief from Abusir. See Edel, Inschriften Niuserre, 255; Gardiner JEA 9, 14, n.8; Von Bissing, ASAE 53 (II), 331, pl. XII. The metaphor here turns on the gnbr-falcon as a bird of prey, killing the weaker birds (bwrw Spdw). It is possible that a pun was intended here, gnbr as falcon and as the tni-br “distinguished of vision,” based on the verb tni, WB V, 374, 1-14, for which other such expressions are known, to wit: fnicr?, "distinguished of speech" (Urk. IV, 121,4), i=shrw, "distinguished of counsel," (Meeks III, 79.3478; Van Dijk, GM 33, 23, 5). gg) The merciless bird of prey metaphor is paralleled in B 1, 176 with the image of a cook (wdpw) who relishes slaughtering his prey - an easy task with no personal risks involved. hh) The R text seems less corrupt than the B 1 version here. I read mk tw m s*w nly) gw. The next section begins with sr in the vocative. 81,- 341 - 177 has n (#*4) for the n ( +) of the indirect genitive. B 1, 177-178 should be read, mk tw m s*w nly) gw; sis r.i, “one can be a guardian of evil; (these) six are against me! The "six" would be the six nouns introduced by the mk tw m constructions in B 1, 168-178, namely: 1) the bwr n rpty 4) the gni-br n rbyt 2) the m'hnty. 5) the wapw 3) the bry-Snw 6) s2wen(y) ~gw Note the assonance of the first and fourth terms. However, B 1, 177-178 could also. be taken as an n...is negative: n gw.s is r.i, “its evil is not against me," but the is suffix pronoun has no obvious nearby referent. The n (@4=) could be the Bl scribe's way of writing the question-marker 4a, in which case we should read, “Are these six evil ones against me?" This solution is not satisfactory in that it leaves the mk tw m s3w dangling without any qualifier for s3w. To summarize the foregoing discussion, I would favor the R text, which reads unambiguously, over the B1 manuscript for this passage. Of the various possible interpretations for B 1, mk tw m s3w nly) dw; sis r.i seems the most plausible.= 342 - Bil, 178 - 184 w 1, 178 1, 178- 179 1, 179 1, 180 1, 180 1, 180- 181 1, 181 1, 181- 182 (0 judge,) as you do not count, 44 You will make a loss! Behold the crocodile is greedy and the shelters are gone from the shore of the whole lana! 33 © investigator, you have not inves- tigated! But why do you not proceed with the investigation? ** Today, indeed I have encountered the aggressor. But the crocodile, it prevails, ++ (literally, "walks off" (in victory)). What is the completion of it (ive., the legal process) to you? ™Bil, 182 Bil, 182- 183 Bl, 183- 184 Bl, 184 Notes ii) above. 33) = 343 - once the concealer of Maat is established, ™ The back of the liar should be stopped (i.e., should be laid out for punishment). °° Do not plan the morrow before it comes, one cannot know the trouble in it! PP For this line division, see note hh) In B 1, 178 ip can be taken either as "to count" or "to examine." See my note on ip, B 1, 71 / R 116, for ip in the sense of examining or judging the deceased. Cf. Meeks, II, 78.0274 and FECT I, 252 (sp 324), n.27 III, 164 (sp 1119), n.10.- 344 - See James, Hekanakhte, 18, n.5 and Baer JAOS 83 (1963), 3 for the notion of responsibility before the law attached to ip. The m after nhw is a mistake for mk. The line should read mk msb skn, "Look, the crocodile is greedy!" Rensi, in refusing the responsibility to act as judge, creates nhw, "loss" both in the sense of "suffering" (for the accused) and, more compre- hensively, in the sense of "absence," i.e., creating a power vacuum, leaving the administering of justice in the hands of "crocodiles." For msb as a metaphor for greedy or unprincipled judges, see Gardiner, JEA 9, 13, n.1 and Ptahhotep 168 (Devaud): (if a virtuous man is a man of property, nb ht), his stealing is like a crocodile in court, itt.£ mi ms m knbt. The reference to a msh m knbt would not necessarily be to a judge of the court, but it is certainly intended to describe someone who does not behave properly in a legal setting. Rensi's inaction thus results in an absence (nhw) of leadership wherein greedy or dis- honest people will dominate the courts. Nhw combines the notion of loss or absence with that of suffering: see Shipwrecked Sailor 7; Hamm. 113; Pap. Reisner (Simpson) I, 36, 42; IIT, 40-41; N¥ Metropolitan Mus.- 345 - 12184, 14; Peasant, B 1, 71. B 1, 179 refers to B 1, 129-130 at the end of the preceding petition where the concern is also to create a shelter ibw) as the dmi is in danger. The same two key terms are repeated in B 1, 179. For dmi as river bank or harbor, see Goedicke, JEA 43 (1957), 79-80; Goldwasser, GM 40 (1980), 217 Meeks III, 79.3563. The ibw is a rather literal symbol of protection or safety, as in the well known passage from the Installation of the Vizier Rekhmire: mk ibw pw n srw irt ht Aft tp-rd (Gardiner, R.T. 26 (1904), 8), "lo, it is the shelter of the magistrates to carry out (their) business according to principles/ to act according to rule." In other words, they are protected as long as they follow the rules. The exact symbolic significance of dmi is more difficult to discern but may reside in the dmi-qua~harbor's function of providing a home or shelter for boats, inasmuch as the metaphor of the "ship of state" is used repeatedly throughout the Peasant text; see my discussion of navigational metaphors in this and other texts in the notes to Petition II, B1, 90 ff. I this interpretation is correct, B1, 179 would mean that protection and safety are lacking precisely where they are needed most, that the administration itself is in jeopardy.- 346 - kk) B 1, 180 is literally “Why then do you not investigate?" I have rendered "But why do you not proceed with the investigation" to reflect the peasant's growing sense of panic that Rensi does not intend to do anything at all about his case. This fear is expressed again in B 1, 181-182 with ptr rf km iry-n.k, “what indeed is the completion to you?" The km is the completion of the juridical process which the peasant has started by filing an official protest. Rensi, in failing to reply (wSb) to the peasant's claims, is not playing his proper part in Egyptian judicial procedures in which every plaintiff has the right to a response: S. Herrmann, ZAS 82, 55-57. Sd@m is used here in its technical legal sense of "to investigate"; see B1, 99, Petition II, note m), and Satzinger, MAS 12 § 67. 11) The 2dw of B 1, 181 means to be savage, angry, and/or aggressive: Faulkner, CD 7; WB I, 24, 12-17; Meeks I, 77.0104; IZ, 78.0114; III, 79.0065. The term is a reference to Nemty-nakht's aggressive, hostile action in the frame-story introduction. For hsf, "to encounter," see WB III, 337.- 347 - Note the unusual word order in B 1, 180-181, iw min > ef.n.i 2éw which emphasizes the adverb min, "today." B 1, 180-181 is usually read iw min > psf.n.i dw, "today I have driven off the aggressor." This is the substance of the translations given by Faulkner, Lichtheim, and Gardiner. Vogelsang leaves the sentence largely untranslated. Faulkner, Lit Anc Eg (1973), 41, .49, adds "the peasant claims to have got the better of Rensi." It would not be particu- larly to the peasant's advantage at this point to make such a claim, nor does this interpretation fit very well with the following sentence, where it is made clear that the *dw, a reference to Nemty-nakht, has won the day, "walked off." mm) For the interpretation of B 1, 181-182, see note kk) above. nn) Once the guilty party is exposed, "found out"; gmi in the juridical sense of determining who is in the wrong. oo) The rdi s* grg rt? in B 1, 182-183 is a conflation of two idioms meaning "to put a stop to something": rdi x t? (Goedicke, BA, 161; WB II,- 348 - 467,21; CD 155) and rai s? x (Gardiner, Admon: 103; Admon, 12, recto.) Cf. B 1, 197. Pp) This is a recurrent theme in Egyptian wisdom literature, e.g., Ptahhotep 343, “One cannot know what will happen, when he perceives tomorrow," xhen.tw pprt si?.f dww. A variation on the same theme is found in the Wisdom of Amenemope, VI, 17, where we are warned not to assume (literally, "say") that “today is like tomorrow," for when the future arrives, the present has become the past and every- thing will have changed, perhaps drastically. Man's inability to predict dramatic shifts in the future is again underlined in The Wisdom of Anii 8, 9 ff. ina passage very similar to Amenemope VI, 17 ff. Cf. also Amenemope 19, 11. Although Morenz, Religion und Geschichte, 349, interprets the iyt, determined by the “evil bird," as "das Unwillkomme," I am inclined to give the word the more neutral connotation of “that which will come, happen," in this passage in view of the frequent repetition of the same theme in wisdom literature outlined above. The iyt of B 1, 184 replaces the pprt of the Ptahhotep 343 parallel cited above. The replacement was done deliberately to create an effect of assonance with the n from the preceding line. The interpretation of the juxtaposition of ii.t (.£) and iyt as the deliberate- 349 - creation of poetic effects is supported by the wealth of such homophonic effects to be found in B 1, 181-184: 1) km-gm of lines B1, 181-182 and B 1, 182; 2) grg (x) £2 and grg dw? of lines B 1, 182-183 and B 1, 183; 3) ii-t(.£) and iyt of lines B 1, 183 and B 1, 184, In all three examples two consecutive lines are linked by words which sound alike. In the five-line section homophones connect lines 1 and 2, lines 3 and 4, and lines 4 and 5. Bl, 184 ~ 187 Bl, 184- Thereupon, this peasant spoke this 185 accusation to the High Steward: 97 *Rensi, son of Meru, will be at/towards the forecourt of the judgment hall" - i.e., is about to leave without render- ing a verdict. ™* B1, 186 Then he (Rensi) had two of his guards stand up against him (the peasant) bearing the court transcripts. B 1, 186- And thereupon they thrashed all 187 his limbs! °°~ 350 - qq) The ist rf sgm.n.f construction heralds a return to the narrative frame-story. Cf. Gardiner, Gram. § 212; § 414,1. Note that this form, ist + sgm.n.f occurs only two times in the Peasant text, here and in B 1, 72 / R 118. In both cases the "petitions" per se are interrupted by the ist sgm.n.f, which introduces a section of connective narrative, describing action in the ongoing story of the peasant's stolen goods and his attempts to get them back. For ist rf as "yet, therefore," ("or, donc") see Vernus, RdE 30, 120 and n. 21 and Meeks TIT, 78.0493; WB I, 134, 1-5. rr) The peasant expresses his fear that Rensi will leave the court of justice without pronouncing a verdict. The present use of pg? with ‘rryt is unknown elsewhere, but the meaning is clear, that of an opening or entry-way (hence, forecourt) into the ‘rryt -hall. see pg? as the entrance to the horizon; pg? 2ht imntt, Vernus, RdE 25 (Louvre Stela C3), 218 (line 14); as the "mouth" of a valley: Urk. Iv, 654-9. ‘The noun pg? is closely linked to vhe verb pq?, WB I, 562, 1-7, "to open." Hence its use to- 351 - signify an open field of battle, as opposed to an enclosed area or arena: Zivie, Giza, 67, 1. 12; 77, n. x; 188, 1. 7. For ‘!rryt, see Prame-story introduction, B 1, 35 / R 85, note cc). See also P. Spencer, The Egyptian Temple: a Lexicographical Study, 147 (!rryt); 153 and note 99 (pg?); Junker, Weta und das Lederhandwerk im Alten Reich, SAWN, 1957, 30-31, n. 26 (pg?, "forecourt"). ss) Although Vogelsang has called attention to the use of 'b'.n + sqm. in B 1, 186-187, as opposed to the 'b'.n + sdm.n.f of the preceding line, and assumed that this was a mistake (Komm., 150), Gardiner (Gram., § 480) identifies 'p'.n + sdm.f as a grammatically correct form which we cannot call a corruption, in that it occurs three times in a passage from the Shipwrecked Sailor (76-77 ff). The smiw of B 1, 186 is generally translated "whips," a rendering based on the verb 13g, "to thrash," which follows and an association of an otherwise unknown *smi-whip with a type of cord, smi, used in boat rigging: Meeks II, 78.3536; FECT II, 287 (sp.572), n.2 (= CT VI, 381, e). There is no ‘archaeological evidence to support the use of whips or ropes used to administer lashings in courts. It- 352 - is therefore possible that the smiw of B 1, 186 are not whips but court transcripts, based on the verb smi, "to announce, record, make a copy"; cf. Peas. B 1, 257. Or the smiw of this passage could refer to "complaints"; see smi "déposer une plainte," Meeks I, 77.3591; Gaballa Mose pl. LIX (N 7.10); LX (N 12); CD 227. Perhaps this line was meant as a touch of wry humor: the poor peasant is made to talk until he can speak no more, and then he is rewarded for his efforts by being beaten literally with his own words. This interpretation is highly tentative, given how little is known on the ancient Egyptian sense of humor. Somewhat less hypothetical, however, is the intended contrast between the episode in B 1, 184-187 and the peasant's earlier encounter of the same nat- ure with Nemty-nakht (B 1, 23 / R 73). The earlier event is called to mind because the same verb, '%q, is used in both passages. There is perhaps a symbol- ic value in the opposition of the green tamarisk branch seized by Nemty-nakht to punish the peasant and the smiw used by Rensi's two guards: the fresh plant represents untamed Nature, a metaphor for Nemty-nakht's uncontained anger; the smiw, fashioned by men from raw materials, signify the Egyptian administration or order, of which Rensi is a- 353 - representative. Bl, 187 - 188 B 1, 187 Then this peasant said: B1, 187- ‘The son of Meru continues to err, “* ie Bl, 188 His "face" is blind to what he sees, deaf to what he hears, forgetful about that which he uu should have remembered: tt) In B 1, 187-188 the peasant uses only s? Mrw in addressing Rensi. Of the eighteen times s name is cited in the Eloquent Peasant, it is- 354 - given in full, "Rensi, son of Meru," sixteen times. Only here, and once in the conclusion to the frame- story, B 2, 133, is Rensi called simply "s? Mrw." In B 2, 133, the designation 5? Mrw comes from the King Neb-kau-re. Is the shortened form used here evocat- ively to suggest the similar formulation t?-Mry, a common name for Egypt, thereby underlining Rensi's function within the Peasant tale as a synechdoche for the Egyptian administration? For the most recent discussion of the sdm.hr.f form, see Junge, JEA 58 (1972), 133-139. See also Gardiner, Gram. § 427; 430-32; Lefébvre, Gram., § 285; Faulkner, JEA 21, 186; Lexa, Philo- logica 2,22 and Arch Or 8, 210; Callender, Mid Eg, 40, 3.5.58. The present example is the only sdm.pr.f in the Peasant text, although B1, 151 and 162 provide examples of a variant of the same construct- ion: pr.f + sqm.f (all from Petition III). uu) As Gardiner, JEA 9, 14, n.13, suggests, br, literally "the face" is best seen here as "the senses," rather than as "vision," a frequent render- ing, since the term incorporates the faculties of both seeing and hearing.- 355 - This is the second time the motif of the "blind" and “deaf* hearer/judge has occurred. Cf. Bi, 113-114, The parallels between the two Passages are strong: both contain the verbs 3p, "to be blind," and sh, "to be deaf." Both passages are formulated poetically as triplets, in which the first two lines are identical in structure but differ from the third. Moreover, although the grammatical constructions of lines 1 and 2 of each triplet are the same, in both passages line 2 is rendered through ellipsis. For ib as "mind" or "understanding" see Faulkner CD, 14. It is interesting to note that the three themes evoked here --blindness, deafness, and an inattentive or forgetful mind-- are also found in the introductory section to the Maxim of Ptahhotep, Pr. 5,1, where the fading away of other senses as the body ages is also described. Thi means "to wander," "to go off course" (Piankoff, Le Coeur, 122), cf. to miss the mark, miss the (right) moment: Goedicke, Neferyt, 117-118; Edel SAK 7, 27 and Meeks I, 77.4841; and "to disobey" (thi =, Meeks III, 79.3427). Thus in the rendering "strays" a distinctly moral overtone is present. Thi ib means that Rensi's heart does not heed (the lesson- 356 - of) what is told to him, not simply that his attention wanders. Sb? in the technical sense of "to recall," as "to give a memorandom concerning," i.e. a jurid- ical process: Meeks I, 77.3592. Bl, 189 ~ 193 Bl, 189- Lo, one in a town without 190 its administrator is like a family without its leader/pater familias, “Y Bl, 190 like a ship without a 191 captain aboara, “™ Bl, 191- like a group/association ** 192 without a leader. B1,192- Lo, one can be a sheriff who steals, 7* 193 a district ruler who accepts (bribes) ,- 357 - an overseer of a w'-district, who should punish crime, who is becoming a model for the evil-doer. 99 vv) A ht is a corporate "body" or group of men or gods: Faulkner CD, 356; Siut pl. 1.1; WB III, 357,18; Pyr. T. 1041; 1250; 462; Berlin 1624. The term can also be used to mean a generation of me! Gardiner, Admon., 82. ww) Literally, "the one who governs in it (the ship)." Note that the term bmy, "helmsman, the one who holds the steering oar, (hmw)," is used elsewhere in the Peasant text to describe the one in charge of a ship's direction. Cf. B 1, 126; 221. xx) Smyt, literally a joining together, hence an "association." See Faulkner, CD, 226; CT I, 193; Helck, Merikare, 56.- 358 - yy) See Faulkner, CD 269, and Gardiner JEA 22, 41; cf. JEA 38,29; 39,41; and my note on B 1, 61, Petition I, above. zz) Ssp in the sense of to receive or accept gifts, offerings, or tribute: Meeks II, 78.4186; Guksch, Das Grab des Benja, (Theban Tomb n. 343), 19; fig. 6b; Dendara VIII, 21,17; 32,3; 33,57 Turin Ostracca 57007 vo, 12; 57032 vo, 3. aaa) Note that the present passage is not a veiled allusion to Rensi, in that Rensi is described as the nb sp*t who does not let crime go unpunished in his territory, B 1, 16-18 / R 66-68. For p'd3, see my note on B 1, 93, Petition II,Commentary PETITION IVPETITION IV - 360 - B 1, 194 - 196 Bil, Bil, Bl, Bil, 194 194- 195 196 196 And then this peasant came of his own ition to him a accord in order to pet fourth time. * He found him (Rensi) while coming out of the door of the temple of Harsaphes. > He said: © praised one, may Harsaphes, from whose temple you did come, reward you! ©- 361 - Notes: a) The same sentence is found at the beginning of Petitions II-IX. Rensi's name, given at the beginning of Petition I, is replaced consistently in the introductory lines to Petitions II-Ix by the suffix pronoun: -.£, attached to the datival n. B 1, 194, however, is the only introductory line to any of the nine petitions not to include the double vocative imy-r? pr wr, nb. say whether the omission of the phrase was inten- It is, of course, impossible to tional or not. Perhaps the change in venue from the trryt (see B 1, 184-186) to outside the temple of Harsaphes occasioned the shift from imy-r3 pr wr, nb.i to bsw, "praised one"; see below note c). If it is appropriate to say imy-r? pr wr, nb.i only within the court setting proper, the phrase may be the equivalent of “your honor" or "may it please the court," expressions used to show courtesy and respect to the judge in the Anglo-saxon legal tradition. b) The mention of Harsaphes confirms the Peasant story's setting in Heracleopolis, inasmuch as= 362 - Bry-8.£, "the one who is upon his pond," is known as the god of that city: Morenz, Egyptian Religion, 262; Vogelsang, Komm., 154; Mercatante, Who's Who in Egyptian Mythology, 53. See also James, Hekanakhte, Documents III, 1 and 3 (Plate 8); XII, 2 and 4 (Plate 21); XVII, 2 and 4 (Plate 26}. All three documents are letters, the introductory formalae of which begin with references to Harsaphes, nb Nni-nswt: e.g., "May Harsaphes, the Lord of Heracleopolis, help you as this servant wishes.... May your "state of grace" (imp) be good with the k® of Harsaphes, the Lord of Heracleopolis," XII, 2; see also WB III, 135, 9 where Ery-¥.f is identified as the ramheaded god of Hera~ cleopolis; Faulkner, Lit Anc Eq, 42, n. 51; Gardiner JEA 9, 15, n. 4; Faulkner, CD 175; P. Kahun 34, 3. That the Peasant was set in a time when Heracleopolis was recognized as the capital of Egypt is suggested by the present passage and its reference to Harsaphes as well as the twice repeated reference to the peasant proceeding to Heracleopolis in the introduc- tion to the petitions: R37 / Bt 17; R82 / B81, 33. In the latter, Rensi's presence in Heracleopolis is connected with the k°k°w n(y) !rryt, the judicial branch of the Egyptian administration. Situating the Peasant story in the Heracleopolis area suggests a Ninth or Tenth Dynasty date: Gardiner, Egypt of the Pharaohs, 112 f. This would seem to be corroborated- 363 - by the reference to King Nebkaure, B 1, 73 / R 118, in the transition passage between Petitions I and II. It is important, however, to note that the story, as a piece of literature, is NOT set in the Heracleo- politan period. ‘There is no internal or external evidence showing that the actual composition of the tale took place at that time. Moreover, the back~ dating of a story as a literary device is well known in ancient Egypt, viz. The Prophecy of Neferyt, a piece of Twelfth Dynasty literature set in Dynasty Iv. B 1, 194-195 is reminiscent of B 1, 34-35 / ‘R 83-84: from the frame-story preceding the first petition: gm.n.f sw br prt m sb? n(y) pr.f r het 5 2k? nly) trryt. See also my discussion of R 139-140 at the beginning of Petition II, where the largely destroyed R version apparently gives some indication of locale not contained in the B 1 parallel. Such indications are not given at the beginning of the other petitions; however, see above, at the end of Petition III where a narrative section has been inserted into the petition, B 1, 184-187. In this section the (pg?) 'rryt is given as an indication of venue, In B 1, 194-195, the scene switches from a legal (‘rryt) to a religious (hwt-ntr) setting.- 364 - c) For gsi, “to favor, reward," see Grapow, Anreden II, 27; Faulkner, CD 176; WB III, 154, 2 - 155, 25; Meeks, III, 79.2046 and references; Posener, Enseignement loyaliste, 24 and § 3, 9; cf. $ 9, 1 and Montet, Kemi 6, 151; 58-5! Sinuhe, B 206 and Peasant B 1, 69. The verb is used twice in this sentence, the first time as the nominalized passive participle bsw and the second time as the hortative sgm.f. Cf. Peas. B 1, 3. Although the verb occurs elsewhere in the Peasant, it does not form a part of the introductory formulae used in the other eight petitions. The fourth petition is thus differen- tiated from the others both by the absence of imy-r? PE wr , nb.i and the inclusion of the vocative bsw. See the parallel use of wr n(y) wrw, sSmw n(y) iwtt ntt at the beginning of Petition II. In each case the peasant emphasizes one aspect of Rensi's admini- strative or social situation; see my notes to B 1, 53 ff. and B1, 88 ££. Here the peasant is stressing Rensi's religious obligations and his need to act responsibly in his official functions so as to secure Harsaphes' blessing. Repeated or consecutive use of the same word in different forms is frequent not only in the Peasant, e.g. B 1, 88-90, but in much Egyptian literature; e.g. Ptahhotep, 535-550.- 365 - B 1, 197 = 200 w 1, 197 1, 198 1, 198 1, 199 1, 199 1, 199- 200 ‘The destroyer of goodness, he cannot brag, 4% (namely): The back of falsehood has been thrown to the ground. © If the ferry has been brought in, Wherewith can one ferry across? * Can one cross it when a case of unwil- lingness occurs? 9 (But) is crossing a river on sandals a proper crossing? No! ®- 366 - a) For 'b' "to vaunt, brag," see WB I, 177, 17; Meeks III, 79.0451. For graphic variants with only one ayin see CD 41 and Urk. Iv, 1693, 13. In B1, 197 it is almost certain that the hieratic reads an This could be real either as a nominally used sgm.ty.fy form or as ‘bt, is a substantive "boasting." The second interpretation is supported by the presence of the book roll determinative. e) See above, B 1, 182-183, for another occurrence of the expression s?-grg , which does not occur elsewhere, to my knowledge. Literally, the s?-grg is the "back of (a) falsehood or lie." In B 1, 182-183 it is obviously meant as an abstract noun, "falsehood," parallel to the (imnw) m3't of the preceding line. In the present passage, s? and grg are linked by an indirect genitive, and the word grg, BSL , is followed by a sign which should probably be read as plural strokes despite its resemblance to an n: Vogelsang, Komm., 154; Gardiner, Lit. Texte des- 367 - M.R., I, pl. 12 a, note ¢. However, the hastily written sign might be the seated man determinative s-although I suggest this possibility very tentativ- ely-- in which case we should read "the back of the liar. " In both passages the addition of the s% in the compound expression s? (n) grqg does not seem to alter the meaning of grq as "falsehood." Rather it seems to be used with expressions such as rdi...r t? or pth...x t% to suggest the image of throwing someone forcibly to the ground. We cannot exclude, moreover, the possibility of a conflation of two or three expressions. This seems particularly likely, as indicated above, in line B 1, 182-183, (Petition III, note oo)), where we may have a confusion, or double usage, of the idioms rdi...x t* and rdi s? r, both of which mean "to put an end" to something. For the expression pth...r £2, see Faulkner, CD 96 and WB I, 565,16 - 566,37 Goedicke, Neferyt, 77; 90; Helck, Proph., 17, III, i; 27, VII, ce? Griffith, Kahun Papyri, 101, (Pl. VII, 21): Pyr. 603, N. 1155. ‘The difference in meaning between pth...r 2 and pth, if any, is not clear. Griffith, op.cit., argued that pth used alone was intransitive ("fall") and that pth. counterpart ("drop"). This distinction is not © £2 was the transitive accepted by Faulkner, op.cit. Lorton, in JESHC 20,- 368 - 20 and 88, differentiates between pth...r t?, "to throw to the ground," and ptb...br 2, a technical legal term meaning “proscribe." Meeks, I, 77.1521, seems not to accept this distinction, which, Lorton argues, would be analogous to the difference between rdi...r 3, “to put an end to" without juridical connotations, and rdi...br t%, whose legal implica~ tions, discussed by Theodorides, RIDA 3, 8 (1961), 51, n. 49, involve the dispossession of property. Lorton's conclusions are not contradicted by the use of pth. albeit metaphorical, meaning of "to throw something £3 in B 1, 198, where the more general, to the ground, i.e., to put a stop to it by force, or aggressively," is certainly appropriate. £) Note the use of the definite article 9 in B1, 198. Cf, Kroeber, Neudgyptizismen, 19-44. See Frame-story, continued, note h). The metaphor of “ferrying across" occurs for the second time here: cf. B 1, 171-172. Ferrying across stands for the completion of the judicial process, an impossible task if the ferry has been "brought in" ('k), i.e., if Rensi refuses to leave harbor.- 369 - g) I read B1, 199, with Gardiner, JEA 9, 25, d3t.tw irf m'; shpr sp m msdd. For msdd, a substantive derived from msdi, "to dislike, to hate, to be unwilling," see CD 118, P. Kahun, 36, 42. The xeference is to Rensi's reluctance to speak, to start his part of the juridical process. h) There are two problems in the inter pretation of B 1, 199-200: 1) should m s* be seen as the compound expression m-s? meaning "behind" or "following" (Faulkner, CD 208) or as the preposition m followed by the noun s3, "back"? 2) Is the term ‘tbwt.y used here as the sole of the foot, sandals, or the tbwty which forms part of a ship's equipment (FECT, III, 204, index)? Or is it a pun on two or more of these meanings? If tbwt.y is taken as the sole of the foot or as sandals, the peasant is asking a rather satirical question, essentially saying "is it a good idea to walk across the river?" If the term refers to a part of a boat (not as yet identified, see Faulkner, op.cit.), the question may be equally preposterous in nautical terms. With our present lack of information we cannot evaluate its use here.- 370 - See James, Hekanakhte, 4, n. 22, where he suggests that n,c+» , may have been used for an emphatic "no." Cf. 44, n. 56. James points out that at the time the Hekanakhte documents were written "...the careful distinction between «1. and 2% of classical Middle Egyptian had not been fully established...." (James, op.cit., 42, n. 45) The o-* of the Hekanakhte letters, therefore, may have been a variant of the nn “x , "no," of our passage. Bl, 201 - 205 Bl, 201 Who indeed can sleep until daybreak (i.e., who can sleep peacefully through i the night), Bi, 201- When going outside by night, 202 travelling by day, B 1, 202- And causing that a man stand for his 203 good case of what is the truth are all destroyed? i- 371 - B1, 203- Lo, there is no end to saying it to 204 you: * Bl, 204 “mercy has passed you by." B1, 204- How miserable is the poor one 208 (i.e., the peasant) you will destroy! ? Notes: i) B1, 201 is the converse of a theme found twice in the hymns to Sesostris III: Pl. I, 9-1 II, 13, In the first Sesostris hymn men (p't) and young men are said to be able to sleep until daybreak because the "heart" of the king protects them, I, 9-10. Likewise, in II, 13, the second hymn, the king is described as a "cool place (jbb) which lets every man (s nb) sleep until daybreak." The use of the same formulaic expression in B 1, 200-201 implies, then, a reference to the king and, by extension, his administrators who are the guarantors of peace and tranquility and individual liberties. By putting the stock phrase sdr r Sspw in the form of- 372 - a question, the peasant implies that the Egyptian administration is not fulfilling its responsibility to protect individuals and to maintain “law and order" in the streets. The theme is developed in the next three lines. 4) Here, as above in B 1, 197-198, the verb kd governs more than a single clause: three in the present passage; two in B 1, 197-198. The repetition of the elliptical use of the same verb would seem to be a poetic device. In B 1, 197-198 bg is used of abstracts, "goodness" and "fighting falsehood" contrasting with its use in B 1, 201-203 to describe the destruction of concrete, physical activities. It is surprising here to find the infinitive form of sbi, a III-inf. verb, in the masculine form rather than with the -.t feminine ending. Yet the sign following b ( ) is certainly not a t-sign: see Vogelsang, Komm., 157 for tran scription and 158 for a discussion of the unusual infinitive ending, a usage attested for a small number of III-inf. verbs, e.g. ksi (P. Westcar 12, 1), in Middle Kingdom texts.- 373 - For 'b'...5 as “to take charge of, to tackle," see Goedicke, Neferyt, 77, note g. The expression seems to have been interchangeable with ‘bh’ br, "to take charge of, to take a stand for,": see Meeks, I, 77.0725. In Neferyt, 22, 'b! r is better translated as “to stand up against," Goedicke, op.cit., 74. It is probable that the two expressions were distinct at one time but were often confused, as seems to be the case in B 1, 202-203. A similar conflation of two almost identical expressions may have occurred with pth x t? and pth br t*: see my note to B 1, 197-198. It is perhaps not simply coincidental that the two occur in the same passage only a few lines apart. However, it would be danger- ous to push this point too far, since a certain flexibility in the choice of prepositions accompany- ing what we might call the Egyptian “phrasal verbs" seems to have existed: e.g., Nef. 21 has pth m t? vather than pth x/pr t3. See below. (By phrasal verbs we mean those verbs which must be completed with a preposition in order to convey meaning or the correct shade of meaning. In English these verbs are legion, e.g., "to turn the light on, to turn the light off, etc." The presence of the preposition completely changes the meaning of the verb "to turn.")- 374 - For the expressions m wn m3! and n wn m?!, meaning "real, true, authentic," see Meeks III, 79.0672 and KRI II, 717, 3; 10; Van Dijk, GM 33, 23, 6. See also Vogelsang, Komm., 158 and Peasant B 1, 270; B 2, 109 (Petitions VII and 1X), both of which contain the phrase nis s (tw) r sp.f n wn-m?'," (so that) a man may invoke you concerning his just/true cause." The use of the preposition r in these two sentences points to a use of x in B 1, 202-203 as "concerning," as argued above in this note. Cf. also Assmann, RdE 30, 26 col. k) Note the unusual use of mk in this line to introduce a negative nominal sentence. In a survey of Middle Egyptian texts including the Ship- wrecked Sailor, the Shepherd, the Suicidal, Sinuhe, Pap. Westcar, and the Peasant, R.H.G. Hannig found only one occurrence of this construction, namely the present passage. (Unpublished manuscript lent to me by Mr. Hannigy pages not numbered). I know of one other occurrence of mk used to introduce a negative nominal sentence in a Middle Egyptian text (not surveyed in the Hannig study): Neferyt 22, where the negation is effected with nn wn, however, rather than with nn as in our passage. (For the interpretation of DelM 1188 as the more authentic text tor Nef. 22,- 375 - see Helck, Proph., 20, n. b; Goedicke, Neferyt, 74 (translation); 77, note g. The mk rf wn of the Pet. version, where the nn has fallen out, was probably influenced by the mk wn and mk rf wn of Nef. 20 and 21 respectively). The mk in B 1, 203-204 introduces an aside from the peasant who is wearying of his task and wondering whether Rensi will ever reply. It is interesting to note that there are three parallels between B 1, 194-205 and Nef. 20-22: 1) the use of pth m t*, Nef. 21/pth rx £3, B 1, 197-198; 2) the use of mk to introduce a negative nominal sentence, see above; 3) the occurrence of th! ...z in B 1, 202-203 and Nef. 22. The last two sentences of this section, B1, 204 and B 1, 204-205, are an exact repetition of Bl, 117-118.- 376 - B 1, 205 - 208 Bl, 205- 206 Bl, 206 Bl, 207 Bl, 207 B 1, 207 Bl, 207- 208 In case you are a hunter, satisfying your desires, ™ One set on doing what pleases him, (Then) Hunt hippopotami Shoot wild cattle, P Spear fish, 7 And catch birds! (But leave me alone!). *- 377 - Notes: m) As pointed out by Vogelsang, Komm., 159, the use of both the fish and boat determinatives here with mbw suggests a meaning of “one who catches fish from a boat." The use of the term in the present Passage serves as an indirect reference to the minty of Petition I2I, B 1, 171-172, which also occurs in a ak + ty +m + noun construction, and the boy of B1, 226 and 221. The use of mw to denote, more broadly, “a hunter or sportsman" in this Passage was suggested by Vogelsang, op.cit., and is attested elsewhere: cf. Caminos, LEM 555; 418. See also Gamer-Wallert, ag. Aph. 21, 61 and n. 22; we xz, 127, 13; Montet, a.0., P. 16 £. I would also suggest that the choice of the term mbw is not accidental in our text. Mbw, rather than nw or grq (Faulkner ¢D 127 and 290 respective- iyly was used for "hunter" to capitalize on the opportunities for punning the term offers. Mbw is a word which recurs throughout the Peasant text with varying connotations of "to fill, to be full, to pay er cg ote, cto) S111) the) hegee se 4 oe trust ey U0 8) i Ey ein ei ey ey (= we rz, 146-118, 10); or "to drown, to be immersed in water,": B 1, 137; 238 WB IT, 121-122, 11). pw- 378 - as it is used in B 1, 205 is probably a derivate of WB II, 119, 5-18, mb in the sense of holding, seizing, grasping or capturing: Faulkner, CD 113; Westcar 3, 14, but an additional implicit homophonic pun might be seen between the mbw of our passage and the verb mb meaning "to be concerned with/for," "to take thought for," "to ponder": CD 113; WB II, 120, 13-16; Neferyt 18; Sinuhe B 199; ‘Suicidal 68; 78. The irony would come in the juxtaposition of the mbw, “the seizer who should ponder, take thought for (his responsibilities)" and the sdm.f which follows it, ib.f, "who seeks satisfaction," in other words “who thinks only of himself." See below. For the idiom i! ib, literally, "to wash the heart," see WB I, 39, 2-17; Faulkner CD 10; Sinuhe B 149; Urk. IV, 1751, 9; Prisse 6, 2; Pian~ koff, Le 'Coeur', 28; BIFAO 77, 140, n. b.j Licht~ heim, Anc Eg Lit, I, 64, n. 9. The expression can be used both to indicate satisfying an appetite (Helck, Merikare 8; Meeks I, 77.0155; Gardiner, JEA 9, 15 and note 9) and to connote the outpouring of anger: BIFAO 77, 140, n. b; Lichtheim op.cit.. Connected with the notion of appeasing an appetite is its logical consequence, satisfaction, contentment: Piankoff, op.cit.; Meeks, III, 79.0104; Van Dijk, GM 33, 23, 27 Kitchen, RI, II, 214-13; 357, 12; 359, 77 380, 3.- 379 ~ n) An obscure passage in the Coffin Texts, CT IZ, 26, b, would seem to confirm the meaning of “bent on, set on" for wai: Meeks, II, 78.1144; FECT I, 83 (sp. 79), n. 8; Faulkner, CD 72. The root meaning of the word (WB I, 384, 15 - 387, 21) is that of "to set, place, put, implant, or plant," CD 727 Meeks, op.cit.. 0) As Gardiner explains, in JEA 9, 15 note 9, the use of the verb p?', "to let loose, cast, abandon" (WB III, 227, 3 ~ 228, 2! €D 183-184) here refers to "the relaxing of the cord with the javelin at the end of it after the hippopotamus has been struck". See a similar use of the word with refer- ence to 'playing" a fish after it has been hooked in Beni Hasan I, 29, quoted by Gardiner. For further @iscussion of }3', see Goedicke, BA, 94, £; 125: "to be cast, to abandon." The activity of casting with respect to hippopotami naturally refers to the casting of a harpoon, as known from scenes depicting this sport from as early as the Old Kingdom, e.g.: Wreszenski, Atlas, III, Taf 104 (Saqgara, Fifth Dynasty); Taf. 105 (Saqgara, Sixth Dynasty).= 380 - For an extensive discussion of the religious implications of the hippotamus theme in Egyptian art see Save-Soderbergh, On Egyptian Representations of Hippopotamus Hunting as _a Religious Motive, Uppsala, 1953. The killing of hippopotami would not have been seen as wanton destruction of wildlife in ancient Egypt, since the animal symbolized the forces of chaos over which the king was expected to triumph, ibid. 16; 46; 55. As early as the Old Kingdom the hunting of hippopotami is linked with the traditional fishing and fowling scenes in tomb paintings. Thus the mention of hunting db.w, rm.w, and 2pd.w in Bl, 206-208 is a literary representation of a traditional Egyptian artistic motif. The surprising feature is the inclusion of the sm3, wild bull, as the fourth item in this list. The hippopotamus was also seen, more prosaically, as the arch-enemy of the farmer, as reflected in Papyrus Sallier, 6, 2-3: "Do you not recall the condition of the cultivator faced with the registration of the harvest-tax after the snake has carried off half of the corn and the hippopotamus (db) has eaten up the rest?" (translation by Caminos, LEM, 315). The hippopotamus symbolized, therefore, not only a threat to the king's political authority, but also those forces of evil that might menace the- 381 - agrarian basis of Egypt's social organization. As such, it would have been seen as the mightiest of the animals listed in B 1, 206-208, not only in sheer physical strength, but in emotive power as well. We should note here that the author of the text has given us a list of four animals in descending order of bulk, from the largest and heaviest to the light- est -- the 2pd.w, regardless of volume, being the lightest since they are air-born. In addition, two @istinct sub-groupings based on size emerge: 1) hippopotami and bulls, contrasting in their massive~ ness with the much smaller 2) fish and birds. A more complicated division as to aquatic and non- aquatic creatures is also present. within the first pair, the hippopotamus is associated with both land and water; the bull with land alone. Within the second pair, the fish is connected to water in contrast to the bird's association with air and land. The passage as a whole thus evokes all possible natural habitats and, thereby, the whole of the universe. p) The verb sti, here rendered "to shoot,” applies to the casting, throwing or releasing of a weapon which then pierces its target. Hence the- 382 - translations of "to harpoon," Moussa and Altenmuller, Nianchchnum, 151 (33.A.2) and Van der Walle, Nefer- irtenef, 68; and "to pierce" a fish: Peasant, B 1, 228; Vogelsang, Komm. 171; Gardiner, JEA 9, 16, note 10. See Edel, SAK 7, 35 for sti as "to pierce a target." The sm? is a type of wild bull: vogelsang, 160; Newberry, Beni Hasan, I, pl. 30; Davies, Der el Gebrawi, I, pl. 11. Both WB IV, 124, 1-5, and Faulkner, CD 226 give sm’m, as found in B 1, 207, as a graphic variant of sm?. I know of no other occur- rences of this variant. It was, however, the prefer- red spelling of the sm?-cluster for our author as shown in his use of sm*(m).w for sm3.w in the present passage, sm3(m) (S$M7 for sm? , "to kill," in Bl, 228, and sm3(m) (SHAY for sm, "to unite," in Bl, 309. q) The verb pk occurs frequently in the Peasant text: B 1, 61-62; R 59; B 1, 207; B1, 219; B 1, 316. Its basic meaning is that of attacking and attaining the prey. Here it is used of fish; in B 1, 61-62 / R 104-105 its object is *pd.w. In both passages rm.w and 3pd.w are used together; as a pair- 383 - they function as a symbol of material success, frequently interpreted as physical abundance in the afterlife: Goedicke, Neferyt, (lines 30-32), 88 £7 Condon, Royal Hymns, 39; cf. CT III, 191-192 (sp. 216); CT I, 269-270. x) For the verb sht, meaning "to trap birds," see WB IV, 262, 3 - 263, 27 CD 243; Meeks, II, 78.3779. As pointed out by Goedicke, Nef., 84, note y, the word originally meant “duck" and only later come to mean "bird," “wild fowl." Cf. Sh. S. 51; 85; Caminos, Lit. Fragments, 12; 38. As ducks are migratory in Egypt, the name Spd.w refers specifically to migratory birds, a connotation which led to the figurative use of the term to mean migratory peoples, nomads: Goedicke, op.cit. The pairing of xrmw and 2pdw to suggest the duality of earth and sky, the known and the unknown, is frequently given in the formulaic expression: mw m mw/itrw: 2pdw m pt; see Fs Otto, 119, £. See above, note to B 1, 61-62.~ 384 - Bl, 208 - 211 Bl, Bl, Bl, 208- 209 209 209- 210 210 210 210- 2u1 There is no fast-talker who is free of distorting the truth, © There is no one mindless (literally "Light of heart") who is weighty of thought. * Exercise clemency, @ When you realize the truth. Keep your choice under control, ¥ Until "the one who is brought in silently" is happy.- 385 - Notes: 8) The expression p®h-r3, WB III, 233, 7, and CD 185, is a hapax legomenon. Literally, this compound noun means “one hurrying of mouth/speech," derived from the verb 2h, WB III, 232, 18 - 233, 15, “to hurry, to hasten," and the noun r3, "mouth, opening" (WB II, 389, 1 - 390, 13) whose more abstract meanings include "speech, utterance," (cD 145), “discourse, formula, chapter," (Meeks, I, 77.2312; WB II, 391, 14 - 392, 1) and even “plan, Project," (Meeks, op.cit., 77.2312; 77.3821; Goedicke, Nef., 134 and note bi; cD 145; Caminos, Lit. Frag., 39. The significance of the term can be Seen from a comparison with the expression h*p-ib, Peasant B 1, 212; Gardiner, HPBM I, 33, note 11, “hasty of mind/impatient" (see note x below) and the beh-br of Les. 80, 17 (cD 185). In both instances the implications of 3h, "hurrying" are not flatter- ing, designating someone who is too hasty, too much ina hurry. In B 1, 208, the ?h-r? would then seem to mean someone who speaks his mind too quickly, without reflecting, if r? is interpreted to mean “speech", or, more broadly, someone who hatches a Plan (Goedicke, Nef., 134) without thinking it through.- 386 - For a discussion of ¥w m, “free from," in the sense of “lacking an evil activity or bad habit," see Federn, JEA 36, 49; Goedicke, JEA 48, 28; Stewart, Stelae, Paintings and Reliefs from the Petrie Collection, IZ, pl. 15 (2),2; 18, 2; 21, 9: 21, 11; Helck, Merikare, 70; Lacau, Une chapelle @'Hatshepsout, I, 105; Vernus, Athribis, 25; 27, n.c. The expression Sw m w' can now be identified as a technical term used in the courts to mean someone who does not willfully distort the truth, literally someone free from “fleeing™ or "rushing" (WB I, 286), i.e., someone who gives evidence too quickly without including all relevant details and hence giving an incomplete or distorted picture of the whole. The notion of partialness, not giving the whole truth, also comes from the use of rt to mean a part of a whole, e.g., an administrative division in Egypt. Cf. also the expression w'rt x wrt, “part by part," CD 58. The use of the phrase in a juridical context is established by its occurrence in UC 14430, the Stela of Khety: see Stewart, op.cit., pl. 21, 9 and 22, where Khety is said to be Sw m w'xt m gnbt. is another hapax legomenon; cf.- 387 - note s above. ‘The antithesis of the term, dns~ib, is attested, however: see Wilson, Cath. Biblical Quater- ly, 41, 24, n. 22. It is derived from the verb izi, WB I, 128, 4, “to be light," and the noun ib, liter- ally "the heart," but also as “will, desire, intel- ligence, attention." For the last of these see the expressions rdi ib ms, P. Kahun 27, Gardiner Gram. § 178; and rdi ib pnt, P. Kahun 29, 37 and Urk. IV, 1093, 2; CD 155. See also Sin. B 125; Pr. 7-9; (D 14. ‘The contrast here is between one who is "Light" with respect to his attention to a matter and one who is "heavy." ‘The same opposition between is and dns occurs in Peasant, B 1, 159-160, where being is is implicitly compared to lying (grq) and being ans is put on the same plane as being important or worthy (wr). Hence the rendering of "frivolous, capricious" for the compound is~ib. Cf. B 2, 103 ff. Although dns in the sense of "(over)burd- ened" is well known, this meaning probably does not extend to the figurative of dns as it occurs in the present passage. The only examples of the usage known to me refer specifically to physical burdens rather than to a mental state, e.g.: Anast. V, 21, 67 Le Temple de Dendara, VIII, (Chassinat and Daumas), 156, 3, cf. Meeks, II, 78.4813; Ebers 36, 5; 18. For a possible exception see Wilson, Cath. Bib. Quarterly~ 388 - 41, 24, n,22. In light of this and the examples given above, a rendering of dns as “weighty, important" seems appropriate here. The Egyptian term for "burdened" in the sense of heavy-hearted was >tp; see Peas. B 1, 70; 276; Lebensmiden, 127; Gardiner, Admonitions, 104, The expression sbr-ht is known from two texts, both cited by Vogelsang, Komm., 161; Siut I, 181; Urk. Iv, 1198 (= shr n Rt). In neither of these two examples could the shr (n) ht be separated from the preceding adjectival verb, participally used: hrp Shrcbt in Siut I, 181; im n shr n pt in Urk. IV, 1198. u) Wb-ib, a frequently attested compound describing the virtue of being patient, WB I, 256, 14-19; CD 54; Pap. Anast. I, 2, 6, seems to have had a more technical usage when applied to ancient Egyptian legal procedures. The term is repeatedly used of a leader who is said to be w%beib sqm s, "*patient’ in judging a man," or wb-ib sdm sprw, "‘patient' in judging/investigating petitions," Urk. IV, 970, 6 and 971, 12 respectively; cf. also Urk. Iv, 49, 5. “Patience” in a specifically juridical- 389 - context may have meant either clemency, as suggested by Uivie, Giza 98 (N,4), Helck, Merikare 20, 93, and Barns, JEA 53, 6; Five Ram. Papyri, 6a, n. 17; or “attentiveness,” Goedicke, JEA 48, 25; 28, n. @; or simply fairness in hearing out the complaint of any petitioner to the end. See the discussion by Parant in LtAffaire Sinouh6, 67, 76, 135, 224, 265-267. v) Bhek m3't, "when you realize/recognize the truth," i.e., the true course of maat (B 1, 210). For d?(i)r as "to control something, to keep something under control," see CD 309 and Prisse, 1, 4, dee ib, "to control desire, the will"; cf. Prisse 5, 12. I take the stpt, ("your) first choice or selection," as referring to Rensi's natural incli- nation to favor Nemty~nakht or at least the peasant's Perception of such a predisposition on Rensi's part. w) For bsi, WB I, 473, 1 ££., as "to enter, to bring in, introduce," see Sethe, Unters. V. (59);- 390 - Peet, JEA 10, 121, n. 6; Cerny, Sinai II, no. 296, 8; Vernus, Athribis, 306, Or 48, 182; Meeks, III, 79.0928. In this passage the words bss and grw are meant as a compound term, as evidenced by the placement of the determinative after grw. The use of bss, the imperfective participle, necessitates a rendering of “the one who is always brought in quietly" or “the one who is always/repeatedly brought in, the silent one." In either case, it would: appear that the one upon whom silence was imposed, within the frame-work of juridical proceedings, was the accused. Bi, 211 ~ 215 Bl, 211- There is no impetuous one who 212 maintains excellence, Bl, 212- There shall not be an impatient one, 213 while a document is brought. * Bl, 213 Cause both eyes to see (i.e., do not let anything escape your notice). Y- 391 - Bil, 213 When one informs you (files a case in written form), 7 Bl, 213- Do not be overbearing according 214 to your power. 9° Bi, 214 It makes it impossible that evil/ bb trouble overtake you. Bi, 215 He who passes over one case is bound for a second. (or: Passing over a case leads to another). °° Notes: x) For shmw as one who is impetuous or moves too precipitously see CD 244 and reference: Meeks, I, 77.3847; II, 78.3792. For mgd, "to adhere to, practise, main- tain," see WB II, 191,14 ~ 192,3; Zivie, Giza, 194, 2. For p2h-ib as the opposite of wh-ib, hence "heedless, impatient," see Gardiner, HPBM I, 33,n.11.~ 392 - For ' as a record or document, see Urk., I, 211, 11; 232, 14; cf. st *, Urk. I, 60,2, "a place of records"; sg3t nt ', “a seal used on records," Urk. I, 64,10, Inasmuch as this document would most likely be a document of aquittal for the peasant, similar to the ! received by the deceased judged to be m3'-brw in the Coffin Texts, these last two lines, B 1, 211-212, should probably be seen as an aside by the peasant in which he reminds himself to maintain his composure while awaiting Rensi's decision. This is in contrast with the preceding seven lines, B 1, 208-211, in which the peasant addresses Rensi. y) The first of the three eyes written out in the text is the determinative of the verb sgmb, "to cause to see," (see below). ‘The object of the imperative is thus "the two eyes," written as a dual, and not "the eyes," a simple plural, as translated by both Faulkner, Lit Anc Eg, 42 and Lichtheim Anc Eg Lit, I, 178. The use of a dual, rather than a plural, form here points to a direct reference to the one addressed, i.e., Rensi. This is the under- standing of both Gardiner, JEA 9, 16, who translates "Let thine eyes (therefore not more than two!) behold," ard Vogelsang, Komm., 164 who renders more- 393 - literally "die beiden Augen." Sgmp is the causative form of gmb, WB V, 170,8 - 171,11. Although the verb can mean simply "to see, catch sight of, espy," or "to look at," when followed by the preposition x or n, (CD 289), the connotations of the term are frequently those of intellectual perception or understanding rather than of visual perception. ‘These implications have been discussed by Goedicke, Neferyt, 137 with reference to line 69 of that text; cf. also Goedicke's reference to Deir Rifeh I, 6, where three verbs of seeing, dg, m33, and gmk, are used of glimpsing. or perceiving the hereafter, expressed variously as mht, nbb, and gt. Gmb is attached to the last of these three. Thus gb, as well as other verbs of seeing, is not to be seen in our passage as the mere observation of detail but as the comprehension of essential meaning. It is the first step in a two-stage process whereby under- standing is reached (step one) and the heart, ib, the center of thinking and understanding, is informed: see below. This is a positive statement of a theme already evoked in the peasant's pleas, that of the "blindness" of the hearer, sdmw, or investigator: Bil, 188, cf. B 2, 105. For further discussions of gmp, see Caminos, Tale, 21, n. 1; pl. 4, 13; Zivie, Giza, 186, 1.2; 3; Helck, Proph., 57, XV, f.- 394 - 2) The logical consequence of Rensi's "understanding," as defined above, note y, is to inform the heart," swg? ib. As pointed out by Vogelsang, Komm., 164, this rather poetic-sounding expression was an idiom for issuing a written com- munication, e.g., P. Kahun 27,8; 29,2, where swg? ib pwn nb.i is the opening ‘line of a written report. Cf. Peas. B 1, 36-37. The same notions of communi- cation and information are taken up by Vernus, RdE 30, 192; Meeks II, 78.3414; III, 79.2488, The peasant is asking Rensi to listen carefully to his case and to write up what he understands, a valuable indication of court procedure in ancient Egypt. aa) For the rendering “harsh, overbearing," for the word k#hs see CD 284; JEA 37, 109-110; Lichtheim, Anc Eg Lit, I, 60; WB V, 137, 19-20. The word is probably to be related to the khs of WB V, 137, 2-15, "to be disrespectful, scornful": see Meeks, III, 79.3245 and Stewart, Stelae...from the Petrie Collection, II, pl. 18, 3; 11. It is interesting to note that of the three known occurrences of the word k3hs (Peas. B 1, 213-214; Prisse 1, 12, Instructions of Kagemni; the- 395 ~ Stelae of Mentuhotep, Son of Hapi, PSBA XVIII, 1896, 125 ££) two, namely the present passage and the stela of Mentuhotep, use k*hs in close connection with pft usr. In the Stela of Mentuhotep we read: I was patient (weh-ib: see note t) above, free from nhrhr (8q m nhrhr: see note s) above), BR kehs(. ) pet wser(.i), "I was not harsh with respect to (my) Power/might." Thus this passage, noted by Vogelsang, Xomm., 164, together with Peasant B1, 213-214, Points to a meaning of k3hs/khs as "harshness" not in the sense of a strict disciplinarian but as someone disposed to abuse the power invested in him. For wsr in the sense of power and influence, the influence of a wealthy individual, see CD 68; Helck, Merikare, 39; Zivie, Giza, 67,1.17; 128, 1.5. bb) This line contains an ironic pun on the verb spr, which means both "to reach, attain," (CD 223: note the reference to RB 112, 11, where an evil deed is said to spr r.f, "recoil upon him." with reference to the evil doer). If Rensi does not pay heed to the sprw, the peasant, evil will overtake or recoil upon him,- 396 - cc) Again, the tone of this line is ironic, as shown by the following iw.f-construction which explains the result of obeying such an imperative. Sw? kr (CD 216) can mean either to pass “over (Prisse 13.5) or "by" someone or something or "to escape from" something: Pyr. 1236. It is perhaps in this second meaning that the word was intended in Bl, 215: if Rensi tries to escape this "matter" or "case" (sp), things will only become worse. There is also, most likely, a pun intended since sw* br in a legal context can mean "to transgress" a law, etc. This meaning is suggested by the juxtaposition of sw? br and sp in the case or "cause" presented before the authorities: e.g., the phrase sp.f nfr n wn m', Bl, 203. B 1, 215 is another pun on the number two, VE, and snw "the contestants in a court of law," (cD 230); cf. Peas. B1, 234.- 397 - Bil, 215 + 218 B41, 215- (For) Only the eater can taste, 216 so the inquirer shall answer. 74 Bi, 216- Only the sleeper can see dreams, 218 so the one investigating in the gate about the one brought to him, - he shall be a model for the evil doer. °° Notes: 4a) The word dp means both "to taste" and "to experience": CD 312; it occurs as "to experience” in Peas. B 1, 59 and Sh.S 124. See my note on Bl, 59. In B 1, 215-216 a contrast is made between- 398 - two legal terms, wb and wd. The same contrast occurs in B 1, 314; 315, The first of the two, wid, refers to a legal inquiry: Goedicke, Neferyt, 106, n. B1, 220. As in both the ap; 110, nau; cf. Peas., preceding and the following line, the emphasis hers is on the importance of being given the opportunity to act, to reply to specific charges. The peasant complains that he cannot rebutt (w8b, see below) the charges against him if he is not told what they are, if a proper legal inquiry (w3dw) is not opened. In Bl, 226, this complaint is set forth in explicitly legal language. ‘The same theme is evoked more poetically, or abstractly, in Bl, 215 and Bl, 216-217. See Peas. B1, 50; 51; 152; 154 and my discussion of w3b in B 1, 152. The word, which means "to answer" in a legal context, or "to rebuke," is cf. Helck, discussed by Goedicke, Nef., 110, n. aw Proph., 39, (Xi), and Faulkner, CD 70: wSb meaning "to answer for" conduct, Urk. IV, 511, 17; iri web br, "to answer for" or "to protect" someone. ee) Again in B1, 216 the emphasis is on being given the opportunity to act: one cannot- 399 - experience a dream unless one is asleep. Inasmuch as dreams were thought to have meaning (and consequen- ces) in ancient Egypt, this line once again draws Rensi's attention to the fact that he must initiate action, i.e., legal proceedings, in order to get results and to settle the peasant's case one way or another. For ir, "as to," used to emphasize a nominal subject, placed in initial position before an adverbial phrase, see Gardiner, Gram., §149,1 (p. 116), note 6. For wd'-rwt, a compound term meaning "to judge, decide, to conduct a pre-trial investigation," see Goedicke, MIO 8 (1963) 339 ff; BA, 86; Meeks, II, 78.1177; Dendara VIII, 67, 17; CD 76. The precise functions of a wd'-rwt (WB I, 406, 1-4) are not known, although other similar titles for judges are attested, namely wd'-mdwt and wd'-m?'t, generally considered to be ‘juges des affaires courantes" (judges of everyday matters) and "juges en droit pur," (magistrates of the law): Parant, Sinouhé, 55, n, 171; Theodorides, RIDA 16, 126 ££. It would seem likely that the expression wd'-rwt is a contracted form of wd'-'r(r)wt "a judge of the gates," but this etymology does little to advance our understanding of- 400 - the wg'-rwt 's duties, as it simply names the venue of his juridical activitie ‘The term also occurs in Prisse 10, 10; Urk. IV, 1071, 17; Paheri, 1,4. The use of the preposition m to introduce the direct object in B 1, 217-218 carries partitive or limitative ("only") connotations: see Silverman Orientalia 49 (1980), 199 ££. Bl, 218 - 220 Bi, 218- 219 Bi, 219 B 1, 220 You fool, you have been caught! ff You idiot, you are accused! 99 © you bailer-out-of-water, you have entered/really gotten into some- thing! 5- 401 - Notes: ££) The essential problem of this passage is to determine who is speaking to whom. Although the three lines are universally interpreted as words addressed by the peasant to Rensi, it can reasonably be argued that the peasant is not directing these three short statements to anyone but himself. Arguments supporting this point of view can be summarized as follows: a) The person addressed in this passage is referred to, in Bl, 220, as a bailer out of water, pnk-mwy. In Petition VII, B1, 278-279, the peasant uses this same expression in the sdm.n.f form (pnk.n.i mwy) where the use of the first person singular leaves no doubt as to the referent. b) In the first line of this section the addressee is called a wh? who has been caught (pb). That the peasant sees himself as one under attack (pb) is clear in Petition VIII, B 1, 315, where he implores Rensi not to attack one (i.e., the peasant himself) who has not attacked him: m Ph(w) nty n ph.n.f / B 2, 80: m pa(w) nty n pb.f be.- 402 - c) ‘The peasant is the one attacked or caught (pb)- Rensi is the potential attacker: see ph of fish in Petition I, B 1, 61-62 / R 104-105. It would seem inappropriate for the peasant to refer to the magistrate Rensi, one of superior social and administrative standing, as either a wh? or a Bm(w). See discussion of these terms below. For a discussion of wh®, “a fool, an ignorant one" see Goedicke, BA, 99; cf. WB I, 354, 11-12; CD 68; Helck, Merikare 32 ('dumm'), The term is contrasted with the noun rh, "the knowing or instructed one": Helck, Proph. 13, (IIr); 58, (XVg); Goedicke, Neferyt, 68; 113; Helck, Merikare 72-73; WB II, 445, 12-15; Meeks III, 79.1774, and should thus be seen as one who acts foolishly out of ignorance and not a "fool" in the sense of a boorish oaf who "plays the fool." The peasant calls himself a wh> meaning that he has stumbled into his present situation out of ignorance, innocently unaware of the lengths to which Nemty-nakht could go to confiscate his belongings and equally ignorant of how to win them back. A completely different interpretation of- 403 - this line is given by Donadoni, Annali, Instituto Orientale di Napoli, N.S. XVIII, vol. 28, 443, who, commenting that B 1, 218-220 is structured on three sets of contrasting terms --in each case a vocative and an Old Perfective make up the pair-- reasons that wh? “stolto" does not form a suitable pair with pb “raggiungere. If, he argues, we assumed that the wh? of B1, 218, despite its "evil bird" determin- ative, should be taken as the wh? ( 3$ i~4) of wa I, 353,14 - 354,7, "to search" rather than as the wh? (28429 of wet, 354, 14, "to be ignorant," we would have the answer to our problem in the contrast between wh?, "to search" and pb, "to arrive." The presence of the “evil bird" determinative in B 1, 218, rather than the legs (4) determinative we would expect with wh?, "to search," is not difficult to explain in that the two signs are very similar in the hieratic script. Donadoni's emendation of the line is most probably unnecessary. He posits the need for an expression more appropriately contrastive with pb on his understanding of pk.t(i) as an active verb, "you have arrived." The passive use of transitive verbs in the Old Perfective has been demonstrated by Gardiner, Gram., § 311. Donadoni himself translates the Old Perfective of the following line as a- 404 - passive: “tu sei interrogato!" If we take the pb.t(i) of B 1, 218-219 as a passive, as above, "you have been," changing the wh? (22%) to wh? (42% ) does not improve the wh?/pb contrast. If, on the other hand, we understand wh? as the innocent /unknowing/uninstructed one, as I have argued above, the contrast between the unsuspecting peasant and his attacker, the calculating Nemty-nakht is very strong indeed. It would seem that pb, at least in certain contexts, may have juridical connotations although I know of no litterature discussing such a possibility. This speculation is based on its association in B 1, 315 / B 2, 80 with other known technical legal terms, e.g., w8d and wSb, Bl, 314-315; sf, B1, 316; (although here perhaps intended more broadly, in the expression mét tn nfrt, as "eloquent language"), as well as more poetic evocations of the notion of justice: gd m't, ir mi't, B1, 320. This entire section is both preceded and followed by passages in which the iwsw and mht are used as symbols of true justice, B 1, 311-313; B 1, 322-324. It is unlikely, however, that ph in a legal context means "to attack" in the sense of "to accuse," since the causative srp is known to fulfill that function: cD 236.= 405 - 99) The hm-ht.w is one who is not know~ ledgable, who lacks certain empirically gained knowledge, sometimes knowledge of specific rites or procedures. He is thus the opposite, or negative counterpart, of the rb-ht(w), for which the tradi- tional renderings of “sage” and “wise man" are frequently misleading in that they convey the idea of spiritual wisdom or insight rather than that of acquired knowledge. For this interpretation of rb-ht as the possessor of knowledge (and therefore of the hmcht as one who does not possess such knowledge) see Goedicke, Neferyt, 68-69 and n. 61; 139 and n. 471; Edel ZAS 106, 113 (the rh-ht as one who knows or is familiar with certain rites); Meeks III, 79.0322; cf. Corteggiani, Hommages Sauneron I, 123: iri ipt ntr, “perform rites." The object of the knowledge, rh or of the lack thereof is represented very broadly by the term (i)ht, “thing, matter, affair," and will be different according to the context. In B 1, 219 that context can be established as juridical due to the presence of the word wSd, a legal inquiry, see Goedicke, Neferyt, 106; 110. The peasant laments that he, as one completely untutored in legal proced- ures, finds himself embroiled in a court inquiry. The peasant is the subject of a judicial inguiry, a w3d, “accused one." Cf. Vogelsang, Komm.,= 406 = 167; P. Kahun 13, 23. hh) For a discussion of pnk, "to bail (out)" see my note on B 1, 94 and Romans et conte! 61, n. 82; Pyr. 335 c; 950 a; Donadoni op.cit., 443. The term refers to the operation of emptying a boat of water before setting sail or embarking on a journey and is found here in ironic contrast with the term 'k, which indicates the completion of a boat journey. The reference to the peasant as a pnk-mwy also foreshadows B 1, 278-279 / B 2, 36, where the peasant uses the same expression to refer metaphor ically to the long and incessant outpouring of his petitions to Rensi, pleadings which have apparently been futile. The same futility of misdirected energy is seen in B1, 220. Finally, it is worth noting that within the range of the peasant's nautical symbolism, prominent throughout the work, Rensi is always designated as the steersman, the my, not only an important figure within the framework of a ship's hierarchy but, significantly, the one in control. In B1, 220, the peasant assigns himself the role of water-bailer on board ship. This task is certainly not without its importance; it might indeed be said- 407 - to be indispensable to keeping the ship afloat. But it is a task that would be performed by the least significant member of the crew, a boring and repet- tious endeavor which has no beginning, middle or end but simply goes on. Surely this term reflects both the peasant's social status and the way he himself sees the task of persuading Rensi to act on his case. As long as he continues to talk, Rensi will listen: the ship will stay afloat, but it will not advance unless Rensi plies the steering oar! The peasant can only keep the matter alive; he has no control over its ultimate outcome. For the use of 'k as a nautical expression meaning "to enter” in the sense of "to come onto land at the end of a voyage," see B 1, 259 / B 2, 12; cf., s'k, Bl, 19 Donadoni, op.cit.. Bl, 221 ~ 224 4a Bil, 221 Steersman, do not steer off-course! Bl, 221- Life-sustainer, do not let one die! 222- 408 - Bl, 222- Provider, do not let one perish! ** 223 Bil, 223 Shadow, do not change into sunlight! 22 B1, 223- Shelter, do not let the aggressor 224 snatch! ai) For a discussion of the imagery concerning mw and bmy in the Peasant, see my note to B1, 91, where the term bmw is first introduced. The term bmy is used twice in the Peasant, B 1, 126 and the present passage, to mean he-who-holds-the-pmw or steering oar. In both passages the word hmy is associated with the verb sbn. See Vogelsang, Kot 115; 169. For the -y/-w ending on nouns to express "the one who does something" (attached to verb stems) or “the one who has something" (attached to noun stems) see Gardiner, Notes on Sinuhe, 18 and his examples of wrsy, Sin. R 44-45; sy, Sin. B 151; and ‘wy, Peas. B1, 302. Cf. Vogelsang, 169 and his reference to Sethe, Verbum I, 121.- 409 - See my note on B 1, 91 for a discussion of ‘sbn. ‘The word occurs in the Peasant text four times: Bl, 91; B1, 126; B 1, 163; and the present passage. ‘The verb can be used with (B 1, 221) or without (B 1, 91; 126; 163) an object and is associated with either the steering oar (B 1, 91; B 1, 163) or the boat in general (B 1, 126; B 1, 221). Note the plene spell- ing of dpwt.k before the suffix-pronoun in B 1, 221; the same spelling occurs in B 1, 57. ji) For the causative of the verb ‘nh, "to live," see CD 214; Pap. Kahun, 3, 5; Siut, pl. 15, 9+ 4, 228; Pyr. T. 1461, ‘The word can have the more specifically concrete meaning of "to nourish, to feed," as in the Kahun and Siut references given above, which would seem to be the sense of s'nhw in Bl, 221, parallel here to sbtm, "one who provides, gives provisions." Cf. James, Hek, Doc. II, 5. In this five-line section the peasant is once again speaking to Rensi, after a brief pause for a three-line aside to himself: see note ff) above. He calls upon Rensi five times. The five appeals, each consisting of a vocative and a negative imper~ ative, can be subdivided as follows: 1+ 2+ 2.= 410 - Rensi is addressed once as the steersman in the first sentence of the passage, a sentence which is not paired with another in the stanza. He is then twice appealed to as one who can provide “life” or food- stuffs, s'nhw and sbtm(w) and twice as one who can provide, or embodies, shelter, i.e., security, protection: Swyt; ibw. The rdi mwt of B 1, 221-222 recalls B 1,95: kk) It is clear that in this section we have five sets of (ironic) oppositions or contrasts, a poetic device also used in the preceding three line section, B 1, 218-220. The sptm at the beginning of B 1, 222-223, therefore, cannot be taken, following Vogelsang, "Vernichter," or Gardiner and Faulkner, "destroyer," but must be seen as a term in contrast with the btm, "perish, destroy," in the second half of the line. This difficulty was seen by Donadoni, Annali, Institute Orientale di Napoli, N.S. XVIII, 443, who emends shtm to sbtp to create the expected contrast of meaning in the line. The emendation is- 411 - entirely unnecessary. The anticipated contrast is based on a wordplay between btm, "to provide," (WB III, 196, 9 - 197, 9) and btm, "to destroy," or, as here intransitively, "to perish," (WB IIT, 197, 10 - 198, 2), as has been pointed out by Lichtheim, Anc Eq Lit, I, 178, n. 22. Donadoni's emendation is as risky as it is unnecessary in that the reading of shtmw, ( (% G23 3S ), and not sptp is perfectly clear in B1, 222. mending the text would be justifiable only if the text in its present state made no sense. This, as we have shown, is not at all the case in B 1, 222. Hence a hypothesis of what the Bl-scribe might have misread or miscopied from another manuscript at his disposal is, fortunately, not germane to our understanding of this line. For btm, WB III, 197, 10 - 198, 2. 11) For a discussion of the word Swyt, "shade, shadow," and its vital, protective qualities in the arid, treeless environment of ancient Egypt and the Near East in general, see Gardiner, Admonitions, 59; Admon. 7, 13. Cf. Posener, Enseignement loyaliste, 149; § 3, 8. See also my note on B 1, 123 / R 165.- 412 - For iri m, "to change into" something, see €D 27, (9) and references to Westcar. 9, 27; P. Smith 21, 9. the Sw of this line is either the word for sunlight, WB IV, 430, 6 - 431, 12, or the 3w of WB Iv, 429, 10-14, meaning "dry," "dried." The two are written identically, making a judgment between the two impossible. For the purposes of interpreting B 1, 223, however, it makes little difference which of the two renderings we choose. The contrast is between Rensi's protective, life-conserving propert- ies as symbolized in the notion of shade (see note & above) and the life-annihilating properties of a relentless desert sun, from whose heat life will dry up and be destroyed. Ibw, like bmy/pmw and sbn is a frequently used metaphor in the Peasant text. It occurs four times: B 1, 129; B 1, 179; B 1, 279 and the present passage. In B1, 129 it is linked to the "raveniny crocodile," the Snw-msb, as well as to the protection of the ami. In B 1, 178-179, the menace of the msb is again evoked. At fault is the absence (ts) of shelter or protection, iby. In Bl, 297, the magistrates, sr.w, are said to be, ideally, the ibw against another form of enemy, the 2dw, another term- 413 - determined by the crocodile figure. We know from B 1, 181 that the 2dw is one of the peasant's terms for his adversary Nemty-nakht. ‘Thus at the end of this passage, B 1, 221-224, in which Rensi is petitioned by the peasant in very general terms to be his protector and provider, there is an allusion to the specific difficulty the peasant is experiencing, the fact that his goods have been taken/snatched (iti: cf. B 1, 23; B 1, 28 where nbm is used of the theft). This five-line passage has been carefully worked out, in terms of its poetic effects on the reader, to create a tension between the existence of the five-line stanza as a single unit and the dissol- ution of the whole into separate components. The unity of the stanza is reinforced by the five-fold repetition of the vocative + negative imperative construction which is in tension with the 1 +2 +2 break-down of the paired metaphors mentioned above. Another subdivision of the stanza is possible accord- ing to the use or absence of the helping verb rdi in the five negative imperatives. A regrouping of the verses according to this principle results in the following pattern: a / bb / a / b', whereby a four- fold division emerges, the verses containing rdi + sgm.tw (b) or rdi + sgm.f (b') alternating with verses without rdi (a) in a rhythmic pattern that we- 414 - might describe as asymmetric or syncopated in that there are not equal numbers of a and b (or b') line: Bl, 224 ~ 225 Bl, 224 The fourth time now of petitioning to you, Bl, 225 Shall I spend all day at itz: ™ Note: mm) The peasant's impatience shows through. For wr8, see Sinuhe B 9, 158; West 6, 133 7, 67 Meeks III, 79.0725; WB I, 335, 10-18; Camincs, Tale, 38 and n. 3, pl. 8, 7. See Silverman, Interrogative Constructions, 94, example 8.Commentary PETITION V- 416 - Bl, 225 ~ 231 Bl, 225 And then this peasant came, of his own accord, Bl, 225- To petition to him a fifth time, 226 B 1, 226 He said: 0 High Steward, my lord! Bl, 226- —As the bydw-fisherman 227 is s..ing se, * Bl, 228 So the ... yss are slaying the "comer" fish. >- 417 - Bl, 228 ‘The xrmw-piercer/harpooner is rejecting the pure ones, © Bl, 229- And throwing the pleader to the 230 pakt-fish. 4 Bl, 230- The netter of fishes/men © is 231 disturbing the water/river. Note! a) The first five lines of Petition V is an extremely difficult section both because the only text version we have contains numerous lacunae and because the lines contain many terms connected with fishing which are otherwise unattested or poorly understood. I nonetheless believe that we can discern in the passage a playful, punning version of what by now has become a familiar refrain: the peasant's sense of being abandoned by the magistrate Rensi.- 418 - The pwdw-fisherman is a fisherman who casts his net for the hwdw-fish. The latter is attested in cT Iv, 1, £ (T1L); CT IV, 35, m (Sq6C; B2L); CT IV 127, e; and CT II, 43, g (BIC; B1P). See Gamer- Wallert, Ag Abh 21, 20, n. 48; n.49; WB III, 250, 4 and III, 355, 19. A Bddw, god of fish-nets, is also attested: Gamer-Wallert, op.cit. 60, n.9. See Vogelsang, Komm. 171 for other occurrences of this fish-name. That it is the hwdw~ fisherman and not the bwdw-fish which is mentioned in B 1, 227 is clear from the man determinative. What the hwdw-fisherman is doing in our pas~ sage is, however, far from clear, since the verb following pr has completely disappeared. I take the wdw-fisherman as a reference to Rensi, who is described in Petition II as the pwd, “rich one." Cf. Bl, 89-90. This would follow an attested custom in ancient Egypt of giving fish quite literally descrip- tive names. In this tradition we can cite the hb?- fish, so named for his habit of digging (hb3) in the mud for his food, and the sbn or "drifter-fish," the synodontis batensoda, whose common name reflects his ability to drift in the water on his back, his stom- ach turned skyward. See Petition II, note e).- 419 - For the bb3-fish see Ward, SAK 9, 3697 Boulenger, The Fishes of the Nile, London, 1967, 427. The pb?-fish can be tentatively identified as the Mugil cephalus, although see Valbelle Poids, 24, $19, where the ‘dw is identified as the Mugil cephalus. We can safely assume that the missing verb would have described Rensi as engaged in some kind of "fishing" repugnant to the peasant: see below B 1, 228, note b). b) In B 1, 228 the name of the type of fisher- man is destroyed. He is said to be slaying (sti) the dy-fish, the "comer"-fish. In light of the descrip- tive names given to fish in ancient Egypt, (see note a) above), I would take the "comer"-fish as a refer- ence to the peasant or others who come to plead their cases before a judge. The iy-fish is otherwise un- attested: Gamer-Wallert, Ag Abh 21, 46, n. 350; WB I, 38, 8. For sti, meaning to spear a fish with a harpoon, see Gamer-Wallert, Ag Abh 21, 61, n. 15; WB IV, 326, 9; Montet, Scenes, 21. For ii/iw as a= 420 - juridical term, "to come into court," see Ptahhotep, 268-269, for a possible meaning “to come out (of court), i.e., to be proven (guilty or innocent) ," see Urk. IV, 151, 2; 484, 8; Br. Mus. 614, 6-7. c) The xm-fish is used throughout the passage as a pun on rm "fish" and rm(t), "men." The verb in B 1, 229 should be read p3': see WB III, 227, 4; Vogelsang, Komm., 171; Beni Hassan I, pl. XXIX. The otherwise unattested wbbw-fish is probably a pun on w'bw, “the pure ones," i.e., the peasant and other innocent victims, See Gamer-Wallert, Ag Abh 21, 46, n. 351. d) In B 1, 229-230 the g#bkw-fish is a homo- phonic pun on dbbw, “the pleader." This line is an icrmy br po! wbbw-rmw; (sticrmy br bh?!) gibhw r p%kt. For the idiom p?' xr, "to throw (something) down to (the ellipsis based on the preceding line: bottom of the sea), see WB III, 227, 4; Meeks I,- 421 - 77.2978; II, 78.2931; III, 79.2142; Caminos, Tale, pl. 6, 5. The g(?)bkw-fish is not known from other texts. Vogelsang, Komm., 171. The p3kt-fish, likewise unattested elsewhere, may be an oblique reference to men at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder. See p3kt as a mere "flake of stone, a potsherd," CD 88; Westcar 6, 10; Ebers 61, 8. See Gamer-Wallert, Ag Abh 21, 46, n. 352 and WB I, 500, 5, who read with Vogelsang, Komm. 170, pekr-fish, also unattested. e) The wh'.w, WB I, 350, 1-6, is the most general term for fisherman: JEA 38, 29. (The term is also used for fowler), See Meeks I, 77.1001; BiFAO 77, 135. The verb pb? means literally "to hack." Here it is used more generally as "to disturb" (the water's surface). See Peas. Petition VII, B 1, 274 / B 2, 30 for pb? hp, "the distortion of law."- 422 - Bl, 231 ~ 233 Bl, 231 Bl, 231 Bl, 232- 233 Bl, 233 Note: Lo, you are the same as one who cheats a pauper «sof = his_— miserable possessions, * Do not envy the pauper his goods! A weak one whom you know! Breath is it to the sufferer/poor man (mir), namely, his goods. A murderer is it who steals them. 9 f) The interpretation given above, notes a) - c), of B 1, 226-231, is consistent with B 1, 231-232, where the peasant says much more openly mk tw m mnty ciry m ‘wn bwrw br gt.£, "lo, you are of the same ilk- 423 - as one who cheats the pauper (hwrw) of his goods. For the bwrw see Goedicke, Neferyt, 123; Helck, Prophezeiung (1970) 47 (XIIe); Meeks I, 77.2636; WB III, 55, 5-8. The bwrw is both the weak man, the powerless, and the poverty-stricken man: Meeks II 78.2629; Berlev Obch Otn, 66-68. Like the peasant, he is on the bottom rung of society's ladder. Here the bwrw is also synonymous with the fn, the "weak one." See Gardiner, Admon., 70. For 'wn ... be I prefer the rendering "to cheat (someone) of something)" to Faulkner's "“despoil someone of," CD 40. The prevailing notion, in any case, is that of greed, as seen in the 'wn-ib of Bl, 165; 292. With this line the peasant sug- gests that Rensi, in failing to pass judgment, is acting no more responsibly than Nemty-nakht, the twn(w) br bt. g) B 1, 232-233 develops an aspect of a theme already dealt with in Petition II, B 1, 123 f: the bwrw's or mir's goods keep him alive. He has nothing else. Therefore, (B 1, 123 £.) he can even be excused for stealing (pnp).- 424 - In B 1, 233 the one who takes away (nbm) the mir's goods is described as a dbb-fnd, literally a "nose-clogger.". This is the converse of the common Egyptian expression {3w n/r fnd “breath to the nose" used to mean "life-giving/life-sustaining." Cf. also nm tw x fnd, "take away breath from the nose," i.e. "kill": Meeks III, 79.3459; WB V, 351, 14. Hence, I have rendered dbb-fnd as "murderer." For £nd db(b)w, see Posener, Ens. loyaliste, 22, § 3, 5-6; Prisse 5, 2 and P. Sall. XI, 10. For examples of §*w r/n £nd, see Instructions of a Man for His Son, 17, b; Urk. IV, 613, 13: g?.n.i fnd.sn m iw n 'nh, "I have deprived their noses/nostrils of the breath of life." For the closely related, indeed, interchangeable theme of £2w n r3, "breath to the mouth," see Vernus, RAE 28, 139-145; 34, 117-121. Bl, 234 ~ 239 Bl, 234 You are appointed to hear cases, Bl, 234 to investigate contenders,- 425 - Bil, 235 to repel the violent. Bil, 235- (Yet) Lo, supporting for the 236 snatcher/thief is what you do! ™ Bl, 236 Although one trusts in you, Bil, 237 You have become one who trespasses/ deviates (from moral norms). Bil, 237- You are appointed as a (protective) 238 dam for the poor (mir), Bl, 238 as a safeguard against his drowning. Bl, 239 (vet) Lo, you are his sea/lake, o fast- pourer! Notes: h) For a discussion of sdm mét see Vogelsang, Komm., 94; 121; 173; 223; 224-225; B 2, 104, See also Pap. Kahun 9, 25 for the use of sgm in- 426 - a juridical context; cf. Rekhmire 9, 11; 14; Peasant B 1, 99; 133; 188, For references to méw/mdt used as a technical legal term to mean "case," see Vogelsang, op.cit.. For waa (3200) as a graphic variant of wa! ( 30) see vogelsang, Komm., 173. For the interpretation of wd' as "to investigate," see Goedicke, MIO 8, 339 ff; BA, 86. The sn.w(y) are the two contenders in a court case: Goedicke BA, 86; Edel, Phraseologie Hatnub Gr. 14, 10. For "To repel the violent," bsf ‘wir sf see Vogelsang, Komm., 173; CD 197; Sinuhe B 17; Prisse 5, 12; Urk. IV, 969, 17; Badawy, NyhetepPtah, fig. 24; PDelM I, pl. 13, 1; FECT I, 245 (sp 317), ne 53 (CT IV, 126, c); I, 269 (sp 335) n. 77 (CT IV, 3046). Cf. Peas. B 1, 10: Bil, 147. The ‘wi-ir(r).f of B 1, 235 is a compound term similar to the better known shm-ir.f, Vogelsang, Komm., 173-174 and references. The verb f£3i, "to carry a load" is used here abstractly as "to support, give aid to" the- 427 - ittw. For it?w, see Vogelsang, Komm., 152; 174. Cf. B 1, 192, i£3, "to steal" WB I, 150, 12-23; BD, 467, 6 ittw , "thief"; WB I, 151, 1; Meeks I, 77.0520. i) Mpcib, "to £ill the heart, to trust." See vogelsang, Komm., 174 and El-Bersheh, 11, 217 Piankoff, Le Coeur, 23, 36, 41, 42, 43, 90; CD 113; Urk. IV, 99, 4.77 Admon., 4, 6. For thi "to stray" in the sense of "to transgress," (standards), "to disobey," see James Hekanakhte, Doc. I, 16; Prisse 5, 7 - 5, Hayes, A Papyrus of the Late Middle Kingdom, 81; Goedicke, BA, 92; Meeks III, 79.3427; Peas. B 1, 281, See further Faulkner, JEA 42, 31, n. 10; Sinuhe, B 148, 202; Parant Affaire Sinouhé, 136-137; 154-156; 169; 188. ‘The concept of the unswerving adherence to the straight path as basic to ancient Egyptian notions of right and wrong is discussed in the notes to B 1, 91-92. cf. B1, 277 / B2, 34 and Vogelsang, Komm., 174; 194, The concept of the public official serving as a protective "dam" for the poor and- 428 - defenseless is related to the Egyptian notion of the king (or other official) as protector against the wgnw, the swirling floodwaters: see B 1, 102 and the references given in the notes on that passage. In light of the parallel in B 1, 234-235 to B 1, 238 I have emended an r before s*w. This results in almost identical phrasing (rdi.n.tw.k + © + noun) in B 1, 234 £. and B1, 237 £., lending support to the hypothetical omission of an r~sign by the scribe. I take the final word of this section as a compound sti-3sw, a "fast-pourer," in contrast with the dnyt of B 1, 237 -a drowner, not a s?w-mb. The theme of rescuing the drowning man also occurs at the end of Petition II, B 1, 137.Commentary PETITION VIPEETTION VE - = 430 - 247 Bl, 239 239 240 241 241 241- 242 242 242- 243 And then this peasant came to petition to him, of his own accord, for the sixth time. He said: 0 High Steward, my lord! A lord, he should seize a lie, * (He) should bring about justice/truth. Bring about goodness! Destroy evil! ° Just as surely as satiety comes and ends hunger,- 431 - Bl, 243- and clothing ends nakedness, © 244 Bl, 244- As the sky becomes peaceful after a 245 raging storm, 4 Bl, 245 and it warms all who shiver, © Bl, 246 As fire cooks what is raw, * Bl, 246- As water quenches thirst. 9 247 Notes: a) For sis as a variant of iss, "to mete out punishment," see WB I, 130, 7. The word is employed here as a playful pun on sis, "six,": cf. B1, 178, Petition III, note hh) on that line. For sis, "six," see WB IV, 40, 7. Cf. also B1, 242-247 below where six examples illustrate how thoroughly evil must be eradicated.- 432 - b) Emending the word gw in B1, 242, to form the expression bw-gv. The emendation seems highly plausible in that the line as it stands means nothing and is thus clearly missing a word. Bw-gw is frequently paired with bw-nfr and therefore would seem to provide the missing half of the contrastive pair bw nb nfr / bw-(gw) with the bw nb nfr of the preceding line, Bi, 241-242, That a term diametrically opposed to bw nb nfr is needed here as the final word of the second line of the second couplet in this four-line section, B 1, 241-242, is further suggested by the grg / m3't opposition found in the first couplet of the quatrain. In the first couplet the term grg, whose connotations are negative, is stated first; m?'t, the positive term, second. In the second couplet this order is reversed, with the positive bw nb nfr given first, followed by the negative bw-(dw). It is possible that the omitted term is pwrw: see B 1, 106; 168; 263 and Vogelsang, Komm., 177 for occurrences of bw-bwrw in the Peasant text. For bw-dw, see Bl, 214. See the Introduction, pp. 51-54, for a discussion of a similar passage from Petition I, B 1, 65-67.- 433 - c) For gr, "to end, to put an end to," see Vogelsang, Komm., 177; CD 323. Although the verb is rarely attested with this meaning (cf. Westcar 6, 11; Lebensmiden 75, cited by Vogelsang), it is clearly related to the substantive gr, “end, boundary, limit," WB V, 585 (bottom of page). See also the gr used verbally in CT VII, 25, p, translated by Faulkner as “obstruct” (FECT III, 15 (sp. 824) n. 13) but sharing the same semantic field ("end, remove") as the verb in B 1, 242-243. 4) Literally, g' k?, a “high wind or storm." See Vogelsang, Komm., 177; Westcar 11, 4; WB V, 533, 11 - 534, 6; Meeks III, 79.3626. See also a! nb?, g' khw used of raging storms. e) The cold or shivering ones are the psw? see Vogelsang, Komm. 177; Lebensmliden 46, Goedicke BA, 119. £) Vogelsang, Komm., 177 calls attention to- 434 - the correctness of the A,(G) fragment version: pfst. B 1, 246 has transposed the f- and s-signs to make the metathesis psft. Cf. the word ndbyt, B 1, 56 and B 1, 156, which is most probably a metathesis of nbdyt; see my note to B 1, 56. For w°d, literally "that which is green," used to mean "raw, uncooked," see WB I, 264, 12 - 266, 9; Meeks I, 77.0836; CD 55; P. Kahun 5, 5. Cf. Peas. Bl, 22, where the same word applied to Nemty-nakht's tamarisk branch means “green, fresh." g) See WB I, 224, 15-19 and Meeks I, 77,0740; II, 78,0792; and III, 79.0542 for ‘hm, "to eliminate, extinguish, quench." See Prisse 1, 5 and Urk. Iv, 482, 12 for other examples of 'hm ibt "to quench a thirst." Cf. Pyr. 247 "to extinguish (a fire) ."- 435 - Bl, 247 - 251 Bi, 247- 248 Bl, 248 Bl, 249 Bi, 250 Bl, 250 251 Bl, 251 Bl, 251 only Look with your own eyes! h the arbitrator is a robber. 4 The peace-maker is one who causes sorrow. J The one who should make complete is one who causes pain, * As the grain-cheater diminishes justice (maat). Fill properly! (Give a full grain measure!) . Without shortfall! Without exceeding maat! Z Make the completeness! ™- 436 ~ h) For this expression, literally "look with your face," see WB II, 7, 9; Pyr, 497; Inscrip. d&dic. 59. In ancient Egypt the face, rather than the eyes, stood as synecdoche for seeing, or sight- edness, and especially insight. Cf. B 1, 167 where the idiom bbs br, literally "to hide the face," is used to mean "to avert the eyes," and B 1, 188, where the br, not the irwt, is said to be blind, Sp, to what it sees. See Vogelsang, Komm., 151 and my note on Bl, 188. Cf. also spd-br, “sharp of vision, insight." i) Bl, 248 is a verbatim repetition of B 1, 101, Petition II (note 0). The 'wnw of B 1, 101 is written defectively. 3) For shri, "to make peace,” "to pacify (in a social sense) the discontented," (h’k-ib see Neferyt, 65 and Goedicke, Neferyt, 136, note bk; and- 437 - Helck, Proph. 49; cf. CD, 237 and references. The use of the imperfective active participal in the epithet used with reference to the king or other high officials, x* (ny newt) shrr t?wy /sher mt? r-gr.f, underlines the official nature of the peace-making or reconciliation involved: Habachi, Studies Fairman, 39; KRI, II, 621, 3; Vittmann, Priester und Beamte, 119; Meeks II, 78.3695; III, 79.2679; Burkard, Textkrit. Unt., 231. The shri(w) is defined in this passage as one who relieves suffering (2hw). For 2hw, see my note on Peasant B1, 71; Goedicke, BA, 9: 190; Ptahhotep, 171, 195; Helck, Merikare, 39; Gardiner, Admonitions, 106, (ihw). Cf. Peasant, R187 / B 1, 138-139, The term is a general one which denotes private mental anguis! Lebensmiden 18; Peas. B 1, 254-255; "afflictions," Gardiner, Admon., 106; or "pain," Caminos, Lit. Frags., pl. 6, 17. I know of no other occurrences of the idiom iri. ‘hw, an expression which the author may have coined himself to create a parallel to the iri mnt of the following line. See note k) below. k) Stwt is the "to be complete"; see WB V, 259, 5 - 260, 10; FECT I, 20= 438 - (sp. 31) n. 1 (CT I, 96, a, where the deceased is referred to as “a completed one"). The precise meaning of stwt is difficult to discern, although elsewhere in the Peasant (B 1, 181-182), completeness (km) refers to completing the peasant's trial. Both B 1, 249 and B 1, 250 may be very general references to the anxiety the peasant is experiencing whilst awaiting Rensi's decision. In B 1, 260-261, however, the verbs bmw and twt are made parallel to sb? in a Passage describing Rensi the magistrate, a grouping which suggests official training (sb?) and legal "craftsmanship" (bmw) and "completeness." Thus a term which sounds extremely vague to us in translat- ion may have had, within a given (here juridico- administrative) context, a much more precise meaning than can be determined from this passage alone. cf. B2, 5. For mnt, “pain, suffering," of either a purely physical or psychological nature, see WB II, 67, 6-18; Caminos, Tale, pl. 4, 7; Goedicke, Nef., 98; Helck, Proph., 32 (VIII, e), 46 (XII a); KRI II, 285, 8; Vernus, Orientalia 48, 177, pl. I (XIX, 4); Grenier, Hom. meron, I, 385, n. d ("adversity"). The idiom ir: mnt also occurs in Merikare 138, cf. Helck, Merikare, 68.- 439 ~ For si*t(y), "the purloiner," see B 1, 104 and James, Hek., 21-22, Document I, 11. Cf. WB Iv, 32, 1-4, In Petition II, B 1, 104 ff., the sitty is one who cheats specifically in the context of measuring out grain for sale. See Petition II, note r. It is interesting to note that the three key terms of the present passage, si®t, mb and hks, are also associated in B1, 104 f£., where the author evokes the measuring out of grain, as he does here, as a symbol of meting out justice. The causative, II-gem. of sri, "to be small," hence "to lessen, to diminish." See CD, 248. Note the use of four causative verbs, shri, stwt, ‘sit and sSrd, in rapid succession: two in the last two Lines of the first quatrain in this section, B 1, 247-250; two in the first line of the second quatrain, B 1, 250-251 / B 2, 5. The repetition of the s-causative at the end of one quatrain and the beginning of the other is a stylistic device linking the two. 1) In Bi, 251, I read both n (@*) negatives as an abbreviated writing for nn.- 440 - For hks, see Petition II, B 1, 104, note r. Hks is often paired with its opposite, mb, as in the present passage; mb is "to fill, to complete," hks "to take away from the whole, to diminish." For wbn, "to overflow, exceed," see WB I, 294, 12; Goedicke, Nef., 114, n. aw (Neferyt line 51); Vogelsang, Komm., 179; CD, 58 with reference to Peas. B1, 294 and Urk. IV, 1996, 12. Cf. Helck, Proph., 42 (XI c) and Westendorf, KoptHwb 551; Meeks, 77.0883. This line is a continuation of the grain-measuring metaphor begun in the preceding line, mb nfr. See Gardiner, JEA 9, 17, ns4. m) B2, 5 only: ix(w) twt. For possible legal connotations for twt, see note k) above.- 441 - Bl, 252 ~ 256 Bl, 252 Bl, 253 Bil, 254- 255 Bil, 255- 256 Bl, 256 Bil, 287 Bil, 257- 258 If you bring (the verdict): "Give to your opponent," Then the decision will be devoid of accuracy! ™ Either the suffering one will procede away, ° Or the accused one will bring distance - (between himself and his deed). As one does not know what will be in the heart. P But do not delay! Act to announce your decision | @ Who can hold together the water's force?~ 442 - © Bl, 258 once the water * has opened, the occurrence of the wave has happened. * Bl, 259 When a boat comes in and one unloads it, Bl, 259- Its cargo for the land can still 260 spoil on any bank. oe B2, 12- Half of your cargo will be for your 13 unloading on any bank. © n) The usual rendering for B 1, 252 is "if you acquire / take away, give to your fellow... Lichtheim, Anc Eg Lit, I, 179; Vogelsang, Komm., 1797 Faulkner, Lit Anc Eq, 44; Gardiner, JEA 9, 17; Von Bissing, Lebensweisheit, 165; Lexa Arch Or 7, 380 ("Si les cadeaux étaient portés a toi..."); Roeder, Alt-Sgyptische Mirchen, 52, Erman, Literatur, leaves- 443 - the passage untranslated; Suys takes a completely different approach (see below). Translating ir in.k as "if you take/are given/acquire," makes no sense in the context of Petition VI, and especially of the preceding section (B 1, 247 - 251 / B2, 1-5), in which Rensi is being urged to bring the peasant's tribulations to a speedy end, to bring the trial to completion. In B 1, 252 £. the peasant continues talking about his case and what will occur if Rensi renders a judgment against him. Ini, a transitive verb, is used in its technical legal meaning of "to bring (a verdict)"; the quote imi r snw.k supplies the object for ini. This necessary grammatical element is missing in all the translations cited above. For the juridical use of snw, "contender in court," see Edel, MDAIK 13, § 37 and Petition Vv, note Bl, 234. The interpretation suggested by Emile Suys, Etude, 199, is improbable. suys sees B 1, 252-253 as a proverb: "Si tu offres (A diner), donne a ton héte de la nourriture sans substance." This very free translation of B 1, 252-253 goes far beyond what is written in Egyptian and bears no relation to the thematic context given in B 1, 247 - 251 / B 2, 1-5.- 444 For wayt, see Amenemope 23, 15; Grumach, MRS 23, 148. ‘The term, based on WB I, 376, 1-4, "jaw," would seem to mean “that which is jaw-ed/ chewed over, i.e., reflected upon," and is used to denote the magistrate's official opinion or decision in the case. See WB I, 376, 1-2: wai, "to chew." Gardiner, JEA 9, 17, n. 5 and Faulkner Lit Anc Eg, 44, assume that the wgyt is a person. In the absence of a man determinative following wgyt, I would opt, as has Lichtheim, Anc Eq Lit I, 179, for an abstract term but differ from the latter in her interpretation of the passage. For a discussion of Sw m + noun in the sense of "devoid of,” eB 1, 208. For 'k® “accu~ racy" in connection with illegal acts, see Peas. B 1, 99, where the accused is called a "mutilator of an agreement in its 'k?." Cf, Peas. Bl, 173; Bl, 253; Vogelsang, Komm., 180. o) For 3hw, "sufferer," see Meeks, I, 77,0062; Helck, Merikare, 21. Cf. Caminos, Lit. Prag., 6, 17 and pl. 4; Helck, Merikare, 55; WB I, 12, 4-6; and my notes on Peas. B 1, 71 / R117- 445 - (Vogelsang, Komm., 76), B1, 138 / R 187, and B1, 249. The “sorrow" or suffering that the peasant is experiencing here must be understood in the context of B 1, 247-250 where "sorrow" (hw) and mnt, "pain™ are put on the same plane as theft (B 1, 248). We must therefore see in Shw the notion of suffering unjustly inflicted by the very one who should act as the peace-maker (shrr). The peasant is weary of talking to Rensi and obtaining no visible results. He hints that he will leave, that there will be a separation, iwdt. For iwd, "to separate (from)," see Goedicke, Nef., 93, n. ad; 115, n. ax; Gardiner, "to separate," 183, index; 15; 86; Parant, Affaire Sinouhé, "séparer," 389, (index), 36, 110, 126, 169. cf. Gardiner, Admon., 41; Vogelsang, Komm., 180. The term may have @ specifically legal meaning in the context of Petition VI, but this is impossible to verify, inasmuch as such a technical use of the word is not attested elsewhere. It is interesting to note that in the middle of the third petition (B 1, 155) and again in the middle of the sixth petition the peasant shows impatience with Rensi's inaction. At the very end of the ninth petition, B 2, 114-115, the peasant seems to give up altogether. ‘Thus the complaint that he is talking for nothing is inserted into the text= 446 - in such a way as to divide the petitions into three approximately equal parts. For sim, "to show the way to," see CD, 247. Shy, "the accused," is literally, "the one who was made known." The pairing of srhy and *hw suggests a technical juridical usage for hw; see note 0) above. For shry as a graphic variant (or perhaps phonetic metathesis of the r and ) sounds) of srby, see Meeks, I, 77.3823 and Urk. Iv, 199, 1. For Sthy, rather than srhw, for the nominalized part~ iciple, see Prisse, 15, 1 and Helck, Merikare, 31; 89; cf. Meeks, I, 77.3719; 77.3717; Faulkner, CD, 236; WB IV, 199, 1-6, I take both srby and 2hw as indicating the doer of the verb's action, since each is followed by the seated man determinative: 2hw in both the B 1 and B 2 texts; srby in the "correct" B 2 version only. For the unusual form of the infinitive of the verb rwi, "to go away," see Vogelsang, Komm., 181; Faulkner, CD, 148. For rwi in the sense of "to leave a place," see Sinuhe B 152, For rwi as "to make to stop, to cease," see Gardiner, Notes on nowhé, 12, Sinuhe, 36 (Sin. B 61-62). Cf. Parant,- 447 ~ 249, 261 for the occurrences in Sinuhe B 61-62 and B 277-278. Wnnt-m-ib, literally, "that which is in the heart," i.e. an opinion, wish or intention: Piankoff, Le Coeur, 50 and 109, “ce qui se trouve dans le coeur." Line B 1, 256, n rhen.tw wnnt-meib is found verbatim in Ptahhotep, 134 and again in Peas., B 1, 273. The three occurrences are noted by Gunn; "Some Middle-Egyptian Proverbs," JEA 12, 283, 11. q) Literally, "do not be inactive or lazy," here with respect to the pursuit of one's duties or obligations. See especially, Lebensmiiden, 6 and Goedicke, BA, 89; likewise, Faulkner, JEA 42, 21; 30, n. 6 and CD, 68. ‘The use of wsf to denote the neglect of official duties has been. pointed out by Goedicke, op.cit. and can be seen on the auto- biographical stela of a Twelfth Dynasty official described in terms of “one free of neglecting his lord," 3w m wsf.w nb.f. Stewart, Stelae...II, pl. 21, 11. Cf. Pap. Sallinger XI, 10. ‘The Hymn to the Nile: When Hapi is wsf, noses clog; everyone is poor. Again wsf is used to introduce the notion of insuff- iency. If the Nile is "inactive" or "lazy" poverty- 448 - (nmk) will strike, a theme developed in contrast to that of the people's happiness and the soil's fertil- ity when Hapi rises up and overflows (wbn) her banks. Cf. Peasant B1, 281; B 2, 107, B1, 284; B 2, 109 ("the neglectful one," wsf.w). Smi is a technical term meaning "to give the official reply." See the discussion by Theodor- ides, RIDA V, 1958, 50, n. 72, who refers to smi nominally used (WB IV, 128, 17) as “une réponse & une demande de renseignement ou de vérification," citing Smither/Gunn, JEA 31, 10, n. 2, and Parant, Sinouhé, 391 (index) who sees the smi as an official notification of receipt. The latter does not fit our Passage, since it would be illogical for the peasant to ask Rensi to advise receipt of his own fdk, see note r) below. In all instances, however, the use of as either a verb or a noun signifies an official, i.e., administrative, reply or acknowledgement, cf. Lacau, C.A.S.A.B, 13, St@le juridique de Karnak, 40. The peasant is not simply asking Rensi to pay more attention to his pleadings but to issue an official response to them. Fak.k, "your decision" literally, "your sundering," see Gardiner, P.S.B.A. 1914, 73-74. From this root meaning a more general signification of "to- 449 - (be) destroyed" developed, as seen in Peasant B 1, 171-173, where the mbnty who will accept as pas- sengers only those customers who can pay the fare is described ironically as "a straightforward one whose straightforwardness has been destroyed": 'k*y 'k?.f fdk(w). Cf. Cairo stela 20543, a 13 (Schenkel, Memphis, Ag. Abh. 12, 112); srwdn.(.i) gmt.n(.i) wst: ‘tsen(.i) gmt.n(.i) fdk, where the parallel between fdk and wst suggests a state of physical degeneration or delapidation as the proper meaning for fd. 1 would argue, however, that elsewhere fdk is used as a specifically juridical term, The same is true of ts, here used as the opposite of fag, hence "to hold up, to shore up," but well attested elsewhere es a technical legal term meaning "verdict"; cf. Goedicke, Nef., 110. Fak used in a legal context would mean “to deliver a decision, to pass judgment," much as the verbs wp and (later) wg', the root meanings of both of which denote "to cut, to divide," are used in juridical contexts with the meaning of "to judge," cf. Goedicke, MIO 8 (1963), 339 ££, and Goedicke, BA, 86. For another use of fdk in a purely technical, juridical way, see the St@le juridique de Karnak, Théororidés, RIDA v, 60: fdk wd? m s3(.i)....nn hrdw.f. "la filiation rompra (my underlining) chez mon fils...puisqu'il n'a pas d'enfants." Here the word fdk is used within the terms of a will to- 450 - describe the "sundering" of inheritance rights. Fak thus denotes an officially acknowledged act of closure. x) The unusual determinative which follows mi(w) is identical to the determinative after the mwy Preceding mk. Thus I take it here, following Vogel- sang, Komm., 183, as a noun meaning water. ‘The determinative may be the“ sign, as is suggested in note a, Tafel 14a, Lit.Texte des Mittleren Reiches Inasmuch as the mwy/water is described as being "opened," one would naturally think of water confined in a canal or irrigation ditch. s) Vogelsang, Komm., 183-184, reads the ASMEA of B1, 258 as muy based on a similar son word, written SA44=% | from the Berlin medical papyrus. I would suggest a reading of nwy, "wave," WB II, 221, 3-12; cf. Sh.S 85; 154. The meaning of B 1, 258, perhaps an other- wise unattested proverb or a pithy saying created by the Peasant author, is similar to "It's no use closing the barn door once the mare is out." Once the judicial process has started, there is no going- 451 - back. In listening to the peasant deliver six petitions Rensi has committed himself to going through with the court proceedings. There is no going back now; Rensi must act. Note that the B 2, 10-11 version is slightly different: mk /?/ wn(w) m sp nly) mw ppr(w), “lo, /?/ is opened as an occurrence of water." t) Again the meaning of this passage is unclear. The dpt referred to is probably a reference back to Rensi's dpt mentioned at the beginning of the first petition, in which he is to sail on the "Sea of Maat." The dpt, therefore, symbolizes the official's search for Maat. Rensi, its helmsman, should be in control. It would seem that in these two lines the peasant accuses Rensi of bringing the boat to land (th) but of letting its cargo (3tpw.s) spoil. The use of the term 2tpw connects the "cargo" with the peasant himself, since at the end of Petition I he describes himself as mk wi 2tpw.kwi and asks the magistrate, even then, to pass judgment on his case: ip wi. I interpret the saying in B 1, 259-260 to mean that the ship of justice has docked, i.e. the process of seeking justice has commenced, but that there are still many opportunities for things to go wrong or spoil for the peasant. The B 2 version- 452 - emphasizes a different point: half of your cargo will be for your unloading on any bank. the magistrate's task listening, understanding, and xendering a Judgment- comprises half the work. ‘The peasant, no matter how long he talks, cannot bring the judicial Process to completion. For 3g, literally “to Perish," ¢D, 6 and Lebensmtiden, 107; 74; admonitions 3, 181 6, 3) Prisse 4.4) ERI, IZ, 244, 12) Goedicke Nef., 78 and 105; Helck, Proph., 19 (1Va): 37 (xb). Bl, 260 - 265 B2, 14 You are learned! % Bl, 260 You are instructed/erudite! V Bl, 260 You are skilled! “ Bl, 260 Your are complete! * B 1, 260- You are a model, but not for 261 plundering. ¥- 453 - Bl, 261- You should rather be a model for 262 all men. 7 Bl, 262 Your affairs are askew. 28 Bl, 262- He who should be fair/accurate for 263 all men is a cheater of the whole lana, > Bl, 263- (only) a gardener of evil waters his 264 Plot with wrongdoing, °° Bl, 264- To make his garden-plot grow by 265 falsehood, Bl, 265 To unleash evil on his estate, @¢ u) In B 2, 14 the emendation of the second Person singular, masculin suffix pronoun after iw seems justifies in light of the three parallels which follow, in each case consisting of iw.k + the ola Perfective, second person singular.- 454 - For the rendering "learned" (rb.ti), see my note on Peas. B 1, 134-135 and Goedicke, Nef., 68, n. m; 139 and note 417 contra Faulkner, CD, 151 and Brunner ZAS 93 (1966), 29-35. The reference is to an educated person, someone who has learned something, rather than to a naturally or mystically "wise man." Cf. Prisse 15, 12; 17, 3; Urk. Iv, 386, 1; 970, 1. For rh as acquired knowledge see Pr. 17, 5; Urk. IV, 57, 177 58, 2 rhw-ht. 969, 16; Ptahh. 42: No man is born v) For passive meaning with certain trans- itive verbs in the Old Perfective, see Gardiner, Grammar § 311, Sb%, "to teach, instruct," refers to formal schooling or training: see WB IV, 83,18-84,14; ©D, 219; Meeks, I, 77.3487; II, 78.3424; Posener, L'Enseignement loyaliste, § @, 2; Prisse, 12, 9; Peasant B 1, 287; Vogelsang, Komm. 186. Cf. 't~sb?, literally "the room of teaching," hence “school,” Caminos, LEM 263, and sb*yt, used to denote (formal) written instructions or teachings: WB IV, 85,10 - 86,12; CD 219; Pap. Millingen, 1,1; Prisse, 4, 1; Urk. IV, 503,13; 968,10; Helck, Merikare, 68; Stewart, Stele...UC, II, pl. 18, 11; Goedicke, JEA 48 (1962), 31 £2, n. wy Caminos, LEM, 125; 303, 373. When the peasant says to Rensi iw.k sb?.t(i), he is- 455 - pointing out that the magistrate is well schooled in the traditions of fairness to all, regardless of social status as embodied in Egyptian wisdom literature, e.g.: Merikare 61-62, "Do not favor the well-born (s? ny s) over the commoner (ngs); cf. Prisse 13, 1ff (Ptahhotep 415f£). w) The verb bmw is used here to evoke the notions of expert skill and craftsmanship. Rensi has both learned his craft (xh, sb?) and acquired skill in applying it. For bmw as "to be skilled, skillful, expert," see Faulkner, CD, 170; Meeks I, 77.2690; II, 78.2674; Helck, Merikare, 17 (bmw...m, "to be skill- ed. in"), In Middle Egyptian the term pmw usually refers to the physical dexterity of the artisan: Admonitions, 4, 8; Louvre C 14, 8. In Prisse 5, 9, however, the substantive bmt is used to mean "art" in general and associated with skill in speaking (Ptah- hotep 55-59). In Late Egyptian the connotations of manual deftness predominate; hence the use of the term as the word for "carpenter," CD 170; Caminos, LEM, 5; 106; 387; 569. Cf. also the compound term kmv-ib, "ingenious," in Middle Egyptian, e.g., Helck Merikare, 17.- 456 - x) Rensi is thus described as a "whole, complete" man. wt encompasses and restates the three concepts of rh, sb? and bmw of the three preceding lines. The concept of "completeness" is given considerable prominence in Petition VI: see Bl, 249 / B 2, 2 and B 2, 4 as well as my notes on these lines. y) For ‘wn, "to plunder," see B 1, 231-232; cf. the 'wn-ib of Peasant B1, 66; 165; 281; 292. For the use of n is as a negator of adverbs or adverbial phrases see Gardiner, Grammar, § 209; Callender, Middle Egyptian, 104; Ebers 104, 8; 107, 7; Westcar, 8, 16; Ptahhotep 317; 372; Prisse 1, 3. Not to be confused with n...is used discontinuously to negate the predicate, see Gilula JEA 56 (1970), 205-214; 206, n. 6 (contra Satzinger MAS 12, § 43); Junge, GM 33, 74 ff; Peas. R 45. z) o£ twtw, literally, "to make a likeness, conformity." See WB V, 257, 19-20 and Meeks, 79.337 ; KRI, II, 329, 4; izsn.i twtw a shrw.f, "I acted in compliance/conformity with his plans."- 457 - Faulkner, Lit Anc Eg, 44, n. 63, takes the bwonb of B1, 261-262 as “the common herd." The interpretation of bwonb as the “common man" in a negative sense, however, is not in line with the use of the term two lines further down in B 2, 17 (missing in B 1), where bw-nb's implications of universality are clear in that the term is parallel to t#-r-gr.f. See also the use of bw-nb in Lebens- milden, 1. 107; 111 and Goedicke, BA, 159, ££., where the aspect of universality is also stressed and where no pejorative connotations should be read into the text. For bw-nb see also Meeks, I, 77.1233; II, 78.1305; III. 79.0880; Gardiner, Grammar, § 103 and references; WB I, 452, 6-8; Gardiner, Admon., 49, 72. aa) H3w, “affaires, circumstances." See Faulkner, CD, 157; James, Hek. Document I vs. 9, 10; XVIII, 7; Parant, Sinowhé, 4, 29; Pap. Kahun 27, 8; Urk. IV, 1106, 27 Peas. B 1, 105; 135. m nwdw, literally "your affairs/ circumstances are vacillations." See B 1, 92 and Bl, 99-100 as well as my notes on those passages. Note the marked similarity in vocabulary between the Present passage and B 1, 97-103; nwdw, si3ty, 'k?,- 458 - bb) For a discussion of the 'k? as the just man, see my note on B 1, 99. The B 2 version would eem to be the more complete here, providing two identically composed halves (noun + datival con- struction) for the sentence. The sentence is of the A = B variety, wherein two nouns are set side by side without the m of predication normal in Middle Egyp- tian. For the rarity of this type of justaposition in post-Old Kingdom texts see Gardiner, Grammar § 125; 127. For a discussion of si*ty see my note on Bl, 99. The expression t?-r-gr.f is probably a reflection of a recent political change, i.e. the reunification of Egypt. The expression, which occurs three times in the Peasant (here, in B 1, 267, at the beginning of Petition VII, and in B 1, 17-18), occurs frequently in non-religious texts of the early Twelfth Dynasty. For the most recent discussion of the political reunification under Montuhotep Neb- kept-re', see Goedicke JSSEA XII~4, 157-164. cc) For k@ny, “gardener, vintner," see Vogelsang, Komm., 187; Faulkner, CD, 284; Meeks, III, 79.3211; Meeks II, 78.4362; WB V, 107,8-9; Beni Hasan I, 29; FECT II, 12 (sp. 377), n. 4 (= CT Vv, 39 a);= 459 - Schenkel, Die Bewdsserungsrevolution im Alten Agypten, 27; Abder-Raziq, MDAIK 35, 2367 KRI, II, 348, 2. For the variant k*nw, see Meeks, I, 77.4515 and Nianchchnum 76 (9.4.1.), fig. 8; 77 (9.4.3.). The verb ntf, WB II, 356, 6-8, means “to water, sprinkle with water or irrigate." See Meeks I, 77.2247; II, 78.2274; Faulkner, CD, 142; Peasant B 1, 154 and my note; Urk. IV, 264; Nianchchnum 76, (9.4.1.), fig. 8; 77 (9.4.3.), fig. 8. CE Antor Napoli, 37, 130. The word bzp, WB III, 162, 4-10, means either "garden plot" or "vine." See Faulkner, CD, 178; Meeks, I, 77.2854; III, 79.2064; Gardiner, AEO II, 216%; KRI, II, 362, 7; LA II, 376; Moussa and Altenmilller Nianchchnum 77 (9.4.3.) fig. 8. It is not possible to determine here if the desired image is that of the vintner watering his vine or the gardener watering his garden plot, due to the ambiguity of both k?ny and pzp. The peasant may be floes both B 1, 264 and B 2, 19. The usual spelling of the punning here on the word bzp, written in 2 t term is hsp, WB II, 162, 4-10: 4 0 The variant hep which occurs in both manuscripts suggests a word play on bzb, "standard," a frequent theme in the Peasant text. Apparently the pronunciation of pzb= 460 - "standard" and bzp "garden plot" would have been very similar, with both the second and third radicals (z/s and b/p) falling together. See the variant writings for bsp/bzp, "garden" cited in WB III, 4 ff; Gardiner AEO II, 216*; Meeks I, 77.2852. The Bl, 264 and B 2, 19 spellings may thus have been intended as visual emphasizers of a homophonic pun, since they use the [ wi ich is invariable in bzb, “standard,” from the verb "to count, reckon," though less common in the word for garden, bsp. dd) Sppr, literally, "to cause to become," is hence "to create, bring into existence." Used for a child in the sense of "to bring up," likewise of "breeding" horses. Faulkner, CD, 240. See Meeks, I, 77.3796; Schneider, Shabtis I, 88, 152, for shpr used to mean "to make grow." See B 1, 154-55 where ntf iyt also occurs. Here the word seems better rendered by its root meaning, "to cut lose," hence "unleash." See Gardiner, Notes Sin., 105-106 and WB II, 357, 9-10. The fighting man determinative “A is used in both B1, 264 and 265 but not in the B 2 parallels or in B41, 154, Thus the presence of this determinative is not significant as to meaning in the B 1 ms.Commentary PETITION VIIPETITION VII = 462 - B 1, 266 - 269 Baie Bl, 266 266- 267 Bl, Bl, Bl, Bl, 267 267- 268 269 And then this peasant came to petition him of his own accord for the seventh * time. He said: 0 High Steward, my lord! You are the steering oar of the whole land, The land sails around according to your command. a You are the brother of Thoth, © Who investigates without partiality. %= 463 - Note: a) The m inserted into the B 2 introductucy formula between the n.f and 7 nw sp is a mistake. The B 2 manuscript contains three of these formulae, all identical with the exception of the present passage and the use of the walking legs determin- ative, “A , rather than the man-with-hand-to-mouth (Gardiner a2), 97 , with the verb spr in the intro- duction to Petition IX, B 2, 91. Note the contrast between the B 1 and B 2 manuscripts insofar as the use of rubra is concerned. B 2 is consistent in rubricizing iw.in rf at the beginning of each of the three introductions to petitions it contains, VII, B 2, 21-22; VIII, B 2, 80-51; IX, B 2, 91. Although the B1 scribe rubricizes the entire first line of Petitions II and III, B 1, 83 and B 1, 139, he uses no red ink at all in the introductions to Petitions I, Iv, V, VI, VII, and VIII. (The B 1 version of the Peasant concludes at the end of Petition VIII). I can suggest no logical explanation for the inconsistent use of rubra in the B 1 manuscript,- 464 - particularly in the face of the sparing but consist- ent occurrences of rubra in B 2 and R. In what remains of the B 2 version the rubrum is used only to signal the beginning of a new petition. In the R manuscript, which includes only the introductory frame-story, Petitions I - III, and the short prose section linking Petitions I and II, there is a slightly more complex usage of the rubrum. Within the petitions, rubra occur only at the beginning of the petitions. At the beginning of Petition I, R 96, the entire first sentence and the gd.f which follows are written in red. At the beginning of Petition II, all that remains of the R text, extremely fragmentary . These words are in this passage, is iw.in rubricized, as is the phrase iw.in rf shty pn r-.. at the beginning of the Third Petition. It is reason~ able to assume that the introductory line plus gd.f was rubricized for each of the petitions originally occurring in the R manuscript, since all that remains of these lines is rubricized in each instance in the extant text. In the Introduction to the Peasant story contained in the R version, as well as in the passage connecting Petitions I and II, red ink occurs when the scribe wants to show a change in the person speaking, e.g., R52, R53, R57, R61, R 63, R 69, etc. ‘This usage, unparalleled in B 1, with the exception of B 1, 78 / R123, invariably coincides- 465 - with expressions of gd.in + noun, All but four of these expressions are followed immediately by a direct quote. In four lines the person spoken to is named before the quote is given. In R 2, 5, 47 and 90 the gd.in + noun construction and the datival n + noun are written in red ink. ‘The only other use of red ink by the R manuscript scribe occurs in the very first line of the text, where the beginning sentence, ‘S§ pw wn, is set apart from the rest of the text by means of a rubrum. In light of this consistency of usage, the rather erratic occurrence of rubra in the B1 manuscript is all. the more puzzling. For a detailed commentary on the use and occurrences of rubra in B 1, see my note on B 1, 94 (Petition II). b) In B1, 267 the author brings together and reformulates two traditional epithets which occurred in Petition II, B 1, 90-91: bmw nly) pt, s?w nly) t?. The bmw of the heavens becomes the steering oar of the land, but the "land" here does not have a cosmic dimension, as it does in Petition II, (see my note on B 1, 90-91). The change in terminology from £3 to t#-r-gr.f signals a shift from the cosmic to the political, since t*-r-gr.f is an expression with political overtones found frequently in non-religious- 466 - texts of the early Middle Kingdom. It reflects the then-new political reality of a recently reunified Egypt, “the whole land," i.e. both Upper and Lower Egypt. See Petition VI, note bb) (B1, 263 / B 2, 17). The term bmw, "steering oar," is reintroduced here to symbolize "the one in charge." Rensi has the power to determine the direction of future events. He holds the peasant's fate in his hands. Note the atemporal nature of the atk + noun construction. c) In B 1, 268, the peasant calls Rensi the “snw" of Thoth, playing on the phonetic similarity of ‘gn, “brother," and snw, "companion." For snw, "equal, peer," see WB IV, 150, 11; Urk VII, 63, 7% Cairo 20539 I 3; CD 230; Sinuhe B47. As a magi- strate Rensi is both an honorary blood relation and a companion of Thoth's -one who should walk in Thoth's ways. The name of Thoth is cited here as a reference to the judge par excellence in ancient Egypt; cf. Petition VIII, B 1, 304-305, where the nb m't is identified as Thoth. See Vogelsang, Komm., 188. See also Petition III, B 1, 149-150, where Thoth is listed with two other symbols for justice~ 467 - the iwsw and the mbt, both used frequently through- out the Peasant text as the equivalents of fairness and impartiality. B41, 149-150, 8305 and the Present passage are the only references to Thoth in the Peasant. Cf. Goedicke, BA, 84 f. See note d) below. a) As Thoth investigates without showing partiality (rdi br gs), so should Rensi and, by extension, all magistrates. For Thoth as the wg! or M@'cht, see Brovarski, Fs. D. Dunham, 18 (n. 43); 23, (n, 59); 27 (note 125), The epithet is rare. It is attested at Bersheh, Tomb 3, for the Twelfth Dynasty, lending corroborative support to our Twelfth Dynasty date of composition for the Eloquent Peasant: see Introduction, section 2, pp. 6-19. For wd', originally “to cut," and secondarily "to judge," see Petition V note h), Bl, 234. Rdi br gs, literally “to lean to one side" (of a balance), hence, “to show partiality" (in a legal context), occurs frequently throughout the Eloquent Peasant: cf. B 1, 98; B 1, 149, The B 2 scribe has copied, most probably mistakenly, pr rdit pr gs, “who is showing partiality" rather than nn rdit br gs,- 468 - “without showing partiality." The B 2 scribe, on the other hand, itay have preserved a tradition in which rit br gs was understood to refer to Rensi: ntk snw Pbwty, wd', be rdit br gs, "You are the brother/ companion of Thoth-the~judge, who (nonetheless) shows partiality." Cf. Petition II, note 1), B 1, 98, where br rdit br gs is used with reference to a tp hsb n(y) mdt and thus, by implication, to Rensi. B 1, 269 ~ 272 Bu, 269 - 272 Bl, 269 © lord, may you permit, © B1, 269- ‘That a man may invoke you concerning 270 his rightful cause. Bl, 270 Do not assert your will! * B1, 270 It is not for you, 9 Bi, 271 That a "long-of-vision" (friendly face?) becomes a short-tempered one.- 469 - Bil, 271 Do not expect that something will not come, Bi, 272 Do not rejoice in something that will not happen. + e) For w3b, "permit," followed by a sgm.f, see Vogelsang, Komm., 189; CD 53; Gardiner Gram., § 184, 1. £) I differ with the other translators in my interpretation of B 1, 270 m Snt ib.t. Vogel- sang's (Komm., 189) "Sei nicht argerlich" has not been challenged: Gardiner, JEA 9, 18, "Let not thine heart be restive..."; Faulkner, Lit Anc Eg, 45, "Do not be angry"; Lichtheim, Anc Eg Lit I, 179, "Don't be angry"; Exman Literatur (Blackman translation), 127: "Be not vexed." CD cites Snt-ib.k as an idiom “to be angry" with the present passage as the only occurrence.- 470 - I see rather a use of 3nj, WB IV, 494, 14, as "to oppose, assert" with ib as its object. For ib, "will," see cD 14; Sinuhe B 125; Prisse 7, 9; Merikare, 131, 134. g) See B 1, 120, for a similar construc- tion, nn + dative + dependent pronoun, Nn n.k st, literally, "it is not for you," can be better render- ed by "it is not seemly for you." h) The expression 2w-br, “long of face/ vision," similar to other w- components such as 2weib, "joyful," 2w-grt, "generous," and 2w-nmtt, "purposeful" is used to signify a Positive notion. The precise meaning of this otherwise unattested term is not known, I have rendered "friendly" in the sense of being open, alert, perceptive (vis-a-vis the plaintiff). For br as "vision" see Petition VI, note h), Bi, 247-248. Yw'-ib is likewise an unknown compound for which Faulkner suggests "apprehensive" in CT I, 187, a (FECT I, 38 (sp.44) n. 26), basing the rendering on- 471 - Peasant B 1, 271, Literally the term means “short of understanding," more freely rendered by Lichtheim, Anc Eq Lit, I, 179 as "short-tempered." The contrast between tw-br and bw'-ib in B 1, 271 makes it clear that 2w + noun indicates an abundance of a good thing, a positive virtue, and the bw’ + noun reflects a lack of a positive quality. i) B 1, 271-272 is a variation on the Proverb quoted in Petition III, B 1, 183-184, "Do not Plan the morrow before it comes, One cannot know the trouble in iti" See Petition III, note pp). Note the assonance of the b'w from B 1, 272 and the bw! of Bl, 271. For w3 "to think negatively about," see WB I, 244, 10-13; Meeks II, 78.0848; CT I, 215, ‘the 2B of w? n in B1, 271 is probably an error; cf. B 1, 272, where the B 1 scribe has added an unnecessary o> before ntt n hprt or has mistakenly written o/> for a to introduce a direct object. The B 2 version preserves mw? ntt n iyt. The n (B 1, 272: An; B2, 28: +) after b'w is either a similar mistake, influenced by the ns of ntt and n pprt, or a euphonic n used to introduce the direct object of m iw. See Vogelsang, Konm., 189-190.~ 472 - Bi, 272 - 275 Bil, Bi, Bl, 272 273 273- 274 274 274- 275 Indeed, the long-suffering one J will extend himself in a friendly fashion, But once the destruction of the case has occurred, * One does not know what the reaction will be, The distortion of law or destruction of standards, 1 There is not a sufferer (mir) who can live while he is robbed and justice (maat) does not respond to him. ™- 473 - Notes: 3) The whdw, the “long-suffering one" is the peasant who has waited patiently for some response from Rensi. He will sw m hnms, literally "go forth (Vogelsang, Komm., 191; WB IV, 17, 2-4) in friendship," a rather obscure expression, probably related to the peasant's description of himself as an ow-br in B 1, 271. See note h) above. For nms, see Bl, 170. For whdw, "the suffering one," see WB I, 356, 1 - 7, 8; Goedicke, Neferyt, 113; Helck, Proph. (1970) 42 (xtra), cD, 68. k) My translation is based on the B 1 text, Sktm sp ber(w), reading ppr(w) as an Old Perfective. The B 2 version preserves sbtm.f, a sgm.f, rather than the infinitive of B 1, 273, resulting in "When the long-suffering one extends himself in a friendly fashion, he destroys, his case having occurred." This is surely incorrect, as it either leaves the sdm.f of sbtm, a transitive verb, without an object- 474 (as I have rendered it above) or has the whdw illogically destroying his own “case which has occurred." A sp “which has occurred" also seems unfelicitous. It is, thus, likely that the B 2 scribe's shtm.f was an error due to the influence of s®w.f in the preceding sentence. 1) B 1, 273-274 is a verbatim repetition of B 1, 256: Petition VI, note p. For pb%, "to destroy, hack up" see Admonitions 2, 11; 3, 1; Urk. Iv, 697, 8; Peas. B 1, 143; Urk. IV, 931, 2; Ward B®, 42-43; Gardiner, Letters to the Dead VI, 7; WB III, 253, 2-11; Meeks II, 78.2978 and Conti Rapporti 69-72. Cf. pb?-br, Peas., B 1, 286, a hapax legomenon. Tp-bsb is used several times throughout the Peasant: see B1, 98; B1, 311 / B2, 76; B2, 94. For hp, "law," see Petition I, note y. m) The n wad sw m3't, “Maat does not respond to him," refers to the law's or the- 475 - administration's reaction (or lack thereof) to the injustice suffered (mir) by the peasant. B 1, 274-275 is the end of a long section, B 1, 269-275, which serves as a general introduction concerning the peasant's situation. In B 1, 275 ff. the peasant's remarks become more specific and more personal: iw grt bt.i mb.ti, ib.i 3tp.w. For wéd, see Peas. B1, 216; B 1, 314-315; Grumach, MAS, 23, 85 and 106; Goedicke, Neferyt, 106, n. apr 110, n. au. wW&d, “a legal inquiry," is often paired with another legal term, wb, "to give an official reply." cf. B1, 212; B1, 314-315, Note that B 2, 32 is written as a sdm.n.f; B1, 275, as a sdf. For b'g?, see Petition II, note £) (B 1, 93); Petition IIT, B 1, 193,- 476 ~ 75 = 279 275- While my belly is full, my mind is 276 burdened/worried. 276 Indeed the one who comes forth from my body is due to/belongs to an appro- priate condition, ® 277 When there is a breach in a dam, its water rushes forth. ° 277- My mouth opens to say: 278 Get up! I have fought my grounding! P 278- I have bailed out my water! % 279 279 I have breathed out what is in my body! 279 I have washed my clothes! *417 - Notes: n) The peasant's full belly is an oblique reference to the food he receives daily from Rensi. Cf. B2, 125, where the peasant indicates that he knows who is providing his rations and wonders aloud if he will ever stop living off of Rensi's food and drink. For 3tp(w) as “burdened" see B 1, 70 / R115. The "appropriate condition," n-'-iry, alluded to in B1, 276 / B 2, 34 is that of being worried. What comes forth from the peasant's body are, of course, his petitions and, most recently (B 1, 269- 275) the suffering caused by the failure of Maat to respond (w3d) to his needs. 0) For ngi, "to break, to breach," see CD, 141 and Gardiner, Admon. 50; WB II, 348, 6-14; Meeks, I, 77.2232; Westendor£, Koptiwb 528. The verb occurs both as a III-inf. (CD, 141; WB II, 348, 6) and as a "strong" verb, ng3, WB II, 349, top of page. It is impossible to say with certainty if the ngt of- 478 = Bl, 277 is the infinitive form, nominally used, of the III-inf. ngi or a variant of the substantive Rgyt, CD, ibid. and Leyden v, 88. In any case, the peasant is clearly making good use of a term which can be applied either to a fissure in a physical structure or to a breach of law: Leyden v, 88. For 3s, "to rush forth, flow fast," see CD, 5; Sinuhe, B 22; 169; ZAS 48,40. B 1, 277 reads literally "a breach in a dam is it, its water having rushed forth." B1 preserves the rare -w plene writing of the Old Perfective; B 2 does not. ‘The peasant uses dmt "dam, dyke," both as a part of his metaphor for pouring out his case and as a not-so-thinly-veiled allusion to Rensi the magistrate and administrator who should be a dyke against a wgnw- floodwater: see B 1, 237, Petition V, note i). B41, 237-239 and the present passage both use dnyt and 3s, although the 2sw of B 1, 239 is used adverbially in « compound sti-3s, "fast pourer.” In addition, the first line of B 1, 236-239 uses mb ib, "to have confidence (in someone). In B 1, 276 / B 2, 32-33, mb is used of the body (pt), in contrast with the ib 2tp(w).- 479 - ‘The wn of B 1, 277 can be read either as a sdm.f or as an infinitive: see Faulkner, CD 60, where wm is listed as a regular or "strong" verb, and WB I, 311, 2 ff. p) For ‘bh! in the sense of “stand up, arise," see CD 47; Westcar 6,22. ‘The imperative should be seen as a request to act: see the expres- sion 'b! br + infinitive, "stand up and do some~ thing," CD ibid.; Westcar 8 21; 23. The peasant is imploring Rensi to take action on his case. For the verb mri in the sense of grounding (a boat), see Gardiner JEA 9, 17, n.10 and his reference to the Rekhmire investiture text, Urk. IV, 1077,3. The determinatives after mri in both the B 1 and B 2 iiss. are unusual. They do not look alike, but in each manuscript the puzzling determinative is the same as the determinative following mw, S$ --* and mi, 2q-., in B1, 258. That is to say, the deter- minative after mri in Bi, 278, and the deter- minatives qualifying mw and mi in B 2, 10 are identical to the sign following mri in B2, 36. Exactly what these signs are is unclear. The B 1 ms. sign may be the following: “$2 . See my note on= 480 - B 1, 257-258. Neither the B 1 nor the B 2 determina~ tive resembles the 4" after the mri in Urk. Iv, 1077,3, transcribed by Gardiner from his collation of unpublished versions of the Rekhmire text. (The transcription in Urk. IV, 1077,3, does not show this sign). a) In B1, 278-279 the peasant refers to himself as a bailer-of-water. The imagery here concerns someone who has gotten rid of something that was bothering him, gotten something off his chest. See Petition IV, note ff). r) B 1, 279 contains two additional metaphors for ridding oneself of something. These three images form a closely related group which is joined to a fourth metaphor that has, apparently, little in common with the other three except the common theme of navigational problems linking 'p'.n. mri to pnk.n.i. mwy.i. The same sort of 3 + 1 grouping of metaphors occurs in Petition I, Bl, 62-64 / R 105-107 where the hy, and sn form a closely related set of kinship terms, whereas the fourth term of the passage, Endyt, a loincloth, is= 481 - only vaguely linked to the first three in its Protective function. For mw, “clothes,” in B 1, 279, see Meeks, I, 77.4085; WB IV, 411,4:.Mesteudoré, Koptiwb, 314, This short section, B1, 278-279 / B 2, 35-38, stands out clearly as a unified whole. zach of the four lines has the same grammatical structure. The third line is slightly longer than the other three: whereas the first, second, and fourth lines are composed of a sgm.n.i-form plus a single noun as direct object, the third line has a ntt-clause as its object. Bl, 278 tht ened mrisi sdm.n.f Bl, 278-279 — pnk.n.i mwy.i sgmen.f Bi, 279 snf.n.i ntt m pt.i sdmn.f Bl, 279 Aten.d Somw.i sdm.n.£- 482 - Bil, 280 - 284 o o o 1, 280 1, 280 1, 280- 281 1, 281 1, 281- 282 1, 282 2, 283 1, 284 My speech is over, © My miseries have been bundled up before you. What is your excuse (that) * You are stalling concerning what you have overstepped, You are acting greedily concerning the one you have made (look) foolish, “ You are transgressing concerning that which your troublemaker has brought about. ¥ will you be able to find another peasant like me? Will a patient one, a petitioner stop at the gate of his house? ©- 483 - Notes: s) Literally, "has come into being, has materialized," bpr(w). For pn, "speech, discourse," see WB III, 289, 1-14; Vogelsang, Komm. 195; Caminos, gale, 46 and n. 7-8, pl. 8,15; Meeks III, 79.2216. For pn n mét, "proclamation," see Goedicke, Neferyt, 112; cf. Helck, Proph. (1970) 42 (Xia). t) There is a homophonic word-play, in B 1, 280-281 between gr, "to bundle up," and g?rw, “need, deficiency, excuse." For the latter, see Vogelsang, Komm, 196; Gardiner, JEA 9, 18, n. 5; Meeks I, 77.5148 and II, 78.4872; WB V, 524,10 - 525,10; CD 319; Urk. IV, 1385, 20. For g?z(w) in the sense of "mistake, error," see helck, Merikare, 74. u) Note the metathesis swf for wsf in B 1, 281. For wsf I have used the translation "to stall," which incorporates the notions of neglecting and ignoring attested elsewhere for the term: Lebensmilden- 484 - 6; Urk. IV, 353,8; CD 68; JEA 42, 30 (6). Cf. Peas. Bl, 257, 281; B 2, 107. See also wsfw, Peas. B 1, 284; B 2, 109. For thi, “to overstep or transgress (the law)," see Petition III, B 1, 189 note uu). is discussed under Petition I, B 1, 66, note z). The use of the causative verb swh? in the passage recalls the wh? of B 1, 218; cf. Bi, 287. v) For snm, "to transgress," see Vogelsang, Komm. 196; WB IV, 165, 4- Fecht, ZAS 105, 17, n. 12 "to damage." The "troublemaker," bryw, is Nemty-nakht, here called your hryw since he (or his father) is a vassal (gt) of Rensi's. Cf. Sinuhe B 54; CD 196; Meeks III, 79.2257. Throughout this brief sub-section, B 1, 281-282 I take the x + noun constructions as x + nominally used relatives, not infinitives with suffix-pronoun objects. For the latter interpre- tation, see, e.g., Lichtheim Anc Eq Lit, I, 1807 Silverman, Interrogative Constructions, 44, example- 485 - 21; Vogelsang, Komm., 196. The preposition x means “concerning,” in the sense of “against, vis-a-v: w) For a somewhat different reading of this passage, see Silverman, Interrogative Constructions, 44, example 21, n. 249, Silverman rightly points out the ambiguity in the -£ pronoun suffixed to pr. I interpret the pr.f as a reference to a future petit- ioner's house. The peasant is suggesting that Rensi's professional obligations will not stop with his (the peasant's) case. Even if Rensi chooses to overlook the peasant's pleas, to "transgress" the law and to make the peasant look foolish, he cannot stop other petitioners from coming to him with equally thorny problems. Will the next petitioner be as patient as I have been, the peasant asks.~ 486 - Bl, 265 = 289 Bl, 285 There is no silent man whom you have Bl, 285 Bl, 286 Bl, 286- 287 Bl, 287 Bl, 288 Bl, 288 289 Bil, 289 caused to speak. * There is no one who sleeps whom you have wakened. There is no one disinterested whom you have sharpened. Y There is no closed mouth which you have opened. 7 There is no ignorant one whom you have caused to learn. There is no fool whom you have in- structed. 44 The dispellers of evilness are the officials, the possessors of goodness (physically). Or, the artisans of bringing about what is (the status quo) are those who can tie on a severed head, PP- 487 - x) The peasant restates, in six different ways, Rensi's failure to pursue his judicial duties actively. The theme is similar to one developed in Petition IV, B 1, 215 ff: it is the one who eats who tastes/experiences; it is the sleeper who sees dreams. In short, it is the one who acts who reaps the greatest benefits from life, who is most likely to fulfill his purpose on earth. y) The compound pb*-br in B1, 286 / B 2, 46 is a hapax legomenon. The expression would mean either literally "hacked up" or more abstractly "disturbed" of face or vision. Hence, Faulkner's (CD 187) and Lichtheim's (Anc_Eg Lit I, 180) "downcast,” from "disturbed of vision." See Peas. B 1, 274, hb? hp, for pb? as "to disturb, pervert." Cf. Petition v, B1, 230. The term can only be defined in light of its opposite, given as "to be made sharp," sspd. Vogelsang, Komm., 199, suggests that this is a reference to spd-br, for which see Meeks III, 79.2529, “avis6, habile." Cf. WB IV, 108,15 - 110,87 cD 224, "alert." The opposite of “alert” might be "disinterested" or “inattentive.”~ 488 - 2) For tm-r3, "closed of mouth," see Gardiner ZAS 47 (1910) 96 ana Vogelsang, Komm., 199, Cf. tmeib, Prisse 5, 1: ib tmy, n shi.n.¢ S£, "The heart is closed; it cannot remember yesterday." tm is also used for closing the mouth in Pyr. 230; fo) 298. A “closed-mouth" in the present Passage Presumably one reluctant to bring a plea before a judge. aa) The peasant re-uses the terms hm and wh? which we encountered earlier in B1, 219-220, where he applied them to himself: see Petition rv, note ff). See above, note x), for other thematic similarities between B 1, 285-289 and Petition IV, Bl, 215-220, In B 2, 47-48 the scribe has written hm twice and unintentionally onmited wh?. bb) The (ideal) magistrate is termed a “dispeller of evil," hsr dwt and a nb nfr. Note the hist is spelled in both the 8 1 and B 2 manuscripts with b rather than the usual h. Cf. vogelsang, Komm., 200 and references. This is in contrast to- 489 - pert in Petition I, B1, 63 / R 106, and pbb, Petition II, B 1, 107, where the has become ). At the end of B 1, 288 and in the middle of B2, 49, I read nb.w bw-nfr r3~pw. The final x of nfr and the r for r3 have fallen together. The "twisters of a severed head," is an implicit reference to the P. Westcar magicians (Westcar 7,4; 8,13). This passage is obscure, but I think the peasant wanted to contrast the (ideal) srw, dynamic and creative figures, with the perhaps showier magicians at court, who can at best only recreate the status quo.Commentary PETITION VIIIPETITION VII - 491 = B 1, 289 - 296 289- 290 290 290- 291 291 292 292 292- 293 Then this peasant came to petition to him of his own accord for the eighth time. He said: 0 High Steward, my lord. When one falls to greed - be afar! * ‘The rapacious man lacks success. When he does succeed, it is for nought, © Insofar as you are greedy, it is not for you. Insofar as you steal, there is nothing useful for you. ©- 492 - Bil, 293 Let a man defend his just and true case! 4 Bil, 294 Your property is in your house, Bl, 294 May your belly be full. © Bl, 294 Although the grain-measure is full, Bi, 294- May its overflow be finished. 295 Bl, 295- And its deliveries ended. * 296 Notes: a) For br n, "to fall to," see Sinuhe, B, 3, 135, 139; WB III, 319, bottom ~ 321,5; Meeks III, Temple of Khonsu I, pl. 37 KRI II, 173, 6; 345, 1. 79.2256, “tomber devant"; B, 10; 69 B, 1. €nt, a rare word used to denote greed:= 493 - Vogelsang, Komm., 201; cf. 147, note on jsf 2aw: BHI, 7: 9D 173. In the present passage, as well as in Prisse 10, 6 the word bnt and the compound 'wn-ib are associated. Hence the notion of greed or desire can be deduced for the term. >) Zp, WB III, 435,1 - 438,12, meaning "success," has been discussed by Goedicke, Neferyt, 58-59. Cf. Helck, Proph. (1970) 7 (Il); CD 222; Meeks I, 77.3519. The root meaning of zp is neutral: "occasion, chance." Thus, depending on the context in which it is found or specific information given within that context, zp can mean either "success" or "poor luck, the lack of success." For the latter, see Caminos, Lit. Frag., pl. 2,2; 11-12; cf. Berlan- dini BIFAO 79, 252, n.(a). The information given in Bl, 291, namely that it is a rapacious man, an twn-ib, who lacks (wm) zp, makes it clear that zp should be taken as zp (nfr) in the present passage. Bil, 292 reads, iw wn n wht, literally "the existence of his (i.e., the rapacious man's) success belongs to wht, nothingness." For wht as “nothingness, absence (of), lack," see KRI II, 332,7| and the expression whj ib, “lacking in courage," Meeks III, 79.0728; KRI II, 142, 2-3 and~ 494 - 197,61 cf. Wente, Beit el-Wali (1967), 15, nig. c) The "it" (st) of B1, 292 refers to being successful: to the extent that you are greedy, you will not be successful. The "there is nothing useful for you" of B 1, 292-293 means that there are no favors granted to the ib. For 2h, "useful," see WB I, 13,7 - 14,25; Meeks II, 78.0057; CD 4. See vVernus, Athribis, 69, n. (k) and n. (m), where *h n, "to be useful (to someone)" is associated with the well-known "breath for the mouth" formula. Thus "useful" is an understatement for "indispensable, necessary to life." a) B 1, 293, rai 2 pt gs x Sp.f-nfr-n-wn-m3' is repeated word-for-word from Bil, 202, For sp-nfr-n-wn-m3' see also B 1, 270; B 2, 109. The term ‘bh’ "to stand up" is interesting in that it may Be an accurate reflection of court Procedure, to wit, that the plaintiff or the accused stood up to present his case. Note the use of rdi as an imperative and the use of the expression ‘bt “Ee "to stand up for, or on behalf of" someone or= 495 - something, rather than 'b'...br, "to complain about." e) The first half of B 1, 294, brt.k pw m pr.k, is a quote from Petition II. See B 1, 93, note g). The second part of B 1, 294, bt.k mb.t(i) is an allusion to B 1, 275-276, where the peasant complains that h: belly is full (but) his heart is burdened. See Petition VII, note n). Cf. also Peas. Bl, 124-125, Petition II, note 11). £) In the final three lines of this section the peasant asks for an end to administrative excesses and abuses of power. The grain measure (hk3t) should be full (wbn) but not overflowing (rf): officials should mete out what contenders deserve, but no more. For wbn, "to rise up (to the brim)," see Peas., B1, 252. See Foster, JNES 34 (1975), 17-19, Hymn to the Nile, lines 23 and 107, where wbn is used of the Nile rising (but not destructively) to water Egypt's agricultural lands, thus to "fill" her natural, geophysical basin. For a somewhat different meaning for wbn, see Petition VI, note n). For trf, see Junker, Giza VI, 142; Brunner-Traut, Tanz, 78.- 496 - Prw "deliveries" is discussed by Goedicke, Privaten Rechtsinschriften, 179 £. Bl, 296 - 300 Bi, 296- 297 Bl, 297- 298 B1, 298 Bl, 298 Bl, 298- 299 A serious thief is the protector of the magistrates who were appointed to redress tragedy. * The shelter of the aggressive are the magistrates who were appointed to redress falsehood. 9 As the fear of you does not allow me to reach/petition you, You cannot find out my intention (namely): * A silent one who turns himself around from making complaints to you, 2- 497 - B1, 299 You do not need to fear that he Presents his claim to you, B 1, 300 Or that his brother be brought into court against you from the village. * Notes: f) T have rendered itw ‘w3(w) nbmw as "a serious thief." The literal meaning is "a thief who robs and takes (things) illegally," but this is a long and awkward phrase in English. For iyt, "tragedy," see Morenz, Mélanges Michalowski, 1966, 139 ££, and Petition I, B 1, 57, note n). For psf x, "to redress" a wrong, see CD 197 and Peas., B 1, 102, 106 and 297-298 below, note g). Cf. Fecht, ZAS 105, 34, 9) In B 1, 297-298 the peasant turns the metaphor of a protective shelter inside out. Throughout the petitions the ibw is used to symbolize- 498 - the proper functions and duties of a magistrate: protecting the poor and powerless. Here the peasant accuses the magistrates (srw) of acting as refuges for the 2dw. ‘The 2éw can be interpretted either broadly, as I have done here, to mean “agressive individuals" or more narrowly to apply only to Nemty-nakht "the aggressor," so termed in Peas., B1, 181 and 297. For 34, WB I, 24, 12-17, "to be aggressive, furious," see Meeks II, 78.0114 and FECT II, 304 (sp. 775) n. 5 cr vr, 408, m); KRI IZ, 241,1 and 244,1: oD 77 Vogelsang, Komm., 147 and 206. The expression il n 34 (w) is also known from Urk. IV, 972: see Vogelsang, Komm,, 206 and Gardiner, RT 26 (1904), 8. The notion of a shelter for the sr, seen in a positive light, is also taken up in The Installation of the Vizier Rekhmire, 8: mk ibw pwn sr irt pt hft tp-rd, "lo, the shelter of/for a magistrate is acting in accordance with the rule.” For psf x, "to redress," see note £) above. B 2, 59 and 60 uses Dsf + direct object; in B 1, 296 and 298, the preposition xr introduces the direct object. In B 1, 102 and 106, however, there is no r to introduce the verb psf's direct object. Since the B 1 scribe used psf r twice in one passage but psf- 499 - alone on two other occasions, it would seem that sf and psf r + direct object are grammatically and semantically interchangeable expressions. h) In Bi, 298 the peasant uses the verb spr both in its technical, juridical sense of "to present a petition to" and more broadly to mean "to reach, i.e., to make contact with, communicate with" you. This is the first real indication that the peasant is losing heart. In Petition Iv, B 1, 224-225, and again in Petition VII, B 1, 280-281, we saw his impatience with Rensi's failure to set the judicial machinery in motion, but in B1, 298 the peasant's tone changes from impatience and anger to discouragement. By the end of Petition IX, B 2, 114-115, his discouragement will have changed to despair. I have opted for the reading n rdi.n snd.k spr.i nk on the strength of the spr.i from the B 2 version (B 2, 61) and on the basis of the ib.i clearly preserved in the B 1 and B 2 manuscripts in the following sentence. i) In B 1, 298 and B 2, 62 Rensi is told that he cannot perceive (si3) the peasant's ib, his- 500 - intention(s). Elsewhere the stock phrase want: is used to mean "intention, reaction." See B 1, 256 and 273; cf. Petition VI, note p). 3) The gr, “silent one" ox, perhaps, “silenced one," of Bl, 298 is the discouraged petitioner in general and the increasingly disillusioned shty in particular. See note i) above. The ‘nn sw of B 1, 298-299 (WB I, 188, 18 ff) is a reflexive construction. The peasant is tempted to “turn himself around," i.e., turn away from petitioning Rensi because the task seems so futile. For iri fst, "to make/register a com plaint," see CD 308; The Instruction of Amenemhet, P, Millingen, 1,7; Peas, Bl, 124 (48...m, “com- plain. Jst is known only from The Instruction of King Amenemhet for His Son and The Eloquent Peasant. For about"); Vogelsang, Komm., 114; WB V, 408,11. tsi, "to reprove," in the sense of an official condamnation, see Helck, Merikare, 32 (= Merikare 56); cf. Sinuhe B 41 (Gardiner, Notes Sinuhe, 31), “to reproach, insult." Cf. Parant, Affaire Sinouhé, 151 and n. 467; Posener, Litt. et pol., 82 and n. 3; Lopez, RAE 15, 31 (I, 7a); Gardiner, Mélanges Maspero, I, 482-483.- 501 - k) Tw3, "to present a claim," is related to the noun tw? "dependent." See B 1, 94 and B 2, 106; cf. Petition II, note g). See Prisse 7, 6 tw? n, as here, "to put a claim on someone." See Gardiner, JEA 9, 19, n. 8. A pronoun confusion, not uncommon in Middle Egyptian texts, can be seen in the differences between B 1, 299 and B 2, 62-63. B 2, 62-63, on the whole the better version, reads, gr(w), ‘nn sw xr irt kswt.f, n snd.n.k n tw? n.k st, “a silent one, who turns himself around from making his complaints, you (i,e., Rensi) need not fear (his) presenting a claim to you." Bi, 299 says the ilent man should not fear presenting a claim to him (?), n snd.n.f n tw? £ st. This makes little sense. If we read n sng.n.f n tw.n.f st, "(the silent one) he should not fear that he present a claim," this too is illogical. Hence my preference for the B 2 version as the basic text for this passage. The verb ini...x.k, "to bring" seems to mean "to bring into court (against you)." see Frame-story, conclusion, B 2, 134, where the lacuna in the text is the right size for int.f, and B 2, 135, where the reading 'b'.n.f in(w) is certain and= 502 - applies to escorting Nemty-nakht into court to hear Rensi read out his decision. we can discern for the verb, therefore, a technical usage "to be escorted into court/before the magistrate," In B 1, 299-300 the peasant ruefully points out to Rensi that he need not fear being confronted with angry claimants or their supporters ("brother"), since his disinterested behavior is enough to keep away all potential petitioners. Bl, 300 303 Bl, 300 Your plots are in the Sht-holding, Bl, 300 Your rewards are in the @#2tt-holding, Bi, 301 Your provisions are in the storehouse, B 1, 301 And the magistrates give to you, 1 Bl, 302 But you nevertheless steal things.- 503 - Bl, 302 But are you really a robber concerning this? Bl, 302~ (or) does one -that is, the troops 303 with you- extort in order to divide the plots of ground? ™ Notes: 1) In this section, B 1, 300-303, the peasant enumerates Rensi's four sources of income (B 1, 300-301), suggesting that Rensi surely has need of nothing else. The four (legitimate) sources of Rensi's revenues are 1) his plots in the sht, 2) his rewards in the gtt, 3) his !kw (income/provi- sions) in the storehouse, and 4) what the magistrates pay (or "give," rdi ) to him. The fourth item on the list provides an otherwise unknown -and here frustratingly vague- detail concerning the inner workings of the Egyptian administration. Apparently the srw paid fees or taxes to the imy-r? pr wr for the privilege of holding office.- 504 - For a discussion of 'kw, see D. Mueller, INES 34 (1975), 249-263; cf. Frame-story, continued, notes r) and s). The term Sdw, WB IV, 568, 4-6, used to denote a plot of land, is also found in Ww on 9, Urk. IV, 116,13, and Lebensmiden, 69. For further discussion and occurrences, see Helck, Zur Verwaltung des Mittleren und Neuen Reichs, 122; Goedicke, BA, 69 Hatnub, Gr., 22, 8; CT I, 76,b; IZ, 153, a; II, 161, bec. C£. FECT I, 115 (sp. 132), no 1 (= cr I, 153, a). For £k3, "reward," see Urk. Iv, 507, 167 Iv, 894, 3; Iv, 1055, 1: IV, 2178, 10; Westear, 6, 14; Helck, Merikare, 20; Zivie, Giza, 179, 1. 3-47 Gaballa, Mose, pl. LVIII (N4); Meeks I, 77.1556, "récompense, cadeau." According to the peasant, Rensi has land~ holdings in both the g?tt, his district, and in the sht, that is in Egypt proper and in the outer provinces or Egyptian spheres of influence. That Rensi had some association with the sht-lands is clear from B 1, 86-87, where we learn that Rensi wrote +o the administration (bk?-pwt) of the Spt-pmt to arrange for provisions to be given to the- 505 - Peasant's family during his absence. Rensi's connection with the g?tt in which the peasant is robbed is mentioned in B 1, 16-17. For sht, see Frame-story, introduction, note c). m) B 1, 302, k br itt provides an abrupt contrast with the four foregoing lines. with four legitimate sources of income, the peasant says why should you turn to theft? In fact, he conjectures that the reported stealing may not really be of Rensi's making. In B 1, 302-303 he suggests that the real culprits are "the troops with you" whose psSt Sdwt, "division of the plots" is somewhat suspect. The exact nature of the troops’ activity, expressed in the verb st?, "to draw, pull" or "to flow," is unclear. Perhaps st? should be taken as a sdnw.f passive: brought in to you concerning the distribution of is one -that is the troops with you- plots?" The implication here would be that the troops had engaged in illegal activity regarding the Parcelling out of plots and were subsequently brought before Rensi to be reprimanded. Note the use of the feminine plural, dwt, for "plots" in B 1, 303 and B 2, 69, compared with- 506 - the masculine plural Sdw in B 1, 300 and B 2, 65. Bl, 303 - 311 303 304 305 305- 306 306 306 307 307- 308 Do justice (maat) for the Lord of Justice, ™ Whose justice is always true. ° Pen, papyrus, palette of Thoth, May you be far from creating disaster! P © every good one, may you be good, For goodness is indeed good. 7 As Maat is forever, It goes down with its performer into the Necropolis,- 507 ~ B1, 308 When he is buried and interred. 309 Bi, 309- —_ His name is not eradicated on earth, 310 Bi, 310- But he is remembered for goodness. ~ 311 Not: n) The nb-m?'t alluded to in B 1, 304 is probably Re, father, and therefore creator, of Maat: Morenz, Egyptian Religion, 267. See discussion by Vogelsang, Komm., 210, where he points to a wide use of the epithet for a variety of gods, including Thoth, mentioned below in B 1, 305. Cf. the refer- ence to Osiris as the nb-sgr in B 1, 27. 0) B 1, 303-304 consists of a single, ten-word sentence in which the word m3't occurs no less than four times: ir(w) m't n nb mi't nty wn- 508 - m't nt m't.£, literally "do maat for the lord of maat, the maat of whose maat exists"! This type of word play defies transposition into another language. For a similar poetic elaboration upon one word see Bi, 306 below (nfr) end Ptahhotep 534-541 (sqm). cf. Peas. B 1, 314-315 / B2, 79-80, where the phonetically similar wb and wd are played off against each other. See also B 1, 320-321, where occurs three times in rapid succession as the direct object of three consecutive imperatives. p) The 'r, S3fdw, and gsti used as vocatives in B 1, 305-306 are Thoth's writing utensils which would be used to convey the "disaster" (iyt) decreed by the nb m3't, Re, in cases where maat had not been served. Contemporary references to Thoth describe him as the irw m3't, "the one who makes truth/ justice," which could refer to his duty of transcribing the judgment. See Anthes, Hatnub, 82, 118; Brovarski, Fs. Dunham, 18, n. t and n. cc. For iyt, "disaster," see above, note f). q) B 1, 306 is another example of the self-conscious use of ornamental language: see note n) above.= 509 - xr) B 1, 307-311 is a statement of the Egyptian belief that a man's deeds ~in this instance, doing maat~ are his monument; we are remembered for our acts. For other allusions to this theme in the Eloquent Peasant, see Petition II, B 1, 95, note h) and B 1, 109, note x). Bl, 311 - 313 Bl, 311 The rule (of thumb) for the divine word/verdict is it: > Bi, 311- If it is a hand-balance, 312 Bl, 311 It cannot tilt. 312 Bi, 312- If it is a stand-balance, 313 Bl, 312+ It cannot tip to one side, (i.e., be 313 partial). ¢- 510 - Notes: s) For tp-hsb, "rule" or "standard," see Prisse 5, 7 and 8, 5; cf. Peas. Bl, 98 and 3257 Vogelsang, Komm., 94, The mdwentr, "the divine ‘word'" is the judgment of Osiris. For mdw, "judg- ment," or "decree," i. » an official pronouncement, see Pyr. 333, and, in the plural, Bersheh I, pl. 8 II, 45; Louvre C, 14, 7; Urk. IV, 860, 7, and Vogel- 212-213. sang's remarks and references, Komm. t) In B 1, 311-313 the peasant returns to the metaphor of the balance as symbolic of true justice. A real a true mj2t cannot malfunc- tion; if justice functions properly there will be no partiality, no deviance from the norms. See Petition II, note d). For gsi, "to tilt," see Petition II, B 1, 92, note e). The B 1 version has gns*.n.f, a scribal error. Rédi br gs occurs in B 1, 98, see Petition II, note 1) and B 1, 149, I have taken the two ins as emphatic markers. They could also be interrogative markers: see Silverman, Interrogative Constructions,- sil - 63, example 8, and note 363 where Silverman, acknow- ledges the possible interpretation of the two in~ clauses as conditionals. Bil, 313 ~ 316 Bil, 313- Listen! When I come, 314 Bi, 313- (or) another man comes, * 314 Bl, 314 You should greet as an answering one, Bil, 315 (And) do not curse the silent man, Bl, 316 Or attack the one who cannot attack! ¥ Notes: u) I have translated mk as “Listen!". The- 512 - use of mk as an attention-getter in direct conver~ sation. See Callender, Middle Egyptian, 3.5.4.2., "close address." Note the use of ii/iw in its technical legal sense, "to come (before a magistrate)." See Goedicke, BA, 94. v) B 1, 314-316, wSd.k m wkbw; m wSdw grw; m pb nty n ph nef tw, is another Egyptian sentence whose beauty and effectiveness revolve around a homophonic word-play between w&b and wd in the first half and the repetition of pk in the second half. For other examples of this type of ornamental language, much used in Petition VIII, see notes n) and q) above. As observed in note n), this kind of language based on word-plays is virtually impossible to transfer from one language to another. The translation rarely conveys the beauty and economy of expression of the original. Such is the case here. In this passage the peasant urges Rensi to "greet" (w8d) petitioners ("those who come" before him) as a wSb, one who gives an official reply when a formal protest is lodged. This is an obvious refer- ence to the end of the Frame-story, introduction,- 513 - where Rensi, upon hearing the facts of the peasant's case, gives no answer to the peasant or to the jurors gathered around him. Yet by Egyptian custom (and perhaps law; it is difficult to separate the two, since no manuals of legal procedure were written in ancient Egypt), the magistrate was supposed to extend to any petitioner the courtesy of a reply: Ptahhotep, 268-269 and S. Herrmann, ZAS, 82, 55-57. "Greeting" (w3d) refers to opening a legal inquiry. See B 1, 215-216, where a similar play on the phonetic similarities between wa and w&b occurs: Petition Iv, note dd). For w&b see Petition Iv, op.cit.. The "silent man," grw is a reference to the petitioner. Cf. B 1, ‘298-299, where the grw is defined as the one who makes an official complaint (ixi fst); see Petition VIII, note j) above. The Petitioner's vulnerability is touched on when, in B 1, 316, he is called "the one who cannot attack," i.e. the one at a disadvantage in the legal process.- 514 = Bl, 316 2 Bl, 316 You have not been too indulgent, Bi, Bl, 317- Bi, 318- Bl, Bl, Bl, 317 a1 318 319 319 320 320 85 You have not been troublesome, “ You have not (entirely) abandoned * (the case). You have not been aggressive (have not fought), Y Nor have you compensated me for this eloquent speech, Which comes forth from the mouth of Re himself, 7 (Namely:) Speak justice (maat)! Practice justice! May you do that which is justice! 24- 515 - B1, 320- For it (mat) is powerful, it is 321 great, it endures! Bl, 321 Its worth has been proven, Bl, 322 As it leads to veneration, PP w) For “indulgent, lenient (within a juridical context)," see sf, Petition IZ, B 1, 117, note hh); cf. B 1, 204, Mn, WB II, 67, 6-18, is usually rendered "to be ill, to suffer, to trouble," but in the present passage seems better translated as "to be troubling." It is logically possible however to see Ro mp.n.k as "you have not suffered," although the Peasant has! For mn, see Ebers 32,16; Prisse 5,1; Smith 2, 15; 20, 13, all with reference to being ill; see Prisse 14, 8 and Mélanges Maspero I, 342 for mn as "to be troubled."- 516 - Following A mn. . B 2, 81 preserves a sentence not contained in the B 1 manuscript: Ip bh?.n.k, "you have not abandoned (here, the case). For bh3?, "to flee," see Sinuhe, B 63 (cf. sbh?, “to cause to flee," P. Kahun I, 8); Urk. IV, 711, 1, Parant, Affaire Sinouhé, 12. y) For sksk, "to fight, destroy," B 1, 317-318 / B 2, 82, see Vogelsang, Konm., 216; CD 252; Urk. Iv, 5,6; 685,5. 2) Bb3, “to compensate": see B 1, 48, Frame-story, introduction, note gg). Since the peasant has, in fact, received wages of three loaves and two ds-jars of beer a day (B 1, 84-85), he apparently does not consider this adequate compensa~ tion for his oratorical efforts. For mét nfrt see B 1, 75, where the peasant is qualified as nfr mdw n wn m': Frame-story, continued, note i). In B 1, 319 / B 2, 83-84 the peasant legitimates his words by pointing out that they come from a higher authority, namely Re. See the- 517 - reference to Re as Nb-m?'t in B 1, 304. aa) The two moral imperatives in B 1, 320, dd m?'t and iri m3't are an allusion to phrases from Old and Middle Kingdom autobiographical literature, phrases which have been preserved in much later works. For iri m*'t, see Vernus, Athribis, 109; KRI II, 330,11; 517,7; 902,16 and The Installa’ n_of the Vizier Rekhmire, 13; Faulkner, JEA 44 (1951), 22 and note 50; Helck, Merikare, 27, 80. For gd m't, see Helck, op.cit. 24, 26; Gaballa, Mose, pl. LXI (N21), XIII (S12), For iri m*'t see further Petition I, B 1, 68, note bb). B 2, 85 has a variation on ir’ m't which uses the sgm.f-hortative rather than the imperative: ir.k nt(t) m m3't, "may you do what is maat. bb) B 1, 321 is literally "its worth has been found," gmv.tw Kft.s. Maat leads to (sbw) veneration (imp), This notion is tied to the concept of doing maat and the fact that after his death, man is remembered for his deeds. See Petition II, note h); Petition VIII, note r). Veneration (im?) is an honored state attained by the dea oD 20; Sinuhe, B 191; Vittman, W2KM 70,7, n.£); Cairo CG Ancien Empire III/1, 57004; Bergman, Altg.- 518 - Lebenslehren, 88; Ziegler, RAE 31, 122, n. 18. Bl, 322 - 326 Bl, 322 The hand-balance cannot tilt. Bl, 323 (Rather) it is its pans which carry the matter. “4 B1, 324- An excess of/for a proper reckoning 325 cannot occur. °° B1, 325- A bad case cannot reach the goal. 326 Bl, 326 (only) "an upright man" will accomplish a task. f Notes: ec) See Silverman, Interrogative Constructions, 20, example 9, n. 114, for a different- 519 - interpretation of this passage. Silverman, following Vogelsang, Komm., 218, takes the B 1 manuscript as the basic or "correct" text for the pas: ge, assuming that the B 2 scribe has used ~*1 for the in~ question marker. Although the n/in confusion is well attes- ted, it seems unlikely to have occurred here in the B 2 text. We might have expected to see n for in in the B 1 text: cf. the n (a+) of B1, 2 with the in-interrogative particle of the R 53 and Bt 38 parallels. Hence in my view there is no reason to suppose that B 2 is the less correct text. It seems equally likely that two parallel n sdm.f construc tions (n gs? iwsw... n bpz prw n tp-sb) made up the original text. dd) For bnk “the pans of a balance," see Gardiner JEA 9, 10, n. 4; Vogelsang, Komm., 218. The meaning of this passage is that the iwsw, the essential part of the mb?t~balance, cannot err, since it is virtually synonymous with maat itself. Yet those in charge of carrying out maat, the "pans," can go astray or "tilt" (gs*). For gs*, see Petition II, note e).- 520 - ee) For prw, "excess," see Gardiner, JEA 9, 19, n. 5; WB I, 526,14 - 527,4; Meeks I, 77.1440. C£. Vogelsang, Komm., 219, "Ergebnis, Resultat." For tp-bsb, see B 1, 98; B 1, 311: Petition VII, note s). ff) In B 1, 325 there is another example of Sp used as "case." Cf. Petition VII, note k). AS pointed out by Vogelsang, Konm., 219, the expression (spr) x dmi should be interpreted as synonymous with the s?p t? of the following sentence. For s*h £3, "to land" (of a ship), see Sh.S. 34 and 103; Urk. IV, 56,17. From this literal meaning we can derive the more abstract, "to reach a goal, accomplish an objective." The spr r dmi of the preceding line would have the same meaning, based on the (safe) arrival of a land-locked man at the harbor (ami). Both metaphors convey the successful comple- tion of a journey -one by land, the other by sea~ thus referring indirectly 1) to the peasant's desire to complete his own journey, begun in R 7, and 2) to the metaphor of the ferry making a successful cros- sing, as a symbol of justice being done, seen in B 1,- 521 - 198-200: see Petition Iv, notes £), g), and h). cf. below, B 2, 102-103, where s2p t is parallel to m r ami. The bry-s?, unknown outside this passage of the Eloquent Peasant, means literally “one who is under," hence “one who owns" a s%, "a back." In light of the context, a positive term is needed. Thus I have suggested "an upright man" (or “someone with backbone," i.e., courage, spunk?). For br(y), "“(one) carrying, possessing," see CD 203.Commentary PETITION IXPETITION 1x B2, 91 - 94 B2, B2, 91 92 92- 93 93~ 94 94 94 - 523 - And then this peasant came of his own accord to petition him for the ninth time. He said: 0 High Steward, my lord! The stand-balance of men is their tongue. It is the hand-balance which establishes the rest. > Punish the one to whom punishment is due. And fair-dealing shall be equated with you. e- 524 - Notes: a) In Petition VIII, Bl, 322 / B2, 87 the As the small iwsw is used as a symbol of maai balance it symbolizes the quintessence of justice/ maat. In B2, 92-94, the imagery changes. The mhit is called men's "tongue," while the iwsw is said to “establish what is left over (gt)." The reference to the mit - cum - ns (tongue) is quite possibly a pun on the juridical use of ns, "verdict." See Goedicke, BA, 86, and his references to Louvre C 240; Merikare, 32; Hammamat 114; Ptahhotep 528; and the present passage, Peas. B 2, 93. The iwsw (B2, 93-94) is associated with the verb g'r, "to seek, investigate." See Prisse 14, 67 Urk. Iv, 1344, 20; Iv, 1425, 14, Cf. Goedicke, Neferyt 57, n. g. ‘Thus in this passage the iwsw stands for the seeking out of the g?t, which is apparently anything left over after the verdict is pronounced. The essential idea is that symbolizes (active) judicial investigation. b) Iri psf x psfw n.f is another example of= 525 = ornamental language, based on the repetition of a single word: cf. B 1, 89; B1, 120; B1, 304; B1, 306. Cf. B1, 147; Petition III, note g). For tp=bsb here rendered "fair-dealing," see Petition VIII, note ee); Petition VIII, note s); Bl, 98, B2, 95 - 103 B2, 95 (When) a liar succeeds, © B2, 95 And his affairs prevail, 4 B2, 95 Maat will turn itself around until he (the grq, liar) is "right." B2, 96~ The stuff of a liar is it. © 97 B27 87) The "justice" of his (flourishing) is: B2, 97 He will not (vacillate) in iti f= 526 - B2, 98 When a liar succeeds, B2, 98 He goes astray again. 9 B2, 99 He cannot cross over in the ferry without /going agrouna/. » B 2, 100 As for the rich one who falls, i B 2, 100 He has no children. B 2, 102 He has no heirs on earth. B 2, 101- As for the one who sails under it, J 102 B 2, 102 He cannot reach land, B 2, 102- His boat cannot moor at the harbor. * 103 Notes c) We can restore B 2, 95 on the basis of B2, 98 below: ix gm grg, “when/if a liar (or- 527 - 'falsehood') goes forth (victorious from court) .* I know of no other occurrences of 3m in this pregnant usage, but pri can be used in this way: see Petition II, note cc). 4) Literally, "occur," ppr. e) The legal connotation given to 3m above, note c), is corroborated by the use of ‘nn in B 2, 96-97: see Petition VII, B 1, 299. Whereas in B 1, 299, the peasant's (or petitioner's) "turning around” meant turning away from the magistrate. In B 2, 95 the term seems to be used ironically, as does 'k?.£. The whole passage speaks of a miscarriage of justice in which the grg manages to get himself declared innocent. This is typical of a liar, says the peasant in B 2, 96-97: pt pw nt grg, “the very stuff of a liar is it." £) In B 2, 97, "m3't" is used sarcastically (see note e) above). I restore, with Vogelsang, Komm., 221, sw3g.f for the damaged word before pw, “His flourishing" not only fits the space left- 528 - illegible but also fits our interpretation of the passage as ironic in tone. Again, in the last sentence of this process we are told he is not reliable, that he will vacil- late (nws(?) perhaps related to or a miswriting for iri nwdw): Vogelsang, Komm., 88; Peas. B 1, 92; B 1, 100. g) For B 2, 98, see note c) above. nm, "to go astray," CD 299; Sinuhe B 96; Peas. B 1, 131 and 188, h) No traces are left of the second half of B2, 99. We can, with great plausibility, restore n(n), "without," for the ~4, which is the last discernible sign in the vertical column. In view of the boat metaphor, something like "going aground" would be appropriate for the damaged section of the line. The line means that even if the liar, emerging victorious from court, tries to change, this does not work; his unwarranted legal victory does not help him. i) The pwd, "rich one," who falls (pr.f) is an allusion to Rensi: see Petition II, note a), for- 529 - bwd. For br, "to fall," see Petition VIII, note a) (B 1, 290-291) where Rensi is warned of the dangers of "falling" to greed. j) In B2, 101-102, the referent for the of br.f is either falsehood or more generally the situation described in B 2, 100-101 for the rich man who "falls," does not pursue maat. k) The “one who sails under it" (see note 4) above, will not attain his goals, here expressed by two different metaphors, s* t* and (mni) x dmi. See Petition VIII, B 1, 325-326, note ff). B2, 103 - 112 B 2, 103 Do not be heavy, B 2, 103 When you cannot be light. B 2, 104 Do not be slow, B 2, 104 When you cannot hurry. !2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 104- 105 105 105- 106 106 106- 107 108 108 108 109 - 530 - Do not be partial in investigating my intention, ™ Do not be closed minded to your acquaintance. Do not turn a blind eye to one who looks at you, ° Do not rebuke the one who beseeches P you: “May you come down from this, namely, the delaying of announcing a verdict. 7 Act for the one who always acts for you! © Do not heed anyone regarding him. Summon a man according to his rightful cause!" & (For) there is no yesterday for the one who dailies. *- 531 - There is no friend for one deaf to justice. B 2, 110- There is no holiday for the greedy lll man, ¥ Notes: 1) B 2, 103-104 provides four short verses urging Rensi, once again, to take action. The heavy/light contrast also appears in B1, 159-160 with the positive value on dns, not, as here, on is. hm, "to be slow," "to lie dead" (of a boat) was used in B 1, 57, bh, "to hurry" occurs in B 1, 208-209 where it is also associated with both is and dns, again with is seen negatively. These four short lines alternating between negative imperatives and n sgm.f forms are followed by four much longer sen- tences, all beginning with a negative imperative, B 2, 104-106. m) Nm‘, "to be one-sided in judgment," is found in Lebensmiiden 2, (Goedicke, BA, 86); Merikare- 532 - 43-44, Urk. I, 267, 4; Ptahhotep 438. Urk. VII, 59, 15; cr IV, 20, For sgm, "to investigate," see B1, 99, Petition II, note m). b.i as "my intention" also occurs in B 1, 298 / B 2, 62: see Petition VIII, note a. n) Ubs br, literally "to hide the face," is also found in B 1, 167: see Petition III, note aa). The phrase xp.n.k, "the one you know, your acquain- tance," occurs in Petition Vv, B 1, 232, with refer- ence, as here, to the peasant. ©) For sf and the notion of intentional "blindness," i.e. not bothering to investigate or turning a blind eye to injustices, see B 1, 188: Petition III, note uu). P) For ni, used transitively, see Pyr. 1230, c, and 1230, a; Peas. B 1, 110; Urk. V, 22, 15, FECT II, 267 (sp. 707) n. 5 CT VI, 338, k)z Vogelsang, Komm., 223 £, For tw, "to beseech, present a claim," see- 533 - Bl, 94; B1, 170; and B 1, 299: Petition VIII, note xk). q) B 2, 106-108 quotes the person beseech- ing (tw?) the High Steward. For a discussion of h3i see Petition I, note h). Note the use of p? as a demonstrative Pronoun: Kroeber, Neudgyptizismen, 19 ££. For wsf, "to delay," see B 1, 257, where Rensi is asked not to delay but to act to render a judgment. see Petition VI, note q). Cf. B1, 281-282 / B 2, 40. In B1, 257 the wsf is dallying over smit fag, "reporting a judgment (‘sundering')." In B 2, 106, the wsf is urged to smit ts.k (a verdict). For $s, "a verdict," see Goedicke, Neferyt, 110, n. au, where he cites Sinuhe B 184, 227 and Peas. B 2, 107. x) For this proverb, see Gunn, JEA 12, 283 and note 5. See further Vernus, Athribis, 70, n.(p); 206, n.(1); 207, n.(b) and (c). Cf. Peas. B 1, 99-100.- 534 - 8) The quote which began in B 2, 106 ends here. For nis, "to summon," WB II, 204, 1-19, see Zivie, Giza 206 (bottom) 1. 1-2; cD 126; Sinuhe R 24; Letters to Dead I, 2-13; Peas. B 1, 269, +) There is no "yesterday," i.e, no lasting reputation or mnw "monument" for a wsf. For this theme, see Petition II, note x). See note q) above for wsf. u) This theme appears in Petition Iv; see note 0) above and Petition III, note uu). v) For hrw nfr, see Goedicke BA, 129, n. 149, and Lorton, JARCE 7, 45 ££,- 535 - B2, 111 - 115 o 2, 111- 112 2, 112 2, 113 2, 113+ 114 2, 114 2, 114- 115 As a justified plaintiff becomes a desperado, “ ‘Then the desperado will become one who requests: * "May my: enemy become an executed one!" ¥ Listen! I am petitioning you! 7 But you have not listened to/judged it (my pleas). 9% (Therefore) I shall go away; I shall petition Anubis concerning you, >P- 536 - Notes: w) A “justified plaintiff" is a wtsw. See WB I, 384, 1-2; Meeks II, 78.1142; 0 Torino 57001 vo 9 (wks smj); see CD 72, wisw, “accused person," Peas. B2, 111. x) B2, 112: mir r sprw "the mir-despe- rado will be one who petitions...." B 2, 113 is the contents of his petition or request, an Old Perfec- tive hortative "May my enemy (pfty) be as a slain one!" y) In B2, 111 and 112 mir is written miry. Either this is a spelling peculiar to the B 2 manuscript, in which the term occurs only in these two places, or, as Vogelsang, Komm., 226, suggests, the -y ending reflects a (perfective passive) part- icipial ending. I have translated the term as “desperado" in line with the peasant's increasingly black mood: see B 2, 115. z) In desperation, the peasant states the obvious, (B 2, 113).- 537 - aa) The peasant is no better off than when he began talking. bb) The peasant, whose name is Khun-Anup, threatens to visit his patron deity Anubis. Finding no relief from Rensi, he will present his case (spr) to Anubis. In other words, the peasant is threat- ening to kill himself to get a fair hearing, since Anubis is closely linked to death and the necropolis. It is at this point (B 2, 115-116) that Rensi breaks his long silence: see Frame-story, continued, below.Commentary FRAME-STORY, Conclusion SS- 539 - CONCLUSION: B2, 115-122 (B2, 115) And then the High Steward Rensi, (116) son of Meru, caused two guards to go in order to bring him (the peasant) back. * (117) and this peasant was fearful. He thought one acted (118) in order that he be punished on account of this plea which he had delivered (spoken). © And then this Peasant said, (119) "The approach of a thirsty man to water, the providing of the mouth (120) of a suckling child with milk (121)..../thus is a/ prayed-for /death/ when he sees it coming, (122) when his death comes slowly toward him." ° Notes: a) The return to the frame-story is heralded by the return of the sgm.in.f verb form, rdi.in imy-r? pr wr.- 540 - Note that Rensi sends a pair of guards to bring the peasant in. This is in keeping with the conventions of folk literature the world over in which minor figures frequently occur in twos. see Introduction, p. 41, n. 125. This detail may reflect actual Egyptian juridical procedure; _ perhaps plaintiffs were always escorted by two guards. b) For tnn.f (here written incorrectly 1 See Peas. B1, 299; B 2, 96; Westcar 11, 15 in the sense of "to turn back"; as "to come back" the verb occurs in Lebensmilden @3; Sinuhe B 58; Urk. IV, 519, 2, CD 43 gives B 2, 116 as the only example of “BB as "to bring back." This is slightly misleading. There is no reason not to translate here "And then the High Steward Rensi, son of Meru, caused two guards to go in order to turn him back," with -.f as the suffix pronoun object of the infinitive ‘n(n) (cf, WB I, 188, 13 - 189, 7), The choice of the verb ib is probably not accidental in that it sets up a word play between this passage and the verb ib "to thirst for" in B 1, 119, Tt is interesting to note that this prose Section shares some of the petitions’ playfulness with words; cf. &1, 121-122 and the two-fold- 541 - repetition of ii; B 1, 124: a play on iri. To deliver a plea is gd mdt. Both mt and maw are used for pleas delivered before a judge: see Faulkner, JEA 44, 22 for mdw as "plea." Cf. a sgmw mdw, one who hears pleas, i.e., an “examiner.” Stewart Eq Stelae...Petrie Collection, II, pl. 18, 12. The existence of both sdm méw (Pyr. 123, 1, 4) and sdm mét (Peas., B 1,'234) shows the interchange- ability of mdw and mét. See Vogelsang, Komm. 173. c) The peasant compares the thought of death with the comfort given to the thirsty man by water or to the suckling child by milk. The expression brd nly) sbnt is unusual. Sbnt is otherwise attested 228; only for cows: Pyr. 716; see Vogelsang, Kom. Meeks II, 78.3440; WB Iv, 90, 1; FECT I, 27 (spell 36) n. 30 (= CT I, 143, b); 28 (sp 37) n. 3. Por wdf, "to go slowly," "to delay," see CD 73; Pyr. 1223; Sh.S. 70, See Peas. B 1, 78 for swdf.= 542 - B 2, 123 - 132 And then the High Steward Rensi, (123) son of Meru, said, "Do not be afraid, peasant. Look, (124) are you acting in order to do (deal) with me?" 4 and then this peasant gave (the oath) (125) "By my life! Shall I eat (only) your bread and drink (126) (only) your /beer/ forever? © And then the High Steward .{127) Rensi, son of Meru, said, “Just stay here, (128) so you can hear your petitions." £ And then he caused that /one write(?) them/ on a new papyrus roll, 9 each petition in its turn (literally, “according to its day.") > (130) And then the High Steward Rensi, son of Meru, sent to (131) the Majesty of the King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Neb-kau-re, the justified. + and then it pleased the heart /of His Majesty/ (132) more than anything in this whole land.- 543 - 4) Ir.k x irt pn'.i, “are you acting to deal with me." The sentence is either a rhetorical question or an emphatic statement, "you are supposed to be acting to deal with me." For iri bn', see Pyr. 14, 7) 14, izi sp pn' "to deal with." I see no traces of missing signs at the end of vertical line B2, 123, I would agree with Gardiner, JEA 9, 24, against Vogelsang, Koma., 299, that no signs have been destroyed. Rensi encourages the peasant not to be afraid now that the time has finally come to hear the consequences of his actions or petitions. e) B2, 124 presents one or two Problems of interpretation. In light of the verb rdi, we would expect the 'nb.i of B 2, 125 to be an oath, "By my life!" The real oddity in the line is the br-face which follows the 'nh.i, for which I can only suggest a prepositional usage: "By my life! concerning my eating of (only) your bread and my drinking of (only) your beer forever!" For the translation of m preceding the direct objects bread and beer, see Silverman, Crientalis, 190,~ 544 - For a complete discussion of oath-taking in ancient Egypt, see Wilson, JNES 7, 129-156. We note here that Rensi's ruse of giving the Peasant's rations to "a friend," hnms, who then gave them to the peasant did not hide the true source of his food from the peasant. f) An interesting glimpse into court Procedure. The written transcript of the hearing (in fact, here, only the peasant's testimony) was read out before a judgment was pronounced. g) Note the similarity with Neferyt, 15-18, where the king also has Neferyt's report written down; see note £) above. h) Suys, Etude, XXVI, assumes that each Petition was given on a different day. A literal interpretation of the present passage, B 2, 129, might give rise to such a notion. The idea of the Peasant delivering nine petitions on nine consecutive days and being called up to hear his sentence on the tenth day has a definite appeal in that it brings the- 545 ~ time the peasant spent petitioning in vain before Nemty-nakht and the time he spent delivering his speeches before Rensi into perfect equilibrium. The notion of a perfectly balanced pair recalls the iconography of the balance in which the deceased's heart is weighed against the feather of Maat. There, too, perfect balance and control are the desired effects. i) For m3'-prw as a designation of deceased kings, see Vernus, Athribis, 179, n. (h); 181, n. (a); Meeks 78.1605; Goedicke, BA, 4. Cf. Peas., Bl, 72-73.- 546 - B 2, 133 - 142 And then /His Majesty/ said, (133) "May you yourself judge, son of Meru!" J /and then the High Steward/ Rensi, son of Meru, caused two guards to go in order to /fetch him, (Nemty-nakht)/. * (135) And he was brought and a report /of all his property?/ was made... (136) his /scrvants/, six persons with the exception of... (137) including his barley, his enmer, /his/ asses... (138) his pigs, his /goats and sheep/... (139) /of/ this Nemty-nakht /was given/ to this peasant... (140) all of his /?/ itself... + (141) .--/this/ Nemty-nakht.... (142) It is finished.... ™ Notes: 5) Another fascinating glimpse of juridical practice. Apparently the king presided as official judge over the court but could delegate his powers to a subordinate.~ 547 - k) The restoration of Nemty-nakht's name makes sense because 1) The peasant has already been brought in, and 2) the compensatory goods, all associated with settled farming life, are definitely not the peasant's. 1) The list has been largely destroyed but is complete enough to show that the peasant does not receive his own goods back but those of his ‘adversary. In other words, Nemty-nakht will now be treated as he tried to treat Rensi. Presumably, too, these are the types of agricultural products the Peasant would have tried to obtain through barter with his own supplies, had they not been confiscated. m) In awarding the peasant what he originally set out to obtain, Rensi restores justice and the story ends "happily everafter."IIT - TRANSLATION- 549 - FRAME-STORY, INTRODUCTION (Rl) There was a man, Khun-Anup was his name. A "peasant" (shty) was he from the Sht-bm>t. (2) And he had a wife. Her name was /M/rt. ‘Then this Peasant said to his wife, "Look, I am going down (3) to Egypt to bring back provisions for my children; but I shall go there only after I have measured the grain (4) which is in the barn as a remainder of the grain /of the harvest/. Then this peasant measured out for her /26/ hegats of wheat. (5) And then this peasant said to his wife, "Lo, /I can give/ to you /20/ heqats for provisions, together with your children. (6) And you will make for me 6 hegats into bread and beer for every day on which /I will travel/. (7) This peasant went down to Egypt after he had loaded his donkeys with: R 8) rushes 9) rdmt - grass 10) salt11) 12) 13) 14) 15) 16) 17) 18) 19) 20) 21) 22) 23) 24) 25) 26) 27) 28) 29) Bt13) 30) 31) 32) 33) 34) - 550 - natron wood from ystyw staves from the Farafra Oasis leopard skins wolf skins nd3 ~ plants tnw - stones fnm - plants hprwr - plants s2hwe siskwt miswt - plants snt - stones tbiw - stones ibs ~ plants inbi - plants pigeons Attw - birds gutted birds thw - plants wbn ~ plants tbsw - plants gngnt earth-hair inst= 551 - (35) a full measure of all the good products of the Shtcbm?t. (36) This peasant sailed south (37) toward Heracleopolis. He came to the district of (38) Per- fifi to the north of Mednyt. He found a man (39) standing on the pier there. Nemty-nakht was his name. He was the son of a man (40) named Isry, who was a subordinate of the High Steward (41) Rensi, son of Meru. And then this Nemty-nakht said, when he saw (42) this peasant's donkeys and things he coveted, (43) "If only I had some (potent - Bt 25) "Zsp", © could seize (44) this peasant's goods with it!" Now the house of this Nemty-nakht was above the landing (45) at the beginning of the road. It was narrow; it was not wide. (46) It did not exceed the width of a join-cloth. One side of it was (47) under water; the other side was under barley. And then this Nemty- nakht said to his servant, "Go, (48) bring me an ifa from my house." And it was brought to him at once. (49) Then he spread it out on the landing at the beginning of the road (50) so that its fringe was on the water and its hem (51) on the barley. Now this peasant came along the public (52) yoad. (Bl, 1) And then this Nemty-nakht said, "Be careful, peasant! (2) Will you tread on my clothes?"- 552 - And then (3) this peasant said, “As you wish! May my course be true!" (4) So he went upwards. And then this Nemty-nakht said, (5) "Will my barley be your path?" And then this peasant said, (6) "May ny course be true! The bank is steep. The (only) course is under barley, since you are blocking (8) our road with your clothes. Will you then not let us pass by on the road?" ((R 59-60) Then he stopped speaking this plea.) And then one among these donkeys filled (10) his mouth from a clump of barley. And then this Nemty-nakht said (11), “Look, I am going to seize your donkey, peasant, for (12) eating my barley. Look, it shall tread out grain for its offense." (13) And then this peasant said, "May my course be true! Only one (clump of barley) (14) was destroyed. Could I buy back my donkey for its (the clump's) value if you seize it (15) for filling its mouth with a clump of barley? But I (16) know the lord of this domain, It belongs to (17) the High Steward Rensi, son of Meru. He, indeed, is one who punishes every robber in this (18) whole land. Shall I be robbed in his district?" And then this Nemty-nakht said, (19) "Is this the complaint that people make -(20) 'The name of a