nd constantly. Feed her and clothe her, love her
tenderly and fulfil her desires as long as thou livest, for she
is an estate which conferreth great reward upon her lord.[233]
Be not hard to her, for she will be more easily moved by
persuasion than by force. Observe what she wisheth, and that on
which her mind runneth, thereby shalt thou make her to stay in
thy house. If thou resisteth her will it is ruin."

The maxims of Ani,[234] written six dynasties later, give the same
advice with fuller detail--

"Do not treat rudely a woman in her house when you know her
perfectly; do not say to her, 'Where is that? bring it to me!'
when she has set it in its place where your eye sees it, and
when you are silent you know her qualities. It is a joy that
your hand should be with her. The man who is fond of heart is
quickly master in his house."

Honour to the mother was strongly insisted on. The sage
Kneusu-Hetep[235] thus counsels his son--

"Thou shalt never forget thy mother and what she has done for
thee. From the beginning she has borne a heavy burden with thee
in which I have been unable to help her. Wert thou to forget
her, then she might blame thee, lifting up her arms unto God,
and he would hearken to her. For she carried thee long beneath
her heart as a heavy burden, and after thy months were
accomplished she bore thee. Three long years she carried thee
upon her shoulder and gave thee her breast to thy mouth, and as
thy size increased her heart never once allowed her to say, 'Why
should I do this?' And when thou didst go to school and wast
instructed in the writings, daily she stood by thy master with
bread and beer from the house."

I would note in passing that in this passage we have a conclusive
testimony to health and character of the Egyptian mother. The
importance of this is undoubted, when we remember the active part
taken by women in business and in social life. It is, I am sure, an
entirely mistaken view to hold that motherhood is a cause of weakness
to women. In a wisely ordered society this is not so. It is the
withdrawal of one class of women from labour--the parasitic wives and
daughters of the rich (which of these women could feed and carry her
child for three years?), as the forcing of other women into work under
intolerable conditions that injures motherhood. But on these questions
I shall speak in the fi