e, cast thine eyes on the one that gave thee birth and provided
thee with all good things, as did thy mother. Let her not reproach
thee, lest she lift up her hands to the God, and He hear her prayer._'

And, most remarkable of all omissions, there is nothing said as to
duties to the Gods. In Egypt, whose Gods are beyond counting, where
almost everybody was a priest, Ptah-hotep--himself a 'Holy Father' and
'Beloved of the God'--has no word to say on religious obligations,
devoting his work entirely to the principles of charity and duty to
one's neighbour. It is {34} seemingly sufficient to him that one do
the right in this world, without thinking overmuch about the other.
This is the more curious in that other writers of the same class have
many injunctions regarding worship and sacrifice; and so complete is
his reserve touching this matter, so important in the eyes of other
Egyptians, that it is easy to believe that it was intentional. We may
even discern in him a protagonist of the modern 'Ethical School,' whose
adherents may be interested to find their views implicitly held so long
ago.

Notwithstanding this singularity, he is by no means unmindful of Deity.
We notice that he has occasion to speak several times of 'the God'[16]
in His relation to humanity and human affairs. If we collect these
references to the God, we shall find that the following qualities are
attributed to Him. He rewards diligence (9, 10) and punishes sin (6,
10; also Kg. 5); He is the giver of good things (Ph. 22, 30, 43),
dispenses fate and preordains events (6, 7, 9, 26), loves His creation
(26), observes men's actions (10), desires them to be fruitful and
multiply (12). All this is in complete accord with the belief of other
religions--including Christianity--regarding the Godhead. And here we
touch another pleasing characteristic of this most ancient of
books--its catholic spirit and disregard of those {35} mythological and
esoteric riddles that most Egyptian works propound to us continually.
It will be noticed that 'the God' is not anywhere mentioned by name.
Osiris (5) and Horus (41) are alluded to, but only historically, in
respect of their rule upon earth, not as present powers. The reason is
this, that at that time the Gods, even the great Gods, were only local,
that is to say, their worship was confined to certain towns or
districts ('nomes'), and beyond the boundaries of these their names
lost that power and influence which t