Papyrus section 13

(13.1) If you see the son of a councilman at the council’s rear, this is an errand that tests the heart and the body.

(13.2) When a great man speaks in anger, bend low. Do not put words into his mouth; keep watch upon yourself.

(13.3) He states his counsel before the officials; speech lies in his hand. Let the one charged with your case make the answer.

(13.4) The office is firmly established. If his place is assigned to you according to rank, preserve the order laid down for you.

(13.5) By the rightness of his conduct he passes freely through the gates; the king commands that his station be secured for you.

(13.6) Hold to the rank first given you on the first day. Do not force your way after you have been held back; observe what stands before you.

(13.7) When you have entered and settled in a household within the town, seeking what belongs to you among companions, let what happens to you be restrained.

(13.8) Let your heart be wary of reaching after beauty. Let what comes to you arise through generosity; the god advances whom he favors.

(13.9) Lower your face and master yourself. What takes shape for another must not become your desire; then no blame will rest upon your head.

(13.10) Do not contend within another’s house, nor in your own. Remain intent upon what is right, lest your desire entangle you in—

(13.11) the place where such a thing is done. It is a deadly snare: a thousand men are turned away from what would sustain them until tomorrow.

(13.12) Their judgment is swept aside; they stumble blindly. No strength or mastery remains to a man once his desire has seized him.

(13.1) If you see the son of a councilman serving as a messenger on an important commission,

(13.2) charged with weighty words, report to him exactly what was said to you; guard against speaking beyond them.

(13.3) When he states his plan to the officials, let his words be repeated exactly. Do not alter the message entrusted to you.

(13.4) Preserve the wording of the dispatch. If he questions you about an affair that happened beside you,

(13.5) report it accurately, without passing over anything. By the king’s record, what you establish will remain against you.

(13.6) Day after day is like the first. If you become great through the favor of your lord, though you have seen hardship,

(13.7) and afterward rise to the foremost place in the city, do not trust in possessions that have come to you, or boast about what has happened to you.

(13.8) Do not let your heart grow proud over your abundance. What has come to you is a gift of the god; so it is said.

(13.9) Lower your head. Another like you may come, and the same thing may happen to him. Show respect; do not divide honors according to your own precedence.

(13.10) Do not be arrogant toward him because of what you knew of him before. Respect him for what he has become. Property does not come by itself; your power lies in what is his.

(13.11) In the place of the household, conduct yourself with restraint. It is beneficial to take what is allotted while keeping your face composed; life does not belong to the greedy.

(13.12) His excess ruins him. He is cut down like a plant, for no advantage comes to him; his wrongdoing sends him reeling.