Papyrus section 9

(9.1) Do not let a matter become an obstacle to you. Keep your eye on the charge: the man who rejoices in it is praised for it each day.

(9.2) One who goes forth bearing another’s words must return bearing them intact. Speech is weighed in the balance, and falsehood is an abomination.

(9.3) Do not let your mouth rush ahead and create strife. If you act as an envoy, return and report faithfully.

(9.4) Speak the petitioner’s words without diminishing them. The king values one who completes his task and places its benefit in his service.

(9.5) Tell him what was said to him, without bending it through favor. The heart’s flood is greater when a man sees that the message has come to him exactly.

(9.6) A petitioner desires that his words be heard even more than that the purpose of his coming be accomplished.

(9.7) Not everything for which he petitions can come to pass; yet a good hearing is better for the heart than doing all he desires.

(9.8) If you wish friendship to endure in a house you enter—as master, as brother,

(9.9) or as friend—in any place you enter, keep yourself from approaching the women.

(9.10) No place where that is done can prosper. The face is blind to it; a thousand men are turned aside from what would benefit them.

(9.11) A brief moment, like a dream—and death is reached through knowing them.

(9.12) It is a wretched course, fit to be shot down; when one goes to practice it, the heart rejects it.

(9.13) As for the man who continually fails through lust for them, no plan whatever will succeed in his hand.

(9.1) As for the man who fails to satisfy those close to him with what has been allotted to him, people say of him, “He is a ka that pleases itself.”

(9.2) No one knows what may happen when he considers tomorrow.

(9.3) It is the right ka by which a man is sustained. If praiseworthy deeds are done, those close to you will say, “Welcome!”

(9.4) A man does not secure himself in town merely by what he stores up; it is the affection of those close to him that serves him.

(9.5) When need comes, they will say it to him, and those close to him will stand ready to help him.

(9.6) As for one who rejects a petitioner, people say, “Why does he turn him away?”

(9.7) Not everything a man petitions for can happen, but a good hearing soothes the heart better than anything he desires.

(9.8) If you want friendship to endure in a house you enter, whether you enter it as a lord or as a brother,

(9.9) or as a friend, wherever you enter, keep away from the women.

(9.10) No good comes from a place where that is done. A face is never wise when it gazes at them; a thousand men are diverted from what benefits them.

(9.11) A brief moment, like a dream—and then death is reached through knowing them.

(9.12) Afterward comes a bitter end. A man goes outside after doing it, while his heart rejects what he has done.

(9.13) When a man’s eye covets them, his actions fail; no undertaking succeeds in his hand. If you wish