20O A STUDY IN HEREDITY 



3. Was abstinence commanded ? No! temperance was. "The 

 moralists reprove these excesses, and cannot find words strong 

 enough to express the danger of them. Wine first loosens the 

 tongue of man, even wresting from him dangerous words, and 

 afterwards it prostrates him, so that he is no longer capable of 

 defending his own interests. Do not, therefore, forget thyself in 

 the breweries; be afraid that words may come back to thee that 

 thou hast uttered, without knowing that thou hast spoken. When 

 at last thou fallest, thy limbs failing thee, no one will help thee, 

 thy boon companions will leave thee, saying, 'Beware of him, he 

 is a drunkard.' Then when thou art wanted for business, thou 

 art found prone upon the earth like a little child " (The Maxims of 

 Ani. XVIII. Dynasty, about 1530-1330). 



" Young men especially should avoid this shameful vice, for 

 beer destroys their souls. ' He that abandons himself to drink 

 is like an oar broken from its fastening, which no longer obeys 

 on either side ; he is like a chapel without its god, like a house 

 without bread, in which the wall is wavering and the beam shaking. 

 The people he meets in the street turn away from him, for he 

 throws mud, and hoots after them until the police interfere and 

 carry him away to regain his senses in prison ' " (Maspero : " Life 

 in Ancient Egypt," translated by A. Morton, p. 31). 



The " Maxims of Ptah-hetep " contained in the "Prisse Papyrus" 

 is the oldest collection of precepts known. It dates from the 

 time of Assa, a king of the V. Dynasty. Although the actual 

 copy we possess (Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris) is probably of the 

 XII. Dynasty, it appears to have been copied from a more cursive 

 original (Soc. Bib. Arch., XIII. 65) which might be of the date 

 of the actual composition, and there seems to be no reason 

 to question the statement that Ptah-hetep, in the reign of Assa, 

 wrote this work (Petrie : " History of Egypt," vol. i. 81). In this 

 Papyrus sobriety is eulogised. 



4. Were all classes drunken in Ancient Egypt 1 From the 

 above it is almost certain that all classes were given to occasional 

 intoxication, although I cannot give a reference which states so 

 definitely. 



