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(Lost) Commandments of Akhenaten


icon9   Avoid the heated

1Do not befriend the heated man,
2nor approach him for conversation.
3Keep your tongue from answering your superior,
4and take care not to insult him.
5Let him not cast his speech to lasso You,
6Nor give free rein to your answer.
7Converse with a man of your own measure,
8and take care not to vex.
9Swift is speech when the heart is hurt,
10more than wind over water.
11He tears down, and he builds up with his tongue,
12when he makes his hurtful speech.
13He gives an answer worthy of a beating,
14for its weight is harm.
15He hauls freight like all the world,
16but his load is falsehood.
17He is the ferryman of snaring words,
18he goes and comes with quarrels.
19When he eats and drinks inside,
20his answer is heard outside.
21The day he is charged with his crime,
22is misfortune for his children.
23If only Khnum came to him !
24The potter to the fiery-mouthed man,
25so as to knead his states of mind.
26He is like a young wolf in the farmyard,
27he turns one eye against the other,
28he causes brothers to quarrel,
29he runs before every wind like clouds,
30he dims the radiance of the Sun,
31he flips his tail like the crocodile's young,
32he gathers himself together, crouched.
33His lips are sweet, his tongue is bitter.
34A fire burns in his belly.
35Do not leap up to join such a one,
36lest a terror carry You away.