THE BOOK OF AHIKAR

(INTRODUCTION)

HE recent recovery in Egypt of a papyrus fragment of the Ahikar book, dating from at least the fifth century before Christ, has been one of the most interesting events of Egyptian exploration, and a most striking proof of the accuracy of modern scientific theory. Scholars have long known that there must have been a story of the wise vizier, Ahikar, among the world's very early tales. They knew also that it was a popular and honored tale among the preChristian Jews; for the apocryphal Book of Tobit speaks of the Ahikar story as being of similar character to itself. Other references to Ahikar, the sage, and to his wise sayings, appear in ancient authors. Moreover, while no Jewish copy of the Ahikar story was known to exist, a medieval Book of Ahikar was popular throughout the East. Manuscripts of it were common in Arabic, in Syrian, and in Armenian, and were known in other tongues.

In these medieval manuscripts the sayings of Ahikar strongly resembled passages in several of the Hebrew Biblical books, especially the Book of Psalms and that of Proverbs. Of course, these sayings in Ahikar might have been copied from the Bible, but scholars were already questioning whether some form of the Book of Ahikar might not be the earlier work. And then this Egyptian fragment was discovered. It is written in the Aramaic tongue, the speech in common use among the Jews of the fifth century B.C. It includes not only the story of Ahikar, but fragments of his proverbs; and as it is clearly not the original form of the Ahikar tale, the deduction that the first account of the life and sayings of the ancient sage must date almost back to the Assyrian days in which he is represented as dwelling. That is, the story could not have originated later than 600

B.C.

This gives it an antiquity probably equaling, if not exceeding, that of the Biblical books which it resembles.

Why the Book of Ahikar was not included in the Hebrew canon, and thus preserved with the Scriptures, we can no longer tell. For some reason it was obviously regarded as less holy than other similar works of later date. Perhaps it was not originally a Jewish book at all, but a Babylonian one translated into Aramaic because of its popularity. We thus open with this "rejected" book a possible vista of very ancient Babylonian stories.

As to the story of Ahikar, we give the book here first in its Armenian version. None of our surviving medieval manuscripts of the book seem very old, except those of Armenia. There we can trace the tale back to the year A.D. 500 or even earlier. Hence the Armenian gives us the story in the oldest version known until our recent Egyptian discovery. That fragmentary Egyptian papyrus is then given by itself, as nearly as our scholars have been able to decipher and translate it. Thus the reader may see for himself the changes and vagaries which the story and its proverbs underwent in the thousand years which separated the Egyptian and the Armenian manuscripts. The later Arabic and Syrian versions do not differ much from the Armenian.

THE BOOK OF AHIKAR

I

The maxims and wisdom of Ahikar, which the children of men learn.

In the times and in the reign of Seneqerim, King of Nineveh and of Asorestan, I, Ahikar, Notary of Seneqerim the King, took sixty wives and builded me sixty palaces. And I, Ahikar, was sixty years of age and I had not a son.

Then I went in to the gods with many offerings; I lit a fire before the gods and cast incense upon it, and presented my offerings and sacrificed victims, kneeled down and prayed, and thus spake in my prayer.

O my lords and gods, Belshim and Shimil and Shamin, ordain and give to me male seed. For lo, Ahikar dieth alive. And what say men? That Ahikar, though alive and wise and clever, is dead, and there is no son of his to bury him, nor daughter to bewail him. I have no heir after my death. Not even if a son should spend ten talents in the last day, would he exhaust my riches. But I ask merely that he may cast dust with his hands upon me, in order that I may not remain unremembered.

Then there was a voice from the gods and they said:

Ahikar, there is not ordained seed for thee. But thou shalt take Nathan, thy sister's son, and bring him up as thy son, and he shall pay thee back thy cost of rearing him.

And when I heard this from the gods, I took Nathan, my sister's son; one year old was he, and I clad him in byssus and purple; and a gold collar did I bind around his neck; and like a king's son I decked him out with ornaments. And I gave him to drink milk and honey, and laid him to sleep on my eagles and doves, until he was seven years of age. Then I began to teach him writing and wisdom and the art of knowledge and the answering of dispatches, and the returns of contradictory speeches. And by day and by night

I ceased not to instruct him; and I sated him with my teaching, as it were with bread and water.

Then saith the King unto me: Ahikar, my Notary and wise one, I know that thou art grown old; and after thy death, who is there to discharge ably and wisely the affairs of our kingdom? And I am very grieved at this thought. And I said to him: O King, live for ever. There is my son, who is superior to me and is more clever.

And the King says: Bring him unto me, that I may behold him. And when I had brought him and stood him before the King, he beheld him and said: In his days may Ahikar be blessed, because in his lifetime he hath led and stood before me his son, and may he himself be at rest.

I bowed my head to my lord, and taking Nathan I led him into my dwelling and thus spake in my teaching.

II

Son, if thou hear any word in the royal gate, make it to die and bury it in thy heart, and to no one divulge it. The knot that is sealed do thou not loose, and that which is loosed do thou not tie. And that which thou dost see, tell not; and that which thou hearest, reveal it not.

Son, raise not up thine eyes to look on a lovely woman, rouged and antimonied. Desire her not in thy heart. For if thou shouldst give her all thy riches, thou dost get nothing the more out of her; but art condemned by God and by mankind. For she is like unto a sepulcher which is fair on the upper side and below is full of the rottenness and bones of the dead.

Son, be not like the olive-tree, which is first to bloom and last to ripen its fruit. But be like the mulberry, which is last to bloom and first to ripen its fruit.

Son, it is better with a wise man to carry stones, than with a foolish man to drink wine.

Son, with wise men be not a fool, and with fools be not thou wise.

Son, be thou the companion of a wise man, so that thou become wise as he is; but do not become the companion of a

senseless man and of a fool, lest like them thou be called a fool.

Son, pour out thy wine, and drink it not with the senseless and with the lawless, lest thou be despised by them.

Son, be thou not over-sweet, so that they swallow thee down, nor over-bitter, so that they spit thee out. But do thou be gentle, tranquil in the works of thy paths and in all thy words.

Son, while the boot is on thy foot, tread down the thorns and make a path for thy sons.

Son, a rich man hath eaten a serpent, and they say it is medicine for him. A poor man hath eaten it, and they say that he ate it out of hunger. Eat thy own portion in peace, and cast not thy eye on that of thy companion; and with one that is without fear go not on a journey; and with the senseless do thou not eat bread.

Son, if thou seest thy enemy fallen, do not make a scoff at him; for if he get up again, he requiteth thee evil.

Son, the lawless man falleth by his evil deeds, but the just man is raised by his good deeds.

Son, go not near a senseless and backbiting woman, that thou be not despised by her; and thou art made a mock of, and she robs thee.

Son, spare not the rod to thy son; for the rod is to children as the dung in the garden; and as the tie and seal fastening the packet, and as the tether on the feet of the ass, so is the rod profitable to the child. For if thou strike him with a rod once or twice, he is rendered clever quietly, he does not die. But if thou leave him to his own will, he becomes a thief; and they take him to the gallows and to death, and he becomes unto thee a reproach and breaking of heart.

Son, train thy son in hunger and thirst, in order that in humility he may lead his life.

Son, receive not any who shall repeat to thee the word of an enemy, for they will repeat thy word.

Son, at first thou art fond of a false man, but in the end he becomes hateful to thee. For a false word is like a fat quail; but he that is foolish swallows it down.