Encyclopedia of Society and Culture in the Ancient World

(Sean Pound) #1
those burdens of the corruptible body which weigh
upon the soul. Th us the things necessary for this mortal
life are used by both kinds of men and families alike,
but each has its own peculiar and widely diff erent aim
in using them. Th e earthly city, which does not live by
faith, seeks an earthly peace, and the end it proposes,
in the well-ordered concord of civic obedience and
rule, is the combination of men’s wills to attain the
things which are helpful to this life. Th e heavenly city,
or rather the part of it which sojourns on earth and
lives by faith, makes use of this peace only because it
must, until this mortal condition which necessitates
it shall pass away. Consequently, so long as it lives like
a captive and a stranger in the earthly city, though it
has already received the promise of redemption, and
the gift of the Spirit as the earnest of it, it makes no
scruple to obey the laws of the earthly city, whereby the
things necessary for the maintenance of this mortal
life are administered; and thus, as this life is common
to both cities, so there is a harmony between them
in regard to what belongs to it.... Th is heavenly city,
then, while it sojourns on earth, calls citizens out of

all nations, and gathers together a society of pilgrims
of all languages, not scrupling about diversities in
the manners, laws, and institutions whereby earthly
peace is secured and maintained, but recognizing that,
however various these are, they all tend to one and the
same end of earthly peace. It therefore is so far from
rescinding and abolishing these diversities that it even
preserves and adopts them, so long only as no hindrance
to the worship of the one supreme and true God is thus
introduced. Even the heavenly city, therefore, while
in its state of pilgrimage, avails itself of the peace of
earth, and, so far as it can without injuring faith and
godliness, desires and maintains a common agreement
among men regarding the acquisition of the necessaries
of life, and makes this earthly peace bear upon the
peace of heaven.... In its pilgrim state the heavenly
city possesses this peace by faith; and by this faith it
lives righteously when it refers to the attainment of that
peace every good action towards God and man; for the
life of the city is a social life.

From: Th e Internet History Sourcebooks.
Available online. URL: http://www.
fordham.edu/halsall/.

(cont inues)

Th ere was a man, Hunanup by name, a peasant of
Sechet-hemat, and he had a wife.... Th en said this
peasant to his wife: “Behold, I am going down to Egypt
to bring back bread for my children. Go in and measure
the grain that we still have in our storehouse.”... Th en
this peasant went down to Egypt after he had loaded his
asses with all the good produce of Sechet-hemat.
Th is peasant set out and journeyed southward to Ehnas.
He came to a point opposite Per-fefi , north of Medenit,
and found there a man standing on the bank, Dehuti-
necht by name,...
Th en said this Dehuti-necht, when he saw the asses of
this peasant which appealed to his covetousness: “Oh
that some good god would help me to rob this peasant of
his goods!”
Th e house of Dehuti-necht stood close to the side of the
path, which was narrow, not wide. ... Upon one side of
it was the water and upon the other side was growing
grain. Th en said Dehitu-necht to his servant: “Hasten

and bring me a shawl from the house!”... Th en he spread
this shawl upon the middle of the road, and it extended
one edge to the water and the other to the grain.
Th e peasant came along the path which was the common
highway. Th en said Dehuti-necht: “Look out, peasant,
do not trample on my clothes!” Th e peasant answered:
“I will do as you wish; I will go in the right way!” As he
was turning to the upper side, Dehuti-necht said: “Does
my grain serve you as a road?” Th en said the peasant:
“I am going in the right way. Th e bank is steep and the
path lies near the grain and you have stopped up the
road ahead with your clothes. Will you, then, not let
me go by?” Upon that one of the asses took a mouthful
of grain. Th en said Dehuti-necht: “See, I will take away
your ass because it has eaten my grain.”
Th en the peasant said: “... As one side was made
impassable I have led my ass along the other, and will
you seize it because it has taken a mouthful of grain?
But I know the lord of this property; it belongs to the

 “Th e Tale of Th e Eloquent Peasant,” ca. 1800 b.c.e. 


Egypt

668 literature: primary source documents

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