Instruction of Kagemni
Silence and moderation at the table and in speech are the marks of a man fit to rise in the king's service.
- moderation at the table as a model for self-control
- restrained speech as the mark of a wise man
- obedience rewarded with advancement
- among the earliest attested examples of the sebayt genre
A fragmentary wisdom text preceding the Instruction of Ptahhotep in the same Prisse Papyrus, addressed by a vizier to his sons. Its surviving maxims counsel eating modestly, speaking only when spoken to, and controlling appetite as training for controlling ambition generally. The text closes with the sons' obedience rewarded with advancement, making restraint itself the practical path to office. Along with Ptahhotep, it stands at the head of the sebayt instruction genre that runs through Egyptian literature for two millennia.
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