The Instructions of Ptah-Hotep
Cherish Your Wife
If you would be wise, provide for your house, and love your wife that is in your arms. Fill her stomach, clothe her back ; oil is the remedy of her limbs. Gladden her heart during your lifetime, for she is an estate profitable unto its lord. Be not harsh, for gentleness masters her more than strength. Give to her that for which she sighs and that toward which her eye looks; so shall you keep her in your house. . . .
