Joseph Smith and Psammetic I on recreation

Herodotus tells the following of Psammetic I, king of Egypt 664-610 B.C.

In the early morning, and until the time of the filling of the market he (Amasis) did with a good will the business which was brought before him; but after this he passed the time in drinking and in jesting at his boon-companions, and was frivolous and playful. And his friends being troubled at it admonished him in some such words as these: "O king, thou doest not rightly govern thyself in thus letting thyself descend to behaviour so trifling; for thou oughtest rather to have been sitting throughout the day stately upon a stately throne and administering thy business; and so the Egyptians would have been assured that they were ruled by a great man, and thou wouldest have had a better report: but as it is, thou art acting by no means in a kingly fashion."

And he answered them thus: "They who have bows stretch them at such time as they wish to use them, and when they have finished using them they loose them again; for if they were stretched tight always they would break, so that the men would not be able to use them when they needed them. So also is the state of man: if he should always be in earnest and not relax himself for sport at the due time, he would either go mad or be struck with stupor before he was aware; and knowing this well, I distribute a portion of the time to each of the two ways of living."

Herodotus, Histories 2.173, Available online at Project Gutenberg

Joseph Smith Jr. used this same analogy when his associates also said he ought to be continually dignified. It is an interesting historical parallel, even more so in light of the following connection.

"Egypt regained its independence in 656 BCE under Psammetic I (656-609 BCE) of Libyan origin, founder of the 26th dynasty. Under him the country experienced another golden age. Towards the end of his reign he aided the crumbling Assyrian empire in a vain attempt to contain the rising Babylonians." http://nefertiti.iwebland.com/history21-31.htm#psammetici

These were the days leading up to Lehi's exodus in 600 B.C. Lehi, "he having been taught in the language of the Egyptians therefore he could read [the brass plates of Laban], and teach them to his children, that thereby they could teach them to their children." (Mosiah 1:4)

I estimate Lehi was about 55 to 60 years old at the time he left Jerusalem. This would put his childhood and early manhood around 650-630 B.C., right in the middle of the golden age of Psammetic I, when Lehi learned the Egyptian of the brass plates of Laban.

---