The Farmer's Instructions is a third millennium B.C.E. agricultural manual written in Sumerian. While teaching an inexperienced farmer about good farming practices, the text also stands as a moral metaphor for how to lead a proper life.

Old Man Tiller instructed his son:

When you have to prepare a field for irrigation, inspect the levee, canals, and elevations which have to be opened.

When you let the floodwaters into the field, its waters should not rise there too high.
At the time the field emerges from the water, watch the spots with standing water in the field, it should be fenced.
Do not let the cattle herds trample it (anymore). . . .
Your implements should be ready. . . .
All necessary things for the field should be at hand. Carefully inspect your work.
The plow oxen should have backup oxen. . . .
When...