" Nor did courtesans, though occasionally they
attained
to a certain degree of celebrity among the Egyp tians, ever exercise that influence which they did in Greece over art, literature, and even politics.
Universal Anthology - v01
Dancing was professed both by men and women ; but women were preferred ; and in the entertainments of the rich the guests were generally amused by the graceful move ments of trained females, who went through the steps and figures, which they had been taught, for a certain sum of money.
If we may trust the paintings, many of these professionals were absolutely without clothes, or wore only a narrow girdle, em broidered with beads, about their hips.
At the best, their dresses were of so light and thin a texture as to be perfectly transparent, and to reveal rather than veil the form about which they floated.
It is scarcely probable that the class which was content thus to outrage decency could have borne a better character, or enjoyed a higher social status, than the almehs of modern Egypt or the nautch girls of India.
Of learned professions in Egypt, the most important was that of the scribe. Though writing was an ordinary accomplish ment of the educated classes, and scribes were not therefore so absolutely necessary as they are in most Eastern countries, yet still there were a large number of occupations for which professional penmanship was a prerequisite, and others which demanded the learning that a scribe naturally acquired in the exercise of his trade. The Egyptian religion necessitated the multiplication of copies of the "Ritual of the Dead," and the employment of numerous clerks in the registration of the sacred treasures, and the management of the sacred estates. The civil administration depended largely upon a system of registration and of official reports, which were perpetually being made to the court by the superintendents in all departments of the public service. Most private persons of large means kept bailiffs or secretaries, who made up their accounts, paid their laborers, and otherwise acted as managers of their property. There was thus a large number of lucrative posts which could only be properly filled by persons such as the scribes were, ready with the pen, familiar with the different kinds of writing, good at figures, and at the same time not of so high a class as to be discontented with a life of dull routine, if not of drudg ery. The occupation of scribe was regarded as one befitting men from the middle ranks of society, who might otherwise have been blacksmiths, carpenters, small farmers, or the like.
LIFE IN ANCIENT EGYPT.
87
It would seem that there were schools in the larger towns open to all who desired education. In these reading, writing, and arithmetic were taught, together with " letters " in a more extended sense ; and industry at such places of instruction was certain to be rewarded by opening to the more advanced stu dents a variety of situations and employments. Some of these may have been of a humble character, and not over well paid ; but among them were many which to an Egyptian of the middle class seemed very desirable. The posts under govern ment occupied by scribes included some of great importance, as those of ambassador, superintendent of storehouses, registrar of the docks, clerk of the closet, keeper of the royal library, "scribe of the double house of life. " It is indicative of the high rank and position of government scribes, that in the court conspiracy which threatened the life of the third Rameses as many as six of them were implicated, while two served upon the tribunal before which the criminals were arraigned. If a person failed to obtain government appointments, they might still hope to have their services engaged by the rich corporations which had the management of the temples, or by private indi viduals of good means. Hence the scribe readily persuaded himself that his occupation was above all others — the only one which had nothing superior to it, but was the first and best of all human employments.
The great number of persons who practiced medicine in Egypt is mentioned by Herodotus, who further notices the remarkable fact that, besides general practitioners, there were many who devoted themselves to special branches of medical science, some being oculists, some dentists, some skilled in treating diseases of the brain, some those of the intestines, and so on. Accoucheurs also we know to have formed a separate class, and to have been chiefly, if not exclu sively women. The consideration in which physicians were held is indicated by the tradition which ascribed the com position of the earliest medical works to one of the kings, as well as by the reputation for advanced knowledge which the Egyptian practitioners early obtained in foreign countries. According to a modern authority, they constituted a special subdivision of the sacerdotal order ; but this statement is open to question, though no doubt some of the priests were required to study medicine.
A third learned profession was that of the architect, which
88
LIFE IN ANCIENT EGYPT.
in some respects took precedence over any other. The chief court architect was a functionary of the highest importance, ranking among the very most exalted officials. Considering the character of the duties intrusted to him, this was only natural, since the kings generally set more store upon their buildings than upon any other matter. " At the time when the construction of the Pyramids and other tombs," says Brugsch, "demanded artists of the first order, we find the place of architect intrusted to the highest dignitaries of the court of the Pharaohs. The royal architects, the Murket, as they were called, recruited their ranks not unfrequently from the class of princes; and the inscriptions engraved upon the walls of their tombs inform us that, almost without exception, they married either the daughters or the granddaughters of the reigning sovereigns, who did not refuse the Murket this honor. "
Though a position of such eminence as this could belong only to one man at a time, it is evident that the luster attach ing to the head of their profession would be more or less re flected upon its members. Schools of architects had to be formed in order to secure a succession of competent persons, and the chief architect of the king was only the most success ful out of many aspirants, who were educationally and socially upon a par. Actual builders, of course, constituted a lower class, and are compassionated in the poem above quoted, as ex posed by their trade both to disease and accident. But archi tects ran no such risks ; and the profession must be regarded as having enjoyed in Egypt a rank and a consideration rarely accorded to it elsewhere. According to Diodorus, the Egyptians themselves said that their architects were more worthy of ad miration than their kings. Such a speech could hardly have been made while the independent monarchy lasted and kings were viewed as actual gods ; but it was a natural reflection on the part of those who, living under foreign domination, looked back to the time when Egypt had made herself a name among the nations by her conquests, and still more by her great works.
At the opposite extremity of the social scale were a number of contemned and ill-paid employments, which required the services of considerable numbers, whose lives must have been sufficiently hard ones. Dyers, washermen, barbers, gardeners, sandal-makers, blacksmiths, carpenters, couriers, boatmen, fowlers, fishermen, are commiserated by the scribe, Tuauf- sakhrat, as well as farmers, laborers, stonecutters, builders,
LIFE IN ANCIENT EGYPT. 89
armorers, and weavers ; and though he does not often point out any sufferings peculiar to those of his own countrymen
who were engaged in these occupations, we may accept his evidence as showing that, in Egypt, while they involved hard work, they obtained but small remuneration. The very exist ence, however, of so many employments is an indication that labor was in request ; and we cannot doubt that industrious persons could support themselves and their families without much difficulty, even by these inferior trades. The Egyptians, even of the lowest class, were certainly not crushed down by penury or want; they maintained a light heart under the hardships, whatever they may have been, of their lot, and con trived to amuse themselves and to find a good deal of pleasure in existence. "
If the boatman, for instance, led a laborious life,
beyond the power of his hands to do," he had yet spirit enough to enter into rivalry with his brother boatman, and to engage in rude contests which must have often caused him a broken head or a ducking. If the fowler and the fisherman had some times hard work to make a living, yet they had the excitement which attaches to every kind of sport, and from time to time were rewarded for their patient toil by "takes" of extraor dinary magnitude. The dragnets and clapnets which they used to entrap their prey are frequently represented as crowded with fish or birds, as many as twenty-five of the latter being inclosed on some occasions. The fish were often of large size, so that a man could only just carry one ; and though these monsters were perhaps not in very great request, they would have sufficed to furnish three or four meals to a large family. Fish were constantly dried and salted, so that the super abundance of one season supplied the deficiency of another ; and even birds appear to have been subjected to a similar process, and preserved in jars, when there was no immediate sale for them.
An occupation held in especial disrepute was that of the swineherd. According to Herodotus, persons of this class were absolutely prohibited from entering an Egyptian temple, and under no circumstances would a man of any other class either give his daughter in marriage to a swineherd, or take a wife from among them. This prejudice was connected with the notion of the pig being an unclean animal, which was common to the Egyptians with the Jews, the Mohammedans, and the
doing
90 LIFE JN ANCIENT EGYPT.
Indians. If it existed to the extent asserted, the swineherds, the Pariahs of Egypt, must have approached nearly to the character of a caste, as intermarrying wholly among themselves, and despised by every other section of the population.
But if Egyptian civilization had thus its victims, it had also its favorites. There stood in Egypt, outside the entire num ber of those who either belonged to a profession or exercised a trade or calling, that upper class of which we have more than once spoken, owners of a large portion of the soil, and so pos sessed of hereditary wealth, not very anxious for official employ ment, though filling commonly most of the highest posts in the administration, connected in many instances more or less closely with the royal family, and bearing the rank of suten-rech or " princes " — a class small, compared with most others, but still tolerably numerous — one which seemed born to enjoy existence and "consume the fruits" of other men's toil and industry. Such persons, as has been said, "led a charmed life. " Pos sessed of a villa in the country, and also commonly of a town house in the capital, the Egyptian lord divided his time between the two, now attracted by the splendors of the court, now by the simple charms of rural freedom and retirement. In either case he dwelt in a large house, amply and elegantly furnished — the floor strewn with bright-colored carpets — the rooms
generally provided with abundant sofas and chairs, couches, tables, faldstools, ottomans, stands for flowers, footstools, vases, etc. — household numerous and well trained, presided over by a major-domo or steward, who relieved the great man of the trouble of domestic management. Attached to his household in some way, if not actual members of it, were "adepts in the various trades conducive to his ease and comfort " — the glass blower, the worker in gold, the potter, the tailor, the baker, the sandal-maker.
With a prudent self-restraint not often seen among orien tals, he limited himself to a single wife, whom he made the partner of his cares and joys, and treated with respect and affection. No eunuchs troubled the repose of his establishment with their plots and quarrels. His household was composed in about equal proportions of male and female servants ; his wife had her waiting maid or tire-woman, his children their nurse or nurses ; he himself had his valet, who was also his barber. The kitchen department was intrusted to three or four cooks and scullions, who were invariably men, no women (it would
LIFE IN ANCIENT EGYPT. 91
seem) being thought competent for such important duties. One, two, or more grooms had the charge of his stable, which in the early times sheltered no nobler animal than the ass, but under the New Empire was provided with a number of horses. A chariot, in which he might take an airing, pay visits, or drive a friend, was also indispensable in and after the time of the eighteenth dynasty ; and the greater lords had, no doubt, several of such vehicles, with coach houses for their accommo dation. Litters were perhaps used only for the aged and infirm, who were conveyed in them on the shoulders of attendants.
Egyptian men of all ranks shaved their heads and their entire faces, except sometimes a portion of the chin, from which a short square beard was allowed to depend. The barber was in attendance on the great lord every morning, to remove any hair that had grown, and trim his beard, if he wore one. The lord's wig was also under his superintendence. This consisted of numerous small curls, together sometimes with locks and plaits, fastened carefully to a reticulated groundwork, which allowed the heat of the head free escape. The dress, even of the highest class, was simple. It consisted, primarily, of the shenti or kilt, a short garment folded or fluted, which was worn round the loins, and fastened in front with a girdle. The material might be linen or woolen, according to the state of the weather, or the wearer's inclination, Over this the great lord invariably wore an ample robe of fine linen, reaching from the shoulders to the ankles, and provided with full sleeves, which descended nearly, if not quite, to the elbows. A second girdle, which may have been of leather, confined the outer dress about the waist. The arms and lower parts of the legs were left bare ; and in the earliest times the feet were also bare, sandals being unknown ; but they came into fashion at the beginning of the fifth dynasty, and thenceforward were ordinarily worn by the rich, whether men or women. They were either of leather lined with cloth, or of a sort of basket work composed of palm leaves or the stalks of the papyrus. The shape varied at dif ferent periods. Having dressed himself with the assistance of his valet, the Egyptian lord put on his ornaments, which con sisted commonly of a collar of beads or a chain of gold round the neck, armlets and bracelets of gold, inlaid with lapis lazuli and turquoise, round the arms, anklets of the same character round the ankles, and rings upon the fingers of both hands.
92 LIFE IN ANCIENT EGYPT.
Thus attired, the lord took his bdton or stick, and, quitting his dressing room, made his appearance in the salon or eating apartment.
Meanwhile his spouse had performed her own toilet, which was naturally somewhat more elaborate than her husband's. Egyptian ladies wore their own hair, which grew in great abundance, and must have occupied the tire-woman for a con siderable period. A double-toothed comb was used for combing it, and it may also have been brushed, though hairbrushes have not been discovered. Ultimately, it was separated into numer ous distinct tresses, and plaited by threes into thirty or forty fine plaits, which were then gathered into three masses, one behind the head and the others at either side of the face, or else were allowed to fall in a single continuous ring round the head and shoulders. After it had been thus arranged, the hair was confined by a fillet, or by a headdress made to imitate the wings, back, and tail, and even sometimes the head, of a vul ture. On their bodies some females wore only a single gar ment, which was a petticoat, either tied at the neck or supported by straps over the shoulders, and reaching from the neck or breast to the ankles ; but those of the upper class had, first, over this, a colored sash passed twice round the waist and tied in front, and, secondly, a large loose robe, made of the finest linen, with full open sleeves reaching to the elbow. They wore sandals from the same date as the men, and had similar orna ments, with the addition of earrings. These often manifested an elegant taste, being in the form of serpents or terminating in the heads of animals or of goddesses. The application of kohl or stibium to the eyes seems to have formed an ordinary part of the toilet.
It is, unfortunately, impossible to follow throughout the day the husband and wife, with whose portraits we are attempting to present our readers. We do not know the hours kept by the upper classes in Egypt, nor the arrangements which pre vailed respecting their meals, nor the mode in which a lady of rank employed herself from the time when her morning toilet was completed until the hour of dinner. We may conjecture that she looked after her servants, superintended the teaching of her children, amused herself in her garden, or visited and received visits from her acquaintance ; but the evidence on these various points is scanty, and scarcely sufficient to justify general conclusions. It is somewhat different with respect to
LIFE IN ANCIENT EGYPT.
93
the men. The sculptures show us that much of the Egyptian gentleman's day was spent in sports of various kinds ; that he indulged in fishing and fowling, as well as in the chase of various wild beasts, some of which were sought as delicacies for the table, while others seem to have been attacked merely to gratify that destructive instinct which urges men to take delight in field sports.
Ponds commonly existed within the pleasure grounds at tached to an Egyptian country house, and were often of con siderable dimensions. Formal in shape, to suit the general character of the grounds, they were well stocked with a variety of fish, and often furnished the Egyptian noble with a morn ing's amusement. The sport was of a kind which in these days would not be considered exciting. Reclined upon a mat, or seated on a chair, under the shade of a tree, and with a short rod in his hand, apparently of one joint only, the lord threw his double or single line into the preserved pool, and let his bait sink to the bottom. When he felt the bite of a fish, he jerked his line out of the water, and by this movement, if the fish was securely hooked, he probably landed it ; if not, he only lost his labor. Hooks were large and strong, lines coarse, fish evidently not shy ; there was no fear of the tackle breaking ; and if a few fish were scared by the clumsy method, there were plenty of others to take their place in a few minutes.
A less unskillful mode of pursuing the sport was by means of the fish spear. Embarking upon his pond, or the stream that fed it, in a boat of bulrushes, armed with the proper weapon, and accompanied by a young son, and by his wife or a sister, the lord would direct his gaze into the water, and when he saw a fish passing, strike at him with the barbed implement. If the fish were near at hand, he would not let go of the weapon, but if otherwise, he would throw it, retaining in his grasp a string attached to its upper extremity. This enabled him to recover the spear, even if it sank, or was carried down by the fish ; and, when his aim had been true, it enabled him to get possession of his prize. Some spears had double heads, both of them barbed ; and good fortune, or superior skill, occasionally secured two fish at once.
The fowling practiced by the Egyptian gentleman was very peculiar. He despised nets, made no use of hawks or falcons, and did not even, except on rare occasions, have recourse to the bow. He placed his whole dependence on a missile, which
94 LIFE IN ANCIENT EGYPT.
has been called a " throw stick " — a thin, curved piece of heavy wood, from a foot and a quarter to two feet in length, and about an inch and a half broad. Gliding silently in a light boat along some piece of water, with a decoy bird stationed at the head of his vessel, trained, perhaps, to utter its note, he approached the favorite haunt of the wild fowl, which was generally a thicket of tall reeds and lotuses. Having come as close to the game as possible, with his throw stick in one hand and a second decoy bird, or even several, in the other, he watched for the moment when the wild fowl rose in a cloud above the tops of the water-plants, and then flung his weapon in among them. Supplied by a relative or an attendant with another, and again another, he made throw after throw, not ceasing till the last bird was out of reach, or his stock of throw sticks exhausted. We sometimes see as many as four sticks in the air, and another upon the point of being delivered. Skilled sportsmen seem to have aimed especially at the birds' necks, since, if the neck was struck, the bird was pretty sure to fall. This sport seems to have been an especial favorite with Egyp tians of the upper class.
The chase of wild beasts involved more exertion than either fishing or fowling, and required the sportsman to go further afield. The only tolerable hunting grounds lay in the desert regions on either side of the Nile valley ; and the wealthy Egyptians, who made up their minds to indulge in this pas time, had to penetrate into these dreary tracts, and probably to quit their homes for a time, and camp out in the desert. The chief objects of pursuit upon these occasions were the gazelle, the ibex, the oryx, and perhaps some other kinds of antelopes. The sportsman set out in his chariot, well provided with arrows and javelins, accompanied by a number of dogs, and attended by a crowd of menials, huntsmen, beaters, men to set the nets, provision and water carriers, and the like. A large space was commonly inclosed by the beaters, and all the game within it driven in a certain direction by them and the hounds, while the sportsman and his friends, stationed at suita ble points, shot their arrows at such beasts as came within the range of the weapon, or sought to capture them by means of a long thong or cord ending in a running noose. Nets were also set at certain narrow points in the wadys or dry water courses, down which the herd, when pressed, was almost sure to pass ; and men were placed to watch them, and slaughter each animal
LIFE IN ANCIENT EGYPT.
95
as soon as he was entangled, before he could break his way through the obstacle and make his escape. When the district in which the hunt took place was well supplied with beasts, and the space inclosed by the beaters was large, a curiously mixed scene presented itself towards the close of the day. All the wild animals of the region, roused from their several lairs, were brought together within a narrow space, — hyenas, jack als, foxes, porcupines, even ostriches, held on their way, side by side with gazelles, hares, ibexes, and antelopes of various de scriptions, — the hounds also being intermixed among them, and the hunter in his car driving at speed through the thickest of the milSe, discharging his arrows right and left, and bring ing down the choicest game. Attendants continually supplied fresh arrows ; and the work of slaughter probably went on till night put an end to it, or till the whole of the game was killed or had made its escape.
Occasionally, instead of antelopes, wild cattle were the object of pursuit. In this case, too, dogs were used, though scarcely with much effect. The cattle were, most likely, either stalked or laid in wait for, and, when sufficiently near, were either lassoed, or else shot with arrows, the place aimed at being the junction between the neck and the head. When the lasso was employed, it was commonly thrown over one of the horns.
According to one representation, the lion was made use of in the chase of some animals, being trained to the work, as the cheeta, or hunting leopard, is in Persia and India. That the Egyptians tamed lions appears from several of the sculptures, and is also attested by at least one ancient writer ; but the em ployment of them in the chase rests upon a single painting in one of the tombs at Beni Hissar.
Lions themselves, when in the wild state, were sometimes hunted by the monarchs ; but it is doubtful whether any Egyp tian subject, however exalted his rank, ever engaged in the exciting occupation. The lion was scarcely to be found within the limits of Egypt during any period of the monarchy, and though occasionally to be seen in the deserts upon the Egyp tian borders, yet could scarcely be reckoned on as likely to cross his path by a private sportsman. The kings who were ambitious of the honor of having contended with the king of beasts, could make hunting expeditions beyond their borders, and have a whole province ransacked for the game of which they were in search. Even they, however, seem very rarely to
96 LIFE IN ANCIENT EGYPT.
have aspired so high ; and there is but one representation of a lion hunt in the Egyptian sculptures.
A similarly exceptional character attached to the chase of the elephant by the Egyptians. One monarch on one occasion only, when engaged in an expedition which took him deep into Asia, "hunted a hundred and twenty elephants on account of their tusks. " Here a subject had the good fortune to save his royal master from an attack made upon him by the leading, or " rogue," elephant of the herd, and to capture the brute after inflicting a wound upon its trunk.
The pursuit of the hippopotamus and the crocodile was, on the contrary, a favorite and established practice with Egyptian sportsmen. The hippopotamus was hunted as injurious to the crops, on which it both fed and trampled by night, while at the same time it was valued for its hide, which was regarded as the best possible material for shields, helmets, and javelins. It appears to have been thought better to attack it in the water than upon the land, perhaps because its struggles to escape would then be, comparatively speaking, harmless. Spears, with strings attached to them, were thrown at it ; and when these had taken effect, it was drawn to the surface, and its head en tangled in a strong noose, by which it could be dragged ashore ; or, if this attempt failed, it was allowed to exhaust itself by repeated rushes and plunges in the stream, the hunters " play ing " it the while by reels attached to the strings that held their spears, and waiting till it was spent by fatigue and loss of blood, when they wound up their reels, and brought their booty to land.
There were two modes of chasing the crocodile. Sometimes it was speared, like the hippopotamus, and was then probably killed in much the same way ; but another method was also adopted, which is thus described by Herodotus : " They bait a hook with a chine of pork, and let the meat be carried out into the middle of the stream, while the hunter on the bank holds a live pig, which he belabors. The crocodile, hearing its cries, makes for the sound, and encounters the pork, which he in stantly swallows down. The men on the shore haul, and when they have got him to land, the first thing the hunter does is to plaster his eyes with mud. This once accomplished, the animal is dispatched with ease ; otherwise he gives much trouble. " Very similar modes to both of these are still in use on the Nile.
It is, of course, not to be supposed that the Egyptian of high
LIFE IN ANCIENT EGYPT. 97
rank was so enamored of the chase as to devote to it all the time that he spent in the country. There would be days on which he inspected his farm, his cattle stalls, his live stock, his granaries, his wine presses, his olive presses, moving from place to place, probably, on his favorite ass, and putting questions to his laborers. There would be others on which he received his steward, went through his accounts, and gave such directions as he thought necessary ; others again on which his religious duties occupied him, or on which he received the general homage of his subordinates. His life would be in many ways varied. As a local magnate, he might be called upon from time to time to take part in the public business of his nome. He might have civil employment thrust upon him, since no one could refuse an office or a commission assigned him by the king. He might even find himself called upon to conduct a military expedition. But, apart from these extraordinary distractions, he would have occupations enough and to spare. Amid alternations of busi ness and pleasure, of domestic repose and violent exercise, of town and country life, of state and simplicity, he would scarcely find his time hang heavy on his hands, or become a victim to ennui. An extensive literature was open to him, if he cared to read ; a solemn and mysterious religion, full of awe-inspiring thoughts, and stretching on to things beyond the grave, claimed his attention ; he had abundant duties, abundant enjoyments. Though not so happy as to be politically free, there was small danger of his suffering oppression. He might look forward to a tranquil and respected old age ; and even in the grave he would enjoy the attentions and religious veneration of those whom he left behind him.
Among the duties continually devolving on him, the most important were those of charity and of hospitality. It was absolutely incumbent upon him, if he would pass the dread ordeal in the nether world, that during this life he should be careful "to give bread to the hungry, drink to the thirsty, clothes to the naked, oil to the wounded, and burial to the dead. " It was also incumbent on him, in the general opinion of those with whom he lived, that he should show towards men of his own class a free and open-handed hospitality. For this purpose it was necessary that, both in the town and in the country, he should provide his friends with frequent grand entertainments. With a description of one of these we may terminate our account.
98 LIFE IN ANCIENT EGYPT.
The preparations for an entertainment had to commence some days previously. Game had to be procured, professionals engaged, extra attendants hired, a stock of fresh flowers and perhaps of unguents laid in. Great activity prevailed in the kitchen ; confectionery was prepared, spices pounded, maca roni made, cooking utensils scoured, the larder stored with provisions. The reception rooms were then arranged for guests, chairs being placed in rows or groups, extra carpets and mats strewn about, flowers put into the vases, and the house generally decorated. When the guests began to arrive, they were first of all received in the vestibule by attendants, who presented them with bouquets, placed garlands of lotus upon their heads, and sometimes collars of lotus round their necks, anointed their hair with unguents, and offered them wine or other beverages. At this time the visitors commonly sat on the floor, probably for the convenience of those who had to anoint and adorn them. Having received these attentions, the guests, ladies and gentlemen intermixed, passed on to the main apartment, where they were greeted by their host and hostess, and begged to take their seats on the chairs and fauteuils which had been arranged for them. Here more refreshments were handed round, more flowers offered, while the guests, generally in pairs, but sometimes in groups, conversed one with another. Music was now commonly introduced, sometimes accompanied by dancing, the performers in both arts being professionals, and the dancing girls being nearly, if not quite, naked. Sometimes, at the same party, there would be two bands, who, we may sup pose, played alternately. Pet animals, dogs, gazelles, or mon keys, might be present, and the young children of the house in some instances gave animation to the scene, and enlivened the entertainment with their prattle. As it was not customary for children under ten or twelve years of age to wear any clothes, the nudity of the dancing girls might seem less strange and less indelicate.
It is possible that on some occasions the music, dancing, and light refreshments constituted the whole of the entertainment, and that the guests after a while took their departure without any formal meal being served ; but more often the proceedings above described were the mere prelude to the real piece, and the more important part followed. Round tables, loaded with a great variety of delicacies, as joints of meat, geese, ducks, and waterfowl of different kinds, cakes, pastry, fruit, and the like,
Ruins of the Temple of Phil*
LIFE IN ANCIENT EGYPT. 99
are seen interspersed among the guests, to whom no doubt the dishes were handed in succession, and who must have helped themselves, as Orientals commonly do, with their hands. Knives and forks, spoons for eating with, even plates, were an unknown luxury ; the guest took what his hands could manage, and after eating either dipped them in water, or wiped them with a napkin brought him by an attendant. The dishes offered him would include probably two or three kinds of fish ; meat, generally beef, boiled, roasted, and dressed in various ways ; venison and other game ; geese, ducks, or waterfowl ; vegetables in profusion, as especially lentils, endives, and cu cumbers ; pastry, cakes, and fruits of twenty kinds, particularly grapes and figs. To quench his thirst, he would be supplied with frequent draughts of wine or beer, the wine probably diluted with water.
Herodotus tells us that it was customary, when the feast was over, for an attendant to bring in a wooden mummied form, from a foot and a half to three feet long, painted to resemble a corpse, and to show it to each guest in turn, with the words : " Gaze here, and drink and be merry ; for when you die, such will you be. " If the expressions used are rightly reported, we must suppose the figure brought in when the eating was ended and the drinking began, with the object of stimulating the guests to greater conviviality ; but if this were so, the custom had probably lost its original significance when Herodotus visited Egypt, since it must (one would think) have been in tended at the first to encourage seriousness, and check undue indulgence, by sobering thoughts concerning death and judg ment to come. The Egyptians were too much inclined to the pleasures of the table, and certainly required no stimulus to drinking. Both gentlemen and ladies not unfrequently in dulged to excess. The custom mentioned by Herodotus, and alluded to also by Plutarch, can only have proceeded from the priests, who doubtless wished, as guardians of the public moral ity, to check the intemperance which they were unable to pre vent altogether.
After the banquet was entirely ended, music and singing were generally resumed, and sometimes tumblers or jugglers, both male and female, were introduced, and feats of agility were gone through with much dexterity and grace. The women played with three balls at a time, keeping two con stantly in the air ; or made somersaults backwards ; or sprang
100 LIFE IN ANCIENT EGYPT.
off the ground to the height of several feet. The men wres tled, or pirouetted, or stood on their heads, or walked up each other's backs, or performed other tricks, and feats of strength. Occasionally, games seem to have been played. As the kings themselves in their leisure hours did not disdain to play draughts with their favorites, so it may be presumed that the Egyptian lord and his guest would sometimes relieve the tedium of a long evening by the same or some similar amuse ment. Chess does not appear to have been known ; but a game resembling draughts, one like the modern morra, and several which cannot be identified, certainly were ; and, though there is more evidence of their being in favor with the lower than with the higher orders, yet it can scarcely be supposed that the royal example was not imitated by many among the nobles.
In conclusion it may be observed that Egyptian society under the Pharaohs, if in many respects it was not so advanced in cultivation and refinement as that of Athens in the time of Pericles, was in some points both more moral and more civil ized. Neither the sculptures nor the literary remains give any indication of the existence in Egypt of that degrading vice which in Greece tainted all male society from the highest grade to the lowest, and constituted "a great national disease," or "moral pestilence.
" Nor did courtesans, though occasionally they attained to a certain degree of celebrity among the Egyp tians, ever exercise that influence which they did in Greece over art, literature, and even politics. The relations of the
sexes were decidedly on a better footing in Egypt than at Athens, or most other Greek towns. Not only was polygamy unknown to the inhabitants of the Nile valley, and even licensed concubinage confined to the kings, but woman took her proper rank as the friend and companion of man, was never secluded in a harem, but constantly made her appearance alike in private company and in the ceremonies of religion, possessed equal rights with man in the eye of the law, was attached to temples in a quasi-sacerdotal character, and might even ascend the throne and administer the government of the country. Women were free to attend the markets and shops ; to visit and receive company both male and female ; to join in the most sacred religious services ; to follow the dead to the grave ; and
to perform their part in the sepulchral sacrifices.
In arrangements with respect to education they seem also
to have attained a point not often reached by the nations of
LIFE IN ANCIENT EGYPT. 101
antiquity. If the schools wherein scribes obtained their in struction were really open to all, and the career of scribe might be pursued by any one, whatever his birth, then it must be said that Egypt, notwithstanding the general rigidity of her insti tutions, provided an open career for talent, such as scarcely existed elsewhere in the old world, and such as few modern communities can be said even yet to furnish. It was always possible under despotic governments that the capricious favor of the sovereign should raise to a high, or even to the highest, position the lowest person in the kingdom. But in Egypt, alone of all ancient States, does a system seem to have been established, whereby persons of all ranks, even the lowest, were invited to compete for the royal favor, and, by distinguishing
themselves in the public schools, to establish a claim for em ployment in the public service. That employment once ob tained, their future depended on themselves. Merit secured promotion ; and it would seem that the efficient scribe had only to show himself superior to his fellows, in order to rise to the highest position but one in the empire.
THE EGYPTIAN HUSBANDMAN. By CHARLES KOLLIN.
[Charles Roixin: A French historian; born January, 1661. He was Pro fessor of Rhetoric at the College du Plessis and later at the College du France. He revived the study of Greek and made reforms in the system of education. He published in 1727 a work on the Study of Belles-Lettres ; in 1738 a History of Rome; and from 1730 to 1738 his still famous and readable "Ancient His tory. " He died in 1741. He is an excellent gossip and story-teller, of un bounded credulity ; and it is diverting to find his sole bit of skepticism excited, in the following passage, by a real and commonplace fact. ]
Husbandmen, shepherds, and artificers formed the three classes of lower life in Egypt, but were nevertheless had in very great esteem, particularly husbandmen and shepherds. The body politic requires a superiority and subordination of its several members; for as in the natural body the eye may be said to hold the first rank, yet its luster does not dart con tempt upon the feet, the hands, or even on those parts which are less honorable ; in like manner, among the Egyptians, the priests, soldiers, and scholars were distinguished by particular honors ; but all professions, to the meanest, had their share in
102 THE EGYPTIAN HUSBANDMAN.
the public esteem, because the despising of any man, whose labors, however mean, were useful to the state, was thought a crime.
A better reason than the foregoing might have inspired them at the first with these sentiments of equity and modera tion, which they so long preserved. As they all descended from Ham, their common father, the memory of their still recent origin, occurring to the minds of all in those first ages, established among them a kind of equality, and stamped, in their opinion, a nobility on every person derived from the com mon stock. Indeed, the difference of conditions, and the con tempt with which persons of the lowest rank are treated, are owing merely to the distance from the common root, which makes us forget, that the meanest plebeian, when his descent is traced back to the source, is equally noble with the most elevated rank and title.
Be that as it will, no profession in Egypt was considered as groveling or sordid. By this means arts were raised to their highest perfection. The honor which cherished them mixed with every thought and care for their improvement. Every man had his way of life assigned him by the laws, and it was perpetuated from father to son. Two professions at one time, or a change of that which a man was born to, were never allowed. By this means, men became more able and expert in employments which they had always exercised from their infancy; and every man, adding his own experience to that of his ancestors, was more capable of attaining perfection in his particular art. Besides, this wholesome institution, which had been established anciently throughout Egypt, extinguished all irregular ambition, and taught every man to sit down contented with his condition, without aspiring to one more elevated, from interest, vainglory, or levity.
From this source flowed numberless inventions for the improvement of all the arts, and for rendering life more commo dious, and trade more easy. I could not believe that Diodorus was in earnest in what he relates concerning the Egyptian industry, viz. : that this people had found out a way, by an artificial fecundity, to hatch eggs without the sitting of the hen; but all modern travelers declare it to be a fact, which certainly is worthy our curiosity and is said to be practiced in some places of Europe. Their relations inform us, that the Egyptians stow eggs in ovens, which are heated to such a
THE EGYPTIAN HUSBANDMAN. 108
temperature, and with such just proportion to the natural warmth of the hen, that the chickens produced from these means are as strong as those which are hatched the natural way. The season of the year proper for this operation is from the end of December to the end of April, the heat in Egypt being too violent in the other months. During these four months, upwards of three hundred thousand eggs are laid in these ovens, which, though they are not all successful, never theless produce vast numbers of fowls at an easy rate. The art lies in giving the ovens a due degree of heat, which must not exceed a fixed proportion. About ten days are bestowed in heating these ovens, and very near as much time in hatching the eggs. It is very entertaining, say these travelers, to observe the hatching of these chickens, some of which show at first nothing but their heads, others but half their bodies, and others again come quite out of the egg ; these last, the moment they are hatched, make their way over the unhatched eggs, and form a diverting spectacle. Corneille le Bruyn, in his Travels, has collected the observations of other travelers on this sub ject. Pliny likewise mentions it ; but it appears from him, that the Egyptians, anciently, employed warm dung, not ovens, to hatch eggs.
I have said, that husbandmen particularly, and those who took care of flocks, were in great esteem in Egypt, some parts of it excepted, where the latter were not suffered. It was, indeed, to these two professions that Egypt owed its riches and plenty. It is astonishing to reflect what advantages the Egyptians, by their art and labor, drew from a country of no great extent, but whose soil was made wonderfully fruitful by the inundations of the Nile, and the laborious industry of the inhabitants. It will be always so with every kingdom whose governors direct all their actions to the public welfare. The culture of lands, and the breeding of cattle, will be an inex haustible fund of wealth in all countries where these profitable callings are supported and encouraged by maxims of state policy. [This was a topical allusion to the doctrines of the " Physio crats," the French economic reformers of the mid-18th century, who held that as all wealth is derived from agricultural sur plus, agriculture should bear all the taxes and receive compen sating state favors. The government eagerly adopted the first proposition, forgot the second, and gave the Revolution another impetus. ]
104 PRECEPTS OF PTAH-HOTEP.
THE PRECEPTS OF PTAH-HOTEP. — THE OLDEST BOOK YET DISCOVERED.
About 2500 B. C.
Be not arrogant because of that which thou knowest ; deal with the ignorant as with the learned ; for the barriers of art are not closed, no artist being in possession of the perfection to which he should aspire.
If thou findest a disputant while he is hot, and if he is supe rior to thee in ability, lower the hands, bend the back, do not get into a passion with him. As he will not let thee destroy his words, it is utterly wrong to interrupt him ; that proclaims that thou art incapable of keeping thyself calm, when thou art contradicted.
If then thou hast to do with a disputant while he is hot, imitate one who does not stir. Thou hast the advantage over him if thou keepest silence when he is uttering evil words. " The better of the two is he who is impassive," say the by standers, and thou art right in the opinion of the great.
If thou findest a disputant while he is hot, do not despise him because thou art not of the same opinion. Be not angry against him when he is wrong ; away with such a thing. He fights against himself; require him not further to flatter thy feelings. Do not amuse thyself with the spectacle which thou hast before thee ; it is odious, mean, [the part] of a despicable soul.
If thou hast, as leader, to decide on the conduct of a great number of men, seek the most perfect manner of doing so, that thy own conduct may be without reproach. Justice is great, invariable, and assured ; it has not been disturbed since the age of Osiris. To throw obstacles in the way of the laws, is to open the way before violence. Shall that which is below gain the upper hand, if the unjust does not attain to the place of
justice ? even he who says :
I take for myself, of my own free
will ; but says not :
limitations of justice are invariable.
The
I take
by
virtue of
my authority.
Inspire not men with fear, else God will fight against thee in the same manner. If any one asserts that he lives by such means [extortion by threats], God will take away the bread from his mouth ; if any one asserts that he enriches himself
PRECEPTS OF PTAH-HOTEP. 105
thereby, God says : I may take these riches to myself. If any one asserts that he beats others, God will end by reducing him to impotence. Let no one inspire men with fear, this is the will of God. Let one provide sustenance for them in the lap of peace ; it will then be that they will freely give what has been torn from them by terror.
If thou art among the persons seated at meat in the house of a greater man than thyself, take that which he gives thee, bowing to the ground. Regard that which is placed before thee, but point not at it ; regard it not frequently ; he is a blameworthy person who departs from this rule. Speak not to the great man more than he requires, for one knows not what may be displeasing to him. Speak when he invites thee and thy word will be pleasing.
As for the great man who has plenty of means of existence, his conduct is as he himself wishes. He does that which pleases him ; if he desires to repose, he realizes his intention. The great man stretching forth his hand does that to which other men do not attain. But as the means of existence are under the will of God, one cannot rebel against it.
If thou art one of those who bring the messages of one great man to another, conform thyself exactly to that where with he has charged thee : perform for him the commission as he hath enjoined thee. Beware of altering in speaking the offensive words which one great person addresses to another : he who perverts the truthfulness of his way, in order to repeat only what produces pleasure in the words of every man, great or small, is a detestable person. 1
If thou abasest thyself in obeying a superior, thy conduct is entirely good before God. Knowing who ought to obey and who ought to command, do not lift up thy heart against him. As thou knowest that in him is authority, be respectful towards him as belonging to him.
Be active, during the time of thy existence, doing more than is commanded. Do not spoil the time of thy activity; he is a blameworthy person who makes a bad use of his mo ments. Do not lose the daily opportunity of increasing that which thy house possesses. Activity produces riches, and riches do not endure when it slackens.
If thou art employed in the larit, stand or sit rather than walk about. Lay down rules for thyself from the first : not to absent thyself even when weariness overtakes thee. Keep an
106 PRECEPTS OF PTAH-HOTEP.
eye on him who enters announcing that what he asks is secret -, what is intrusted to thee is above appreciation, and all con trary argument is a matter to be rejected.
If thou art a leader of peace, listen to the discourse of the petitioner. Be not abrupt with him ; that would trouble him. Say not to him : " Thou hast [already] recounted this. " In dulgence will encourage him to accomplish the object of his coming. As for being abrupt with the complainant because he described what passed when the injury was done, instead of complaining of the injury itself, let it not be ! The way to obtain a clear explanation is to listen with kindness.
If thou desirest to excite respect within the house thou enterest, keep thyself from making advances to a woman, for there is nothing good in so doing. There is no prudence in taking part in it, and thousands of men destroy themselves in order to enjoy a moment, brief as a dream, while they gain death, so as to know it. It is a villainous intention that of a man who thus excites himself ; if he goes on to carry it out, his mind abandons him. For as for him who is without repug nance for such an act, there is no good sense at all in him.
If thou desirest that thy conduct should be good and pre served from all evil, keep thyself from every attack of bad humor. It is a fatal malady which leads to discord, and there is no longer any existence for him who gives way to it. For it introduces discord between fathers and mothers, as well as between brothers and sisters ; it causes the wife and the hus band to hate each other ; it contains all kinds of wickedness, it embodies all kinds of wrong.
Be not of an irritable temper as regards that which happens beside thee ; grumble not over thy own affairs. Be not of an irritable temper in regard to thy neighbors ; better is a compli ment to that which displeases than rudeness. It is wrong to get into a passion with one's neighbors, to be no longer master of one's words. When there is only a little irritation, one cre ates for oneself an affliction for the time when one will again be cool.
If thou art wise, look after thy house ; love thy wife with out alloy. Fill her stomach, clothe her back, these are the cares to be bestowed on her person. Caress her, fulfill her desires during the time of her existence ; it is a kindness which does honor to its possessor. Be not brutal ; tact will influence her better than violence. Behold to what she aspires, at what
PRECEPTS OF PTAH-HOTEP. 107
she aims, what she regards. It is that which fixes her in thy house ; if thou repellest her, it is an abyss. Open thy arms for her, respondent to her arms ; call her, display to her thy love.
Treat thy dependants well, in so far as it belongs to thee : it belongs to those whom God has favored. As we do not know the events which may happen to-morrow, he is a wise person by whom one is well treated. When there comes the necessity of showing zeal, it will then be the dependants them selves who say, " Come on, come on," if good treatment has not quitted the place ; if it has quitted it, the dependants are defaulters.
Do not repeat any extravagance of language ; do not listen to it ; it is a thing which has escaped from a hasty mouth. If it is repeated, look towards the earth without hearing it ; say nothing in regard to it. Cause him who speaks to thee to know what is just, even him who provokes to injustice ; cause that which is just to be done, cause it to triumph. As for that which is hateful according to the law, condemn it by unveil ing it.
If thou art a wise man, sitting in the council of thy lord, direct thy thought towards that which is wise. Be silent rather than scatter thy words. When thou speakest, know that which can be brought against thee. To speak in the council is an art, and speech is criticised more than any other labor ; it is contradiction which puts it to the proof.
If thou art powerful, respect knowledge and calmness of language. Command only to direct ; to be absolute is to run into evil. Let not thy heart be haughty, neither let it be mean. Do not let thy orders remain unsaid, and cause thy answers to penetrate ; but speak without heat, assume a serious counte nance. As for the vivacity of an ardent heart, temper it ; the gentle man penetrates all obstacles. He who agitates himself all the day long has not a good moment ; and he who amuses himself all the day long keeps not his fortune.
Disturb not a great man ; weaken not the attention of him who is occupied.
Compose thy face even in trouble : these are the people who succeed in what they desire.
Teach others to render homage to a great man. If thou gatherest the crop for him among men, cause it to return fully to its owner, at whose hands is thy subsistence. But the gift
108 PRECEPTS OF PTAH-HOTEP.
of affection is worth more than the provisions with which thy back is covered. Cause those about thee to be loving and obedient.
If thou art a son [deputy] of the guardians deputed to watch over the public tranquillity, execute thy commission without knowing [asking the reason], and speak with firmness. Substitute not for that which the instructor has said, what thou believest to be his intention. The great use words as it suits them : thy part is to transmit rather than to comment upon.
If thou art annoyed at a thing, if thou art tormented by some one who is acting within his right, get out of his sight, and remember him no more when he has ceased to address thee. [That is, bear no rancor after having been deservedly
blamed. ]
If thou hast become great after having been little, if thou
hast become rich after having been poor, when thou art at the head of the city know how not to take advantage of the fact that thou hast reached the first rank, harden not thy heart because of thy elevation : thou art become only the steward of the good things of God. Put not behind thee the neighbor who is like unto thee ; be unto him as a companion.
Bend thy back before thy superior. Thou art attached to the palace of the king ; thy house is established in its fortune, and thy profits are as is fitting. Yet a man is annoyed at hav ing an authority above"himself, and passes the period of life in being vexed thereat. Do not plunder the house of thy neigh bors, seize not by force the goods which are beside thee. " Exclaim not then against that which thou hearest, and do not feel humiliated. It is necessary to reflect when one is hin dered by it that the pressure of authority is felt also by one's neighbor. 1
If thou aimest at polished manners, call not him whom thou accostest [loudly? ]. Converse with him especially in such a way as not to annoy him. Enter on a discussion with him only after having left him time to saturate his mind with the subject of the conversation. If he lets his ignorance display itself, and if he gives thee an opportunity to disgrace him, treat him with courtesy rather ; proceed not to drive him into a corner ; do
1 This sheds a curious light on the difficulties of early government. As in all times of feudal turbulence, the officers of State, chiefly great nobles, are aggrieved at the king's hindering them from laying hands on anything they choose.
PRECEPTS OF PTAH-HOTEP. 109
not [suggest ? ] the word to him ; answer not in a crushing manner ; crush him not ; worry him not ; in order that in his turn he may not return to the subject, but depart to the profit of thy conversation.
Let thy countenance be cheerful during the time of thy existence. When we see one departing from the storehouse who has entered in order to bring his share of provision, with his face contracted, it shows that his stomach is empty and that authority is offensive to him. Let not that happen to thee.
Recognize those who are faithful to thee when thou art in low estate. Thy merit then is worth more than those who did thee honor. Look only at that which is a man's own. That is of more importance than his high rank ; for this is a matter which passes from one to another. The merit of one's son is advantageous to the father, and that which he really is is worth more than the remembrance of his father's rank.
Distinguish from the workman the superintendent who di rects, for manual labor is little elevated ; the inaction of the hands is honorable. If a man is not in the evil way, that which places him there is the want of subordination to authority.
If thou takest a wife, let her be more contented than any of her fellow-citizens. She will be attached to thee doubly, if her chain is pleasant. Do not repel her ; grant that which pleases her ; it is to her contentment that she appreciates thy direction.
As for the man without experience who listens not, he effects nothing whatsoever. He sees knowledge in ignorance, profit in loss ; he commits all kinds of error, always accord ingly choosing the contrary of what is praiseworthy. He lives on that which is mortal.
Let thy thoughts be abundant, let thy mouth be under re straint, and thou shalt argue with the great. Put thyself in unison with the ways of thy master. Apply thyself while thou speakest ; speak only of perfect things.
Do that which thy master bids thee. What he tells us, let it be fixed in our heart ; to satisfy him greatly, let us do for him more than he has prescribed. Verily a good son [pupil], who does better than he has been told, is one of the gifts of God.
110 THE EGYPTIAN JUDGMENT DAY.
THE EGYPTIAN JUDGMENT DAY. (From the " Book of the Dead," edited by F. A. Wallis Budge. )
Though the chapters of the " Book of the Dead " represent beliefs belonging to various periods of the long life of the Egyptian nation, and opinions held by several schools of thought in Egypt, the object of them all was to benefit the deceased. They were intended to give him the power to have and to enjoy life everlasting, to give him everything which he required in the life beyond the grave, to insure his victory over his foes, to procure for him the power of going whither soever he pleased, and when and how he pleased, to preserve the mummy intact, and finally to enable his soul to enter into the bark of Ra or into whatever abode of the blessed had been conceived of by him.
The Judgment Scene consists of three parts : Introduction, Negative Confession, and Concluding Text. The Introduction was said by the deceased at the entrance to the Hall of double Maati, the Negative Confession was recited by him before the forty-two gods who sat in judgment upon him in this hall, and the Concluding Text was uttered by him when he had passed the ordeal of judgment and was beginning his new life.
Of learned professions in Egypt, the most important was that of the scribe. Though writing was an ordinary accomplish ment of the educated classes, and scribes were not therefore so absolutely necessary as they are in most Eastern countries, yet still there were a large number of occupations for which professional penmanship was a prerequisite, and others which demanded the learning that a scribe naturally acquired in the exercise of his trade. The Egyptian religion necessitated the multiplication of copies of the "Ritual of the Dead," and the employment of numerous clerks in the registration of the sacred treasures, and the management of the sacred estates. The civil administration depended largely upon a system of registration and of official reports, which were perpetually being made to the court by the superintendents in all departments of the public service. Most private persons of large means kept bailiffs or secretaries, who made up their accounts, paid their laborers, and otherwise acted as managers of their property. There was thus a large number of lucrative posts which could only be properly filled by persons such as the scribes were, ready with the pen, familiar with the different kinds of writing, good at figures, and at the same time not of so high a class as to be discontented with a life of dull routine, if not of drudg ery. The occupation of scribe was regarded as one befitting men from the middle ranks of society, who might otherwise have been blacksmiths, carpenters, small farmers, or the like.
LIFE IN ANCIENT EGYPT.
87
It would seem that there were schools in the larger towns open to all who desired education. In these reading, writing, and arithmetic were taught, together with " letters " in a more extended sense ; and industry at such places of instruction was certain to be rewarded by opening to the more advanced stu dents a variety of situations and employments. Some of these may have been of a humble character, and not over well paid ; but among them were many which to an Egyptian of the middle class seemed very desirable. The posts under govern ment occupied by scribes included some of great importance, as those of ambassador, superintendent of storehouses, registrar of the docks, clerk of the closet, keeper of the royal library, "scribe of the double house of life. " It is indicative of the high rank and position of government scribes, that in the court conspiracy which threatened the life of the third Rameses as many as six of them were implicated, while two served upon the tribunal before which the criminals were arraigned. If a person failed to obtain government appointments, they might still hope to have their services engaged by the rich corporations which had the management of the temples, or by private indi viduals of good means. Hence the scribe readily persuaded himself that his occupation was above all others — the only one which had nothing superior to it, but was the first and best of all human employments.
The great number of persons who practiced medicine in Egypt is mentioned by Herodotus, who further notices the remarkable fact that, besides general practitioners, there were many who devoted themselves to special branches of medical science, some being oculists, some dentists, some skilled in treating diseases of the brain, some those of the intestines, and so on. Accoucheurs also we know to have formed a separate class, and to have been chiefly, if not exclu sively women. The consideration in which physicians were held is indicated by the tradition which ascribed the com position of the earliest medical works to one of the kings, as well as by the reputation for advanced knowledge which the Egyptian practitioners early obtained in foreign countries. According to a modern authority, they constituted a special subdivision of the sacerdotal order ; but this statement is open to question, though no doubt some of the priests were required to study medicine.
A third learned profession was that of the architect, which
88
LIFE IN ANCIENT EGYPT.
in some respects took precedence over any other. The chief court architect was a functionary of the highest importance, ranking among the very most exalted officials. Considering the character of the duties intrusted to him, this was only natural, since the kings generally set more store upon their buildings than upon any other matter. " At the time when the construction of the Pyramids and other tombs," says Brugsch, "demanded artists of the first order, we find the place of architect intrusted to the highest dignitaries of the court of the Pharaohs. The royal architects, the Murket, as they were called, recruited their ranks not unfrequently from the class of princes; and the inscriptions engraved upon the walls of their tombs inform us that, almost without exception, they married either the daughters or the granddaughters of the reigning sovereigns, who did not refuse the Murket this honor. "
Though a position of such eminence as this could belong only to one man at a time, it is evident that the luster attach ing to the head of their profession would be more or less re flected upon its members. Schools of architects had to be formed in order to secure a succession of competent persons, and the chief architect of the king was only the most success ful out of many aspirants, who were educationally and socially upon a par. Actual builders, of course, constituted a lower class, and are compassionated in the poem above quoted, as ex posed by their trade both to disease and accident. But archi tects ran no such risks ; and the profession must be regarded as having enjoyed in Egypt a rank and a consideration rarely accorded to it elsewhere. According to Diodorus, the Egyptians themselves said that their architects were more worthy of ad miration than their kings. Such a speech could hardly have been made while the independent monarchy lasted and kings were viewed as actual gods ; but it was a natural reflection on the part of those who, living under foreign domination, looked back to the time when Egypt had made herself a name among the nations by her conquests, and still more by her great works.
At the opposite extremity of the social scale were a number of contemned and ill-paid employments, which required the services of considerable numbers, whose lives must have been sufficiently hard ones. Dyers, washermen, barbers, gardeners, sandal-makers, blacksmiths, carpenters, couriers, boatmen, fowlers, fishermen, are commiserated by the scribe, Tuauf- sakhrat, as well as farmers, laborers, stonecutters, builders,
LIFE IN ANCIENT EGYPT. 89
armorers, and weavers ; and though he does not often point out any sufferings peculiar to those of his own countrymen
who were engaged in these occupations, we may accept his evidence as showing that, in Egypt, while they involved hard work, they obtained but small remuneration. The very exist ence, however, of so many employments is an indication that labor was in request ; and we cannot doubt that industrious persons could support themselves and their families without much difficulty, even by these inferior trades. The Egyptians, even of the lowest class, were certainly not crushed down by penury or want; they maintained a light heart under the hardships, whatever they may have been, of their lot, and con trived to amuse themselves and to find a good deal of pleasure in existence. "
If the boatman, for instance, led a laborious life,
beyond the power of his hands to do," he had yet spirit enough to enter into rivalry with his brother boatman, and to engage in rude contests which must have often caused him a broken head or a ducking. If the fowler and the fisherman had some times hard work to make a living, yet they had the excitement which attaches to every kind of sport, and from time to time were rewarded for their patient toil by "takes" of extraor dinary magnitude. The dragnets and clapnets which they used to entrap their prey are frequently represented as crowded with fish or birds, as many as twenty-five of the latter being inclosed on some occasions. The fish were often of large size, so that a man could only just carry one ; and though these monsters were perhaps not in very great request, they would have sufficed to furnish three or four meals to a large family. Fish were constantly dried and salted, so that the super abundance of one season supplied the deficiency of another ; and even birds appear to have been subjected to a similar process, and preserved in jars, when there was no immediate sale for them.
An occupation held in especial disrepute was that of the swineherd. According to Herodotus, persons of this class were absolutely prohibited from entering an Egyptian temple, and under no circumstances would a man of any other class either give his daughter in marriage to a swineherd, or take a wife from among them. This prejudice was connected with the notion of the pig being an unclean animal, which was common to the Egyptians with the Jews, the Mohammedans, and the
doing
90 LIFE JN ANCIENT EGYPT.
Indians. If it existed to the extent asserted, the swineherds, the Pariahs of Egypt, must have approached nearly to the character of a caste, as intermarrying wholly among themselves, and despised by every other section of the population.
But if Egyptian civilization had thus its victims, it had also its favorites. There stood in Egypt, outside the entire num ber of those who either belonged to a profession or exercised a trade or calling, that upper class of which we have more than once spoken, owners of a large portion of the soil, and so pos sessed of hereditary wealth, not very anxious for official employ ment, though filling commonly most of the highest posts in the administration, connected in many instances more or less closely with the royal family, and bearing the rank of suten-rech or " princes " — a class small, compared with most others, but still tolerably numerous — one which seemed born to enjoy existence and "consume the fruits" of other men's toil and industry. Such persons, as has been said, "led a charmed life. " Pos sessed of a villa in the country, and also commonly of a town house in the capital, the Egyptian lord divided his time between the two, now attracted by the splendors of the court, now by the simple charms of rural freedom and retirement. In either case he dwelt in a large house, amply and elegantly furnished — the floor strewn with bright-colored carpets — the rooms
generally provided with abundant sofas and chairs, couches, tables, faldstools, ottomans, stands for flowers, footstools, vases, etc. — household numerous and well trained, presided over by a major-domo or steward, who relieved the great man of the trouble of domestic management. Attached to his household in some way, if not actual members of it, were "adepts in the various trades conducive to his ease and comfort " — the glass blower, the worker in gold, the potter, the tailor, the baker, the sandal-maker.
With a prudent self-restraint not often seen among orien tals, he limited himself to a single wife, whom he made the partner of his cares and joys, and treated with respect and affection. No eunuchs troubled the repose of his establishment with their plots and quarrels. His household was composed in about equal proportions of male and female servants ; his wife had her waiting maid or tire-woman, his children their nurse or nurses ; he himself had his valet, who was also his barber. The kitchen department was intrusted to three or four cooks and scullions, who were invariably men, no women (it would
LIFE IN ANCIENT EGYPT. 91
seem) being thought competent for such important duties. One, two, or more grooms had the charge of his stable, which in the early times sheltered no nobler animal than the ass, but under the New Empire was provided with a number of horses. A chariot, in which he might take an airing, pay visits, or drive a friend, was also indispensable in and after the time of the eighteenth dynasty ; and the greater lords had, no doubt, several of such vehicles, with coach houses for their accommo dation. Litters were perhaps used only for the aged and infirm, who were conveyed in them on the shoulders of attendants.
Egyptian men of all ranks shaved their heads and their entire faces, except sometimes a portion of the chin, from which a short square beard was allowed to depend. The barber was in attendance on the great lord every morning, to remove any hair that had grown, and trim his beard, if he wore one. The lord's wig was also under his superintendence. This consisted of numerous small curls, together sometimes with locks and plaits, fastened carefully to a reticulated groundwork, which allowed the heat of the head free escape. The dress, even of the highest class, was simple. It consisted, primarily, of the shenti or kilt, a short garment folded or fluted, which was worn round the loins, and fastened in front with a girdle. The material might be linen or woolen, according to the state of the weather, or the wearer's inclination, Over this the great lord invariably wore an ample robe of fine linen, reaching from the shoulders to the ankles, and provided with full sleeves, which descended nearly, if not quite, to the elbows. A second girdle, which may have been of leather, confined the outer dress about the waist. The arms and lower parts of the legs were left bare ; and in the earliest times the feet were also bare, sandals being unknown ; but they came into fashion at the beginning of the fifth dynasty, and thenceforward were ordinarily worn by the rich, whether men or women. They were either of leather lined with cloth, or of a sort of basket work composed of palm leaves or the stalks of the papyrus. The shape varied at dif ferent periods. Having dressed himself with the assistance of his valet, the Egyptian lord put on his ornaments, which con sisted commonly of a collar of beads or a chain of gold round the neck, armlets and bracelets of gold, inlaid with lapis lazuli and turquoise, round the arms, anklets of the same character round the ankles, and rings upon the fingers of both hands.
92 LIFE IN ANCIENT EGYPT.
Thus attired, the lord took his bdton or stick, and, quitting his dressing room, made his appearance in the salon or eating apartment.
Meanwhile his spouse had performed her own toilet, which was naturally somewhat more elaborate than her husband's. Egyptian ladies wore their own hair, which grew in great abundance, and must have occupied the tire-woman for a con siderable period. A double-toothed comb was used for combing it, and it may also have been brushed, though hairbrushes have not been discovered. Ultimately, it was separated into numer ous distinct tresses, and plaited by threes into thirty or forty fine plaits, which were then gathered into three masses, one behind the head and the others at either side of the face, or else were allowed to fall in a single continuous ring round the head and shoulders. After it had been thus arranged, the hair was confined by a fillet, or by a headdress made to imitate the wings, back, and tail, and even sometimes the head, of a vul ture. On their bodies some females wore only a single gar ment, which was a petticoat, either tied at the neck or supported by straps over the shoulders, and reaching from the neck or breast to the ankles ; but those of the upper class had, first, over this, a colored sash passed twice round the waist and tied in front, and, secondly, a large loose robe, made of the finest linen, with full open sleeves reaching to the elbow. They wore sandals from the same date as the men, and had similar orna ments, with the addition of earrings. These often manifested an elegant taste, being in the form of serpents or terminating in the heads of animals or of goddesses. The application of kohl or stibium to the eyes seems to have formed an ordinary part of the toilet.
It is, unfortunately, impossible to follow throughout the day the husband and wife, with whose portraits we are attempting to present our readers. We do not know the hours kept by the upper classes in Egypt, nor the arrangements which pre vailed respecting their meals, nor the mode in which a lady of rank employed herself from the time when her morning toilet was completed until the hour of dinner. We may conjecture that she looked after her servants, superintended the teaching of her children, amused herself in her garden, or visited and received visits from her acquaintance ; but the evidence on these various points is scanty, and scarcely sufficient to justify general conclusions. It is somewhat different with respect to
LIFE IN ANCIENT EGYPT.
93
the men. The sculptures show us that much of the Egyptian gentleman's day was spent in sports of various kinds ; that he indulged in fishing and fowling, as well as in the chase of various wild beasts, some of which were sought as delicacies for the table, while others seem to have been attacked merely to gratify that destructive instinct which urges men to take delight in field sports.
Ponds commonly existed within the pleasure grounds at tached to an Egyptian country house, and were often of con siderable dimensions. Formal in shape, to suit the general character of the grounds, they were well stocked with a variety of fish, and often furnished the Egyptian noble with a morn ing's amusement. The sport was of a kind which in these days would not be considered exciting. Reclined upon a mat, or seated on a chair, under the shade of a tree, and with a short rod in his hand, apparently of one joint only, the lord threw his double or single line into the preserved pool, and let his bait sink to the bottom. When he felt the bite of a fish, he jerked his line out of the water, and by this movement, if the fish was securely hooked, he probably landed it ; if not, he only lost his labor. Hooks were large and strong, lines coarse, fish evidently not shy ; there was no fear of the tackle breaking ; and if a few fish were scared by the clumsy method, there were plenty of others to take their place in a few minutes.
A less unskillful mode of pursuing the sport was by means of the fish spear. Embarking upon his pond, or the stream that fed it, in a boat of bulrushes, armed with the proper weapon, and accompanied by a young son, and by his wife or a sister, the lord would direct his gaze into the water, and when he saw a fish passing, strike at him with the barbed implement. If the fish were near at hand, he would not let go of the weapon, but if otherwise, he would throw it, retaining in his grasp a string attached to its upper extremity. This enabled him to recover the spear, even if it sank, or was carried down by the fish ; and, when his aim had been true, it enabled him to get possession of his prize. Some spears had double heads, both of them barbed ; and good fortune, or superior skill, occasionally secured two fish at once.
The fowling practiced by the Egyptian gentleman was very peculiar. He despised nets, made no use of hawks or falcons, and did not even, except on rare occasions, have recourse to the bow. He placed his whole dependence on a missile, which
94 LIFE IN ANCIENT EGYPT.
has been called a " throw stick " — a thin, curved piece of heavy wood, from a foot and a quarter to two feet in length, and about an inch and a half broad. Gliding silently in a light boat along some piece of water, with a decoy bird stationed at the head of his vessel, trained, perhaps, to utter its note, he approached the favorite haunt of the wild fowl, which was generally a thicket of tall reeds and lotuses. Having come as close to the game as possible, with his throw stick in one hand and a second decoy bird, or even several, in the other, he watched for the moment when the wild fowl rose in a cloud above the tops of the water-plants, and then flung his weapon in among them. Supplied by a relative or an attendant with another, and again another, he made throw after throw, not ceasing till the last bird was out of reach, or his stock of throw sticks exhausted. We sometimes see as many as four sticks in the air, and another upon the point of being delivered. Skilled sportsmen seem to have aimed especially at the birds' necks, since, if the neck was struck, the bird was pretty sure to fall. This sport seems to have been an especial favorite with Egyp tians of the upper class.
The chase of wild beasts involved more exertion than either fishing or fowling, and required the sportsman to go further afield. The only tolerable hunting grounds lay in the desert regions on either side of the Nile valley ; and the wealthy Egyptians, who made up their minds to indulge in this pas time, had to penetrate into these dreary tracts, and probably to quit their homes for a time, and camp out in the desert. The chief objects of pursuit upon these occasions were the gazelle, the ibex, the oryx, and perhaps some other kinds of antelopes. The sportsman set out in his chariot, well provided with arrows and javelins, accompanied by a number of dogs, and attended by a crowd of menials, huntsmen, beaters, men to set the nets, provision and water carriers, and the like. A large space was commonly inclosed by the beaters, and all the game within it driven in a certain direction by them and the hounds, while the sportsman and his friends, stationed at suita ble points, shot their arrows at such beasts as came within the range of the weapon, or sought to capture them by means of a long thong or cord ending in a running noose. Nets were also set at certain narrow points in the wadys or dry water courses, down which the herd, when pressed, was almost sure to pass ; and men were placed to watch them, and slaughter each animal
LIFE IN ANCIENT EGYPT.
95
as soon as he was entangled, before he could break his way through the obstacle and make his escape. When the district in which the hunt took place was well supplied with beasts, and the space inclosed by the beaters was large, a curiously mixed scene presented itself towards the close of the day. All the wild animals of the region, roused from their several lairs, were brought together within a narrow space, — hyenas, jack als, foxes, porcupines, even ostriches, held on their way, side by side with gazelles, hares, ibexes, and antelopes of various de scriptions, — the hounds also being intermixed among them, and the hunter in his car driving at speed through the thickest of the milSe, discharging his arrows right and left, and bring ing down the choicest game. Attendants continually supplied fresh arrows ; and the work of slaughter probably went on till night put an end to it, or till the whole of the game was killed or had made its escape.
Occasionally, instead of antelopes, wild cattle were the object of pursuit. In this case, too, dogs were used, though scarcely with much effect. The cattle were, most likely, either stalked or laid in wait for, and, when sufficiently near, were either lassoed, or else shot with arrows, the place aimed at being the junction between the neck and the head. When the lasso was employed, it was commonly thrown over one of the horns.
According to one representation, the lion was made use of in the chase of some animals, being trained to the work, as the cheeta, or hunting leopard, is in Persia and India. That the Egyptians tamed lions appears from several of the sculptures, and is also attested by at least one ancient writer ; but the em ployment of them in the chase rests upon a single painting in one of the tombs at Beni Hissar.
Lions themselves, when in the wild state, were sometimes hunted by the monarchs ; but it is doubtful whether any Egyp tian subject, however exalted his rank, ever engaged in the exciting occupation. The lion was scarcely to be found within the limits of Egypt during any period of the monarchy, and though occasionally to be seen in the deserts upon the Egyp tian borders, yet could scarcely be reckoned on as likely to cross his path by a private sportsman. The kings who were ambitious of the honor of having contended with the king of beasts, could make hunting expeditions beyond their borders, and have a whole province ransacked for the game of which they were in search. Even they, however, seem very rarely to
96 LIFE IN ANCIENT EGYPT.
have aspired so high ; and there is but one representation of a lion hunt in the Egyptian sculptures.
A similarly exceptional character attached to the chase of the elephant by the Egyptians. One monarch on one occasion only, when engaged in an expedition which took him deep into Asia, "hunted a hundred and twenty elephants on account of their tusks. " Here a subject had the good fortune to save his royal master from an attack made upon him by the leading, or " rogue," elephant of the herd, and to capture the brute after inflicting a wound upon its trunk.
The pursuit of the hippopotamus and the crocodile was, on the contrary, a favorite and established practice with Egyptian sportsmen. The hippopotamus was hunted as injurious to the crops, on which it both fed and trampled by night, while at the same time it was valued for its hide, which was regarded as the best possible material for shields, helmets, and javelins. It appears to have been thought better to attack it in the water than upon the land, perhaps because its struggles to escape would then be, comparatively speaking, harmless. Spears, with strings attached to them, were thrown at it ; and when these had taken effect, it was drawn to the surface, and its head en tangled in a strong noose, by which it could be dragged ashore ; or, if this attempt failed, it was allowed to exhaust itself by repeated rushes and plunges in the stream, the hunters " play ing " it the while by reels attached to the strings that held their spears, and waiting till it was spent by fatigue and loss of blood, when they wound up their reels, and brought their booty to land.
There were two modes of chasing the crocodile. Sometimes it was speared, like the hippopotamus, and was then probably killed in much the same way ; but another method was also adopted, which is thus described by Herodotus : " They bait a hook with a chine of pork, and let the meat be carried out into the middle of the stream, while the hunter on the bank holds a live pig, which he belabors. The crocodile, hearing its cries, makes for the sound, and encounters the pork, which he in stantly swallows down. The men on the shore haul, and when they have got him to land, the first thing the hunter does is to plaster his eyes with mud. This once accomplished, the animal is dispatched with ease ; otherwise he gives much trouble. " Very similar modes to both of these are still in use on the Nile.
It is, of course, not to be supposed that the Egyptian of high
LIFE IN ANCIENT EGYPT. 97
rank was so enamored of the chase as to devote to it all the time that he spent in the country. There would be days on which he inspected his farm, his cattle stalls, his live stock, his granaries, his wine presses, his olive presses, moving from place to place, probably, on his favorite ass, and putting questions to his laborers. There would be others on which he received his steward, went through his accounts, and gave such directions as he thought necessary ; others again on which his religious duties occupied him, or on which he received the general homage of his subordinates. His life would be in many ways varied. As a local magnate, he might be called upon from time to time to take part in the public business of his nome. He might have civil employment thrust upon him, since no one could refuse an office or a commission assigned him by the king. He might even find himself called upon to conduct a military expedition. But, apart from these extraordinary distractions, he would have occupations enough and to spare. Amid alternations of busi ness and pleasure, of domestic repose and violent exercise, of town and country life, of state and simplicity, he would scarcely find his time hang heavy on his hands, or become a victim to ennui. An extensive literature was open to him, if he cared to read ; a solemn and mysterious religion, full of awe-inspiring thoughts, and stretching on to things beyond the grave, claimed his attention ; he had abundant duties, abundant enjoyments. Though not so happy as to be politically free, there was small danger of his suffering oppression. He might look forward to a tranquil and respected old age ; and even in the grave he would enjoy the attentions and religious veneration of those whom he left behind him.
Among the duties continually devolving on him, the most important were those of charity and of hospitality. It was absolutely incumbent upon him, if he would pass the dread ordeal in the nether world, that during this life he should be careful "to give bread to the hungry, drink to the thirsty, clothes to the naked, oil to the wounded, and burial to the dead. " It was also incumbent on him, in the general opinion of those with whom he lived, that he should show towards men of his own class a free and open-handed hospitality. For this purpose it was necessary that, both in the town and in the country, he should provide his friends with frequent grand entertainments. With a description of one of these we may terminate our account.
98 LIFE IN ANCIENT EGYPT.
The preparations for an entertainment had to commence some days previously. Game had to be procured, professionals engaged, extra attendants hired, a stock of fresh flowers and perhaps of unguents laid in. Great activity prevailed in the kitchen ; confectionery was prepared, spices pounded, maca roni made, cooking utensils scoured, the larder stored with provisions. The reception rooms were then arranged for guests, chairs being placed in rows or groups, extra carpets and mats strewn about, flowers put into the vases, and the house generally decorated. When the guests began to arrive, they were first of all received in the vestibule by attendants, who presented them with bouquets, placed garlands of lotus upon their heads, and sometimes collars of lotus round their necks, anointed their hair with unguents, and offered them wine or other beverages. At this time the visitors commonly sat on the floor, probably for the convenience of those who had to anoint and adorn them. Having received these attentions, the guests, ladies and gentlemen intermixed, passed on to the main apartment, where they were greeted by their host and hostess, and begged to take their seats on the chairs and fauteuils which had been arranged for them. Here more refreshments were handed round, more flowers offered, while the guests, generally in pairs, but sometimes in groups, conversed one with another. Music was now commonly introduced, sometimes accompanied by dancing, the performers in both arts being professionals, and the dancing girls being nearly, if not quite, naked. Sometimes, at the same party, there would be two bands, who, we may sup pose, played alternately. Pet animals, dogs, gazelles, or mon keys, might be present, and the young children of the house in some instances gave animation to the scene, and enlivened the entertainment with their prattle. As it was not customary for children under ten or twelve years of age to wear any clothes, the nudity of the dancing girls might seem less strange and less indelicate.
It is possible that on some occasions the music, dancing, and light refreshments constituted the whole of the entertainment, and that the guests after a while took their departure without any formal meal being served ; but more often the proceedings above described were the mere prelude to the real piece, and the more important part followed. Round tables, loaded with a great variety of delicacies, as joints of meat, geese, ducks, and waterfowl of different kinds, cakes, pastry, fruit, and the like,
Ruins of the Temple of Phil*
LIFE IN ANCIENT EGYPT. 99
are seen interspersed among the guests, to whom no doubt the dishes were handed in succession, and who must have helped themselves, as Orientals commonly do, with their hands. Knives and forks, spoons for eating with, even plates, were an unknown luxury ; the guest took what his hands could manage, and after eating either dipped them in water, or wiped them with a napkin brought him by an attendant. The dishes offered him would include probably two or three kinds of fish ; meat, generally beef, boiled, roasted, and dressed in various ways ; venison and other game ; geese, ducks, or waterfowl ; vegetables in profusion, as especially lentils, endives, and cu cumbers ; pastry, cakes, and fruits of twenty kinds, particularly grapes and figs. To quench his thirst, he would be supplied with frequent draughts of wine or beer, the wine probably diluted with water.
Herodotus tells us that it was customary, when the feast was over, for an attendant to bring in a wooden mummied form, from a foot and a half to three feet long, painted to resemble a corpse, and to show it to each guest in turn, with the words : " Gaze here, and drink and be merry ; for when you die, such will you be. " If the expressions used are rightly reported, we must suppose the figure brought in when the eating was ended and the drinking began, with the object of stimulating the guests to greater conviviality ; but if this were so, the custom had probably lost its original significance when Herodotus visited Egypt, since it must (one would think) have been in tended at the first to encourage seriousness, and check undue indulgence, by sobering thoughts concerning death and judg ment to come. The Egyptians were too much inclined to the pleasures of the table, and certainly required no stimulus to drinking. Both gentlemen and ladies not unfrequently in dulged to excess. The custom mentioned by Herodotus, and alluded to also by Plutarch, can only have proceeded from the priests, who doubtless wished, as guardians of the public moral ity, to check the intemperance which they were unable to pre vent altogether.
After the banquet was entirely ended, music and singing were generally resumed, and sometimes tumblers or jugglers, both male and female, were introduced, and feats of agility were gone through with much dexterity and grace. The women played with three balls at a time, keeping two con stantly in the air ; or made somersaults backwards ; or sprang
100 LIFE IN ANCIENT EGYPT.
off the ground to the height of several feet. The men wres tled, or pirouetted, or stood on their heads, or walked up each other's backs, or performed other tricks, and feats of strength. Occasionally, games seem to have been played. As the kings themselves in their leisure hours did not disdain to play draughts with their favorites, so it may be presumed that the Egyptian lord and his guest would sometimes relieve the tedium of a long evening by the same or some similar amuse ment. Chess does not appear to have been known ; but a game resembling draughts, one like the modern morra, and several which cannot be identified, certainly were ; and, though there is more evidence of their being in favor with the lower than with the higher orders, yet it can scarcely be supposed that the royal example was not imitated by many among the nobles.
In conclusion it may be observed that Egyptian society under the Pharaohs, if in many respects it was not so advanced in cultivation and refinement as that of Athens in the time of Pericles, was in some points both more moral and more civil ized. Neither the sculptures nor the literary remains give any indication of the existence in Egypt of that degrading vice which in Greece tainted all male society from the highest grade to the lowest, and constituted "a great national disease," or "moral pestilence.
" Nor did courtesans, though occasionally they attained to a certain degree of celebrity among the Egyp tians, ever exercise that influence which they did in Greece over art, literature, and even politics. The relations of the
sexes were decidedly on a better footing in Egypt than at Athens, or most other Greek towns. Not only was polygamy unknown to the inhabitants of the Nile valley, and even licensed concubinage confined to the kings, but woman took her proper rank as the friend and companion of man, was never secluded in a harem, but constantly made her appearance alike in private company and in the ceremonies of religion, possessed equal rights with man in the eye of the law, was attached to temples in a quasi-sacerdotal character, and might even ascend the throne and administer the government of the country. Women were free to attend the markets and shops ; to visit and receive company both male and female ; to join in the most sacred religious services ; to follow the dead to the grave ; and
to perform their part in the sepulchral sacrifices.
In arrangements with respect to education they seem also
to have attained a point not often reached by the nations of
LIFE IN ANCIENT EGYPT. 101
antiquity. If the schools wherein scribes obtained their in struction were really open to all, and the career of scribe might be pursued by any one, whatever his birth, then it must be said that Egypt, notwithstanding the general rigidity of her insti tutions, provided an open career for talent, such as scarcely existed elsewhere in the old world, and such as few modern communities can be said even yet to furnish. It was always possible under despotic governments that the capricious favor of the sovereign should raise to a high, or even to the highest, position the lowest person in the kingdom. But in Egypt, alone of all ancient States, does a system seem to have been established, whereby persons of all ranks, even the lowest, were invited to compete for the royal favor, and, by distinguishing
themselves in the public schools, to establish a claim for em ployment in the public service. That employment once ob tained, their future depended on themselves. Merit secured promotion ; and it would seem that the efficient scribe had only to show himself superior to his fellows, in order to rise to the highest position but one in the empire.
THE EGYPTIAN HUSBANDMAN. By CHARLES KOLLIN.
[Charles Roixin: A French historian; born January, 1661. He was Pro fessor of Rhetoric at the College du Plessis and later at the College du France. He revived the study of Greek and made reforms in the system of education. He published in 1727 a work on the Study of Belles-Lettres ; in 1738 a History of Rome; and from 1730 to 1738 his still famous and readable "Ancient His tory. " He died in 1741. He is an excellent gossip and story-teller, of un bounded credulity ; and it is diverting to find his sole bit of skepticism excited, in the following passage, by a real and commonplace fact. ]
Husbandmen, shepherds, and artificers formed the three classes of lower life in Egypt, but were nevertheless had in very great esteem, particularly husbandmen and shepherds. The body politic requires a superiority and subordination of its several members; for as in the natural body the eye may be said to hold the first rank, yet its luster does not dart con tempt upon the feet, the hands, or even on those parts which are less honorable ; in like manner, among the Egyptians, the priests, soldiers, and scholars were distinguished by particular honors ; but all professions, to the meanest, had their share in
102 THE EGYPTIAN HUSBANDMAN.
the public esteem, because the despising of any man, whose labors, however mean, were useful to the state, was thought a crime.
A better reason than the foregoing might have inspired them at the first with these sentiments of equity and modera tion, which they so long preserved. As they all descended from Ham, their common father, the memory of their still recent origin, occurring to the minds of all in those first ages, established among them a kind of equality, and stamped, in their opinion, a nobility on every person derived from the com mon stock. Indeed, the difference of conditions, and the con tempt with which persons of the lowest rank are treated, are owing merely to the distance from the common root, which makes us forget, that the meanest plebeian, when his descent is traced back to the source, is equally noble with the most elevated rank and title.
Be that as it will, no profession in Egypt was considered as groveling or sordid. By this means arts were raised to their highest perfection. The honor which cherished them mixed with every thought and care for their improvement. Every man had his way of life assigned him by the laws, and it was perpetuated from father to son. Two professions at one time, or a change of that which a man was born to, were never allowed. By this means, men became more able and expert in employments which they had always exercised from their infancy; and every man, adding his own experience to that of his ancestors, was more capable of attaining perfection in his particular art. Besides, this wholesome institution, which had been established anciently throughout Egypt, extinguished all irregular ambition, and taught every man to sit down contented with his condition, without aspiring to one more elevated, from interest, vainglory, or levity.
From this source flowed numberless inventions for the improvement of all the arts, and for rendering life more commo dious, and trade more easy. I could not believe that Diodorus was in earnest in what he relates concerning the Egyptian industry, viz. : that this people had found out a way, by an artificial fecundity, to hatch eggs without the sitting of the hen; but all modern travelers declare it to be a fact, which certainly is worthy our curiosity and is said to be practiced in some places of Europe. Their relations inform us, that the Egyptians stow eggs in ovens, which are heated to such a
THE EGYPTIAN HUSBANDMAN. 108
temperature, and with such just proportion to the natural warmth of the hen, that the chickens produced from these means are as strong as those which are hatched the natural way. The season of the year proper for this operation is from the end of December to the end of April, the heat in Egypt being too violent in the other months. During these four months, upwards of three hundred thousand eggs are laid in these ovens, which, though they are not all successful, never theless produce vast numbers of fowls at an easy rate. The art lies in giving the ovens a due degree of heat, which must not exceed a fixed proportion. About ten days are bestowed in heating these ovens, and very near as much time in hatching the eggs. It is very entertaining, say these travelers, to observe the hatching of these chickens, some of which show at first nothing but their heads, others but half their bodies, and others again come quite out of the egg ; these last, the moment they are hatched, make their way over the unhatched eggs, and form a diverting spectacle. Corneille le Bruyn, in his Travels, has collected the observations of other travelers on this sub ject. Pliny likewise mentions it ; but it appears from him, that the Egyptians, anciently, employed warm dung, not ovens, to hatch eggs.
I have said, that husbandmen particularly, and those who took care of flocks, were in great esteem in Egypt, some parts of it excepted, where the latter were not suffered. It was, indeed, to these two professions that Egypt owed its riches and plenty. It is astonishing to reflect what advantages the Egyptians, by their art and labor, drew from a country of no great extent, but whose soil was made wonderfully fruitful by the inundations of the Nile, and the laborious industry of the inhabitants. It will be always so with every kingdom whose governors direct all their actions to the public welfare. The culture of lands, and the breeding of cattle, will be an inex haustible fund of wealth in all countries where these profitable callings are supported and encouraged by maxims of state policy. [This was a topical allusion to the doctrines of the " Physio crats," the French economic reformers of the mid-18th century, who held that as all wealth is derived from agricultural sur plus, agriculture should bear all the taxes and receive compen sating state favors. The government eagerly adopted the first proposition, forgot the second, and gave the Revolution another impetus. ]
104 PRECEPTS OF PTAH-HOTEP.
THE PRECEPTS OF PTAH-HOTEP. — THE OLDEST BOOK YET DISCOVERED.
About 2500 B. C.
Be not arrogant because of that which thou knowest ; deal with the ignorant as with the learned ; for the barriers of art are not closed, no artist being in possession of the perfection to which he should aspire.
If thou findest a disputant while he is hot, and if he is supe rior to thee in ability, lower the hands, bend the back, do not get into a passion with him. As he will not let thee destroy his words, it is utterly wrong to interrupt him ; that proclaims that thou art incapable of keeping thyself calm, when thou art contradicted.
If then thou hast to do with a disputant while he is hot, imitate one who does not stir. Thou hast the advantage over him if thou keepest silence when he is uttering evil words. " The better of the two is he who is impassive," say the by standers, and thou art right in the opinion of the great.
If thou findest a disputant while he is hot, do not despise him because thou art not of the same opinion. Be not angry against him when he is wrong ; away with such a thing. He fights against himself; require him not further to flatter thy feelings. Do not amuse thyself with the spectacle which thou hast before thee ; it is odious, mean, [the part] of a despicable soul.
If thou hast, as leader, to decide on the conduct of a great number of men, seek the most perfect manner of doing so, that thy own conduct may be without reproach. Justice is great, invariable, and assured ; it has not been disturbed since the age of Osiris. To throw obstacles in the way of the laws, is to open the way before violence. Shall that which is below gain the upper hand, if the unjust does not attain to the place of
justice ? even he who says :
I take for myself, of my own free
will ; but says not :
limitations of justice are invariable.
The
I take
by
virtue of
my authority.
Inspire not men with fear, else God will fight against thee in the same manner. If any one asserts that he lives by such means [extortion by threats], God will take away the bread from his mouth ; if any one asserts that he enriches himself
PRECEPTS OF PTAH-HOTEP. 105
thereby, God says : I may take these riches to myself. If any one asserts that he beats others, God will end by reducing him to impotence. Let no one inspire men with fear, this is the will of God. Let one provide sustenance for them in the lap of peace ; it will then be that they will freely give what has been torn from them by terror.
If thou art among the persons seated at meat in the house of a greater man than thyself, take that which he gives thee, bowing to the ground. Regard that which is placed before thee, but point not at it ; regard it not frequently ; he is a blameworthy person who departs from this rule. Speak not to the great man more than he requires, for one knows not what may be displeasing to him. Speak when he invites thee and thy word will be pleasing.
As for the great man who has plenty of means of existence, his conduct is as he himself wishes. He does that which pleases him ; if he desires to repose, he realizes his intention. The great man stretching forth his hand does that to which other men do not attain. But as the means of existence are under the will of God, one cannot rebel against it.
If thou art one of those who bring the messages of one great man to another, conform thyself exactly to that where with he has charged thee : perform for him the commission as he hath enjoined thee. Beware of altering in speaking the offensive words which one great person addresses to another : he who perverts the truthfulness of his way, in order to repeat only what produces pleasure in the words of every man, great or small, is a detestable person. 1
If thou abasest thyself in obeying a superior, thy conduct is entirely good before God. Knowing who ought to obey and who ought to command, do not lift up thy heart against him. As thou knowest that in him is authority, be respectful towards him as belonging to him.
Be active, during the time of thy existence, doing more than is commanded. Do not spoil the time of thy activity; he is a blameworthy person who makes a bad use of his mo ments. Do not lose the daily opportunity of increasing that which thy house possesses. Activity produces riches, and riches do not endure when it slackens.
If thou art employed in the larit, stand or sit rather than walk about. Lay down rules for thyself from the first : not to absent thyself even when weariness overtakes thee. Keep an
106 PRECEPTS OF PTAH-HOTEP.
eye on him who enters announcing that what he asks is secret -, what is intrusted to thee is above appreciation, and all con trary argument is a matter to be rejected.
If thou art a leader of peace, listen to the discourse of the petitioner. Be not abrupt with him ; that would trouble him. Say not to him : " Thou hast [already] recounted this. " In dulgence will encourage him to accomplish the object of his coming. As for being abrupt with the complainant because he described what passed when the injury was done, instead of complaining of the injury itself, let it not be ! The way to obtain a clear explanation is to listen with kindness.
If thou desirest to excite respect within the house thou enterest, keep thyself from making advances to a woman, for there is nothing good in so doing. There is no prudence in taking part in it, and thousands of men destroy themselves in order to enjoy a moment, brief as a dream, while they gain death, so as to know it. It is a villainous intention that of a man who thus excites himself ; if he goes on to carry it out, his mind abandons him. For as for him who is without repug nance for such an act, there is no good sense at all in him.
If thou desirest that thy conduct should be good and pre served from all evil, keep thyself from every attack of bad humor. It is a fatal malady which leads to discord, and there is no longer any existence for him who gives way to it. For it introduces discord between fathers and mothers, as well as between brothers and sisters ; it causes the wife and the hus band to hate each other ; it contains all kinds of wickedness, it embodies all kinds of wrong.
Be not of an irritable temper as regards that which happens beside thee ; grumble not over thy own affairs. Be not of an irritable temper in regard to thy neighbors ; better is a compli ment to that which displeases than rudeness. It is wrong to get into a passion with one's neighbors, to be no longer master of one's words. When there is only a little irritation, one cre ates for oneself an affliction for the time when one will again be cool.
If thou art wise, look after thy house ; love thy wife with out alloy. Fill her stomach, clothe her back, these are the cares to be bestowed on her person. Caress her, fulfill her desires during the time of her existence ; it is a kindness which does honor to its possessor. Be not brutal ; tact will influence her better than violence. Behold to what she aspires, at what
PRECEPTS OF PTAH-HOTEP. 107
she aims, what she regards. It is that which fixes her in thy house ; if thou repellest her, it is an abyss. Open thy arms for her, respondent to her arms ; call her, display to her thy love.
Treat thy dependants well, in so far as it belongs to thee : it belongs to those whom God has favored. As we do not know the events which may happen to-morrow, he is a wise person by whom one is well treated. When there comes the necessity of showing zeal, it will then be the dependants them selves who say, " Come on, come on," if good treatment has not quitted the place ; if it has quitted it, the dependants are defaulters.
Do not repeat any extravagance of language ; do not listen to it ; it is a thing which has escaped from a hasty mouth. If it is repeated, look towards the earth without hearing it ; say nothing in regard to it. Cause him who speaks to thee to know what is just, even him who provokes to injustice ; cause that which is just to be done, cause it to triumph. As for that which is hateful according to the law, condemn it by unveil ing it.
If thou art a wise man, sitting in the council of thy lord, direct thy thought towards that which is wise. Be silent rather than scatter thy words. When thou speakest, know that which can be brought against thee. To speak in the council is an art, and speech is criticised more than any other labor ; it is contradiction which puts it to the proof.
If thou art powerful, respect knowledge and calmness of language. Command only to direct ; to be absolute is to run into evil. Let not thy heart be haughty, neither let it be mean. Do not let thy orders remain unsaid, and cause thy answers to penetrate ; but speak without heat, assume a serious counte nance. As for the vivacity of an ardent heart, temper it ; the gentle man penetrates all obstacles. He who agitates himself all the day long has not a good moment ; and he who amuses himself all the day long keeps not his fortune.
Disturb not a great man ; weaken not the attention of him who is occupied.
Compose thy face even in trouble : these are the people who succeed in what they desire.
Teach others to render homage to a great man. If thou gatherest the crop for him among men, cause it to return fully to its owner, at whose hands is thy subsistence. But the gift
108 PRECEPTS OF PTAH-HOTEP.
of affection is worth more than the provisions with which thy back is covered. Cause those about thee to be loving and obedient.
If thou art a son [deputy] of the guardians deputed to watch over the public tranquillity, execute thy commission without knowing [asking the reason], and speak with firmness. Substitute not for that which the instructor has said, what thou believest to be his intention. The great use words as it suits them : thy part is to transmit rather than to comment upon.
If thou art annoyed at a thing, if thou art tormented by some one who is acting within his right, get out of his sight, and remember him no more when he has ceased to address thee. [That is, bear no rancor after having been deservedly
blamed. ]
If thou hast become great after having been little, if thou
hast become rich after having been poor, when thou art at the head of the city know how not to take advantage of the fact that thou hast reached the first rank, harden not thy heart because of thy elevation : thou art become only the steward of the good things of God. Put not behind thee the neighbor who is like unto thee ; be unto him as a companion.
Bend thy back before thy superior. Thou art attached to the palace of the king ; thy house is established in its fortune, and thy profits are as is fitting. Yet a man is annoyed at hav ing an authority above"himself, and passes the period of life in being vexed thereat. Do not plunder the house of thy neigh bors, seize not by force the goods which are beside thee. " Exclaim not then against that which thou hearest, and do not feel humiliated. It is necessary to reflect when one is hin dered by it that the pressure of authority is felt also by one's neighbor. 1
If thou aimest at polished manners, call not him whom thou accostest [loudly? ]. Converse with him especially in such a way as not to annoy him. Enter on a discussion with him only after having left him time to saturate his mind with the subject of the conversation. If he lets his ignorance display itself, and if he gives thee an opportunity to disgrace him, treat him with courtesy rather ; proceed not to drive him into a corner ; do
1 This sheds a curious light on the difficulties of early government. As in all times of feudal turbulence, the officers of State, chiefly great nobles, are aggrieved at the king's hindering them from laying hands on anything they choose.
PRECEPTS OF PTAH-HOTEP. 109
not [suggest ? ] the word to him ; answer not in a crushing manner ; crush him not ; worry him not ; in order that in his turn he may not return to the subject, but depart to the profit of thy conversation.
Let thy countenance be cheerful during the time of thy existence. When we see one departing from the storehouse who has entered in order to bring his share of provision, with his face contracted, it shows that his stomach is empty and that authority is offensive to him. Let not that happen to thee.
Recognize those who are faithful to thee when thou art in low estate. Thy merit then is worth more than those who did thee honor. Look only at that which is a man's own. That is of more importance than his high rank ; for this is a matter which passes from one to another. The merit of one's son is advantageous to the father, and that which he really is is worth more than the remembrance of his father's rank.
Distinguish from the workman the superintendent who di rects, for manual labor is little elevated ; the inaction of the hands is honorable. If a man is not in the evil way, that which places him there is the want of subordination to authority.
If thou takest a wife, let her be more contented than any of her fellow-citizens. She will be attached to thee doubly, if her chain is pleasant. Do not repel her ; grant that which pleases her ; it is to her contentment that she appreciates thy direction.
As for the man without experience who listens not, he effects nothing whatsoever. He sees knowledge in ignorance, profit in loss ; he commits all kinds of error, always accord ingly choosing the contrary of what is praiseworthy. He lives on that which is mortal.
Let thy thoughts be abundant, let thy mouth be under re straint, and thou shalt argue with the great. Put thyself in unison with the ways of thy master. Apply thyself while thou speakest ; speak only of perfect things.
Do that which thy master bids thee. What he tells us, let it be fixed in our heart ; to satisfy him greatly, let us do for him more than he has prescribed. Verily a good son [pupil], who does better than he has been told, is one of the gifts of God.
110 THE EGYPTIAN JUDGMENT DAY.
THE EGYPTIAN JUDGMENT DAY. (From the " Book of the Dead," edited by F. A. Wallis Budge. )
Though the chapters of the " Book of the Dead " represent beliefs belonging to various periods of the long life of the Egyptian nation, and opinions held by several schools of thought in Egypt, the object of them all was to benefit the deceased. They were intended to give him the power to have and to enjoy life everlasting, to give him everything which he required in the life beyond the grave, to insure his victory over his foes, to procure for him the power of going whither soever he pleased, and when and how he pleased, to preserve the mummy intact, and finally to enable his soul to enter into the bark of Ra or into whatever abode of the blessed had been conceived of by him.
The Judgment Scene consists of three parts : Introduction, Negative Confession, and Concluding Text. The Introduction was said by the deceased at the entrance to the Hall of double Maati, the Negative Confession was recited by him before the forty-two gods who sat in judgment upon him in this hall, and the Concluding Text was uttered by him when he had passed the ordeal of judgment and was beginning his new life.
