No More Learning

The fruit trees wore their studded coronal,
Earth and her children were at festival, — Glowing as with one heart and one consent Thought, love, trees, rocks, in sweet warm radiance
blent.
a
is,
;
I
:
a
is
it,
THE LEGEND OF JUBAL.
The tribe of Cain was resting on the ground,
The various ages wreathed in one broad round.
Here lay, while children peeped o'er his huge thighs, The sinewy man embrowned by centuries ;
Here the broad-bosomed mother of the strong
Looked, like Demeter, placid o'er the throng
Of young lithe forms whose rest was movement too — Tricks, prattle, nods, and laughs that lightly flew, And swayings as of flower beds where Love blew.
For all had feasted well upon the flesh
Of juicy fruits, on nuts, and honey fresh,
And now their wine was health-bred merriment, Which through the generations circling went,
Leaving none sad, for even father Cain
JSmiled as a Titan might, despising pain.
abal sat climbed on by a playful ring
Of children, lambs, and whelps, whose gamboling, With tiny hoofs, paws, hands, and dimpled feet,
Made barks, bleats, laughs, in pretty hubbub meet.
But Tubal's hammer rang from far away,
Tubal alone would keep no holiday,
His furnace must not slack for any feast,
For of all hardship work he counted least ;
He scorned all rest but sleep, where every dream
Made his repose more potent action seem.
Yet with health's nectar some strange thirst was blent, The fateful growth, the unnamed discontent,
The inward shaping toward some unborn power,
Some deeper-breathing act, the being's flower.
After all gestures, words, and speech of eyes,
The soul had more to tell, and broke in sighs.
Then from the east, with glory on his head
Such as low-slanting beams on corn waves spread, Came Jubal with his lyre : there 'mid the throng, Where the blank space was, poured a solemn song, Touching his lyre to full harmonic throb
And measured pulse, with cadences that sob, Exult and cry, and search the inmost deep Where the dark sources of new passion sleep. Joy took the air, and took each breathing soul, Embracing them in one entranced whole,
Yet thrilled each varying frame to various ends, As Spring new-waking through the creature sends Or rage or tenderness ; more plenteous life
THE LEGEND OF JUBAL.
Here breeding dread, and there a fiercer strife.
He who had lived through twice three centuries,
Whose months monotonous, like trees on trees,
In hoary forests, stretched a backward maze,
Dreamed himself dimly through the traveled days
Till in clear light he paused, and felt the sun
That warmed him when he was a little one ;
Felt that true heaven, the recovered past,
The dear small Known amid the Unknown vast,
And in that heaven wept. But younger limbs
Thrilled toward the future, that bright land which swims In western glory, isles and streams and bays,
Where hidden pleasures float in golden haze.
And in all these the rhythmic influence,
Sweetly o'ercharging the delighted sense,
Flowed out in movements, little waves that spread Enlarging, till in tidal union led
The youths and maidens both alike long-tressed,
By grace-inspiring melody possessed,
Kose in slow dance, with beauteous floating swerve
Of limbs and hair, and many a melting curve
Of ringed feet swayed by each close-linked palm :
Then Jubal poured more rapture in his psalm,
The dance fired music, music fired the dance,
The glow diffusive lit each countenance,
Till all the gazing elders rose and stood
With glad yet awful shock of that mysterious good. Even Tubal caught the sound, and wondering came, Urging his sooty bulk like smoke-wrapt flame
Till he could see his brother with the lyre,
The work for which he lent his furnace fire —
And diligent hammer, witting naught of this
This power in metal shape which made strange bliss, Entering within him like a dream full-fraught
With new creations finished in a thought.
The sun had sunk, but music still was there,
And when this ceased, still triumph filled the air :
It seemed the stars were shining with delight
And that no night was ever like this night.
All clung with praise to Jubal : some besought
That he would teach them his new skill ; some caught, Swiftly as smiles are caught in looks that meet,
The tone's melodic change and rhythmic beat :
'Twas easy following where invention trod —
All eyes can see when light flows out from God.
THE LEGEND OF JUBAL.
And thus did Jubal to his race reveal
Music, their larger soul, where woe and weal
Filling the resonant chords, the song, the dance, Moved with a wider-winged utterance.
Now many a lyre was fashioned, many a song
Raised echoes new, old echoes to prolong,
Till things of Jubal's making were so rife,
" Hearing myself," he said, " hems in my life,
And I will get me to some far-off land,
Where higher mountains under heaven stand
And touch the blue at rising of the stars,
Whose song they hear where no rough mingling mars The great clear voices. Such lands there must be, Where varying forms make varying symphony — Where other thunders roll amid the hills,
Some mightier wind a mightier forest fills
With other strains through other-shapen boughs ! Where bees and birds and beasts that hunt or browse
I know not. Listening there, My life shall grow like trees both tall and fair
Will teach me songs
That rise and spread and bloom toward fuller fruit each year. "
He took a raft, and traveled with the stream Southward for many a league, till he might deem
He saw at last the pillars of the sky,
Beholding mountains whose white majesty
Rushed through him as new awe, and made new song That swept with fuller wave the chords along, Weighting his voice with deep religious chime,
The iteration of slow chant sublime.
It was the region long inhabiteJd
By all the race of Seth ; and
" Here have I found my thirsty soul's desire,
Eastward the hills touch heaven, and evening's fire Flames through deep waters ; I will take my rest, And feed anew from my great mother's breast,
The sky-clasped Earth, whose voices nurture me
As the flowers' sweetness doth the honeybee. "
He lingered wandering for many an age,
And, sowing music, made high heritage
For generations far beyond the Flood —
For the poor late-begotten human brood
Born to life's weary brevity and perilous good.
And ever as he traveled he would climb
The farthest mountain, yet the heavenly chime,
ubal said :
THE LEGEND OF JUBAL.
The mighty tolling of the far-off spheres
Beating their pathway, never touched his ears.
But wheresoe'er he rose the heavens rose,
And the far-gazing mountain could disclose
Naught but a wider earth ; until one height
Showed him the ocean stretched in liquid light,
And he could hear its multitudinous roar,
Its plunge and hiss upon the pebbled shore :
Then Jubal silent sat, and touched his lyre no more.
He thought, " The world is great, but I am weak,
And where the sky bends is no solid peak —
To give me footing, but instead, this main
Myriads of maddened horses thundering o'er the plain.
" New voices come to me where'er I roam,
My heart too widens with its widening home : But song grows weaker, and the heart must break For lack of voice, or fingers that can wake
The lyre's full answer ; nay, its chords were all Too few to meet the growing spirit's call.
The former songs seem little, yet no more
Can soul, hand, voice, with interchanging lore Tell what the earth is saying unto me :
The secret is too great, I hear confusedly.
" No farther will I travel : once again
My brethren I will see, and that fair plain
Where I and Song were born. There fresh-voiced youth Will pour my strains with all the early truth
Which now abides not in my voice and hands,
But only in the soul, the will that stands
Helpless to move. My tribe remembering
Will cry ' 'Tis he ! ' and run to greet me, welcoming. "
The way was weary. Many a date palm grew, And shook out clustered gold against the blue, While Jubal, guided by the steadfast spheres, Sought the dear home of those first eager years, When, with fresh vision fed, the fuller will Took living outward shape in pliant skill ;
For still he hoped to find the former things,
And the warm gladness recognition brings.
His footsteps erred among the mazy woods
And long illusive sameness of the floods,
Winding and wandering. Through far regions, strange
THE LEGEND OF JUBAL.
With Gentile homes and faces, did he range,
And left his music in their memory,
And left at last, when naught besides would free His homeward steps from clinging hands and cries, The ancient lyre. And now in ignorant eyes
No sign remained of Jubal, Lamech's son,
That mortal frame wherein was first begun
The immortal life of song. His withered brow Pressed over eyes that held no lightning now,
His locks streamed whiteness on the hurrying air, The unresting soul had worn itself quite bare
Of beauteous token, as the outworn might
Of oaks slow dying, gaunt in summer's light.
His full deep voice toward thinnest treble ran : He was the rune-writ story of a man.
And so at last he neared the well-known land, Could see the hills in ancient order stand
With friendly faces whose familiar gaze
Looked through the sunshine of his childish days ; Knew the deep-shadowed folds of hanging woods, And seemed to see the selfsame insect broods Whirling and quivering o'er the flowers — to hear The selfsame cuckoo making distance near.
Yea, the dear Earth, with mother's constancy, Met and embraced him, and said, " Thou art he ! This was thy cradle, here my breast was thine, Where feeding, thou didst all thy life entwine With my sky-wedded life in heritage divine. "
But wending ever through the watered plain,
Firm not to rest save in the home of Cain,
He saw dread Change, with dubious face and cold That never kept a welcome for the old,
Like some strange heir upon the hearth, arise Saying, " This home is mine. " He thought his eyes Mocked all deep memories, as things new made, Usurping sense, make old things shrink and fade And seem ashamed to meet the staring day.
His memory saw a small foot-trodden way,
His eyes a broad far-stretching paven road
Bordered with many a tomb and fair abode ;
The little city that once nestled low
As buzzing groups about some central glow,
Spread like a murmuring crowd o'er plain and steep,
THE LEGEND OF JUBAL.
Or monster huge in heavy-breathing sleep.
His heart grew faint, and tremblingly he sank Close by the wayside on a weed-grown bank,
Not far from where a new-raised temple stood, Sky-roofed, and fragrant with wrought cedar wood. The morning sun was high ; his rays fell hot
On this hap-chosen, dusty, common spot,
On the dry-withered grass and withered man : That wondrous frame where melody began
Lay as a tomb defaced that no eye cared to scan.
But while he sank far music reached his ear.
He listened until wonder silenced fear
And gladness wonder ; for the broadening stream
Of sound advancing was his early dream,
Brought like fulfillment of forgotten prayer;
As if his soul, breathed out upon the air,
Had held the invisible seeds of harmony
Quick with the various strains of life to be.
He listened : the sweet mingled difference
With charm alternate took the meeting sense ;
Then bursting like some shield-broad lily red,
Sudden and near the trumpet's notes outspread,
And soon his eyes could see the metal flower,
Shining upturned, out on the morning pour
Its incense audible ; could see a train
From out the street slow-winding on the plain
With lyres and cymbals, flutes and psalteries,
While men, youths, maids, in concert sang to these
With various throat, or in succession poured,
Or in full volume mingled. But one word
Ruled each recurrent rise and answering fall,
As when the multitudes adoring call
On some great name divine, their common soul,
The common need, love, joy, that knits them in one whole. The word was "Jubal ! " . . . "Jubal " filledthe air
And seemed to ride aloft, a spirit there,
Creator of the quire, the full-fraught strain
That grateful rolled itself to him again.
The aged man adust upon the bank —
Whom no eye saw — at first with rapture drank The bliss of music, then, with swelling heart, Felt, this was his own being's greater part,
The universal joy once born in him.
But when the train, with living face and limb
THE LEGEND OF JUBAL.
And vocal breath, came nearer and more near,
The longing grew that they should hold him dear ;
Him, Lamech's son, whom all their fathers knew,
The breathing Jubal — him, to whom their love was due. All was forgotten but the burning need
To claim his fuller self, to claim the deed
That lived away from him, and grew apart,
While he as from a tomb, with lonely heart,
Warmed by no meeting glance, no hand that pressed,
Lay chill amid the life his life had blessed.
What though his song should spread from man's small race Out through the myriad worlds that people space,
And make the heavens one joy-diffusing quire ? —
Still 'mid that vast would throb the keen desire
Of this poor aged flesh, this eventide,
This twilight soon in darkness to subside,
This little pulse of self that, having glowed
Through thrice three centuries, and divinely strowed
The light of music through the vague of sound,
Ached with its smallness still in good that had no bound.
For no eye saw him, while with loving pride Each voice with each in praise of Jubal vied. Must he in conscious trance, dumb, helpless lie While all that ardent kindred passed him by ? His flesh cried out to live with living men And join that soul which to the inward ken
Of all the hymning train was present there.
Strong passion's daring sees not aught to dare :
The frost-locked starkness of his frame low-bent, His voice's penury of tones long spent,
He felt not ; all his being leaped in flame
To meet his kindred as they onward came Slackening and wheeling toward the temple's face : He rushed before them to the glittering space,
And, with a strength that was but strong desire,
Cried, "lam Jubal, I
!
. . . I made the lyre !
"
The tones amid a lake of silence fell
Broken and strained, as if a feeble bell
Had tuneless pealed the triumph of a land
To listening crowds in expectation spanned. Sudden came showers of laughter on that lake ; They spread along the train from front to wake In one great storm of merriment, while he
THE LEGEND OF JUBAL.
Shrank doubting whether he could Jubal be,
And not a dream of Jubal, whose rich vein
Of passionate music came with that dream pain
Wherein the sense slips off from each loved thing
And all appearance is mere vanishing.
But ere the laughter died from out the rear,
Anger in front saw profanation near ;
Jubal was but a name in each man's faith
For glorious power untouched by that slow death
Which creeps with creeping time ; this too, the spot, And this the day, it must be crime to blot,
Even with scoffing at a madman's lie :
Jubal was not a name to wed with mockery.
Two rushed upon him : two, the most devout
In honor of great Jubal, thrust him out,
And beat him with their flutes. 'Twas little need ;
He strove not, cried not, but with tottering speed,
As if the scorn and howls were driving wind
That urged his body, serving so the mind
Which could but shrink and yearn, he sought the screen
Of thorny thickets, and there fell unseen.
The immortal name of Jubal filled the sky,
While Jubal lonely laid him down to die.
He said within his soul, " This is the end :
O'er all the earth to where the heavens bend
And hem men's travel, I have breathed my soul : I lie here now the remnant of that whole,
The embers of a life, a lonely pain ;
As far-off rivers to my thirst were vain,
So of my mighty years naught comes to me again.
" Is the day sinking ? Softest coolness springs From something round me : dewy shadowy wings Enclose me all around — no, not above —
Is moonlight there ? I see a face of love,
Fair as sweet music when my heart was strong : Yea — art thou come again to me, great Song ? "
The face bent over him like silver night
In long-remembered summers ; that calm light
Of days which shine in firmaments of thought, That past unchangeable, from change still wrought. And gentlest tones were with the vision blent :
He knew not if that gaze the music sent,
Or music that calm gaze : to hear, to see,
Was but one undivided ecstasy :
THE LEGEND OF JUBAL.
The raptured senses melted into one,
And parting life a moment's freedom won
From in and outer, as a little child
Sits on a bank and sees blue heavens mild
Down in the water, and forgets its limbs,
And knoweth naught save the blue heaven that swims.
" Jubal," the face said, "lam thy loved Past, The soul that makes thee one from first to last. I am the angel of thy life and death,
Thy outbreathed being drawing its last breath. Am I not thine alone, a dear dead bride
Who blest thy lot above all men's beside ?
Thy bride whom thou wouldst never change, nor take Any bride living, for that dead one's sake ?
Was I not all thy yearning and delight,
Thy chosen search, thy senses' beauteous Eight, Which still had been the hunger of thy frame
In central heaven, hadst thou been still the same ? — Wouldst thou have asked aught else from any god Whether with gleaming feet on earth he trod
Or thundered through the skies — aught else for share Of mortal good, than in thy soul to bear
The growth of song, and feel the sweet unrest
Of the world's spring-tide in thy conscious breast ? No, thou hadst grasped thy lot with all its pain,
Nor loosed it any painless lot to gain
Where music's voice was silent ; for thy fate
Was human music's self incorporate :
Thy senses' keenness and thy passionate strife
Were flesh of her flesh and her womb of life.
And greatly hast thou lived, for not alone
With hidden raptures were her secrets shown,
Buried within thee, as the purple light
Of gems may sleep in solitary night ;
But thy expanding joy was still to give,
And with the generous air in song to live,
Feeding the wave of ever-widening bliss
Where fellowship means equal perfectness.
And on the mountains in thy wandering
Thy feet were beautifu' as blossomed spring,
That turns the leafless wood to love's glad home,
For with thy coming Melody was come.
This was thy lot, to feel, create, bestow,
And that immeasurable life to know
TUBAL CAIN.
From which the fleshly self falls shriveled, dead, A seed primeval that has forests bred.
It is the glory of the heritage
Thy life has left, that makes thy outcast age : Thy limbs shall lie dark, tombless on this sod, Because thou shinest in man's soul, a god,
Who found and gave new passion and new joy That naught but Earth's destruction can destroy. Thy gifts to give was thine of men alone :
'Twas but in giving that thou couldst atone
For too much wealth amid their poverty. "
The words seemed melting into symphony, The wings upbore him, and the gazing song Was floating him the heavenly space along, Where mighty harmonies all gently fell Through veiling vastness, like the far-off bell, Till, ever onward through the choral blue,
He heard more faintly and more faintly knew, Quitting mortality, a quenched sun wave,
The All-creating Presence for his grave.
TUBAL CAIN. By CHARLES MACKAY.
Old Tubal Cain was a man of might,
In the days when the earth was young ;
By the fierce red light of his furnace bright, The strokes of his hammer rung ;
And he lifted high his brawny hand On the iron glowing clear,
Till the sparks rushed out in scarlet showers, As he fashioned the sword and the spear.
And he sang : " Hurrah for my handiwork ! Hurrah for the spear and the sword !
Hurrah for the hand that shall wield them well, For he shall be king and lord. "
To Tubal Cain came many a one,
As he wrought by his roaring fire,
And each one prayed for a strong steel blade As the crown of his desire ;
TUBAL CAIN.
And he made them weapons sharp and strong, Till they shouted loud for glee,
And gave him gifts of pearl and gold, And spoils of the forest free.
And they sang : " Hurrah for Tubal Cain, Who hath given us strength anew !
Hurrah for the smith, hurrah for the fire, And hurrah for the metal true ! "
But a sudden change came o'er his heart, Ere the setting of the sun,
And Tubal Cain was filled with pain For the evil he had done ;
He saw that men, with rage and hate, Made war upon their kind,
That the land was red with the blood they shed, In their lust for carnage blind.
And he said : " Alas ! that ever I made, Or that skill of mine should plan,
The spear and the sword for men whose joy Is to slay their fellow-man ! "
And for many a day old Tubal Cain Sat brooding o'er his woe ;
And his hand forebore to smite the ore, And his furnace smoldered low.
But he rose at last with a cheerful face, And a bright courageous eye,
And bared his strong right arm for work, While the quick flames mounted high.
And he sang : " Hurrah for my handiwork ! " And the red sparks lit the air ;
"Not alone for the blade was the bright steel made And he fashioned the first plowshare.
And men, taught wisdom from the past, In friendship joined their hands,
Hung the sword in the hall, the spear on the wall, And plowed the willing lands ;
And sang : " Hurrah for Tubal Cain ! Our stanch good friend is he ;
And for the plowshare and the plow To him our praise shall be.
But while oppression lifts its head, Or a tyrant would be lord,
Though we may thank him for the plow, We'll not forget the sword ! "
LIFE IN ANCIENT EGYPT. 85
LIFE IN ANCIENT EGYPT. By Canon RAWLINSON.
[George Rawldison : a noted English classical and Oriental scholar and historian, brother of the great explorer and scholar Sir Henry Rawlinson ; born in Oxfordshire, 1815 ; canon of Canterbury Cathedral. His monumental works are "Seven Great Oriental Monarchies" (1862-76), the great edition of Herod otus, with his brother and Sir J. Gardner Wilkinson, four volumes (1858-60), and "History of Egypt," two volumes (second edition 1881). He also wrote theological works and other histories, now superseded. ]
Iritisen, a statuary of the eleventh dynasty, had a monu ment prepared for himself, pronounced to be "one of the masterpieces of Egyptian sculpture. " He is represented upon it " holding in the left hand the long baton used by elders and noblemen, and in his right hand the pat or scepter. " In the inscription he calls himself the "true servant" of the king Mentu-hotep, "he who is in the inmost recess of his (i. e. the king's) heart, and makes his pleasure all the day long. " He also declares that he is "an artist, wise in his art—a man standing above all men by his learning. " Altogether, the mon ument is one from which we may reasonably conclude that Iritisen occupied a position not much below that of a noble, and enjoyed the personal acquaintance of the monarch in whose reign he flourished.
Musicians seem scarcely to have attained to the same level. Music was used, in the main, as a light entertainment, enhancing the pleasures of the banquet, and was in the hands of a pro fessional class which did not bear the best of characters. The religious ceremonies into which music entered were mostly of an equivocal character. There may perhaps have been some higher and more serious employment of it, as in funeral lamen tations, in religious processions, and in state ceremonies ; but on the whole it seems to have borne the character which it bears in most parts of the East at the present day — the char acter of an art ministering to the lower elements of human nature, and tending to corrupt men rather than to elevate them.
Dancing and music are constantly united together in the sculptures ; and the musicians and dancers must, it would seem, have been very closely connected indeed, and socially have ranked almost, if not quite, upon a par. Musicians,
86 LIFE IN ANCIENT EGYPT.
sometimes, as already observed, danced as they played ; and where this was not the case, dancers generally formed a part of the troupe, and intermixed themselves with the instrumental performers. 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
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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
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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
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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.
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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*
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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
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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
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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
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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.