ts to write either
reclining on the kline, with the leaf resting on the bent leg, or
sitting in a low arm-chair, in which case the writing apparatus was
supported by the knee of the writer. The latter posture is exemplified
by a reading ephebos in a vase-painting; it was, undoubtedly, also
that of the boys sitting on the rising steps used as forms at the
schools. After his elementary education was completed, the boy was
made acquainted with the works of national poetry, particularly with
the poems of Homer, the learning by heart and reciting of which
inspired him with patriotic pride.

Of the marriage contracts of the Egyptians we are entirely ignorant,
nor do we even find the ceremony represented in the paintings of their
tombs. We may, however, conclude that they were regulated by the
customs usual among civilized nations; and, if the authority of
Diodorus can be credited, women were indulged with greater privileges
in Egypt than in any other country. He even affirms that part of the
agreement entered into at the time of marriage was, that the wife
should have control over her husband, and that no objection should be
made to her _commands_, whatever they might be; but, though we have
sufficient to convince us of the superior treatment of women among the
Egyptians, as well from ancient authors as from the sculptures that
remain, it may fairly be doubted if those indulgences were carried to
the extent mentioned by the historian, or that command extended beyond
the management of the house, and the regulation of domestic affairs.

It is, however, remarkable that the royal authority and supreme
direction of affairs were entrusted without reserve to women, as in
those states of modern Europe where the Salic law has not been
introduced; and we not only find examples in Egyptian history of
queens succeeding to the throne, but Manetho informs us that the law,
according this important privilege to the other sex, dated as early as
the reign of Binothris, the third monarch of the second dynasty.

In primitive ages the duties of women were very different from those
of later and more civilized periods, and varied of course according to
the habits of each people. Among pastoral tribes they drew water, kept
the sheep, and superintended the herds as well as flocks. As with the
Arabs of the present day, they prepared both the furniture and the
woolen stuffs of which the tents themselves were made, ground the
corn, and performed othe