still remain to us "lost arts." The wisdom of the
Egyptians was proverbial, and the great scholars of other countries made
pilgrimages to Egypt to study philosophy, literature, law, and science.

=The Caste System.=--The caste system existed also in Egypt, but in no
such strict sense as in India. The first and highest caste consisted of
the priests, who represented the learning and wealth of the country.
They owned one third of the land, upon which they paid no tax. They
held all the offices, were the surveyors, engineers, teachers,--indeed,
their caste alone furnished all the higher professions. They ruled the
land with an iron hand. Concerning their influence, Swinton says, "The
priests were the richest, most powerful, and most influential order. It
must not be supposed, however, that the modern word 'priest' gives the
true idea of this caste. Its members were not limited to religious
offices; they formed an order _comprising many occupations and
professions_. They were distributed all over the country, possessing
exclusively the means of reading and writing, and the whole stock of
medical and scientific knowledge. Their ascendency, both direct and
indirect, over the minds of the people was immense, for they prescribed
that minute religious ritual under which the life of every Egyptian, not
excepting the king himself, was passed."[15]

The second caste consisted of the military class, who also belonged to
the nobles. There was freer intercourse between the two higher castes
than was possible in the Hindu system. It was not uncommon to find
brothers belonging to different castes. Ampere found an inscription on a
monument mentioning one son as a priest, another as governor of a
province, and a third as superintendent of buildings. To each member of
this caste was assigned a parcel of land (six and one half acres), which
also was free from taxation. These two higher castes were especially
privileged, and the gulf between them and the lower castes was very
wide.

The third, or _unprivileged_ caste was subdivided into three orders: (1)
the farmers and boatmen; (2) the mechanics and tradespeople; and (3) the
common laborers. Between these, also, there were bonds of common
interest, though a decided difference between the orders was recognized.

The caste system may be outlined as follows:--

{ I. _Priests_, who represented the learning and wealth and
{ ruled the land.
{
Egy