articles of daily use are covered with inscriptions. Even the rocks on
the river-bank are scribbled over by the generations who once passed
beside them. Already in the time of Menes the hieroglyphic system of
writing was fully developed, and before the end of the Third dynasty a
"hieratic" or running hand had been formed out of it. The more cumbrous
and picturesque hieroglyphics were reserved for engraving on wood or
stone or metal, or for the sacred texts; the ordinary book was written
in hieratic. The papyrus which grew in the marshes of the Delta was the
writing material, and in spite of its apparently fragile character, it
has been found to last as long as paper. When its use was at last
discontinued in the tenth century of our era, the cultivation of the
papyrus ceased also, and it became extinct in its ancient home.
Tradition, however, asserted that leather had been employed by the
scribe before papyrus, and in the time of Pepi of the Sixth dynasty a
description of the plan of the temple of Dendera was discovered
inscribed on parchment. Even in later ages leather was sometimes
employed.

Egyptian literature covered a wide field. Two of the oldest books that
have come down to us are the wise sayings of Qaqemna and Ptah-hotep, the
first of whom lived under the Third, the second under the Fifth dynasty.
They are moral treatises like the Proverbs of Solomon or the Discourses
of Confucius. Ptah-hotep already laments that men were not as they had
been. He had reached the age of a hundred and ten years, and had fallen
upon degenerate days. Perhaps he was right, for it would seem that the
examination system had already been introduced for the disposal of
official posts. Ptah-hotep's style, too, is involved and elaborate; he
writes for a _blasé_ circle of readers who can no longer appreciate
simplicity.