hardest of stones were carved into living likenesses, or invested with a
dignity and pathos which it is difficult to match. Such at least was the
case with the statuary of the Old Empire, before the conventionalised
art of a later day had placed restrictions on the sculptor and stifled
his originality. The great statue of King Khaf-Ra of the Fourth dynasty,
seated on his throne with the imperial hawk behind his head, is carved
out of diorite, and nevertheless the sculptor has thrown an idealised
divinity over the face, which we yet feel to be a speaking likeness of
the man. The seated scribe in the Museum of Cairo, with his high
forehead, sparkling eyes, and long straight hair divided in the middle,
has a countenance that is the very ideal of intellectuality, and in the
wooden figure of the "Shêkh el-beled," we have an inimitable portrait of
the sleek and wealthy _bourgeois_ as he walks about his farm. All these
statues are older than the Sixth dynasty.

In disposition the Egyptian was remarkably kindly. He was affectionate
to his family, fond of society, and, alone among the nations of
antiquity, humane to others. His laws aimed at saving life and
reclaiming the criminal. Diodoros states that punishments were inflicted
not merely as a deterrent, but also with a view towards reforming the
evil-doer, and Wilkinson notices that at Medinet Habu, where the artist
is depicting the great naval battle which saved Egypt from the
barbarians in the reign of Ramses III., he has represented Egyptian
soldiers rescuing the drowning crew of an enemy's ship.

The Pharaoh derived his title from the Per-âa or "Great House" in which
he lived, and where he dispensed justice. The title thus resembles that
of the "Sublime Porte." Next to him, the priests were the most powerful
body in the kingdom; indeed, after the close of the struggle between
Khu-n-Aten and the priesthood of Thebes the latter obtained more and