a high standard of moral action; and undoubtedly the Egyptians had a
code of morality that will compare favourably with that of most ancient
nations. It has been said to have contained "three cardinal
requirements--love of God, love of virtue, and love of man." The hymns
sufficiently indicate the first; the second may be allowed, if by
"virtue" we understand justice and truth; the third is testified by the
constant claim of men, in their epitaphs, to have been benefactors of
their species. "I was not an idler," says one; "I was no listener to the
counsels of sloth; my name was not heard in the place of reproof ... all
men respected me; I gave water to the thirsty; I set the wanderer on his
path; I took away the oppressor, and put a stop to violence." "I myself
was just and true," writes another: "without malice, having put God in
my heart, and being quick to discern His will. I have done good upon
earth; I have harboured no prejudice; I have not been wicked; I have
not approved of any offence or iniquity; I have taken pleasure in
speaking the truth.... Pure is my soul; while living I bore no malice.
There are no errors attributable to me; no sins of mine are before the
judges.... The men of the future, while they live, will be charmed by my
remarkable merits." And another: "I have not oppressed any widow; no
prisoner languished in my days; no one died of hunger. When there were
years of famine, I had my fields ploughed. I gave food to the
inhabitants, so that there was no hungry person. I gave the widow an
equal portion with the married; I did not prefer the rich to the poor."

The moral standard thus set up, though satisfactory, so far as it went,
was in many respects deficient. It did not comprise humility; it
scarcely seems to have comprised purity. The religious sculptures of the
Egyptians were grossly indecent; their religious festivals were kept in
an indecent way; phallic orgies were a part of them, and phallic orgies
of a gross kind. The Egyptians tolerated incest, and could defend it by