the example of the gods. Osiris had married his sister; Khem was "the
Bull of his mother". The Egyptian novelettes are full of indecency and
immorality, and Egyptian travellers describe their amours very much in
the spirit of Ferdinand, Count Fathom; moreover, the complacency with
which each Egyptian declares himself on his tomb to have possessed every
virtue, and to have been free from all vices, is most remarkable. "I was
a good man before the king; I saved the population in the dire calamity
which befell all the land; I shielded the weak against the strong; I did
all good things when the time came to do them; I was pious towards my
father, and did the will of my mother; I was kind-hearted towards my
brethren ... I made a good sarcophagus for him who had no coffin. When
the dire calamity befell the land, I made the children to live, I
established the houses, I did for them all such good things as a father
does for his sons."

And, notwithstanding all this braggadocio, performance seems to have
lagged sadly behind profession. Kings boast of slaying their unresisting
prisoners with their own hand, and represent themselves in the act of
doing so. They come back from battle with the gory heads of their slain
enemies hanging from their chariots. Licentiousness prevailed in the
palace, and members of the royal harem intrigued with those who sought
the life of the king. A belief in magic was general, and men endeavoured
to destroy or injure those whom they hated by wasting their waxen
effigies at a slow fire to the accompaniment of incantations. Thieves
were numerous, and did not scruple even to violate the sanctity of the
tomb in order to obtain a satisfactory booty. A famous "thieves'
society," formed for the purpose of opening and plundering the royal
tombs, contained among its members persons of the sacerdotal order.

Social ranks in Egypt were divided somewhat sharply. There was a large