WORKS OF FICTION. 129 pen and brush of the satirist. The tale and romance, generally the vehicle for some religious doctrine, constituted a favorite branch of literature in the Ramessid age. The poet Enna has left us a novel, written more than 3,000 years ago for the amusement of the crown-prince, who afterward perished with his host in the Red Sea. It is entitled "the Tale of the Two Brothers," and is perhaps "the oldest fairy story in the world." It sets forth the rustic life of two devoted brothers; the false accusation of one by the wife of the other; the flight of the accused, after a warning given him by his faithful cattle; his pursuit by the elder brother, who is resolved to avenge the alleged outrage; the interference, in behalf of the innocent, of a god who creates between pursuer and pursued a stream full of crocodiles; and many strange adventures on the part of the fugitive, followed by the reunion of the brothers, the elevation of the younger to the throne of Egypt, and of the elder to the proud position of hereditary prince. Other works of fiction are "the Romance of Setna," showing the danger of appropriating sacred books; "the Tale of the Doomed Prince" (who, it was decreed by the Fates when they came to greet him at his birth, was to die by a serpent, a crocodile, or a dog); and "the Tale of the Garden of Flowers," illustrative of Egyptian social life. In the department of letter-writing, Egyptian literature was especially rich. There were also legal documents, histories, biographical sketches, and travels. Nor must fables be forgotten, in which the animals are represented as conversing, as in the following: THE LION AND THE MOUSE. MOUSE. "O Pharaoh! if you eat me, you will not be satisfied, your hunger will remain. Give me life as I gave it to you in the day of your straits, in your evil day. Remember the hunters; one had a net to catch you, and the other a rope. There was also a pit dug before the lion, he fell in and was a prisoner in the pit; he was pledged by his feet. Then came the little mouse opposite him, and released him. Now therefore reward me: I am the little mouse." Such is the literature which the sands of Egypt have yielded to modern research- -a literature which, itself of greater antiquity, furnished models even to the nations that we call ancient. While these later nations, judging from the remains that have thus far come to our knowledge, certainly improved on their masters in artistic finish and grandeur of conception, it must be remembered that we have not yet fully sounded the depths of Egyptian literature. We know not what masterpieces may still lie hid beneath the sand, or bear the mummy company in some undiscovered tomb. We are, indeed, justified in expecting greater works from the land that was the fount of Greek inspiration; the dayspring of knowledge to the Chosen People, in whose mysterious hieroglyphics perhaps Moses wrote the Pentateuch; whose religion bears in many points a strange analogy to ours; whose lasting structures are emblematic of the soul's immortality; and whose lotus-blossoms, reopening every morning, symbolize the resurrection. from the night of death. NOTES ON EGYPTIAN EDUCATION, ETC. Egyptian education in the hands of priests, who gave instruction in the schools of Thebes and Memphis to members of their own and the warrior caste. Religion, belles-lettres, science, and music, the branches taught; particular attention bestowed upon mathematical studies. The rudiments of education imparted to children by their parents or in common schools, and supplemented with a severe course of physical training. Reading and writing great accomplishments among the lower classes, who were generally unlearned. In the earliest periods, education recognized as the great agent of civilization; the proudest offices within reach of the scholar. No mention made of the education of women, but girls were doubtless fitted by some system of mental training for the public positions they were afterward allowed to fill. Manual labor despised by the aristocratic orders, who looked with contempt even upon painting and sculpture. Dancing, gymnastic exercises, games (one TABLE OF ORIENTAL LITERATURE. 131 like our chequers), fishing in preserves, spearing the hippopotamus from canoes, and hunting wild fowl in the marshes, favorite pastimes. Ladies present at the sports. A keen eye for humor manifested in the fondness of the Egyptians for caricature, from which even their representations of funeral ceremonies were not exempt. Gold rings and engraved gems used as currency. Precious stones carved with the sacred beetle of Egypt, the media of exchange throughout the Mediterranean countries. Meslay PART II. GRECIAN LITERATURE. CHAPTER I. BIRTH OF GRECIAN LITERATURE. Early Settlement of Greece.—While Chaldea and Assyria were rising to greatness, while Phoenicia was winning for herself maritime supremacy, and wonders in art and science were spreading the renown of Egypt throughout the earth, a simple agricultural people was quietly moving westward toward Greece and Italy. In very early times, Aryan tribes known as Pelasgic quitted their habitations in southwestern Bactria (Map, p. 15), and made their way through Persia and Mesopotamia into Asia Minor. Here, on rich table-lands irrigated by the head-waters of streams flowing into the Black Sea and the Mediterranean, among the gold-bearing mountains and vinegrown valleys of Phrygia (see Map), they cultivated their grain, pastured their sheep, made permanent settlements, and rapidly grew into a great nation. These Pelasgic tribes were the ancestors of the Greeks and Romans. The same general causes that led to emigration from the mother-country crowded toward the coast communities of this Phrygian people, and ultimately obliged them to seek new homes in the west. Perhaps, paddling from island to island in rude galleys, some crossed the Æge'an; perhaps, passing |