THE WISDOM OF OLD EGYPT 39 



foremen changed in the course of five thousand years 

 of " civilization." 



We must not, however, judge Egypt too narrowly 

 by our modern standards, which are the outcome of 

 so many thousands of years of experience. The 

 civilization of Egypt 3,000 b.c. was in most respects 

 better than the civilization of Europe a thousand years 

 ago. The great art of our Middle Ages had not 

 begun a thousand years ago, we must remember, 

 whereas there was wonderful art in Egypt in the age 

 of the pyramids. Portrait- statues, like the one 

 described above, were very numerous and artistic. 

 It was believed that a man had a "double" as well 

 as a body and a soul. This double lived with the 

 mummy in the tomb and might wander at night, so 

 a perfectly faithful statue of the dead man or woman, 

 in wood or stone, with life-like eyes of crystal or 

 enamel, was buried with the mummy in order that 

 the returning " double " might make no mistake. 

 The art displayed in these statues is of a very high 

 order, and the types of character are often just as 

 good. We have a statue of a noble, Ra-hotep, and 

 his wife, Nefert (" the Beautiful "), of about the year 

 3,000 b.c. When we remember that these statues 

 had to be strictly faithful portraits, we recognize that 

 the standard of character was high and refined. 



We have other proofs that from four to five 

 thousand years ago the standard of character was 

 much as it is to-day. On the tombs there are hiero- 

 glyphic inscriptions which show that the Egyptian 

 sacred book, The Book of the Dead, already existed. 

 Most of it is a rambling and absurd account of 

 the wandering of the soul, but Chapter CXXV (in 

 Budge's translation) tells us the ethical standards of 



