44 THE WISDOM OF OLD EGYPT 



of the priests, and degenerated. By this time, how- 

 ever, some of the finest temples of Egypt had been 

 reared. The visitor to Egypt to-day is most of all 

 impressed by the remains of its solid and stately 

 temples, and feels that they convey to him something 

 of the severe dignity and strong religious sentiment 

 of the ancient people. In point of fact they nearly 

 all belong to the last section of Egyptian history. 

 The great temple at Luxor dates from about 1,400 B.C., 

 and most of the other notable temples are far later. 

 Egypt was, when the best of them were built, enter- 

 ing upon its decline. After the death of the reformer 

 Amenhetep IV (in 1358 b.c.) there followed a century 

 and a-half of mediocrity and stagnation, and then six 

 centuries of decay and disorganization. There was 

 a period of recovery from 663 to 525 b.c, and fine 

 new temples were raised, but the old spirit of Egypt 

 was exhausted. The stage of the world was occupied 

 by sturdy new powers — Assyrians, Persians, Greeks, 

 and finally Bomans — who were to carry on the work 

 of civilization. 



There is no such thing as a natural exhaustion, 

 a natural old age, of nations. That is an historical 

 fallacy that often conceals a most important truth. 

 We shall see in the case of every great civilization 

 noticed in this little work that the last phase was not 

 due to any internal law of decay. The catastrophe 

 was in every case brought on by warfare, imperialist 

 expansion and its inevitable recoil, and unsound 

 economic conditions. As we saw, Egypt became a 

 conquering nation on a large scale about 1,500 b.c. 

 There were " glorious triumphs." Whole countries 

 were annexed. But the strength of the nation was 

 poured out on foreign soil, and, as it weakened, the 



