EDUCATION IN ANCIENT EGYPT. 775 



attained to higher offices than his humbler companions, there be- 

 ing certain offices open to him alone. But, with this single excep- 

 tion, the poor man's son could by efficiency accomplish the same 

 results as the rich man's and the prince's son. The only test was 

 efficiency, and this test was applied most rigidly and in a thor- 

 oughly democratic manner, giving all an equal chance. 



It was, furthermore, left entirely to the option of a young man 

 or his parents what occupation he should fit himself for. If the 

 father was a treasury official, a priest, or an officer, it did not 

 necessarily follow that the son should also be a treasury official, a 

 priest, or an officer ; nor yet, if the father was a merchant, me- 

 chanic, or farmer, did it necessarily follow that the son should 

 also be a merchant, mechanic, or farmer. In some families we 

 find several members in the government service ; while others, hav- 

 ing no titles, were private citizens engaged in civic pursuits. As 

 a further confirmation of this fact, we have a didactic poem, writ- 

 ten by a certain Daauf, in which he advises his son Pepy to be- 

 come a scribe — i. e., a government official. In this exceedingly 

 interesting poem he sketches the misery of all that are not in the 

 service. His sketches are of course prejudiced, as he seeks to in- 

 fluence his son to enter the government service ; but, nevertheless, 

 the poem plainly shows that the choice of occupation was left to 

 the young man. The poem closes with a couplet that was often 

 quoted in later writings : 



"Lo, there is no class that is not governed ; 

 Only the scribe ; he is a governor ! " 



The Egyptians were stem utilitarians, and thus they esteemed 

 learning, not for its own sake, but merely for the practical advan- 

 tages it conferred upon its happy possessor. They were not intel- 

 lectualists and idealists, like the ancient Greeks, nor yet were they 

 seekers after truth, like our modern scholars. They were practi- 

 cal men, and sought to attain learning for practical ends. They 

 devoted themselves to their studies in order to fit themselves for 

 the government service. They argued much in the line of Daauf 's 

 old poem. The burden of all they have written on the subject is 

 always the same : The scribe alone is free ; he need do no manual 

 labor, but leads a pleasant and agreeable life; the government 

 provides for him. And, then, to think of all the honors he may 

 attain to ! The diligent scribe is sure to rise, and may even gain 

 princely rank. But to attain this he must be diligent. " Work, 

 work, study, study, grind, grind," is also a continuous burden of 

 this class of writings. 



Boys intended for the government service entered the school 

 at a very early age. The course of instruction was very simple. 

 The first care of the teacher was to initiate the young scribe into 

 the mysteries of the art of writing. After he had mastered the 



