Strabo limits them to three, the military, husbandmen, and priests; and Plato* divides them into six bodies, the priests, artificers, shepherds, huntsmen, husbandmen, and soldiers; each peculiar art, or occupation, he observes, being confined to a certain subdivision of the caste, and every one engaged in his own branch, without interfering with the occupation of another: as in India and China, where the same trade or employment is followed in succession by father and son.

From the statements above noticed, the exact number of classes into which the Egyptians were divided appears uncertain; but as there is reason to conclude that some authors have subdivided the main castes into several of their minor branches, while others have been contented with the collective divisions, I shall endeavour to point out (as I have already had occasion to do in a former work†) the four great comprehensive classes, and the principal subdivisions of each.

The first caste was the sacerdotal order; the second, the soldiers and peasants, or agricultural class; the third was that of the townsmen; and the fourth, the plebs, or common people. The first was composed of the chief priests or pontiffs ‡, as well as minor priests of various grades belonging to dif ferent deities, prophets, judges, hierophants, magistrates, hierogrammats or sacred scribes, basilico

*Plato in Timæo, near the beginning.

+ Egypt and Thebes, p. 230.

"Each deity has several priests and a high-priest." Herod. ii. 37.

grammats or royal scribes, sphragista *, hierostoli + or dressers and keepers of the sacred robes, doctors, embalmers, hierophori ‡, pterophori §, præcones, who appear to have been the same as the pastophoril, keepers of the sacred animals T, hierolaotomi or masons of the priestly order, sacred sculptors and draughtsmen, beadles, sprinklers of water, and amouuot, mentioned by Hesychius, who drove away the flies with chowries, and several inferior functionaries attached to the temples.

The second was divided into the military, farmers, husbandmen, gardeners, huntsmen, boatmen, and others : the third consisted of artificers, tradesmen, shopkeepers, musicians, builders, carpenters, masons, sculptors, and probably potters, public weighers**, and notaries; and in the fourth may be reckoned pastors, poulterers, fowlers, fishermen, labourers, servants, and, generally speaking, the common people. Many of these were again subdivided, as the artificers and tradesmen, according to their peculiar trade or occupation, and as the

*Plutarch (de Isid. s. xxxi.) says the Sphragista were a class of priests whose office was to examine the victims, and to put a seal upon them, previous to their being sacrificed. Vide Herod. ii. 38.

† Plutarch. de Is. s. iii. "Those who have access to the adytum to clothe the statues of the gods." Rosetta stone.

The bearers of sacred emblems in the religious processions. Those who bore the flabella and fans in the processions in which the statues of the gods were carried.

|| Bearers of the small statues, or shrines, of the gods. Vide Diod. i. 29.

¶ Herod. ii. 68. "There are certain persons, both men and women, whose business it is to take care of the sacred animals, and of each peculiar species: it is an honourable employ meut, and the son succeeds his father in the office."

** The Gabbúneh of the present day : who are also public scribes.

pastors, into oxherds, shepherds, goatherds, and swineherds; which last were, according to Herodotus, the lowest grade, not only of the class but of the whole community, since no one would either marry their daughters or establish any family connection with them; and so degrading was the occupation of tending swine, that they were looked upon as impure, and were even forbidden to enter a temple without previously undergoing a purification. Herodotus, indeed, affirms*, "they could not enter a temple;" and the prejudices of the Indians against this class of persons almost justify our belief of the historian.

In my division of the Egyptian castes I have been guided by Diodorus, and have classed the soldiers with the husbandmen; though, I confess, to have placed them in a caste by themselves appears preferable, or with the magistrates who were not priests, as among the Hindoos. If they really were a class of the same caste as the peasants, that class must have ranked far above the others, and have been almost as distinct as a separate caste; nor did the fact of their occasionally following agricultural pursuits reflect upon them any disgrace: and in like manner, a Hindoo soldier, or even a brahmin, may cultivate land without the fear of reproach.

Among the Indians are four castes: 1. Brahmins; 2. Cshatriyas; 3. Vaisyas; 4. Sudras. The first is taken from the mouth, the organ of the intellectual part; the second, from the arms, or

Herod. ii. 47.

defending part; the third, from the thigh, or supporting part; and the fourth, from the feet, or labouring part: comprising the priests and philosophers, the magistrates and soldiers, the husbandmen and merchants, and the artizans, labourers, and common people. Some ancient authors, among whom is Megasthenes, divide the Indians differently; and as it is interesting to compare his account of the ancient Indian system with that of the Egyptians, I shall here introduce it.*

According to Megasthenes, the whole population of India is distributed into seven castes; among which, that of the philosophers is held in estimation as the first, notwithstanding their number is the smallest.

Whenever any one sacrifices, or prepares the feasts of the dead in private, it is usual for him to make use of the service of one of them; but the kings publicly gather them together in an assembly, which is called synod, held at the commencement of each new year, in the gatet of the king, where all the philosophers assemble, in order that whatever useful information they have collected relative to the increase of the fruits and animals, or to the state, may be produced in public. And it is a law, that if any among them be three times convicted of falsehood, he shall be doomed to silence during life: but the upright, they release from tax and tribute. The second division is the

*From Strabo, lib. xv. Cory. p. 216.

This is an oriental expression. Thus "the Sublime Porte." Conf. Psalm cxxvii, 5. and c. 4. Ruth, iv. 1. Deut. xxi, 19.

caste of the agriculturists, who are the most numerous and worthy. They pursue their occupation free from military duties and fear; neither concerning themselves with civil, public, or any other business; and it often happens that, at the same time and place, the military class is arrayed and engaged with an enemy, whilst the agricultural population, depending upon the other for protection, plough and dig without any sort of danger; and since the land is all held of the king, they cultivate upon hire, paying a rent of one fourth of the produce.

The third caste is that of the shepherds and huntsmen, whose sole occupation is hunting, grazing, and selling cattle, for which they give a premium and stipend: and for clearing the land of wild beasts and birds which destroy the grain, they are entitled to a portion of corn from the king, and lead a wandering life, dwelling in tents.

After the huntsmen and shepherds, the fourth race is that of the innholders, artisans, and bodily labourers of all kinds; of whom some bring tribute, or, instead of it, perform stated service in the public works. But the manufacturers of arms and builders of ships are entitled to pay and sustenance from the king, as they labour only for him. The keeper of the military stores gives out arms to the soldiers, and the governor of the docks lets ships for hire to the sailors and merchants.

The fifth caste is the military, who, when disengaged, spend the rest of their time at ease in stations properly provided by the king; in order