ss
but dangerous, and only fit to enervate the mind.(374)

Chapter V. Of Their Husbandmen, Shepherds, and Artificers.

Husbandmen, shepherds, and artificers, formed the three classes of lower
life in Egypt, but were nevertheless had in very great esteem,
particularly husbandmen and shepherds.(375) The body politic requires a
superiority and subordination of its several members; for as in the
natural body, the eye may be said to hold the first rank, yet its lustre
does not dart contempt upon the feet, the hands, or even on those parts
which are less honourable. In like manner, among the Egyptians, the
priests, soldiers, and scholars were distinguished by particular honours;
but all professions, to the meanest, had their share in the public esteem,
because the despising any man, whose labours, however mean, were useful to
the state, was thought a crime.

A better reason than the foregoing might have inspired them at the first
with these sentiments of equity and moderation, which they so long
preserved. As they all descended from Cham,(376) their common father, the
memory of their still recent origin occurring to the minds of all in those
first ages, established among them a kind of equality, and stamped, in
their opinion, a nobility on every person derived from the common stock.
Indeed the difference of conditions, and the contempt with which persons
of the lowest rank are treated, are owing merely to the distance from the
common root; which makes us forget that the meanest plebeian, when his
descent is traced back to the source, is equally noble with those of the
most elevated rank and titles.

Be that as it will, no profession in Egypt was considered as grovelling or
sordid. By this means arts were raised to their highest perfection. The
honour which cherished them mixed with every thought and care for their
improvement. Every man had his way of life assigned him by the laws, and
it was perpetuated from father to son. Two professions at one time, or a
change of that which a man was born to, were never allowed. By this means,
men became more able and expert in employments which they had always
exercised from their infancy; and every man, adding his own experience to
that of his ancestors, was more capable of attaining perfection in his
particular art. Besides, this wholesome institution, which had been
established anciently throughout Egypt, extinguished all irregular
ambition, and taught every man to sit down c