family, like
those in Moslem countries at the present day, and not only ranked next
to the wives and children of their lord, but probably enjoyed a share
of the property at his death.

These women were white or black slaves, according to the countries
from which they were brought; but, generally speaking, the latter were
employed merely as domestics, who were required to wait upon their
mistress and her female friends. The former, likewise, officiated as
servants, though they of course held a rank above the black slaves.

The same custom prevailed among the Egyptians regarding children, as
with the Moslems and other Eastern people; no distinction being made
between their offspring by a wife or any other woman, and all equally
enjoying the rights of inheritance; for, since they considered a child
indebted to the father for its existence, it seemed unjust to deny
equal rights to all his progeny.

In speaking of the duties of children in Egypt, Herodotus declares,
that if a son was unwilling to maintain his parents he was at liberty
to refuse, but that a daughter, on the contrary, was compelled to
assist them, and, on refusal, was amenable to law. But we may question
the truth of this statement; and, drawing an inference from the
marked severity of filial duties among the Egyptians, some of which we
find distinctly alluded to in the sculptures of Thebes, we may
conclude that in Egypt much more was expected from a son than in any
civilized nation of the present day; and this was not confined to the
lower orders, but extended to those of the highest ranks of society.
And if the office of fan-bearer was an honorable post, and the sons of
the monarch were preferred to fulfill it, no ordinary show of humility
was required on their part; and they walked on foot behind his
chariot, bearing certain insignia over their father during the
triumphal processions which took place in commemoration of his
victories, and in the religious ceremonies over which he presided.

It was equally a custom in the early times of European history, that a
son should pay a marked deference to his parent; and no prince was
allowed to sit at table with his father, unless through his valor,
having been invested with arms by a foreign sovereign, he had obtained
that privilege; as was the case with Alboin, before he succeeded his
father on the throne of the Lombards. The European nations were not
long in altering their early habits, and this custom soon