became
disregarded; but a respect for ancient institutions, and those ideas,
so prevalent in the East, which reject all love of change, prevented
the Egyptians from discarding the usages of their ancestors; and we
find this and many other primitive customs retained, even at the
period when they were most highly civilized.

In the education of youth they were particularly strict; and "they
knew," says Plato, "that children ought to be early accustomed to such
gestures, looks, and motions as are decent and proper, and not to be
suffered either to hear or learn any verses and songs, than those
which are calculated to inspire them with virtue; and they
consequently took care that every dance and ode introduced at their
feasts or sacrifices should be subject to certain regulations."

They particularly inculcated respect for old age; and the fact of this
being required even towards strangers, argues a great regard for the
person of a parent; for we are informed that, like the Israelites and
the Lacedaemonians, they required every young man to give place to his
superiors in years, and even, if seated, to rise on their approach.

Nor were these honors limited to their lifetime; the memory of parents
and ancestors was revered through succeeding generations; their tombs
were maintained with the greatest respect; liturgies were performed by
their children, or by priests at their expense; and we have previously
seen what advantage was taken of this feeling, in the laws concerning
debt.

"For of all people" says Diodorus, "the Egyptians retain the highest
sense of a favor conferred upon them, deeming it the greatest charm of
life to make a suitable return for benefits they have received;" and
from the high estimation in which the feeling of gratitude was held
among them, even strangers felt a reverence for the character of the
Egyptians.

Through this impulse, they were induced to solemnize the funeral
obsequies of their kings with the enthusiasm described by the
historian; and to this he partly attributes the unexampled duration of
the Egyptian monarchy.

It is only doing justice to the modern Egyptians to say that gratitude
is still a distinguishing trait of their character; and this is one of
the many qualities inherited by them, for which their predecessors
were remarkable; confirming what we have before stated, that the
general peculiarities of a people are retained, though a country may
be conquered, and nominally peop