DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1035#0269
Chap. V.] THEIR SUBDIVISIONS. 231
caste. The second was composed of the military,
husbandmen, gardeners, huntsmen, boatmen, &c.
who may be comprehended under the general
denomination of peasants; in the third may be
reckoned the artificers, tradesmen, musicians,
builders, and carpenters; and in the fourth, the
pastors, poulterers, fishermen, labourers, servants,*
&c. Several of these were again subdivided,—
as for instance, pastors, into oxherds, shepherds,
goatherds, and swineherds. But considering them
under general heads, they may be called the four
castes of priests, peasants^ townsmen, and pastors
or common peoplcf
Every Egyptian was not only required to follow
the profession of his father (as were the Indians,
by the law of their country), but was obliged to
give an account to the magistrates of his mode of
life, and the employment by which he gained his
livelihood,—a false statement, or the discovery of
an unjust action, subjecting him to severe punish-
ment.J Scribes noted down their names, and after
* Many of them were employed in the service of the grandees;
but they appear also to have had a great number of white and
black slaves of both sexes.
t The Indian castes were,—1. The priests and philosophers;
2. Magistrates and soldiers; 3. Husbandmen and merchants;
and, 4. Artizans, labourers, and servants. I have placed the
soldiers with the peasants, on the authority of Diodorus.
X Diod. i. s. 17. 81. This is represented in the tombs; they
evidently did not spare the offenders. The peasants appear to
have been divided into hundreds, each with a peculiar banner,
which they followed when presenting themselves for this census.
The Jews also used the rod or stick, indiscriminately for either
sex, as the Egyptians.—Exod. xxi. 20, 21.
caste. The second was composed of the military,
husbandmen, gardeners, huntsmen, boatmen, &c.
who may be comprehended under the general
denomination of peasants; in the third may be
reckoned the artificers, tradesmen, musicians,
builders, and carpenters; and in the fourth, the
pastors, poulterers, fishermen, labourers, servants,*
&c. Several of these were again subdivided,—
as for instance, pastors, into oxherds, shepherds,
goatherds, and swineherds. But considering them
under general heads, they may be called the four
castes of priests, peasants^ townsmen, and pastors
or common peoplcf
Every Egyptian was not only required to follow
the profession of his father (as were the Indians,
by the law of their country), but was obliged to
give an account to the magistrates of his mode of
life, and the employment by which he gained his
livelihood,—a false statement, or the discovery of
an unjust action, subjecting him to severe punish-
ment.J Scribes noted down their names, and after
* Many of them were employed in the service of the grandees;
but they appear also to have had a great number of white and
black slaves of both sexes.
t The Indian castes were,—1. The priests and philosophers;
2. Magistrates and soldiers; 3. Husbandmen and merchants;
and, 4. Artizans, labourers, and servants. I have placed the
soldiers with the peasants, on the authority of Diodorus.
X Diod. i. s. 17. 81. This is represented in the tombs; they
evidently did not spare the offenders. The peasants appear to
have been divided into hundreds, each with a peculiar banner,
which they followed when presenting themselves for this census.
The Jews also used the rod or stick, indiscriminately for either
sex, as the Egyptians.—Exod. xxi. 20, 21.