invincible by the courage and experience which they acquire. § 74. There are also three other classes that enter into the political system of Egypt; those of the Shepherds, the Husbandmen, and the Artisans. The husbandmen, occupying, at a low rent, the arable land belonging to the king, and the priests, and the military, employ their whole time in cultivating it: and being educated from their infancy in agricultural pursuits, they are superior, from their experience, to the husbandmen of other countries: for they are perfectly well acquainted, partly from the knowledge derived from their ancestors, and partly from their own observation, with the nature of the soil, and its irrigation, and with the times and seasons for sowing and reaping, and for collecting all kinds of fruits. The same advantages are possessed by the shepherds, who receive the charge of the flocks from their forefathers as by inheritance, and pass their whole lives in the care of their cattle: and having derived much information from their ancestors, respecting the best modes of treatment and fattening of the different animals, they also add not a little from their own zeal and industry in their occupations: and, what is most remarkable, from their excessive refinement in these pursuits, the poulterers and geese feeders, besides the natural modes of breeding birds, which are common in other countries, have procured an infinite multitude of poultry by their own ingenuity: for they do not hatch their eggs by the incubation of the hens, but, by means of an artificial operation, derived from their own talents and invention, they are enabled to rival, if not to exceed, the activity of nature: and the arts in general are carried to a very elaborate degree of perfection by the Egyptians; for in this country no artist is allowed to meddle either with political affairs, or with any other employment, besides that which he has received from his parents, and to which he is confined by the law: so that neither the jealousy of a master, nor any public business, can ever divert him from the exclusive study of his profession: for in other countries we often observe that an artist is diverted by a variety of pursuits, and is too avaricious to confine himself to his own work; some employing themselves in husbandry, some in commerce, and some in two or three different arts at once; and in democratical countries, many are constantly frequenting popular assemblies, and doing mischief to the government, while they are receiving bribes from the leaders of parties: but among the Egyptians, if any artisan should meddle with politics, or should employ himself in any other concerns besides that in which he has been educated, a severe punishment would be inflicted on him. Such then were the institutions of the ancient Egyptians with regard to their public and private occupations.