In another of these tombs were discovered the wonderful statues of Ra-hotep and his beautiful wife Nefert, which are now in the museum at Boulak. Ra-hotep was a prince, very likely a son of Senefru, who died young; he was a captain in the army, and chief priest of Ra, at On. These, the most ancient known statues in the world, are ‘marvels of life-like reality.’ The Egyptians always excelled in portrait sculpture; the figures may be stiff and ill-drawn, but the faces are beyond doubt truthful and characteristic likenesses. Men of learning were held in honour at the court of these early Pharaohs, as well as architects and sculptors. But the literature of those days may be said to have perished. Portions of it, enshrined in the sacred writings, have survived, and there is, besides, one venerable manuscript of the time of the fifth dynasty, which has come down to us. It is called the _Maxims of Ptah-hotep_ and is the oldest manuscript known. The writer was a prince by birth, and a governor; he lived to be more than a hundred years old, and after a long and varied experience of life, when the infirmities of old age had come upon him, he recorded, for the use and benefit of all, the teaching of that serene and simple wisdom which is never new and never old—such as the following:— ‘A good son is the gift of God.’ ‘If thou art a wise man, bring up thy son in the love of God.’ ‘If any one bears himself proudly, he will be humbled by God, who gave his strength.’ ‘If thou hast become great after having been lowly, and art the first in thy town; if thou art known for thy wealth, and art become a great lord—let not thy heart grow proud because of thy riches, for it is God who was the author of them for thee. Despise not another who may be as thou once wast; be towards him as towards thine equal.’ ‘With the courage that knowledge gives, discuss with the ignorant as with the learned. Good words shine more than the emerald, which the hand of the slave finds on the pebbles.’ ‘He who obeys not does really nothing; he sees knowledge in ignorance, virtue in vices; he commits daily and boldly all sort of crimes, and lives as if he was dead. What others know to be death, is his daily life.’ ‘God lives through all that is good and pure.’ And he concludes:— ‘Thus shalt thou obtain health of body and the favour of the king, and pass the years of thy life without falsehood. I am become one of the ancients of the earth. I have passed 110 years of life—fulfilling my duty to the king, and I have continued to stand in his favour.’