however, one of these contented officials, more intelligent or ambitious than his fellows, succeeded in rising above the common mediocrity:  his fine handwriting, the happy choice of his sentences, his activity, his obliging manner, his honesty—­perhaps also his discreet dishonesty—­attracted the attention of his superiors and were the cause of his promotion.  The son of a peasant or of some poor wretch, who had begun life by keeping a register of the bread and vegetables in some provincial government office, had been often known to crown his long and successful career by exercising a kind of vice-regency over the half of Egypt.  His granaries overflowed with corn, his storehouses were always full of gold, fine stuffs, and precious vases, his stalls “multiplied the backs” of his oxen; the sons of his early patrons, having now become in turn his proteges, did not venture to approach him except with bowed head and bended knee.

No doubt the Amten whose tomb was removed to Berlin by Lepsius, and put together piece by piece in the museum, was a parvenu of this kind.  He was born rather more than four thousand years before our era under one of the last kings of the IIIrd dynasty, and he lived until the reign of the first king of the IVth dynasty, Snofrui.  He probably came from the Nome of the Bull, if not from Xois itself, in the heart of the Delta.  His father, the scribe Anupumonkhu, held, in addition to his office, several landed estates, producing large returns; but his mother, Nibsonit, who appears to have been merely a concubine, had no personal fortune, and would have been unable even to give her child an education.  Anupumonkhu made himself entirely responsible for the necessary expenses, “giving him all the necessities of life, at a time when he had not as yet either corn, barley, income, house, men or women servants, or troops of asses, pigs, or oxen.”  As soon as he was in a condition to provide for himself, his father obtained for him, in his native Nome, the post of chief scribe attached to one of the “localities” which belonged to the Administration of Provisions.  On behalf of the Pharaoh, the young man received, registered, and distributed the meat, cakes, fruits, and fresh vegetables which constituted the taxes, all on his own responsibility, except that he had to give an account of them to the “Director of the Storehouse” who was nearest to him.  We are not told how long he remained in this occupation; we see merely that he was raised successively to posts of an analogous kind, but of increasing importance.  The provincial offices comprised a small staff of employes, consisting always of the same officials:—­a chief, whose ordinary function was “Director of the Storehouse;” a few scribes to keep the accounts, one or two of whom added to his ordinary calling that of keeper of the archives; paid ushers to introduce clients, and, if need be, to bastinado them summarily at the order of the “director;” lastly, the “strong of voice,” the criers, who superintended the incomings and outgoings, and proclaimed the account of them to the scribes to be noted down forthwith.  A vigilant and honest crier was a man of great value.