* The expression, “a man without a master,” occurs several times in the Berlin Papyrus, No. ii.  For instance, the peasant who is the hero of the story, says of the lord Miruitensi, that he is “the rudder of heaven, the guide of the earth, the balance which carries the offerings, the buttress of tottering walls, the support of that which falls, the great master who takes whoever is without a master to lavish on him the goods of his house, a jug of beer and three loaves” each day.

Any one might stop him on the way, steal his cattle, merchandise, or property on the most trivial pretext, and if he attempted to protest, might beat him with almost certain impunity.

[Illustration:  095.jpg WAR-DANCE PERFORMED BY EGYPTIAN SOLDIERS BEFORE A BATTLE]

     Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from the tomb of Khiti at Beni-
     Hasan.  These are soldiers of the nome of Gazelle.

The only resource of the victim was to sit at the gate of the palace, waiting to appeal for justice till the lord or the king should appear.  If by chance, after many rebuffs, his humble petition were granted, it was only the beginning of fresh troubles.  Even if the justice of the cause were indisputable, the fact that he was a man without home or master inspired his judges with an obstinate mistrust, and delayed the satisfaction of his claims.  In vain he followed his judges with his complaints and flatteries, chanting their virtues in every key:  “Thou art the father of the unfortunate, the husband of the widow, the brother of the orphan, the clothing of the motherless:  enable me to proclaim thy name as a law throughout the land.  Good lord, guide without caprice, great without littleness, thou who destroyest falsehood and causest truth to be, come at the words of my mouth; I speak, listen and do justice.  O generous one, generous of the generous, destroy the cause of my trouble; here I am, uplift me; judge me, for behold me a suppliant before thee.”  If he were an eloquent speaker and the judge were inclined to listen, he was willingly heard, but his cause made no progress, and delays, counted on by his adversary, effected his ruin.  The religious law, no doubt, prescribed equitable treatment for all devotees of Osiris, and condemned the slightest departure from justice as one of the gravest sins, even in the case of a great noble, or in that of the king himself; but how could impartiality be shown when the one was the recognized protector, the “master” of the culprit, while the plaintiff was a vagabond, attached to no one, “a man without a master”!

The population of the towns included many privileged persons other than the soldiers, priests, or those engaged in the service of the temples.  Those employed in royal or feudal administration, from the “superintendent of the storehouse” to the humblest scribe, though perhaps not entirely exempt from forced labour, had but a small part of it to bear.* These employes constituted a middle class