Till
now a severe unromantic Hellenist, he held Egyptology in some contempt;
and for Egypt, except in so far as it illustrated the art of Greece or
remained a treasure-house for Greek manuscripts, his distaste was only
surpassed by that of the Prophet Isaiah. A bias so striking in the
immortal Herodotus is hardly shared by your modern encyclopaedist. While
the science of Egyptology and its adepts command rather awe and wonder
than sympathy from the uninitiated, who keep their praises for the more
attractive study of Greek art. Yet some of us still turn with relief
from the serene material masterpieces of Greece, soulless in their very
realism and truth of expression, to the vague and happily unexplained
monsters, the rigid gods and hieratic princes, who are given new names by
each succeeding generation. A knowledge that behind painted masks and
gilded, tawdry gew-gaws are the remains of a once living person gives
even the mummy a human interest denied to the most exquisite handiwork of
Pheidias.
Professor Lachsyrma at present felt only the impossibility of a situation
that would have been difficult for many a weaker man to face. Humiliation
overwhelms the strongest. Modern agencies for the concealment of a body
having failed to suggest themselves, he must needs fall back on the
despised expedient of Egypt. Palaeography and Greek art were obviously
useless in the present instance. He understood at last why deplorable
people wanted to abolish Greek from the University curriculum.
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