Show RECENT FINDS OF PAPYRI Valuable Fragments Classical Literature Lit-erature Recovered It would seem that Egypt Is determined deter-mined to vindicate to her utmost extent her title of the land of letters While decipherers and explorers are restoring1 I to us the history and civilization of I thc most remote ages and jiving to the f chronicles of time Pharaohs a rcstoru tlve enlargement far beyond our wildest wild-est expectations other laborers are restoring re-storing to us the later chapters of her history when thc line of the Pnraohs had succumbed to the conquering Greek and Roman Thc second Instalment of OrocoEoman papyri from the explorations explor-ations at Ben liesa the ancient Oxy rhyncus carried out by Messrs Hunt nni Grenfcll Is rich In historical material ma-terial H i Is Indeed an astonishing revelation revela-tion of the literary activity in classic times In Egypt that some hundreds of manuscripts have been obtained from I the ruins of a small provincial town j 3n the Theblad From this little town 1 come classic fragments of all the best j known authors Euripides S Thucydldew Ploto Xonophon and an unknown work of Aristophanes If this wealth of literature was found In a minor center such as Oxyrhyncus what might we have hoped for had the tivas I mires of Alexandria been preserved Thc vast number of papyri both literary and official discovered during recent years in Middle Egypt and the Fayoum are alone proof of thc treasures destroyed de-stroyed by I the fanaticism of Omar The series of papyri now published do not contain such treasures as The Lo gla of Jesus or the new poem of Sap pho but we have a charming iragmont of a comedy of Monandcr of whluh little lit-tle more than the name tau extant until un-til now It Is called Perlkelromene or time Cropped Lady and relates to the story of a soldier who In a drunken 1H cut off the locks of his mistress The small fragment of the last act Is so pleasiivg that It is lo be hoped that more will be found For historical purposes pur-poses one of the most Important fragments frag-ments recovered Is a list of victors from B C 4SO46S and 45G14S The period embraced Is a rich one In literature lit-erature and art and thc new list will enable us to attain greater accuracy In fixing the dates of writing of the Olympian odes of Pindar and Bncchy lidos and of the sculptors Polycletus Myron and others a S If time llnd If Important In the additions addi-tions It affords to our knowledge of classical times It la still more Important Import-ant in the Insightll affords into the Innermost clrvles of domestic life The period covered by these documents namely the firut centuries before and after the Christian Era was one of great official activity and thus the number of legal documents Is great and the affairs of many families can be traced with minute accurac Theie Is a most Interesting series of documents docu-ments lelitllng to the domestic affairs i of a certain Tryphon a weaver of Oxyrhyncus Born in the year 8 A Dime D-ime married a woman named Demctrons but the union lasted but a short time for in about 34i A D we find him presenting pre-senting a petition thus worded to time courts 1 married Demelronn the daughter of IJeraelldes and for my part I provided for my wife in a manner man-ner that exceeded my resources But she became dissatisfied with our union and finally left the house currying off property belonging to inc5 He demands de-mands her punishment nnd the return of his property The real source of the trouble was thc t motherinlaw as In modern casts Having ridded himself of Demetrons the husband takes a new wife but asa as-a measure of caution only on trial for period apparently live months Thc new wife named Saroeus brings him a dowry of 40 drachmae of silver a robe and a pair of gold earrings and these or the equivalent value are to be returned re-turned at the end of time live months if the temporary union s not successful success-ful Soon after marriage trouble apr ap-r im In I the for un of the discarded 1 wife her mother and friends who assault the new bride and once more the affairs Tryphon 10 before the courts Punishment Pun-ishment being meted out the household house-hold is once rnorr in reace Fiom the newly discovered I records we can trace the history very clearly The pair lived together In happiness for at least twentythree years and two suns and a laughter were born the second son Thoonls In Cl A D and twelve yea 13 later was apprenticed to a weaver Jo learn the trade his fathers fath-ers eyesight having grown too dim to teach him All this tune the wife of Suraeus had not demanded the dowry which should have been returned to her after live months trial but seven years after there I se ms to have been a domestic crisis though only of a passing pass-ing nature and we llnd the dowry paid through a firm of local bankers 09S All family life does not appear to havo been quite I so binoolh as that of Tryphons household as the following Imeti t Ion of a wife shows The plulnlia I says I Syrn the daughter of Theon married Saraplon bringing him I by cession ces-sion dowry amounting to LOO drachmae of silver As he was destitute desti-tute of means I received him into my parents house and 1 for my part conducted con-ducted myself blamelessly In all respects re-spects But Saraplon having squandered squan-dered my dowry as lie pleased continually contin-ually 111irealed and Insulted HIP using violence toward me mind depriving me of the necessaries of life finally he deserted de-serted me leaving me In a stale of des lltutlon Although told some eighteen hundred years agothere is a very modern mod-ern aspect about the petition of Syra and It Is to he hoped she was well rid of the brute Some of the private letters are very quaint though we lack so rich a morsel as the letter of the boy Thcon in the first series Thus a writer breaks off In the middle of a letter relating lo a law case in Alexandria to ask Let me know about our bald headed friend how Ip his hair growing again on top In another letter the writer declares to his sister as a token of bympathy I have not washed for a month Wo mani ardrobe Was always a source of trouble Thun In a letter from Alexandria Alex-andria to his sister a writer says Many greetings and continued good health You havo not Kent me one word about the clothes either by letter or message they are still wailing for you until you scud mo word Such are but a few gleanings from these brown tattered tat-tered and torn papers which have lain for centuries beneath the sand of the Libyan desert to be at last reverently opened and read by those who prizo these records of the opening of our era and each to add Its quota to thc reconstruction recon-struction of time worlds history The work of the Egypt exploration fund lu this field of GrecoRoman iesearch has been rich In results and will we hope I still be continued with still gmiatei sue I I cesa London Globe |