The Saite school was, in fact, divided into two parties.

One sought inspiration in the past, and, by a return to the methods of the old Memphite school, endeavoured to put fresh life into the effeminate style of the day.

This it accomplished, and so successfully, that its works are sometimes mistaken for the best productions of the Fourth and Fifth Dynasties.

The other, without too openly departing from established tradition, preferred to study from the life, and thus drew nearer to nature than in any previous age.
This school would, perhaps, have prevailed, had Egyptian art not been directed into a new channel by the Macedonian conquest, and by centuries of intercourse with the Greeks.
[Illustration: Fig.

206 .-- Head of a scribe.