But it looks as though the
lands of the Bear had great destinies assigned to them. Their
numbers are four and three, like those of the Hunter. Three
represents the Divine with its attributes, four denotes the most
perfect possible: three and four together form the mysterious number
seven. To gods sacrifices are offered with the unequal number, three;
to men, with the equal number four.
"This is about all that I have cursorily understood of the secrets
of the sky. If you now wish to understand some of the secrets of the
earth, let us consider the tombs of the Pharaohs. These, apart from their
ostensible purposes of being tombs, have also a hidden one
--_i.e._ to conceal in their numbers and proportions the discoveries
of the learned regarding the mutual relations of Sibus and Nuits. In
the first place, the sepulchre of the Pharaohs, or the Pyramid,
operates with the numbers four and three; the base with four, the
sides with three. That was indeed one of the secrets of the sky. But
the base of the Great Pyramid is 365 ells broad. There you have the
365 days of the year. Now the triple side of the Pyramid is 186
great ells, or a stadium long. There you see where our road-measures
come from.
"If you multiply the breadth of the base with the number 500, which
is about double the breadth measured in great ells, you obtain a
length which is equivalent to 1/360 of the whole orbital path of the
sun in a year, since the number of days in a lunar year is 360.
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