ul one, it is to you alone that I shall
owe it. Still, take this ring. It has never left my finger since I
quitted Egypt, and it has a significance far beyond its outward worth.
Pythagoras, the noblest of the Greeks, gave it to my mother, when he was
tarrying in Egypt to learn the wisdom of our priests, and it was her
parting gift to me. The number seven is engraved upon the simple stone.
This indivisible number represents perfect health, both to soul and body
for health is likewise one and indivisible.

[Seven, the "motherless" number, which has no factor below ten.]

The sickness of one member is the sickness of all; one evil thought,
allowed to take up its abode within our heart, destroys the entire
harmony of the soul. When you see this seven therefore, let it recall my
heart's wish that you may ever enjoy undisturbed bodily health, and long
retain that loving gentleness which has made you the most virtuous, and
therefore the healthiest of men. No thanks, my father, for even if I
could restore to Croesus all the treasures that he once possessed, I
should still retrain his debtor. Gyges, to you I give this Lydian lyre;
let its tones recall the giver to your memory. For you, Zopyrus, I have a
golden chain; I have witnessed that you are the most faithful of friends;
and we Egyptians are accustomed to place cords and bands in the hands of
our lovely Hathor, the goddess of love and friendship, as symbols of her
captivating and enchaining attributes. As Darius has studied the wisdom
of Egypt and the signs of the starry heavens, I beg him to take this
circlet of gold, on which a skilful hand has traced the signs of the
Zodiac.

[Diodorus (I. 49.) tells, that in the tomb of Osymandyas (palace of
Rameses II. at Thebes) there lay a circle of gold, one ell thick and
365 ells in circumference, containing a complete astronomical
calendar. The circle of the zodiac from Dendera, which is now in
Paris,--an astronomical ceiling painting, which was believed at the
time of its discovery to be of great age, is not nearly so ancient
as was supposed, dating only from the end of the Ptolemaic dynasty.
Letronne was the first to estimate it correctly. See Lepsius,
Chron. p.63. and Lauth, 'les zodiaques de Dendera'. Munich 1865.]

And lastly, to my dear brother-in-law Bartja I commit the most precious
jewel in my possession--this amulet of blue stone. My sister Tachot hung
it round my neck as I kissed her on