Numbers determine the contents of every existing
thing; whatever is, is equal to its contents, numbers therefore are the
true being, the essence of all that is."

"In the name of Mithras, Darius, do leave off talking in that style,
unless you want to turn my brain," interrupted Zopyrus. "Why, to hear
you, one would fancy you'd been spending your life among these old
Egyptian speculators and had never had a sword in your hand. What on
earth have we to do with numbers?"

"More than you fancy," answered Rhodopis. "This theory of numbers
belongs to the mysteries of the Egyptian priests, and Pythagoras learnt
it from the very Onuphis who is now teaching you, Darius. If you will
come to see me soon, I will show you how wonderfully that great Samian
brought the laws of numbers and of the harmonies into agreement. But
look, there are the Pyramids!"

The whole party rose at these words, and stood speechless, gazing at the
grand sight which opened before them.

The Pyramids lay on the left bank of the Nile, in the silver moonshine,
massive and awful, as if bruising the earth beneath them with their
weight; the giant graves of mighty rulers. They seemed examples of
man's creative power, and at the same time warnings of the vanity and
mutability of earthly greatness. For where was Chufu now,--the king
who had cemented that mountain of stone with the sweat of his subjects?
Where was the long-lived Chafra who had despised the gods, and, defiant
in the consciousness of his own strength, was said to have closed the
gates of the temples in order to make himself and his name immortal by
building a tomb of superhuman dimensions?

[Herodotus repeats, in good faith, that the builders of the great
Pyramids were despisers of the gods. The tombs of their faithful
subjects at the foot of these huge structures prove, however, that
they owe their bad repute to the hatred of the people, who could not
forget the era of their hardest bondage, and branded the memories of
their oppressors wherever an opportunity could be found. We might
use the word "tradition" instead of "the people," for this it is
which puts the feeling and tone of mind of the multitude into the
form of history.]

Their empty sarcophagi are perhaps tokens, that the judges of the dead
found them unworthy of rest in the grave, unworthy of the resurrection,
whereas the builder of the third and most beautiful pyramid, Menkera,
who contented himself wit