"
The word I have translated "kneaded" is literally "drew;" in the
sense of drawing, for which the Latins used "duco;" and thus gave
us our "ductile" in speaking of dead clay, and Duke, Doge, or
leader, in speaking of living clay. As the asserted pre-eminence
of the edifice is made, in this inscription, to rest merely on the
quantity of labor consumed in it, this pyramid is considered, in
the text, as the type, at once, of the base building, and of the
lost labor, of future ages, so far at least as the spirits of
measured and mechanical effort deal with it; but Neith, exercising
her power upon it, makes it a type of the work of wise and
inspired builders.
NOTE III.
Page 29.
"The Greater Pthah."
IT is impossible, as yet, to define with distinctness the personal
agencies of the Egyptian deities. They are continually associated
in function, or hold derivative powers, or are related to each
other in mysterious triads, uniting always symbolism of physical
phenomena with real spiritual power. I have endeavored partly to
explain this in the text of the tenth Lecture here, it is only
necessary for the reader to know that the Greater Pthah more or
less represents the formative power of order and measurement he
always stands on a four-square pedestal, "the Egyptian cubit,
metaphorically used as the hieroglyphic for truth," his limbs are
bound together, to signify fixed stability, as of a pillar; he has
a measuring-rod in his hand, and at Philas, is represented as
holding an egg on a potter's wheel; but I do not know if this
symbol occurs in older sculptures.
Pages:
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213