DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4668#0146
128 The Mystery of the Heavens. [Ch.
more than admiration. And the various
adjustments of the kalendar appear to he
regarded as if they were odds and ends of
time left littering about the heavens by the
sun and moon, and requiring an ingenious
astronomer—like Sosigenes—to fold together
and put away tidily.
Very different from this narrow and un-
gracious spirit was the joyous temper where-
with the Egyptian " Mystery-Teachers of the
Heavens" regarded those sacred intervals.
Throughout the symbology of that country,
life was the centre, the circumference, the
totality of good. Life was the sceptre in the
hand of Amen ; life was the richest " gift of
Osiris." " Be not ungrateful to thy Creator,"
says the sage Ptah-Hotep, in what is perhaps
the oldest document in existence ; " for he
has given thee life." " I am the Fount of
Light," says the Creator in the Eitual. " I
pierce the darkness. I make clear the path
for all ; the Lord of Joy." By them
more than admiration. And the various
adjustments of the kalendar appear to he
regarded as if they were odds and ends of
time left littering about the heavens by the
sun and moon, and requiring an ingenious
astronomer—like Sosigenes—to fold together
and put away tidily.
Very different from this narrow and un-
gracious spirit was the joyous temper where-
with the Egyptian " Mystery-Teachers of the
Heavens" regarded those sacred intervals.
Throughout the symbology of that country,
life was the centre, the circumference, the
totality of good. Life was the sceptre in the
hand of Amen ; life was the richest " gift of
Osiris." " Be not ungrateful to thy Creator,"
says the sage Ptah-Hotep, in what is perhaps
the oldest document in existence ; " for he
has given thee life." " I am the Fount of
Light," says the Creator in the Eitual. " I
pierce the darkness. I make clear the path
for all ; the Lord of Joy." By them