192 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XII. 



and to this may, perhaps, be added, from Sanco- 

 niatho, the three sons of Genus, 



Flame." 



Kosmos, beauty, or- 

 der, or the world ; 



lid, and the third, 

 Offspring, 



e of I Production, 

 generation, J 

 " Of these three, intelligence, matter, and 

 Kosmos,*^ he says, " universal nature may be con- 

 sidered to be made up, and there is reason to con- 

 clude that the Egyptians were wont to liken this 

 nature to what they called the most beautiful and 

 perfect triangle, the same as Plato himself does in 

 that nuptial diagram he has introduced into his 

 Commonwealth. Now in this triangle, which is 

 rectangular, the perpendicular is imagined equal 

 to 3, the base to 4, and the hypothenuse to 5. In 

 which scheme the perpendicular is designed to re- 

 present the masculine nature, the base the femi- 

 nine, and the hypothenuse, the offspring of botli ; 

 and accordingly, the first will apply to Osiris, or 

 the prime cause ; the second, to Isis the receptive 

 power ; and the last, to Orus, or the effect of the 

 other two. For three is the first number composed 

 of even and odd ; four is a square, whose side is equal 



* Pint, tie Is. s. oG. 



