And on the breast, wreathed round with
lotus-flowers, lay a large plate of gold closely written over with
sacred writing. I lifted up the plate, and, holding it to the light, I
read:
"I, Menkau-ra, the Osirian, aforetime Pharaoh of the Land of Khem, who
in my day did live justly and ever walked in the path marked for my feet
by the decree of the Invisible, who was the beginning and is the end,
speak from my tomb to those who after me shall for an hour sit upon my
Throne. Behold, I, Menkau-ra, the Osirian, having in the days of my life
been warned of a dream that a time will come when Khem shall fear to
fall into the hands of strangers, and her monarch shall have great need
of treasure wherewith to furnish armies to drive the barbarian back,
have out of my wisdom done this thing. For it having pleased the
protecting Gods to give me wealth beyond any Pharaoh who has been since
the days of Horus--thousands of cattle and geese, thousands of calves
and asses, thousands of measures of corn, and hundreds of measures of
gold and gems; this wealth I have used sparingly, and that which
remains I have bartered for precious stones--even for emeralds, the most
beautiful and largest that are in the world. These stones, then, I have
stored up against that day of the need of Khem. But because as there
have been, so there shall be, those who do wickedly on the earth, and
who, in the lust of gain, might seize this wealth that I have stored,
and put it to their uses; behold, thou Unborn One, who in the fulness
of time shalt stand above me and read this that I have caused to
be written, I have stored the treasure thus--even among my bones.
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