THE GREAT PYRAMID, WITHOUT THE SURFACE STONE.
They said that after him, Mycerinus, son of Cheops, reigned over Egypt; that the conduct of his father was displeasing to him; and that he opened the temples, and permitted the people, who were worn down to the last extremity, to return to their employments, and to sacrifices; and that he made the most just decisions of all their kings. On this account, of all the kings that ever reigned in Egypt, they praise him most, for he both judged well in other respects, and moreover, when any man complained of his decision, he used to make him some present out of his own treasury and pacify his anger. To this beneficent Mycerinus, the beginning of misfortunes was the death of his daughter, who was his only child; whereupon he, extremely afflicted, and wishing to bury her in a more costly manner than usual, caused a hollow wooden image of a cow to be made and covered with gold, into which he put the body of his deceased daughter. This cow was not interred in the ground, but even in my time was exposed to view in the city of Sais, placed in the royal palace, in a richly furnished chamber. They burn near it all kinds of aromatics every day, and a lamp is kept burning by it throughout each night.
The cow is covered with a purple cloth, except the head and the neck, which are overlaid with very thick gold; and the orb of the sun imitated in gold is placed between the horns. The cow is kneeling; in size equal to a large, living cow.
SECTION OF THE GREAT PYRAMID.
After the loss of his daughter, a second calamity befell this king: an oracle reached him from the city of Buto, importing, "that he had no more than six years to live, and should die in the seventh." Thinking this very hard, he sent a reproachful message to the god, complaining, "that his father and uncle, who had shut up the temples, and paid no regard to the gods, and moreover had oppressed men, had lived long; whereas he who was religious must die so soon." But a second message came to him from the oracle, stating, "that for this very reason his life was shortened, because he had not done what he ought to have done; for it was needful that Egypt should be afflicted during one hundred and fifty years; and the two who were kings before him understood this, but he did not." When Mycerinus heard this, and saw that this sentence was now pronounced against him, he ordered a great number of lamps to be made, which were lighted whenever night came on, and he drank and enjoyed himself, never ceasing night or day, roving about the marshes and groves, wherever he could hear of places most suited for pleasure. He had recourse to this artifice for the purpose of convicting the oracle of falsehood, that by turning the nights into days, he might have twelve years instead of six.
This king also left a pyramid, but much smaller than that of his father, being on each side twenty feet short of three plethra; it is quadrangular, and built half way up of Ethiopian stone.
After Mycerinus, the priests said, that Asychis became king of Egypt, and that he built the eastern portico to the temple of Vulcan, which is by far the largest and most beautiful in its wealth of sculptured figures and infinite variety of architecture. This king, being desirous of surpassing his predecessors, left a pyramid, as a memorial, made of bricks; on which is an inscription carved on stone, in the following words: "Do not despise me in comparison with the pyramids of stone, for I excel them as much as Jupiter, the other gods. For by plunging a pole into a lake, and collecting the mire that stuck to the pole, men made bricks, and in this manner built me."