TRANSLATION OF THE INSCRIPTION. 49 source of all perfection. This admirable being, is he not the Tri- une, the true Lord without beginning, Oloho?* " He divided the world by a cross into four parts. After having decomposed the primordial air, he gave birth to the two elements."!" ' : Chaos was transformed, and then the sun and the moon ap- peared. He made the sun and the moon move! t0 produce day and night. He elaborated and perfected the ten thousand things §; but in creating the first man, he endowed him with perfect interior har- mony. He enjoined him to watch over the sea of his desires. His nature was without vice, and without error ; his heart, pure and simple, was originally without disorderly appetites. "2. But Sa-Than propagated lies, and stained by his malice that which had been pure and holy. || He proclaimed, as a truth, the equality of greatness, and upset all ideas. This is why three hundred and sixty-five sects% lending each other a mutual support, formed a long chain, and wove, so to speak, a net of law. Some put the creature in the place of the Eternal, others denied the existence of beings, and destroyed the two principles. Others instituted prayers and sacrifices to obtain good fortune ; others proclaimed their own sanctity, to deceive mankind. The minds of men laboured, and were filled with anxiety ; aspirations towards the supreme good were trampled down ; thus perpetually floating about, they attained to nothing, and all went from bad to worse.** The darkness thick-
- This name, foreign to the Chinese language, is evidently a
translation of Eloha, the true name of God in Syriac. t The Yn and the Yang, which play sj great a part among Chinese philosophers.
Modern astronomy has shown that it is the movement of the
sun, which draws after it that of the earth. It would be curious if this fact were known to the author of the inscription. § Wan-ou, ten thousand things, is the Chinese expression for the totality of created beings. || This expression is obscure, but it seems to us that it is meant to indicate the Indian and Chinese pantheism. ^J" This number, which corresponds with the days of the year, ex- presses, according to the genius of the Chinese language, a gi'eat multitude, an uninterrupted series.
- Literally, the boiled meat turned to roast.
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