Flax dedicated to death and corruption
A prophecy-like prose on linen, beside two small geometric figures
The main text is a moralizing prose passage declaring flax dedicated to the death and corruption of mortals: to death through the snares and nets made for birds, beasts and fish, and to corruption through the linen shrouds in which the buried dead decay. It adds that flax cannot be freed from its stalk until it has begun to steep and rot, making it a fit ornament for funeral rites. Set within the writing are two small geometric figures labelled with the numbers 5, 3 and 42.
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Flax, emblem of death and decay
Flax is called the servant of death and corruption: of death through the snares and nets that take birds, animals and fish, and of corruption through the linen cloths that wrap and rot with the buried dead. Since flax cannot be parted from its stalk until it steeps and rots, the passage makes it the fitting ornament of funeral rites.
Two geometric figures in the text
Set among the lines of writing are two small geometric figures: a graduated line with a triangle and a pair of circles crossed by lines. They are labelled with the numbers 5, 3 and 42.