Rest and numerical order

Meaning

Rest concludes a numerical riddle in which sevens, three, and a separately mentioned half organize cities, metals, days, letters, words, places, herbs, arts and stones. To say that all earthly things rest within the precious number gives number a comprehensive ordering function. It is not a plain instruction to leave an apparatus idle for a specified interval. The English preserves both the broad 'all things' and the warning against hurrying a half. Neither the list nor its ending securely decodes the riddle into an operational timetable; the word expresses containment and repose within an enigmatic order.