ACE 



ten aj:<'S ; and, arconllnfr to Jofcphws, each age contained 

 600 years ; aiic! it appears by Virjjil's sth. eclogue, and by 

 otiier ttllinioiiits, that .ilie age of Aiiguihis was reputed the 

 tnd of thofc ten ages; aiid.confequciitly, as the period (f the 

 World's duration. The age of Augiiilus was appropriated 

 by the fenators in a petuliar manner to the time in which 

 this emperor lived. 



Other liillorians reckon from the creation to the taking 

 of Troy, 283c yeai-s ; and to the foundation of Rome, 

 3250; from tlie conqueft of Carthage, by Scipio, to Jefus 

 Chrill, 2CO ; from JelusChrift toConftantine, 312; and to 

 the re-c(liblilhmcnt of the empire of the Wcit:, 808 years. 



Thedenoihination of mit/dL- n'^f is applied by fome to the 

 fpace of time, wiiich commenced from Conilantine, and 

 ended witli the taking of Coniiantinople by the Turks, 

 in the 15th century; or, to the interval that elapfed be- 

 tween the fall of the wellern or Latin empire, near the 

 dofeof the fourth century, and that of the cafterii or Gre- 

 cian about the middle of the fifteenth, coniprelieiiding near 

 1000 years. Others date the miilJJe axe from tlie divilioii 

 of the empire by Theodofius, at the clofe of the fourth 

 centurv, and extend it to the time of the emperor Maxi- 

 milian!, at the beginning of the 1 6th century, when the 

 empire was fird divided into circles. But this feeins more 

 accommodated to the llate of Geimany in particular, than 

 to that of Europe in general. The nihl.Ue is by fome de- 

 nominated the barbarous age, and the latter part ot it the 

 lovjfft at'e. Some divide it into the non-acadcm'^caJ and aca- 

 dtmkal. The former comprehends the inter. al from the 

 6th to the 9th century, during which fchools or academies 

 were loll in Europe. The latter den-jtes the period from 

 the 9th century, when fchools were reftored, and univer- 

 fities ellabhdied, chiefly by the care of Charlemagne. 



Age, in the H'sjhry of Literature and the ylrts, is ap- 

 plied to a period peculiarly dilUnguiilicd by the cultivation 

 of learning, and the extraordinary produftlons of genius. 

 Accordingly learned men have marked out four or theie 

 happy ages. The iiril is the Grecian age, which com- 

 menced near the time of the Peloponnefian war, and ex- 

 tended till the time of Alexander the Great ; within which 

 period we have Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophon, So- 

 crates, Plato, Ariftotle, Demoilhenes, iEfchines, Lyfias, 

 Ifocrates, Pindar, iifchylus, Euripides, Sophocles, Arif- 

 tophanes, Menander, Anacreon, Theocritus, Lyfippus, 

 Apelles, Phidias, Praxiteles. The fecond is the Roman 

 age, included nearly within the days of Julius Cslar and 

 Auguilus; affording us, Catullus, Lucretius, Terence, Virgil, 

 Horace, TibuUus, Propcrtius, Ovid, Phiedrus, Cnefar, Cicero, 

 Livy, Salhift, Strabo, Dionyfius of HalicarnafTus, Varro, 

 and Vitruvius. This period, or at leall a confidcrable por- 

 tion of it, has been denominated by way ot eminence the 

 AiiguQan age, or the age of Ajiguflus, which has been re- 

 garded as the age of genius, elegance and politenefs. The 

 third age is that which followed the taking of Conftanti- 

 nople by Mahomet H., or that of the reftoration of learn- 

 ing, under the popes Julius IL and Leo X., which pro- 

 duced the foUowmg eminent charafters, wz. Ariofto, 

 TafTo, Sannazarius, Vida, Machiavel, Guicciardini, Da- 

 ■»2a, Erafmus, Paul Jovius, Michael Angclo, Raphael, 

 Titian. The fourth age comprehends that of Louis XIV. 

 and Queen Anne, when France was diflinguilhed by Cor- 

 Beille, Racine, De Retz, Moliere, Boileau, Fontaine, 

 RoufTeau, Bofluet, Feneion, Bourdaloue, Pafcal, Male- 

 branche, MaffiUoa, Brayere, Bayle, Fontenelle, Vertot ; 

 and when England exhibited Dryden, Pope, Addifon, 

 Prior, Swift, Pamell, Arbuthnot, Congreve, Otway, 

 y«ung, Rowe, Atterbury, Shaftlbury, Bolingbroke, Tillot- 



AGE 



fon, Temple, Boyle, Locke, Newton, Clarke. Thofc 

 who lived in the two firft of thefe periods are generally 

 dilUnguilhcd by the appellation of the antients, when a 

 comparifon is inftituttd between the antients and the mo. 

 derns, including alfo under the tiril clafs one or two wlui 

 lived in a more early age, as Plomcr in particular \ and the 

 moderns comprehend thofe who llourilhed in the two lalt 

 of the ages above-mentioned, including alio the eminent 

 writers down to our own times. Voltiire's Age of Louis 

 XIV. vol. i. p. I, &c. Blair's Ledlures on Rhetoric and 

 Belles Lettres, vol. iii. p. 4. 



There are othtr periods, which, on account of the extreme 

 ignorance that prevailed, have been denominated agis aiigno' 

 ranee. Such are the 9th, ic th, and I ith centuries, in the mo- 

 dern hittory of Europe ; when few kings and nobles, much Icfs 

 the common people, were able to write or read. Thele were 

 ages of flavery, civil and religious, as well as ignorance. 



A CI- of Mi'dals. See M L D A L . 



Age, in Horfeuiuiifiiip, forms a vei-y important branch 

 of knowledge, and cor.liih in be-.ig enabled to judge of the 

 progrcfs of a horfe's years from correfpondent alterations in his 

 bodv. The teeth are ufually examined for this purpofe, as 

 they exhibit in almoft all horles the fame changes in appear- 

 ance and form at Hated periods. Tliis becomes necelfary, 

 as there are but fev/ whole knowledge is fufficientlv cxten- 

 five to enable them to judge of the age by any other means ; 

 but where it can be done it is more ulcful than by this ordi. 

 nary mode ; for in this countiy, wheie horfes are ridden 

 very hard, and confequeiitly earlv ruined, it is not uncom- 

 mon to find a horfe at fix years old, feeble, debilitated, and 

 exhibiting all the marks of old age, except in his mouth ; oil 

 the contraiy, when the animal falls into other hands, at 

 10 or 12 he has all the vigour of youth, and his teeth are 

 the only parts that prefent an indication of age : it is there- 

 fore more ufeful to examine the general appearance of the 

 animal, than to be guided altogether by the marks in the 

 teeth ; for, provided the horfe has not been too early worked, 

 nor too hard rode, and has no natural nor accidental defects, 

 his nominal age ftiould be but a fecondary confideration. 

 It is the cuftom of iome excellent horfemen never to hunt 

 their horfes, till they are eight or nine years old, a period at 

 which other horfes are ufually refufed as aged, and unfit for 

 fatigue. — Horfes, when aged, ufually become hollow above 

 the eyes, the hoofs become rugged, the under lip falls, and 

 if grey, they become white. La Fofie, the younger, reca- 

 pitulates tlie appearances of the teeth nearly in the following 

 manner. — The horfe is foaled with fix molar or grinding teeth 

 in each jaw ; the tenth or twelfth day after the two front 

 nippers appear above and below, and in fourteen or fifteen 

 days From this, the two intermediate are pufhed out ; the 

 corner ones are not cut till three months after. At ten 

 months the incifive or nippers are on a level with each other, 

 the front lefs than the middle, and thefe again lefs than the 

 corners ; they at this time have a very fenfiblc cavity. At 

 twelve months this cavity becomes fraaller, and the animal 

 appears with four molar teeth on each fide, above and below, 

 three of the temporaneous or colts, and one permanent or 

 horfe tooth ; at eighteen the cavity in the nippers is filled 

 up, and there are five grinders, two of the horle, and three 

 temporaneous ; at two yea- s, the firft of the colts molar teeth 

 in each jaw, above and below, are difplaced. At two years 

 and a half, or three years, the front nippers fall and give 

 place to the permanent ones ; at three and a half the middle 

 nippers are hkewife removed, at which period the fecond 

 milk-molar falls ; at four years the hoiie is found with fix 

 molar teeth, five of his new fct, and one of his laft ; at four 

 years and a half the comer nippers of the colt fall and give 



plac« 



