214 



on the covers of the Etruscan cinerary urns. It 

 appears, that the intention of expressing' with 

 more precision and exactness the features of this 

 principal part was the motive, with ignorant 

 artists, to enlarge it to such a degree of exagge- 

 ration. 



I proceed to another observation, which sug- 

 gested itself to me from the examination and ex- 

 planation of one of the hieroglyphic paintings I 

 have just cited, and on which you have read a 

 memoir to our class. The four destructions of 

 the world are there represented (Plate 26). 

 You compare these periods to the four ages of 

 the mythology of the Greeks ; and as you find 

 five ages of the world in the traditions of the 

 Aztecks, you endeavour to make this difference 

 disappear, by proving, that the age of brass in 

 Hesiod may easily be divided into two, on ac- 

 count of the two generations which the poet 

 there describes (vol. xiv, p. 31). I would observe, 

 that Hesiod, as well as the Aztecks, counted five 

 ages, reckoning, like them, that which was not 

 yet consummated, and in which he lived. He 

 says in express terms (Opera et Dies, v. 174.) 



Mv)K£t' litin uiQethov eyd tts^touji fxsTsTmi. 



fi Oh why did Fate ordain me to be among the men of 

 the fifth asp !'" 



