230 NOTES. 



" You have also observed, that the Fishes of the 

 Egyptian zodiac are accompanied by a hog, an anirnal 

 which in the zodiac of Thibet occupies the place of the 

 constellation of the Fishes ; and that Libra answers to 

 the Dragon of the Tartar zodiac ; the name of which 

 has its equivalent in Cohuatl, or serpent, the name of 

 one of the Mexican days. This sign of the Balance, 

 the antiquity of which has been so unreasonably 

 doubted, is found in the dodecatemorions of the In- 

 dians, and in their lunar houses, as well as in the 

 Egyptian zodiac. They who object, that it is not a 

 fyhov, seem not to know, that it is always represented 

 by a human figure bearing a pair of scales, as the ear 

 of wheat, is bome by the Virgin, and the vessel of 

 water by Aquarius. If the Balance were a sign added 

 by the Romans, who could have sculptured it at Ele- 

 phanta ? It is true, that, before the time of Augustus, 

 the Scorpion occupied the place of two signs by its 

 extent in the zodiac of the Greeks and Romans. Vi- 

 truvius is the first writer, in whom we find the word 

 Libra. Aratus, Eudoxus, Hipparchus, to denote the 

 sign of the Balance, had made use of the word %vjA#/, 

 which signifies claws of the Scorpion. But after the 

 conquest of Egypt by Julius Caesar, the Romans fre- 

 quently visited that country, where they no doubt ob- 

 served the Balance on the monuments, and adopted its 

 use. Germanicus, who, according to Tacitus, examined 

 the antiquities of Egypt, translated the poem of Ara- 

 tus, as Cicero had done ; but he did not like him ren- 

 der the word %v\kxi by chela. He made use of the 

 word libra ; and we find that Virgil, Manilius, Vitru- 

 vius, Hygiuus, Macrobius, Festus-Avienus, &c. all 

 posterior to the conquest of Egypt, speak also of the 

 Balance. The same may be said of Ptolemy and 



