30 



According to the system of the Mexicans, the 

 four great revolutions of nature are caused by 

 the four elements ; the first catastrophe is the 

 annihilation of the productive faculty of the 

 earth : the three others are owing to the action of 

 fire, air, and water. After each destruction man- 

 kind was regenerated, and all of the ancient race 

 that did not perish were transformed into birds, 

 into monkeys, or into fish. These transforma- 

 tions remind us also of the traditions of the East : 

 but in the system of the Hindoos, the ages, or 

 yougas, are all terminated by inundations; and in 

 that of the Egyptians * the cataclysms alternate 

 with conflagrations, and men save themselves 

 sometimes on the mountains, and at other times 

 in the valleys. We should wander from our sub- 

 ject, were we here to explain the small local re- 

 volutions, which took place at various periods in 

 the mountainous parts of Greece -f* ; and discuss 

 the well-known passage of the second book of 

 Herodotus, which has so much exercised the sa- 

 gacity of commentators. It appears almost cer- 

 tain, that this passage does not relate to apoca- 



* Timreus, cap. 5, (Platon. Oper., 1578, ed. Serra?i. } t. 3, 

 p. 22).: De Legih., lib. iii, (Op. omn., t. ii, p. 676-G79): 

 Origines contra Celsum, lib. i, c. 20; lib. iv. c. 20 (ed. Dela- 

 rue, p. 338 & 514). 



t Arist. Meteor., lib, i, c. 14 (Qp. omn. ed. Duval, 1639, 

 p. 770). 



