406 i HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



quity. What could be more indecent than the Eletifi- 

 nian feafts which the Greeks made, or thofe which the 

 Romans celebrated in honour of Venus, in the calends 

 of April, and above all others thofe very obfcene games 

 which they exhibited in honour of Cybele, Flora, Bac- 

 chus, and other fuch faife deities ? What rite could be 

 more obfcene than that which was obferved on the ilatue 

 of Priapus, among the nuptial ceremonies ? How could 

 they celebrate the feftivals of fuch inceftuous and adul- 

 terous gods but with fuch obfcene practices ? How was 

 it poffible they fhould have been alhamed of thofe vices 

 which they faw fan&ioned by their own divinities ? 



It is true, that although nothing obfcene mingled with 

 the rites of the Mexicans, fome of them were luch, as 

 on the fuppofition of the Divinity of their gods would 

 have been very indecent, namely that of anointing the 

 lips of the idols with the blood of the victims : but would 

 it not have been more indecent to have given them blows, 

 as the Romans gave the goddefs Matuta at the Matral 

 feafts ? Confidering the error of both, the Mexicans 

 were certainly more rational by giving their gods a li- 

 quor to tafte which they imagined was acceptable to them, 

 than the Romans by executing an action upon their god- 

 defs which has been efteemed highly infulting among all 

 nations of the world. 



What wehavefaid hitherto, though fufficient to mew 

 that the religion of the Mexicans was lefs exceptionable 

 than that of the Romans, Greeks, or Egyptians, we are 

 fenfible that the comparifon between them ought not to 

 have been folely with refpecl: to the above articles, but 

 rather with refpecl: to the nature of their facrifices. We 

 confefs, that the religion of the Mexicans was bloody, 

 that their facrifices were mod cruel, and their aufterities 



beyond 



