158 
phical writings such as is found, not on the 
pyramidion, but on the great faces of the obe- 
lisks. The famous inscription of Thebes, cited 
by Plutarch, and by Clement of Alexandria*, 
the only one, the explanation of which has 
reached us, expressed by the hieroglyphics of a 
child, an old man, a vulture, a fish, and a hippo- 
potamus, the following sentence : You who 
are born, and who are to die, know, that the 
Eternal hates impudence.” A Mexican, to express 
the same idea, would have represented the great 
spirit, Teotl, chastising a criminal ; certain cha- 
racters placed above two heads, would have 
been sufficient to indicate the age of the child, 
and that of the old man : he would have mdivi- 
dualized the action, but the style of his hierogly- 
phical paintings would not have furnished him 
with the means of giving a general expression to 
the sentiment of hatred and vengeance. 
According to the ideas which the ancients 
have transmitted to us of the hieroglyphical in- 
scriptions of the Egyptians, it is very probable, 
that they might have been read, as we read 
Chinese books. The collections, which we im- 
properly call Mexican manuscripts, contain a 
great number of paintings, which may be inter- 
* Plut. de Iside; ed. Par. 1624, Vol. 2, p. 363, F. Clem 
Alexand. Stromat. Yol. 5, c. 7, ed. Potter, Oxon, 1715, Vol. 
2, p. 670, Hn. 30. 
