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 muck exercised the sa- 
gacity of commentators. It appears almost cer- 
tain, that this passage does not relate to apoca- 
I 
* Timaeus, cap. 5, (Platon. Open, 1578, ed. Serran.^ t. 3, 
p. 22): De Legib., lib. iii, (Op. omn,, t. ii, p. 676—679): 
Origines contra Celsunif lib. i, c. 20 ; lib. iv. c. 20 (ed. Dela- 
rue, p. 338 & 514). 
t Arist. Meteor.^ lib. i, c, 14 {Op, omn, ed. Duval, 1639, 
p. 770). 
