230 
NOTES. 
c 
You have also observed, that the Fishes of the 
Egyptian zodiac are accompanied by a hog, an animal 
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 
seem not to know, that it is always represented 
by a human figure bearing a pair of scales, as the ear 
of wheat is borne 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 i* 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- 
travius 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 %v)Aa/, 
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. Germanic us, 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 by chelm. He made use of the 
word libra; and we find, that Virgil, Manilius, Vitru- 
vius, Hyginus, Macrobius, Festus-Avienus, &c., all 
posterior to the conquest of Egypt, speak also of the 
Balance. The same may be said of Ptolemy and 
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