883 
carried the new fire from village to village, to 
the distance of fifteen or twenty-leagues ; it was 
deposited in every temple, whence it was distri- 
buted to every private dwelling. When the 
Sun began to appear on the horizon, the accla- 
mations redoubled. The procession went back 
from the mountain of Iztapalapan, to the city ; 
and the people thought that they beheld their 
gods return to their sanctuaries. The women 
were then released from prison ; every one put 
on new dresses, and the thirteen intercalary days 
were employed in cleansing the temples, in 
whitening the walls, in renewing their house- 
hold furniture, their plate, and whatever else was 
necessary for domestic use. 
This secular festival, this apprehension of see- 
ing the fifth sun extinguished at the epoch of the 
winter solstice, seems to present a new instance 
of analogy between the Mexicans and the in- 
habitants of Egypt. Achilles Tatius in his 
commentary on Aratus, has preserved the follow- 
ing account, which Scaliger thinks is borrowed 
from the Octaeterides of Eudoxus. When the 
Egyptians saw the Sun descend from the Crab 
* Achil, Tat., Isag. in Phsenom., c. 23, (Petavius dc 
Doctr. Temp,, 1703, tom* 3 , p. 85). Scalig., Adnot. ad 
Manil. Astron., lib. 1, v. 69, p. 85. See also the French 
translation of the Tetters of Count Carli, tom, 1, page 398, 
note 1. 
