towards Capricorn, and the days gradually di- 
minish, they vv^ere accustomed to sorrow from 
the apprehension, that the Sun was to abandon 
them entirely. This epocha coincided with the 
festival of Isis : but when the orb began to re- 
appear, and the duration of the days grew longer, 
they robed themselves in white garments, and 
crowned themselves with flowers 
£are(poLWi(p6oVi<7ay) '' On reading this passage of 
Achilles Tatius, we think we peruse what 
Gomara and Torquemada relate respecting the 
festival of the Mexican jubilee. In the same 
manner in the work of Sextus Empiricus f 
against the astrologers, we find as it were the 
description of the symbolical figure :J:, which we 
have engraved in plate 15th, from the manu- 
script preserved at Veletri. In every nation on 
Earth superstitious ideas assume the same form 
at the rise and fall of civilization ; and it is on 
account of this analogy, that it is difficult to dis- 
tinguish what has been communicated from 
country to country, and what man has drawn 
from an interior source. ^ 
* Dupuis, Mem. explicatif du Zodiaque, 1806, page 145, 
+ Sext. Erapir, contra Matbem., lib. 5, (ed. Stephan., 
tom. 3,,p. 187). Firmicus, lib. 2, c. 27, (ed. Aid. Manut. 
1503, fol. 105). Origen. contra Celsum, lib. 8, c. 55, (ed. 
Delarne, 1733 tom.) 1, page 783. 
See above, page 206, PI, 15. 
