§ CXXI. Twenty-second Capital. The Ages of Man; and the influence of the planets on human life.
First side. The moon, governing infancy for four years, according to Selvatico. I have no note of this side, having, I suppose, been prevented from raising the ladder against it by some fruit-stall or other impediment in the regular course of my examination; and then forgotten to return to it.
Second side. A child with a tablet, and an alphabet inscribed on it. The legend above is
“MECUREUs DNT. PUERICIE PAN. X.”
Or, “Mercurius dominatur pueritiæ per annos X.” (Selvatico reads VII.) “Mercury governs boyhood for ten (or seven) years.”
Third side. An older youth, with another tablet, but broken. Inscribed
“ADOLOSCENCIE * * * P. AN. VII.”
Selvatico misses this side altogether, as I did the first, so that the lost planet is irrecoverable, as the inscription is now defaced. Note the o for e in adolescentia; so also we constantly find u for o; showing, together with much other incontestable evidence of the same kind, how full and deep the old pronunciation of Latin always remained, and how ridiculous our English mincing of the vowels would have sounded to a Roman ear.
Fourth side. A youth with a hawk on his fist.