MVATIIA, Sr., when represented as a martyr, is depicted crowned, with a long veil, and bearing the instruments of her cruel martyrdom, a pair of shears, with which her breasts were cut off. As patron saint, She bears in one hand a palm branch, and holding with the other a plate or salver, upon which is a female breast. The subject of her martyrdom has been treated by Sebastian del Piom bo, Van Dyck, Parmigiano, and others.
ACE, a certain period or limit of time, marked for the convenience of chronology and history by some remarkable events. Chronologers usually reckon seven such egos, namely, 1. From the creation to the deluge. 2. From the deluge to the birth of Abraham. 3. From the birth of Abraham to the departure Mille Israelites out of Egypt. 4. From the departure of the Israelites to the building of the tem ple by Solomon. 5. From the laying the foundation of the temple to the reign of Cyrus in Babylon. 6. From the reign
of Cyrus to the coming of Christ. 7. Since the birth of our Saviou•.—Among an cient historians, the duration of the world was also subdivided into three periods, or ages : the first, reaching from the creation to the deluge which happened in Greece during the reign of Ogyges, is called the obscure or uncertain age ; the second, called the fabulous or heroic, terminates at the first olympiad ; where the third, or historical age, commences. The poets also distinguished the period of the world into four ages : the golden age, or the age of simplicity and happi ness; the silver age, which was less pure than the gulden age, and in which men began to till the ground for their sus tenance ; the brazen age, when strife and contentions began; and the iron age, when ,jest ice and honor had left the earth.