promotes the law of Ormazd as much as if he offered a hundred sacrifices."

Avestan Philosophy.-The Avesta seems to recognize one eternal Supreme Being, infinite and omnipotent. This was Ormazd (Spiritual Wise One), whom Zoroaster invokes as the source of light and purity, "true, lucid, shining," all-perfect, allpowerful, all-beautiful, all-wise." Opposed to Ormazd was a principle of darkness and evil, called Ah'riman (Sinful-minded). The theory of evolution finds no support in the Avesta, which contains an account of the creation of the universe strikingly like that of Moses. Traditions of the fall of man through the falsehood of Ahriman, and of a universal deluge, are also handed down.

Zoroaster's mission was to exhort men to follow the right and forsake the wrong. "Choose one of these two spirits, the Good or the Base," he said; "you cannot serve both.” Again:

"Of these two spirits, the evil one chose the worst deeds; the Kind Spirit, he whose garment is the immovable sky, chose what is right; as they also do who faithfully please Ormazd by good works.

Hear with your ears what is best, perceive with your mind what is pure, so that every man may choose for himself his tenets before the great doom.

Let our mind, then, O bliss-conferring Truth! be there where wisdom abides. Let us be of those who further the well-being of mankind.

Then indeed will be the fall of pernicious Falsehood; but in the beautiful abode of the Good Spirit will be gathered forever those who dwell in good report.

O men! if you cling to these commandments which the Wise One has given, which are a torment to the wicked and a blessing to the righteous, then through them will you have the victory."

Like Buddha, the Persian reformer raised his voice against the priesthood, and the corruptions which had crept into the national religion. Devil-worship, which had come into vogue as a means of averting the evil supposed to be wrought by wicked spirits, he specially denounced, recognizing in sin the

cause of all human sorrow, and urging men to wage uncompromising warfare with the powers of darkness, relying for aid. on the Good Spirit. "Give offering and praise," says the Avesta, "to that Lord who made men greater than all earthly beings, and through the gift of speech created them to rule the creatures, as warriors against the evil spirits." Fire was invoked as the symbol of Divinity, and the sun as “the eye of Ormazd ;" but idolatry Zoroaster and his disciples abhorred. Ormazd was the rewarder of the good, the punisher of the bad. Those who obeyed him, and were "pure in thoughts, pure in words, pure in actions," were admitted at death into Paradise, "the House of the Angels' Hymns," where all was brightness: the wicked were consigned to a region of everlasting darkness and woe, "the House of Destruction." Of all the religions of human origin, Zoroaster's, though not free from superstition and cumbrous rites, approaches nearest to the truth. It was gladly accepted by the people, and did much to elevate them and improve their condition. We have thrown into verse the following

HYMN TO ORMAZD.

Praise to Ormazd, great Creator,
He it was the cattle made;
Lord of purity and goodness,

Trees and water, sun and shade.
Unto him belongs the kingdom,
Unto him the might belongs;
Unto him, as first of beings,
Light-creator, float our songs.

Him we praise, Aburian Mazda,
With our life and bodies praise;
Purer than the purest, fairest,

Bright through never-ending days.
What is good and what is brilliant,
That we reverence in thee-

Thy good spirit, thy good kingdom,
Wisdom, law, and equity.

Persian Inscriptions. In a flower-clad plain of southwest

CUNEIFORM INSCRIPTIONS.

65

ern Persia, shut in from the outer world by lofty hills, and now dotted with pleasant villages, once stood the great palace of Persepolis, the wonder of the world for its magnificencewhich Alexander, in a fit of drunken fury, reduced to a heap of ruins with his wanton torch (331 B.C.). Yet, though silent and deserted, "the piles of fallen Persepolis " speak to us, not only with their strange sculptures, but also through the inscriptions carved upon them in cuneiform letters, originally adorned with gold.

Not far from these ruins is the famous rock of Behistun, 1,700 feet high, and inscribed with the same arrow-headed, wedge-shaped characters. Some of these, protected from the

weather by a varnish of flint, have been wonderfully preserved to the present time.

This mountain-record was set up by Darius I. (516-515 B.C.), who, in the shadow of the palace-walls of Persepolis, was wont to sit upon a throne of gold, canopied by a vine of the same precious metal bearing clusters of priceless gems. It is his triumphal tablet, graven with figures of himself and several conquered princes. It records his victories, asserts his hereditary right to the throne, and enumerates the provinces of his vast empire, in nearly a thousand lines of cuneiform characters-in three different languages, the Persian, Scythian, and Babylonian-that it might be understood by all his subjects. Here the Persian monarch announces his dignity, while he attributes the glory of it all to the God Supreme

"I am Darius, the Great King, the King of Kings, the King of Persia, the King of the dependent provinces, the son of Hystaspes. By the grace of Ormazd I am King. Ormazd has granted me my empire. The countries which have fallen into my hands, by the grace of Ormazd I have become king of them.

Within these countries, whoever was good, him have I cherished and protected; whoever was evil, him have I utterly destroyed. By the grace of Ormazd, these countries have obeyed my laws. By the grace of Ormazd, I hold this empire."

Other inscriptions were cut by order of Xerxes, whose royal name and title they formally declare; but there are none of any later date.

Cuneiform letters were also employed by other nations, as will be hereafter seen (page 105). The Persian writing is the least complicated, and is in the Zend language, but Zend in a later stage of development than the primitive tongue of the Avesta.

NOTES ON PERSIAN LITERATURE, ETC.

Ancient Persian records made on leather; parchment the favorite writing material, the high price of papyrus preventing its adoption. Bricks seldom used for inscriptions. A running hand, different from the cuneiform, probably in use

LIBRARIES, -THE MAGI.

67

among the people for ordinary purposes, as every educated person could undoubtedly write: no trace of this left.

The kings of Persia founders of a library consisting of historical records, state archives, and royal ordinances. "The house of the rolls" at Babylon is mentioned in the book of Ezra as being searched, during the reign of Darius, for a certain volume supposed to contain a decree of Cyrus, providing for the rebuilding of the Temple at Jerusalem.

The old priestly order of Media a..d Persia, known as Ma'gi; devoted to scientific studies, in which they attained such eminence that they were believed to possess supernatural powers-whence our word magic. The "wise men" of the New Testament by some supposed to be Persian Magi.

The Zoroastrian religion, which was on the wane, restored and maintained in the third century after Christ by the Sassan'ide, who measured swords successfully with the Roman emperors, and extended the power of Persia. The coins of this dynasty stamped on one side with five altars, which seem to have been carried before the kings in processions as emblematical of their faith.

Most of the ancient Persian literature lost during the struggle with Alexander the Great, and subsequent wars and convulsions.

CHAPTER III.

CHINESE LITERATURE.

Chinese Language. From the Persian Gâthâs and Vedic hymns, let us now turn to the prose writings of the Chinese philosophers, plain, grave, and moral in their tone. The language in which their tenets have been preserved differs materially from the musical Sanscrit and its sister Zend.

Modern Chinese, which has changed but little from the ancient tongue and is the least developed of all existing languages, is monosyllabic; i. e. each syllable conveys a complete idea, all its words are expressed by single separate sounds. Of these elements, or roots, it contains 450; changes of emphasis and intonation, accompanied with corresponding changes in meaning, increase this number to 1,263.

Chinese may be called a language without grammar, as it