tion, satisfaction, and laud. As it is the will of God, let the Zaota say to me, Thus announces the Lord, the Pure out of Holiness, let the wise speak. "I praise all good thoughts, words, and works, through thought, word, and deed. I curse all evil thoughts, words, and works away from thought, word, and deed. I lay hold on all good thoughts, words, and works, with thoughts, words, and works, i. e., I perform good actions, I dismiss all evil thoughts, words, and works, from thoughts, words, and works, i. e., I commit no sins. To "I give to you, ye who are Amshaspands, offering and praise, with the heart, with the body, with my own vital powers, body and soul. The whole powers which I possess, I possess in dependence on the Yazatas. possess in dependence upon the Yazatas means (as much as) this: if anything happen so that it behoves to give the body for the sake of the soul, I give it to them. "I praise the best purity, I hunt away the Dévs, I am thankful for the good of the Creator Ormazd, with the opposition and unrighteousness which come from Ganâmainyo, am I contented and agreed in the hope of the resurrection. The Zarathustrian law created by Ormazd I take as a plummet. For the sake of this way I repent of all sins. "I repent of the sins which can lay hold of the character of men, or which have laid hold of my character, small and great which are committed amongst men, the meanest sins as much as is (and) can be, yet more than this, namely, all evil thoughts, words, and works which (I have committed) for the sake of others, or others for my sake, or if the hard sin has seized the character of an evil-doer on my account-such sins, thoughts, words, and works, corporeal, mental, earthly, heavenly, I repent of with the three words: pardon, O Lord, I repent of the sins with Patet. "The sins against father, mother, sister, brother, wife, child, against spouses, against the superiors, against my own relations, against those living with me, against those who possess equal property, against the neighbors. against the inhabitants of the same town, against servants, every unrighteousness through which I have been amongst sinners-of these sins repent I with thoughts, words, and works, corporeal as spiritual, earthly as heavenly, with the three words: pardon, O Lord, I repent of sins. "The defilement with dirt and corpses, the bringing of dirt and corpses to the water and fire, or the bringing of fire and water to dirt and corpses; the omission of reciting the Avesta in mind, of strewing about hair, nails and toothpicks, of not washing the hands, all the rest which belongs to the category of dirt and corpses, if I have thereby come among the sinners, so repent I of all these sins with thoughts, words, and works, corporeal as spiritual, earthly as heavenly, with the three words: pardon, O Lord, I repent of sin. "That which was the wish of Ormazd the Creator, and I ought to have thought, and have not thought, what I ought to have spoken and have not spoken, what I ought to have done and have not done; of these sins repent I with thoughts, words, and works," etc. "That which was the wish of Ahriman, and I ought not to have thought and yet have thought, what I ought not to have spoken and yet have spoken, what I ought not to have done and yet have done; of these sins I repent," etc. "Of all and every kind of sin which I committed against the creatures of Ormazd, as stars, moon, sun, and the red burning fire, the dog, the birds, the five kinds of animals, the other good creatures which are the property of Ormazd, between earth and heaven, if I have become a sinner against any of these, I repent," etc. "Of pride, haughtiness, covetousness, slandering the dead, anger, envy, the evil eye, shamelessness, looking at with evil intent, looking at with evil concupiscence, stiff neckedness, discontent with the godly arrangements, self-willedness, sloth, despising others, mixing in strange matters, unbelief, opposing the Divine powers, false witness, false judgment, idol-worship, running naked, running with one shoe, the breaking of the low (midday) prayer, the omission of the (midday) prayer, theft, robbery, whoredom, witchcraft, worshiping with sorcerers, unchastity, tearing the hair, as well as all other kinds of sin which are enumerated in this Patet, or not enumerated, which I am aware of, or not aware of, which are appointed or not appointed, which I should have beIwailed with obedience before the Lord, and have not bewailed-of these sins repent I with thoughts, words, and works, corporeal as spiritual, earthly as heavenly. O Lord, pardon, I repent with the three words, with Patet. "If I have taken on myself the Patet for any one and have not performed it, and misfortune has thereby come upon his soul or his descendants, I repent of the sin for every one with thoughts," etc. "With all good deeds am I in agreement, with all sins am I not in agreement, for the good am I thankful, with iniquity am I contented. With the punishment at the bridge, with the bonds and tormentings and chastisements of the mighty of the law, with the punishment of the three nights (after) the fifty-seven years am I contented and satisfied." The following is a hymn to a star: "The star Tistrya praise we, the shining, majestic, with pleasant good dwelling, light, shining conspicuous, going around, healthful, bestowing joy, great, going round about from afar, with shining beams, the pure, and the water which makes broad seas, good, farfamed, the name of the bull created by Mazda, the strong kingly majesty, and the Fravashi of the holy pure, Zarathustra. "For his brightness, for his majesty, will I praise him, the star Tistrya, with audible praise. We praise the star Tistrya, the brilliant, majestic, with offerings, with Haoma bound with flesh, with Maúthra which gives wisdom to the tongue, with word and deed, with offerings with right-spoken speech. "The star Tistrya, the brilliant, majestic, we praise, who glides so softly to the sea like an arrow, who follows the heavenly will, who is a terrible pliant arrow, a very pliant arrow, worthy of honor among those worthy of honor, who comes from the damp mountain to the shining mountain." The following is a hymn to Mithra: "Mithra, whose long arms grasp forwards here with Mithra strength; that which is in Eastern India he seizes, and that which [is] in the western he smites, and what is on the steppes of Raúha, and what is at the ends of this earth. "Thou, O Mithra, dost seize these, reaching out thy arms. The unrighteous destroyed through the just is gloomy in soul. Thus thinks the unrighteous: Mithra, the artless, does not see all these evil deeds, all these lies. "But I think in my soul: No earthly man with a hundred-fold strength thinks so much evil as Mithra with heavenly strength thinks good. No earthly man with a hundredfold strength speaks so much evil as Mithra with heavenly strength speaks good. No earthly man with a hundred-fold strength does so much evil as Mithra with heavenly strength does good. "With no earthly man is the hundredfold greater heavenly understanding allied as the heavenly understanding allies itself to the heavenly Mithra, the heavenly. No earthly man with a hundred-fold strength hears with the ears as the heavenly Mithra, who possesses a hundred strengths, sees every liar. Mightily goes forward Mithra, powerful in rule marches he onwards; fair visual power, shining from afar, gives he to the eyes." The following are inscriptions at Persepolis, the Persian capital: "Darius, the King, King of Kings, son of Hystaspes, successor of the Ruler of the World, Djemchid." The following is one of the Gâthâs, and is by some assigned to Zoroaster himself: "Now will I speak and proclaim to all who have come to listen Thy praise, Ahura-Mazda, and thine, O Vohu-mano. Asha! I ask that thy grace may appear in the lights of heaven. Hear with your ears what is best, perceive with your mind what is purest, So that each man for himself may, before the great doom cometh, Choose the creed he prefers. May the wise ones be on our side. These two spirits are twins; they made known in times that are bygone When these Two came together, first of all they created Of these Two the One who was evil chose what was evil; But to the good came might; and with might came wisdom and virtue; Vigor; e'en thou wert enriched by the gifts she scattered, O Mazda. Mazda, the time will come when the crimes of the bad shall be punished; Let our minds be ever there where wisdom abideth! Then indeed shall be seen the fall of pernicious falsehood; men, if you but cling to the precepts Mazda has given, Precepts, which to the bad are a torment, but joy to the righteous, Another specimen is from the "Yaçna," or "Book on Sacrifice," and is probably some centuries later than the great bulk of the Gâthâs: "We worship Ahura-Mazda, the pure, the master of purity : We worship the Aměsha-Spentas, possessors and givers of blessings: We worship the whole creation of Him who is True, the heavenly, We praise whatever is good in thought, in word, or in action, O Ahura-Mazda, thou true and happy being! We strive both to think, and to speak, and to do whatever is fittest Holy spirit of earth, for our best works' sake, we entreat thee, CHAPTER V. THE BABYLONIAN EMPIRE. SECTION I.-EXTENT AND PRODUCTIONS. B ABYLONIA proper being almost identical in its situation and territorial extent with the old kingdom of Chaldæa, it need not be described here. It was located wholly west of the Tigris, and consisted of two "vast plains, or flats, one situated between the two rivers (the Tigris and the Euphrates), and thus forming the lower portion of the Mesopotamia of the Greeks and Romans-the other interposed between the Euphrates and Arabia, a long but narrow strip along the right bank of that abounding river." In area it was smaller than Scotland or Ireland. The country east of the Tigris constituted no portion of Babylonia proper, but was Cissia, or Susiana a separate country called Elam by the Jews-and was occupied by an Aryan people. The cities of Babylonia have been mentioned in connection with Chaldæa. bia and part of Egypt. There was a great variety of climate and productions in this vast domain. The climate, products and animals of Babylonia have been mentioned and described in our account of Chaldæa. The exceeding fertility of its soil, which so richly rewarded the labors of the husbandman, have there been noted. The testimony of Herodotus in that particular was sustained by Theophrastus, Strabo and Pliny, and also by Berosus, who said: "The land of the Babylonians produces wheat as an indigenous plant, and has also barley, and lentils, and vetches, and sesame; the banks of the streams and the marshes supply edible roots, called gonga, which have the taste of barley cakes. Palms, too, grow in the country, and apples, and fruit-trees of various kinds." The chief article of food for the great mass of the people in Babylonia, as in Egypt, was the date-palm, which flourished in luxuriant abundance. The small kingdom of Babylonia suddenly became the mistress of an extensive The products of Susiana were mainly the empire in the latter half of the seventh cen- same as those of Babylonia proper; the datetury before Christ. When Media and BaWhen Media and Ba- palm, wheat and barley growing in abunbylonia overthrew Assyria in B. C. 625, dance. The palm-tree also furnished building they divided the Assyrian Empire between timber. The modern Khusistan, the ancient them, as already related. Babylonia ob- Susiana, produces all the fruits which thrive tained all that part of the Assyrian domin- in Persia. In Northern Mesopotamia are ions west of the Tigris and south of Ar- found the walnut, the vine and pistachio-nut, menia, along with Elam, or Susiana, east of while good crops of grain, oranges, pomethe Lower Tigris. Thus the countries in- granates, and the ordinary fruits are grown. cluded within the Later Babylonian Empire, In Northern Syria all kinds of trees and besides Babylonia proper, the heart of the shrubs grow in luxuriance, while the pasture empire, were Elam (Elymais), or Susiana. is excellent, and much of the land is adapted (Cissia), Mesopotamia proper, Cilicia, Syria, to the growth of cotton. Here the Assyrian Phoenicia, Palestine, Edom, Northern Ara- | kings frequently obtained timber for build (264) ing purposes, and here are yet found dense forests of oak, pine, ilex, walnuts, willows, poplars, ash-trees, birches, larches and locusttrees. Such wild shrubs as the oleander, the myrtle, the bay, the arbutus, the clematis, the juniper, and the honeysuckle abound; and such cultivated fruit-trees as the orange, the pomegranate, the pistachio-nut, the vine, the olive and the mulberry also thrive. The adis, an excellent pea, and the Lycoperdon, or wild potato, grow in the vicinity of Aleppo. The castor-oil plant is cultivated in the plain of Edib. Melons, cucumbers and most of the common vegetables flourish in abundance all over Syria. In Southern Syria and Palestine most of the same vegetable productions occur. The date-palm flourishes in Syria as far as Beyreut, and formerly thrived in Palestine. The banana is also found on the Syrian coast. The fig-mulberry, or true sycamore, also thrives in Southern Syria, as do the jujube, the tamarisk, the wild olive, the gum-styrax plant, the egg-plant, the Egyptian papyrus, the sugar-cane, the scarlet mistletoe, the liquorice plant, the yellow-flowered acacia, and the solanum that produces the "Dead Sea apple." Here also flourishes the celebrated cedar of Lebanon, several oaks and junipers, the maple, the mulberry, the berberry, the jessamine, the ivy, the butcher's broom, a rhododendron, and the gum-tragacanth plant. The same fruits flourish in Southern Syria that thrive in the North, with the addition of dates, lemons, almonds, shaddocks and limes. The principal mineral products of the Babylonian Empire were bitumen, with its concomitants, naphtha and petroleum, salt, sulphur, nitre, copper, iron, perhaps silver, and several kinds of precious stones. The springs of Hit, or Is, were famous in the time of Herodotus for their great abundance of bitumen, which was likewise procured from Ardericca (now Kir-Ab), and probably from Ram Ormuz, in Susiana, and also from the Dead Sea, in Palestine. Salt was procured from the various lakes without outlets, especially from the Sabakhah, the Baur-el-Melak, the Dead Sea, and a small 1-17.-U. H. lake near Tadmor, or Palmyra. The Dead Sea perhaps also furnished sulphur and nitre. The hills of Palestine yielded copper and iron. Silver was probably found in Anti-Lebanon. Gems and precious stones were most probably procured from Susiana, and from Syria and Phoenicia. Among these precious stones were agates from Susiana, amethysts from Petra, alabaster from near Damascus, cyanus from Phoenicia, and gems found in the cylinder-seals, such as cornelian, rock-crystal, chalcedony, onyx, jasper, quartz, serpentine, syenite, hæmatite, green felspar, pyrites, loadstone and amazon-stone, from the various provinces. Building stone did not exist in Babylonia and the alluvial districts of Susiana; but abounded in other parts of the empire, being plentiful in the Euphrates valley above Hit, in the mountain regions of Susiana, and in Syria, Palestine and Phoenicia. Near to Babylonia was limestone. In the vicinity of Haddisah, on the Euphrates, was a silicious rock alternating with iron-stone, and in the Arabian desert were sandstone and granite. The stone used in the Babylonian cities was conveyed down the Euphrates, or transported by canals from the neighboring districts of Arabia. But the inexhaustible supply of clay furnished by their own country caused the Babylonians to prefer brick almost exclusively for building purposes. The principal wild animals of the Babylonian Empire were the lion, the panther, or large leopard, the hunting leopard, the bear, the hyena, the wild ox, the buffalo, the wild ass, the stag, the antelope, the ibex, or wild goat, the wild sheep, the wild boar, the wolf, the jackal, the fox, the hare and the rabbit. Other wild animals were the lynx, the wild cat, the ratel, the sable, the genet, the badger, the otter, the beaver, the polecat, the jerboa, the rat, the mouse, the marmot, the porcupine, the squirrel and the alligator. Great varieties of birds, including eagles, vultures, falcons, owls, hawks, crows, and many kinds of small birds, abounded. Reptiles of many varieties prevailed. Fish abounded in the Chaldæan marshes and in most of the fresh-water lakes |