88 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, 



deatli, but banish it from bis thoughts and earnestly strive after 

 the realization of a fuller and richer life. It is the height of 

 folly to suppose that mortifications of the flesh can firrther spirit- 

 ual growth. Whatever fosters the health of the body favors the 

 health of the soul ; but the emaciation of the body impoverishes 

 the soul. The notion which underlies what is known as " mus- 

 cular Christianity " pervades the entire Avesta and finds a na'ive 

 and pithy expression in the following text of the Vendidad, 

 which the tiller of the soil is directed always to bear in mind and 

 frequently to repeat : 



" Who eateth not for naught hath strength, 

 No strength for robust purity, 

 No strength for robust husbandry, 

 No strength for getting robust sons.'" 



[Here, too, we have a bit of old poetry passed into a proverb. 

 In the original the only trace of rhyme (and this we have pre- 

 served in the rendering) is the assonance of the second and third 



lines : 



" Naechis aquarentam tva, 

 Noit ughrani ashyam, 

 Noit ughram vas'tryam, 

 N6it ughram putroistem." 



Vendidrid, iii, 112-115. 



The editorial bracketing of the last line by Prof. Spiegel, as a 

 possible interpolation, indicates an excess of critical suspicion, 

 since this line not only fills out the verse, but also finishes up the 

 thought, rounding and completing the expression of the senti- 

 ment with a climax.] 



In another passage Ahuramazda declares : " Verily I say unto 

 thee, O Spitama Zarathustra ! the man who has a wife is far 

 above him who begets no sons; he who has a household is far 

 above him who has none ; he who has children is far above the 

 childless man ; he who has riches is far above him who is desti- 

 tute of them. And of two men, the one who fills himself with 

 meat is filled with the good spirit {voliii maiio) much more than 

 he who goes hungry ; the latter is all but dead ; the former is 

 above him by the worth of a kid {as' ijerena) , by the worth of a 

 sheep, by the worth of an ox, by the worth of a man. {^As'perena, 

 usually rendered weight or coin, is derived from a -\- s'ljar, and 

 means not walking or not grown, a young animal, a kid or a 

 lamb. Cf. Sanskrit sp7<ar or sphur, to expand or to swell.] Such 

 a person can resist the onsets of As'tovidhotus (the demon of 

 death) ; can resist the self-moving arrow ; can resist the winter 

 fiend, even though thinly clad ; can resist and smite the wicked 

 tyrant ; can resist the assaults of the ungodly Ashemaogho (the 

 destroyer of purity) who does not eat." (Vend, iv, 130-141.) 



