ZOROASTER 71 



all else flows out of it. The root is filial piety, the fruit 

 brotherly love." 



And according to James Freeman Clarke, all Con- 

 fucian philosophy is pervaded by these four principles : * 



" 1. That example is omnipotent. 



2. That to secure the safety of the empire, you must 

 secure the happiness of the people. 



3. That by solitary persistent thought one may 

 penetrate at last to a knowledge of the essence of things. 



4. That the object of all government is to make the 

 people virtuous and contented." 



ZOROASTER 



We come now to the creed of Zoroaster, the religion 

 of ancient Persia, the faith in which Cyrus, Darius, 

 Xerxes, Artaxerxes, worshiped. Inasmuch as Zo- 

 roaster, or Spitama according to his true family name, 

 was, roughly speaking, a contemporary of Moses, our 

 knowledge of his teaching is but fragmentary, most of 

 the sacred scriptures having been lost during the troub- 

 lous five centuries that followed the conquest of Persia 

 by Alexander. At first a monotheism, his religion 

 seems also to have developed into a dualism. Hence 

 comes the militant note dominant in this religion, 

 calling upon every faithful follower to always do battle 

 for the right. 



i Ibid. p. 53. 



