262 THE EEV. VV. ST. CLAIR TISDALL, D.D.^ ON MITHKAISM. 



future prophets* in three stages, with an interval of a thousand 

 years between them, had adopted the then extremely popular 

 doctrine of Metempsychosis.t There is only a very slight 

 traced of this doctrine having obtained in Fersia in late Zo- 

 roastrian times, and it is not found in the Avesta or in modern 

 Parsiism. But Pythagoras had introduced it into Europe^ 



word frasku-kereti (" made before," " previous creation," Palilavi frash-kert} 

 with the sense of restoration to a previous condition. Neither phrase 

 occurs in any passage that is not much hiter (according at least to 

 Darmsteter) than the removal of the Israelites (2 Kings xvii, 6) tc» 

 Media, the country in which it seems certain that Zoroaster was born. 

 Even accepting (as 1 do Jiot accept) the Higher Critical theory of the 

 date of Daniel, the passage Dan. xii, 2, would precede the occurrence of 

 any reference to the doctrine in the Avesta, even that in Yasht xix, 89. 



* Cf. Yashts xiii, 128, 142 ; xix, 88-94, about Saoshyans, the last of the 

 three : also Bundakish^ etc., etc. : also Eznik, "Refutation of Heresies,'' 

 Armenian original, Bk. ii, cap. 10, p. 133 of Constantinople Ed. of 1873. 

 Saoshyaiis is also called Astvat-ereta ; his companions (or rather 

 predecessors) are Ukhshyat-ereta and Ukhshyat-nemahh. 



t Porphyry, De Abstinentia, Lib. IV, cap. 16 : Ho/ja 76 /ni'ju toIv 

 riepafU9 ol Trepi to Oelov ao(pol icat tovtov Oepavroi/Tef mci^joi fxev irpoa- 

 a^lopevovTai . . . dt7jpyv7o de oinoi €t9 '•'/ct/rj rpia, a?? 0j^<7iJ^ lEii>j3ov\o<: 

 o Ttji/ Trepl TOO M.t6pa laTopiav ev 7ro\\oi'i- (3(l3^ioi9 nvci'^fpay^a'i^ icv ol 

 TTpiZnui Kui Xo^jiwTaTOi otJT caOiouaiv eVY^f^oi^ ovTe (pnvevovaiv^ ejiip.euovfTf 

 ce rrj iraXaia twp r*f'w^ aTro^rj ' 01 he hevTepoi ')(^pi)bvTai fxet^, ov fxevTor 

 -dw y/ueptvu ^u^ivi' ti K-reivovaiv ' ovS* ol rpi'roi 6juoi'iv9 rots- uWoi^- 

 ecjiaTnoinaL ttclvticv ' kcu ^/ap ho^/pa ttuutivv earl tu)v Trpicrivv Tipr 

 jLiciepylrv^waiv eivai^ u kui ep(paiveiv eoiKoaiv eu rois: lou M^iOpa 

 jLivffTrjpiois ' TTjv ^fcip KOifOTijra i^pHv tijv 7rpo<? tci ^tyn atfirrofiei'oi tia 

 Ticv ^'j^wi/ ijpa<i pi]vv€iv ecicOaaii/ ' los; to?'? juev pere'x^ovra'i tu)V avTivif 

 op^pwv pvaTa<f \eoi/Trt9 KoXeii', to? he r^vi/aiKci^ \ea1ua9 [aZ. vac'pa^'], -ov<^~ 

 ce V7rrfpeTOuvTa<? KopciKa^. erri re rCov Trarepivu \lacuna\ . . . atriu 

 ^/ap Kal lepaKe9 oinoi Trpoacr^opcvoi^rai. u re ra XeomiKu TrctpdXap^avLCu, 

 —epiri'Oerai Trai^TohoTra^ ^'^'i^'v /nopCpas ' ihu rijv turlav (i7ro8iSoi"i HaXXr/*.- 

 TO?? TTepl rod Mt'Opa ri]v kolvt^v (Jytjcri (fyopav oicaOai, to? Trpo^ rrju roi>' 

 'i^ivhtaKov kvkXov ciTroreiveiv ' ri]v tc cWi^Oivijv v7ro\)j\l/iv Kal aKpijirj Trepr 

 rlcv ai>6piv7rivwv Y^f^a'j^ aivirrenOaiy «? Travrocarrolt 7repiey(^ea9ai aicfxaar 

 Xe'^/ovai. 



1 The only one I have been able to find is that, iu the Yasht-Sadeh, 

 Ormazd informs Zoroaster that the victorious Bahram (Yarahran), the 

 most active of the Yazatas, came first as a wind, second as a golden- 

 horned ox, third as a golden-eared horse, fourth as a camel, fifth a,s a 

 yiraj, sixth as a youth of 15 years of age, seventh as a bird sacred to 

 Ormazd, eighth as a boar, nintli as a buck, tenth as a shining lamb with 

 a golden head. {Cf. Bhagavad Gita, bk. iv, sll. 7 and 8, for reasons of 

 Vishnu's avataras.) But this story may have nothing to do with a belief 

 in transmigration. 



