rld to be, and to be supported, if not through thee? Who made the sun
and moon and stars, and the waters and the winds and the trees, who, if
not thou? Reveal thou to me, O great one, the inner truth of things.

O ye crowds of men, when will ye call evil, evil, and good, good,
instead of the contrary? Have the Daevas ever supplied good rulers?

_II.--VISPEREDS_

[The word Vispered means "all the lords," and this section is so called
because it contains invocations to all the lords or gods. It consists
almost entirely of extracts from other parts of the Avesta, especially
from the Yasnas. What is not found elsewhere has no special value and
need not be summarised.]

_III.--VENDIDADS_ (LIT. "LAWS AGAINST DEMONS")

[This is not strictly a liturgical work, but a priestly code describing
the various purifications, penalties and expiations by which faults of
various kinds are atoned for, or their consequences annulled. The
existing Vendidads agree almost exactly with Nask (19) of the original
Avesta, the only part of the Avesta in which one of the Nasks has been
completely preserved. The Vendidads are divided into twenty-two Fargads,
or sections.]

FARGAD 3. THE SANCTITY OF AGRICULTURE. The earth should be cultivated,
1. that it may bring forth food for man and beast, 2. because it
promotes human piety. "How is it, O great creator," asks Zarathustra,
"that religion is to be spread?" "By cultivating barley," was the
answer, "for he who cultivates barley, cultivates purity. When barley is
threshed or ground, and when flour is produced, devils whistle, whine,
and waste away, knowing full well that man's idleness is their only
opportunity." (Cf. compare Dr. Watts' line "Satan finds some mischief
still, for idle hands to do.")

FARGAD 4. CIVIL AND CRIMINAL LAW. Whoever refuses to restore property to
one to whom he knows it belongs by right, is a thief. Every day and
night that he keeps this property he is guilty of theft. "How many kinds
of property are there?" asked Zarathustra. "These six," was the answer.
"1. That made by mere words. 2. That made by striking hands. 3. That
made by depositing a sheep as security. 4, 5, 6. Those cases in which
the security is respectively an ox, a man's value, and the value of a
full field." Then there follow details of penalties for violating these
several contracts:--_e.g._, for breaking the first--300 stripes of the
rod, and so forth.

FARGADS 5-18, give the laws for the treat