. Of these seven there was
one, a young but holy priest, whom the universal consent of his brethren
recognized as pre-eminent. His name was Arda-Viraf. "Having passed
through the strictest ablutions, and drunk a powerful opiate, he was
covered with a white linen and laid to sleep. Watched by seven of the
nobles, including the king, he slept for seven days and nights; and, on
his reawaking, the whole nation listened with believing wonder to his
exposition of the faith of Ormazd, which was carefully written down by
an attendant scribe for the benefit of posterity."

The result, however brought about, which must always remain doubtful,
was the authoritative issue of a volume which the learned of Europe have
now possessed for some quarter of a century, and which has recently been
made accessible to the general reader by the labors of Spiegel. This
work, the Zendavesta, while it may contain fragments of a very ancient
literature, took its present shape in the time of Artaxerxes, and was
probably then first collected from the mouths of the Zoroastrian priests
and published by Arda-Viraf. Certain additions may since have been made
to it; but we are assured that "their number is small," and that we
"have no reason to doubt" that the text of the Avesta, in the days
of Arda-Viraf, was on the whole exactly the same as at present. The
religious system of the new Persian monarchy is thus completely known
to us, and will be described minutely in a later chapter. At present we
have to consider, not what the exact tenets of the Zoroastrians were,
but only the mode in which Artaxerxes imposed them upon his subjects.

The next step, after settling the true text of the sacred volume, was to
agree upon its interpretation. The language of the Avesta, though pure
Persian, was of so archaic a type that none but the most learned of the
Magi understood it; to the common people, even to the ordinary priest,
it was a dead letter. Artaxerxes seems to have recognized the necessity
of accompanying the Zend text with a translation and a commentary in the
language of his own time, the Pehlevi or Huzvaresh. Such a translation
and commentary exist; and though in part belonging to later Sassanian
times, they reach back probably in their earlier portions to the era
of Artaxerxes, who may fairly be credited with the desire to make the
sacred book "understanded of the people."

Further, it was necessary, in order to secure permanent uniformity of
belief,