temptation, to cling to the side of right, to
defy and overcome the deltas. Man might maintain his uprightness, walk
in the path of duty, and by the help of the asuras, or "good spirits,"
attain to a blissful paradise.

To arrive at this result, man had carefully to observe three principal
duties. These were worship, agriculture, and purity. Worship consisted
in the acknowledgment of the One True God, Ormazd, and of his Holy
Angels, the Amesha Spentas or Amshashpands, in the frequent offering of
prayers, praises, and thanksgivings, in the recitation of set hymns,
the performance of a certain ceremony called the Homa, and in the
occasional sacrifice of animals. The set hymns form a large portion
of the Zendavesta, where they occur in the shape of Gathas, or Yashts,
sometimes possessing considerable beauty. They are sometimes general,
addressed to Ormazd and the Amesha Spentas in common, sometimes
special, containing the praises of a particular deity. The Homa ceremony
consisted in the extraction of the juice of the Homa plant by the
priests during the recitation of prayers, the formal presentation of
the liquor extracted to the sacrificial fire, the consumption of a small
portion of it by one of the officiating priests, and the division of
the remainder among the worshippers. As the juice was drunk immediately
after extraction and before fermentation had set in, it was not
intoxicating. The ceremony seems to have been regarded, in part,
as having a mystic force, securing the favor of heaven; in part, as
exerting a beneficial effect upon the body of the worshipper through the
curative power inherent in the Homa plant. The animals which might be
sacrificed were the horse, the ox, the sheep, and the goat, the horse
being the favorite victim. A priest always performed the sacrifice,
slaying the animal, and showing the flesh to the sacred fire by way of
consecration, after which it was eaten at a solemn feast by the priest
and people.

It is one of the chief peculiarities of Zoroastrianism that it regarded
agriculture as a religious duty. Man had been placed upon the earth
especially "to maintain the good creation," and resist the endeavors of
Ahriman to injure, and if possible, ruin it. This could only be done
by careful tilling of the soil, eradication of thorns and weeds, and
reclamation of the tracts over which Ahriman had spread the curse of
barrenness. To cultivate the soil was thus incumbent upon all men;
the whole c