--"to kill 1000 serpents of those who drag
themselves upon the belly, and 2000 of the other species,
1000 land frogs or 2000 water frogs, 1000 ants who steal the
grain," and so on.

** The _Vendidad_ says, "And I tell thee, O Spitama
Zarathustra, the man who has a wife is above him who lives
in continency;" and, as we have seen in the text, one of
these forms of expiation consisted in "marrying to a worthy
man a young girl who has never known a man" (_Vendidad_, 14,
Sec. 15). Herodotus of old remarked that one of the chief
merits in an Iranian was to have many children: the King of
Persia encouraged fecundity in his realm, and awarded a
prize each year to that one of his subjects who could boast
the most numerous progeny.

Polygamy was also encouraged and widely practised: the code imposed no
limit on the number of wives and concubines, and custom was in favour of
a man's having as many wives as his fortune permitted him to maintain.
On the occasion of a death, it was forbidden to burn the corpse, to bury
it, or to cast it into a river, as it would have polluted the fire,
the earth, or the water--an unpardonable offence. The corpse could be
disposed of in different ways. The Persians were accustomed to cover it
with a thick layer of wax, and then to bury it in the ground: the wax
coating obviated the pollution which direct contact would have brought
upon the soil. The Magi, and probably also strict devotees, following
their example, exposed the corpse in the open air, abandoning it to the
birds or beasts of prey. It was considered a great misfortune if these
respected the body, for it was an almost certain indication of the wrath
of Ahura-mazda, and it was thought that the defunct had led an evil
life. When the bones had been sufficiently stripped of flesh, they were
collected together, and deposited either in an earthenware urn or in a
stone ossuary with a cover, or in a monumental tomb either hollowed out
in the heart of the mountain or in the living rock, or raised up
above the level of the ground. Meanwhile the soul remained in the
neighbourhood for three days, hovering near the head of the corpse, and
by the recitation of prayers it experienced, according to its condition
of purity or impurity, as much of joy or sadness as the whole world
experiences. When the third night was past, the just soul set forth
across luminous plains, refreshed by a perfu