embodied and to go through a state of probation, they bare
both gates open to them, and the good are rewarded,' the
evil punished after death. The good, immediately after
death, are received by benevolent genii; and led, under the
-protection of the dog“ Sura, to the- bridge Tschinevad,
whither the wicked souls are also dragged by Deys. Here
Ormuzd judges them and appoints: their doom. Those
found good pass over the bridge to the region of bliss,
where they are welcomed by the heavenly Amshaspands
with shouts of joy. The wicked, thrown into the. abyss of
Duzahk, are tormented by Devs ; thence some are. released
through the prayers and good works of them relatives and
friends ; but the gréât number remain to the résurrection
of the dead, at the end of. the world.
This catastrophe at the fated time,; is brought about by
the agency of one of the ministers of Ahriman, wliOj when'
Ormuzd created the seven Amshaspands, or planets,..made
seven Arch-devs to oppose them-,—the latter are -comets...
The Sun, however, overcame the comet Dodidom Mùschéver,
and holds him bound in his path, as do the other planets
their respective antagonists, till, at an appointed time, the,
comet Gurzsher shall break loose from the Moon, who now
holds him chained, and rushing upon'the earthy shall .cause
an universal conflagration. But, before that catastrophe,
Ormuzd will, by the prophet Sosiosh, bring about a general
conversion of mankind to his law ; and will CRRSO a general
resurrection and re-embodying of the dead.
The conflagration of the earth draws, in its results, all .the
wicked, Ahriman included, into the abyss of Duzakh, where
they are at length purified by firé, and restored to light and
happiness. From the expiring flames rises a new heaven,
and a new earth, and Ahriman is to remain thence-forward
subject to Ormuzd.
Paragraph 4.—Remarks on the Persian Cosmogony, and
Infeiiences,-.derived from it||||
The Föregoiiig account is a short epitome of Rhode’s
analysis of the Persian Mythos. It is not to- be found in
the -Zend books in a systematicjform | for, in fact, these
books, like other edlleetions of ancient scriptures; contain
no system. The different parts have- been carefully compared,
and itherseries ofs^the: mythic legend- collected from
various passages*.’1' The whole forms a most remarkable and
Characteristic representation, of-which the style and manner
of conception give'very expressive and?,- as it appears to me^
conclusive eVidence, n&llas tO:the>.exact time; and place of
the composition' of the,work, but of the region mid age in
which the author, or authors, must have lived. ) v
' ^ 0 * person *who attentively, considers1 the characteristic
passages of this fiction, can hesitate,' as it appears to me, in
,c0ncludin|pha1#H s not aihook off high antiquity-. Instead
of the unadorned and-mhild-like simplicity of primitive
- ..tind©^ We find hérê the.fCOmplieatedtmechanism and the-
systematic style* of a period when artificial and elaborate
combinations were-already in vogue.-/ The*distribution of
powers and offices .‘among the stars, and^thé, contests* of
planets and! comets, are very- unlikes the representations
which prevailed itil early bilges -in the* remote East-; they
"‘even betray an affinity, which^t-^fimp&esïble to-mistake;*
to th e ‘schemes of thé late Chaldeans, and Arabians : -they
contain, in fact, the*ground-work qfirthb system.of decans
and horoscopes so famous in the,middle- ages,- and of which
it is generally, supposed that the first-inventors-were Babylonians
or Assyrians, from whom tbesevfictions* descended
to the Arabs, and at length to thé Gnostic school, -and even
to the later Mohammedans. - t '* ^ :
Blended with these astrological , figments; we find many
representations, so closely resembling* those of the Hebrew
Scriptures, as to leave fio doubt of their real origin, through
whatever channel ideas so analogous, or almost identical,
can have been derivedi The analogy is not of that kind