Then let him have Obedience coming with Good Thought unto every man whom thou desirest, O Mazda.

17. This I ask thee, tell me truly, Ahura — whether through you I shall attain my goal, O Mazda, even attachment unto you, and that my voice may be effectual, that Welfare and Immortality may be ready to unite according to that promise with him who joins himself with Right.

18. This I ask thee, tell me truly, Ahura - whether I shall indeed, O Right, earn that reward, even ten mares with a stallion and a camel,19 which was promised to me, O Mazda, as well as through thee the future gift of Welfare and Immortality.

19. This I ask thee, tell me truly, Ahura. He that will not give that reward to him that earns it, even to the man who fulfilling his word gives him what he undertook what penalty shall come to him for the same at this present? I know that which shall come to him at the last.

20. Have the Daevas ever exercised good dominion? And this I ask of those who see how for the Daevas' sake the Karapan and the Usij 20 gave the cattle to violence, and how the Kavi 20 made them continually to mourn, instead of taking care that they may make the pastures prosper through Right.

YASNA XLV

1. I will speak forth: hear now and harken now, ye from near and ye from far that desire instruction. Now observe him 21 in your mind, all of you, for he is revealed. Never shall the false Teacher destroy the Second Life,22 the Liar, in perversion by his tongue unto evil belief.

2. I will speak of the Spirits twain at the first beginning of the world, of whom the holier thus spake to the enemy:

19 It is sufficiently obvious that this is a touch of reality, enough to reduce to absurdity any theory that makes these Gathas move in the sphere of the mystical and the mythical alone.

20 Priests and Rulers.

21 The absence of indication who is meant may possibly be put down with the signs that the Gathas have a context that is lost.

22 The Future Life. It is possible also to render "never again shall he destroy life.”

"Neither thought nor teachings nor wills nor beliefs nor words nor deeds nor selves nor souls of us twain agree."

3. I will speak of that which Mazda Ahura, the all-knowing, revealed to me first in this earthly life. Those of you that put not in practise this word as I think and utter it, to them shall be woe at the end of life.

4. I will speak of what is best for this life. Through Right doth Mazda know it, who created the same as father of the active Good Thought, and the daughter thereof is Piety of goodly action. Not to be deceived is the all-seeing Ahura.

5. I will speak of that which the Holiest declared to me as the word that is best for mortals to obey: he, Mazda Ahura, said, "They who at my bidding render him 23 obedience, shall all attain unto Welfare and Immortality by the actions of the Good Spirit."

6. I will speak of him that is greatest of all, praising him, O Right, who is bounteous to all that live. By the holy spirit let Mazda Ahura harken, in whose adoration I have been instructed by Good Thought. By his wisdom let him teach me what is best,

7. Even he whose two awards, whereof he ordains, men shall attain, whoso are living or have been or shall be. In immortality shall the soul of the righteous be joyful, in perpetuity shall be the torments of the Liars. All this doth Mazda Ahura appoint by his Dominion.

8. Him thou shouldst seek to bring to us by praises of worship. "Now have I seen it with mine eye, that which is of the good spirit and of good action and word, knowing by Right Mazda Ahura." May we offer him homage in the House of Song!

9. Him thou shouldst seek to propitiate for us together with Good Thought, who at his will maketh us weal or woe. May Mazda Ahura by his Dominion bring us to work, for prospering our beasts and our men, so that we may through Right have familiarity with Good Thought.

10. Him thou shouldst seek to exalt with prayers of Piety,

23 Zarathushtra.

him that is called Mazda Ahura 24 forever, for that he hath promised through his own Right and Good Thought that Welfare and Immortality shall be in his Dominion, strength and perpetuity in his house.

11. Whoso therefore in the future lightly esteemeth both the Daevas and those mortals who lightly esteem him 25. even all others save that one who highly esteemeth him— unto him shall the holy Self of the future deliverer,26 as Lord of the house, be friend, brother, or father, O Mazda Ahura.

1. To what land shall I go to flee, whither to flee? From nobles and my peers they sever me, nor are the people 28 pleased with me..., nor the Liar rulers of the land. How am I to please thee, Mazda Ahura?

29

2. I know wherefore I am without success, Mazda: because few cattle are mine, and for that I have but few folk. I cry unto thee, see thou to it, Ahura, granting me support as friend gives to friend. Teach me by the Right the acquisition of Good Thought.

3. When, Mazda, shall the sunrisings come forth for the world's winning of Right, through the powerful teachings of the wisdom of the future Deliverers? Who are they to whose help Good Thought shall come? 30 I have faith that thou wilt thyself fulfil this for me, O Ahura.

4. The Liar stays the supporters of Right from prospering the cattle in district and province, infamous that he is, repellent by his actions. Whoso, Mazda, robs him of dominion or

24" Wise Lord"— the title needs translating.

25 Zarathushtra.

28 Saosyant, that is Zarathushtra himself, in that he believed he would in his own lifetime bring the Renovation.

27 This is obviously an early Yasna, as the Prophet is still powerless. 28 These are the three social divisions.

29 The word heca is corrupt and has not been successfully emended. It seems to have disappeared before the Pahlavi translation, in which it is omitted.

30 Both lines concern the "Future Deliverers," that is, in Zarathushtra's thought, himself and his comrades in the work of the Faith.

of life, he shall go before and prepare the ways of the good belief. 31

5. If an understanding man should be able to hold one who comes over from his vow and his ties of faith, himself having brought him thereto, and living after the ordinance, a righteous man converting a Liar - then shall he tell it to the nobles, that they may protect him from injury, O Mazda Ahura.

6. But whoso when thus approached should refuse his aid, he shall go to the abodes of the company of the Lie. For he is himself a Liar who is very good to a Liar, he is a righteous man to whom a righteous man is dear; since thou createdst men's Selves in the beginning, Ahura.

7. Whom, O Mazda, can one appoint as protector for one like me, when the Liar sets himself to injure me, other than thy Fire and thy Thought, through the actions of which twain the Right will come to maturity, O Ahura? In this lore do thou instruct my very Self.

8. Whoso is minded to injure my possessions, from his actions may no harm come to me! Back upon himself may they come with hostility, against his own person, all the hostile acts, to keep him far from the Good Life, Mazda, not from the ill!

9. Who is it, a faithful man he, who first taught that we honor thee as mightiest to help, as the holy righteous Lord over action? What thy Right made known, what the Oxcreator made known to Right, they would fain hear through thy Good Thought.

10. Whoso, man or woman, doeth what thou, Mazda Ahura, knowest as best in life, as destiny for what is Right give him the Dominion through Good Thought. And those whom I impel to your adoration, with all these will I cross the Bridge of the Separater.32

31 Bartholomae observes that this is a hint to Vishtaspa that he should wage war with the Daevayasnian chiefs. If so, we have presumably passed the point in this certainly composite hymn where the conditions of the opening apply. There the Prophet is helpless and friendless: the royal convert has not yet been won, as he clearly has been in verse 14. 32 This Bridge is of very ancient Aryan legend. At the Day of Judg

11. By their dominion the Karapans and Kavis accustomed mankind to evil actions, so as to destroy Life. Their own soul and their own self shall torment them when they come where the Bridge of the Separater is, to all time dwellers in the House of the Lie.

12. When among the laudable descendants and posterity of the Turanian Fryana 33 the Right ariseth, through activity of Piety that blesseth substance; then shall Good Thought admit them, and Mazda Ahura give them protection at the Fulfilment.34

13. Whoso among mortals has pleased Spitama Zarathushtra by his willingness, a man deserving to have good fame, to him shall Mazda Ahura give Life, to him shall Good Thought increase substance, him we account to be a familiar friend with your Right.

14. Mazda.- O Zarathushtra, what righteous man is thy friend for the great covenant? 35 Who wills to have good fame?

Zarathushtra.- It is the Kavi 36 Vishtaspa at the Consummation.37 Those whom thou wilt unite in one house with thee, these will I call with words of Good Thought.

15. Ye Haecataspa Spitamas,38 of you will I declare that ment all men must cross it to reach Heaven. The unworthy will fall from it into the Hell beneath.

33 The Turanians became the traditional enemies of Iran. The hostility was one of culture and religion, between Mazda and the Daevas, between agriculturists and nomads. Fryana is proof that individuals might cross over: his clan is heard of in the Later Avesta in terms agreeing with this stanza. Bartholomae calls Tura "an Iranian tribe outside Vishtaspa's dominion, not yet converted, but not hostile to the new faith"- that is, in Gathic times.

34 The Regeneration.

35 Apparently a term for the community.

"Bund " of the Zarathushtrian

36 The title has a curious double use, denoting also chiefs of the Daevayasna. We must assume that it got its sinister meaning because Vishtaspa stood alone among princes to whom the title belonged.

37 As Geldner notes, this dialogue is supposed to take place at the Great Day, when Zarathushtra answers for those with whom he has crossed the Bridge (verse 10).

38 Haecat-aspa was the great-grandfather of Zarathushtra, Spitama a more distant ancestor. Their names here describe a clan of the Prophet's more immediate relatives.