a being who nearly resembles the "anima mundi" of the
Greek and Roman philosophers. This spirit dwells in the earth itself,
animating it as a man's soul animates his body. In old times, when man
first began to plough the soil, _geus urva_ cried aloud, thinking that
his life was threatened, and implored the assistance of the archangels.
They however were deaf to his entreaties (since Ormazd had decreed that
there should be cultivation), and left him to bear his pains as he best
could. It is to be hoped that in course of time he became callous to
them, and made the discovery that mere scratches, though they may be
painful, are not dangerous.

It is uncertain whether in the most ancient form of the Iranic worship
the cult of Mithra was included or no. On the one hand, the fact that
Mithra is common to both forms of the Arian creed--the Indian and
Iranic--would induce the belief that his worship was adopted from the
first by the Zoroastrians; on the other, the entire absence of all
mention of Mithra from the Gathas would lead us to the conclusion that
in the time when they were composed his cult had not yet begun. Perhaps
we may distinguish between two forms of early Iranic worship--one that
of the more intelligent and spiritual--the leaders of the secession--in
whose creed Mithra had no place; the other that of the great mass of
followers, a coarser and more material system, in which many points
of the old religion were retained, and among them the worship of the
Sun-god. This lower and more materialistic school of thought probably
conveyed on into the Iranic system other points also common to the
Zendavosta with the Vedas, as the recognition of Airyaman (Aryaman) as
a genius presiding over marriages, of Vitraha as a very high angel, and
the like.

Vayu, "the Wind," seems to have been regarded as a god from the first.
He appears, not only in the later portions of the Zenda vesta, like
Mithra and Aryaman, but in the Gathas themselves. His name is clearly
identical with that of the Vedic Wind-god, Vayu, and is apparently a
sister form to the ventus, or wind, of the more western Arians. The root
is probably vi, "to go," which may be traced in vis, via, vado, venio,
etc.

The ancient Iranians did not adopt into their system either Agni, "Fire"
(Lat. _ignis_), or Soma (Homa), "Intoxication." Fire was indeed retained
for sacrifice; but it was regarded as a mere material agent, and not as
a mysterious Power, the proper object