the tracts over which Angro-mainyus had spread the
curse of barrenness. To cultivate the soil was thus a religious duty;
the whole community was required to be agricultural; and either as
proprietor, as farmer, or as laboring man, each Zoroastrian must
"further the works of life" by advancing tillage. Piety consisted in the
acknowledgment of the One True God, Ahura-mazda, and of his holy angels,
the Amesha Spentas or Amshashpands, in the frequent offering of prayers,
praises, and thanksgivings, in the recitation of hymns, the performance
of the reformed Soma ceremony, and the occasional sacrifice of animals.
Of the hymns we have abundant examples in the Gathas of the Zendavesta,
and in the Yagna haptanhaiti, or "Yaana of seven chapters," which
belongs to the second period of the religion. A specimen from the latter
source is subjoined below. The Soma or 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 liquid 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 influence upon
the body of the worshipper through the curative power inherent in the
Homa plant.

The sacrifices of the Zoroastrians were never human. The ordinary victim
was the horse; and we hear of occasions on which a single individual
sacrificed as many as ten of these animals. Mares seem to have been
regarded as the most pleasing offerings, probably on account of their
superior value; and if it was desired to draw down the special favor of
the Deity, those mares were selected which were already heavy in foal.
Oxen, sheep, and goats were probably also used as victims. 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 worshippers.

The Zoroastrians were devout believers in the immortality of the soul
and a conscious future existence. They taught that immediately after
death the souls of men, both good and bad, proceeded together along an
appointed path to "the