BABYLON AND PERSIA

THE PROPHET OF ERAN. 2$the royal family and the mighty nobles of the land ;. the queen herself is his devoted follower. Then, again,his disciples seem to be speaking, for he is mentionedin the third person.But throughout this preciouscollection, the grand figure stands out most real, -most human, appealing to thenoblest, tenderesthuman .sympathies, and making you feel sure thatZarathushtra has once been a living man, and not anempty naine.10. But when our curiosity prompts us to inquirefor details, for biographical facts, materials fail usentirely.The Avesta tells us the name of his fatherand of his family or clan- Spitama ; aLso those ofhis wives, his sons,that nothing definite.and his daughter, but beyondStill keeping strictly to theAvestan text, we find that he was born by a greatwater, probably a river, in a wooded and mountain¬ous country, and a " mountain of holy communings "is mentionedsurely a lofty forest retreat, where hespent a portion of his lifeperhaps a large portionof it,meditating and lifting his soul higher andhigher, until he felt himself face to face with theDeity, and came down and went forth to teach hispeople, fully believing that he spoke not out of him¬self, but from what it had been given him to hear,in answer to his own seeking and questioning ofspirit. For solitude, amidst grand natural surround¬ings, is a great breeder of thought and visions. Mo¬hammed had been for years a driver of camels and aleader of caravans, conning the mighty, silent lessonsof the desert and the stars, before he announcedhimself a seer and a prophet, and he was forty then.