BABYLON AND PERSIA

ARYAA^ MYTHS IN THE AVESTA.7Ipromises confinedto fellow-Mazdayasnians ("wor¬shippers of Mazda "). It is expressly said :" Break not the contract, neither the one that thou hadst enteredinto with one of the unfaithful, nor the one that thou hadst enteredinto with one of thy own faith.For Mithra stands both for the faith¬ful and for the unfaithful." *12. A spirited picture is that which the greatYesht brings before us, of Mithra going forth in hisheavenly chariot, escorted by his helpers and friends,to do battle against the Powers of Evil and theirhuman followers :"His chariot is embraced and uplifted by Holiness ; the Law ofMazda opens a way, that he may go easily ; four heavenly steeds,white, shining, seen afar, beneficent, endowed with knowledge,swiftly carry him along the heavenly space. ... At his right handdrives the good, holy Sraosiia (Obedience to the Law of Mazda) ;at his left drives tlie tall and strong Rasiinu (Uprightness, Jus¬tice) ; on all sides of him . . . the Fravashis of the faithful(the Spirits of the Departed). . . . Behind him drives Atar (Fire),all in a blaze. . . ."Before him and close by him run two dread be¬ingsVerethraghna (Victory), and the " StrongCursing Thought of the Wise," both described inidentical words as wearing the shape of a " sharptoothed,sharp-jawed boar, that kills at one stroke,pursuing, strong and swift to run, and rushing for¬ward." Mithra is well armed for the fray".Swinging in his hands a club with a hundred knots, a hundrededges, that rushes forward and fells men down ; a club cast out ofred brass, . . . the strongest of all weapons, the most victorious ofall -H'eapons."It IS noteworthy that mithra at la,st becomes a common notin,meaning "contract," and used as such in every-day speech.