(4) Now then, Yajnavalkya had two wives, Maitreyi and Katyayani. Of the two, Maitreyi was a discourser on sacred knowledge (brahma-vddinz) \ Katyayani had just (eva) a woman's knowledge in that matter (tarhi\ Now then, Yajnavalkya was about to commence another mode of life.

(7) The first step in obtaining the numerical value of a word is to resolve it back into its original tongue. Only words of Greek or Hebrew derivation can be successfully analyzed by this method, and all words must be spelled in their most ancient and complete forms. Old Testament words and names, therefore, must be translated back into the early Hebrew characters and New Testament words into the Greek. Two examples will help to clarify this principle.

(3) “ Nor do we frame conceptions of a divine nature, contrary to its real mode of subsistence. ” But conformably to the nature which it possesses, and to the truth concerning it, which those obtained who first established the laws of sacred religion, we persevere in our conceptions of divinity. For if any thing else in religious legal institutions is adapted to the Gods, this must certainly be immutability. And it is necessary that ancient prayers, like sacred asyla, should be preserved invariably the same, neither taking any thing from them, nor adding any thing to them which is elsewhere derived. For this is nearly the cause at present that both names and prayers have lost their efficacy, because they are continually changed through the innovation and illegality of the Greeks. For the Greeks are naturally studious of novelty, and are carried about every where by their volatility; neither possessing any stability themselves, nor preserving what they have received from others; but rapidly relinquishing this, they transform every thing through an unstable desire of discovering something new. But the Barbarians are stable in their manners, and firmly continue to employ the same words. Hence they are dear to the Gods, and proffer words which are grateful to them; but which it is not lawful for any man by any means to change. And thus much we have said in answer to you concerning names, which though they are inexplicable, and are called Barbaric, yet are adapted to sacred concerns.

(8) The Miscellanies, then, study neither arrangement nor diction; since there are even cases in which the Greeks on purpose wish that ornate diction should be absent, and imperceptibly cast in the seed of dogmas, not according to the truth, rendering such as may read laborious and quick at discovery. For many and various are the baits for the various kinds of fishes.

(24) The evil spirit first created Mîtôkht ('falsehood'), and then Akôman ('evil thought').

(4) By Notarikon each letter of a word may become the initial character of a new word. Thus from BRASHITH, first word in the book of Genesis, are extracted six words which mean that "in the beginning the Elohim saw that Israel would accept the law." Mr. MacGregor-Mathers also gives six additional examples of Notarikon formed from the above word by Solomon Meir Ben Moses, a mediæval Qabbalist. From the famous acrostic ascribed to the Erythræan Sibyl, St. Augustine derived the word ΙΧΘΥΣ, which by Notarikon was expanded into the phrase, "Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior." By another use of Notarikon, directly the reverse of the first, the initial, last, or middle letters of the words of a sentence may be joined together to form a new word or words. For example, the name Amen, ἁμήν, maybe extracted from ארנימלרנאטז, "the Lord is the faithful King." Because they had embodied these cryptic devices in their sacred writings, the ancient priests admonished their disciples never to translate, edit, or rewrite the contents of the sacred books. .

(1) You object, however, “ that he who hears words looks to their signification, so that it is sufficient the conception remains the same, whatever the words may be that are used .” But the thing is not such as you suspect it to be. For if names subsisted through compact it would be of no consequence whether some were used instead of others. But if they are suspended from the nature of things, those names which are more adapted to it will also be more dear to the Gods. From this, therefore, it is evident that the language of sacred nations is very reasonably preferred to that of other men. To which may be added, that names do not entirely preserve the same meaning when translated into another language; but there are certain idioms in each nation which cannot be signified by language to another nation. And, in the next place, though it should be possible to translate them, yet they no longer preserve the same power when translated. Barbarous names, likewise, have much emphasis, great conciseness, and participate of less ambiguity, variety, and multitude.

(16) Thus, O Ahura Mazda! this Zarathustra loves the Spirit , and every man most bounteous prays (beside him): Be Righteousness life-strong, and clothed with body. In that (holy) Realm which shines (with splendour) as the sun, let Piety be present; and may she through the indwelling of Thy Good Mind give us blessings in reward for deeds ! 95:1 Anaêshem manô, anaêshem vakô, anaêshem skyaothnem prove that the thought, word, and deed referred to were not limited to a ritual meaning. 98:1 Ahmâi as = to us, does not seem to be good grammar here, as it necessitates a forced separation between it and yahmâikahmâikît. Cp. ahmâi yahmâi-kahmâikît in Y. XLIV, 16. 98:2 I turn from the fine rendering of the Pahlavi with the greatest reluctance: Nadûk valman mûn zak î valman nadûkîh kadârzâî [aîgh kadârzâî ansutâ min nadûkîh î valman nadûkîh], happy is he whose benefit is for every one; [that is, for every man there is happiness from his benefit]; Ner. follows. 98:3 There is a question whether the particle gat (ghat?) may not have originated from gât. Barth. here follows the Pahlavi, reading gatôi (?) = pavan yâmtûnisnŏ. Lak may have been added, as often, to serve as an alternative rendering. 98:4 Or 'I will,' so Prof. Jolly (infinitive for imper.). 98:5 So also the Pahl. rayê-hômand, not as a rendering merely, but as a philological analagon. Otherwise 'riches.' 98:6 Gaêm recalls sraêsta gaya g(i)vainti. 98:7 As ahmâi would more naturally mean 'to this one' in the previous verse, it is desirable to render it in the same way here. 99:1 It is to the last degree improbable that hvâthrôyâ (hvâthravâ; 'y' miswritten for 'v') indicates a condition of ease and comfort here. The 'easy man' is the farthest possible from the thoughts of the composer. The 'best of all things' makes a word kindred to hveng (hvan) appropriate here. 99:2 Kîkî (?), if an imperative (?), may mean guard over; but the Pahlavi translator gives us the better view; he has lak pêdâkînŏ; Ner. tvam prakâsaya. Geldner's kîkîthwâ is important. 99:3 Thwâ = thy properties. 99:4 The Pahl. has merely padmânŏ. 99:5 This shade of meaning is expressed by the Pahlavi. 99:6 Ayâre, acc. pl. 99:7 This expression seems to equal the summum bonum; so also 'worse than the evil' is the ultimate of woe. 99:8 Cp. Y. XXVIII, 3. 99:9 Does haithyeng mean 'eternal,' with every passage in which it occurs considered? 99:10 Thwâvant may, however, like mavant, simply express the personal pronoun here. The position of aredrô, &c. is awkward if thwâvant = thy: 'Where dwells Ahura, Thyself, O Mazda! beneficent, wise, and bountiful.' But aredra is almost a special term for a zealous partisan. 99:11 The Pahl. has khûp-dânâkîh, indicating a meaning which would p. 100 better apply to Ahura than the one given, which cannot be applied to Him. 100:1 Subjunctive (see Prof. Jolly, V.S. p. 28). 100:2 'By Thy hand.' 100:3 The holy Fire of the altar. 100:4 Gimat may be regarded as an improper subjunctive here. 100:5 The Pahlavi: 'and that too which renders justice to the wicked and also to the righteous. And this Thy Fire is burning, since by it the strength of him who lives in Righteousness is (maintained) when that violence which approaches with a good intention comes to me.' 100:6 See Y. XXXI, 8, where the word is also rendered as = vornehmster. 100:7 Literally, 'When Thou didst render deeds provided with rewards.' We are forced to put the action in the past on account of zãthôi, but the influences originally set in motion were to have their issue in the end of the world. 100:8 I render hunarâ literally, and bring its Pahlavi translation to the same sense as necessarily. Otherwise hûmar would generally mean 'skill.' Ner. has tava guneshu. The Pahlavi would here be recognised by all reasonable scholars as striking in its closeness. 101:1 The word ratûs reminds one of the work of the Ratu for the afflicted kine. In the last changing, which shall complete the Frashakard, he, or his representatives, will appear as the last Saoshyant, introducing 'millennial' blessedness. 101:2 I render the Pahlavi here as in evidence: 'Through Thee, O (?) bountiful Spirit! the changing comes [(later (?) gloss) from wickedness to goodness]. And it comes likewise through Aûharmazd's supremacy within a good mind, through whose action the progress of Aharâyîh's settlements is furthered, those which the master is instructing with a perfect mind [ ], and in which this Thy wisdom shall in no wise be deceived thereby.' 101:3 As the kine thought little of her deliverer (see Y. XXIX, 9), so Sraosha, the obedient host, is here represented as inquiring as to the antecedents of the newly-appointed prophet. But he asks more properly concerning the settlements from which he comes than the lands. Gaêtha is not dahv(h)yu. An origin external to that of other chieftains is not at all necessarily indicated by the question. 101:4 The Pahlavi sees a denominative in isôyâ (isôvâ; y for v); it is denom. in the Altiranisches Verbum. It differs, however, as to root. I offer an alternative in its sense. An open tormentor; [that is, I openly torment the wicked] even as much as I desire, do I torment (them) [(later (?) gloss) Ganrâk mînavad]. 102:1 We must be cautious in accepting the statement that the Pahlavi translations attempt to be literal. Here is one which is free and far from erroneous: Aêtûnŏ avŏ aharûbŏ min valman î aôg-hômand aîtŏ; [aîghas, râmînam]. 102:2 The Pahlavi here shows only the correct root. 102:3 Mâ = smâ? 102:4 'So long as I can, will I be of this mind,' seems hardly expressed here. Observe the nearly parallel construction in verse 8. 102:5 The Pahlavi, Sanskrit, and Persian translations would here be regarded once more as extremely close even by opponents, if reasonable in their estimates. Manayâî seems to me hardly an infinitive, as it is comparatively seldom that an infinitive falls to the end of a sentence either in Gâthic or Vedic. I prefer the indication of the Pahlavi with Justi and Bartholomae (in the Altiranisches Verbum). 102:6 Read perhaps daidhîs (later shortened to suit the metre). 102:7 Or, 'ask us that we may be questioned by Thee.' 103:1 The Pahlavi translation bears evidence to a less subtle, and therefore more probable sense here, but at the same time to a rarer grammatical form. It renders dîdaiNhê as a third person, indicating an instance of a third person in ê, and not in the perfect. It also recognises a reduplicated form by its pavan nikêzisnŏ nikêzêdŏ. 103:2 The Pahlavi translator with a curious error, or still more curious freedom, has rûbâk-dahisnîh here and elsewhere. Possibly the Gâthic text before the last compiler differed from ours. 103:3 I still prefer Professor Bartholomae's earlier rendering, after the Pahlavi, as more in harmony with mraotâ and mraos. 103:4 Professor Jolly has the important rendering 'das will ich thun;' the infinitive in a future or imperative sense. 103:5 'Ye said.' 103:6 The Pahlavi unvaryingly kabed. 103:7 Here we probably have the missing subject in the other verses. 103:8 Reading mãzâ rayâ. (Rayâ cannot well mean 'riches' here.) The Pahlavi also indicates the division by its free or erroneous mas ratû (rad). Sraosha, an obedient will personified, guides the soul as in the later Parsism. Cp. the Ardâ Vîrâf. 104:1 Here we have the important reading rânôibyô as against the dual of K4, &c. (see Geldner). No mention of the fire occurs; and as the form does not agree with arani, we may well doubt that comparison in view of ãsayau in Y. XXXI, 2, and the unvarying and uniform patkardârânŏ of the Pahlavi. The rendering 'with the sticks' is, however, admirably adapted, and must be considered as an emphatic alternative. 104:2 The Pahlavi supports the reading vî for ve; it has barâ. Ashî might also mean merely 'holy,' as adjective. 104:3 In Y. XXVIII, 7, he asks for it that he may crush the malice of the foe. 104:4 Justi admirably suggested yânem understood. 104:5 The Pahlavi divides dârstaitê, and, as I hold, mistakes the root as was inevitable. The ancient scribe feared to restore the severed fragments, which appeared, as so often, in the MSS. before him. I would read darsaitê with Spiegel's c(?) (so Bartholomae, later, however, recurring to a division, with Geldner after the Pahlavi, for the sake of bringing out an infinitive). 104:6 Vairyau contracted from vairyayau by a corrupting improvement to regulate the metre. 104:7 So the Pahlavi indicates, Bartholomae following as against the rendering 'possessing.' 104:8 With regard to Mazdau and medhâ, I should perhaps long p. 105since have stated that I object to the comparison, not only because medhâ´ is a feminine, and, as Grassmann has supposed, possibly represented by the Zend madh, Greek math, but because 'wisdom' is an abstract (while su-medhâ´s, as a compound, does not apply so directly). I hold, however, that mazdâ, the fem. noun in Y. XL, 1 = medhâ´. It is also not impossible that this word may be represented (with differing shades of meaning) by both madh and mazdãm (fem.) in Zend. 105:1 Read, perhaps, frâkhstâ; or frâstâ, 'with Thine advancing kingdom I (am) to go forth to'; (frâ + as, participle.) 105:2 Prof. Jolly has the important rendering, 'Ich will mich erheben;' the infinitive in a a future or imperative sense. 105:3 Chieftainships. Compare (not with exactness, however) sárdhâmsi. 105:4 The idea of reciting from memory seems to be included in marentê. 105:5 The rendering pourûs (?) as=pl. of pûrús is attractive, but dregvatô hardly needs, and seldom has, a substantive. The wicked = wicked men; and, on the other hand, nâ constantly claims an accompanying word; (nâ ismanô; nâ vaêdemnô; hvô nâ-erethwô; nâ spentô, ye-nâ, ke vâ-nâ, &c.) Also it is improbable that the words nâ and pourûs, as = pûrávas, should come together; 'let not a man men evil ingratiate (?).' Compare for sense here purviâs in one or more of its applications. Possibly the meaning is, 'let not a man be foremost in conciliating the wicked.' The Pahlavi likewise has kabed (freely). Ner. has: Mâ narah* prakuram durgatinâm bhûyât* yathâ kathamkit satkartâ. An important rendering is that of Professor p. 106 Jolly, V.S. s. 47, 'möchte es wenige Verehrer des Lügners geben.' Cp. Y. XLVI, 1, where the composer speaks of the chefs as on their side, 'not contenting' him. 106:1 Or, with the Pahl.: Mûn aêtûnŏ lak harvisp-gûnŏ aharûbânŏ pavan anâk yakhsenund, for they consider all Thy saints as wicked. The rendering above is less natural as conveying the idea of a conversion (comp., however, yâ g(i)vantô vîspeng vaurayâ), but it renders the grammatical forms more simply. It is bad policy to force a text to express what we happen to believe to be a more natural idea. Using the hint of the Pahlavi here in an understanding manner, we might then render 'for they hold all sinners as holy.' 106:2 I had long since compared verentê with vrinîte (-devâ´nâm ávas); and am now sustained by Bartholomae's view. 106:3 Possibly the Spenista mainyu of Ahura. (See also Y. XLIV, 2.) 106:4 The Pahlavi, on the contrary, bears evidence to the meaning 'comes,' which I cannot accept as 'tradition' in view of the following precatives. 106:5 Ner.: 'The kingdom becomes established (in a manner completely manifest) in sun-publicity through mental perfection [ ]; and upon the workers of righteousness the Good Mind bestows it.' Next: Yasna XLIV Sacred Texts | Zoroastrianism « Previous: The Zend Avesta, Part III (SBE31): The Gâthas: Yasn... Index Next: The Zend Avesta, Part III (SBE31): The Gâthas: Yasn... » Sacred Texts | Zoroastrianism

(16) Thus we have the following familiar Opposites: Hard and Soft, Hot and Cold, Large and Small, Far and Near, Up and Down, Day and Night, Light and Darkness, Long and Short, etc. Even where our language fails to supply a definite term for the Opposite of a discovered quality, property, or attribute, the Opposite may be expressed by prefixing the term "Not" to the observed quality, property, or attribute.

(55) ZENON* saith: Pythagoras hath treated concerning the water, which the envious have called by all names. Finally, at the end of his book he has treated of the ferment of gold, ordaining that thereon should be imposed clean water of sulphur, and a small quantity ofits gum. I am astonished, O all ye Turba, how the envious have in this work discoursed of the perfection rather than the commencement of the same! The

Turea answereth: Why, therefore, have you left it to putrefy? And he: Thou hast spoken truly; putrefaction does not take place without the dry and the humid. But the vulgar putrefy with the humid. Thus the humid is merely coagulated with the dry. But out of both is the beginning of the work. Notwithstanding, the envious have divided this work into three parts, asserting that one quickly flees, but the other is fixed and immovable.