Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 1.djvu/259

 OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 235 Europe and Asia had mutually adopted and corrupted CHAP each other's superstitions. The Arsacides, indeed, '_ practised the worship of the magi ; but they disgraced and polluted it with a various mixture of foreign idol- atry. The memory of Zoroaster, the ancient prophet and philosopher of the Persians ^, was still revered in the east ; but the obsolete and mysterious language in which the Zendavesta was composed ^, opened a field of dispute to seventy sects, who variously explained the fundamental doctrines of their religion, and were all indifferently derided by a crowd of infidels, who re- jected the divine mission and miracles of the prophet. To suppress the idolaters, reunite the schismatics, and confute the unbelievers, by the infallible decision of a general council, the pious Artaxerxes summoned the magi from all parts of his dominions. These priests, who had so long sighed in contempt and obscurity, obeyed the welcome summons ; and on the appointed day appeared, to the number of about eighty thousand. But as the debates of so tumultuous an assembly could not have been directed by the authority of reason, or influenced by the art of policy, the Persian synod was reduced, by successive operations, to forty thousand, to four thousand, to four iiundred, to forty, and at last to seven magi, the most respected for their learning and piety. One of these, Erdaviraph, a young but holy prelate, received from the hands of his brethren three cups of soporiferous wine. He drank them off, and instantly fell into a long and profound sleep. As soon as he waked, he related to the king and to the ? Hyde and Prideaux, working up the Persian legends and their own conjectures into a very agreeable story, represent Zoroaster as a contem- porary of Darius Hystaspes. But it is sufficient to observe, that the Greek writers, who lived almost in the age of Darius, agree in placing the era of Zoroaster many hundred, or even thousand, years before their own time. The judicious criticism of Mr. Moyle perceived, and maintained against his uncle Dr. Prideaux, the antiquity of the Persian prophet. See his work, vol. ii. h That ancient idiom was called the Zend. The language of the com- mentary, the Pehlvi, though much more modern, has ceased many ages ago to be a living tongue. This fact alone (if it is allowed as authentic) suffi- ciently warrants the antiquity of those writings which M. d'Anquetil has brought into Europe, and translated into French.