Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 24.djvu/870

Rh 820 Z O R Z R 1809) and Geoffrey Saint-Hilaire (Principes de Philosophic Zoologique, 1830), and in Germany Oken (Lehrbuch der Natur-Philosophie, 1809-11), Goethe (Zur Natur Wiss- ensch., Stuttgart, 1817), and Treviranus (Biologie, 1802-5) were the authors of more or less complete systems of a philosophy of nature in which living things were regarded as the outcome of natural law, that is, of the same general processes which had produced the inanimate universe. The &quot;Natur-philosophen,&quot; as they were called in Ger many, demand the fullest recognition and esteem. But, Justin proportion as the &quot; Natur-philosophen &quot; failed to produce an immediate effect on the study of zoology by their theory of natural development, so was the doctrine of evolution itself deprived of completeness and of the most important demonstration of its laws by the long- continued delay in the final introduction of biology into the area of that doctrine. Darwin by his discovery of the mechanical principle of organic evolution, namely, the survival of the fittest in the struggle for existence, completed the doctrine of evolution, and gave it that unity and authority which was necessary in order that it should reform the whole range of philo sophy. The detailed consequences of that new depart ure in philosophy have yet to be worked out. Its most important initial conception is the derivation of man by natural processes from ape-like ancestors, and the conse quent derivation of his mental and moral qualities by the operation of the struggle for existence and natural selection from the mental and moral qualities of animals. Not the least important of the studies thus initiated is that of the evolution of philosophy itself. Zoology thu.s finally arrives through Darwin at its crowning development : it touches and may even be said to comprise the history of man, socio logy, and psychology. Bibliography. Engelmann, Bibliothcca Historico-Naturalis, vol. i., 1846 (being a list of the separate works and academical memoirs relating to zoology published between 1700 and 1846) ; Cams and Engelmann, Bibl. Zoologica, Leipsic, 1861 (a similar list of works published between 1846 and 1861) ; J. V. Carus, Gcsch. d. Zoologic, Munich, 1872 ; and L. Agassiz, An Essay on Classification, London, 1859. (E. R. L.) ZOROASTER, one of the great teachers of the East, the founder of what was the national religion of the Perso- Iranian people from the time of the Achsemenidce to the close of the Sasanian period. The name (Zwpoao-rp^s) is the Greek form of the old Iranian Zarathushtra and the new Persian Zardusht; it seems to mean &quot;possessor of old camels.&quot; Zoroaster was already famous in classical antiquity as the founder of the widely renowned wisdom of the Magi. The later Greek writers place him with almost one consent in the east of Iran, and more particularly in Bactria. The name is not mentioned by Herodotus in his sketch of the Medo-Persian religion (i. 131 s&amp;lt;?.), but it occurs in a fragment (29) of the earlier writer Xanthus. Plato calls Zoroaster the founder of the doctrine of the Magi and a son of Oromazes. According to Hermodorus, one of Plato s disciples, he was a Persian, the first Magian ; according to Hermippus, a Bactrian ; according to Trogus Pompeius, even king of the Bactrians and founder of the Magian art and knowledge of the stars ; according to Diodorus, an Arian, that is, a native of east Iran. A few details as to his life are also given. Thus, according to Pliny, he laughed on the very day of his birth a statement found also in the Zardusht-Ndma and for thirty years he lived in the wilderness upon cheese. Plutarch speaks of his intercourse with the deity and compares him with Lycurgus and Numa. Dio Chrysostom, Plutarch s contemporary, declares that neither Homer nor Hesiod sang of the chariot and horses of Zeus so worthily as Zoroaster, of whom the Persians tell that out of love to wisdom and righteousness he withdrew himself from men and lived in solitude upon a mountain. The mountain was burnt up, but Zoroaster escaped uninjured and spoke to the multitude. His struggle with Semiramis seems to be an invention of Ctesias. Plutarch, drawing partly on Theopompus, speaks of his religion in his Isis and Osiris (cc. 46 and 47). Ancient writers differ greatly as to Zoroaster s date. Ctesias, as we have seen, makes him a contemporary of Semiramis. Hermippus of Smyrna places him 5000 years before the Trojan War, Xanthus 6000 years before Xerxes. Aristotle assigned him a similar antiquity. Agathias remarks (ii. 24) with perfect truth that it is no longer possible to determine with any certainty when he lived and legislated. &quot; The Persians,&quot; he adds, &quot; say that Zoro aster lived under Hystaspes, but do not make it clear whether by this name they mean the father of Darius or another Hystaspes. But, whatever may have been his date, he was their teacher and instructor in the Magian religion.&quot; All classical antiquity, however, without a dis sentient voice speaks of Zoroaster as an historical person. He is nowhere mentioned in the cuneiform inscriptions of the Achsemenidae, although Darius and his successors were without doubt devoted adherents of Zoroastrianism. Very little value can be attached to the fabulous narratives concerning him in the later Persian and Parsee literature, the Shdh-Ndma and the Zardmht-Ndma (13th century); and the information of the Pahlavi books is very scanty. The Zend-Avesta alone gives abundant details, which, in part at least, may be regarded as authentic. Before proceeding to compile from these a brief sketch of the life and doctrine of Zoroaster it will be well that we should first look at the question whether we are entitled to regard him as an his torical character at all. For Zoroaster too, like his great fellow- teacher Buddha, has fallen under the ban of modern scepticism. According to Dannesteter and Eduard Meyer, the Parsee saint is a mere myth, a divinity invested with human attributes, an incarnation of the storm-god, who with his divine word, the thunder, comes down from heaven and smites the demons. Dannesteter, however, has failed to realize sufficiently the distinction between the Zoroaster of the later Avesta and the Zoroaster of the Gathas. It cannot be denied that in the later Avesta, and still more in writings of more recent date, he is presented in a supernatural light and invested with superhuman powers. At his appearing all nature rejoices ( YasM 13, 93) ; he enters into conflict with the demons and rids the earth of their presence (Yasht 17, 19) ; Satan approaches him as tempter to make him renounce his faith ( Vd., 19, 6). The Zar dusht-Ndma is full of miracles and miraculous deliverances wrought by Zoroaster. But it is quite otherwise in the Gathas. The Gathas alone within the Avesta make any claim to be the ipsissima verba of the prophet ; in the rest of that work they are put into Zoroaster s own mouth ( Yasna, 9, 1 ) and are expressly called &quot;the Gathas of the holy Zoroaster&quot; (Yasna, 57, 8). The litanies of the Yasna, and the Yashts, refer to him as a personage belonging to a remote antiquity. The Vendidad also merely gives accounts of the dialogues between Ormuzd and Zoroaster. The Gathas alone claim to be authentic utterances of Zoroaster, his genuine expressions in presence of the assembled church. The person too of the Zoroaster whom we meet with in these hymns differs toto ccelo from the Zoroaster of the younger Avesta. He is the exact opposite of the miraculous personage of later legend, a mere man, standing always on the solid ground of reality, whose only arms are trust in his God and the protection of his powerful allies. And at times his position is precarious enough. He whom we hear in the Gathas has had to face, not merely all forms of out ward opposition and the unbelief and lukewarmness of adherents, but also the inward misgivings of his own heart as to the truth and final victory of his cause. At one time hope, at another despond ency, now assured confidence, now doubt and despair, here a firm faith in the speedy coming of the kingdom of heaven, there the thought of taking refuge by flight, such is the range of the emotions which find their immediate expression in these hymns. And the whole breathes such a genuine originality, all is psycho logically so accurate and just, the earliest beginnings of the new religious movement, the childhood of a new community of faith, are reflected so naturally in them all, that it is impossible for