Page:The age of Justinian and Theodora (Volume 2).djvu/27

 water was used very charily, and it was sinful to take a bath. The vegetable productions of the earth were viewed with profound admiration, wherefore the cultivation of gardens and parks was among the greatest delights of the Persians. The estimation in which cattle were held was the cause of some singular legislation and ritual enactments. Thus the urine of the cow was habitually collected and made use of daily for the purification of the body by washing. The sheep-dog was an object of extreme solicitude, so much so that the penalty exacted for manslaughter was only half as onerous as that inflicted for the crime of giving bad food to such a precious animal, but even the latter was a mild offence compared with the infamy of killing a water-dog, the name by which the otter was identified, as the wretch convicted was sentenced to be beaten to death. On the other hand, noxious animals were regarded as the creation of Angra-Mainyu, and the Magi made it a religious duty to kill them with their own hands, especially ants, serpents,

has shown. Thus, when Tiridates visited Nero, he and his retinue, including several priests, journeyed overland to avoid defiling the sea; Justin, xli; Pliny, Hist. Nat., xxx, 17.]
 * [Footnote: (Rawlinson, etc.), the Parthians were pious Mazdeites, as Darmsteter