“Before the boiling water publicly prepared, O Spitama Zarathustra! let no one make bold to deny having received from his neighbor the ox or the garment in his possession.

“Verily I say it unto thee, O Spitama Zarathustra! the man who has a wife is far above him who lives in continence; he who keeps a house is far above him who has none; he who has children is far above the childless man; he who has riches is far above him who has none.  And of two men, he who fills himself with meat receives in him Vohu Mano much better than he who does not do so; the latter is all but dead; the former is above him by the worth of an Asperena, by the worth of a sheep, by the worth of an ox, by the worth of a man.  This man can strive against the onsets of Asto-vidhotu; he can strive against the well-darted arrow; he can strive against the winter fiend, with thinnest garment on; he can strive against the wicked tyrant and smite him on the head; he can strive against the ungodly fasting Ashemaogha.

“On the very first time when that deed has been done, without waiting until it is done again, down there the pain for that deed shall be as hard as any in this world:  even as if one should cut off the limbs from his perishable body with knives of brass, or still worse; down there the pain for that deed shall be as hard as any in this world:  even as if one should nail his perishable body with nails of brass, or still worse; down there the pain for that deed shall be as hard as any in this world:  even as if one should by force throw his perishable body headlong down a precipice a hundred times the height of a man, or still worse; down there the pain for that deed shall be as hard as any in this world:  even as if one should by force impale his perishable body, or still worse; down there the pain for this deed shall be as hard as any in this world:  to-wit, the deed of a man, who, knowingly lying, confronts the brimstoned, golden, truth-knowing water with an appeal unto Rashnu and a lie unto Mithra.”

O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One!  He who, knowingly lying, confronts the brimstoned, golden, truth-knowing water with an appeal unto Rashnu and a lie unto Mithra, what is the penalty that he shall pay?

Ahura Mazda answered:—­

“Seven hundred stripes with the Aspahe-astra, seven hundred stripes with the Sraosho-karana.”

[Footnote 11:  This chapter is the only one in the Vendidad that deals with legal subjects.]

UNCLEANNESS[12]

O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One!  Here is a man watering a corn-field.  The water streams down the field; it streams again; it streams a third time; and the fourth time, a dog, a fox, or a wolf carries some Nasu into the bed of the stream:  what is the penalty that this man shall pay?

Ahura Mazda answered:—­

“There is no sin upon a man for any Nasu that has been brought by dogs, by birds, by wolves, by winds, or by flies.  For were there sin upon a man for any Nasu that might have been brought by dogs, by birds, by wolves, by winds, or by flies, how soon all this material world of mine would be only one Peshotanu, bent on the destruction of righteousness, and whose soul will cry and wail! so numberless are the beings that die upon the face of the earth.”