Angro-mainyus appears not to possess any such general-in-chief.  Besides the six councillors above mentioned, there are indeed various demons of importance, as Drukhs, “destruction;” Aeshemo, “rapine;” Daivis, “deceit;” Driwis, “poverty,” etc.; but no one of these seems to occupy a parallel place in the evil world to that which is assigned to Serosh in the good.  Perhaps we have here a recognition of the anarchic character of evil, whose attacks are like those of a huge undisciplined host—­casual, fitful, irregular—­destitute wholly of that principle of law and order which gives to the resisting power of good a great portion of its efficacy.

To the belief in a spiritual world composed of all these various intelligences—­one half of whom were good, and the other half evil—­the early Zoroastrians added notions with respect to human duties and human prospects far more enlightened than those which have usually prevailed among heathen nations.  In their system truth, purity, piety, and industry were the virtues chiefly valued and inculcated.  Evil was traced up to its root in the heart of man; and it was distinctly taught that no virtue deserved the name but such as was co-extensive with the whole sphere of human activity, including the thought, as well as the word and deed.  The purity required was inward as well as outward, mental as well as bodily.  The industry was to be of a peculiar character.  Man was placed upon the earth to preserve the good creation; and this could only be done by careful tilling of the soil, eradication of thorns and weeds, and reclamation of the tracts over which Angro-mainyus had spread the curse of barrenness.  To cultivate the soil was thus a religious duty; the whole community was required to be agricultural; and either as proprietor, as farmer, or as laboring man, each Zoroastrian must “further the works of life” by advancing tillage.  Piety consisted in the acknowledgment of the One True God, Ahura-mazda, and of his holy angels, the Amesha Spentas or Amshashpands, in the frequent offering of prayers, praises, and thanksgivings, in the recitation of hymns, the performance of the reformed Soma ceremony, and the occasional sacrifice of animals.  Of the hymns we have abundant examples in the Gathas of the Zendavesta, and in the Yagna haptanhaiti, or “Yaana of seven chapters,” which belongs to the second period of the religion.  A specimen from the latter source is subjoined below.  The Soma or Homa ceremony consisted in the extraction of the juice of the Homa plant by the priests during the recitation of prayers, the formal presentation of the liquid extracted to the sacrificial fire, the consumption of a small portion of it by one of the officiating priests, and the division of the remainder among the worshippers.  As the juice was drunk immediately after extraction and before fermentation had set in, it was not intoxicating.  The ceremony seems to have been regarded, in part, as having a mystic force, securing the favor of heaven; in part, as exerting a beneficial influence upon the body of the worshipper through the curative power inherent in the Homa plant.