=Angels and Demons.=—­Over against Ormuzd, the god and the creator, is Ahriman, wicked and destructive.  Each has in his service a legion of spirits.  The soldiers of Ormuzd are the good angels (yazatas), those of Ahriman the evil demons (devs).  The angels dwell in the East in the light of the rising sun; the demons in the West in the shadows of the darkness.  The two armies wage incessant warfare; the world is their battleground, for both troops are omnipresent.  Ormuzd and his angels seek to benefit men, to make them good and happy; Ahriman and his demons gnaw around them to destroy them, to make them unhappy and wicked.

=Creatures of Ormuzd and Ahriman.=—­Everything good on the earth is the work of Ormuzd and works for good; the sun and fire that dispel the night, the stars, fermented drinks that seem to be liquid fire, the water that satisfies the thirst of man, the cultivated fields that feed him, the trees that shade him, domestic animals—­especially the dog,[30] the birds (because they live in the air), among all these the cock since he announces the day.  On the other hand everything that is baneful comes from Ahriman and tends to evil:  the night, drought, cold, the desert, poisonous plants, thorns, beasts of prey, serpents, parasites (mosquitoes, fleas, bugs) and animals that live in dark holes—­lizards, scorpions, toads, rats, ants.  Likewise in the moral world life, purity, truth, work are good things and come from Ormuzd; death, filth, falsehood, idleness are bad, and issue from Ahriman.

=Worship.=—­From these notions proceed worship and morality.  Man ought to adore the good god[31] and fight for him.  According to Herodotus, “The Persians are not accustomed to erect statues, temples, or altars to their gods; they esteem those who do this as lacking in sense for they do not believe, as the Greeks do, that the gods have human forms."[32] Ormuzd manifests himself only under the form of fire or the sun.  This is why the Persians perform their worship in the open air on the mountains, before a lighted fire.  To worship Ormuzd they sing hymns to his praise and sacrifice animals in his honor.

=Morality.=—­Man fights for Ormuzd in aiding his efforts and in overcoming Ahriman’s.  He wars against darkness in supplying the fire with dry wood and perfumes; against the desert in tilling the soil and in building houses; against the animals of Ahriman in killing serpents, lizards, parasites, and beasts of prey.  He battles against impurity in keeping himself clean, in banishing from himself everything that is dead, especially the nails and hair, for “where hairs and clipped nails are, demons and unclean animals assemble.”  He fights against falsehood by always being truthful.  “The Persians,” says Herodotus,[33] “consider nothing so shameful as lying, and after falsehood nothing so shameful as contracting debts, for he who has debts necessarily lies.”  He wars against death by marrying and having many children.  “Terrible,” says the Zend-Avesta, “are the houses void of posterity.”