CHAPTER IV.
1. When So-qi, the king, issued the decree to have Zarathustra found and brought beforehim, otherwise all the male infants of Oas to be slain, the Lords sent travail on the king'swife and on the king's daughter, wife of Asha, the philosopher, and the two women gavebirth that day to two sons, a month before their time, but nevertheless unto life andstrength and beauty. Now, according to the laws of Oas, a king could not rescind orchange his own decrees, for he had assumed the position of infallibility, whereupon hehad doomed to death kin of his kin, flesh of his flesh.
2. Accordingly, after search had been made in vain to find Zarathustra, the king repentedof his decree, but knew no way to justify a change of commandment. Asha, hearing ofthis, came out of concealment, saying to himself: Now will I go to the king and hold himto his decree, even demanding that he slay me also. So Asha came before So-qi, and aftersaluting, said: O king, I have heard of thy strait, and am come to thee that I may counselthee.
3. The king was angered, and he said: Asha, my friend, hear thou thy king: Thou camestbefore me, relating a marvelous story regarding an infant son of the virgin who saith shenever knew a man. Now, according to the laws of the City of the Sun, any man stating fortruth that which he cannot prove, is already adjudged to death. Shall not the law befulfilled, because, forsooth, thou art near me in blood?
4. Asha said: Most assuredly, O king, the laws must be carried out. Are they not the allhighest? For it followeth that man being the all highest person, his laws, above all else,must never be set aside. Therefore, thou shalt have me slain. Think not I am come beforethee to plead an excuse, in order to save myself; rather let all men perish than that theking's decrees go amiss.
5. The king said: Thou art wise, O Asha. The laws cannot err, for they are the standard bywhich to judge all else. And he who hath risen to be king standeth by nature the infalliblehighest of all things. History hath proven this. But yet hear me, thou who hast wisdomfrom the movements of the sun and moon and stars: The king, being the all highest, howcan he be bound? Cannot he decree new decrees forever?
6. Asha said: I will not deceive thee, O king! I know thou art arguing not for me, but forthine own infant son, and for thy daughter's infant son. Neither have I come before thee inprowess, though I love life. But here is the matter: If thou change one law, thou admittestthat all laws made by man may also need changing; which is to say, wisdom is folly.How, then, shall the judge, judge any man by the laws? Is it not setting up error in orderto find truth?
7. The king said: Thou reasonest well. Methought this morning, in my walk in the marketgardens, when the soldiers were spreading the scalps of their enemies in the sun to dry,whether or no, in ages to come, the weaker nations and tribes of men might not attempt tojustify their right to life. And were the kings to admit fallibility in their decrees and laws,no man can foresee the end; for even slaves and servants and women will raise up againstthe laws, and claim their right to life. Wherein, then, would the earth be large enough forall the people? Yet, wherefore, O Asha, cometh this heart-ache of mine against killingmine own son?
8. Asha said: What are thy sympathies, O king? If thou wert to justify the escape of thychild's death for sympathy, would not my wife and my children justify their sympathy indesiring me to live? Nay, sympathy is the enemy of law and justice. It is the evil in ournatures that crieth out for evil. The laws must be maintained; the decrees must bemaintained; the king's word must be maintained. No man must suffer his judgment to gohigher than the law, or the decree, or the king.
9. Asha said: This is the City of the Sun. If this city goeth back on its own laws, what willnot the tributary cities do? Will not they also begin to disrespect the laws, or say: Perhapsthe laws are in error? This will come to anarchy. To one purpose only can a great citybe maintained. To divide the purposes and judgment of men is to scatter to the fourwinds the glory of our civil liberty. Was it not disrespect of the laws, combined withsuperstition, that caused the nations of ancients to perish?
10. The king said: What shall I do, O Asha? My son hath smiled in my face!
11. Asha said: Thou shalt send me and thy son and thy daughter's son, and all maleinfants to the slaughter's pen, and have us all beheaded and cast into the fire. Otherwise, itwill come true what the infant Zarathustra hath said: Behold, my hand shall smite the cityof Oas, and it shall fall as a heap of straw.
12. Think not, O king, I am superstitious and fear such threats; but this I perceive: Sufferthe laws to be impeached, and every man in Oas will set up to interpret the laws to bewrong and himself right. And thy officers will rebel against thee on all sides, and theglory of thy kingdom will perish.
13. After the city had been searched for thirty days, and the virgin and child not found,the king appointed a day for the slaughter, according to his former decree; and therewere ninety thousand male infants adjudged to death, the king's son among the rest.
14. Whilst these matters were maturing, the Lord went to Choe'jon, and inspired him tomake songs about Zarathustra, the infant that was stronger than a king. And also songsabout the decree of death to the ninety thousand infant sons of Oas. And the beauty of thesongs, together with the nature of these proceedings, caused the songs to be sung in thestreets day and night; and the songs, in satire, approved of the horrors, so that even theking could not interdict the singing.
CHAPTER V.
1. When the day arrived for the slaughter of the male infants, not more than a thousandmothers appeared at the place of execution with their infants, the others having risen inthe night previous and departed out of the gates, upward of eighty-nine thousand mothers.
2. When the king went to the place of execution, having set apart the day as a holiday,and not finding but a thousand infants present, he inquired the reason, and, having beentold, he said: Can it be that mothers love their offspring more than they respect thedecrees of the king? Asha was standing near, having stripped himself ready for execution,and he answered the king, saying:
3. Because they love their offspring, is it not the love of the flesh? And doth not the lawstand above all flesh? In this matter, then, because they have evaded the law, they haveadjudged themselves also to death.
4. Then came Betraj, the king's wife, bringing the infant. Betraj said: Here is thy son, Oking, ready for the sacrifice. Asha reasonest well; there must be an All Highest, whichnever erreth; which is the law of the king. Take thou my flesh and blood and prove thydecrees. What! Why hesitate? If thou swerve one jot or tittle, then shalt thou open thedoor for all men to find an excuse against the law. Doth not the sun blight a harvest whenhe will? Yea, and strike dead our most beloved? Art thou not descended from the SunGods? Who will obey the laws if thou, thyself, do not?
5. The king said: Behold, it is yet early morn; let the officers go fetch all who haveescaped beyond the walls, and both mothers and children shall be put to death. Tillthen, let the proceedings be suspended. Now there had congregated a vast multitude,anxious to witness the slaughter; and when the king suspended matters, there went upcries of disappointment. And many said: When a thing toucheth the king, he is a coward.
6. The king returned for his palace, leaving Asha standing stripped for the execution. Andthe multitude cried out: More is Asha like a king than So-qi. Let us make him king. King So-qi! We will not have a sheep for a king! And none could stay them, or beheard above their noise; and they ran after the king and slew him with stones, and theymade Asha King of the Sun. And there was not one infant slain according to the decrees.
7. God saith: Think not, O man, that things happen without a cause, or that all things areleft to chance. In my works I go beforehand and plan the way, even more carefully than acaptain lieth siege to a city. Before Zarathustra was born I sent ashars to choose out mypersonages. Think not that Asha made his own arguments; but by virtue of the presenceof my ashars, whom he saw not, he spake and behaved in my commandments, notknowing it. And even so was it with the king's wife; my angels also inspired her to speakbefore the king. And those that fled out of the city, were inspired by my hosts of angels.
8. God said: Yet with the king's decree I had no part, for I foresaw he would do this ofhis own will; and with the multitude in slaying the king I had no part, for I saw theywould do this on their own account. Neither would the multitude hear my voice, eventhough I had spoken to every man's soul; for in them tetracts were the ascendant power.
9. God saith: The multitude slew the king because he had gone so far from me he heededme not. And I made Asha king, because he came so near me my power was with himthrough my ashars.
CHAPTER VI.
1. During the infant age of Zarathustra, God manifested no more through him; but he sentEjah, one of his Lords, to be with Zarathustra, day and night. And Ejah taught the infantwisdom in all things, but showed himself to none else.
2. When Zarathustra was half grown, the Lord began to manifest through him, givingsigns and miracles and prophecy before the Listians who lived in the Forest of Goats. This forest was of the width in every direction, save the east, of forty days' journey for aman, and in all that region there were no houses, the inhabitants living in tents made ofbark and skins.
3. The Lord inspired Zarathustra to teach them to build houses, and tame the goats, and tolive in cities, and otherwise subdue the earth through righteousness; the chief center oftheir habitations being on the river Apherteon and its tributaries. And it was from theseinhabitants that sprang in after years the migrants called Fonece'ans, signifying, out of themountains. Nevertheless, these people were I'huans, but because of the cruelties of thePar'si'ean kings, they fled and lived in the forests.
4. The Lord said to Zarathustra: Behold the people who fly from the kings! I have madethem kings over goats and over the beasts of the fields.
5. And from this time forth the Listians styled themselves shepherd kings. AndZarathustra taught them of the Lord, that man should have dominion over the beasts ofthe forests, but that no man should hold dominion over his neighbor. Consequently,every man of the Listians styled himself a king, and every woman styled herself a queen.
6. Again the Lord said to Zarathustra: Go thou, my son, whither I will lead thee, and thoushalt find a people sacred to the Great Spirit. So Zarathustra wandered beyond the Forestof Goats, and came to Hara'woetchij, to the south of the mountains of Oe'tahka, wherewere three large cities and twelve small ones, inhabited by I'hins.
7. And the Lord had been with the I'hins, and foretold them Zarathustra was coming, sothat it was proven on both sides. The Lord said to the high priest: Thou shalt sufferZarathustra to come within the walls of the cities, for he is pure.
8. So Zarathustra went in, and, in the time of worship before the altar of God, the Lordappeared in a great light and commanded the high priest, saying: Behold, I have broughtmy son to thee. Him shalt thou anoint as a priest according to the I'hin laws; and thoushalt teach him the rites and ceremonies of the ancients.
9. Accordingly Zarathustra was made a priest and was otherwise accepted as an I'hin, andbestowed under the rod with water and with fire. And he also taught the sacred words andthe art of writing and making tablets; and of weaving cloth and making clothes from flax.
10. Seven years Zarathustra remained with the I'hins, fasting and praying, and singing anddancing before the Lord. And then the Lord commanded him to return through the Forestof Goats, the which he did, teaching before the Listians whithersoever he halted for a rest,and the Lord was with him, working miracles.
11. At the end of another seven years the Lord said to Zarathustra: Behold, the dawn oflight is come! Thou shalt, therefore, bestow thy mother with thy people, and I will leadthee to the city of thy birth. Zarathustra said: Tell me, O Lord, of the city of my birth?
12. The Lord said: It is a great city, but it shall fall before thy hand; for I'hua'Mazda hathturned his favor away from its kings.
13. In two days' journey Zarathustra came to Oas, and entered into the city, but he broughtno provender with him. Now, it was a law of Oas, that all strangers coming into the city,should bring provender as a testimony of fidelity to the laws and to the king. So, when hecame to the inner gate, the keeper asked him for provender; but Zarathustra answeredhim, saying:
14. Naked I came into the world, and Ormazd asked me not for provender. Is thy kinggreater than the Creator?
15. The keeper said: I know not thy words; shall a servant explain laws? To whichZarathustra said: Thou art wise; neither shalt thou suffer for disobedience in letting mepass. The Lord will give thee food.
16. When he had spoken thus, there fell at the feet of the keeper an abundance of fruit,3and the keeper feared and stood aside, suffering Zarathustra to pass in. The keeper notonly told the people of the miracle, but ran and told the king, likewise. This was Asha,who had reigned since the death of So-qi; and Asha no sooner heard of the miracle thanhe imagined the person to be the same whom he had seen in infancy.
17. Asha, the king, sent officers at once to find Zarathustra, and bring him beforethe court. But the Lord knowing these things, inspired Zarathustra to go on his ownaccount; and he went accordingly before the king, even before the officers returned.
18. The king said: Who art thou? and for what purpose hast thou come before the king?
19. Then spake I'hua'Mazda through Zarathustra, saying: I am I'hua'Mazda, God of theI'huans. He through whom I speak, is Zarathustra, whom thou sawest in his mother'sarms. We twain are one. I have come before thee, O king, because of two reasons: thouhast sent for me; and I desire to use thee.
20. The king said: Speak further, stranger, that I may approve of thy words.
21. In the time of So-qi, said I'hua'Mazda, I made thee king of Oas, and from that dayto this my ashars have been with thee and heard thee oft praying privately forinformation of the infant thou sawest; for it resteth heavily on thy judgment whether or noman be immortal. Sit thou with me this night privily, and I will show thee So-qi's soul.
22. Asha said: Thou wert to smite the city and it would fall. Behold, it standeth! Yet Idesire not to stand in my own light. Then Zarathustra spake on his own account, saying: Fear not, O king, for this philosophy. As thou wouldst bend a straw, so do the Gods wieldthe nations of the earth. The city will fall ere six years pass, and thou shalt be reduced tobeggary, and yet thou shalt be happier than now.
3 See 259, 24; 263,10; 264, 23.
