The language of the Avesta belongs to the Indo-Germanic family, and is a cousin to the Sanskrit, but it is not so difficult to master as the Sanskrit. In style, much of the text of the Avesta is easy and simple and without rhetorical coloring; but the Gathas are extremely difficult in form and in substance. The key-note of their thought is found in the preaching of another and better life, in the struggle that goes on in the world between Ormazd and Ahriman, in the eternal reward of the righteous and the damnation of the wicked. The meters in Which they are written resemble the Vedic meters. Many other parts of the Avesta are composed in rhythm somewhat akin to the Kale vala verse of Hiawatha; but much of the Avesta is in plain prose. The rhythmical parts as a rule are older, and they have poetic merit ; the prose portions are generally later (excepting the Yasna Haptang-haiti, Ys. 35-42), and often con sist of stupid repetitions. This distinction must clearly be kept in mind: unfortunately it has been frequently overlooked.
(2) Ancient Persian Inscriptions. The an cient Persian inscriptions, which form the second monumental record of ancient Iran, comprise about a thousand lines of cuneiform texts in scribed on the face of mountain rocks, on stone tablets, or other hard surfaces; and they record for the most part the deeds of the great Achae menian kings, Darius and his followers, since the old-time sovereignty of Nledia, and also of Bac tria, has now passed to Persis proper. The most important inscription is the one which Darius ( Darayavantsh) caused to be chiseled upon the granite face of the Behistan Mount in Persia. This mountain elevation rises sheer from the plain to the height of nearly seventeen hundred feet. A portion of its rocky side the king caused to be smoothed off to receive a royal document of eternal character, narrating how, by divine right and by his own prowess, he had become king. It tells of the battles he had fought and the victories he had won, the rebellions he had crushed and the triumphs he had achieved in organizing his far-reaching empire. This inscription is written in three languages : the first, the one that is of direct interest in the present connection, is an cient Persian; the second inscription is sculptured in a tongue now generally termed Neo-Susian; the third is engraved in Neo-Babylonian. The style
of the inscription is tnarked by a calm dignity and simplicity suited to such a record, and it is still effective when read to-day, even though the in evitable baldness of an official style, and the neces sity of repetition that characterizes an Orient I document allow no scope for real literary merit "I am Darius, the great King, the King of Kings, the King of Nations, the son of Vishtaspa, the grandson of Arshama, the Achwmenian"—such are the opening lines of the record. The oft recurring introductory phrase, "Thus saith Darius, the King" (thatiy Darayavaush khshay athiya), is not without a certain majesty. The confiding trust in Auramazda (Ormazd), who gave to Darius the kingdom, the assurances that in all this edict the great king is speaking the truth and nothing but the truth, the blessings he invokes upon those who read and publish abroad the contents of the inscription, and the curses which he calls down upon those who conceal or destroy it, are in a spirit that lends the subject interest for modern readers quite apart from the acknowledged historic importance of the monu ment. With his love of truth, and perhaps also with a purpose, Darius does not hesitate to de scribe, even in detail, the cruel punishments he has inflicted upon traitors, rebels, and offenders.
It cannot be said, in giving an estimate of the edicts of his successors, Xerxes and Arta xerxes I, II, III, that they are fired by the same power and vigorous spirit as those of Darius. Their inscriptions are much shorter, and are more mechanical and formulaic; they are modeled in part upon those preceding them. It is not with out interest to the philologist, however, to watch the phonetic decay in language that is evidenced in their style. The glory of the inscriptions be longs to Darius alone.
The story of the deciphering of these rock records in wedged-shaped characters which be gins with the first successful attempts of Grote fend, in 1802, and continues with his gifted suc cessors, is one of the most instructive chapters in the lessons taught by the science of philology. Darius, Xerxes, Artaxerxes, and Cyrus (whether Cyrus the Great or Cyrus the Younger is not quite established) have to-day been made to speak through the untiring zeal and skill of modern scholarship, which has opened to our ears these sermons in stone from the ages past.