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198
BAHMAN YAST.
13. [And I saw a wealthy man without children, and he did not seem to me exalted ;]" and I saw a pauper with many children, and he seemed to me exalted. 14. And I saw a tree on which were seven branches, one golden, one of silver, one brazen, one of copper, [one of tin]?, one of steel, and one was mixed up with iron.'
15. Adharmazd spoke thus: O Zaratūst the Spitâmân! this is what I say beforehand, the one tree which thou sawest is the world which I, Adharmazd, created; and those seven branches thou sawest are the seven periods which will come. 16. And that which was golden is the reign of King Vistâsp, when I and thou converse about religion, and Vistâsp shall accept that religion and shall demolish the figures of the demons, and the demons desist from demonstration into concealed proceedings; Aharman and the demons rush back to darkness, and care for water, fire, plants, and the earth of Spendarmad 3 becomes apparent. 17. And that which was of silver' is the reign of Ardashiró thę
copyist of K20 having confounded these two words, like those mentioned in the note on $ 4.
1 The passage in brackets is omitted in K20, but is supplied from the Pâz. MSS., being evidently necessary to complete the contrast. It occurs also in the Pers. version.
? Supplied from the Pâz. and Pers. versions, being omitted here in K20, though occurring in & 20.
The female archangel who has charge of the earth (see Bund. I, 26).
• The Paz. MSS. omit the description of the silver age.
• Usually identified with Artaxerxes Longimanus, but his long reign of 11 2 years may include most of the Achæmenian sovereigns down to Artaxerxes Mnemon, several of whom are called Ahasuerus or Artaxerxes in the biblical books of Ezra and Esther. See Bund. XXXI, 30, XXXIV, 8.
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