No More Learning

In the reign of princely Yima,
Heat there was not, cold there was not,
Neither age nor death existed,
Nor disease the work of Demons;
Son and father walked together
Fifteen years old, each in figure,
Long as Vivanghvat's son Yima,
The good Shepherd, ruled as sovereign.
For two chapters more, Haoma is extolled. Then follows the
Avestan Creed (Yasna 12), a prose chapter that was repeated by


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those who joined in the early Zoroastrian faith, forsook the old
marauding and nomadic habits that still characterize the modern
Kurds, and adopted an agricultural habit of life, devoting them-
selves peaceably to cattle-raising, irrigation, and cultivation of the
fields. The greater part of the Yasna book is of a liturgic or ritual-
istic nature, and need not here be further described. Special men-
tion, however, must be made of the middle section of the Yasna,
which is constituted by "the Five Gathas" (hymns, psalms), a
division containing the seventeen sacred psalms, sayings, sermons, or
teachings of Zoroaster himself. These Gathas form the oldest part
of the entire canon of the Avesta. In them we see before our eyes
the prophet of the new faith speaking with the fervor of the Psalmist
of the Bible. In them we feel the thrill of ardor that characterizes
a new and struggling religious band; we are warmed by the burning
zeal of the preacher of a church militant. Now, however, comes a
cry of despondency, a moment of faint-heartedness at the present
triumph of evil, at the success of the wicked and the misery of the
righteous; but this gives way to a clarion burst of hopefulness, the
trumpet note of a prophet filled with the promise of ultimate victory,
the triumph of good over evil. The end of the world cannot be
far away; the final overthrow of Ahriman (Anra Mainyu) by Ormazd
(Ahura Mazda) is assured; the establishment of a new order of things
is certain; at the founding of this "kingdom" the resurrection of the
dead will take place and the life eternal will be entered upon.
The third Gatha, Yasna 30, may be chosen by way of illustration.
This is a sort of Mazdian Sermon on the Mount. Zoroaster preaches
the doctrine of dualism, the warfare of good and evil in the world,
and exhorts the faithful to choose aright and to combat Satan. The
archangels Good Thought (Vohu Manah), Righteousness (Asha), King-
dom (Khshathra), appear as the helpers of Man (Maretan); for whose
soul, as in the old English morality play, the Demons (Dævas) are
contending. Allusions to the resurrection and final judgment, and to
the new dispensation, are easily recognized in the spirited words
of the prophet. A prose rendering of this metrical psalm is here
attempted: the verse order. however, is preserved, though without
rhythm.
A PSALM OF ZOROASTER: YASNA 30
Now shall I speak of things which ye who seek them shall bear in mind,
Namely, the praises of Ahura Mazda and the worship of Good Thought,
And the joy of [lit. through' Righteousness which is manifested through
Light.


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2
Hearken with your ears to what is best; with clear understanding per-
ceive it,
Awakening to our advising every man, personally, of the distinction
Between the two creeds, before the Great Event [i. e. , the Resurrection].
3
Now, Two Spirits primeval there were-twins which became known
through their activity,
To wit, the Good and the Evil, in thought, word, and deed.
The wise have rightly distinguished between these two; not so the
unwise.
4
And, now, when these Two Spirits first came together, they established
Life and destruction, and ordained how the world hereafter shall be,
To wit, the Worst World [Hell] for the wicked, but the Best Thought
[Heaven] for the righteous.
5
The Wicked One [Ahriman] of these Two Spirits chose to do evil,
The Holiest Spirit [Ormazd]—who wears the solid heavens as a robe-
chose Righteousness [Asha],
And [so also those] who zealously gratified Ormazd by virtuous deeds.
6
Not rightly did the Demons distinguish these Two Spirits; for Delusion
came
Upon them, as they were deliberating, so that they chose the Worst
Thought [Hell].
And away they rushed to Wrath [the Fiend] in order to corrupt the life
of Man [Maretan].
7
And to him [i. e. , to Gaya Maretan] came Khshathra [Kingdom], Vohu
Manah [Good Thought] and Asha [Righteousness],
And Armaiti [Archangel of Earth] gave [to him] bodily endurance
unceasingly;
Of these, Thy [creatures], when Thou camest with Thy creations, he
[i. e. , Gaya Maretan] was the first.
8
But when the retribution of the sinful shall come to pass,
Then shall Good Thought distribute Thy Kingdom,
Shall fulfill it for those who shall deliver Satan [Druj] into the hand of
Righteousness [Asha].
11-69


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9
And so may we be such as make the world renewed,
And may Ahura Mazda and Righteousness lend their aid,
That our thoughts may there be [set] where Faith is abiding.
ness.
10
For at the [final] Dispensation, the blow of annihilation to Satan shall
come to pass;
But those who participate in a good report [in the Life Record] shall
meet together
In the happy home of Good Thought, and of Mazda, and of Righteous-
II
If, O ye men, ye mark these doctrines which Mazda gave,
And [mark] the weal and the woe-namely, the long torment of the
wicked,
And the welfare of the righteous-then in accordance with these [doc-
trines] there will be happiness hereafter.
The Visperad (all the masters) is a short collection of prosaic invo-
cations and laudations of sacred things. Its twenty-four sections
form a supplement to the Yasna. Whatever interest this division of
the Avesta possesses lies entirely on the side of the ritual, and not
in the field of literature. In this respect it differs widely from the
book of the Yashts, which is next to be mentioned.
The Yashts (praises of worship) form a poetical book of twenty-one
hymns in which the angels of the religion, "the worshipful ones"
(Yazatas, Izads), are glorified, and the heroes of former days. Much
of the material of the Yashts is evidently drawn from pre-Zoroastrian
sagas which have been remodeled and adopted, worked over and
modified, and incorporated into the canon of the new-founded reli-
gion. There is a mythological and legendary atmosphere about the
Yashts, and Firdausi's 'Shah Nameh' serves to throw light on many
of the events portrayed in them, or allusions that would otherwise
be obscure. All the longer Yashts are in verse, and some of them
have poetic merit. Chiefly to be mentioned among the longer ones
are: first, the one in praise of Ardvi Sura Anahita, or the stream
celestial (Yt. 5); second, the Yasht which exalts the star Tishtrya
and his victory over the demon of drought (Yt. 8); then the one
devoted to the Fravashis or glorified souls of the righteous (Yt. 13)
as well as the Yasht in honor of Verethraghna, the incarnation of
Victory (Yt. 14). Selections from the others, Yt. 10 and Yt. 19,
which are among the noblest, are here given.


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The first of the two chosen (Yt. 10) is dedicated to the great
divinity Mithra, the genius who presides over light, truth, and the
sun (Yt. 10, 13).
Foremost he, the celestial angel,
Mounts above Mount Hara (Alborz)
In advance of the sun immortal
Which is drawn by fleeting horses;
He it is, in gold adornment
First ascends the beauteous summits
Thence beneficent he glances
Over all the abode of Aryans.
As the god of light and of truth and as one of the judges of the
dead, he rides out in lordly array to the battle and takes an active
part in the conflict, wreaking vengeance upon those who at any time
in their life have spoken falsely, belied their oath, or broken their
pledge. His war-chariot and panoply are described in mingled lines
of verse and prose, which may thus be rendered (Yt. 10, 128-132):—
By the side of Mithra's chariot,
Mithra, lord of the wide pastures,
Stand a thousand bows well-fashioned
(The bow has a string of cowgut).
By his chariot also are standing a thousand vulture-feathered, gold-
notched, lead-poised, well-fashioned arrows (the barb is of iron); likewise a
thousand spears well-fashioned and sharp-piercing, and a thousand steel bat-
tle-axes, two-edged and well-fashioned; also a thousand bronze clubs well-
fashioned.
And by Mithra's chariot also
Stands a mace, fair and well-striking,
With a hundred knobs and edges,
Dashing forward, felling heroes;
Out of golden bronze 'tis molded.
The second illustrative extract will be taken from Yasht 19, which
magnifies in glowing strains the praises of the Kingly Glory. This
"kingly glory» (kavaem hvareno) is a sort of halo, radiance, or mark
of divine right, which was believed to be possessed by the kings and
heroes of Iran in the long line of its early history. One hero who
bore the glory was the mighty warrior Thraetaona (Feridun), the
vanquisher of the serpent-monster Azhi Dahaka (Zohak), who was
depopulating the world by his fearful daily banquet of the brains of
two children. The victory was a glorious triumph for Thraetaona
(Yt. 19, 37):-
He who slew Azhi Dahaka,
Three-jawed monster, triple-headed,


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With six eyes and myriad senses,
Fiend demoniac, full of power,
Evil to the world, and wicked.
This fiend full of power, the Devil
Anra Mainyu had created,
Fatal to the world material,
Deadly to the world of Righteousness.
Of equal puissance was another noble champion, the valiant
Keresaspa, who dispatched a raging demon who, though not yet
grown to man's estate, was threatening the world. The monster's
thrasonical boasting is thus given (Yt. 19, 43):-
I am yet only a stripling,
But if ever I come to manhood
I shall make the earth my chariot
And shall make a wheel of heaven.
I shall drive the Holy Spirit
Down from out the shining heaven,
I shall rout the Evil Spirit
Up from out the dark abysm;
They as steeds shall draw my chariot,
God and Devil yoked together.
Passing over a collection of shorter petitions, praises, and blessings
which may conveniently be grouped together as 'Minor Prayers,' for
they answer somewhat to our idea of a daily manual of morning
devotion, we may turn to the Vendidad (law against the demons), the
Iranian Pentateuch. Tradition asserts that in the Vendidad we have
preserved a specimen of one of the original Nasks. This may be
true, but even the superficial student will see that it is in any case
a fragmentary remnant. Interesting as the Vendidad is to the stu-
dent of early rites, observances, manners, and customs, it is never-
theless a barren field for the student of literature, who will find in it
little more than wearisome prescriptions like certain chapters of
Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. It need only be added that
at the close of the colloquy between Zoroaster and Ormazd given in
Vend. 6, he will find the origin of the modern Parsi "Towers of
Silence. »
Among the Avestan Fragments, attention might finally be called
to one which we must be glad has not been lost. It is an old metri-
cal bit (Frag. 4, 1-3) in praise of the Airyama Ishya Prayer (Yt. 54, 1).
This is the prayer that shall be intoned by the Savior and his com-
panions at the end of the world, when the resurrection will take
place; and it will serve as a sort of last trump, at the sound of which
the dead rise from their graves and evil is banished from the world.
Ormazd himself says to Zoroaster (Frag. 4, 1-3):—


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The Airyama Ishya prayer, I tell thee,
Upright, holy Zoroaster,
Is the greatest of all prayers.
Verily among all prayers
It is this one which I gifted
With revivifying powers.
This prayer shall the Saoshyants, Saviors,
Chant, and at the chanting of it
I shall rule over my creatures,
I who am Ahura Mazda.
Not shall Ahriman have power,
Anra Mainyu, o'er my creatures,
He (the fiend) of foul religion.
In the earth shall Ahriman hide,
In the earth the demons hide.
Up the dead again shall rise,
And within their lifeless bodies
Incorporate life shall be restored.
Inadequate as brief extracts must be to represent the sacred books
of a people, the citations here given will serve to show that the
Avesta which is still recited in solemn tones by the white-robed
priests of Bombay, the modern representatives of Zoroaster, the
Prophet of ancient days, is a survival not without value to those who
appreciate whatever has been preserved for us of the world's earlier
literature. For readers who are interested in the subject there are
several translations of the Avesta. The best (except for the Gathas,
where the translation is weak) is the French version by Darmesteter,
'Le Zend Avesta,' published in the 'Annales du Musée Guimet >
(Paris, 1892-93). An English rendering by Darmesteter and Mills is
contained in the Sacred Books of the East,' Vols. iv. , xxiii. , xxxi.
A. r. Williams
A PRAYER FOR KNOWLEDGE
is Jackans
THIS
HIS I ask Thee, O Ahura! tell me aright: when praise is to
be offered, how shall I complete the praise of the One like
You, O Mazda ? Let the One like Thee declare it earnestly
to the friend who is such as I, thus through Thy Righteousness
within us to offer friendly help to us, so that the One like Thee
may draw near us through Thy Good Mind within the Soul.


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2. This I ask Thee, O Ahura! tell me aright how, in pleas-
ing Him, may we serve the Supreme One of the better world;
yea, how to serve that chief who may grant us those blessings
of his grace and who will seek for grateful requitals at our
hands; for He, bountiful as He is through the Righteous Order,
will hold off ruin from us all, guardian as He is for both the
worlds, O Spirit Mazda! and a friend.
3. This I ask Thee, O Ahura! tell me aright: Who by gen-
eration is the first father of the Righteous Order within the
world? Who gave the recurring sun and stars their undeviating
way?
Who established that whereby the moon waxes, and
whereby she wanes, save Thee? These things, O Great Creator!
would I know, and others likewise still.
4. This I ask Thee, O Ahura! tell me aright: Who from
beneath hath sustained the earth and the clouds above that they
do not fall? Who made the waters and the plants? Who to the
wind has yoked on the storm-clouds the swift and fleetest two?
Who, O Great Creator! is the inspirer of the good thoughts
within our souls?
5. This I ask Thee, O Ahura! tell me aright: Who, as a
skillful artisan, hath made the lights and the darkness? Who, as
thus skillful, hath made sleep and the zest of waking hours?
Who spread the Auroras, the noontides and midnight, monitors to
discerning man, duty's true guides?
6. This I ask Thee, O Ahura! tell me aright these things
which I shall speak forth, if they are truly thus. Doth the Piety
which we cherish in reality increase the sacred orderliness within
our actions? To these Thy true saints hath she given the Realm
through the Good Mind? For whom hast thou made the Mother-
kine, the produce of joy?
7. This I ask Thee, O Ahura! tell me aright: Who fashioned
Aramaiti (our piety) the beloved, together with Thy Sovereign
Power? Who, through his guiding wisdom, hath made the son
revering the father? Who made him beloved? With questions
such as these, so abundant, O Mazda! I press Thee, O bountiful
Spirit, Thou maker of all!
Yasna xliv. : Translation of L. H. Mills.


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THE ANGEL OF DIVINE OBEDIENCE
WE
E WORSHIP Sraosha [Obedience] the blessed, whom four
racers draw in harness, white and shining, beautiful and
(27) powerful, quick to learn and fleet, obeying before speech,
heeding orders from the mind, with their hoofs of horn gold-
covered, (28) fleeter than [our] horses, swifter than the winds,
more rapid than the rain [-drops as they fall]; yea, fleeter than
the clouds, or well-winged birds, or the well-shot arrow as it
flies, (29) which overtake these swift ones all, as they fly after
them pursuing, but which are never overtaken when they flee,
which plunge away from both the weapons [hurled on this side.
and on that] and draw Sraosha with them, the good Sraosha and
the blessed; which from both the weapons [those on this side
and on that] bear the good Obedience the blessed, plunging for-
ward in their zeal, when he takes his course from India on the
East and when he lights down in the West.
Yasna lvii. 27-29: Translation of L. H. Mills.
TO THE FIRE
OFFER my sacrifice and homage to thee, the Fire, as a good
offering, and an offering with our hail of salvation, even as
an offering of praise with benedictions, to thee, the Fire, O
Ahura, Mazda's son! Meet for sacrifice art thou, and worthy of
[our] homage. And as meet for sacrifice, and thus worthy of our
homage, may'st thou be in the houses of men [who worship
Mazda] Salvation be to this man who worships thee in verity
and truth, with wood in hand and baresma [sacred twigs] ready,
with flesh in hand and holding too the mortar. 2. And mayst
thou be [ever] fed with wood as the prescription orders. Yea,
mayst thou have thy perfume justly, and thy sacred butter with-
out fail, and thine andirons regularly placed. Be of full age as
to thy nourishment, of the canon's age as to the measure of thy
food. O Fire, Ahura, Mazda's son! 3. Be now aflame within
this house; be ever without fail in flame; be all ashine within
this house: for long time be thou thus to the furtherance of the
heroic [renovation], to the completion of [all] progress, yea, even
till the good heroic [millennial] time when that renovation shall
have become complete. 4. Give me, O Fire, Ahura, Mazda's
son! a speedy glory, speedy nourishment and speedy booty and


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abundant glory, abundant nourishment, abundant booty, an ex-
panded mind, and nimbleness of tongue and soul and understand-
ing, even an understanding continually growing in its largeness,
and that never wanders.
Yasna xii. 1-4: Translation of L. H. Mills.
THE GODDESS OF THE WATERS
Ο
FFER up a sacrifice unto this spring of mine, Ardvi Sura
Anahita (the exalted, mighty, and undefiled, image of the
(128) stream celestial), who stands carried forth in the shape of
a maid, fair of body, most strong, tall-formed, high-girded, pure,
nobly born of a glorious race, wearing a mantle fully embroid-
ered with gold. 129. Ever holding the baresma in her hand,
according to the rules; she wears square golden ear-rings on her
ears bored, and a golden necklace around her beautiful neck, she,
the nobly born Ardvi Sura Anahita; and she girded her waist
tightly, so that her breasts may be well shaped, that they may
be tightly pressed. 128. Upon her head Ardvi Sura Anahita
bound a golden crown, with a hundred stars, with eight rays, a
fine well-made crown, with fillets streaming down. 129. She is
clothed with garments of beaver, Ardvi Sura Anahita; with the
skin of thirty beavers, of those that bear four young ones, that
are the finest kind of beavers; for the skin of the beaver that
lives in water is the finest colored of all skins, and when worked
at the right time it shines to the eye with full sheen of silver
and gold.
Yasht v. 126-129: Translation of J. Darmesteter.
GUARDIAN SPIRITS
W*
E WORSHIP the good, strong, beneficent Fravashis [guardian
spirits] of the faithful; with helms of brass, with weap-
(45) ons of brass, with armor of brass; who struggle in the
fights for victory in garments of light, arraying the battles and
bringing them forwards, to kill thousands of Dævas [demons].
46. When the wind blows from behind them and brings their
breath unto men, then men know where blows the breath of vic-
tory: and they pay pious homage unto the good, strong, benefi-
cent Fravashis of the faithful, with their hearts prepared and
their arms uplifted. 47. Whichever side they have been first


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worshiped in the fulness of faith of a devoted heart, to that side
turn the awful Fravashis of the faithful along with Mithra [angel
of truth and light] and Rashnu [Justice] and the awful cursing
thought of the wise and the victorious wind.
Yasht xiii. 45-47: Translation of J. Darmesteter.
AN ANCIENT SINDBAD
THE
HE manly-hearted Keresaspa was the sturdiest of the men of
strength, for Manly Courage clave unto him. We worship
[this] Manly Courage, firm of foot, unsleeping, quick to
rise, and fully awake, that clave unto Keresaspa [the hero], who
killed the snake Srvara, the horse-devouring, man-devouring,
yellow poisonous snake, over which yellow poison flowed a
thumb's breadth thick. Upon him Kerasaspa was cooking his
food in a brass vessel, at the time of noon. The fiend felt the
heat and darted away; he rushed from under the brass vessel
and upset the boiling water: the manly-hearted Keresaspa fell
back affrighted.
Yasht xix. 38-40: Translation of J. Darmesteter.
THE WISE MAN
V
ERILY I say it unto thee, O Spitama Zoroaster! the man who
has a wife is far above him who lives in continence; he
who keeps a house is far above him who has none; he who
has children is far above the childless man; he who has riches is
far above him who has none.
And of two men, he who fills himself with meat receives
in him good spirit [Vohu Mano] much more than he who does
not do so; the latter is all but dead; the former is above him
by the worth of a sheep, by the worth of an ox, by the worth
of a man.
It is this man that can strive against the onsets of death;
that can strive against the well-darted arrow; that can strive
against the winter fiend with thinnest garment on; that can strive
against the wicked tyrant and smite him on the head; it is this
man that can strive against the ungodly fasting Ashemaogha [the
fiends and heretics who do not eat].
Vendidad iv. 47-49: Translation of J. Darmesteter.


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INVOCATION TO RAIN
"Co
OME, come on, O clouds, along the sky, through the air,
down on the earth, by thousands of drops, by myriads
of drops," thus say, O holy Zoroaster! "to destroy sick-
ness altogether, to destroy death altogether, to destroy altogether
the sickness made by the Gaini, to destroy altogether the death
made by Gaini, to destroy altogether Gadha and Apagadha.
"If death come at eve, may healing come at daybreak!
"If death come at daybreak, may healing come at night!
"If death come at night, may healing come at dawn!
"Let showers shower down new waters, new earth, new trees,
new health, and new healing powers. "
Vendidad xxi. 2: Translation of J. Darmesteter.
A PRAYER FOR HEALING
A"
HURA MAZDA spake unto Spitama Zoroaster, saying, "I,
Ahura Mazda, the Maker of all good things, when I made.
this mansion, the beautiful, the shining, seen afar (there
may I go up, there may I arrive)!
Then the ruffian looked at me; the ruffian Anra Mainyu, the
deadly, wrought against me nine diseases and ninety, and nine
hundred, and nine thousand, and nine times ten thousand dis-
eases. So mayest thou heal me, O Holy Word, thou most glori-
ous one!
Unto thee will I give in return a thousand fleet, swift-running
steeds; I offer thee up a sacrifice, O good Saoka, made by Mazda
and holy.
Unto thee will I give in return a thousand fleet, high-humped
camels; I offer thee up a sacrifice, O good Saoka, made by
Mazda and holy.
Unto thee will I give in return a thousand brown faultless
oxen; I offer thee up a sacrifice, O good Saoka, made by Mazda
and holy.
Unto thee will I give in return a thousand young of all spe-
cies of small cattle; I offer thee up a sacrifice, O good Saoka,
made by Mazda and holy.
And I will bless thee with the fair blessing-spell of the right-
eous, the friendly blessing-spell of the righteous, that makes the


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1099
empty swell to fullness and the full to overflowing, that comes to
help him who was sickening, and makes the sick man sound
again.
Vendidad xxii. 1-5: Translation of J. Darmesteter.
FRAGMENT
Α'
LL good thoughts, and all good words, and all good deeds are
thought and spoken and done with intelligence; and all
evil thoughts and words and deeds are thought and spoken
and done with folly.
2.
And let [the men who think and speak and do] all good
thoughts and words and deeds inhabit Heaven [as their home].
And let those who think and speak and do evil thoughts and
words and deeds abide in Hell. For to all who think good
thoughts, speak good words, and do good deeds, Heaven, the
best world, belongs.
And this is evident and as of course.
Avesta, Fragment iii. : Translation of L. H. Mills.
AVICEBRON
(1028-? 1058)
VICEBRON,
or Avicebrol (properly Solomon ben Judah ibn
Gabirol), one of the most famous of Jewish poets, and the
most original of Jewish thinkers, was born at Cordova, in
Spain, about A. D. 1028. Of the events of his life we know little;
and it was only in 1845 that Munk, in the 'Literaturblatt des Orient,'
proved the Jewish poet Ibn Gabirol to be one and the same person
with Avicebron, so often quoted by the Schoolmen as an Arab
philosopher. He was educated at Saragossa, spent some years at
Malaga, and died, hardly thirty years old, about 1058. His disposi-
tion seems to have been rather melancholy.
Of his philosophic works, which were written in Arabic, by far
the most important, and that which lent lustre to his name, was
the 'Fountain of Life'; a long treatise in the form of a dialogue
between teacher and pupil, on what was then regarded as the funda-
mental question in philosophy, the nature and relations of Matter
and Form. The original, which seems never to have been popular
with either Jews or Arabs, is not known to exist; but there exists


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1100
AVICEBRON
a complete Latin translation (the work having found appreciation
among Christians), which has recently been cdited with great care
by Professor Bäumker of Breslau, under the title 'Avencebrolis Fons
Vitæ, ex Arabico in Latinum translatus ab Johanne Hispano et
Dominico Gundissalino' (Münster, 1895). There is also a series of
extracts from it in Hebrew. Besides this, he wrote a half-popular
work, 'On the Improvement of Character,' in which he brings the
different virtues into relation with the five senses. He is, further,
the reputed author of a work 'On the Soul,' and the reputed com-
piler of a famous anthology, 'A Choice of Pearls,' which appeared,
with an English translation by B. H. Ascher, in London, in 1859. In
his poetry, which, like that of other medieval Hebrew poets, Moses
ben Ezra, Judah Halévy, etc. , is partly liturgical, partly worldly,
he abandons native forms, such as we find in the Psalms, and fol-
lows artificial Arabic models, with complicated rhythms and rhyme,
unsuited to Hebrew, which, unlike Arabic, is poor in inflections.
Nevertheless, many of his liturgical pieces are still used in the serv-
ices of the synagogue, while his worldly ditties find admirers else-
where. (See A. Geiger, 'Ibn Gabirol und seine Dichtungen,' Leipzig,
1867. )
The philosophy of Ibn Gabirol is a compound of Hebrew mono-
theism and that Neo-Platonic Aristotelianism which for two hundred
years had been current in the Muslim schools at Bagdad, Basra, etc. ,
and which the learned Jews were largely instrumental in carrying to
the Muslims of Spain. For it must never be forgotten that the great
translators and intellectual purveyors of the Middle Ages were the
Jews. (See Steinschneider, 'Die Hebräischen Uebersetzungen des
Mittelalters, und die Juden als Dolmetscher,' 2 vols. , Berlin, 1893. )
The aim of Ibn Gabirol, like that of the other three noted
Hebrew thinkers, Philo, Maimonides, and Spinoza, was-given God,
to account for creation; and this he tried to do by means of Neo-
Platonic Aristotelianism, such as he found in the Pseudo-Pythagoras,
Pseudo-Empedocles, Pseudo-Aristotelian Theology' (an abstract from
Plotinus), and 'Book on Causes' (an abstract from Proclus's 'Institu-
tio Theologica'). It is well known that Aristotle, who made God a
"thinking of thinking," and placed matter, as something eternal,
over against him, never succeeded in bringing God into effective
connection with the world (see K. Elser, 'Die Lehredes Aristotles
über das Wirken Gottes,' Münster, 1893); and this defect the Greeks
never afterward remedied until the time of Plotinus, who, without
propounding a doctrine of emanation, arranged the universe as a hier-
archy of existence, beginning with the Good, and descending through
correlated Being and Intelligence, to Soul or Life, which produces
Nature with all its multiplicity, and so stands on "the horizon »


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AVICEBRON
IIOI
between undivided and divided being.
In the famous encyclopædia
of the "Brothers of Purity," written in the East about A. D.
1000, and representing Muslim thought at its best, the hierarchy
takes this form: God, Intelligence, Soul, Primal Matter, Secondary
Matter, World, Nature, the Elements, Material Things. (See Dieterici,
'Die Philosophie der Araber im X. Jahrhundert n. Chr. ,' 2 vols. ,
Leipzig, 1876-79. ) In the hands of Ibn Gabirol, this is transformed
thus: God, Will, Primal Matter, Form, Intelligence, Soul - vegetable,
animal, rational, Nature, the source of the visible world. If we com-
pare these hierarchies, we shall see that Ibn Gabirol makes two very
important changes: first, he introduces an altogether new element,
viz. , the Will; second, instead of placing Intelligence second in rank,
next to God, he puts Will, Matter, and Form before it. Thus,
whereas the earliest thinkers, drawing on Aristotle, had sought for
an explanation of the world in Intelligence, he seeks for it in Will,
thus approaching the standpoint of Schopenhauer. Moreover, whereas
they had made Matter and Form originate. in Intelligence, he includes
the latter, together with the material world, among things com-
pounded of Matter and Form. Hence, everything, save God and His
Will, which is but the expression of Him, is compounded of Matter
and Form (cf. Dante, 'Paradiso,' i. 104 seq. ). Had he concluded from
this that God, in order to occupy this exceptional position, must be
pure matter (or substance), he would have reached the standpoint of
Spinoza. As it is, he stands entirely alone in the Middle Age, in
making the world the product of Will, and not of Intelligence, as the
Schoolmen and the classical philosophers of Germany held.
The Fountain of Life' is divided into five books, whose sub-
jects are as follows:- I. Matter and Form, and their various kinds.
II. Matter as the bearer of body, and the subject of the categories.
III. Separate Substances, in the created intellect, standing between
God and the World. IV. Matter and Form in simple substances.
V. Universal Matter and Universal Form, with a discussion of the
Divine Will, which, by producing and uniting Matter and Form, brings
being out of non-being, and so is the 'Fountain of Life. ' Though the
author is influenced by Jewish cosmogony, his system, as such, is
almost purely Neo-Platonic. It remains one of the most considerable
attempts that have ever been made to find in spirit the explanation
of the world; not only making all matter at bottom one, but also
maintaining that while form is due to the divine will, matter is due
to the divine essence, so that both are equally spiritual. It is espe-
cially interesting as showing us, by contrast, how far Christian
thinking, which rested on much the same foundation with it, was
influenced and confined by Christian dogmas, especially by those of
the Trinity and the Incarnation.


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I 102
AVICEBRON
Ibn Gabirol's thought exerted a profound influence, not only on
subsequent Hebrew thinkers, like Joseph ben Saddig, Maimonides,
Spinoza, but also on the Christian Schoolmen, by whom he is often
quoted, and on Giordano Bruno. Through Spinoza and Bruno this.
influence has passed into the modern world, where it still lives.
Dante, though naming many Arab philosophers, never alludes to Ibn
Gabirol; yet he borrowed more of his sublimest thoughts from the
'Fountain of Life' than from any other book. (Cf. Ibn Gabirol's
'Bedeutung für die Geschichte der Philosophie,' appendix to Vol. i.
of M. Joël's 'Beiträge zur Gesch. der Philos. ,' Breslau, 1876. ) If we
set aside the hypostatic form in which Ibn Gabirol puts forward his
ideas, we shall find a remarkable similarity between his system and
that of Kant, not to speak of that of Schopenhauer. For the whole
subject, see J. Guttman's 'Die Philosophie des Salomon Ibn Gabirol'
(Göttingen, 1889).
ON MATTER AND FORM
From the Fountain of Life,' Fifth Treatise
I
NTELLIGENCE is finite in both directions: on the upper side, by
reason of will, which is above it; on the lower, by reason of
matter, which is outside of its essence. Hence, spiritual sub-
stances are finite with respect to matter, because they differ
through it, and distinction is the cause of finitude; in respect to
forms they are infinite on the lower side, because one form flows
from another. And we must bear in mind that that part of
matter which is above heaven, the more it ascends from it to the
principle of creation, becomes the more spiritual in form, whereas
that part which descends lower than the heaven toward quiet
will be more corporeal in form. Matter, intelligence, and soul
comprehend heaven, and heaven comprehends the elements. And
just as, if you imagine your soul standing at the extreme height
of heaven, and looking back upon the earth, the earth will seem
but a point, in comparison with the heaven, so are corporeal and
spiritual substance in comparison with the will. And first mat-
ter is stable in the knowledge of God, as the earth in the midst
of heaven. And the form diffused through it is as the light
diffused through the air.
We must bear in mind that the unity induced by the will
(we might say, the will itself) binds matter to form. Hence that
union is stable, firm, and perpetual from the beginning of its
creation; and thus unity sustains all things.


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AVICEBRON
1103
Matter is movable, in order that it may receive form, in con-
formity with its appetite for receiving goodness and delight
through the reception of form. In like manner, everything that
is, desires to move, in order that it may attain something of
the goodness of the primal being; and the nearer anything is to
the primal being, the more easily it reaches this, and the further
off it is, the more slowly and with the longer motion and time
it does so.
And the motion of matter and other substances
is nothing but appetite and love for the mover toward which
it moves, as, for example, matter moves toward form, through
desire for the primal being; for matter requires light from that
which is in the essence of will, which compels matter to move
toward will and to desire it: and herein will and matter are
alike. And because matter is receptive of the form that has
flowed down into it by the flux of violence and necessity, matter
must necessarily move to receive form; and therefore things are
constrained by will and obedience in turn. Hence by the light
which it has from will, matter moves toward will and desires it;
but when it receives form, it lacks nothing necessary for knowing
and desiring it, and nothing remains for it to seek for. For
example, in the morning the air has an imperfect splendor from
the sun; but at noon it has a perfect splendor, and there remains
nothing for it to demand of the sun. Hence the desire for the
first motion is a likeness between all substances and the first
Maker, because it is impressed upon all things to move toward
the first; because particular matter desires particular form, and
the matter of plants and animals, which, in generating, move
toward the forms of plants and animals, are also influenced by
the particular form acting in them. In like manner the sensible
soul moves toward sensible forms, and the rational soul to intel-
ligible forms, because the particular soul, which is called the first
intellect, while it is in its principle, is susceptible of form; but
when it shall have received the form of universal intelligence,
which is the second intellect, and shall become intelligence, then
it will be strong to act, and will be called the second intellect;
and since particular souls have such a desire, it follows that uni-
versal souls must have a desire for universal forms. The same
thing must be said of natural matter,- that is, the substance
which sustains the nine categories; because this matter moves to
take on the first qualities, then to the mineral form, then to the
vegetable, then to the sensible. then to the rational, then to the


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AVICEBRON
1104
intelligible, until at last it is united to the form of universal
intelligence. And this primal matter desires primal form; and
all things that are, desire union and commixture, that so they
may be assimilated to their principle; and therefore, genera,
species, differentiæ, and contraries are united through something
in singulars.
Thus, matter is like an empty schedule and a wax tablet;
whereas form is like a painted shape and words set down, from
which the reader reaches the end of science. And when the soul
knows these, it desires to know the wonderful painter of them,
to whose essence it is impossible to ascend. Thus matter and
form are the two closed gates of intelligence, which it is hard
for intelligence to open and pass through, because the substance
of intelligence is below them, and made up of them. And when
the soul has subtilized itself, until it can penetrate them, it
arrives at the word, that is, at perfect will; and then its motion
ceases, and its joy remains.
An analogy to the fact that the universal will actualizes uni-
versal form in the matter of intelligence is the fact that the
particular will actualizes the particular form in the soul without
time, and life and essential motion in the matter of the soul, and
local motion and other motions in the matter of nature. But all
these motions are derived from the will; and so all things are
moved by the will, just as the soul causes rest or motion in
the body according to its will. And this motion is different
according to the greater or less proximity of things to the will.
And if we remove action from the will, the will will be identi-
cal with the primal essence; whereas, with action, it is dif-
ferent from it. Hence, will is as the painter of all forms; the
matter of each thing as a tablet; and the form of each thing as
the picture on the tablet. It binds form to matter, and is diffused
through the whole of matter, from highest to lowest, as the soul
through the body; and as the virtue of the sun, diffusing its
light, unites with the light, and with it descends into the air,
so the virtue of the will unites with the form which it imparts
to all things, and descends with it. On this ground it is said
that the first cause is in all things, and that there is nothing
without it.
The will holds all things together by means of form; whence
we likewise say that form holds all things together. Thus, form
is intermediate between will and matter, receiving from will,


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AVICEBRON
1105
and giving to matter. And will acts without time or motion,
through its own might. If the action of soul and intelligence,
and the infusion of light are instantaneous, much more so is
that of will.
Creation comes from the high creator, and is an emanation,
like the issue of water flowing from its source; but whereas
water follows water without intermission or rest, creation is with-
out motion or time. The sealing of form upon matter, as it
flows in from the will, is like the sealing or reflection of a form
in a mirror, when it is seen. And as sense receives the form
of the felt without the matter, so everything that acts upon
another acts solely through its own form, which it simply im-
presses upon that other. Hence genus, species, differentia, prop-
erty, accident, and all forms in matter are merely an impression
made by wisdom.
The created soul is gifted with the knowledge which is proper
to it; but after it is united to the body, it is withdrawn from
receiving those impressions which are proper to it, by reason of
the very darkness of the body, covering and extinguishing its
light, and blurring it, just as in the case of a clear mirror: when
dense substance is put over it its light is obscured. And there-
fore God, by the subtlety of his substance, formed this world,
and arranged it according to this most beautiful order, in which
it is, and equipped the soul with senses, wherein, when it uses
them, that which is hidden in it is manifested in act; and the
soul, in apprehending sensible things, is like a man who sees
many things, and when he departs from them, finds that nothing
remains with him but the vision of imagination and memory.
We must also bear in mind that, while matter is made by
essence, form is made by will. And it is said that matter is the
seat of God, and that will, the giver of form, sits on it and rests
upon it.
And through the knowledge of these things we ascend
to those things which are behind them, that is, to the cause why
there is anything; and this is a knowledge of the world of deity,
which is the greatest whole: whatever is below it is very small
in comparison with it.
II-70


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1106
ROBERT AYTOUN
ROBERT AYTOUN
(1570-1638)
HIS Scottish poet was born in his father's castle of Kinaldie,
near St. Andrews, Fifeshire, in 1570. He was descended
from the Norman family of De Vescy, a younger son of
which settled in Scotland and received from Robert Bruce the lands
of Aytoun in Berwickshire. Kincardie came into the family about
1539. Robert Aytoun was educated at St. Andrews, taking his degree
in 1588, traveled on the Continent like other wealthy Scottish gentle-
men, and studied law at the University of Paris. Returning in 1603,
he delighted James I. by a Latin poem
congratulating him on his accession to the
English throne. Thereupon the poet re-
ceived an invitation to court as Groom of
the Privy Chamber. He rose rapidly, was
knighted in 1612, and made Gentleman of
the Bedchamber to King James and private
secretary to Queen Anne. When Charles
I. ascended the throne, Aytoun was re-
tained, and held many important posts.
According to Aubrey, "he was acquainted
with all the witts of his time in England. "
Sir Robert was essentially a court poet,
and belonged to the cultivated circle of
Scottish favorites that James gathered
around him; yet there is no mention of him in the gossipy diaries
of the period, and almost none in the State papers. He seems, how-
ever, to have been popular: Ben Jonson boasts that Aytoun "loved
me dearly. " It is not surprising that his mild verses should have
faded in the glorious light of the contemporary poets.
He wrote in Greek and French, and many of his Latin poems
were published under the title 'Delitiæ Poetarum Scotorum' (Amster-
dam, 1637). His English poems on such themes as a 'Love Dirge,'
'The Poet Forsaken,' 'The Lover's Remonstrance,' 'Address to an
Inconstant Mistress,' etc. , do not show depth of emotion. He says of
himself:-

"Yet have I been a lover by report,
Yea, I have died for love as others do;
But praised be God, it was in such a sort
That I revived within an hour or two. »


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ROBERT AYTOUN
1107
The lines beginning "I do confess thou'rt smooth and fair,»
quoted below with their adaptation by Burns, do not appear in his
MSS. , collected by his heir Sir John Aytoun, nor in the edition of
his works with a memoir prepared by Dr. Charles Rogers, published
in Edinburgh in 1844 and reprinted privately in 1871. Dean Stanley,
in his 'Memorials of Westminster Abbey,' accords to him the original
of 'Auld Lang Syne,' which Rogers includes in his edition. Burns's
song follows the version attributed to Francis Temple.
Aytoun passed his entire life in luxury, died in Whitehall Palace
in 1638, and was the first Scottish poet buried in Westminster Abbey.
His memorial bust was taken from a portrait by Vandyke.
INCONSTANCY UPBRAIDED
LOVED thee once, I'll love no more;
Thine be the grief as is the blame:
Thou art not what thou wast before,
What reason I should be the same?
He that can love unloved again,
Hath better store of love than brain;
God send me love my debts to pay,
While unthrifts fool their love away.
Nothing could have my love o'erthrown,
If thou hadst still continued mine;
Yea, if thou hadst remained thy own,
I might perchance have yet been thine.
But thou thy freedom didst recall,
That it thou might elsewhere inthrall;
And then how could I but disdain
A captive's captive to remain?
When new desires had conquered thee,
And changed the object of thy will,
It had been lethargy in me,
Not constancy, to love thee still.
Yea, it had been a sin to go
And prostitute affection so;
Since we are taught no prayers to say
To such as must to others pray.
Yet do thou glory in thy choice,
Thy choice of his good fortune boast;
I'll neither grieve nor yet rejoice
To see him gain what I have lost.


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