Res Gestae

When Zoroaster had boldly made his way into the unknown regions of Upper India, he reached a wooded wilderness, whose calm silence the lofty intellects of the Brahmins control. From their teaching he learned as much as he could grasp of the laws regulating the movements of the earth and the stars, and of the pure sacrificial rites. Of what he had learned he communicated something to the understanding of the Magi, which they, along with the art of divining the future, hand on from generation to generation to later times.

From that time on for many ages down to the present a large class of men of one and the same descent have devoted themselves to the service of the gods.[*](Their priesthood was hereditary, handed on from father to son.) The Magi also say (if it is right to believe them) that they guard on ever-burning braziers a fire sent down from heaven in their country, and that a small portion of it, as a good omen, used to be carried before the Asiatic kings.

The number of Magi of this origin in old times was very small, and the Persian potentates made regular use of their services in the worship of their gods. And it was sin to approach an altar, or touch a sacrificial victim, before one of the Magi, with a set form of prayer, poured the preliminary libations. But they gradually increased in number and became a strong clan, with a name of their own; they possessed country residences, which were protected by no great walls,[*](I.e. without walls.) and they were allowed to live in accordance with their own laws, and through respect for religion were held in high esteem.

From this seed of the Magi, as the ancient records relate, seven men after the death of Cambyses mounted the Persian

In this neighbourhood the Medic oil is made. If a missile is smeared with this oil and shot somewhat slowly from a loosened bow (for it is extinguished by a swift flight), wherever it lands it burns persistently; and if one tries to put it out with water, he makes it burn the more fiercely, and it can be quelled in no other way than by throwing dust upon it.[*](Cf. 4, 15, above, where Ammianus uses similar language of the malleoli; and 6, 16.)

Now, the oil is made in this way. Those who are skilled in such matters take oil of general use, mix it with a certain herb, and let it stand for a long time and thicken, until it gets magic power from the material. Another kind, like a thicker sort of oil, is native to Persia, and (as I have said)[*](6, 16, above.) is called in that language naphtha.

In these lands are many scattered cities; greater than all the rest are Zombis, Patigran and Gazaca.[*](Called Gaza by Strabo and Pliny, the capital of Atropatene.) Conspicuous for their wealth and their mighty walls are Heraclia, Arsacia, Europos,[*](According to Strabo, xi. 13, 6, Arsacia and Europos were the same city, also called Khaga or Khagae.) Cyropolis and Ecbatana,[*](Cf. Hdt. i. 98; to-day Hamadan.) all situated at the foot of

Many streams flow through this country, of which the greatest are the Choaspes, Gyndes,[*](This river is in Syria, not in Media.) Amardus, Charinda, Cambyses, and Cyrus. To this last, a great and beautiful river, the elder Cyrus, that lovable king, when he was hastening on his way to seize the realms of the Scythians, gave that name in place of its older one, because it is valiant, as he himself also was said to be, and forcing its way with the exercise of great power, as he did, flows into the Caspian Sea.