principles are in never-ending conflict. The world is their
battle-ground, man is their prize.

In the old legends of Dualism, the Evil Spirit was said to have
sent a serpent to ruin the paradise which the Good Spirit had
made. These legends became known to the Jews during their
Babylonian captivity.

The existence of a principle of evil is the necessary incident of
the existence of a principle of good, as a shadow is the
necessary incident of the presence of light. In this manner could
be explained the occurrence of evil in a world, the maker and
ruler of which is supremely good. Each of the personified
principles of light and darkness, Ormuzd and Ahriman, had his
subordinate angels, his counselors, his armies. It is the duty of
a good man to cultivate truth, purity, and industry. He may look
forward, when this life is over, to a life in another world, and
trust to a resurrection of the body, the immortality of the soul,
and a conscious future existence.

In the later years of the empire, the principles of Magianism had
gradually prevailed more and more over those of Zoroaster.
Magianism was essentially a worship of the elements. Of these,
fire was considered as the most worthy representative of the
Supreme Being. On altars erected, not in temples, but under the
blue canopy of the sky, perpetual fires were kept burning, and
the rising sun was regarded as the noblest object of human
adoration. In the society of Asia, nothing is visible but the
monarch; in the expanse of heaven, all objects vanish in presence
of the sun.