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Aristotle (Hist. Anim. iii. 11, p. 518) describes the λεύκη, which seems to have been a mild form of leprosy. Leper isolation was general in the East; cf. Lev. xiii. 46 for the Jews, who (like the Persians) looked upon the disease as the symbol and the result of moral evil. The Vendidad is a Persian Leviticus, and is mainly comprised of laws of purification (cf. Farg. 5. 21; iv. 55); ‘Purity is for man, next to life, the greatest good.’ Savage analogies are numerous; cf. Tylor, Prim. Cult. ii4. 429 for ‘Lustration’.


Charon (fr. 3, F. H. G. i. 32) spoke of ‘white doves’ in connexion with Mardonius' expedition in 493 B.C. (described in vi. 44-5) (cf. Introd. § 19); perhaps these doves belonged to the Phoenician sailors. H. here seems to connect them with leprosy.

ἐς ποταμόν. The prohibition is due to respect to the element, water (cf. c. 140 for respect to the earth, and vii. 113. 2 for worship of rivers). So in later developments of the religion, the Magi are said to have deposed a king for building bath-houses; bathing smacked of heresy (S. B. E. iv. 90 n.).

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