[2] See Spencer, Principles of Sociology, i. 170, 280, 306.
[3] Haug, Parsis, 224, 225.
[4] “May the heavens, the waters, the firmament, be kind to us; may the lord of the field be gracious to us.... May the oxen (draw) happily, the men labour happily; may the traces bind happily, wield the goad happily” (Wilson’s translation, iii. 224).
[5] See Haug’s Aitareya-brâhmanam of the Rig-Veda; Max Müller’s Chips from a German Workshop, i. 115.
[6] Visperad. See Haug, Parsis, 192; Richardson’s Dissertation on the Language, &c., of Eastern Nations, p. 184; Morier’s Journey through Persia.
[7] Plutarch, De Iside et Osiride; Macrobius, Saturnalia, i. 21.
[8] In this month the anniversaries of the battle of Marathon, and of the downfall of the thirty tyrants, were also publicly celebrated.
[9] See Schoemann, Griechische Altertümer, ii. 439 seq.; Mommsen Heortologie.
[10] Feriae privatae, such as anniversaries of births, deaths, and the like, were observed by separate clans, families or individuals.
[11] In the “parallel” passages, there is considerable variety in the designation and arrangement of these feasts. While Ex. xii. approximates most closely to Lev. xxiii. and Num. xxviii., Ex. xxiii. has stronger affinities with Deut. xvi. The relations of these passages are largely discussed by Graf, Die geschichtlichen Bücher des A. T., pp. 34-41, and by other recent critics.