Page:Next-of-kin Marriages in Old Iran.djvu/108

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IN OLD IRÂN.
93

daughters,—did not think of marrying his own son with his own daughter, nor did he ever take his own mother or one of his own daughters to wife. If it was actually the creed of the Prophet, Zoroaster ought to have realized it first of all in his own family and among his primitive supporters!

The question as regards the existence of the practice of next-of-kin marriages in old Irân, will not, I hope, create a difficulty for any longer time. Not only has the meagre testimony upon it of Greek and Roman historians been shown to be unreliable and erroneous, but also the attempt to trace it to the Old Irânian Sacred Books, viz., the Zend-Avestâ, has entirely failed.

So long as no cogent proofs are brought to bear on the question, sufficient to convince a student of Irânian antiquities or religion, I shall be content with the arguments or remarks I have been able to put forward on the other side, repeating at the conclusion of this paper the convictions with which I set out, viz.:—

  1. That the slight authority of some isolated
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