Mani's Šābuhragān

330 that it would befall us so . . . and harshly; but if we had known, we would have believed that which was said to us; we would have accepted the religion and . . . and we would have cast down Az [and . . .] and to you we have been . . . helpers. And . . . suffering . . .' [And the religious] will 340 speak thus: 'Do not prate, you evil-doers, [for] we remember that in the [world] you were greedy and lustful, and you have [been] oppressive . . . [and you did not] consider the soul, and [to us you have been] inimical and have pursued and persecuted us from land to land, and you did not believe that we are the fulfillers of the wishes of the gods. And you 350 yourselves did not consider [that, "This] misfortune may befall us and hold [us ?] . . .". But if you had accepted the wisdom and knowledge of the gods from us, and had been soul-loving, and had gone in the path of the gods and had been travelling-companions and helpers (to us), then [your] bodies [would not have borne ?] Az and Lust, and [you would 360 not have] *adhered to robbers, thieves and . . . Then (your) souls

would not have come [eternally to] misfortune. [Now] let you not beseech us, [and do not] prate and complain . . . For this, that now we have come to this, into the presence of the gods—we have not come for (the sake of) you evil-doers, but we have come . . . for those who [in that old ?] world 370 were well-disposed towards the religious, and because of you evil-doers they did not [see] that, (namely that) it was possible (for them) to enter the religion and to accept the (necessary) deeds, and to cast off Az and Lust and to be [travelling-]companions of the religious, and completely [? happy]. And [there]fore they have come to grave misfortune, and . . .