76. In a passage outlining the Persian demonology (see _supra_, n. 39),
Porphyry tells us (_De Abst._, II, 41):
[Greek: Toutous] (sc. [Greek: tous daimonas]) [Greek: malista kai ton
proestôta autôn] (c. 42, [Greek: hê proestôsa autôn dunamis] = Ahriman)
[Greek: ektimôsin hoi ta kaka dia tôn goêteiôn prattomenoi k. t. l.] Cf.
Lactantius, _Divin. Inst._, II, 14 (I, p. 164, 10, Brandt ed.); Clem. of
Alexandria, _Stromat._, III, p. 46 C, and _supra_, n. 37. The idea that the
demons subsisted on the offerings and particularly on the smoke of the
sacrifices agrees entirely with the old Persian and Babylonian ideas. See
Yasht V, XXI, 94: What "becomes of the libations which the wicked bring to
you after sunset?" "The devas receive them," etc.--In the cuneiform tablet
of the deluge (see 160 ff.), the gods "smell the good odor and gather above
the officiating priest like flies." (Dhorme, _Textes religieux
assyro-babyloniens_, 1907, p. 115; cf. Maspero, _Hist. anc. des peuples de
l'Orient_, I, p. 681.).