sitiveness and
flexibility of mind, they were less given to speculation and more to
a robust morality than their Indian kinsmen. It has to be noted that
while the religion of India has not influenced Europe in any manifest
degree until the present century, that of Persia has contributed in a
marked way to form the world of thought in which we dwell.

Sources.--The views generally current about the ancient religion of
Persia are derived from late Greek writers, whose accounts will be
noticed at the end of this chapter. A truer knowledge is now
possible, since the sacred books of the religion are now open to the
world. They were only obtained from the Parsis, who keep up their
ancient religion on the soil of India, during last century, and the
study of them has been very laborious and difficult, and has given
rise to great controversies which are not yet settled. These ancient
books are furnished with Eastern translations and commentaries. Is
the Western scholar to place himself under the guidance of these,
which no doubt are part of the historical tradition of the religion,
or may he claim that he is himself in as good a position as the
Oriental commentator for understanding the original meaning of the
texts; and will he best interpret them by comparing them with the
Vedas? What is their age; in which of the lands of Iran were they
written; was any part of them written by Zoroaster, or is Zoroaster
to be regarded as an historical personage at all? On all these
questions and on many others, scholars are not yet agreed; and while
so much is uncertain about the books, there must also be great
uncertainty about the history and the very nature of the religion. In
what follows we are guided mainly by the scholars who have taken
charge of the volumes connected with Persia in the _Sacred Books of
the East_.[1] In the last of these volumes (xxxi.) a new clue is
given to the subject, of which we shall gladly avail ourselves.

[Footnote 1: Zend-Avesta, _S. B. E._, vols. iv., xxiii., xxxi.]

The sacred books of Persia are known by the name of "Zend-Avesta,"
which is an incorrect expression; we ought to say Avesta and Zend.
"Avesta," like the kindred word "Veda," signifies knowledge, and the
word "Zend" denotes here not the language of that name, but the
"commentary" afterwards added to the original knowledge or text. The
commentary is not written in the Zend language, but in Pahlavi or
Persian. The Avesta, which is written in the