_wisaya_, or "Testaments" are ascribed to Aristotle,
Pythagoras, and others. To our mind, they are derived from Persian
tradition to the same extent, if not in a larger extent than from the
Christian. Actual studies demonstrate that the basal work for this epoch
was the book above-mentioned of Ibn Miskawaihi which as we saw above,
issued from Persian literary tradition. And the character of that
tradition can be explained from exterior circumstances without an
analysis of its contents. The fact is that Ibn Miskawaihi worked upon
that class of Persian material, for instance the _Pand Nameh_ or
_Andarz_, which had nothing to do with the province of the indefinite
gnomic literature but which had the character of a catechism and
therefore expresses a definite system of religious morals, the morals of
Parsism.[1] The appreciation of the influence of Parsism on Islam has
only just commenced. But we are already in a position to emphasise the
great influence, which Parsi ethics have exercised on Islam and this
influence has been attested by a number of Greek and Christian
witnesses. So far, for an acknowledgment of this influence serves a
purely external fact, namely, a glance at the bibliography of the
ancient ethico-didactic tracts in the Musalman literature and an
examination of the contents of the book of Ibn Muskawaihi. A number of
additional facts confirm this hypothesis.

[Footnote 1: For a general review of the morals of Parsism see A.V.W.
Jackson's G. I. Ph. Vol. II, 678-683.]

Well-known is the importance enjoyed in the beginning of the epoch of
the development of the Arabic Musalman literature, by the activities of
the Parsi Ibn al Muqaffa.[1] He is famous as the first commentator of
the Greek books on logic in Arabic literature, but he is particularly
renowned as the efficient supporter of the Persian literary tradition
and its translator into the Arabic literature. His rendering of _Kalila
and Dimma_ is well-known. It enjoys a prime role in the migration of
this collection of stories to the West. Well-known also is his
translation of the Persian book of _Khoday Nameh_,--that is, the
official chronicle of the Sasanian times and of the _Ain Nameh_, the
Institutes of the time. We shall have occasion to speak about these
books later on. To him also belong the books closely connected with the
Sasanian epoch, namely, the _Book of Mazdak_ the _Book of Taj_ to which
we shall refer further on. It is interesting that he is