 Volume 1, Book 3, chapters 1 through 15 of the Life of Apollonius of Tiana. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. The Life of Apollonius of Tiana by Flavius Philostratus, translated by F. C. Coneybear. Volume 1, Book 3, chapters 1 through 15. Chapter 1. It is now time to notice the river Hyphasis, and to ask what is its size as it traverses India, and what remarkable features it possesses. The springs of this river well forth out of the plain, and close to its source its streams are navigable. But as they advance, they soon become impossible for boats, because spits of rock alternating with one another rise up just below the surface. Round these, the current winds of necessity, so rendering the river unnavigable. And in breadth, it approaches to the river Eister, and this is allowed to be the greatest of all the rivers which flow through Europe. Now the woods along the bank closely resemble those of the river in question, and a balm also is distilled from the trees, out of which the Indians make a nuptial ointment. And, unless the contracting parties to the wedding have besprinkled the young couple with this balm, the union is not considered complete nor compatible with Aphrodite, bestowing her grace upon it. Now they say that the grove in the neighborhood of the river is dedicated to the goddess, and also the fishes called peacock fish, which are bred in this river alone, and which have been given the same name as the bird, because their feathers are blue, and their scales spotty, and their tails golden, and because they can fold and spread the ladder at will. There is also a creature in this river which resembles a white worm. By melting this down, they make an oil, and from this oil, it appears, there is given off a flame such that nothing but glass can contain it. And this creature may be caught by the king alone, who utilizes it for the capture of cities, for as soon as the fat in question touches the battlements, a fire is kindled, which defies all the ordinary means devised by men against combustibles. Chapter 2 And they say that wild asses are also to be captured in these marshes, and these creatures have a horn upon the forehead, with which they butt like a bowl and make a noble fight of it. The Indians make this horn into a cup, for they declare that no one can ever fall sick on the day on which he has drunk out of it, nor will anyone who has done so be the worst for being wounded, and he will be able to pass through fire unscathed, and he is even immune from poisonous drops which others would drink to their harm. Finally, this goblet is reserved for kings, and the king alone may indulge in the chase of this creature. And Apollonius says that he saw this animal and admired its natural features, but when Damis asked him if he believed the story about the goblet, he answered, I will believe it, if I find the king of the Indians hereabout to be immortal. For surely a man who can offer me or anyone else a draught potent against disease, and so wholesome will he not be much more likely to imbibe it himself, and take a drink out of this horn every day even at the risk of intoxication? For no one, I conceive, would blame him for exceeding in such cups. At this place they say that they also fell in with a woman who was black from her head to her bosom, but was altogether white from her bosom down to her feet, and the rest of the party fled from her, believing her to be a monster. But Apollonius clasped the woman by the hand and understood what she was, for in fact such a woman in India is consecrated to Aphrodite, and a woman is born piebald in honor of this goddess, such as is Apis among the Egyptians. Chapter 4 They say that from this point they crossed the part of the Caucasus which stretches down to the Red Sea, and this range is thickly overgrown with aromatic shrubs. The spurs then of the mountain bear the cinnamon tree, which resembles the young tendrils of the vine, and the goat gives sure indication of this aromatic shrub. For if you hold out a bit of cinnamon to the goat, she will whine and whimper after your hand like a dog, and will follow you when you go away, pressing her nose against it. But if the goat her drags her away, she will moan as if she were torn away from the lotus. But on the steps of this mountain there grow very lofty frankincense trees, as well as many other species, for example the pepper trees which are cultivated by the apes. Nor did they neglect to record the look and appearance of this tree, and I will repeat exactly their account of it. The pepper tree resembles, in general, the willow of the Greeks, and particularly in regard to the berry of the fruit, and it grows in steep ravines where it cannot be got at by men, and where a community of apes is said to live in the recesses of the mountain and in any of its glens. And these apes are held in great esteem by the Indians because they harvest the pepper for them, and they drive the lions off them with dogs and weapons. For the lion, when he is sick, attacks the ape in order to get a remedy. For the flesh of the ape stays the course of his disease, and he attacks it when he is grown old to get a meal. For the lions, when they are past hunting, stags and wild boars, gobble up the apes, and husband for their pursuit whatever strength they have left. The inhabitants of the country, however, are not disposed to allow this because they regard these animals as their benefactors, and so make war against the lions in behalf of them. For this is the way they go to work in collecting the pepper. The Indians go up to the lower trees and pluck off the fruit, and they make little round shallow pits around the trees into which they collect the pepper, carelessly tossing it in as if it had no value and was of no serious use to mankind. Then the monkeys mark their actions from above out of their fastness, and when the night comes on, they imitate the action of the Indians, and twisting off the trigs of the trees, they bring and throw them into the pits in question. Then the Indians at daybreak carry away the heaps of the spice which they have thus got without any trouble, and indeed during the repose of slumber. Chapter 5 After crossing the top of the mountain, they say they saw a smooth plain seen with cuts and ditches full of water, some of which were carried crosswise whilst others were straight. These are derived from the river Ganges and serve both four boundaries and also are distributed over the plain when the soil is dry. But they say that this soil is the best in India and constitutes the greatest of the territorial divisions of that country, extending in length towards the Ganges a journey of 15 days and of 18 from the sea to the mountain of the apes along which it skirts. The whole soil of the plain is black and fertile of everything, and you can see on it standing corn as high as reeds, and you can also see beans three times as large as the Egyptian kind, as well as sesame and millet of enormous size. And they say that nuts also grow there, of which many are treasured up in our temples here as objects of curiosity. But the vines which grow there are small, like those of the Lydians and Maonis. Their vintage, however, is not only drinkable, but has a fine bouquet from the first. They also say that they came upon a tree there resembling a laurel, upon which there grew a cup or husk resembling a very large pomegranate. And inside the cup there was a kernel as blue as the cups of the hyacinth, but sweeter to the taste than any of the fruits the seasons bring. Chapter 6 Now as they descended the mountain, they say they came in for a dragon hunt, which I must needs describe. For it is utterly absurd for those who are amateurs of hair hunting to spin yarns about the hair as to how it is caught or ought to be caught. And yet that we should omit to describe a chase as bold as it is wonderful, and in which the sage was careful to assist. So I have written the following account of it. The whole of India is girt with dragons of enormous size, for not only the marshes are full of them, but the mountains as well, and there is not a single ridge without one. Now the marsh kind are sluggish in their habits and are thirty cubits long, and they have no crest standing up on their heads, but in this respect resemble the she-dragons. Their backs, however, are very black, with fewer scales on them than the other kinds. And Homer has described them with deeper insight than have most poets, for he says that the dragon that lived hard by the springs of Aulis had a tawny back. But other poets declare that the congener of this one in the grove of Nemia also had a crest, a feature which we could not verify in regard to the marsh dragons. Chapter 7 And the dragons along the foothills and the mountain crests make their way into the plains after their quarry and prey upon all the creatures in the marshes. For indeed they reach an extreme length and move faster than the swiftest of rivers, so that nothing escapes them. These actually have a crest of moderate extent at height when they are young, but as they reach their full size it grows with them and extends to a considerable height, at which time also they turn red and get serrated backs. This kind also have beards and lift their necks on high while their scales glitter like silver and the pupils of their eyes consist of a fiery stone, and they say that this has an uncanny power for many secret purposes. The plain specimen falls the prize of the hunters whenever it draws upon itself an elephant for the destruction of both creatures as the result and those who capture the dragons are rewarded by getting the eyes and skin and teeth. In most respects they resemble the largest swine, but they are slighter in build and flexible and they have teeth as sharp and indestructible as those of the largest fishes. Now the dragons of the mountains have scales of a golden color and in length excel those of the plain and they have bushy beards which also are of a golden hue and their eyebrows are more prominent than those of the plain and their eye is sunk deep under the eyebrow and emits a terrible and ruthless glance and they give off a noise like the clashing of brass whenever they are burrowing under the earth and from their crests which are all fiery red their flashes a fire brighter than a torch. They also can catch the elephants though they are themselves caught by the Indians in the following manner. They embroider golden runes on a scarlet cloak which they lay in front of the animals burrow after charming them to sleep with the runes for this is the only way to overcome the eyes of the dragon which are otherwise inflexible and much mysterious lore is sung by them to overcome him. These runes induce the dragon to stretch his neck out of his burrow and fall asleep over them. Then the Indians fall upon him as he lies there and dispatch him with blows of their axes and having cut off the head they despoil it of its gems and they say that in the heads of the mountain dragons there are stored away stones of flowery color which flash out all kinds of hues and possess a mystical power if set in a ring like that which they say belonged to Gaijis but often the Indian in spite of his axe and his cunning is caught by the dragon who carries him off to his burrow and almost shakes the mountains as he disappears. These are also said to inhabit the mountains in the neighborhood of the Red Sea and they say that they heard them hissing terribly and that they saw them go down to the shore and swim far out into the sea. It was impossible however to ascertain the number of years that this creature lives nor would any statements be believed. This is all I know about dragons. Chapter 9 They tell us that the city under their mountain is of great size and called paracks and that in the center of it are stored up a great many heads of dragons for the Indians who inhabit it are trained from their boyhood in this form of sport and they are also said to acquire an understanding of the language and ideas of animals by feeding either on the heart or the liver of the dragon and as they advanced they thought they heard the pipe of some shepherd marshalling his flock but it turned out to be a man looking after a herd of white hines for the Indians use these for milking and find their milk very nutritious. Chapter 10 From this point their road led for four days across a rich and well cultivated country till they approached the castle of the sages when their guide bade his camel crouch down and leapt off it in such an agony of fear that he was bathed in perspiration. Apollonius however quite understood where he was come to and smiling at the panic of the Indians said it seems to me that this fellow were he a mariner who had reached harbor after a long sea voyage would worry at being on land and tremble at being on dock and as he said this he ordered his camel to kneel down for indeed he was by now well accustomed to do so but it seems that what scared the guide so much was that he was now close to the sages for the Indians fear these people more than they do their own king because the very king to whom the land is subject consults them about everything that he has to say or do just as people who send to an oracle of a god and the sages indicate to him what it is expedient for him to do and what is inexpedient and dissuade and warn him off with signs. Chapter 11 and they were about to halt in the neighboring village which is hardly distant a single stage from the eminence occupied by the sages when they saw a youth run up to them the blackest Indian they ever saw and between his eyebrows was a crescent shaped spot which shone brightly but I learned that at a later time the same feature was remarked in the case of Menon the pupil of Herod the Sophist who was an Ethiope it showed while he was a youth but as he grew up to a man's estate its splendor waned and finally disappeared with his youth but the Indian also wore they say a golden anchor which is affected by Indians as a herald's badge because it holds all things fast. Chapter 12 then he ran up to Apollonius and addressed him in the Greek tongue and so far this did not seem so remarkable because all the inhabitants of the village spoke the Greek tongue but when he addressed him by name and said, Hail so and so the rest of the party were filled with astonishment though our sage only felt the more confidence in his mission for he looked to Damus and said we have reached men who are unfainately wise for they seem to have the gift of foreign knowledge and he at once asked the Indian what he must do because he was already eager for an interview and the Indian replied your party must halt here but you must come on just as you are for the masters themselves issue this command Chapter 13 the word masters at once had a Pythagorean ring for the ears of Apollonius and he gladly followed the messenger now the hill, the summit of which is inhabited by the sages is according to the account of our travelers of about the same height as the Acropolis of Athens and it rises straight up from the plain though its natural position equally secures it from attack for the rock surrounds it on all sides on many parts of this rock you see traces of cloven feet and outlines of beards and of faces and here and there impressions of backs as of persons who had slipped and rolled down for they say that Dionysus when he was trying to storm the place together with Hercules ordered the pans to attack it thinking that they would be strong enough to take it by assault but they were thunderstruck by the sages and fell one one way and another another and the rocks as it were took the print of the various postures in which they fell and failed and they say that they saw a cloud floating round the eminence on which the Indians live and render themselves visible or invisible at will whether there were any other gates to the eminence they say they did not know for the cloud around it did not anywhere allow them to be seen whether there was an opening in the rampart or whether on the other hand it was a close shut fortress Chapter 14 Apollonius says that he himself ascended mostly on the south side of the ridge following the Indian and that the first thing he saw was a well four fathoms deep above the mouth of which there rose a sheen of deep blue light and at midday when the sun was stationary about it the sheen of light was always drawn up on high by the rays and in its ascent assumed the look of a glowing rainbow but he learned afterwards that the soil underneath the well was composed of a realgar but that they regarded the water as holy and mysterious and no one either drank it or drew it up but it was regarded by the whole land of India all around as binding in oaths and near this there was a crater he says of fire which sent up a lead-colored flame though it emitted no smoke or any smell nor did this crater ever overflow but emitted just matter enough not to bubble over the edges of the pit it is here that the Indians purify themselves of involuntary sins wherefore the sages call the well the well of testing and the fire the fire of pardon and they say that they saw their two jars of black stone of the rains and of the winds respectively the jars of the rains they say is opened in case the land of India is suffering from drought and sends up clouds to moisten the whole country but if the rains should be in excess they are stopped by the jar being shut up but the jar of winds plays, I imagine, the same role as the bag of Aeolus for when they opened this jar ever so little they let out one of the winds which creates a seasonable breeze by which the country is refreshed and they say that they came upon statues of gods and they were not nearly so much astonished at finding Indian or Egyptian gods as they were by finding the most ancient of the Greek gods the statue of Athene Polius and of Apollo of Delos and of Dionysus of Lemne and another of him at Amiclia and others of similar age these were set up by these Indians and worshipped with Greek rites and they say that they are met with in the heart of India now they regard the summit of this hill as the naval of the earth and on it they worship fire with mysterious rites deriving the fire, according to their own account from the rays of the sun and to the sun they sing a hymn every day at midday Chapter 15 Apollonius himself describes the character of these sages and of their settlement upon the hill for in one of his addresses to the Egyptians he says I saw Indian Brahmans living upon the earth and yet not on it and fortified without fortifications and possessing nothing yet having the riches of all men he may indeed be thought to have here written with too much subtlety but we have anyhow the account of Damas to the effect that they made a practice of sleeping on the ground and that they strove the ground with such grass as they might themselves prefer and what is more he says that he saw them levitating themselves too cubits high from the ground not for the sake of miraculous display for they disdain any such ambition but they regard any rites they perform in thus quitting earth and walking with the sun as acts of homage acceptable to the god moreover they neither burn upon an altar nor keep in stoves the fire which they extract from the sun's rays although it is a material fire but like the rays of sunlight when they are refracted in water so this fire is seen raised aloft in the air and dancing in the ether and further they pray to the sun who governs the seasons by his might that the latter may succeed duly in the land so that India may prosper but of a night they entreat the ray of light not to take the night to miss but to stay with them just as they have brought it down such then was the meaning of the phrase of Apollonius that the Brahmans are upon earth and yet not upon the earth and his phrase fortified without fortifications or walls refers to the air or vapor under which they bivouac for though they seem to live in the open air yet they raise up a shadow and veil themselves in it so that they are not made wet when it rains and they enjoy the sunlight whenever they choose and the phrase without possessing anything they had the riches of all men is thus explained by Damas all the springs which the Bacchanals see leaping up from the ground under their feet whenever Dionysus stirs them and earth in a common convulsion spring up in plenty for these Indians also when they are entertaining or being entertained Apollonius therefore was right in saying that people provided as they are with all they want off hand and without having prepared anything possess what they do not possess and on principle they grow their hair long as the Lassidemonians did of old and the people of Therium and Tarentum as well as the Melians and all who set store by the fashions of Sparta and they bind a white turban on their heads and their feet are naked for walking and they cut their garments to resemble the exomis but the material of which they make their raiment is a wool that springs wild from the ground white like that of the Pamphylians although it is of softer growth and a grease like olive oil distills from off it this is what they make their sacred vesture of and if anyone else except these Indians tries to pluck it up the earth refuses to surrender its wool and they all carry both a ring and a staff of which the peculiar virtues can affect all things and the one and the other so we learn are prized as secrets and of volume 1 book 3 chapters 1 through 15 volume 1 book 3 chapters 16 through 23 of the life of Apollonius of Tyanna this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org the life of Apollonius of Tyanna by Flavius Philostratus translated by FC Coneybear volume 1 book 3 chapter 16 when Apollonius approached the rest of the sages welcomed him and shook hands but Iarchus sat down on a high stool and this was of black copper and chased with golden figures while the seats of the others were of copper but plain and not so high for they sat lower down than Iarchus and when he saw Apollonius Iarchus greeted him in the Greek tongue and asked for the Indians letter and as Apollonius showed astonishment at his gift of prescience he took pains to add that a single letter was missing in the epistle namely a delta which had escaped the rider and this was found to be the case then having read the epistle he said what do you think of us oh Apollonius huh why said the latter how can you ask when it is sufficiently shown by the fact that I have taken a Jaime to see you which was never till now accomplished by any of the inhabitants of my country and what do you think we know more than yourself I replied the other consider that your lower is profounder and much more divine than our own and if I add nothing to my present stock of knowledge while I am with you I shall at least have learned that I have nothing more to learn there upon the Indian replied and said other people ask those who arrive among them who they are that come and why but the first display we make of our wisdom consists in showing that we are not ignorant who it is that comes and you may test this point to begin with and to suit his word he forthwith recounted the whole story of Apollonius's family both on his father's and his mother's side and he related all his life in Aegea and how Damus had joined them and any conversations that they had had on the road and anything they had found out through the conversation of others with them all this just as if he had shared their voyage with them the Indian recounted straight off quite clearly without pausing for breath and when Apollonius was astounded and asked him how he came to know it all he replied and you too are come to share in this wisdom but you are not yet an adept will you teach me then said the other all this wisdom I and gladly for that is a wiser course than grudging and hiding matters of interest and moreover oh Apollonius I perceive that you are well endowed with memory a goddess whom we love more than any other of the divine beings well said the other you have certainly discerned by your penetration my exact disposition we said the other oh Apollonius can see all spiritual traits for retrace and detect them by a thousand signs but as it is nearly midday and we must get ready our offerings for the gods let us now employ ourselves with that and afterwards let us converse as much as you like but you must take part in all our religious rights by Zeus said Apollonius I should be wronging the Caucasus and the Indus both of which I have crossed in order to reach you if I did not feast myself on your rights to the full do so said the other and let us depart Chapter 17 accordingly they betook themselves to a spring of water which Damus who saw it subsequently says resembles that of Dirtsey in Boitia and first they stripped and then they anointed their heads with an amber-like drug which imparted such a warmth to these Indians that their bodies steamed and the sweat ran off them as profusely as if they were washing themselves with fire next they threw themselves into the water and having so taken their bath they betook themselves to the temple with wreaths upon their heads and full of sacred songs and they stood round in the form of a chorus and having chosen Iarchus as conductor they struck the earth uplifting their rods and the earth arched itself like a billow of the sea and raised them up two cubits high into the air but they sang a song resembling the peon of Sophocles which they sing at Athens in honor of Asclepius but when they had alighted upon the ground Iarchus called the stripling who carried the anchor and said do you look after the companions of Apollonius? and he went off swifter than the quickest of the birds and coming back again said I have looked after them having fulfilled then the most of their religious rites they sat down to rest upon their seats but Iarchus said to the stripling bring out the throne of Freyotes for the wise Apollonius that he may sit upon it and converse with us Chapter 18 and when he had taken his seat he said ask whatever you like for you find yourselves among people who know everything Apollonius then asked him whether they knew themselves also thinking that he, like the Greeks would regard self-knowledge as a difficult matter but the other contrary to Apollonius' expectations corrected him and said we know everything just because we begin by knowing ourselves for no one of us would be admitted to this philosophy unless he first knew himself and Apollonius remembered what he had heard Freyotes say and how he who would become a philosopher must examine himself before he undertakes the task and he therefore acquiesced in this answer for he was convinced of its truth in his own case also he accordingly asked a fresh question namely who they considered themselves to be and the other answered we consider ourselves to be gods Apollonius asked afresh why? because said the other we are good men this reply struck Apollonius as so instinct with trained good sense that he subsequently mentioned it to Domitian in his defense of himself Chapter 19 he therefore resumed his questions and said and what view do you take of the soul? that replied the other which Pythagoras imparted to you and which we imparted to the Egyptians would you then say said Apollonius that as Pythagoras declared himself to be euphorobus so you yourself before you entered your present body were one of the Trojans or Achaeans or someone else and the Indian replied those Achaean sailors were the ruin of Troy and your talking so much about it is the ruin of you Greeks for you imagine that the campaigners against Troy were the only heroes that ever were and you forget other heroes both more numerous and more divine whom your own country and that of the Egyptians and that of the Indians have produced since then you have asked me about my earlier incarnation tell me whom you regard as the most remarkable of the assailants or defenders of Troy I replied Apollonius regard Achilles the son of Pelius and Thetis as such for he and no other is celebrated by Homer as excelling all the Achaeans in personal beauty and size and he knows of mighty deeds of his and he also rates very highly such men as Ajax and Nereos who are only second to him in beauty and courage and are celebrated as such in his poems with him said the other Oh Apollonius I would have you compare my own ancestor or rather my ancestral body for that was the light in which Pythagoras regarded Euphorbus Chapter 20 there was then he said a time when the Ethiopians an Indian race dwelt in this country and when Ethiopia as yet was not but Egypt stretched its borders beyond Meore and the cataracts and on the one side included in itself the fountains of the Nile and on the other was only bounded by the mouths of the river well at that time of which I speak the Ethiopians lived here and were subject to King Ganges and the land was sufficient for their sustenance and the gods watched over them but when they slew this king neither did the rest of the Indians regard them as pure nor did the land permit them to remain upon it for it spoiled the seed which they sowed in it before it came into ear and inflicted miscarriages on their women and it gave a miserable feed to their flocks and wherever they tried to found a city it would give way sink down under their feet nay more the ghost of Ganges drove them forward on their path a haunting terror to their multitude and it did not quit them until they atoned to earth by sacrificing the murderers who shed the king's blood with their hands now this Ganges it seems was ten cubits high and in personal beauty excelled any man the world had yet seen and he was the son of the river Ganges and when his own father inundated India he himself turned the flood into the Red Sea and effected a reconciliation between his father and the land with the result that the latter brought forth fruits in abundance for him when living and also avenged him after death and since Homer brings Achilles to Troy in Helen's behalf and relates how he took twelve cities by sea and eleven on land and how he was carried away by wrath because he had been robbed of a woman by the king on which occasion, by own opinion he showed himself merciless and cruel let us contrast the Indian in similar circumstances he, on the contrary set himself to found sixty cities which are the most considerable of those hereabouts and I would like to know who would regard the destruction of cities as a better title to fame than the rebuilding of them and he also repulsed the Scythians who once invaded this land across the Caucasus surely it is better to prove yourself a good man by liberating your country than to bring slavery upon a city and that too on behalf of a woman who probably was never really carried off against her will and he had formed an alliance with the king of the country over which Freyotis now rules although that other had violated every law and principle of morality by carrying off his wife he yet did not break his oath and so stable, he said was his pledged word that in spite of the injury suffered he would not do anything to harm the other Chapter 21 And I could enumerate many more merits of this great man if I did not shrink from pronouncing a panageric upon myself for I may tell you I am the person in question as I clearly proved when I was four years old for this Ganges on one occasion fixed southern boards made of adamant in the earth to prevent any monster approaching our country now the gods ordered us to sacrifice if we came where he had implanted these weapons though without indicating the spot where he had fixed them I was a mere child and yet I led the interpreters of their will to a trench and told them to dig there for it was there I said that they had been laid after 22 and you must not be surprised at my transformation from one indian to another for here is one and he pointed to a stripling of about 20 years of age who in natural aptitude for philosophy excels everyone and he enjoys good health as you see and is furnished with an excellent constitution moreover he can endure fire and all sorts of cutting and wounding yet in spite of all these advantages he detests philosophy what then said apollonius O Iarchus is the matter with the youth for it is a terrible thing you tell me if one so well adapted by nature to the pursuit refuses to embrace philosophy and has no love for learning and that although he lives with you he does not live with us replied the other but he has been caught like a lion against his will and confined here but he looks a scant's at us when we try to domesticate him and caress him the truth is the stripling was once palimedes of Troy and he found his bitterest enemies in odysseus and homer for the one laid an ambush against him of people by whom he was stoned to death while the other denied him any place in his epic and because neither the wisdom with which he was endowed was of any use to him nor did he meet with any praise from homer to whom nevertheless many people of no great importance owe their renown and because he was outwitted by odysseus in spite of his innocence he has conceived an aversion to philosophy and deplores his ill luck and he is palimedes for indeed he can write without having learned his letters while they were thus conversing a messenger approached Iarchus and said the king will come early in the afternoon to consult you about his own business and Iarchus replied let him come for he too will go away all the better for making acquaintance and after this he went on with his former discourse he accordingly asked Apollonius the question will you tell us he said about your earlier incarnation and who you were before the present life and he replied since it was an ignoble episode I do not remember much of it Iarchus therefore took him up and said what you say said Apollonius is true Iarchus for that is really what I was but I consider this profession not only inglorious but also detestable as though as of much value as that of a prince or the leader of an army nevertheless it bears an evil repute by the reason of those who follow the sea at any rate the most noble of the deeds which I performed no one at the time saw fit to praise well and what would you claim for yourself in the way of noble achievement is it your having doubled the capes of Malaya and Sunium when it was drifting out of its course and you're having discerned so accurately the quarters from which the winds would blow both fore and aft or you getting your boat past the reefs in the hollows of Euboea where any number of ships ornamental signs show sticking up chapter 24 but Apollonius replied since you tempt me to talk about pilotage I fear what I consider to have been my soundest exploit at that time pirates at one time infested the Phoenician sea and were hanging about the cities to pick up information about the cargoes which different people had the agents of the pirates spied out accordingly a rich cargo which I had onboard my ship and having taken me aside in conversation asked me what was my share in the freight and I told them there was a thousand drachmas for there were four people in command of the ship and they say have you a house? a wretched hut I replied on the island of Farros where once upon a time Proteus used to live would you like then they went on to acquire a landed estate instead of the sea and a decent house instead of your hut you had to get into the cargo as much as you are going to get now and to get rid of a thousand misfortunes which be set pilots owing to the roughness of the sea I replied that I would gladly do so but that I did not aspire to become a pirate just at a time when I had made myself more expert than I ever had been and had one crowns for my skill in my profession however they persevered and promised to give me a purse of ten thousand drachmas if I would be their man and do what they wanted accordingly I egged them on to talk by promising not to fail them but to assist them in every way then they admitted that they were agents of the pirates and to be sought me not to deprive them of a chance of capturing the ship and instead of sailing away to the city whenever I weighed anchor thence they arranged that I should cast anchor under the promontory under the lee of which the pirate ships were riding and they were willing to swear that they would not only not kill myself but spare the life of any for whom I interceded I for my part did not consider it safe to reprehend them for I was afraid that if they were driven to despair they would attack my ship on the high seas and then we would all be lost somewhere at sea accordingly I promised to assist their enterprise but I insisted upon their taking oath to keep their promise truly they accordingly made oath for our interview took place in a temple and then I said you be take yourselves to the ships of the pirates at once for we will sail away by night and they found me all the more plausible from the way I bargained about the money for I stipulated that it must all be paid to me in current cash though not before they had captured the ship they therefore went off but I put straight out to sea after doubling the promontory this then said Iarchus Oh Apollonius you consider the behavior of a just man why yes said Apollonius and of a humane one too for I consider it was a rare combination of virtues for one who was a mere sailor to refuse to sacrifice men's lives or to betray the interests of merchants so rising superior to all bribes of money chapter 25 there upon the Indian smiled and said you seem to think that mere abstention from injustice constitutes justice and I am of opinion that all Greeks do the same for as I once learned from the Egyptians that come thither governors from Rome are in the habit of visiting your country brandishing their axes naked over your heads before you know they have bad men to rule or not but you acknowledge them to be just if they merely do not sell justice and I have heard that the slave merchants yonder do exactly the same for when they come to you with convoys of carrion slaves and are anxious to recommend their characters to you they make it a great merit of the slaves that they do not steal in the same way do you recommend on such grounds the rulers who sway your knowledge and after decorating them with such praises as you lavish upon slaves you send them away with objects as you imagine of universal admiration nay more your cleverest poets will not give you leave to be just and good even if you want to for here was Minos a man who exceeded all men in cruelty and who enslaved with his navies the inhabitants of continent and islands alike and yet they honor him by placing in his hand a scepter of justice and give him a throne in Hades to be umpire of spirits while at the same time they deny food and drink to tantalus merely because he was a good man and inclined to share with his friends the immortality bestowed upon them by the gods and some of them hang stones over him and rein insults of a terrible kind upon this divine and good man and I would much rather that they had represented him as swimming in a lake of nectar for he regaled men with that drink humanely and ungrudgingly and as he spoke he pointed out a statue which stood upon his left hand on which was inscribed the name tantalus now this statue was for cubits high and represented a man of 50 years who was clad in the fashion of Argolis though he differed in his cloak that being Thessians and he held a cup sufficient at least for one thirsty man and drank your health there from and in the goblet was a liquor an unmixed draught which frothed and foamed though without bubbling over the edge of the cup now I will presently explain what they consider this cup to be and for what reason they drink from it in any case however we must suppose that tantalus was assailed by the poets for not giving reign to his tongue but because he shared the nectar with mankind but we must not suppose that he was really the victim of the God's dislike for had he been hateful to them he would never have been judged by the Indians to be a good man for they are most religious people and never transgress any divine command Chapter 26 While they were still discussing this topic a hubbub down below in the village struck their ears for it seems the king had arrived equipped in the height of median fashion and full of pomp Iarchus then, not too well pleased remarked if it were Freyotes who was halting here you would find a dead silence prevailing everywhere as if you were attending a mystery from this remark Apollonius realized that the king in question was not only inferior to Freyotes in a few details but in the whole of philosophy and as he saw that the sages did not besture themselves to make any preparations or provide for the king's wants though he was come at midday he said where is the king going to stay here they replied for we shall discuss finite the objects for which he is come since that is the best time for taking counsel and will a table be laid for him when he comes said Apollonius why of course they answered a rich table too furnished with everything which this place provides then said he you live richly we they answered live in a slender manner for although we might eat as much as we like we are contented but the king requires a great deal for that is his pleasure but he will not eat any living creature for it is wrong to do here but only tried fruits and roots and the seasonable produce of the Indian land at this time of year and whatever else the New Year's seasons will provide Chapter 27 but see said he here he is the king advanced together with his brother and his son a blaze with gold and jewels and Apollonius was about to rise and retire when Iarchus checked him from leaving his throne and explained to him that it was not their custom for him to do so Damus himself says that he was not present on this occasion because on that day he was staying in the village but he heard from Apollonius what happened and wrote it in his book he says that when they had sat down the king extended his hand as if in prayer to the sages and they nodded their assent as if they were conceding his request and he was transported with joy at the promise just as if he had come to the oracle of a god but the brother of the king and his son who was a very pretty boy were not more considered than if they had been the slaves that were mere retainers after that the indian rose from his place and in a formal speech bade the king take food and he accepted the invitation and that most cordially there upon four tripods stepped forth like those of the pithian temple but of their own accord like those which advanced in Homer's poem and upon them were cup-errors black brass resembling the figures of Ganymede and of pellops among the Greeks and the earth strewed beneath them grass softer than any mattress and the dried fruits and bread and vegetables and the dessert of the season all came in served in order and set before them more agreeably that if cooks and waiters had provided it now two of the tripods flowed with wine but the other two supplied the one of them a jet of warm water and the other of cold now the precious stones imported from India are employed in Greece for necklaces and rings because they are so small but among the indians they are turned into decanters and wine coolers because they are so large and into goblets of such size that from a single one of them persons can slack their thirst at mid-summer but the cup-errors of bronze drew a mixture, he says of wine and water made in due proportions and they pushed cups round just as they do in drinking bouts the sages however reclined as we do in a common banquet not that any special honor was paid to the king although great importance should be attached to him among Greeks and Romans but he took the first place that he chanced to reach end of volume 1 book 3 chapters 16 through 27 volume 1 book 3 chapters 28 through 39 of the life of Apollonius of Tyanna this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org the life of Apollonius of Tyanna by Flavius Philostratus translated by F.C. Coneybear volume 1 book 3 chapter 28 and when the wine had circulated Iarchus said I pledge you to drink the health O king of a Helen and he pointed to Apollonius who was reclining just below him and he made a gesture with his hand to indicate that he was a man and divine but the king said I have heard that he and the persons who are halting in the village belong to Freotes quite right he answered and true is what you heard for it is Freotes who entertains him here also what asked the king is his mode of life and pursuit why what else? replied Iarchus at king himself it is no great compliment you have paid him answered the king by saying that he has embraced a mode of life which has denied even to Freotes the chance of being a noble man thereupon Iarchus remarked you must judge more reasonably O king both about philosophy and about Freotes for as long as you are a sibling your youth excused you in such extravagances but now that you have already reached man's estate let us avoid foolish and facile utterances but Apollonius who found an interpreter in Iarchus said and what have you gained O king by refusing to be a philosopher what have I gained why the whole of virtue and the identification of myself with the son then the other by way of checking his pride and muscling him said if you were a philosopher you would not entertain such fancies and you replied the king since you are a philosopher what is your fancy about yourself my fine fellow that I may pass replied Apollonius for being a good man only I can be a philosopher thereupon the king stretched out his hand to heaven and exclaimed by the son you come here full of Freotes but the other hailed this remark as a god descend and catching him up said I have not taken this long journey in vain if I am become full of Freotes but if you should meet him presently you will certainly say that he is full of me and he wished to write to you in my behalf but since he declared that you are a good man I begged him not to take the trouble of writing seeing that in his case no one sent a letter commending me chapter 29 this put a stop to the incipient folly of the king for having heard that he himself was pleased by Freotes he not only trot his suspicions but lowering his tone he said welcome goodly stranger but Apollonius answered and my welcome to you also oh king for you appear to have just only arrived and who asked the other attracted you to us these gentlemen here who are both gods and wise men and about myself oh stranger said the king what is said among Helens why as much said Apollonius as is said about the Helens here as for myself I find nothing in the Helens said the other that is worth speaking of I will tell them that said Apollonius and they will crown you at Olympia chapter 30 and stooping towards Iarchus he said let him go on like a drunkard but do you tell me why do you not invite to the same table as yourself nor hold worthy of other recognition those who accompany this man though they are his brother and son as you tell me because said Iarchus they reckon to be kings one day themselves and by being made themselves you suffer disdain they must be taught not to disdain others and remarking that the sages were 18 a number he again asked Iarchus what was the meaning of their being just so many and no more for he said the number 18 is not a square number nor is it one of the numbers held in esteem and honor as are the numbers 10 and 12 and 14 and so forth thereupon the indian took him up and said neither are we beholden to number nor number to us but we owe our superior honor to wisdom and virtue and sometimes we are more in number than we are now and sometimes fewer and indeed I have heard that when my grandfather was enrolled among these wise men the youngest of them all they were 70 in number but when he reached his 130th year he was left here all alone because not one of them survived him at that time nor was there to be found anywhere in India a nature that was either philosophic or noble the egyptians accordingly wrote and congratulated him warmly on being left alone for four years in his tenure but he begged them to cease reproaching the Indians for the paucity of their sages now we have heard from the egyptians of the custom of the elians and that the helen odyssey who preside over the olympic games are 10 in number but we do not approve of the rule imposed in the case of these men for they leave the choice of them to the lot has no discernment for a worse man might be as easily chosen by lot as a better one on the other hand would they not make a mistake if they had made merit the qualification and chosen them by vote yes a parallel one for if you are on no account to exceed the number 10 there may be more than 10 just men and you will deprive some of the rank which their merits entitle them to while if on the other hand there are not so many as 10 then none will be thought to be really qualified where for the elians would be much wiser minded if they allowed the number to fluctuate merely preserving the same standard of justice chapter 31 while they were thus conversing the king kept trying to interrupt constantly breaking off their every sentence by his silly and ignorant remarks he accordingly again asked them what they were conversing about and apollonius replied we are discussing matters important and held in great repute among the helens though you would think of them but slightly for you say that you detest everything helenic I do certainly detest them he said nevertheless I want to hear for I imagine you are talking about those Athenians the slaves of Xerxes but apollonius replied nay we are discussing other things but since you have alluded to the Athenians in a matter both absurd and false answer me this question have you oh king any slaves 20,000 said the other and not a single one of them did I buy myself but they were all born in my household thereupon apollonius using Iarchus as his interpreter asked him afresh whether he was in the habit of running away from his slaves or his slaves from him and the king by way of insult answered him your very question is worthy of a slave nevertheless I will answer it a man who runs away is not only a slave but a bad one to boot and his master would never run away from him when if he can if he likes both torture and card him in that case said apollonius oh king Xerxes has been proved out of your mouth to have been a slave of the Athenians and like a bad slave he would never run away from them for when he was defeated by them in the naval action in the straits he was so anxious about his bridge of boats over the helispont that he fled in a single ship yes but anyhow burned Athens with his own hands said the king but apollonius answered and for that act of audacity oh king was any other man for he had to run away from those whom he imagined he had destroyed and when I contemplate the ambitions with which Xerxes set out on his campaign I can conceive that some were justified in exalting him and saying that he was Zeus but when I contemplate his flight I arrive at the conviction that he was the most ill-starred of men for if he had fallen at the hands of the helens no one would have earned a brighter fame than he for to whom would the helens have raised and dedicated a loftier tomb what choustes of armed men what contests of musicians would not have been instituted in honor of him for if men like Mellicertes and Pallimon and Pellops the Lydian immigrant the former of whom died in childhood at the breast while Pellops enslaved Arcadia and Argolis and the land within the Isthmus if these were commemorated by the Greeks as gods what would not have been done for Xerxes by men who are by nature more enthusiastic admirers of the virtues and who consider that they praise themselves and praising those whom they have defeated Chapter 32 these words of Apollonius caused the king to burst into tears and he said dearest friend in what an heroic light do you represent these helens to me why then oh king were you so hard upon them the visitors who come hither from Egypt oh guest replied the king malign the race of helens and while declaring that they themselves are holy men and wise and the true law givers who fixed all the sacrifices and rights of initiation which are in vogue among the Greeks they deny to the latter any and every sort of good quality declaring them to be Ruffians and a mixed herd addicted to every sort of anarchy and lovers of legend and miracle mongers and though indeed poor yet making their poverty not a title of dignity but a mere excuse for stealing but now I have heard this from you and understanding how fond of honor and how worthy the helens are I am reconciled for the future to them and I engage both that they shall have my praise and that I will pray all I can for them and will never set trust in another Egyptian but I archis remarked I too oh king was aware that your mind had been poisoned by these Egyptians but I would not take the part of the helens until you met some such counselor as this but since you have been put right by a wise man let us now proceed to quaff the good cheer provided by Tantulas and let us sleep over the serious issues which we have to discuss tonight but at another time I will fill you full with Hellenic arguments and no other race is so rich in them and you will delight in them whenever you come hither and forthwith he set an example to his fellow guests by stooping the first of them all to the goblet which indeed furnished an ample drought for all for the stream refilled itself plentiously as if with spring waters welling up from the ground and Apollonius also drank for his cup is instituted by the Indians as a cup of friendship and they feign that Tantulas is the wine-bearer who supplies it because he is considered to have been the most friendly of men chapter 33 and when they had drunk the earth received them on the couches which she had spread for them but when it was midnight they rose up and first they sang a hymn to the ray of light suspended aloft in the air as they had been at midday and then they attended the king as much as he desired Damus however says that Apollonius was not present at the king's conversation with them because he thought that the interview had to do with secrets of state having then at daybreak offered his sacrifice the king approached Apollonius who offered him the hospitality of his palace declaring that he would send him back to Greece an object of envy to all but he commended him for his kindness nevertheless he excused himself from inflicting himself upon one with whom he was on no sort of equality moreover he said that he had been longer abroad than he liked and that he screwed old to give his friends at home cause to think they were being neglected the king thereupon said that he entreated him and assumed such an undignified attitude in urging his request that Apollonius said a king who insists upon his request in such terms at the expense of his dignity is laying a trap thereupon Iarchus intervened and said you wrong oh king this sacred abode by trying to drag away from it a man against his will and moreover being one of those who can read the future he is aware that staying with you would not conduce to his own good and would probably not be in any way profitable to yourself chapter 34 the king accordingly went down into the village for the laws and the sages did not allow a king to be with them more than one day but Iarchus said to the messenger we admit Damus also hitherto our mysteries so let him come but do you look after the rest of them in the village and when Damus arrived they sat down together as they were want to do and they allowed Apollonius to ask questions and he asked them of what cosmos was composed and they replied of elements are there then four he asked not four said Iarchus but five and how can there be a fifth said apollonius alongside of water and air and earth and fire there is the ether replied the other which we must regard as the stuff of which gods are made for just as all mortal creatures inhale the air so do immortal and divine natures inhale the ether apollonius again asked which of the elements came first into being and Iarchus answered all are simultaneous for a living creature is not born bit by bit am I said apollonius to regard the universe as a living creature yes said the other if you have a sound knowledge of it for it engenders all living things shall I then said apollonius call the universe female or of both the male and the opposite gender of both genders said the other for by commerce with itself a role both of mother and father in bringing forth living creatures and it is possessed by a love for itself more intense than any separate being has for its fellow a passion which knits it together in harmony and it is not illogical to suppose that it cleaves unto itself for as the movement of an animal dictates the function of its hands and feet in cooperation with a soul in it by which it is set in motion so we must regard the parts of the universe also as adapting themselves through its inherent soul to all creatures which are brought forth or conceived for example the sufferings so often caused by drought are visited on us in accordance with the soul of the universe whenever justice has fallen into disrepute and is disowned by men and this animal shepherds itself not with a single hand only but with many mysterious ones which it has at its disposal and though from its immense size it is controlled by no other yet it moves obediently to the rain and is easily guided Chapter 35 and the subject is so vast and so far transcends our mental powers that I do not know any example adequate to illustrate it but we will take that of a ship such as the Egyptians construct for our seas and launch for the exchange of Egyptian goods against Indian wares for there is an ancient law in regard to the Red Sea which the King Urethras lay down when he held sway for that sea to the effect that the Egyptians should not enter it with a vessel of war and indeed should employ only a single merchant ship this regulation obliged the Egyptians to contrive a ship equivalent to several at once of those which other races have and they ribbed at the sides of this ship with bolts such as hold a ship together and they raised its bulwarks and its mast to a great height and they constructed several compartments such as are built upon the timber bulks which run authority ship and they set several pilots in this boat and subordinated them to the oldest and wisest of their number to conduct the voyage and there were several officers on the prow and excellent and handy sailors to man the sails and in the crew of this ship there was a detachment of armed men for it is necessary to equip the ship and protect it against the savages of the gulf that live on the right hand as you enter it in case they should ever attack and plunder it on the high seas let us apply this imagery to the universe and regard it in the light of a naval construction for then you must apportion the first and supreme position to God the begetter of this animal and subordinate posts to the gods who govern its parts and we may well ascent to their statements of the poets when they say that there are many gods in heaven and many in the sea and many in the fountains and streams and many round about the earth and that there are some even under the earth but we shall do well to separate from the universe the region under the earth if there is one because the poets represented as an abode of terror and corruption chapter 36 as the indian concluded this discourse damas says that he was transported with admiration and applauded loudly for he could never have thought that a native of india could show such mastery of the greek tongue nor even that supposing he understood that language he could have used it with so much ease and elegance and he praises the look and smile of iarcus and the inspired air with which he expressed his ideas admitting that apollonius although he had a delivery as graceful as it was free from bombast nevertheless gained a great deal by contact with this indian and he says that whenever he sat down to discuss a theme as he very often did he resembled iarcus chapter 37 as the rest of the company praised no less the contents of iarcus's speech than the tone in which he spoke apollonius resumed by asking him which they considered the bigger the sea or the land and iarcus replied if the land be compared with the sea it will be found to be bigger for it includes the sea in itself but if it be considered in relation to the entire mass of water we can show that the earth is the lesser of the two for it is up held by the water chapter 38 this discussion was interrupted by the appearance among the sages of the messenger bringing in certain indians about to succor and he brought forward a poor woman who interceded in behalf of her child who was, she said a boy of 16 years of age but had been for two years possessed by a devil now the character of the devil was that of a mocker and a liar here one of the sages asked why she said this and she replied this child of mine is extremely good looking and therefore the devil is amorous of him and will not allow him to retain his reason nor will he permit him to go to school or to learn archery nor even to remain at home but drives him out into desert places and the boy does not even retain his own voice but speaks in a deep hollow tone as mendu and he looks at you with other eyes rather than with his own as for myself I weep over all this and I tear my cheeks and I rebuke my son so far as I well may but he does not know me and I made my mind to repair hither indeed I planned to do so a year ago only the demon discovered himself using my child as a mask and what told me was this that he was the ghost of a man who fell long ago in battle but that at death he was passionately attached to his woman now he had been dead for only three days when his wife insulted their union by marrying another man and the consequence was that he had come to detest the love of women and had transferred himself wholly into this boy but he promised if I would only not denounce him to yourselves to endow him with many noble blessings as for myself I was influenced by these promises but he has put me off and off for such a long time now that he has got sole control of my household yet has no honest or true intentions here the sage asked afresh if the boy was at hand and she said not for although she had done good to get him to come with her the demon had threatened her with steep places and precipices and declared that he would kill her son in case she added I hailed him hither for trial take courage said the sage for he will not slay him when he has read this and so saying he drew a letter out of his bosom and gave it to the woman and the letter was addressed to the ghost and contained threats of an alarming kind chapter 39 there also arrived a man who was lame he already 30 years old and was a keen hunter of lions but a lion had sprung upon him and dislocated his hip so that he limped with one leg however when they massaged with their hands his hip the youth immediately recovered his upright gate and another man had had his eyes put out and he went away having recovered the sight of both of them yet another man had his hand paralyzed but left their presence in full possession of the limb and a surgeon woman had suffered in labor already seven times but was healed in the following way through the intercession of her husband he bade the man after his wife should be about to bring forth her next child to enter her chamber carrying in his bosom a live hare then he was to walk once round her and at the same moment to release the hare for that the womb would be extruded together with the fetus unless the hare was at once driven out end of chapters 28 through 39 volume 1 book 3 chapters 40 through 58 of the life of Apollonius of Tana this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org the life of Apollonius of Tana by Flavius Philostratus translated by F.C. Coneybear volume 1 book 3 chapter 40 and again a certain man who was a father said that he had had several sons but that they had died the moment they began to drink wine Iarchus took him up and said yes it is just as well they did die for they would inevitably have gone mad having inherited as it appears from their parents to warm a temperament your children he added must therefore abstain from wine in order that they may never be led even to desire wine supposing you should have another boy and I perceive you had only one six days ago you must carefully watch the hen owl and find where it builds its nest then you must snatch its eggs and give them to the child to chew after boiling them properly for if it is fed upon these or tastes wine a distaste for wine will be bred in it and it will keep sober by your excluding from its temperament any but natural warmth with such lore as this then they surfited themselves and they were astonished at the many-sighted wisdom of the company and day after day they asked all sorts of questions and were themselves asked to many in return chapter 41 Apollonius and Damus then took part in the interviews devoted to abstract discussions not so with the conversations devoted to occult themes in which they pondered the nature of astronomy or divination and considered the problem of fore knowledge and handled the problems of sacrifice and of the invocations in which the gods take pleasure in these Damus says that Apollonius alone took of the philosophic discussions together with Iarchus and that Apollonius embodied the results in four books concerning the divination by the stars a work which Mayor Genes has mentioned and Damus says that he composed a work on the way to offer sacrifice to the several gods in a manner pleasing to them not only then do I regard the work of the science of the stars and the whole subject of such divination as transcending human nature but I do not even know if anyone has these gifts but I found the treatise on sacrifice in several cities and in the houses of several learned men moreover if anyone should translate it he would find it to be a grave and dignified composition and one that rings of the author's personality and Damus says that Damus gave seven rings to Apollonius named after the seven stars and that Apollonius wore each of these in turn on the day of the week which bore its name Chapter 42 As to the subject of foreknowledge they presently had a talk about it for Apollonius was devoted to this kind of lore and turned most of their conversations on to it for this praised him and said my good friend Apollonius those who take pleasure in divination are rendered divine thereby and contribute to the salvation of mankind for here we have discoveries which we must go to a divine oracle in order to make yet these my good friend we foresee of our unaided selves and foretell to others things which they know not yet to regard as the gift of one thoroughly blessed and endowed with the same mysterious power as the Delphic Apollo now the ritual insists that those who visit a shrine with a view to obtaining a response must purify themselves first otherwise they will be told to depart from the temple consequently I consider that one who would foresee events must be healthy in himself and must not have his soul stained with any sort of defilement nor his character scarred with the wounds of any sins so he will pronounce his predictions with purity because he will understand himself and the sacred tripod in his breast and with ever louder and clearer tone and truer import will he utter his oracles therefore you need not be surprised if you comprehend the science seeing that you carry in your soul so much either chapter 43 and with these words he turned to Daimus and said playfully and you O Assyrian have you no foreknowledge of anything especially as you associate with such a man as this yes by Zeus answered Daimus at any rate of the things that are necessary for myself for when I first met with Melodius here he at once struck me as full of wisdom and cleverness and sobriety and of true endurance but when I saw that he also had a good memory and that he was very learned and entirely devoted to the love of learning he became to me something superhuman and I came to the conclusion that if I stuck to him I should be held a wise man instead of an ignoramus and a dullard educated man instead of a savage and I saw that if I followed him and shared his pursuits I should visit the Indians and visit you and that I should be turned into a Helene by him and be able to mix with the Helens now of course you set your oracles as they concern important issues on a level with those of Delphi and Dodona and of any other shrine you like as for my own definitions since Deimos is the person who has them and since his foreknowledge concerns himself alone we will suppose that they resemble the guesses of an old beggar wife foretelling what will happen to sheep and such like Chapter 44 all the sages laughed of course at this sally and when their laughter had subsided Iarchus led back the argument to the subject of divination and among the many blessings which that art had conferred upon mankind for he declared the gift of healing to be the most important 4 said he the wise sons of Escalapius would have never attained to this branch of science if Escalapius had not been the son of Apollo and as such had not in accordance with the latter's responses and oracles concocted and adapted different drugs to different diseases these he not only handed on to his own sons but he taught his companions what herbs must be applied to running wounds and what to parched and dry wounds and in what doses to administer liquid drugs for drinking by means of which dropsical patients are drained and bleeding is checked and diseases of decay and the cavities due to their ravages are put an end to and who he said can deprive the art of divination of the credit of discovering symbols which heal the bites of venomous creatures and in particular of using the virus itself as a cure for many diseases for I do not think that men without the forecasts of a prophetic wisdom would ever have ventured to mingle with medicines that save life most deadly of poisons chapter 45 and in as much as the following conversation also has been recorded by Danish as having been held upon this occasion with regard to the mythological animals and fountains and men met with in India I must not leave it out for there is much to be gained by neither believing nor yet disbelieving everything accordingly Apollonius asked the question whether there was an animal called the man eater and Iarkis replied and what have you heard about the make of this animal for is probable that there is some account given of its shape there are replied apollonius tall stories current which I cannot believe for they say that the creature has four feet and that his head resembles that of a man but that in size it is comparable to a lion while the tail of this animal puts out hairs a cubit long and sharp as thorns which it shoots like arrows at those who hunt it and he further asked about the golden water which they say bubbles up from a spring and about the stone which behaves like a magnet and about the men who live underground and the pygmies also look like footed men and Iarkis answered his questions thus what have I to tell you about animals or plants or fountains which you have seen yourselves on coming here for by this time you are as competent to describe these to other people as I am but I never yet heard in this country of an animal that shoots arrows or of springs of golden water Chapter 46 However, about the stone which attracts itself and binds to itself other stones you must not be skeptical for you can see the stone yourself if you like and admire its properties for the greatest specimen is exactly of the size of this fingernail and here he pointed to his own thumb and it is conceived in a hollow in the earth at a depth of four fathoms but it is so highly endowed by the spirit that the earth swells and breaks open in many places when the stone is conceived in it but no one can get a hold of it for it runs away unless it is scientifically attracted but we alone can't secure partly by performance of certain rights and partly by certain forms of words the Pantarbe for such is this name given to it now in the night time like the day just as fire might for it is red and gives out rays and if you look at it in the daytime it smites your eyes with a thousand glints and gleams and the light within it is a spirit of mysterious power for it absorbs to itself everything in its neighborhood and why do I say in its neighborhood why you can sink anywhere in river or in sea as many stones as you like and these not even near to one another but here there and everywhere and then you let down this stone among them by a string it gathers them all together by the diffusion of its spirit and the stones yield to its influence and cling to it in a bunch like a swarm of bees chapter 47 and having said this he showed the stone itself and all that it was capable of affecting as to the pygmies he said that they lived underground and that they lay on the other side of the Ganges and lived in the manner which is related by all as to the men that are shadow footed or have long heads and as to the other poetical fancies which the treatise of skelaks recounts about them he said that they didn't live anywhere on the earth and least of all in India chapter 48 as to the gold which the griffons pick up there are rocks which are spotted with drops of gold as with sparks which this creature can quarry because of the strength of its beak for these animals do exist in India he said and are held in veneration as being sacred to the sun and the Indian artists when they represent the sun yoke four of them abreast to draw the imaged car and in size and strength having this advantage over them that they have wings they will attack them and they will get the better of elephants and of dragons but they have no great power of flying no more than have birds of short flight for they are not winged as is proper with birds but the palms of their feet are webbed with red membranes such that they are able to revolve them and make a flight and fight in the air and the tiger alone is beyond their power of attack because in swiftness it rivals the winds Chapter 49 and the Phoenix he said is the bird which visits every 500 years but the rest of that time it flies about in India and it is unique in that it gives out rays of sunlight and shines with gold in size and appearance like an eagle and it sits upon the nest which is made by it at the springs of the Nile out of spices the story of the Egyptians about it that it comes to Egypt is testified to by the Indians also but the latter add this touch to the story that the Phoenix which is being consumed in its nest sings funeral strains for itself and this is also done by the swans according to the account of those who have the wit to hear them Chapter 50 in such conversations with the sages Apollonius spent the four months which he passed there and he acquired all sorts of lore both profane and mysterious but when he was minded to go on his way they persuaded him to send back to Freyotis with a letter his guide and the camels and they themselves gave him another guide and camels and sent him forth on his way congratulating both themselves and him and having embraced Apollonius they declared that he would be esteemed a god by the many not merely after his death but while he was still alive they turned back to their place of meditation though ever and anon they turned towards him and showed by their action that they parted from him against their will and Apollonius keeping the Ganges on his right hand and the Hyphasis on his left went down towards the sea a journey of ten days from the sacred ridge and as they went down they saw a great many ostriches and many wild bulls and many asses and lions and pards and tigers and another kind of apes than those which inhabit the pepper trees were black and bushy-haired and were dog-like in features and as big as small men and in the usual discussion of what they saw they reached the sea where small factories had been built and passenger ships rowed in them resembling those of the typhonies and they say that the sea called urethra or red is of a deep blue color but that it was so named making urethras who gave his own name to the sea in question Chapter 51 and having reached this point Apollonius sent back the camels to Iarchus together with the following letter Apollonius to Iarchus and the other sages greeting I come to you on foot and yet you presented me with the sea by sharing with me the wisdom which is yours you have made it mine even to travel through the heavens all this I shall mention to the helens and I shall communicate my words to you as if you were present unless I have in vain drunk the draught of tantalus farewell ye goodly philosophers Chapter 52 he then embarked upon the ship and was born away a smooth and favorable breeze and he was struck at the formidable manner in which the hyphesis discharges itself into the sea at its mouth for in its latter course as I said before it falls into rocky and narrow places and over precipices and breaking its way through these to the sea by a single mouth presents a formidable danger to those who hug the land too closely Chapter 53 they say moreover that they saw the mouth of the Indus and that there was situated on it the city of Patala round which the Indus flows it was to this city that the fleet of alexander came under the command of nearchus a highly trained naval captain but as for the stories of orthagoras about the sea called urethra to the effect that the constellation of the bear is not to be seen in it and that the mariners cast no reckoning at midday and that the visible stars there vary from their usual positions this account is endorsed by damus and we must consider it to be sound and based on local observations of the heavens there is also mention a small island of the name of beblus in which there is a large cockle and where there are muscles and oysters much like organisms clinging to the rocks and 10 times as big as those which we find in Greece and there is also taken in this region a stone the pearl in a white shell wherein it occupies the place of the heart of the oyster chapter 54 and they say they also touched at bigade in the country of the orte as for these people they have rocks of bronze and the dust which the rivers bring down is of bronze but they regard their land as full of gold because the bronze is of such high quality chapter 55 and they say that they came across the people called the fish eaters who city is Stobera and they clothed themselves in the skins of very large fishes and the cattle there look like fish and extraordinary things for the shepherds feed them upon fish just as in Keria the flocks are fed on figs but the Indians of Karman are a gentle race who live on the edge of a sea so well stocked with fish that they neither lay them in by stores nor salt them as is done in Pontus but they just sell a few of them and throw back most they catch panting into the sea chapter 56 they say that they also touched Balara which is an emporium full of myrtles and date palms and they also saw laurels and the place was well watered by springs and there were kitchen gardens there as well as flower gardens all growing luxuriously and the harbors therein were entirely calm but off there lies a sacred island which is called Celera and the passage to it from the mainland was states long now in this island there lived a nared a dreadful female demon which would snatch away many mariners and would not even allow ships to fasten a cable to the island chapter 57 it is just as well not to omit the story of the other kind of pearl since even Avalonius did not regarded as pure isle and it is anyhow a pretty invention and there is nothing in the annals of sea fishing so remarkable for on the side of the island which is turned towards the open sea the bottom is of great depth and produces an oyster in a white sheath full of fat for it does not produce any jewel the inhabitants watch for a calm day or they themselves render the sea smooth and this they do by flooding it with oil and then a man plunges in in order to hunt the oyster in question and he is in other aspects equipped like those who cut off the sponges from the rocks but he carries in addition an oblong iron block and an alabaster case made of mer the indian then halts alongside of the oyster and holds out the mer before him as a bait where upon the oyster opens and drinks itself drunk upon the mer it is then pierced with a long pin and discharges a peculiar liquid called icor which the man catches in the iron block which is hollowed out in regular holes the liquid so obtained petrifies in regular shapes just like the natural pearl and it is a white blood furnished by the red sea and they say that the Arabs also who live on the opposite coast devote themselves to catching these creatures from this point on found the entire sea full of wild animals and it was crowded with seals and the ships they say in order to keep off these animals carry bells at the bow and at the stern the sound of which frightens away these creatures and prevents them from approaching the ships chapter 58 and when they had sailed as far as the mouth of the Euphrates they say that they sailed up by it to Babylon to see Vardan whom they found just as they had found him before they then came afresh to Nineveh and as the people of Antioch displayed their customary insolence and took no interest in any affairs of the Helens they went down to the sea at Seleucia and finding a ship they sailed to Cyprus and landed at Paphos where there is the ship of Aphrodite Apollonius marveled at the symbolic construction of the same and gave the priests much instruction with regard to the ritual of the temple he then sailed to Ionia where he excited much admiration and no little steam among all lovers of wisdom end of volume 1 book 3 chapters 40 through 58