 Volume 2, Book 7, chapters 29 through 38 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 Philo Stratus, translated by F. C. Coneybear. Volume 2, Book 7. Chapter 29. And about dawn a notary came from the royal court and said, It is the emperor's orders, O Apollonius, that you should repair to his court at the time when the market place is full, not indeed as yet to make your defence, for he wants to see you and find out who you are and to talk with you alone. Apollonius said, And why do you trouble me with these details? Are you not, then, Apollonius? said the other. He said, Yes, by heaven, and of Tyanna, too. Said the other. To whom, then, should I give this message? He replied, To those who will take me thither, for I suppose that I shall have to get out of this prison somehow. Replied the other. Orders have already been given to them, and I will come here in good time, and I only came to give you the message now because the orders were issued late last night. Chapter 30. He accordingly went away, but Apollonius, after resting himself a little while on his bed, said, Damus, I need sleep, for I have had a bad night trying to remember what Freyotis once told me. Said the other. Well, if you had to keep awake, you had much better have occupied yourself in preparing for so great an occasion as now is announced to you. Apollonius said, And how could I prepare myself when I do not even know what questions he will ask of me? Damus said, Then are you going to defend your life, extempore? He replied, Yes, by heaven, for it is an extempore life that I have always led. But I want to tell you what I could remember of the conversation of Freyotis, for I think you will find it very profitable under the circumstances. Freyotis enjoined the tamers of lions not to strike them, for he said that they bear you a grudge if they are struck, but also not to flatter them, because that tends to make them proud and fierce. But he advised them, rather, to stroke them with the hand at the same time that they threatened them, as the best way of reducing them to obedience and docility. Well, he made these remarks not really about lions, for we were not interested about how to keep lions and wild beasts, but he was really supplying a curve and rain for tyrants of such a kind as he thought would in practice keep them within the lines of good sense and moderation. Damus said, This story is indeed most opposite to the manners of tyrants, but there is also a story in Asop about a certain lion who lived in a cave, and Asop says that he was not sick but only pretended to be so, and that he seized on other wild animals who went to visit him. And accordingly, the fox made the remark, What are we to do with him, for no one ever quits his residence, nor are any tracks to be seen of his visitors going out again? And Apollonius remarked, Well, as for myself, I should have regarded your fox as a cliver or animal if he had gone in to see the lion, and instead of being caught had issued from the cave safely and left clear tracks behind him. CHAPTER 31 After making this remark he took a short nap, just enough to close his eyes, and when day came he offered his prayers to the sun as best he could in prison, and then he conversed with all who came up and asked him questions, and so about the time when the market fills a notary came and ordered him to repair at once to the court, adding, Lest we should not get there in time for the summons into his presence. And Apollonius said, Let us go, and eagerly went forth. And on the way four body-guards followed him, keeping at a greater distance from him than would an escort appointed merely to guard him, and Damus also followed in his train, in some trepidation indeed, but apparently plunged in thought. Now the eyes of all were turned upon Apollonius, for not only were they attracted by his dress and bearing, but there was a god-like look in his eyes which struck them with astonishment, and moreover the fact that he had come to Rome to risk his life for his friends conciliated the good wishes even of those who were evilly disposed to him before. When he halted at the palace and beheld the throng of those who were either being courted or were courting their superiors, and heard the din of those who were passing in and out he remarked, It seems to me, O Damus, that this place resembles a bath, for I see people outside hastening in, and those within hastening out, and some of them resemble people who have been thoroughly well washed, and others those who have not been washed at all. This saying is the inviolable property of Apollonius, and I wish it to be reserved to him, and not ascribed to this man and that, for it is so thoroughly and genuinely his that he has repeated it in one of his letters. There he saw a very old man who was trying to get an appointment, and in order to do so was groveling before the emperor and fawning upon him. He said, Here is one, O Damus, who not even Sophocles so far has been able to persuade to run away from a master who is raging mad. Damus said, Yes, a master that we ourselves, Apollonius, have chosen for our own, for that is why we are standing here at such gates as these. Said the other, It seems to me, O Damus, that you imagine Iacus to be warden of these gates, as he is said to be of the gates of Hades, for verily you look like a dead man. Damus said, Not dead yet, but shortly to be so. And Apollonius answered, O Damus, you do not seem to me to take very kindly to death, although you have been with me some time and have studied philosophy from your first youth. But I had imagined that you were prepared for it, and had also acquainted yourself with all the strategy and tactical resources that I have at my command. For just as men in battle, no matter how heavily armored they may be, require not merely pluck, but also a knowledge of tactics to interpret to them the right opportunities of battle. So also philosophers must wait for the right opportunities when to die, so that they may not be taken off their guard, nor like suicides rushed into death, but may meet their enemies upon ground of their own good choosing. But then I made my choice well of a moment to die in, and found an occasion worthy of a philosopher supposing anyone wants to kill him, I have both proved to others before whom I defended myself in your presence, and am tired of teaching yourself the same. CHAPTER XXXII So far these matters, then. But when the Emperor had leisure, having got rid of all his urgent affairs, to give an audience to our sage, the attendants, whose office it was, conducted him into the palace, without allowing Damus to follow him. And the Emperor was wearing a wreath of green leaves, for he had just been offering a sacrifice to Athene in the Hall of Adonis, and this hall was bright with baskets of flowers, such as the Syrians at the time of the Festival of Adonis make up in his honour, growing them under their very roofs. Though the Emperor was engaged with his religious rites, he turned round, and was so much struck by Apollonius' appearance that he said, Oh, Aelion, it is a demon that you have introduced to me. But Apollonius, without losing his composure, made free to comment upon the Emperor's words and said, As for myself, I imagined that Athene was your tutelary goddess, O Sovereign, in the same way as she was Diomedes long ago in Troy, for she removed the mist which dulls the eyes of men from those of Diomedes, and endows them with a faculty of distinguishing gods from men. But the goddess has not yet purged your eyes as she did his, my Sovereign, yet it were well, if Athene did so, that you might behold her more clearly and not confuse mere men from the forms of demons. Said the Emperor, And you, O Philosopher, when did you have this mist cleared away from your eyes? Said he, Long ago, and ever since I have been a Philosopher. Said the Emperor, How comes it, then, that you have come to regard as gods persons who are most hostile to myself? Said Apollonius, And what hostility is there between yourself and Iarchus, or Freyotes, both of them Indians, and the only human beings that I regard as gods and meriting such a title? Said the Emperor, Don't try to put me off with Indians, but just tell me about your darling Nerva and his accomplices. Said Apollonius, Am I to plead his cause, or No, you shall not plead it? Said the Emperor, For he has been taken red-handed in guilt, but just prove to me, if you can, that you are not yourself equally guilty as being privy to his designs. Said Apollonius, If you would hear how far I am in his counsel and privy to his designs, please hear me, for why should I conceal the truth? Now the Emperor imagined that he was going to hear Apollonius confess very important secrets, and that whatever transpired would conduce to the destruction of the persons in question. Chapter 33 Apollonius, seeing him on tiptoe with expectation, merely said, For myself I know Nerva to be the most moderate of men, and the gentlest and the most devoted to yourself, as well as a good ruler, though he is so averse to meddling in high matters of state that he shrinks from office. And as for his friends, for I suppose you refer to Rufus and Orphitus, these men also are discreet, so far as I know, and averse from wealth, somewhat sluggish to do all they lawfully may, while as for revolution they are the last people in the world, either to planet or to take part with another who should do so. But the Emperor was inflamed with anger at what he heard, and said, Then you mean to say that I am guilty of slander in their cases, since you assert that they are good men, only sluggish, whom I have ascertained to be the vilest of mankind, and usurpers of my throne. For I imagine that they too, if I put the question to them about you, would in their turn deny that you were a wizard, and a hothead, and a braggart, and a miser, and that you looked down on the laws. And so it is, you accursed rascals, that you all hold together like thieves. But the accusation shall unmask everything, for I know as well as if I had been present and taken part in everything. All the oaths which you took, and the objects for which you took them, and when you did it, and what was your preliminary sacrifice? At all this Apollonius did not even blench, but merely remarked, It is not creditable to you, O sovereign, nor is it congruous with a law, that you should either pretend to try a case affecting persons about whom you have already made up your mind, or should have made it up before ever you have tried them. But if you will have it so, permit me at once to begin and plead my defense. You are prejudiced against me, my sovereign, and you do me a greater wrong than could any false informer, for you take for granted, before you hear them, accusations which he only offers to prove. The Emperor said, Begin your defense at any point you like, but I know very well where to draw the line, and with what it is best to begin. Chapter 34 From that moment he began to insult the sage by cutting off his beard and hair, and confining him among the vilest felons. And as regards his hair being shaved, Apollonius remarked, I had forgotten, O sovereign, that it was treasonable to wear long hair. And as regards his imprisonment in bounds, he remarked, If you think me a wizard, how will you ever fetter me? And if you fetter me, how can you say that I am a wizard? replied the Emperor. Yes, for I will not release you until you have turned into water, or some wild animal, or into a tree. Apollonius said, I will not turn into these things, even if I could, for I will not ever betray men who, in violation of all justice, stand in peril, and what I am, that I will remain. But I am ready to endure all you can inflict upon my vile body, until I have finished pleading the cause of these persons. Asked the Emperor, And who is going to plead your cause? Apollonius replied, Time and the Spirit of the Gods, and the passion for wisdom which animates me. Chapter 35 Such was the prelude of his defense, which he made in private to Domitian, as Damus outlines it. But some have, out of malignity, perverted the facts, and say that he first made his defense and only then was imprisoned, at the same time that he was also shorn. And they have also forged a letter in the Ionic dialect of tedious prolixity, in which they pretend that Apollonius went down on his knees to Domitian, and besought him to release him of his bonds. Now Apollonius, it is true, wrote his testament in the Ionic style of language, but I never met with any letter of his composed in that dialect, although I have come across a great many of them. Nor did I ever find any verbosity in any letter of the sages, for they are late conically brief, as if they had been unwound from the feral of a herald. Moreover, he won his cause, and quit at the court, so how could he ever have been imprisoned after the verdict was given? But I must defer to relate what happened in the law court. I had best narrate first what ensued after he was shaved, and what he said in his discourses, for it is worthy of notice. CHAPTER 36 For after the sage had been confined for two days in prison, someone came to the prison and said that he had purchased the right to visit him, and that he was come to advise him how to save his life. This person then was a native of Syracuse, and was mind and mouthpiece of Domitian, and he had been suborned, like the earlier one, by him. But he had a more plausible mission, for whereas the first one beat about the bush, this one took up his parable straight from what he saw before him, and said, Heavens, who would ever have thought of Apollonius being thrown into chains? Apollonius said, the person who threw him, for surely he would not have done so if he had not thought of it. And who ever thought that his ambrosial locks could be cut off? Said Apollonius, I myself who wore them. And how can you endure it, said the other? As a man well may bear it, who is brought to this pass neither with nor without his will. And how can your leg endure the weight of the fetters? Said Apollonius, I don't know, for my mind is intent upon other matters. Said the other, and yet the mind must attend to what causes pain. Said Apollonius, not necessarily, for if you are a man like myself, your mind will either not feel the pain or will order it to cease. And what is it that occupies your mind? Answered Apollonius, the necessity of not noticing such things. Then the other reverted to the matter of his locks, and led the conversation round to them again, whereupon Apollonius remarked, It is lucky for you, young man, that you were not one of the Achaeans long ago in Troy, for it seems to me that you would have raised a terrible hullabaloo over the locks of Achilles when he cut them off in honor of Patroclus, supposing he really did so, and you would at least have swooned at such a spectacle. For if, as you say, you are full of pity for my locks which were all gray and frowsy, what would you not have felt over those of Achilles which were nicely curled and auburn? The other, of course, had only made his remarks out of malice, in order to see what would make Apollonius wince, and, by heaven, to see whether he would reproach his sovereign on account of his sufferings. But he was so shut up by the answers he got that he said, You have annuered the royal displeasure on several grounds, but in particular on those for which Nerva and his friends are being prosecuted, namely of injuring the government. For certain informations have been conveyed to him about your words in Ionia when you spoke of him in hostile and embittered tones. But they say that he attaches little importance to that matter because his anger is wedded by the graver charges, and this, although the informer from whom he learnt these first charges, is a very distinguished person of great reputation. Said Apollonius, A new sort of Olympic winner is this you tell me of that pretends to win distinction by the weightiness of his slanders. But I quite realize that he is Euphrates, who, I know, does everything against me which he can, and these are far from being the worst injuries which he has done to me. For hearing once on a time that I was about to visit the naked sages of Ethiopia, he set himself to poison their minds against me, and if I had not seen through his malignant designs, I should probably have gone away without even seeing their company. The Syracusan then, much astonished at this remark, said, Then you think it a much lesser thing to be traduced to the emperor than to forfeit your good repute in the eyes of the naked sages owing to the insinuations dropped against you by Euphrates? He said, Yes, by heaven, for I was going there as a learner, whereas I am come here with a mission to teach. And what are you going to teach? said the other, said Apollonius, that I am a good and honorable man, a circumstance this of which the emperor is not yet aware, said the other, but you can get out of your scrape if you only will teach him things which, if you had told him before you came here, you would never have been cast into prison. Now Apollonius understood that the Syracusan was trying to drive him into some such admission as the emperor had tried to get out of him, and that he imagined, out of sheer weariness of his imprisonment, he would tell some falsed to the detriment of his friends, and accordingly he answered, My excellent friend, if I had been cast into prison for telling Domitian the truth, what would happen to me if I refrained from telling it? Or he apparently regards truth as something to be punished without imprisonment, just as I regard falsehood. Chapter 37 The Syracusan accordingly was so much struck with the superiority of his philosophical talent, for after saying this he went away, that he promptly left the prison. But Apollonius, glancing at Domus, said, Do you understand this python? Said he, I understand that he has been suborned to trip you up. But what you mean by python, and what is the sense of such a name I do not know? Apollonius replied, Python of Byzantium was, they say, a retor skillful to persuade men to evil courses. He was sent in the interests of Philip, son of Amytus, on an embassy to the Helens to urge their enslavement. And though he passed by other states, he was careful to go to Athens, just at a time when rhetoric most flourished there. And he told them that they did a great injury to Philip, and made a great mistake in trying to liberate the Hellenic nation. Python delivered these sentiments, as they say, with a flood of words, but no one saved Demosthenes of the Pyenean deem, spoke to the contrary, and checked his presumption. And he reckons it amongst his achievements that he bore the brunt of his attack unaided. Now I would never call it an achievement that I refused to be drawn into the avowals which he wanted. Nevertheless, I said that he was employed on the same job as Python, because he has come here as a despot's hireling to tender me monstrous advice. Chapter 38. Amytus says, then, that though Apollonius uttered many more discourses of the same kind, he was himself in despair of the situation, because he saw no way out of it, except such as the gods have vouchsafed to some in answer to prayer when they were in even worse straits. But a little before midday he tells us that he said, O man of Tyanna! For he took a special pleasure, it appears, in being called by that name. What is to become of us? Why, what has become of us already? said Apollonius, and nothing more, for no one is going to kill us. Dimas said, and who is so invulnerable as that? But will you ever be liberated? said Apollonius. So far as it rests with the verdict of the court I shall be set at liberty this day, but so far as depends upon my own will, now and here. And with these words he took his leg out of the fetters, and remarked to Dimas, Here is proof positive to you of my freedom, so cheer up! Dimas says that it was then for the first time that he really and truly understood the nature of Apollonius, to wit that it was divine and superhuman, for without any sacrifice, and how in prison could he have offered any, and without a single prayer, without even a single word. He quietly laughed at the fetters, and then inserted his leg in them afresh, and behaved like a prisoner once more. And of Volume 2, Book 7, chapters 29-38. Volume 2, Book 7, chapters 39-42 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 Philo Stratus, translated by F. C. Coneybear. Volume 2, Book 7, Chapter 39. Now simple-minded people attribute such acts as this to wizardry, and they make the same mistake in respect of many purely human actions. For athletes resort to this art. As do all who have to undergo a contest in their eagerness to win. And although it contributes nothing to their success, nevertheless these unfortunate people, after winning by mere chance as they generally do, rob themselves of the credit, and attribute it to this art of wizardry. Nor does any amount of failure in their enterprise shake their faith in it. They merely say such things as this. If I had only offered this sacrifice or that, if I had only burnt that perfume in place of another, I should not have failed to win. And they really believe what they say. Magic also besieges the doors of merchants no less, for we shall find them too, attributing their successes in trade to the wizard or magician. No less than they ascribe their losses to their own parsimony, and their failure to sacrifice as often as they should have done. But it is especially lovers who are addicted to this art. For as the disease which they suffer from in any case renders them liable to be deluded, so much so that they go to old hags to talk about it. It is no wonder, I think, that they resort to these imposters and give ear to their quackeries. They will accept from them a box with stones in it which they are to wear, some of the bits of stone having come from the depths of the earth and others from the moon and the stars. And then they are given all the spices which the gardens of India yield, and the cheats exact vast sums of money from them for all this, and yet do nothing to help them at all. For let their favorites only give them the least encouragement, or let the attractions of the lover's presence advance his suit in the very least, and he at once sets out to laud the art as able to achieve everything. While if the experiment does not come off, he is as ready as ever to lay the blame on some omission, for he will say that he forgot to burn this spice or to sacrifice or melt up that, and that everything turned upon that, and it was impossible to do without it. Now, the various devices and artifices by which they work signs from heaven and all sorts of other miracles on a wide scale have been actually recorded by certain authors who laugh outright at the art in question. But for myself I would only denounce such arts in order to prevent young men from resorting to its professors, lest they become accustomed to such things even in fun. This digression has led me far enough from my subject, for why should I attack any further a thing which is equally condemned by nature and by law? Chapter 40 After Apollonius had thus revealed himself to Damus and held some further conversation, about midday someone presented himself to them and made the following intimation verbally. The emberer, Apollonius, releases you from these fetters by the advice of Aeilean, and he permits you to take up your quarters in the prison where criminals are not bound until the time comes for you to make your defense, but you will probably be called upon to plead your case five days from now. Apollonius said, Who then is to get me out of this place? The messenger said, I, so follow me. And when the prisoners in the free prison saw him again, they all flocked around him, as around one restored to them against all expectations. For they entertained the same affectionate longing for Apollonius, as children do for a parent who devotes himself to giving them good advice in an agreeable and modest manner, or who tells them stories of his own youth. Nor did they try to hide their feelings, and Apollonius continued incessantly to give them advice. Chapter 41 And on the next day he called Daemus and said, My defense has to be pleaded by me on the day appointed, so do you betake yourself in the direction of Dekaiarchia, for it is better to go by land. And when you have saluted Demetrius, turn aside to the seashore where the island of Calypso lies, for there you shall see me appear to you. Dekaiarchius asked, Alive or how? Apollonius with a smile replied, As I myself believe, alive, but as you will believe, risen from the dead. Accordingly he says that he went away with much regret, for although he did not quite despair of his master's life, yet he hardly expected him to escape death. And on the third day he arrived at Dekaiarchia, where he at once heard news of the great storm which had raged during those days, for a gale of rain had burst over the sea, sinking some of the ships that were sailing thither, and driving out of their course those which were tending to Sicily and the straits of Massima. And then he understood why it was that Apollonius had bidden him go by land. Chapter 42 The events which followed are related by Damus, he says, from accounts given by Apollonius, both to himself and Demetrius. For he relates that there came to Rome from Massima in Arcadia, a youth remarkable for his beauty, and found there many admirers, and above all Domitian, whose rivals even the former did not scruple to declare themselves, so strong was their attachment. The youth, however, was too high-principled and respected his honour. Now had it been gold that he scorned, or possessions or horses, or such other attractions and lures as sundry persons seek to corrupt young people with, we had no call to praise him, for the seducer can hardly dispense with such preparations. But he was tempted with larger honours than all those put together who ever attracted the glances of sovereigns, yet disdained them all for himself. In consequence he was cast into prison by his own admirers' orders. He came up to Apollonius, and made as if he would speak to him, but, being counseled by his modesty to keep silent, did not venture to. Apollonius noticed this, and said, You are confined here, and yet are not of an age to be a malifactor, like ourselves who are hardened sinners. Said the other, Yes, and I shall be put to death, for by our latter-day laws self-respect is honoured with capital punishment. Apollonius answered, So it was in the time of Theseus, for Hippolytus was murdered by his own sire for the same reason. Said the other, And I too am my own father's victim. For though I am an Arcadian from Messina he did not give me a Hellenic education, but sent me here to study law, and when I had come here for that purpose the Emperor cast an evil eye on me. But Apollonius feigned not to understand what he meant, and said, Tell me, boy, surely the Emperor does not imagine you have blue eyes when you have, as I see, black ones, or that you have a crooked nose, whereas it is square and regular, like that of a well-executed Hermes. Or has he not made some mistake about your hair? For me thinks it is sunny and gleaming, and your mouth too is regular, that whether you are silent or talking it is equally comely, and you carry your head freely and proudly. Surely the Emperor must be mistaking all these traits for others, or you would not tell me he cast an evil eye on you, said the other. This is just what has ruined me, for he has condescended to favor me, and instead of sparing what he praises is prepared to insult me as a woman's lover's might. Apollonius admired the Arcadian too much to ply him with any further questions, as he noticed that he blushed and was most decorious in his language, so he only put to him the question, Have you any slaves in Arcadia? Why yes, many, replied the lad. Apollonius said, What relation to them do you consider yourself as holding? He replied, That which the laws assign to me, for I am their master. And must slaves obey their masters, or disdain the wishes of those who are masters of their persons? The other discerned the drift of his question, and answered, I know indeed how irresistible and harsh is the power of tyrants, for they are inclined to use it to overpower even free men, but I am master of my person, and shall guard it in violet. Apollonius said, How can you do that, for you have to do with an admirer who is prepared to run amok of your youth, sword in hand. I shall simply hold out my neck, which is all his sword requires. Whereupon Apollonius commended him, and said, I perceive you are an Arcadian. Moreover, he mentions this youth in one of his letters, and gives a much more attractive account of him than I have done in the above, and while praising him for his high principles to his correspondent, adds that he was not put to death by the tyrant. On the contrary, after exciting admiration by his firmness, he returned by ship to Malaya, and was held in more honor by the inhabitants of Arcadia than the youths who among the Lachodemonians surpassed their fellows in their endurance of the scourge. End of Volume 2, Book 7, chapters 39-42. Volume 2, Book 8, chapters 1-6 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. Coneybair. Chapter 1 Let us now repair to the Lachort to listen to the sage pleading his cause. For it is already sunrise, and the doors are thrown open to admit the celebrities. And the companions of the emperors say that he had taken no food that day, because, I imagine, he was so absorbed in examining the documents of the case. For they say he was holding in his hands a role of writing of some sort, sometimes reading it with anger, and sometimes more calmly. And we must need figure him as one who was angry with the law for having invented such things as courts of justice. Chapter 2 But Apollonius, as we meet him in this conjucture, seems to regard the trial as a dialectical discussion, rather than as a race to be run for his life. And this we may infer from the way he behaved before he entered the court. For on his way thither he asked the secretary, who was conducting him, where they were going. And when the latter answered that he was leading him to the court, he said, whom am I going to plead against? Said the other, why, against your accuser of course, and the emperor will be judge. Said Apollonius, and who is going to be the judge between myself and the emperor? For I shall prove that he is wronging philosophy. Said the other, and what concern has the emperor for philosophy, even if he does happen to do her wrong? Apollonius said, nay, but philosophy is much concerned about the emperor that he should govern as he should. The secretary commended this sentiment, for indeed he was already favorably disposed to Apollonius, as he proved from the very beginning. And how long will your pleading last by the water clocks reckoning? For I must know this before the trial begins. Apollonius said, if I am allowed to plead as long as the necessities of the suit require me to, the whole of the tiber might run through the meter before I should have done. But if I am only to answer all the questions put to me, then it depends on the cross-examiner how long I shall be making my answers. Remarked the other, you have cultivated contrary talents when you thus engage to talk about one and the same matter both with brevity and with prolexity. Apollonius said, they are not contrary talents, but resemble one another, for an expert in the one would never be far to seek in the other. And moreover, there is a mean composed of the two, which I should not myself allege to be a third, but a first requisite of a pleader. And for my own part I am sure that silence constitutes a fourth excellence much required in a law court. Anyhow, said the other, it will do you no good nor anyone else who stands in great peril. Said Apollonius, and yet it was of great service to Socrates of Athens when he was prosecuted. Said the other, and what good did it do him, seeing that he died just because he would say nothing? Apollonius said, he did not die, though the Athenians thought he did. Chapter 3 This was how he prepared himself to confront the despots maneuvers, and as he waited before the court another secretary came up and said, man of Tyanna, you must enter the court with nothing on you. Apollonius said, are we then to take a bath or to plead? Said the other, the rule does not apply to dress, but the emperor only forbids you to bring in here either amulet or book or any papers of any kind. Apollonius said, and not even a cane for the back of the idiots who gave him such advice as this? Where at, his accuser burst into shouts. He said, oh, my emperor, this wizard threatens to beat me, for it was I who gave you this advice. Apollonius said, then it is you who are a wizard rather than myself, for you say that you have persuaded the emperor of my being, that which so far I have failed to persuade him that I am not. While the accuser was indulging in this abuse, one of the freedmen of Euphrates was at his side, whom the latter was said to have sent from Ionia with news of what Apollonius had there said in his conversations, and also with a sum of money which was presented to the accuser. Chapter 4 Such were the preliminary skirmishes which preceded the trial, but the conduct of the trial itself was as follows. The court was fitted up as if for an audience listening to a panic-guiricle discourse, and all the illustrious men of the city were present at the trial, because the emperor was intent upon proving before as many people as possible that Apollonius was an accomplice of Nerva and his friends. Apollonius, however, ignored the emperor's presence so completely as not even to glance at him, and when his accuser abraded him for want of respect and bade him turn his eyes upon the god of all mankind, Apollonius raised his eyes to the ceiling by way of giving a hint that he was looking up to Zeus, and that he regarded the recipient of such profane flattery as worse than he who administered it, whereupon the accuser began to bellow and spoke somewhat as follows. "'Tis time, my sovereign, to apportion the water, for if you allow him to talk as long as he chooses, he will choke us. Moreover, I have a role here which contains the heads of the charges against him, and to these he must answer, so let him defend himself against them one by one.'" The emperor approved this plan of procedure and ordered Apollonius to make his defense according to the informer's advice. However, he dropped out other accusations as not worth discussion and confined himself to four questions which he thought were embarrassing and difficult to answer. He said, "'What induces you, Apollonius, to dress yourself differently from everybody else and to wear this peculiar and singular garb?' Apollonius said, "'Because the earth which feeds me also clothes me, and I do not like to bother the poor animals.'" The emperor next asked the question, "'Why is it that men call you a God?' Apollonius answered, "'Because every man that is thought to be good is honored by the title of God.'" I have shown in my narrative of India how this tenet passed into our hero's philosophy. The third question related to the plague in Ephesus. He said, "'What motived or suggested your prediction to the Ephesians that they would suffer from a plague?' He said, "'I used, oh my sovereign, a lighter diet than others, and so I was the first to be sensible of the danger, and if you like I will enumerate the causes of pestilences.'" But the emperor, fearful I imagine, lest Apollonius should reckon among the causes of such epidemics his own wrong doing, and his incestuous marriage, and his other misdemeanors replied, "'Oh, I do not want any such answer as that.'" And when he came to the fourth question, which related to Nerva and his friends, instead of hurrying straight on to it, he allowed a certain interval to elapse. And after long reflection, and with the air of one who felt dizzy, he put the question in a way which surprised them all, for they expected him to throw off all disguise and blurt out the names of the persons in question without any reserve, complaining loudly and bitterly of the sacrifice. But instead of putting the question in this way, he beat about the bush and said, "'Tell me, you went out of your house on a certain day, and you traveled into the country and sacrificed the boy. I would like to know for whom.'" And Apollonius, as if he were rebuking a child, replied, "'Good words, I beseech you. But if I did leave my house, I was in the country. And if this was so, then I offered the sacrifice. And if I offered it, then I ate of it. But let these assertions be proved by trustworthy witnesses.'" Such a reply on the part of the sage aroused louder applause than be seemed by the court of an emperor, and the latter deeming the audience to have borne witness in favor of the accused, and also not a little impressed himself by the answers he had received, for they were both firm and sensible, said, "'I acquit you of the charges. But you must remain here until we have had a private interview.'" There at Apollonius was much encouraged, and said, "'I thank you indeed, my sovereign. But I would faint tell you that, by reason of these miscreants, your cities are in ruin, and the islands full of exiles, and the mainland of lamentations, and your armies of cowardice, and the senate of suspicion. Accord me also, if you will, opportunity to speak. But if not, then send someone to take my body, for my soul you cannot take. Nay, you cannot take even my body. For thou shalt not slay me, since I tell thee I am not mortal.'" And with these words he vanished from the court, which was the best thing he could do under the circumstances. For the emperor clearly intended not to question him sincerely about the case, but about all sorts of irrelevant matters. For he took great credit to himself for not having put Apollonius to death. Nor was the latter anxious to be drawn into such discussions. And he thought that he would best effect his end if he left no one in ignorance of his true nature, but allowed it to be known to all to be such that he had it in him never to be taken prisoner against his own will. Moreover, he had no longer any cause for anxiety about his friends. For as the despot had not the courage to ask any questions about them, how could he possibly put them to death with any color of justice upon charges which, in court, he had accorded no credence whatever. Such was the account of the proceedings of the trial which I found. Chapter 6 But inasmuch as he had composed an oration which he would have delivered by the clock in defense of himself, only the tyrant confined him to the questions which I have enumerated, I have determined to publish this oration also. For I am well aware indeed that those who highly esteem the style of buffoons will find fault with it, as being less chaste and severe in its style than they consider it should be, and as too bombastic in language and tone. However, when I consider that Apollonius was a sage, it seems to me that he would have unworthily concealed his true character if he had merely studied symmetry of endings and antithesis, clicking his tongue as if it had been a castanet. For these tricks suit the genius of returicians, though they are not necessary even to them. For forensic art, if it be too obvious, is apt to betray him who resorts to it as anxious to impose upon the judges. Whereas, if it is well concealed, it is likely to carry off a favourable verdict. For true cleverness consists in concealing from the judges the very cleverness of the pleader. But when a wise man is defending his cause, and I need not say that a wise man will not arraign another for faults which he has the will and strength to rebuke, he requires quite another style than that of the hacks of the law court. And though his oration must be well prepared, it must not seem to be so, and it should possess a certain elevation almost amounting to scorn. And he must take care in speaking not to throw himself on the pity of his judges. For how can he appeal to the pity of others who would not condescend to solicit anything? Such an oration will my hero seem to those who shall diligently study both myself and him, for it was composed by him in the following manner. And of volume 2, book 8, chapters 1 through 6. Volume 2, book 8, chapter 7, part 1 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 2, book 8, chapter 7, part 1. 1. My prince, we are at issue with one another concerning matters of grave moment. For you run such a risk as never autocrat did before you, that namely of being thought to be animated by a wholly unjust hatred of philosophy, while I am exposed to a worse peril than was ever Socrates at Athens. For though his accusers taxed him in their indictment with introducing new beliefs about demons, they never went so far as to call him or thank him a demon. Since, however, so grave a peril besets us both, I will not hesitate to tender you the advice of whose excellence I am myself convinced. For since the accuser has plunged us into this struggle, the many have been led to form a false opinion of both myself and of you. They have come to imagine that in this audience you will listen only to the councils of anger, with the result that you will even put me to death, whatever death means, and that I in turn shall try to evade this tribunal in some of the many ways there are, and they were, my prince, Myriad, of escaping from it. Though these rumors have reached my ears, I have not contracted any prejudice against you, nor have I done you the injury of supposing you will hear my cause otherwise than in accordance with the strictest principles of equity. For in conformity with the laws, I submit myself to their pronouncement, and I would advise you also to do the same, for justice demands that you should neither prejudice the case, nor take your seat on the bench with your mind made up to the belief that I have done you any wrong. If you were told that the Armenian, the Babylonian, and other foreign potentates were about to inflict some disaster on you, which must lead to the loss of your empire, you would, I am sure, laugh outright. Although they have hosts of Calvary, all kinds of archers, a gold-bearing soil, and, as I know full well, a teeming population. And yet you distrust a philosopher naked of means of offense, and are ready to believe he is a menace to the autocrat of the Romans. All this on the mere word of an Egyptian sycophant. Never did you hear such tales from Athene, whom you allege to be your guardian spirits, unless indeed, great heavens, their faculty of flattering and falsely accusing others, has so increased the influence of these miscreants, that you would pretend that whereas in insignificant matters, such as sore eyes, and avoidance of fevers and inflammation of the bowels, the gods are your apt advisors, manipulating and healing you after the manner of physicians of any one of these maladies you may be suffering from. They, nevertheless, in matters which imperil your throne and your life, give you no counsel, either as to the persons you should guard against, or as to the weapons you should employ against them. But, instead of coming to your aid, leave you to the tender mercies of false accusers, whom you regard as the Aegis of Athene, or the Hand of Zeus. Just because they assert that they understand your welfare better even than do the gods, and that they ever watch over you in the hours of their waking and sleeping, if indeed, these wretches can sleep after pouring out such wicked lies and compiling ever and anon whole Iliads such as this one, that they should keep horses and roll theatrically into the forum in chariots drawn by snowy teams, that they should gorge themselves off dishes of silver and gold, parade favorites that cost them two or three myriad cisterces, that they should go on committing adultery as long as they are not found out, and then, and not before, marry the victims of their lusts when they are caught red-handed, that their splendid success should be hailed with applause, as often as some philosopher or consul absolutely innocent falls into their toils, and is put to death by yourself. All this I am willing to concede to the license of these accursed wretches and to their brazen indifference to the public eye and to the law. But that they should give themselves the heirs of superhuman beings and presume to know better than the gods, I cannot approve or allow, and the mere rumour of it fills me with horror. And if you will allow such things to be, they will perhaps accuse even yourself of offending against established religion, for we may expect the sycophants to concoct such accusations against yourself so soon as they have exhausted the list of their other victims. I know that my tone is rather that of a censor than that of a defendant. If so, you must pardon me for thus speaking up in behalf of the laws, with the recognition of whose authority by yourself stands and falls that of your own. 2. Who then will be my advocate while I am defending myself? For if I called upon Zeus to help me, under whom I am conscious of having passed my life, they will accuse me of being a wizard and of bringing heaven down to earth. Let us then appeal in this matter to one whom I deny to be dead, although the many assert it. I mean your own father, who held me in the same esteem in which you hold him. For he made you, and was in turn made by me. He, my prince, shall assist me in my defense, because he knows my character much better than yourself. For he came to Egypt before he was raised to the throne, as much to converse with me about the empire as to sacrifice to the gods of Egypt. And when he found me with my long hair and dressed as I am at this moment, he did not ask me a single question about my costume, because he considered that everything about me was well. But he admitted that he had come thither on my account. And after commending me and saying to me things which he would have said to no one else, and having heard from me what he would have heard from no one else, he departed. I most confirmed him in his aspirations for the throne, when others already sought to dissuade him. In no unfriendly spirit, I admit, though you anyhow cannot agree with them, for those who tried to persuade him not to assume the reigns of empire were assuredly on their way to deprive you also of the succession to him which you now hold. But by my advice he did not hold himself unworthy, he said, of the kingdom which lay within his grasp, and of making you the heirs thereto. And he fully acknowledged the entire wisdom of my advice, and he was raised himself to the pinnacle of greatness, as in turn he raised yourselves. Now if he had looked upon me as a wizard, he would never have taken me into his confidence, for he did not come and say such things as this to me. Compel the fates, or compel Zeus to appoint me tyrant, or to work miracles and portents in my behalf, and show me the sun rising in the west and setting at the point where it rises. For I should not have thought him a fit person for empire, if he had either considered me as an adept in such art, or resorted to such tricks in pursuit of a crown which it behooved him to win by his virtues alone. More than this, my conversation with him was held publicly in a temple, and wizards do not affect temples of the gods as their places of reunion. For such places are inimical to those who deal in magic, and they cloak their art under the cover of night and of every sort of darkness, so as to preclude their dupes from the use of their eyes and ears. It is true that he also had a private conversation with me, but there were present at it beside myself, Euphrates and Dionne, one of them my bitter enemy, but the other my firmest friend, for may there never come a time when I shall not reckon Dionne among my friends. Now I ask you, who would begin to talk wizardry in the presence of wise men, or of men anyhow laying claim to wisdom? And who would not be equally on his guard, both among friends and among enemies, of betraying his villainy? And moreover, our conversation on that occasion was directed against wizards. For you surely will not suppose that your own father, when he was aspiring to the throne, set more confidence in wizards than in himself, or that he got me to put pressure upon heaven that he might obtain his object, when, on the contrary, he was confident of winning the crown before ever he came to Egypt. And subsequently he had more important matters to talk over with me, namely the laws and the just acquisition of wealth, and how the gods ought to be worshipped, and what blessings they have in store for those monarchs who govern their people in accordance with the laws. These are the subjects which he desired to learn about, and they are all the direct opposite of wizardry, for if they count for anything at all, there will be an end of the black art. 3. And there is another point, my prince, which merits your attention. The various arts known to mankind, and in spite of the differences of their functions and achievements, are yet all concerned to make money, some earning less, some earning more, and some just enough to live upon. And not only the base mechanic arts, but the rest, those which are esteemed liberal arts as well as those which only border upon being liberal, and true philosophy is the only exception. And by liberal arts, I mean poetry, music, astronomy, the art of the sophist and of the orator, the merely forensic kinds accepted. And by the arts which border upon liberal, I mean those of the painter, modeler, sculptor, navigator, agriculturalist, in case the latter waits upon the seasons, for these arts are not very inferior to the liberal professions. 4. And on the other hand, my prince, there are the pseudo-liberal arts of jugglers, which I would not have you confuse with divination, for this is highly esteemed, if it be genuine, and tell the truth, though whether it is an art I am not yet sure. But I anyhow affirm wizards to be professors of a pseudo-liberal art, for they get men to believe that the unreal is real, and to distrust the real as unreal, and I attribute all such effects to the imaginative fancy of the dupes. For the cleverness of this art is relative to the folly of the persons who are deceived by them, and who offer the sacrifices they prescribe. And its professors are given up wholly to filthy lucre, for all their parade of skill is devised by them in hope of gain, and they are always on the lookout for big fortunes, and they try to persuade people who are passionately attached to something or another that they are capable of getting everything for them. Do you then find me so opulent as to warrant me in supposing that I cultivate this sort of false and illiberal wisdom, the more so as your own father considered me to be above all pissuniary considerations? And to show you that I speak the truth, here is a letter to me from that noble and divine man, who in it praises me more especially for my poverty. It runs thus. The autocrat the spasian, to Apollonius the philosopher, sends greeting. If all men, Apollonius, were disposed to be philosophers in the same spirit as yourself, then the lot no less of philosophy than of poverty would be an extremely happy one, for your philosophy is pure and disinterested, and your poverty is voluntary. Farewell. Let this be your sire's pleading in my behalf, when he thus lay stress upon the disinterestedness of my philosophy, and the voluntariness of my poverty. For I have no doubt he had in mind the episode in Egypt, when Euphrates and several of those who pretended to be philosophers approached him, and in no obscure language begged for money. Whereas I myself not only did not solicit him for money, but repudiated them as imposters for doing so. And I also showed an aversion from money from my first youth, for realizing that my patrimony, and it was a considerable property, was at best a transitory toy, I gave it up to my brothers and to my friends to be the poorer of my relatives, so disciplining myself from the very home and hearth to want nothing. I will not dwell upon Babylon and the parts of India beyond the Caucasus and the river Hyphasis, through which I journeyed ever true to myself. But in favor of my life here, and no less of the fact that I have never coveted money, I will invoke the testimony of this Egyptian here. For he accuses me of every sort of evil deed and design, yet we hear nothing from him of how much money I made by these villainies, nor of how much gain I had in view. Indeed, he thinks me such a simpleton as to practice my wizardry for nothing, and whereas others only commit its crimes for much money, he thinks that I commit them for none at all. It is as if I cried my wares to the public in such terms as the following. Come, O ye dupes, for I am a wizard, and I practice my art not for money, but free, gratis, and for nothing, and so you shall earn a great reward, for each of you will go off with his heart's desire, while I shall get away with nothing but dangers and rits of accusation. Four. But without descending to such silly arguments, I would like to ask the accuser which of his counts I ought to take first. And yet, why need I ask him? For at the beginning of his speech he dwelt upon my dress, and by Zeus, upon what I eat and what I do not eat. O divine Pythagoras, do not defend me upon these counts, for we are put upon our trial for a rule of life of which thou wast the discoverer, and of which I am the humble partisan. For the earth, my prince, grows everything for mankind, and those who are pleased to live at peace with a brute creation want nothing. For some fruits they can coal from earth, others they win from her furrows, for she is the nurse of men and suits the seasons. But these men, as it were, deaf to the cries of mother earth, wet their knife against her children in order to get themselves dress and food. Here, then, is something which the Brahmans of India themselves condemned, and which they taught the naked sages of Egypt also to condemn. And from them Pythagoras took his rule of life, and he was the first of Hellenists who had intercourse with the Egyptians. And it was his rule to give up and leave her animals to the earth. But all things which she grows, he declared, were pure and undefiled, and ate of them accordingly, because they were best adapted to nourish both body and soul. But the garments which most men wear made of hides of dead animals, he declared to be impure, and accordingly clad himself in linen, and on the same principles had his shoes woven of Biblus. And what were the advantages which he derived from such purity? Many, and before all the privilege of recognizing his own soul. For he had existed in the age when Troy was fighting about Hellen, and he had been the fairest of the sons of Pantus, and the best equipped of them all. Yet he died at so young an age as to excite the lamentations even of Homer. Well, after that he passed into several bodies, according to the decree of Adrastea. He transfers the soul from body to body, and then he again resumed the form of man, and was born to Menesarchides of Samos, this time a sage instead of a barbarian, and an Ionian instead of a Trojan, and so immune from death that he did not even forget that he was euphorbous. I have then told you who was the begetter of my own wisdom, and I have shown that it is no discovery of my own, but an inheritance come to me from another. And as for myself, though I do not condemn or judge those who make it part of their luxury to consume the red plumage to bird, or the fowls from Phasus, or the land of the Pionys, which are fattened up for their banquets by those who can deny nothing to their bellies, and though I have never yet brought an accusation against anyone because they buy fish for their tables at greater prices than grand-signors ever gave for their Corinthian chargers, and though I have never grudged anyone his purple garment nor his soft raiment and pamphilion tissues, yet I am accused and put upon my trial, O ye gods, because I indulge in asphodel and desert of dried fruits and pure delicacies of that kind. Five. Nor even is my mode of dress protected from their colonies, for the accuser is ready to steal even that off my back, because it has such vast value for wizards. And yet, apart from my contention about the use of living animals and lifeless things, according as he uses one or the other of which I regard a man as impure or pure, in what way is linen better than wool? Was not the ladder taken from the back of the gentlest of animals, of a creature beloved of the gods, who do not disdain themselves to be shepherds, and, by Zeus, once held the fleece to be worthy of a golden form, if it was really a god that did so, and if it be not a mere story? On the other hand, linen is grown and sown anywhere, and there is no talk of gold in connection with it. Nevertheless, because it is not plucked from the back of a living animal, the Indians regard it as pure, and so do the Egyptians, and I myself and Pythagoras on this account have adopted it as our garb when we are discoursing or praying or offering sacrifice. And it is a pure substance under which to sleep of a night, for those who live as I do, dreams bring the truest of their revelations. 6. Let us next defend ourselves from the attack occasioned by the hair which we formerly wore. For one of the courts of the accusation turns upon the squalor thereof. But surely the Egyptian is not entitled to judge me for this, but rather the dandies, with their yellow and well-combed locks, who seek by means of them to inflame the hearts of their lovers and the mistresses of their revels. Let them congratulate and compliment themselves upon their locks and on the myrrh which drips from them. But think me everything that is unattractive, and if a lover of anything, of abstention from love, for I am inclined to address them thus. Oh ye poor wretches, do not falsely accuse an institution of the Dorians, for the wearing of your hair long has come down from the Lachodimonians who affected it in the period when they reached the height of their military fame. And a king of Sparta, Leonidas, wore his hair long in token of his bravery, and in order to appear dignified to his friends, yet terrible to his enemies. For these reasons Sparta wears her hair long no less in his honour than in that of Lycurgus and of Iphetus. And let every sage be careful that the iron knife does not touch his hair, for it is impious to apply it there too. Inasmuch as in his head are all the springs of his senses and all his institutions, and it is the source from which his prayers issue forth, and also his speech, the interpreter of his wisdom. And whereas Impedocles fastened a fillet of deep purple around his hair, and walked proudly about the streets of the Hellenists, composing hymns to prove that he had passed from humanity and was become a god, I only wear my hair disheveled, and I have never needed to sing such hymns about it, yet am hailed before the law courts as a criminal. And what shall I say of Impedocles? Which had he most reason to praise, the man himself or his contemporaries, for their happiness, seeing that they never levelled false accusation against him for such a reason? Seven. But let us say no more about my hair, for it has been cut off, and the accusation has been forestalled by the same hatred which inspires the next count, a much more serious one from which I must now defend myself. For it is one calculated to fill not only you, my prince, but Zeus himself with apprehension, for he declares that men regard me as a god, and that those who have been thunderstruck and rendered stark mad by myself proclaim this tenet in public. And yet, before accusing me, there are things which they should have informed us of, to it, by what discourses, or by what miracles of word or deed, I induced men to pray to me, for I never talked among Hellens of the goal and origin of my soul's past and future transformations, although I knew full well what they were. Nor did I ever disseminate such opinions about myself, nor go about in search of presages and oracular strains, as is the instinct of candidates for divine honors. Nor do I know of a single city in which a decree was passed that the citizens should assemble and sacrifice in honor of Apollonius. And yet, I have been much esteemed in the several cities which asked for my aid, whatever the objects were for which they asked it, and they were such as these, that their sick might be healed of their diseases, that both their initiations and their sacrifices might be rendered more holy, that insolence and pride might be extirpated and the laws strengthened. And whereas the only reward which I obtained in all this was that men were made much better than they were before, they were all so many booms bestowed upon yourself by me. For as cowherds, if they get the cows into good order, earn the gratitude of their owners, and as shepherds fatten the sheep for the owner's profit, and as beekeepers remove diseases from the hive so that the owner may not lose his swarm, so also I myself, I think, by correcting the defects of their politics improved the cities for your benefit. Consequently, if they did regard me as a god, the deception brought profit to yourself, for I am sure they were the more ready to listen to me because they feared to do that which a god disapproved of. But in fact, they entertained no such illusion, though they were aware that there is between man and god a certain kinship which enables him alone of the animal creation to recognize the gods and to speculate both about his own nature and the manner in which it participates in the divine substance. Accordingly, man declares that his very form resembles god, as it is interpreted by sculptors and painters, and he is persuaded that his virtues come to him from god, and that those who are endowed with such virtues are near to god and divine. But we need not hail the Athenians as the teachers of this opinion, because they were the first to apply to men the titles of just and Olympic beings and the like, though they are too divine, in all probability, to be applicable to man, but we must mention the Apollo and the Pythian Temple as their author. For when Lycurgus from Sparta came to his temple, having just penned his code for the regulation of the affairs of Lachodimone, Apollo addressed him and weighed and examined the reputation he enjoyed, and at the commencement of his oracle, the god declares that he is puzzled whether to call him a god or a man. But as he advances, he decides in favor of the former Appalachian and assigns it to him as being a good man, and yet the Lachodimonians never forced a lawsuit on this account upon Lycurgus, nor threatened him on the ground that he claimed to be immortal, for he never rebuked the Pythian god for so addressing him, but on the contrary, the citizens agreed with the oracle, for, I believe, they were already persuaded of the fact before ever it was delivered. And the truth about the Indians and the Egyptians is the following. The Egyptians falsely accuse the Indians of several things, and in particular find fault with their ideas of conduct. But though they do so, they yet approve of the conduct which they have given of the creator of the universe, and even have taught it though originally it belonged to the Indians. Now this account recognizes God as the creator of all things, who brought them into being and sustains them, and it declares further that his motive in designing was his goodness. Since then these notions are kindred to one another, I carry the argument further and declare that good men have in their composition something of God. And by the universe which depends upon God the creator, we must understand things in heaven and all things in the sea and on the earth, which are equally open to all men to partake of though their fortunes are not equal. But there is also a universe dependent on the good man which does not transcend the limits of wisdom, which I imagine you yourself, my prince, will allow stands in need of a man fashioned in the image of God. And what is the fashion of this universe? There are undisciplined souls which in their madness clutch at every fashion, and they have laws which are out of date and vain, and there is no good sense among them, but the honors which they pay to the gods really dishonor them, and they are in love with idle chatter and luxury which breed idleness and sloth, the worst of all practical advisors. And there are other souls which are drunken and rush in all directions at once, though their antics lead to nothing nor could do so, even if they drank all the drugs accounted, as the Mandragoras is to be soporific. Now if you need a man to administer and care for the universe of such souls, a God sent down by wisdom, for he is able to wean them from the lusts and passions which they rush to satisfy with instincts too fierce for ordinary society, and from their avarice which is such that they deny they have anything at all unless they can hold their mouths open and have the stream of wealth flow into it. For perhaps such a man as I speak of could even restrain them from committing murder, however neither I myself nor even the God who created all things can wash off them the guilt of that. Eight. Let me now, my prince, take the accusation which concerns Ephesus, since the salvation of that city was gained, and let the Egyptian be my judge according as its best suits his accusation. For this is the sort of thing the accusation is. Let us suppose that among the Scythians or Celts, who live among the rivers Ister and Rhine, a city has been founded every which has important as Ephesus in Ionia. Here you have a sallyport of barbarians who refuse to be subject to yourself. Let us then suppose that it was about to be destroyed by a pestilence, and that Apollonius found a remedy and a verdict. I imagine that a wise man would be able to defend himself even against such a charge as that, unless indeed the sovereign desires to get rid of his adversaries not by use of arms, but by plague. For I pray, my prince, that no city may ever be wholly wiped out, either to please yourself or to please me, nor may I ever behold in temples a disease to which those who lie sick should succumb in them. But granted, that we are not interested in the affairs of barbarians, and need not restore them to health, since they are our bitter enemies and not at peace with our race. Yet who would desire to deprive Ephesus of her salvation? A city which took its beginnings from that purest of beings Attis, and which grew in size beyond all other cities of Ionia and Lydia, and stretched herself out to the sea, on the promontory over which she is built, and filled with studious people, both philosophers and returitions, thanks to whom the city owes her strength, not to her calvary, but to the tens of thousands of her inhabitants in whom she encourages wisdom. And do you think that there is any wise man who would decline to do his best in behalf of such a city, when he reflects that Democritus once liberated the people of Abderra from pestilence, and when he bears in mind the story of Sophocles of Athens, who is said to have charmed the winds when they were blowing unseasonably, and who has heard how Empedocles stayed a cloud in its course when it would have burst over the heads of the people of Aragas. End of Volume 2, Book 8, Chapter 7, Part 1. Volume 2, Book 8, Chapter 7, Part 2, 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 2, Book 8, Chapter 7, Part 2. 9. The accuser here interrupts me. You hear him yourself do so, my prince, and he remarks that I am not accused for having brought about the salvation of the Ephesians, but for having foretold that the plague would fall upon them. For this, he says, transcends the power of wisdom and is miraculous, so that I could never have reached such a pitch of truth if I were not a wizard and an unspeakable wretch. What, then, will Socrates say here, of the lore which he declared he learned from his demonic genius? Or what would Thales or Anaxagoras, both Ionians, say, of whom one foretold a plentious crop of olives, and the other not a few meteorological disturbances? That they foretold these things by dint of being wizards? Why is it not a fact that they were brought before the law courts upon other charges, but that no one ever heard among their accusations that of their being wizards, because they had the gift of foreknowledge? For that would have been thought ridiculous, and it would not have been a plausible charge to bring against men of wisdom even in Thessaly, where the women had a bad reputation for drawing the moon down to earth. How, then, did I get my sense of the coming disaster at Ephesus? You have listened to the statement made even by my accuser, that instead of living like other people, I keep to a light diet of my own, and prefer it to the luxury of others, and I began by saying so myself. This diet, my king, guards my senses in a kind of indescribable ether or clear air, and forbids them to contract any foul or turbid matter, and allows me to discern, as in the sheen of a looking glass, everything that is happening or is to be. For the sage will not wait for the earth to send up its exaltations, or for the atmosphere to be corrupted, in case the evil is shed from above. But he will notice these things when they are impending, not so soon indeed as the gods, yet sooner than the many. For the gods perceive what lies in the future, and men what is going on before them, and wise men what is approaching. But I would have told you, my prince, ask of me in private about the causes of pestilence, for they are secrets of a wisdom which should not be divulged to the many. Was it then my mode of living, which alone develops such a subtlety and keenness of perception as can apprehend the most important and wonderful phenomena? You can ascertain the point in question, not only from other considerations, but in particular, from what took place in Ephesus, in connection with that plague. For the genius of the pestilence, and it took the form of a poor old man, I both detected, and having detected, took it captive, and I did not so much stay the disease as pluck it out, and who the God was to whom I had offered my prayers, is shown in the statue which I set up in Ephesus to commemorate the event, and it is a temple of the Hercules who averts disease, for I chose him to help me, because he is the wise and courageous God who once purged of the plague the city of Elys, by washing away with the river tide the foul exhalations which the land sent up under the tyranny of Algis. Who then, do you think, my prince, being ambitious to be considered a wizard, would dedicate his personal achievement to a God? And whom would he get to admire his art if he gave the credit of the miracle to God? And who would offer his prayers to Hercules if he were a wizard? For in fact, these wretches attribute such feats to the trenches they dig, and to the gods of the Under-Earth, among whom we must not class Heracles, for he is a pure deity and kindly to men. I offered my prayer to him once on a time also in the Peloponnes, for there was an apparition of Alamia there too, and it infested the neighborhood of Corinth, and devoured good-looking young men. And Hercules lent me his aid in my contest with her, without asking of me any wonderful gifts, nothing more than honey-cake and frankincense, and the chance to do a salutary turn to mankind. For in the case of Eurystheus also, this was the only gerdun which he was thought of for his labors. I would ask you, my prince, not to be displeased at my mention of Hercules, for Athene had him under her care because he was good and kind and a savior of man. Ten. But inasmuch as you bid me vindicate myself in the matter of the sacrifice, for I observe you beckoning with your hand for me to do so, hear my defense. It shall set the truth before you. In all my actions I have at heart the salvation of mankind, yet I have never offered a sacrifice in their behalf, nor will I ever sacrifice anything, nor touch sacraments in which there is blood, nor offer any prayer with my eyes fixed upon a knife, or a sacrifice as he understands it. It is no Scythian, my prince, that you have got before you, nor a native of some savage and inhospitable land, nor did I ever mingle with Mesagetai or Tarians, for in that case I should have reformed even them and altered their sacrificial custom. But to what a depth of folly and inconsequence should I have descended if, after talking so much about divination and about the conditions under which it flourishes or does not flourish, I, who understand better than anyone that the gods reveal their intentions to holy and wise men, even without their possessing prophetic gifts, made myself guilty of bloodshed by meddling with the entrails of victims, as unacceptable to myself as they are ill-omanned. In that case the revelation of heaven would surely have abandoned me as impure. However, if we drop the fact that I have a horror of any such sacrifice, and just examine the accuser in respect to the statements which he made a little earlier, he himself acquits me of this charge. For if, as he says, I could foretell to the Ephesians the impending pestilence without use of any sacrifice whatever, what need had I of slaying victims in order to discover what lay within my cognizance without offering any sacrifice at all, and what need had I of divination in order to find out things of which I myself was already assured as well as another. For if I am to be put upon my trial on account of Nerva and his companions, I shall repeat what I said to you the day before yesterday when you accused me about these matters. For I regard Nerva as a man worthy of the highest office and of all the consideration that belongs to a good name and fame, but as one ill-calculated to carry through any difficult plan. For his frame is undermined by a disease which fills his soul with bitterness and incapacitates him even for his home affairs. As to yourself, certainly he admires your vigor of body no less than he admires your judgment. And in doing so, I think he is not singular, because men are by nature more prone to admire what they themselves lack the strength to do. But Nerva is also animated towards myself by feelings of respect, and I never saw him in my presence laughing or joking as he is accustomed to do among his friends. But like young men towards their fathers and teachers, he observes a reverence in everything that he says in my presence. Nay, he even blushes. And because he knows that I appreciate and set so high a value upon modesty, he therefore so sedulously cultivates that quality, as sometimes to appear even to me humbler than besiems him. Who then can regard it as probable that Nerva is ambitious of empire when he is only too glad if he can govern his own household? Or that a man who has not the nerve to discuss with me minor issues would discuss with me the greatest of all, or would concert with me plans which, if he thought like myself, he would not even concert with others. How again could I retain my reputation for wisdom and interpreting a man's judgment if I believed over much in divination, yet wholly distrusted wisdom? As for Orphitus and Rufus, who are just and sensible men, though somewhat sluggish, as I well know to be the case, if they say that they are under suspicion of aspiring to become despots, I hardly know over which they make the greater mistake, over them or over Nerva. If, however, they are accused of being his accomplices, then I ask which you would most readily believe, that Nerva was usurping the throne, or that they had conspired with him. 11. I must confess that there are also other points which the accuser who brings me to the bar on these accounts should have entertained and considered. What sense was there in my aiding these revolutionists? For he does not say that I received any money from them, nor that I was tempted by presence to commit these crimes. But let us consider the point whether I might not have advanced great claims, but have deferred their recognition of them until the time came at which they expected to win the throne, when I might have demanded much and have obtained still more as my due. But how can you prove all this? Call to mind, my prince, your own reign, and the reigns of your predecessors, I mean of your own brother, and of your father, and of Nero under whom they held office. For it was under these princes chiefly that I passed my life before the eyes of all, the rest of my time being spent on my visit to India. Well, of these thirty-eight years, for such is the period which has elapsed since then up to your own day, I have never come near the courts of princes except that once in Egypt, and then it was your father's, though he was not at that time actually emperor, and he admitted that he came there on my account. Nor have I ever uttered anything base or humiliating either to emperors or in behalf of emperors to peoples. Nor have I sought distinction through letters which princes might either write to myself or I myself ostentatiously address to them. Nor have I ever demeaned myself by flattery of princes in order to win their largesse. If then, after due consideration of rich and poor, you should ask me in which class I register myself, I should say among the very rich, for the fact that I want nothing is worth to me all the wealth of Lydia and of Pactulus. It is likely then that I, who never would take presence from yourself, whose throne I regarded as perfectly secure, should either have gone cashing to mere pretenders and have deferred the receipt of my recompense from them until such a time as I thought would find them emperors, or that I should plan a change of dynasty, who never once, for purposes of my advancement, resorted to that which was already established. And yet, if you want to know how much a philosopher may obtain by flattery of the mighty, you have only got to look at the case of Euphrates. For why do I speak of his having got mere money out of them? Why, he has perfect fountains of wealth, and already at the banks he discusses prices as a merchant might or a huckster or tax gatherer, a low money changer. For all these roles are his if there is anything to buy or sell, and he clings like a limpet to the doors of the mighty, and you see him standing at them more regularly than any doorkeeper. Indeed, he often outstays the doorkeepers, just as greedy dogs would do. But he never yet bestowed a farthing upon any philosopher, but he walls up all his wealth within his own house, only supporting this Egyptian out of the money of others, and wetting against me a tongue which ought to have been cut out. 12. However, I will leave Euphrates to yourself, for unless you approve of flatterers, you will find the fellow worse than I depict him, and I only ask you to listen to the rest of my apology. What then is it to be, and from what accounts is it to defend me? In the act of accusation, my prince, a regular dirge is chanted over an Arcadian boy, whom I am accused of having cut up by night, perhaps in a dream, for I am sure I do not know. This child is said to be of respectable parentage, and to have possessed all the good looks which Arcadians wear even in the midst of squalor. They pretend that I massacred him in spite of his entreaties and lamentations, and that after thus imbruing my hands in the blood of this child, I prayed the gods to reveal the truth to me. So far, they only attack myself in their charges, but what follows is a direct assault upon the gods. For they assert that the gods heard my prayers under such circumstances, and vouchsafed to me victims of good omen, instead of slaying me for my impiety. Need I say, oh my prince, it is defiling even to listen to such stuff. But to confine my pleadings to the counts which affect myself, I would ask, who is this Arcadian? For since he was not of nameless parentage, and by no means slave-like in appearance, it is time for you to ask what was the name of those who begot him, and of what family he was, and what city in Arcadia had the honor of rearing him, and from what altars he was dragged away in order to be sacrificed here. My accuser does not supply this information in spite of his ingenuity in the art of lying. Let us then suppose it was only a slave in whose behalf he accuses me. For, by heaven, we surely must class among slaves, one who had neither name of his own, nor parentage, nor city, nor inheritance. For slaves have no proper names of their own. In that case, who was the slave merchant who sold him? Who was it that bought him from Arcadians? For if this breed is specially suitable for the butchering kind of diviners, he must surely have purchased the boy for such money. And some messenger must have sailed straight to the Peloponnes in order to fetch this Arcadian and conduct him to us. For the one can buy here on the spot slaves from Pontus or Lydia or Phrygia, for indeed you can meet whole droves of them being conducted hither, since these, like other barbarous races, have always been subject to foreign masters, and as yet see nothing disgraceful in servitude. Anyhow, with the Phrygians, it is a fashion even to sell their children, and once they are enslaved, they never think any more about them. Yet, the Helens retained their love of liberty, and no man of Helus will ever sell a slave out of his country, for which reason kidnappers and slave dealers never resort thither, least of all to Arcadia. For, in addition to the fact that they are beyond all other Helens jealous of liberty, they also require a great number of slaves themselves. For Arcadia contains a vast expanse of grassland and of timber, which covers not only the highlands, but also the plains as well. Consequently, they require a great many laborers, many goat herds and swine herds, and shepherds and drivers, either for the oxen or for the horses, and there is much need in the land of woodcutters, a craft to which they are trained from boyhood. And even if the land of Arcadia were not such as I have described, so that they could in addition afford, like other nations, to sell their own slaves abroad, what advantage could the wisdom, the accuser babbles of, derive by getting a child from Arcadia to murder and cut up? For the Arcadians are not so much wiser than other Helens, that their entrails should convey more information than those of other people. On the contrary, they are the most boorish of men, and resemble hogs in other ways, and especially in this, that they can stomach acorns. It is possible that I have conducted my defense on more rhetorical lines than is my custom, in thus characterizing the habits of the Arcadians and digressing into the Peloponnes. What, however, is my right line of defense? This, I think, I never sacrificed blood. I do not sacrifice it now. I never touch it, not even if it be shed upon an altar. For this was the rule of Pythagoras, and likewise of his disciples. And in Egypt also of the Naked Sages, and of the Sages of India, from whom these principles of wisdom were derived by Pythagoras and his school. In adhering to this way of sacrifice, they do not seem to the gods to be criminal. For the latter suffer them to grow old, sound in body, and free from disease, and to increase in wisdom daily, to be free from tyranny of others, to be wanting in nothing. Nor do I think it is unlikely that the gods have need of good men in order to offer them pure sacrifices. For I believe that the gods have the same mind as myself in the matter of sacrifice, and that they therefore place those parts of the earth which grow frankincense in the purest region of the world in order that we may use their resources for purposes of sacrifice without drawing the knife in their temples or shedding blood upon altars. And yet it appears I so far forgot myself and the gods as to sacrifice with rights which are not only unusual with myself, but which no human being would employ. 12. Let me add that the very hour which my accuser alleges acquits me of this charge. For on that day, the day on which he says I committed this crime, I allow that, if I was in the country, I offered sacrifice, and that if I sacrificed, then I ate of the victim. And yet, my prince, you repeatedly ask me if I was not staying at Rome at that time. And you too, O best of princes, were staying there, and yet you would not on that account admit you offered such a sacrifice, and my false accuser was there likewise, but he will not own on that account that he committed murder just because he was living in Rome. And the same is the case of thousands of people whom you would do better to expel as strangers than exposed to acts of accusation, if in these the mere fact of their having been in Rome is to be held to be a proof of their guilt. On the other hand, the fact of my coming to Rome is in itself a disproof of the charge of revolutionary plotting. For to live in a city where there are so many eyes to see and so many ears to hear things which are and which are not, is a serious handicap for anyone who desires to play at revolution, unless he be wholly intent upon his own death. On the contrary, it prompts prudent and sensible people to walk slowly even when engaged in wholly permissible pursuits. 14. What then, O psycho-fant, was I really doing on that night? Suppose I were yourself and was being asked this question in as much as you are come to ask questions. Why then the answer would be this. I was trumping up actions and accusations against decent and respectable people, and I was trying to ruin the innocent, and to persuade the emperor by dint of hard lying, in order that while I myself climbed to fame, I might soil him with the blood of my victims. If again you ask me as a philosopher, I was praising the laughter with which Demetrius laughed at all human affairs. But if you ask me as being myself, here is my answer. Feliscus of Melos, who was my fellow pupil in philosophy for four years, was ill at the time, and I was sleeping out at his house, because he was suffering so terribly when he died of his disease. Ah, many are the charms I would have prayed to obtain if they could have saved his life. Fain would I have known of any melodies of Orpheus, if any there are, to bring back the dead to us. Nay, I verily think I would have made a pilgrimage even to the netherworld for his sake, if such things were feasible, so deeply attached was I to him by all his conduct, so worthy of a philosopher, and so much in accord with my own ideals. Here are facts, my prince, which you may learn also from Telysynas, the consul, for he too was at the bedside of the man of Melos, and nursed him by night like myself. But if you do not believe Telysynas, because he is of the number of philosophers, I call upon the physicians to bear me witness, and they were the following, Celiukus of Cisicus, and Stratocles of Sidon. Ask them whether I tell the truth. And what is more, they had with them over 30 of their disciples, who are ready, I believe, to witness to the same fact. For if I were to summon hither, the relatives of Feliscus, you might probably think that I was trying to interpose delays in the case, for they have lately sailed from Rome to the Melian country in order to pay their last sad respects to the dead. Come forward, O ye witnesses, for you have been expressly summoned to give your testimony upon this point. The witnesses give their evidence. With how little regard then for the truth this accusation has been drawn up, is clearly proved by the testimony of these gentlemen. For it appears that it was not in the suburbs, but in the city, not outside the wall, but inside a house, not with Nerva, but with Feliscus. Not slaying another, but praying for a man's life. Not thinking of matters of state, but of philosophy. Not choosing a revolutionist to supplant yourself, but trying to save a man like myself. 15. What then is the Arcadian doing in this case? What becomes of the absurd stories of victim slaying? What is the use of urging you to believe such lies? For what never took place will be real if you decide that it did take place. And how, my prince, are you to rate the improbability of the sacrifice? For, of course, there have been long ago soothsayers skilled in the art of examining slain victims. For example, I can name Megistias of Achaarnania, Erastandrus of Lycia, and Solanus, who is a native of Ambracia. And of these the Achaarnanian was sacrificer to Leonidus, the king of Sparta, and the Lycian to Alexander of Macedonia, and Solanus to Cyrus the Pretender. And supposing there had been found stored in the entrails of a human being some information truer or more profound or sureer than usual, such a sacrifice was not difficult to effect, in as much as there were kings to preside over it, who had plenty of cup-bearers at their disposal, besides plenty of prisoners of war as victims. And, moreover, these monarchs could violate the law with impunity, and they had no fear of being accused in case they committed so small a murder. But I believe these persons had the same conviction which I also entertain, who am now in risk of my life of such accusation, namely that the entrails of animals which we slay while they are ignorant of death are for that reason, and just because the animals lack all understanding of what they are about to suffer, free from disturbance. A human being, however, has constantly in his soul the apprehension of death, even when it does not as yet impend. How, therefore, is it likely that when death is already present and stares him in the face, he should be able to give any intimation of the future through his entrails, or to be a proper subject for sacrifice at all? In proof that my conjecture is right and consonant with nature, I would ask you, my prince, to consider the following points. The liver, in which adepts at this art declare the tripod of their divination to reside, is on the one hand not composed of pure blood, for all unmixed blood is retained by the heart, which through the blood vessels sends it flowing as if through canals over the entire body. The bile, on the other hand, lies over the liver, and whereas it is excited by anger, it is, on the other hand, driven back by fear into the cavities of the liver. Accordingly, if, on the one hand, it is caused to effervesce by irritants, and ceases to be able to contain itself in its own receptacle, it overflows the liver which underlies it, in which case the mass of bile occupies the smooth and prophetic parts of the bowels. On the other hand, under the influence of fear and panic it subsides, and draws together into itself all the light which resides in the smooth parts, for in such cases even that pure element in the blood recedes to which the liver owes its spleen-like look and distention, because the blood in question, by its nature, drains away under the membrane which encloses the entrails and floats upon the muddy surface. Of what use then, my prince, is it to slay a human victim if the sacrifice is going to furnish no pre-sage? And human nature does render such rights useless for purposes of divination, because it has a sense of impending death, and dying men themselves meet their end, if with courage, then also with anger, and if with despondency, then also with fear. And for this reason the art of divination, except in the case of the most ignorant savages, while recommending the slaying of kids and lambs, because these animals are silly and not far removed from being insensible, does not consider cocks and pigs and bulls worthy vehicles of its mysteries, because these creatures have too much spirit. I realize, my prince, that my accuser chafes at my discourse, because I find so intelligent a listener in yourself, for indeed you seem to me to give your attention to my discourse. And if I have not clearly enough explained any point in it, I will allow you to ask me any questions about it. 16. I have then answered this Egyptians act of accusation, but since I do not think I ought all together to pass by the slanders of Euphrates, I would ask you, my prince, to judge between us, and decide which of us is more of a philosopher. Well then, whereas he strains every nerve to tell lies about myself, I disdain to do the like about him, and whereas he looks upon you as a despot, I regard you as a constitutional ruler, and while he puts the sword into your hand for use against me, I merely supply you with argument. But he makes the basis of his accusation the discourses which I delivered in Ionia, and he says that they contain matter much to your disadvantage. And yet what I said concerns the topic of the fates and of necessity, and I only used as an example of my arguments the affairs of kings, because your rank is thought to be the highest of human ranks, and I dwelt upon the influence of the fates, and argued that the threads which they spin are so unchangeable, that, even if they decreed to someone, a kingdom which at the moment belonged to another, and even if it, that other slew the man of destiny, to save himself from ever being deprived by him of his throne, nevertheless the dead man would come to life again in order to fulfill the decree of the fates. For we employ hyperbole in our arguments in order to convince those who will not believe in what is probable, and it is just as if I had used such an example as this. He who is destined to become a carpenter will become one even if his hands have been cut off, and he who has been destined to carry off the prize for running in the Olympic Games will not fail to win, even if he broke his leg, and a man to whom the fates have decreed that he shall be an eminent archer will not miss the mark, even though he has lost his eyesight. And in drawing examples from royalty, I had reference, I believe, to the Akrissai, and the House of Lyos, and to Asciagis the Mede, and to many other monarchs who thought that they were well established in their kingdoms, and of whom some slew their own children as they imagined and others their descendants, and yet were subsequently deprived by them of their thrones when they issued forth from obscurity in accordance with the decrees of fate. Well, if I were inclined to flattery, I should have said that I had your own history in mind when you were blockaded in the city by Vitelius, and the Temple of Jupiter was burnt on the brow of the hill overlooking the city, and Vitelius declared that his own fortune was assured so long as you did not escape him. This, although you were at the time quite a stripling, and not the man you are now, and yet, because the fates had decreed otherwise, he was undone with all his councils, while you are now in possession of his throne. However, since I abhor the concords of flattery, for it seems to me that they are everything that is out of time and out of tune, let me cut the string out of my lyre, and request you to consider that on that occasion I had not your fortunes in mind, but was talking exclusively of questions of the fates out of necessity, for it was in speaking of them that they accused me of having assailed yourself. And yet such an argument as mine is tolerated by most of the gods, and even Zeus himself is not angry when he hears from the poet in the story of Lycia this language. Alas, for myself, when Sarpidon, and there are other such strains referring to himself, such as those in which he accuses the fates of having deprived him of his son. And in the weighing of souls again the poets tell you that, although after her death he presented Minos the brother of Sarpidon with a golden scepter, and appointed him judge in the court of Idonios, yet he could not exempt him from the decree of the fates. And you, my prince, why should you resent my argument when the gods put up with it, whose fortunes are for ever fixed and assured, and who never slew poets on that account? For it is our duty to follow the fates and obey them, and not take offense with the changes in fortune, and to believe in Sophocles when he says, For the gods alone there comes no old age, nay nor ever death, but all other things are confounded by all mastering time. No man ever put the truth so well, for the prosperity of Min runs in a circle, and the span of happiness, my prince, lasts for a single day. My property belongs to another, and his to another, and his again to a third, and each in having hath not. Think of this, my prince, and put a stop to your decrees of exile. Stay the shedding of blood, and have recourse to philosophy in your wishes and plans, for true philosophy feels no pangs. And in doing so wipe away Min's tears, for at present echoes reach us from the sea of a thousand size, and they are redoubled from the continents, where each laments over his peculiar sorrows. Thence is bread an incalculable crop of evils, all of them do directly to the slanderous tongues of informers, who render all Min objects of hatred to yourself, and yourself, oh prince, to all. And of Volume 2, Book 8, Chapter 7