 Volume 1, Book 1, Chapters 1-9 of the Life of Apollonius of Tiana. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org, Recording by Father Xyle. The Life of Apollonius of Tiana by Flavius Philostratus, translated by F. C. Coneybear, Volume 1, Book 1, Chapters 1-9. The votaries of Pythagoras of Samus have this story to tell of him, that he was not an Ionian at all. But that, once on a time in Troy, he had been euphorbous, and that he had come to life after death, but had died as the songs of Homer relate. And they say that he declined to wear apparel made from dead animal products, and, to guard his purity, abstained from all flesh diet, whether of animals or of sacrificial victims. For that he would not stain the altars with blood, nay rather the honey-cake and frankincense, and the hymn of praise, these they say, were the offerings made to the gods by this man, who realized that they welcome such tribute more than they do, the hecatomes and the knife laid upon the sacrificial basket. For they say that he had of a certainty social intercourse with the gods, and learned from them the conditions under which they take pleasure in men, or are disgusted, and on this intercourse he based his account of nature. For he said that whereas other men only make conjectures about the divinity, and make guesses that contradict one another concerning it, in his own case he said that Apollo had come to him acknowledging that he was the God in person, and that Athena and the Muses and other gods whose forms and names men did not yet know had also consorted with him, though without making such acknowledgment. And the followers of Pythagoras accepted as law any decisions laid down by him, and honored him as an emissary from Zeus, but imposed out of respect for their divine character a ritual silence on themselves. For many were the divine and ineffable secrets, which they had heard, but which it was difficult for any to keep who had not previously learned that silence also is a mode of speech. Moreover, they declare that Empedocles of Acragas had trodden this way of wisdom when he wrote the line, Rejoice ye, for I am unto you an immortal God, and no more mortal. And this also, for ere while I already became both girl and boy, and the story that he made at Olympia, a bull out of pastry and sacrificed it to the God, shows that he approved of the sentiments of Pythagoras. And there is much else that they tell of those sages who observe the rule of Pythagoras, but I must not now enter upon such points, but hurry on to the work which I have set myself to complete. Book 1, Chapter 2. For quite akin to theirs was the ideal which Apollonius pursued, and more divinely than Pythagoras he would wisdom and sword above tyrants, and though he lived in times not long gone, nor again quite of our own day, yet men know him not because of the true wisdom which he practiced as a sage and sanely, but one man singles out one feature for praise in him and another another. While some, because he had interviews with the wizards of Babylon and with the Brahmins of India, and with the nude ascetics of Egypt, put him down as a wizard, and spread the colony that he was a sage of an illegitimate kind, judging of him ill. For impetacles and Pythagoras himself and democratists consorted with wizards and uttered many supernatural truths, yet never stooped to the black art, and Plato went to Egypt and mingled with his own discourses much of what he heard from the prophets and priests there, and though like a painter he laid their colors on to his rough sketches, yet he never passed for a wizard, although much envied of mankind for his wisdom. For the circumstance that Apollonius foresaw and foreknew so many things does not in the least justify us in imputing to him this kind of wisdom. We might as well accuse Socrates of the same, because thanks to his familiar spirit he knew things beforehand, and we might also accuse Anaxaris because of the many things which he foretold. And indeed, who does not know the story of how Anaxaris at Olympia, in a season of intense drought, came forward wearing a fleece into the stadium by way of predicting rain, and of how he foretold the fall of the house, and truly, for it did fall, and of how he said that day would be turned into night, and stones would be discharged from heaven round Egospatami, and of how his predictions were fulfilled. Now these feats are set down to the wisdom of Anaxagaris by the same people who would rob Apollonius of the credit of having predicted things by dint of wisdom, and say that he achieved these results by art of wizardry. It seems to me, then, that I ought not to condone or acquiesce in the general ignorance, but write a true account of the man, detailing the exact times at which he said or did this or that, as also the habits and temper of wisdom by means of which he came near to being considered a supernatural and divine being. And I have gathered my information partly from the many cities where he was loved, and partly from the temples whose long neglected and decayed rites he restored, and partly from the accounts left of him by others, and partly from his own letters. For he addressed these to kings, sophists, philosophers, to men of Elise, of Delphi, to Indians and Egyptians, and his letters dealt with the subjects of the gods, of customs, of moral principles, of laws, and in all these departments he corrected the errors into which men had fallen, and the precise details which I have collected are as follows. Book 1 Chapter 3 There was a man, Damus, by no means stupid, who formerly dwelt in the ancient city of Nineveh. He resorted to Apollonius in order to study wisdom, and having shared by his own account his wanderings abroad, wrote an account of them, and he records his opinions and discourses and all his prophecies, and a certain kinsman of Damus drew the attention of the empress Julia to the documents containing these memoirs hitherto unknown. Now I belonged to the circle of the empress, for she was a devoted admirer of all rhetorical exercises, and she commanded me to recast and edit these essays, at the same time paying more attention to the style and diction of them. For the man of Nineveh had told his story clearly enough, yet somewhat awkwardly, and I also read the book of Maximus of Aegae, which comprised all the life of Apollonius in Aegae, and furthermore a will was composed by Apollonius, from which one can learn how rapturous and inspired a sage he really was. For we must not pay attention anyhow to Moa Ragini's, who composed four books about Apollonius, and yet was ignorant of many of the circumstances of his life, that then I combined these scattered sources together and took trouble over my composition, I have said. But let my work, I pray, redound to the honour of the man who is the subject of my compilation, and also be of use to those who love learning, for assuredly they will hear learned things of which, as yet, they are ignorant. Apollonius' home then was Tiana, a Greek city amidst a population of Cappadocians. His father was of the same name, and the family was ancient and directly descended from the first settlers. It excelled in wealth, the surrounding families, though the district is a rich one. To his mother, just before he was born, there came an apparition of Proteus, who changes his form so much in Homer, in the guise of an Egyptian demon. She was in no way frightened, but asked him what sort of child she would bear, and he answered, myself. And who are you, she asked. Proteus answered he, the God of Egypt. Well, I need hardly explained to readers of the poets the quality of Proteus and his reputation as regards wisdom, how versatile he was, and for ever changing his form and defying capture and how he had the reputation of knowing both past and future. And we must bear Proteus in mind all the more when my advancing story shows its hero to have been more of a prophet than Proteus, and to have triumphed over many difficulties and dangers in the moment when they beset him most closely. hook 1 chapter 5 Now he is said to have been born in a meadow, hard by which there had been now erected a sumptuous temple to him. And let us not pass by the manner of his birth. For just as the hour of his birth was approaching, his mother was warned in a dream to walk out into the meadow and pluck the flowers. And in due course she came there, and her maids attended to the flowers scattering themselves over the meadow while she fell asleep lying on the grass. Thereupon the swans who fed in the meadows set up a dance around her as she slept, and lifting their wings as they are wont to do, cried out aloud all at once for there was somewhat of a breeze blowing in the meadow. She then leaped up at the sound of their song and bore her child for any sudden fright is apt to bring on a premature delivery. But the people of the country say that just at the moment of the birth, a thunderbolt seemed about to fall to earth and then rose up into the air and disappeared aloft. And the gods thereby indicated, I think, the great distinction to which the sage was to attain, and hinted in advance how he should transcend all things upon earth and approach the gods and signified all the things that he would achieve. Now there is near Tiana a well sacred to Zeus, the god of oaths, so they say, and they call it the well of Hasbama. Here a spring rises cold but bubbles up like a boiling cauldron. This water is favorable and sweet to those who keep their oaths, but to perjurers it brings hot-footed justice. For it attacks their eyes and hands and feet, and they fall the prey of dropsy and wasting disease. And they are not even able to go away, but are held on the spot and bemoan themselves at the edge of the spring, acknowledging their perjuries. The people of the country then say that Apollonius was a son of Zeus, but the sage called himself the son of Apollonius. CHAPTER VII On reaching the age when children are taught their letters, he showed great strength of memory and power of application, and his tongue affected the attic dialect, nor was his accent corrupted by the race he lived among. All eyes were turned upon him, for he was, moreover, conspicuous for his beauty. When then he reached his fourteenth year, his father brought him to Tarsus, to Euthydemus, the teacher from Phoenicia. Now Euthydemus was a good retter, and began his education. But though he was attached to his teacher, he found the atmosphere of the city harsh and strange and little conducive to the philosophic life. For nowhere are men more addicted than here to luxury. Gestures and full of insolence are they all, and they attend more to their fine linen than the Athenians did to wisdom, and a stream called the Kidnus runs through their city along the banks of which they sit like so many water-fowl, hence the words which Apollonius addresses to them in his letter, be done with getting drunk upon your water. He therefore transferred his teacher with his father's consent to the town of Aegae, which was close by, where he found a peace congenial to one who would be a philosopher, and a more serious school of study, and a temple of Asclepius, where that God reveals himself in person to men. There he had, as his companions in philosophy, followers of Plato and Chrysippus and peripatetic philosophers, and he diligently attended also to the discourses of Epicurus, for he did not despise these either, though it was to those of Pythagoras that he applied himself with unspeakable wisdom and ardor. However, his teacher of the Pythagorean system was not a very serious person, nor one who practiced in his conduct the philosophy he taught, for he was the slave of his belly and appetites, and modelled himself upon Epicurus. And this man was Eucsenus from the town of Heraclea in Pontus, and he knew the opinions of Pythagoras, just as birds know what they learn from men, for the birds will wish you farewell, and say good day, or Zeus help you, and such like, without understanding what they say, and without any real sympathy for mankind, merely because they have been trained to move their tongue in a certain manner. Apollonius, however, was like the young eagles, who, as long as they are not fully fledged, fly alongside of their parents, and are trained by them in flight, but who, as soon as they are able to rise in the air, outsour the parent birds, especially when they perceive the latter to be greedy, and to be flying along the ground in order to snuff the quarry. Like them, Apollonius attended Eucsenus as long as he was a child, and was guided by him in the path of argument, but when he reached his sixteenth year, he felt an impulse towards the life of Pythagoras, being fledged and winged there too by some higher power. Notwithstanding, he did not cease to love Eucsenus, nay, he persuaded his father to present him with a villa outside the town, where there were tender groves and fountains, and he said to him, Now you live there your own life, but I will live that of Pythagoras. CHAPTER VIII Now Eucsenus realized that he was attached to a lofty ideal, and asked him at what point he would begin it. Apollonius answered, At the point at which physicians begin, for they, by purging the bowels of their patients, prevent some from being ill at all, and heal others. And having said this, he declined to live upon a flesh diet, on the ground that it was unclean, and also that it made the mine gross, so he partook only of dried fruits and vegetables, for he said that all the fruits of the earth are clean. And of wine he said that it was a clean drink, because it is yielded to men by so well domesticated a plant as the vine. But he declared that it endangered the mental balance and system and darkened, as with mud, the ether which is in the soul. After then having thus purged his interior, he took to walking without shoes by way of adornment, and clad himself in linen rainment, declining to wear any animal product, and he let his hair grow long and lived in the temple. And the people round about the temple were struck with admiration for him, and the goddess Sclepeius one day said to the priest that he was delighted to have Apollonius as witness of his cures of the sick, and such was his reputation that the Silicians themselves and the people all around flocked to Aegei to see him. Hence the Silician proverb, wither runnest thou, is it to see the stripling? Such was the saying that arose about him, and it gained the distinction of becoming a proverb. Now it is well that I should not pass over in my narrative the life led in the temple by my hero who was held in esteem even by the gods. For an Assyrian stripling came to Sclepeius, and though he was sick, yet he lived the life of luxury and being continually drunk, I will not say he lived rather he was ever dying. He suffered then from dropsy, and finding his pleasure in drunkenness took no care to dry up his malady. On this account then Sclepeius took no care of him, and did not visit him even in a dream. The youth grumbled at this, and thereupon the gods standing over him said, if you were to consult Apollonius you would be easier. He therefore went to Apollonius and said, what is there in your wisdom that I can profit by, for Asclepeius bids me consult you? And he replied, I can advise you of what under the circumstances will be most valuable to you, for I suppose you want to get well? Yes, by Zeus answered the other, I want the health which Asclepeius promises but never gives. Hush, said the other, for he gives to those who desire it, but you do things that irritate and aggravate your disease, for you give yourself up to luxury and you accumulate heavy meals upon your waterlogged and worn out stomach, and as it were choke water with a flood of mud. This was a clearer response in my opinion than Heraclitus in his wisdom gave. For he said, when he was visited by this affliction, that what he needed was someone to substitute a drought for his rainy weather, a very unintelligible remark it appears to me, and by no means clear. But the sage restored the youth to health by a clear interpretation of the wise law. End of Volume 1, Book 1, Chapters 1-9, Recording by Father Xyle of Detroit, Michigan, D-R-Z-E-I-L-E dot net. Volume 1, Book 1, Chapters 10-19 of the Life of Apollonius of Tyanna. This is a Librivox recording. All Librivox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit Librivox.org. The Life of Apollonius of Tyanna by Flavius Philostratus, translated by F. C. Coneybear. Volume 1, Book 1. Chapter 10-1 day he saw a flood of blood upon the altar, and there were victims laid out upon it, Egyptian bulls that had been sacrificed, and great hogs, and some of them were being flayed and others were being cut up, and two gold vases had been dedicated set with jewels, the rarest and most beautiful that India can provide. So he went up to the priest and said, What is all this, for someone is making a very handsome gift to the gods? And the priest replied, You may rather be surprised at a man's offering all this without having first put up a prayer in our fain, and without having stayed with us as long as other people do, and without having gained his health from the God, and without obtaining all the things he came to ask for here. For he appears to have come only yesterday, and yet he is sacrificing on this lavish scale, and he declares that he will sacrifice more victims, and dedicate more gifts, if esglopias will hearken to him. And he is one of the richest men in existence. At any rate he owns in Cilicia an estate bigger than all the Cilicians together possess, and he is supplicating the God to restore to him one of his eyes that has fallen out. But Apollonius fixed his eyes upon the ground, as he was accustomed to do in later life, and asked, What is his name? And when he heard it he said, It seems to me, O priest, that we ought not to welcome this fellow in the temple, for he is some ruffian who has come here, and that he is afflicted in this way is due to some sinister reason. Nay, his very conduct in sacrificing on such a magnificent scale before he has gained anything from the God is not that of a genuine votary, but rather of a man who is begging himself off from the penalty of some horrible and cruel deeds. This was what Apollonius said, and esglopias appeared to the priest by night and said, Send away so and so at once and with all his possessions, and let him keep them, for he deserves to lose the other eye as well. The priest accordingly made inquiries about the Cilician, and learned that his wife had, by a former marriage, borne a daughter, and he had fallen in love with a maiden, and had seduced her, and was living with her in open sin. For the mother had surprised the two in bed, and had put out both her eyes, and one of his by stabbing them with her brooch pin. CHAPTER XI. Again he inculcated the wise rule that in our sacrifices or dedications we should not go beyond the just mean in the following way. On one occasion several people had flocked to the temple, not long after the expulsion of the Cilician, and he took the occasion to ask the priest the following questions. He said, Are then the gods just? answered the priest. Why, of course, most just. Well, and are they wise? said the other. And what can be wiser than the godhead? But do they know the affairs of men, or are they without experience of them? said the other. Why, this is just the point in which the gods excel mankind, for the latter, because of their frailty, do not understand their own concerns, whereas the gods have the privilege of understanding the affairs both of men and of themselves. APOLONIUS. All of your answers are excellent, O priest, and very true. Since then they know everything, it appears to me that a person who comes to the house of God and has a good conscience should put up the following prayer. O ye gods, grant unto me that which I deserve. For the holy, O priest, surely deserve to receive blessings, and the wicked the contrary. Therefore the gods, as they are beneficent, if they find anyone who is healthy and whole and unscarred by vice, will send him away surely after crowning him, not with golden crowns, but with all sorts of blessings. And if they find a man branded with sin and utterly corrupt, they will hand him over and leave him to justice after inflicting their wrath upon him all the more, because he dared to invade their temples without being pure. And at the same moment he looked toward Escalapius and said, O Escalapius, the philosophy you teach is secret and congenial to yourself, in that you suffer not the wicked to come hither, not even if they pour into your lap all the wealth of India and Sardis. For it is not out of reverence for the divinity that they sacrifice these victims and kindle these fires, but in order to purchase a verdict which you will not concede to them in your perfect justice. And much similar wisdom he delivered himself of in this temple while he was still a youth. CHAPTER XII This tale also belongs to the period of his residence at Aegee. Cilicia was governed at the time by a Ruffian addicted to infamous forms of passion. No sooner did he hear the beauty of Apollonius spoken of than he cast aside the matters he was busy upon, and he was just then holding a court at Tarsus. And hurrying off to Aegee pretended he was sick and must have the help of Escalapius. There he came upon Apollonius walking alone and prayed himself to recommend him to the God. But he replied, What recommendation can you want from anyone if you are good? For the gods love men of virtue and welcome them without any introductions. Said the other, Because to be sure, the God, O Apollonius, has invited you to be his guest, but so far has not invited me. Answered Apollonius, Nay, tis my humble merits, so far as a young man can display good qualities, which have been my passport to the favor of Escalapius, whose servant and companion I am. If you too really care for goodness, go boldly up to the God and tender what prayer you will. Said the other, By heaven I will, if you will allow me to address you one first. Apollonius said, And what prayer can you make to me? A prayer which can only be offered to the beautiful, and which is that they may grant to others participation in their beauty, and not grudge their charms. This he said, with a violere and voluptuous air, and all the usual wriggles of such infamous debauchés. But Apollonius, with a stern, fierce glance at him, said, You are mad, you scum! The other not only flamed up at these words, but threatened to cut off his head, whereat Apollonius laughed at him, and cried out loud, Ha! that day is to come! And in fact it was only three days later that the Ruffian was executed by the officers of justice on the high road for having intrigued with Archelaus the king of Cappadocia against the Romans. These and many similar incidents are given by Maximus of Aige in his treatise, a writer whose reputation for oratory won him a position in the emperor's secretariat. CHAPTER XIII Now when he heard that his father was dead, he hurried to Tyanna, and with his own hands buried him hard by his mother's sepulcher, for she too had died not long before, and he divided the property which was very ample with his brother, who was an incorrigibly bad character and given to drink. Now the latter had reached his twenty-third year and was of an age no longer to need a guardian. Apollonius, on the other hand, was only twenty, and the law subjected him to guardians. He therefore spent a fresh some time in Aige, and turned the temple into a lyceum and academy, for it resounded with all sorts of philosophical discussions. After that he returned to Tyanna, by this time grown to manhood and his own master. Someone said to him that it was his duty to correct his brother and convert him from his evil ways, whereon he answered, This would seem a bold enterprise, for how can I, who am the younger one, correct and render wise an older man? But so far as I can do anything, I will heal him of these bad passions. Finally he gave to him the half of his own share of the property, on the pretense that he required more than he had, while he himself needed little. And then he pressed him and cleverly persuaded him to submit to the councils of wisdom, and said, Our father has departed this life, who educated us both, and corrected us, so that you are all that I have left, and I imagine I am all that you have left. If therefore I do anything wrong, please advise me and cure me of my faults, and in turn, if you yourself do anything wrong, suffer me to teach you better. And so he reduced his brother to a reasonable state of mind, just as we break in skittish and unruly horses by stroking and patting them, and he reformed him from his faults numerous as they were, for he was the slave of play and of wine. And he led a riotous life, and was vain of his hair which he dressed up and died, strutting about like an arrogant dandy. So when all was well between him and his brother, he had once turned his attention to his other relatives, and consolated such of them as were in want by bestowing on them the rest of his property, leaving only a trifle to himself. Therefore he said that Anaxagoras of Clasomenae kept his philosophy for cattle rather than for men when he abandoned his fields to flocks and goats, and that of Cratties of Thebes, when he threw his money into the sea, benefited neither man nor beast. And as Pythagoras was celebrated for his saying that, a man should have no intercourse except with his own wife. He declared that this was intended by Pythagoras for others than himself, for that he was resolved never to wed nor have any connection whatever with women. In laying such restraint on himself, he surpassed Sophocles who only said that in reaching old age he had escaped from a mad and cruel master, but Apollonius by dint of virtue and temperance never even in his youth was so overcome. While still a mere stripling in full enjoyment of his bodily vigor, he mastered and gained control of the maddening passion. And yet there are those who accuse him falsely of an addiction to venery, alleging that he fell a victim of such sins and spent a whole year in their indulgence among the Scythians, the facts being that he never once visited Scythia nor was ever carried away by such passions. Not even Euphrates ever accused the sage of venery, though he traduced him otherwise and composed lying treatises against him as we shall show when we come to speak of him below. And his quarrel with Apollonius was that the latter rallied him for doing everything for money and tried to wean him of his love of filthy lucre and of huckstering his wisdom. But these matters I must defer to the times to which they belong. CHAPTER XIV On one occasion Euczenius asked Apollonius why so noble a thinker as he and one who was master of addiction so fine and nervous did not write a book. He replied, I have not yet kept silence. And forthwith he began to hold his tongue from a sense of duty and kept absolute silence, though his eyes and his mind were taking note of many a thing, and though most things were being stored in his memory. Indeed when he reached the age of a hundred he still surpassed Simonides in point of memory, and he used to chant a hymn addressed to memory, in which it is said that everything is worn and withered away by time, whereas time itself never ages but remains immortal because of memory. Nevertheless his company was not without charm during the period of his silence, for he would maintain a conversation by the expression of his eyes, by gestures of his hand, and nodding his head. Nor did he strike men as gloomy or morose, for he retained his fondness for company and his trivelness. This part of his life, he says, was still the most uphill work he knew, since he practised silence for five whole years. For he says he often had things to say and could not do so, and he was often obliged not to hear things the hearing of which would have enraged him, and often when he was moved and inclined to break out and rebuke to others, he said to himself, Bear up, then, my heart and tongue! And when reasoning offended him he had to give up for the time the refuting of it. These years of silence he spent partly in Pamphylia and partly in Cilicia, and though his paths lay through such effeminate races as these, he never spoke nor was even induced to murmur. Whenever, however, he came on a city engaged in civil conflict, and many were divided into factions over spectacles of a low kind, he would advance and show himself, and by indicating part of his intended rebuke, by manual gesture or by look on his face. He would put an end to all the disorder, and people hushed their voices, as if they were engaged in the mysteries. Well, it is not so very difficult to restrain those who have started a quarrel about dances and horses. For those who are rioting about such matters, if they turn their eyes to a real man, blush and check themselves and easily recover their senses. But a city hard-pressed by famine is not so tractable, nor so easily brought to a better mood by persuasive words and its passion quelled. But in the case of Apollonius, mere silence on his part was enough for those so afflicted. Anyhow, when he came to Aspendus in Pamphylia, and this city is built on the river Euremidon, along with two others, he found nothing but vetch on sale in the market, and the citizens were feying upon this and on anything else they could get, for the rich men had shut up all the corn and were holding it up for export from the country. Consequently, an excited crowd of all ages had set upon the governor, and were lighting a fire to burn him alive, although he was clinging to the statues of the emperor, which were more dreaded at that time, and more inviolable than the Zeus in Olympia, for they were statues of Tiberius, in whose reign a master is said to have been held guilty of impiety, merely because he struck his own slave when he had on his person a silver drachma coined with the image of Tiberius. Apollonius then went up to the governor, and with a sign of his hand asked him what was the matter, and he answered that he had done no wrong but was indeed being wronged quite as much as the populace, but he said if he could not get a hearing he would perish along with the populace. Apollonius then turned to the bystanders, and beckoned to them that they must listen, and they not only held their tongues from wonderment at him, but they laid the fire that had kindled on the altars which were there. The governor then plucked up the courage and said, This man and that man, and he named several, are to blame for the famine which has arisen, and they have taken away the corn and are keeping it, one in one part of the country and another in another. The inhabitants of Aspendus thereupon passed the word to an another to make for these men's estates, but Apollonius signed with his head that they should do no such thing, but rather summon those who were to blame and obtain the corn from them with their consent. And when, after a little time, the guilty parties arrived, he very nearly broke out in speech against them, so much was he affected by the tears of the crowd. For the children and women had all flocked together, and the old men were groaning and moaning as if they were on the point of dying by hunger. However, he respected his vow of silence, and wrote on a writing board his indictment of the offenders, and handed it to the governor to read out aloud, and his indictment ran as follows. Apollonius to the corn-dealers of Aspendus, the earth is mother of us all, for she is just, but you, because you are unjust, have pretended that she is your mother alone, and if you do not stop, I will not permit you to remain upon her. They were so terrified by these words that they filled the marketplace with corn, and the city revived. CHAPTER XVI After the term of his silence was over, he also visited the great Antioch, and passed into the temple of the Apollo of Daphne, to which the Assyrians attached the legend of Arcadia. For they say that Daphne, the daughter of Laedon, there underwent her metamorphosis, and they have a river flowing there, the Laedon, and a laurel tree is worshipped by them, which they say was substituted for the maiden, and cypress trees of enormous height surround the temple, and the ground sends up springs both ample and placid, in which they say Apollo purified himself by ablution. And there it is that the earth sends up a chute of cypress, they say, in honor of Cyperisus and Assyrian youth, and the beauty of the shrub lends credence to the story of his metamorphosis. Well, I perhaps may seem to have fallen into a somewhat juvenile vein to approach my story by such legendary particulars as these, but my interest is not really in mythology. What then is the purport of my narrative? Apollonius, when he beheld a temple so graceful, and yet the home of no serious studies, but only of men half-barberous and uncultivated, remarked, O Apollo, change these dumb dogs into trees, so that at least as Cypresses they may become vocal. And when he had inspected the springs, and noted how calm and quiet they were, and how not one of them made the least babble, he remarked, The prevailing dumbness of this place does not permit even the springs to speak. And when he saw the ladon, he said, It is not your daughter alone that underwent a change, but you too, so far as one can see, have become a barbarian after being a Helen and an Arcadian. And when he was minded to converse, he avoided the frequented regions and the disorderly, and said that it was not a rabble he wanted, but real men. And he resorted to the more solemn places, and lived in such temples as were not shut up. At sunrise, indeed, he performed certain rites by himself, rites which he only communicated to those who had disciplined themselves by a four-year spell of silence. But during the rest of the day, in case the city was a Greek one, and the sacred rites familiar to him, he would call the priests together and talk wisely about the gods, and would correct them, supposing that they had departed from the traditional forms. If, however, the rites were barbarous and peculiar, then he would find out who had founded them and on what occasion they were established, and having lurked the sort of cult it was, he would make suggestions, in case he could think of any improvement upon them, and then he would go in quest of his followers and bid them ask any questions they liked. For he said that it was the duty of philosophers of his school to hold converse at the earliest dawn with the gods, but as the day advanced, about the gods, and during the rest of the day to discuss human affairs in friendly intercourse. But having answered all the questions which his companions addressed to him, and when he had had enough of their society, he would rise and give himself up for the rest of the day to the general public, not, however, before midday, but as far as possible just when the day stood still. And when he thought he had had enough of such conversation, he would be anointed and rubbed, and then fling himself into cold water, for he called hot baths the old age of men. At any rate, when the people of Antioch were shut out of them because of the enormities committed there, he said, the emperor for your sins has granted you a new lease of life. And when the Ephesians wanted to stone their governor because he did not warm their baths enough, he said to them, you are blaming your governor because you get such a sorry bath, but I blame you because you take a bath at all. CHAPTER 17 The literary style which he cultivated was not dithirambic or tumid and swollen with poetical words, nor again was it farfetched and full of affected atticisms, for he thought that an excessive degree of atticizing was unpleasant. Neither did he indulge in subtleties or spin out his discourses, nor did anyone ever hear him disassembling in an ironical way, nor addressing to his audience methodical arguments, but when he conversed he would assume an oracular manner and use the expressions, I know, or it is my opinion, or where are you drifting to, or you must know. But his sentences were short and crisp, and his words were telling and closely fitted to the things he spoke of, and his words had a ring about them as of the dooms delivered by a sceptred king. And when a certain quibbler asked him why he asked no questions of him, he replied, because I asked questions when I was a stripling, and it is not my business to ask questions now but to teach people what I have discovered. The other asked him afresh, how then, O Apollonius, should a sage converse? He replied, like a lawgiver, for it is the duty of the lawgiver to deliver to the many the instructions of whose truth he has persuaded himself. This was the line he pursued during his stay in Antioch, and he converted to himself the most unrefined people. CHAPTER 18 After this he formed the scheme of an extensive voyage, and had in mind the Indian race and the sages there, who are called Brahmans and Hyrcanians, for he said that it was a young man's duty to go abroad and to embark upon foreign travel. But he made a great deal of the Magi who live in Babylon and Sousa. For, he said, he was determined to acquaint himself thoroughly with their lore, even if it cost him a journey, and he announced his intention to his followers, who are southern in number. But when they tried to persuade him to adopt another plan, in hopes of drawing him off from his resolution, he said, I have taken the gods into counsel, and I have told you their decision, and I have made trial of you to see if you are strong enough to undertake the same things as myself. Since therefore you are so soft and effeminate, I wish you very good health that you may go on with your philosophy, but I must depart with their wisdom and the gods lead me. Having said this, he quitted Antioch with two attendants who belonged to his father's house, one of them a shorthead rider and the other a calligraphist. CHAPTER 19 And he reached the ancient city of Nineveh, where he found an idol set up of barbarous aspect, and it is, they say, Ayo, the daughter of Inacus, and horns short and, as it were, butting project from her temples. While he was staying there and forming wiser conclusions about the image than could the priests and prophets, one Damus, a native of Nineveh, joined him as a pupil, the same as I said at the beginning, who became the companion of his wanderings abroad and his fellow traveler and associate in all wisdom, and who has preserved to us many particulars of the sage. He admired him, and, having a taste for the road, said, Let us depart, O Apollonius, you following God, and I you, for I think you will find me of considerable value. For if I know nothing else I have at least been to Babylon, and I know all the cities there are, because I have been up there not long ago, and also the villages in which there is much good to be found. And moreover I know the languages of the various barbarous races, and there are several, for example, the Armenian tongue, and that of the Medes and Persians, and that of the natives of Caduce, and I am familiar with all of them. Apollonius said, And I, my good friend, understand all languages, though I never learnt a single one. The native of Nineveh was astonished at this answer, but the other replied, You need not wonder at my knowing all human languages, for, to tell you the truth, I also understand all the secrets of human silence. Thereupon the Assyrian worshipped him when he heard this, and regarded him as a demon, and he stayed with him, increasing in wisdom and committing to memory whatever he learnt. This Assyrian's language, however, was of a mediocre quality, for he had not the gift of expressing himself, having been educated among the barbarians, but he kept a journal of their intercourse, and recorded in it whatever he heard or saw, and he was very well able to put together a memoir of such matters, and managed this better than anyone else could do. At any rate, the volume which he calls his scrapbook was intended to serve such a purpose by Damus, who was determined that nothing about Apollonius should be passed over in silence, nay, that his very solicisms and negligent utterances should also be written down. And I may mention the answer which he made to one who cavilled and found fault with this journal. It was a lazy fellow and malignant who tried to pick holes in him, and remarked that he had recorded well enough a lot of things. For example, the opinions and ideas of his hero, but that in collecting such trifles as these he reminded him of dogs who pick up and eat the fragments which fall from a feast. Damus replied thus, If the banquets are those of gods, and it is gods who are being fed, surely they must have a tendence whose business it is that not even the parcels of ambrosia that fall to the ground should be lost. End of Volume 1, Book 1, chapters 10 through 19. Volume 1, Book 1, chapters 20 through 28 of the Life of Apollonius of Tyanna. This is a Librivox recording. All Librivox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit Librivox.org. The Life of Apollonius of Tyanna by Flavius Philostratus, translated by F. C. Coneybear. Volume 1, Book 1, chapter 20. Such was the companion and admirer that he had met with, and in common with him most of his travels and life were passed, and as they fared on into Mesopotamia, the tax-gatherer who presided over the bridge, Zeugma, led them into the registry and asked them what they were taking out of the country with them. And Apollonius replied, I am taking with me temperance, justice, virtue, continence, valor, discipline. And in this way, he strung together a number of feminine nouns or names. The other, already sending his own perquisites, said, you must then write down in the register these female slaves. Apollonius answered, impossible, for they are not female slaves that I am taking out with me, but ladies of quality. Now Mesopotamia is bordered on one side by the Tigris, and on the other by the Euphrates, rivers which flow from Armenia and from the lowest slopes of Taurus, but they contain a tract like a continent in which there are some cities, though for the most part only villages, and the races that inhabit them are the Armenian and the Arab. These races are so shut in by the rivers that most of them, who lead the life of nomads, are so convinced that they are islanders as to say that they are going down to the sea when they are merely on their way to the rivers, and think that these rivers border the earth and encircle it, for they curve around the continental tract in question and discharge their waters into the same sea. But there are people who say that the greater part of the Euphrates is lost in Amarsh, and that this river ends in the earth, but some have a bolder tale to which they adhere, and declare that it runs under the earth to turn up in Egypt and mingle itself with the Nile. Well, for the sake of accuracy and truth, and in order to leave out nothing of the things that Damus wrote, I should have liked to relate all the incidents that occurred on their journey through these barbarous regions, but my subject hurries me on to greater and more remarkable episodes. Nevertheless, I must perforce dwell upon two topics, on the courage which Apollonius showed in making a journey through races of barbarians and robbers, which were not at that time as yet subject to the Romans. And at the cleverness with which, after the manner of the Arabs, he managed to understand the language of animals, for he learnt this on his way through these Arab tribes who best understand it and practice it, for it is quite common for the Arabians to listen to the birds prophesying like any oracles, but they acquire this faculty of understanding them by feeding themselves, so they say, either on the heart or the liver of serpents. Chapter 21. He left Tessiphon behind and passed on to the borders of Babylon, and here was a frontier garrison belonging to the king, which one could not pass by without being questioned who one was, and as to one's city and one's reasons for coming there. And there was a satrap in command of this post, a sort of eye of the king, I imagine, for the mead had just acceded to the throne, and instead of being content to live in security, he worried himself about things real and imaginary, and fell into fits of fear and panic. Apollonius then and his party were brought before this satrap, who had just set up the awning on his wagon and was driving out to go somewhere else. When he saw a man so dried up and parched, he began to bawl out like a cowardly woman and hid his face and could hardly be induced to look up at him. He said, whence do you come to us and who sent you, as if he was asking questions of a spirit? And Apollonius replied, I have sent myself to see whether I can make men of you, whether you like it or not. He asked a second time who he was to come trespassing like that into the king's country. And Apollonius said, all the earth is mine and I have a right to go all over it and through it. Whereupon the other said, I will torture you if you don't answer my questions, said the other. And I hope that you will do it with your own hands so that you may catch it well if you touch a true man. Now the eunuch was astonished to find that Apollonius needed no interpreter, but understood what he said without the least trouble or difficulty. He said, by the gods, who are you? This time altering his tone to a whine of entreaty. And Apollonius replied, since you have asked me civilly this time and not so rudely as before, listen, I will tell you who I am. I am Apollonius of Tyanna and my road leads me to the king of India because I want to acquaint myself with a country there and I shall be glad to meet your king. For those who have associated with him say that he is no bad fellow and certainly he is not if he is this Vardan who has lately recovered the empire which he had lost. Replied the other, he is the same, oh divine Apollonius, for we have heard of you a long time ago and in favor of so wise a man as you, he would, I am sure, step down off his golden throne and send your party to India, each of you mounted on a camel and I myself now invite you to be my guest and I beg to present you with these treasures. And at the moment he pointed out a store of gold to him saying, take as many handfuls as you like, fill your hands not once but 10 times. And when Apollonius refused the money he said, well at any rate you will take some of the Babylonian wine in which the king pledges us his 10 satraps. Take a jar of it with some roast steaks of bacon and venison and some meal and bread and anything else you like. For the road after this for many states leads through villages which are ill stocked with provision. And here the eunuch caught himself up and said, oh ye gods, what have I done? For I have heard that this man never eats the flesh of animals nor drinks wine and here I am inviting him to dine in a gross and ignorant manner. Said Apollonius, well you can offer me a lighter repast and give me bread and dried fruits. Said the other, I will give you leavened bread and palm dates like amber and of good size. And I will supply you with vegetables, the best which the gardens of the Tigris afford. Apollonius said, well the wild herbs which grow free are nicer than those which are forced and artificial. The satrap said, they are nicer I admit, but our land in the direction of Babylon is full of wormwood so that the herbs which grow in it are disagreeably bitter. In the end Apollonius accepted the satrap's offer and as he was on the point of going away he said, my excellent fellow, don't keep your good manners to the end another time, but begin with them. This by way of rebuking him for saying that he would torture him and for the barbaric language which he had heard to begin with. Chapter 22, after they had advanced 20 states, they chanced upon a lioness that had been slain in a chase and the brute was bigger than any they had ever seen and the villagers rushed up and cried out and to tell the truth so did the huntsmen when they saw what an extraordinary thing lay before them. And it really was a marvel for when it was cut asunder they found eight welps within it and the lioness becomes a mother in this way. They carry their young for six months but they bring forth young only three times and the number of welps at the first birth is three and at the second two and if the mother makes a third attempt it bears only a single welp but I believe a very big one and Pretter naturally fierce. For we must not believe those who say that the welps of a lioness make their way out into the world by clawing through their mother's womb for nature seems to have created the relationship of offspring to mother for their nourishment with a view to the countenance of the race. Apollonius then eyed the animal for a long time with attention and then he said, oh Damus the length of our stay with the king will be a year and eight months for neither will he let us go sooner than that nor will it be to our advantage to quit him earlier. And you may guess the number of months from that of the welps and that of the years of the lioness for you must compare holes with holes. And Damus replied, but what of the sparrows and Homer what do they mean? The ones which the dragon devoured in Aulis which were eight in number when he seized their mother for a ninth. Calcas surely explained these to signify nine years and predicted that the war with Troy would last so long. So take care that Homer may not be right and Calcas too and that our stay may not extend to nine years abroad. Apollonius replied, well Homer was surely quite right in comparing the nestlings two years for they are already hatched out and in the world. But what I had in mind were incomplete animals that were not yet born and perhaps never would have been born. How could I compare them two years? For things that violate nature can hardly come to be and they anyhow quickly pass to destruction even if they do come into existence. So follow my arguments and let us go and pray to the gods who reveal thus much to us. Chapter 23. And as he advanced into Sisyon country and was already close to Babylon he was visited by a dream and the God who revealed it to him fashioned its imagery as follows. There were fishes which had been cast up from the sea onto the land and they were gasping and uttering a lament almost human and bewailing that they had quitted their element and they were begging a dolphin that was swimming past the shore to help them in their misery just like human beings who are weeping in a foreign land. Apollonius was not in the least frightened by his dream but set himself to conjecture its meaning and drift and he was determined to give Damus a shock for he found that he was the most nervous of men. So he related his vision to him and feigned as if it foreboded evil. But Damus began to bellow as if he had seen the dream himself and tried to dissuade Apollonius from going any further. He said, lest we also, like the fishes, get thrown out of our element and perish and have to weep and wail in a foreign land. Nay, we may even be reduced to straits and have to go down on our knees to some potentate or king who will flout us as the dolphins did the fishes. Then Apollonius laughed and said, you have not become a philosopher yet if you are afraid of this sort of thing. But I will explain to you the real drift of the dream. For this land of Sissia is habited by the Eretrians who were brought up here from Euboea by Darius 500 years ago and they are said to have been treated at their capture like the fishes that we saw in the dream. For they were netted in, so they say, and captured one and all. It would seem then that the gods are instructing me to visit them and tend their needs, supposing I can do anything for them. And perhaps also the souls of the Greeks whose lot was cast in this part of the world are enlisting my aid for their land. Let us go on and diverge from the high road and ask only about the well, hard by which their settlement is. Now this well is said to consist of a mixture of pitch and oil and water and if you draw a bucket and pour it out, these three elements divide and part themselves from one another. That he really did visit Sissia, he himself acknowledges in a letter which he wrote to the Sophist of Clazomenai. For he was so kind and magnificent that when he saw the Eretrians, he remembered the Sophist and wrote to him an account of what he had seen and of what he had done for them. And all through this letter, he urges the Sophist to take pity on the Eretrians and praise him in case ever he should compose a discourse about them, not to deprecate even the sheddings of tears over their fate. Chapter 24. And the record which Damus has left about the Eretrians is in harmony with this. For they live in the country of the Meads, not far distant from Babylon, a day's journey for a fleet traveler, but their country is without cities. For the whole of Sissia consists of villages except for a race of nomads that also inhabits it, men who seldom dismount from their horses. And the settlement of the Eretrians is in the center of the rest and the river is carried round it in a trench. For they say that they themselves diverted it around the village in order to form a rampart of defense against the barbarians of the country. But the soil is drenched with pitch and is bitter to plant in and the inhabitants are very short-lived because the pitch in the water forms a sediment in most of their bowels. And they get their sustenance off a bit of rising ground on the confines of the village where the ground rises above the tainted country. On this they sow their crops and regard it as their land. And they say that they have heard from the natives that 780 of the Eretrians were captured, not of course all of them fighting men, for there was a certain number of women and old men among them. And there was, I imagine, a certain number of children, too, for the greater portion of the population of Eretria had fled to Caferius and to the furthest extremes of Euboea. But anyhow the men who were brought up numbered about 400 and there were 10 women, perhaps, but the rest who had started from Ionia and Lydia perished as they were driven up. And they managed to open a quarry on the hill and as some of them understood the art of cutting stone, they built temples in the Greek style and a marketplace large enough for their purpose. And they dedicated various altars, two to Darius and one to Xerxes and several to Deradius. But up to the time of Deradius, 88 years after their capture, they continued to write in the manner of the Greeks. And what is more, their ancient graves are inscribed with the legend so-and-so, the son of so-and-so. And though the letters are Greek, they said that they never yet had made them out. And there were ships engraved on the tombstones to show that the various individuals had lived in Euboea and engaged either in seafaring trade or in that of purple as sailors or as dyers. And they say that they read an elegiac inscription written over the sebelker of some sailors and seafarers which ran thus. Here we who once sailed over the deep flowing billows of the Aegean Sea are lying in the midst of the plain of Ekbatana. Farewell once famed fatherland of Eritrea, farewell Athens, ye neighbors of Euboea, farewell, thou darling sea. Well, Damus says that Apollonius restored the tombs that had gone to ruin and closed them up and that he poured out libations and made offerings to their inmates, all that religion demands, except that he did not slay or sacrifice any victim. Then after weeping and in an excess of emotion, he delivered himself of the following apostrophe in their midst. Ye Eritreans, who by the lot of fortune have been brought hither, ye, even if ye are far from your own land, have at least received burial, but those who cast you hither perished unburied around the shores of your island 10 years after yourselves. For the gods brought about this calamity in the hollows of Euboea. And Apollonius at the end of his letter to the Sophist writes as follows, I also attended Oscopelianus to your Eritreans, while I was still a young man, and I gave what help I could both to their dead and the living. What attention then did he show to their living? This, the barbarians in the neighborhood of the hill, when the Eritreans sowed their seed upon it, would come in summertime and plunder their crops, so that they had to starve and see the fruits of their husbandry go to others. When therefore he reached the king, he took pains to secure for them the sole use of the hill. Chapter 25. I found the following to be an account of the sage's stay in Babylon and of all we need to know about Babylon. The fortifications of Babylon extend 480 stadia and form a complete circle and its wall is three half plethrons high but less than a plethron in breadth. And it is cut asunder by the river Euphrates into halves of similar shape and there passes underneath the river an extraordinary bridge which joins together by an unseen passage the palaces on either bank. For it is said that a median woman was formerly queen of those parts who spanned the river underneath in a manner in which no river was ever bridged before. For she got stones, it is said, and copper and pitch and all the materials which men have found set under water and she piled these up along the banks of the river. Then she diverted the stream into lakes and as soon as the river was dry she dug down two fathoms and made a hollow tunnel which she caused to debauch into the palaces on either bank like a subterranean grotto and she roofed it on a level with the bed of the stream. The foundations were thus made stable and also the walls of the tunnel but as the pitch required water in order to set as hard as stone the Euphrates was led in again to flood the roof and so the bridge stood solid and the palaces are roofed with bronze and a glitter goes off from them but the chambers of the women and of the men and the porticoes are adorned partly with silver and partly with golden tapestries or curtains and partly with solid gold in the form of pictures but the subjects embroidered on the stuffs are taken by them from Hellenic story Andromedas being represented and Amumenai and you see Orpheus everywhere and they delight in Orpheus perhaps out of regard for his peaked cap and britches for it cannot be for his music or the songs with which he charmed and soothed others and woven into the pattern you perceive Datus drawing up Naxos out of the sea and Artepaphonies beleaguering Eritrea and such battles of Xerxes as he said he won. For a little further off of course there is Athens and Thermopylae and other pictures still more to the median taste such as rivers drained from off the land and a bridge over the sea and the piercing of Athos but they say that they also visited a man's apartment of which the roof had been carried up in the form of a dome to resemble in a manner the heavens and that it was roofed with sapphire a stone that is very blue and like heaven to the eye and there were images of the gods which they worship fixed aloft and looking like golden figures shining out of the ether and it is here that the king gives judgment and golden Rhinex are hung from the ceiling four in number to remind him of Edrestia the goddess of justice and to engage him not to exalt himself above humanity. These figures the Magi themselves say they arranged for they have access to the palace and they call them the tongues of the gods. Chapter 26. With respect to the Magi Apollonius has said all that there is to be said how he associated with them and learned some things from them and taught them others before he went away but Damus is not acquainted with the conversations which the sage held with the Magi for the latter forbade him to accompany him in his visits to them. So he tells us merely that he visited the Magi at midday and about midnight and he says that he once asked his master what of the Magi? But the latter answered they are wise men but not in all respects. Chapter 27. But of this later on when then he arrived at Babylon the satrap in command of the great gates having learnt that he had come to see the country held out a golden image of the king which everyone must kiss before he is allowed to enter the city. Now an ambassador coming from the Roman emperor has not this ceremony imposed upon him but anyone who comes from the barbarians or just to look at the country is arrested with dishonor unless he has first paid his respects to this image. Such are the silly duties committed to satraps among barbarians. When therefore Apollonius saw the image he said who is that? And on being told that it was the king he said this king whom you worship would acquire a great boon if I merely commended him as of an honorable and good reputation. And with these words he passed through the gate. But the satrap was astonished and followed him and taking hold of his hand he asked him through an interpreter his name and his family and what was his profession and why he came thither and he wrote down the answers in a book and also a description of his dress and appearance and ordered him to wait there. Chapter 28. But he himself ran off to the persons who are known as the ears of the king and described Apollonius to them after first telling them both that he refused to do homage and that he was not the least like other men. They bade him, bring him along and show him respect without using any violence. And when he came the head of the department asked him what induced him to flout the king and he answered I have not yet flouted him. But would you flout him was the next question. Apollonius said, why of course I will if on making his acquaintance I find him to be neither honorable nor good. Well, and what presence do you bring for him? Apollonius answered afresh that he brought courage and justice and so forth. The other said, do you mean to imply that the king lacks these qualities? He answered, no indeed. But I would feign teach him to practice them in case he possesses them. Said the other. And surely it was by practicing these qualities that he has recovered the kingdom which you behold, after he had lost it and has restored his house. No light task this nor easy. And how many years is it since he recovered his kingdom? Answered the other. This is the third year since which year began about two months ago. Apollonius then as was his custom upheld his opinion and went on. Oh, bodyguard or whatever I ought to call you. Darius the father of Cyrus and of Artexerxes was master of these palaces I think for 60 years. And he is said when he felt that his end was near at hand to have offered a sacrifice to justice and to have addressed her thus. Oh, lady mistress or whosoever thou art. This shows that he had not long loved justice and desired her, but as yet knew her not, nor deemed that he had won her and he brought up his two sons so foolishly that they took up arms against one another and one was wounded and the other killed by this fellow. Well, here is a king who perhaps does not know that he is firmly seated on the throne and you would have me believe that he combines already all these virtues and you extol him. Though if he does turn out fairly good, it is you and not I that will gain thereby. The barbarian then glanced at his neighbor and said, Here is a windfall to his one of the gods who has brought this man here for as one good man associating with another improves him, so he will much improve our king and render him more temperate and more gracious for these qualities are conspicuous in this man. They accordingly ran into the palace and told everybody the good news that there stood at the king's gates a man who was wise and a Helen and a good counselor. End of volume one, book one, chapters 20 through 28. Volume one, book one, chapters 29 through 40 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 one, book one, chapter 29. When these tidings were brought to the king, he happened to be sacrificing in company with the Magi, for religious rites are performed under their supervision. And he called one of them and said, The dream has come true, which I narrated to you today when you visited me in my bed. Now the dream which the king had dreamed was as follows. He thought that he was Archic Xerxes, the son of Xerxes, and that he had altered and assumed the latter's form, and he was very much afraid lest some change should come over the face of his affairs, for so he interpreted his change of appearance. But when he heard that it was a Helen and a wise man that had come, he remembered about Themistocles of Athens, who had once come from Greece and had lived with Archic Xerxes, and had not only held the king in singular esteem, but had made himself equally esteemed by him. So he held out his right hand and said, Call him in, for it will make the best of beginnings if he will join with me in my sacrifice and prayer. Chapter 30. Accordingly Apollonius entered escorted by a number of people, for they had learnt that the king was pleased with the newcomer and thought that this would gratify him. But as he passed into the palace, he did not glance at anything that the others admired, but he passed them by as if he was still traveling along the high road, and calling Themistocles to him, he said, You asked me yesterday what was the name of this Pamphylian woman who was said to have been intimate with Sappho, and to have composed the hymns which they sing in honor of Artemis of Perga in the Aeolian and Pamphylian modes, said Deimos. Yes, I did ask you, but you did not tell me her name. I did not tell you, my good fellow, but I explained to you about the keys in which the hymns are written, and I told you their names and how the Aeolian strains were altered into the highest key of all, that which is peculiar to the Pamphylians. After that, we turned to another subject for you did not ask me again about the name of the lady. Well, she is called, this clever lady is, Damofile, and she is said, like Sappho, to have had girlfriends and to have composed poems, some of which were love songs and other hymns. The particular hymn to Artemis was transposed by her and has been sung by the following of Sappho. How far then he was from being astonished at the king and his pomp and ceremony, he showed by the fact that he did not think such things worth looking at, but went on talking about other things as if he did not think the palace worth a glance. Chapter 31 Now the king caught sight of him approaching, for the vestibule of the temple was of considerable length, and insisted to those by him that he recognized the sage, and when he came still nearer, he cried out with a loud voice and said, this is Apollonius, whom Megabatis, my brother, said he saw in Antioch and admired and respected of serious people, and he depicted him to me at that time just such a man as now comes to us. And when Apollonius approached him and saluted him, the king addressed him in the Greek language and invited him to sacrifice with him, and it chanced that he was on the point of sacrificing to the son as a victim, a horse of the true nissian breed, which he had adorned with trappings as if for a triumphal procession. But Apollonius replied, do you, oh king, go on with your sacrifice in your way, but permit me to sacrifice in mine. And he took up a handful of frankincense and said, oh thou son, send me as far over the earth as is my pleasure and thine, and may I make the acquaintance of good men, but never hear anything of bad ones, nor they of me. And with these words he threw the frankincense into the fire and watched to see how the smoke of it curled upwards and how it grew turbid, and in how many points it shot up and in a manner he caught the meaning of the fire and watched how it appeared of good omen and pure. Then he said, now, oh king, go on with your sacrifice in accordance with your own traditions, for my traditions are such as you see. Chapter 32, and he quitted the scene of sacrifice in order not to be present at the shedding of blood. But after the sacrifice was over, he approached and said, oh king, do you know the Greek tongue thoroughly or have you a smattering of it perhaps in order to be able to express yourself and appear polite in case any Greek arrives? The king replied, I know it thoroughly as well as I do my native language, so say you what you like, for this I suppose is the reason why you put the question to me, said the other. It was my reason, so listen, the goal of my voyage is India, but I had no intention of passing you by, for I heard that you were such a man as from a slight acquaintance, I already perceived you to be, and was desirous also of examining the wisdom which is indigenous among you and is cultivated by the Magi and of fighting out whether they are such wise theologians as they are reported to be. Now my own system of wisdom is that of Pythagoras, a man of Samos who taught me to worship the gods in the way you see, and to be aware of them whether they are seen or not seen, and to be frequent in my converse with them and to dress myself in this land wool, for it was never worn by sheep, but it is the spotless product of spotless parents, the gift of water and of earth, namely linen, and the very fashion of letting my hair grow long I learned from Pythagoras as part of his discipline, and also it is a result of his wisdom that I keep myself pure from animal food. I cannot therefore become either for you or for anybody else a companion in drinking or an associate in idleness and luxury, but if you have problems of conduct that are difficult and hard to settle, I will furnish you with solutions, for I not only know matters of practice and duty, but I even know them beforehand. Such was the conversation which Damus declares the sage to have held, and Apollonius himself composed a letter containing them and has sketched out in his epistles much else of what he said in conversation. Chapter 33. Since the king said that he was more pleased and delighted with his arrival, then if he had added to his own possessions the wealth of Persia and India, and added that Apollonius must be his guest and share with him the royal roof, Apollonius remarked. Supposing, oh king, that you came to my country of Tyanna, and I invited you to live where I live, would you care to do so? The king answered, why no, unless I had a house to live in that was big enough to accommodate not only my escort and bodyguard, but myself as well in a handsome manner. Said the other, then I may use the same argument to you, for if I am housed above my rank, I shall live ill at ease, for superfluity distresses wise men more than deficiency distresses you. Let me therefore be entertained by some private person who has the same means as myself, and I will visit you as often as you like. The king conceded this point, lest he should be betrayed into doing anything that might annoy him, and Apollonius took up his quarters with a gentleman of Babylon, of good character, and besides, high-minded. But before he had finished dinner, one of the eunuchs who carry messages presented himself and addressed him thus. He said, the king bestows upon you ten presents and leaves you free to name them, but he is anxious that you should not ask for small trifles, for he wishes to exhibit to you and to us his generosity. Apollonius commended the message and asked, then when am I to ask for them? And the messenger replied, tomorrow, and at once went off to all the king's friends and kinsmen and bade them to be present when the sage should prefer his demand and receive the honor. But Damus says that he expected him to ask for nothing because he had studied his character and knew that he offered to the gods the following prayer. Oh ye gods, grant unto me to have little and to want nothing. However, as he saw him much preoccupied, and as it were brooding, he determined that he was going to ask and was anxiously turning over his mind what he should ask. But at eventide, Apollonius said, Damus, I am thinking over with myself the question of why the barbarians have regarded the eunuchs as men sufficiently chased to be allowed the free entry of the women's apartments. Answered the other, but, oh Apollonius, a child could tell you, for in as much as the operation has deprived them of the faculty, they are freely admitted into those apartments no matter how far their wishes may go. But do you suppose the operation has removed their desires or the further aptitude? Damus replied, both, for if you extinguish in a man the unruly member that lashes the body to madness, the fit of passion will come on him no more. After a brief pause, Apollonius said, tomorrow, Damus, you shall learn that even eunuchs are liable to fall in love and that the desire which is contracted through the eyes is not extinguished in them but abides alive and ready to burst into a flame. For that will occur which will refute your opinion. And even if there were really any human art of such tyrannic force that it could expel such feelings from the heart, I do not see how we could ever attribute to them any chastity of character, seeing that they would have no choice having been by sheer force and artificially deprived of the faculty of falling in love. For chastity consists in not yielding to passion when the longing and impulses felt and in the abstinence which rises superior to this form of madness. Accordingly, Damus answered and said, here is a thing that we will examine another time, oh Apollonius, but we had better consider now what answer you can make tomorrow to the king's magnificent offer. For you will perhaps ask for nothing at all, but you should be careful and be on your guard lest you should seem to decline any gift the king may offer, as they say, out of mere empty pride. For you see the land that you are in and that we are holy in his power. And you must be on your guard against the accusation of treating him with contempt and understand that although we have sufficient means to carry us to India, yet what we have will not be sufficient to bring us back events and we have no other supply to fall back upon. Chapter 34. And by such devices, he tried to weadle Apollonius into not refusing to take anything he might be offered. But Apollonius, by way of assisting him in his argument, said, but, O Damus, are you not going to give me some examples? Let me supply you with some. Ascanes, the son of Licinius, went off to Dionysus in Sicily in quest of money, and Plato has said thrice to have traversed Caribdis in quest of the wealth of Sicily, and Aristipus of Cyrene and Helicon of Cisigus and Pythdon of Rhaegium, when he was in exile, buried their noses so deep in the treasure houses of Dionysus that they could barely tear themselves away. Moreover, they tell of how Eudoxus and Cnidus once arrived in Egypt and both admitted that he had come there in quest of money and conversed with the king about the matter. And not to take away more characters. They say that Speusipus, the Athenian, was so fond of money that he recited festival songs when he reached Macedonia in honor of Cassander's marriage, which were frigid compositions, and that he sang these songs in public for the sake of money. Well, I think, O Damus, that a wise man runs more risk than do sailors and soldiers in action, for envy is ever assailing them. Whether he holds his tongue or speaks, whether he exerts himself or is idle, whether he passes by anything or takes care to visit anyone, whether he addresses others or neglects to address them. And so a man must fortify himself and understand that a wise man who yields to laziness or anger or passion or love of drink or who commits any other action prompted by impulse and importune will probably find his fault condoned. But if he stoops to greed, he will not be pardoned but render himself odious as a combination of all vices at once. For surely they will not allow that he could be the slave of money unless he was already the slave of his stomach or of fine raiment or of wine or of riotous living. But you perhaps imagine that it is a lesser thing to go wrong in Babylon than to go wrong at Athens or at the Olympian or Pythian games. And you do not reflect that a wise man finds Hellas everywhere and that a sage will not regard or consider any place to be a desert or barbarous because he at any rate lives under the eyes of virtue. And although he only sees a few men, yet he is himself looked at by 10,000 eyes. Now, if you came across an athlete, Damus, one of those who practice and train themselves in wrestling and boxing, surely you would require him in case you were contending in the Olympic games or went to Arcadia to be both noble in character and good. Nay more, if the Pythian or Anemian contest were going on, you would require him to take care of his physique because these arenas and race courses are well known and held in respect by Hellas. Would you then, if Philip were sacrificing with Olympic rights after capturing certain cities or if his son Alexander were holding games to celebrate his victories, tell the man forthwith to neglect the training of his body and to leave off being keen to win because the contest was to be held in Olithus or in Macedonia or in Egypt, rather than among the Hellens and on your native race courses? These then were the arguments by which Damus declares that he was so impressed as to blush at what he had said and to ask Apollonius to pardon him for having through imperfect acquaintance with him, ventured to tender him such advice and use such arguments. But the sage caught him up and said, Nevermind, for it was not by way of rebuking and humbling you that I spoke thus but in order to give you some idea of my own point of view. Chapter 35. Now when the eunuch arrived and summoned him before the king, he said, I will come as soon as I have duly discharged my religious duties. Accordingly, he sacrificed and offered his prayer and then departed and everyone looked at him and wondered at his bearing. And when he had come within, the king said, I present you with 10 gifts because I consider you such a man as never before has come hither from Hellas. And he answered and said, I will not, O king, decline all your gifts, but there is one which I prefer to many tens of gifts and for that I will most eagerly solicit. And he at once told the story of the Eritreans beginning it from the time of Datus. He said, I ask then that these poor people should not be driven away from their borders and from the hill but should be left to cultivate the span of earth which Darius allowed them. For it is very hard if they are not to be allowed to retain the land which was substituted for their own when they were driven out of the latter. The king then consented and said, the Eritreans were until yesterday the enemies of myself and of my fathers, for they once took up arms against us and they have been neglected in order that their race might perish. But henceforth they shall be written among my friends and they shall have as a satrap a good man who will judge their country justly. He said, but why will you not accept the other nine gifts? He answered, because I have not yet, O king, made any friends here. And do you yourself require nothing, said the king. He said, yes, I need dried fruits and bread, for that is a repast which delights me and which I find magnificent. Chapter 36. While they were thus conversing with one another, a hubbub was heard to proceed from the palace of eunuchs and women shrieking all at once. And in fact, an eunuch had been caught misbehaving with one of the royal concubines just as if he were an adulterer. The guards of the harem were now dragging him along by the hair in the way they do royal slaves. The senior of the eunuchs accordingly declared that he had long before noticed he had an affection for this particular lady and had already forbidden him to talk to her or touch her neck or hand or his sister toilet, though he was free to wait upon all the other members of the harem. Yet he had now caught him misbehaving as if he were the lady's lover. Apollonius there upon glanced at Deimos as if to indicate that the argument they had conducted on the point that even eunuchs fall in love was now demonstrated to be true. But the king remarked to the bystanders, nay, but it is disgraceful, gentlemen, that in the presence of Apollonius, we should be enlarging on the subject of chastity rather than he. What then, O Apollonius, do you urge us to do with him? Why, to let him live, of course, answered Apollonius to the surprise of them all. Whereupon the king reddened and said, then you do not think he deserves to die many times for thus trying to usurp my rights? Nay, but my answer, O king, was suggested not by any wish to condone his offence, but rather to meet out to him a punishment which will wear him out. For if he lives with this disease of impotence on him and can never take pleasure in eating or drinking, nor in the spectacles which delight you and your companions, and if his heart will throb as he often leaps up in his sleep, as they say is particularly the case of people in love, is there any form of consumption so wasting as this, any form of hunger so likely to enfeeble his bowels? Indeed, unless he be one of those who are ready to live at any price, he will entreat you, O king, before long even to slay him, or he will slay himself, deeply deploring that he was not put to death straight away this very day. Such was the answer rendered on this occasion by Apollonius, one so wise and humane, that the king was moved by it to spare the life of his eunuch. Chapter 37. One day the king was going to hunt the animals in the parks in which the barbarians keep lions and bears and lepers, and he asked Apollonius to accompany him on the chase, but the latter replied, You have forgotten, O king, that I never attend you even when you are sacrificing, and moreover, it is no pleasure to me to attack animals that have been ill-treated and enslaved in violation of their nature. And the king, asking him what was the most stable and secure way of governing, Apollonius answered, To respect many and confide in few. And on one occasion the governor of Syria sent a mission about two villages, which, I think, are close to the bridge, alleging that these villages had long ago been subject to Antiochus and Seleucus, but at present they were under his sway and belonged to the Romans, and that, whereas the Arabians and Armenians did not disturb these villages, yet the king had traversed so great a distance in order to exploit them as if they belonged to himself rather than to the Romans. The king sent an embassy aside and said, Oh Apollonius, these villages were given to my forefathers by the kings whom I mentioned, that they might sustain the wild animals which are taken by us in our country and sent to theirs across the Euphrates, and they, as if they had forgotten this fact, have espoused a policy that is new and unjust. What then do you think are the intentions of the embassy? Apollonius replied, Their intention, O king, is moderate and fair, seeing that they only desire to obtain from you with your consent, places which, as they are in their territory, they can equally well retain without it. And he added in his opinion that it was a mistake to quarrel with the Romans over villages so paltry that probably bigger ones were owned even by private individuals. He also said that it was a mistake to go to war even over large issues. And when the king was ill, he visited him and discoursed so weightily and in such a lofty strain about his soul that the king recovered and said to his courtiers that Apollonius had so wrought upon him that he now felt a contempt, not only for his kingdom, but also for death. Chapter 38. One day the king was showing to him the grotto under the Euphrates and asked him what he thought of so wonderfully thing. Apollonius in answer belittled the wonder of the work and said, It would be a real miracle, O king, if you went dry shot through the river as deep as this and as unfortable. And when he was shown the walls of Ekbatana and was told that they were the dwelling place of gods, he remarked, They are not the dwelling place of gods at all. And I am not sure that they are of real men either. For, O king, the inhabitants of the city of Lachidaimone do not dwell within walls and have never fortified their city. Moreover, on one occasion, the king had decided a suit for some villages and was boasting to Apollonius of how he had listened to the one suit for two whole days, said the other. Well, you took a mighty long time anyhow to find out what was just. And when the revenues from the subject country came in on one occasion in great quantities at once, the king opened his treasury and showed his wealth to the sage and induced him to fall in love with wealth. But he admired nothing that he saw and said, This for you, O king, represents wealth, but to me it is mere chaff, said the other. How, then, and in what matter can I best make use of it? He said, By spending it for you are a king. Chapter 39. And he addressed many such sayings to the king and found him ready to do what he advised him when finding that he had had enough of the society of the Magi, he said to Damus, Come, let us start for India, for the people who visited the lotus eaters and the ships were seduced from their own home principles by the food, and we, without tasting any of the victuals of this land, have remained here a longer time than is right and fitting. Damus said, And I am more than of your opinion, and as I bore in mind the period of time which you discovered by the help of the lioness, I was waiting on for it to be completed. Now it has not yet all of it expired, for we have so far only spent a year and four months. However, if we can depart at once, it would be as well, said the other. But the king will not let us go, O Damus, before the eighth month has passed. For you, I think, see that he is a worthy man and too superior a person to be ruling over barbarians. CHAPTER 40 When at last they were resolved on their departure, and the king had consented that they should go away, Apollonius remembered the presence which he had put off till he should have acquired friends, and he said, O excellent king, I have in no way renumerated my host, and I owe a reward to the Magi. Do you, therefore, attend to them and oblige me by bestowing your favors on men who are both wise and wholly devoted to yourself? The king, then, was more than delighted and said, I will show you tomorrow how much I value them, and what great rewards I hold them to have earned. But since you ask for nothing that is mine, I hope you will at least allow these gentlemen to accept from me whatever money they like. And he pointed to Damus and his companions. And when they too declined the offer, Apollonius said, You see, O king, how many hands I have, and how closely they resemble one another. The king said, But do you anyhow take a guide and camels on which to ride, for the road is too long by far for you to walk the whole of it? Apollonius said, Be it so, O king, for they say that the road is a difficult one for him who is not so mounted, and moreover, this animal is easily fed and finds his pasture easily where there is no fodder. And, me thinks, we must lay in a supply of water also and take it in bottles like wine. The king said, Yes, for three days the country is waterless, but after that there are plenty of rivers and springs, but you must take the road over the Caucasus, for there you will find plenty of the necessities of life and the country is friendly. And the king then asked him what he would bring back to him from his destination, and he answered, A graceful gift, O king, for if I am turned into a wiser man by the society of people yonder, I shall return to you here a better man than I am now. When he said this, the king embraced him and said, May you come back, for that will indeed be a great gift. End of volume one, book one.