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A SKETCH OF THE LIFE 
 
 Apollonius of Tyana 
 
 OR THE 
 
 FIRST TEN DECADES OF OUR ERA 
 
 BY 
 
 Daniel M. T'R edwell-Q- 
 
 “ e H aocptac TC7JY 7 ] e pset.” 
 
 — Old A dage 
 
 3 ? 
 
 NEW-YORK 
 
 FREDERIC TREDWELL, 78 NASSAU ST. 
 
 1886 
 
 BOSTON r >' r ^ 
 
 LIBRARY 
 HILL, MASS, 
 
Copyright, 1886, by Frederic Tredwell. 
 
A 
 
 / \ 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Apollonius. 
 
 Prefatory Chapter. 
 
 Born at Tyana... 
 
 Put to School at Tarsus.. 
 
 Removes with his Master to JEgm . 
 
 Death of his Father.. 
 
 Distributes his Estate left by his Father to 
 
 his Relatives... 
 
 Spends Five Years in Silence under the Py¬ 
 thagorean Code. 
 
 Quells a Riot in Aspendus .. 
 
 Visits Antioch.. 
 
 “ many Cities and Temples of Syria. 
 
 Travels into India . 
 
 Meets Damis at Ninus. 
 
 Returns to Antioch.. 
 
 Goes to Seleucia... 
 
 Takes Ship for Cyprus. 
 
 Visits Paphos, Temples, etc. ... 
 
 Ship puts in at Rhodes. 
 
 Continues his Journey to Ephesus. 
 
 Visits Smyrna. 
 
 iii 
 
 * > O < $ < 
 
 > i ' % % 
 
 %3 O 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 I 
 
 28 
 
 42 
 
 44 
 
 48 
 
 49 
 
 58 
 
 59 
 61 
 66 
 
 71 
 
 72 
 
 77 
 
 78 
 
 79 
 82 
 
 85 
 
 86 
 
 92 
 
IV 
 
 CONTENTS, 
 
 Apollonius. page. 
 
 Visits Pergamus. 96 
 
 “ Ilium, Tomb of Achilles. 97 
 
 Sails for Lemnos. 101 
 
 Visits Tomb of Palamedes at Methymna. 101 
 
 Goes to Samos, Mytilene. 105 
 
 Sails for Athens. 108 
 
 Visits Oracle of Delphi ... 126 
 
 “ Thermopylae. 127 
 
 “ Dodona. 128 
 
 “ Marathon. 130 
 
 “ Academy of Plato. 131 
 
 “ Eleusis, Temples, Mysteries. 131 
 
 “ Megara. 132 
 
 “ Corinth. 133 
 
 “ Olympian Games. 135 
 
 “ Sparta. 140 
 
 “ Epidaurus. 143 
 
 Sails for Crete... 144 
 
 Visits Gnossus. 146 
 
 Sails for Rome. 146 
 
 Lands at Puteoli, Italy. 147 
 
 Visits Rome, under Nero. 151 
 
 Arrested for High Treason. 154 
 
 Escapes, and goes to Spain. 166 
 
 Visits Gades. 167 
 
 “ Africa, Carthage. 178 
 
 “ Sicily, Lilyb^eum. 179 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 v 
 
 Apollonius. page. 
 
 Visits Agrigentum. 182 
 
 “ Syracuse. 185 
 
 “ ^Etna, Catana. 187 
 
 Sails for Greece.:. 191 
 
 Visits Leucadia. 191 
 
 “ Corinth. 192 
 
 “ Athens. 192 
 
 “ Chios. 194 
 
 “ Rhodes. 195 
 
 “ Cnidus. 200 
 
 Sails for Egypt .. 200 
 
 Arrives at Alexandria. 200 
 
 Visits Sais. 233 
 
 “ Heliopolis. 234 
 
 “ Memphis. 236 
 
 “ The Pyramids. * . 237 
 
 “ Antinoe, Lycopolis. 239 
 
 “ COPTOS . 240 
 
 “ Thebes. 241 
 
 “ Phil^e, Memnon. 244 
 
 “ The Gymnosophists. 250 
 
 “ Pentapolis. 270 
 
 Returns to Alexandria. 274 
 
 Visits Idumea. 275 
 
 “ Phcenicia. 275 
 
 “ Tarsus. 281 
 
 “ Smyrna. 287 
 
VI 
 
 CONTENTS . 
 
 Apollonius. page. 
 
 Visits Corinth. 290 
 
 “ Puteoli. 292 
 
 “ Rome, under Domitian ... 302 
 
 “ Surrenders to the Authorities. 302 
 
 “ Imprisoned. 304 
 
 Interview with Domitian. 312 
 
 Sent back to Prison. 314 
 
 Brought out for Trial. 319 
 
 Charges made. 320 
 
 Makes his Defense. 321 
 
 Ends his Defense. 343 
 
 Returns to Puteoli. 344 
 
 Sails for Sicily. 345 
 
 Visits Syracuse. 345 
 
 Sails for Greece. 345 
 
 Visits Olympia. 346 
 
 Goes into Ionia, Smyrna, Ephesus. 347 
 
 Death. 348 
 
 Summary. 349 
 
PREFATORY CHAPTER. 
 
 THE PRETEXT, THE PURPOSE, AND THE METHOD. 
 
 I T is a custom too much observed even among 
 Christian teachers to extol the traditionary virtues 
 of Zoroaster, Confucius, Christna, and Buddha to 
 the prejudice of our Blessed Redeemer . 1 There is 
 nothing in these allegorical biographies which rises in 
 sublimity to the miracles of our Lord or the simplicity 
 of his life. Nor are they entitled to equal considera- 
 
 1 Moncure D. Conway, M. A., in 
 Modern Thought, says : “ The world 
 has been for a long time engaged in 
 writing lives of Jesus. In the fourth 
 gospel it is said, ‘ There are also 
 many other things that Jesus did, 
 the which, if they should be written 
 every one, I suppose that even the 
 world itself could not contain the 
 books that should be written. Amen.’ 
 The library of such books has grown 
 since then. But when we come to 
 examine them one startling fact con¬ 
 
 fronts us : all of these books relate 
 to a personage concerning whom 
 there does not exist a single scrap 
 of contemporary information — not 
 one ! By accepted tradition he was 
 born in the reign of Augustus, the 
 great literary age of the nation of 
 which he was a subject. In the 
 Augustan Age historians flourished; 
 poets, orators, critics, and travelers 
 abounded. Yet not one mentions 
 even the name of Jesus Christ, much 
 less any incident of his life. It is 
 
2 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 tion as historical relations. They rest upon no such 
 reliable substratum of history as the life and doctrines 
 of Jesus. # # * And I here challenge any man to 
 
 produce from the accumulated dust of eighteen centu¬ 
 ries a record of the life, sayings, and doings of any 
 personage so well attested and by so many reputable 
 witnesses as is that of our Saviour in the account of 
 Matthew. ”— Brooklyn Clergyman. 
 
 We refrain from giving the name of the author of the 
 foregoing quoted words on the ground that he may 
 deem it unfair to be put in a position not of his own 
 seeking, where he may be called upon to defend an 
 utterance made five years ago; and more especially 
 as he has greatly modified his views on the subject 
 of revelation. 
 
 We however accept the challenge, and not in a humor 
 of bravado or conceit, nor as a contest for victory, but 
 with a sincere desire to discover the truth. 
 
 The character which we have selected for this experi- 
 mentum crucis is that of Apollonius of Tyana. He 
 seems especially fitted for this ordeal, inasmuch as he 
 is said to have been a contemporary of Jesus, born in 
 
 true that there are other great men 
 who appear to have been overlooked 
 or little noticed in contemporaneous 
 literature. It is a matter of astonish¬ 
 ment that from the Elizabethan Age 
 we have so few contemporary notices 
 of Shakespeare; yet that poet is men- 
 tionedby at least twenty of his cotem¬ 
 poraries. Of Jesus we have not one 
 notice, not the faintest, slightest sen¬ 
 tence or word on which history can fix 
 as certain evidence that lie lived at all. ” 
 
 Charles Francis Dupuis, a cele¬ 
 brated French philosopher, in his 
 Origins de tons les Cultes , A. D. 
 1794, vii. 358, has not hesitated to 
 say that the fact of such a person as 
 Jesus of Nazareth having ever ex¬ 
 isted is but a doubtful one, and that 
 the account we have of the life of 
 Christ should be altogether regarded 
 as another allegory of the sun, more 
 bungling than that of Osiris or 
 Hercules. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 3 
 
 the year one of our era. It is claimed that he was 
 divinely conceived, and that he came with a revelation 
 as the saviour of humanity. At all events, his written 
 life is surrounded by a halo of miraculous phenomena 
 almost identical with that recorded by Matthew in his 
 gospel of Jesus Christ. And while Jesus is said to have 
 been casting out devils in Galilee, Apollonius was, 
 according to a tradition quite as trustworthy, render¬ 
 ing mankind a similar service in Greece. “ The age,” 
 says the Westminster Review , January, 1882, page 3, 
 “ abounded in impostors arrogating to themselves the 
 attributes and prerogatives of divine messengers, boast¬ 
 ing themselves the vehicles of divine revelation, and 
 fattening upon the superstition and credulity of the 
 multitude who always believed in the last incarnation, 
 and pronounced all antecedent pretenders impostors. 
 The most celebrated of these was Apollonius of 
 Tyana, who obtained a measure of success second 
 only to that of Christ. He advocated a morality and 
 virtue far in advance of the religious sentiments of his 
 age.” 1 
 
 Although from the very beginning of this inquiry 
 to its final termination we have never regretted the 
 undertaking,— for the pleasure of the pursuit has been 
 intense, and our enthusiasm has never flagged,—yet we 
 
 l Lecky, in his History of Euro¬ 
 pean Morals , says : “ Apollonius of 
 Tyana, at the close of the Flavian 
 period, endeavored, with noble pur¬ 
 pose, to unite moral teaching with 
 religious practices ; the oracles, 
 which had long ceased, were par¬ 
 tially restored under Antoninus. 
 
 The calamities and visible decline 
 of the empire withdrew the minds 
 of men from that proud patriotic 
 worship of Roman greatness. It was 
 this worship, imbued with the high¬ 
 est moral doctrines or stoicism,which 
 Apollonius labored to restore.”— 
 Leckfs Morals, vol. i. p. 339. 
 
4 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 must, in some confusion, confess that it was an un¬ 
 guarded moment when we took up the gauntlet, for 
 from our point of view this subject (sacerdotalism and 
 its contingents) has been wonderfully overvalued and 
 overwrought by the greater intellects of the world, and 
 that it has never furnished results to humanity com¬ 
 mensurate with the mental outlay; the crafty ones 
 cannot avoid confessing that we are reaping from 
 this contention-strewn field of eighteen hundred years 
 but an indifferent harvest; that in blood and treasures 
 the gospel experiment has been a dearly bought and 
 sterile luxury. 
 
 As to this unassuming volume, the compensation for 
 the time and labor devoted to it has not been in the 
 dethronement of the little fetich of the very learned 
 divine who challenged to the combat, and who was 
 forgotten on the very threshold of the work, and 
 never again thought of during its progress, but in the 
 substratum of historic and literary wealth which has 
 been unearthed by the necessary subsoil process of 
 the work; and in scientific issues and literary adven¬ 
 tures extending beyond the compass of the subject; as 
 well as the extension and broadening of the horizon of 
 knowledge, all of which have been an impulsion, and 
 have entered into the spirit of the book. 
 
 It is true, however, that we have by implication here 
 arraigned for construction a written instrument (Mat¬ 
 thew’s gospel), which has arrogated to itself issues 
 more important to mankind than all the instruments 
 put upon trial for construction, legal or otherwise, since 
 the foundation of courts having competent jurisdiction. 
 And not only this gospel itself, but there are also 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 5 
 
 many specious and evasive issues involved by its apol¬ 
 ogists, all made significant only from the personal 
 interest which has clustered about it (the gospel), and 
 not from any primary importance to mankind, which 
 are necessarily brought under the ban of this work. 
 
 The ingenious and interlarded fictions of Eusebius, 
 Lardner, Renan, Strauss and Schenkel, which were 
 pregnant with great promises of enlightenment, have 
 done nothing save the entailment of vast complexities 
 upon the subject. They have with consummate strategy 
 always avoided the real question at issue, and led the 
 army of earnest inquirers through devious and un¬ 
 familiar paths away from the direct road, until it has 
 become infinitely a greater mental effort to recover the 
 lost trail than to have originally solved the whole 
 problem. Their biography of Jesus is, what they 
 would have it, seen through the film of their ancestral 
 and educational bias, rather than what it is from the 
 record. 
 
 The superstructure of the biography of Apollonius, 
 like that of Jesus, is upon miracle; the partisans of 
 each lay claim to the supernatural, the logic and argu¬ 
 ment of which we deem unworthy of altercation by 
 any zealous historian, no matter what their quality or 
 the nature of their attestation. We do not mean to 
 say that a miracle may not be sufficiently attested to 
 entitle it to belief; but we do mean to say with Hume, 
 “ that no amount of testimony can make it true.” We 
 have read the wonderful miracles of Jesus and of Apol¬ 
 lonius, and shall not demur to any vantage ground the 
 partisans of either may feel that they have obtained 
 from the assumption of their sublime pretensions. To 
 
6 
 
 PREFACE, 
 
 sustain ourselves, however, against the charge of dis¬ 
 dainfully treating a subject so important, and so con¬ 
 clusive, professedly, to others, we have devoted an 
 introductory chapter to our reasons for discarding all 
 miraculous events from our history. Our reasons are 
 by no means original or new; they have been com¬ 
 mon property of all thinking men and women for ages. 
 Their logical arrangement may be somewhat novel, 
 and may, in consequence of their new mountings, strike 
 home with a force never before felt. Miracles, although 
 more or less impertinent to our subject, would probably 
 not have been thought of here had not John Henry 
 Newman, D. D., in his Life of Apollonius Tyaneus , 
 thought proper to supplement his work with a disser¬ 
 tation covering nearly fifty pages, on The Miracles of 
 Scripture , drawing strong contrasts between them and 
 those of Apollonius. 
 
 Now, as above stated, we do not deem our reasons 
 or arguments entirely new; yet we shall consider it no 
 compliment to be merely told that they are as new, as 
 original, and as conclusive, as the faded arguments 
 presented by John Henry Newman in favor of the 
 Christ miracles and against all others. 
 
 Our only apology for this chapter on miracles is, that 
 we have been seduced into the folly by the example 
 and the vagaries of that great man. 
 
 From the reservoir of human experience we learn at 
 least one great truth, that the succession of events is an 
 endless chain of effects which are in their turn causes 
 to new effects, all fully related and conditioned, and 
 which constitute individually and collectively the 
 sublimest truths in the universe. Buckle says : “ Every 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 7 
 
 new fact is the necessary product of antecedent facts, 
 and both providence and free will are delusions.” We 
 therefore make the demand, and think it a reasonable 
 one, that the stupendous claim of departures in the 
 sequence of the phenomenal world, or miracles, asserted 
 upon the authority either of individual or of divine 
 revelation, should be established upon tests correspond¬ 
 ingly clear and free from doubt and possible fraud. 
 How far sound reason may justify an acceptance of 
 these phenomena and the testimony upon which they 
 are presented for our acceptance as demonstrated and 
 demonstrable truths, we hope may be made manifest 
 by our method of analysis in this introduction. 
 
 Truth is defined by Lewes as “ a correspondence 
 in the order of ideas with the order of phenomena.” 
 More briefly we should say a conformity of thoughts 
 with things, a conformity of that which is, to that 
 which has been, and deductively to that which is 
 to be. 
 
 To know how forces operated in the past and will 
 operate in the future we must observe them to-day. 
 
 It was Descartes who first grappled determinedly 
 with this great question, the substitution of fixed law 
 for the “ caprice of deity,” but the conception ante¬ 
 dated him. Finally Auguste Comte grasped the 
 problem in its length, breadth, and height; he saw 
 momentous practical issues to humanity involved in its 
 proper solution. He also saw and comprehended the 
 dangers of the evading and solvent forces of the meta¬ 
 physical methods to which it was held captive, as well 
 as the constructive value of a positive science; hence 
 his positive philosophy and the establishment of his 
 
8 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 religion of humanity. Mr. Mill, on reviewing Comte’s 
 theory, 1 says: “ The transition is steadily proceeding 
 from the metaphysical to the positive method of thought, 
 which is destined finally to prevail by the recognition 
 that all phenomena without exception are governed by 
 invariable laws into which no violations either natural 
 or supernatural intrude,” and hence truth , the avowed 
 purpose of the present inquiry, may be methodically 
 recognized in its compliance with the laws of motion, 
 gravity, conservation of energy and the canons of proof. 
 Its antitheses are error and falsehood. 
 
 Now while the foregoing axiom is the substratum 
 upon which rests all demonstrable science, there is 
 nevertheless much irregularity introduced into the 
 method of approach through an improper definition or 
 comprehension of the distinction between error and 
 falsehood; too frequently mistaking the one for the 
 other. Error is the common prelude to truth, and may 
 be the product of a formulated problem, falsehood never; 
 it can have no premise. Error courts investigation; it 
 is evanescent and fades away under the light of modern 
 inductive science. Falsehood seeks exemption from 
 every scientific regime, and recoils from the light and 
 scrutiny of investigation, and, in default of conformity 
 to immutable law, postulates its own canon, and sets 
 up a claim to miraculous interposition; such is revela¬ 
 tion. But error being formulated accedes to the dis¬ 
 cipline and conditions of the scientific ritual which it 
 assimilates in its widening and progressive experiences; 
 such is physical science. Nearly all the great truths 
 
 1 Systeme de Politique Positive, ou Religion deVhumanite: par Auguste 
 Traite de Sociologie, Instituant la Comte. (Paris, 1851-54.) 
 
PREFA CE. 
 
 9 
 
 of science stand out against a background of error; 
 while no great truth is rooted in falsehood. 
 
 When Darwin sought the establishment of any great 
 truth he discarded all elements except those founded 
 in the order of nature and the soundest and most 
 incontestable scientific induction. 
 
 For the establishment of new truths, as distinguished 
 from the perpetuation of old falsehoods, in the histori¬ 
 cal as in the phenomenal world, the scientific method 
 must be pursued regardless of all supernatural agencies; 
 and to the extent that we increase our knowledge or 
 amplify our storehouse of experiences, from all time 
 past and present, to that extent shall we become poten¬ 
 tial to emancipate ourselves and our philosophy from 
 the allegiance of all invisible and unknown powers and 
 representatives. And in reviewing past experiences 
 we shall discover that the physical and the known 
 have gradually arrogated the realm of the spiritual 
 and unknown. Every mysterious and unknown phe¬ 
 nomenon explained scientifically and brought within 
 the field of the known, is a victory for truth, a result 
 which expels the mysterious and omnipotent out of 
 just so much of the universe ; for just so certain as 
 light and truth penetrate the hidden recesses of phe¬ 
 nomena, the lurking-places of the unknown and 
 unknowable, just so certain God retires, and the con¬ 
 summation of all scientific truth will be the “last sad 
 requiem of the Gods.” “The omnipotence of God and 
 a crucified Saviour,” says Spinoza, “ is the refuge of 
 ignorance, and it is magnified in its mystery as a fog 
 magnifies the sun.” “ The potentiality of the hand 
 that unnerved Belshazzar lies in the fact that it was 
 
 2 
 
IO 
 
 PREFACE . 
 
 attached to no body.” “ Every one truth,” says the 
 Duke of Argyle, “ is connected with every other truth 
 in the universe; there can be no two truths with 
 antagonistic relations.” Science and dogma may stip¬ 
 ulate, but no truth will ever be the product of their 
 united efforts. This is demonstrated in the sad failure 
 attending the efforts of some truly devoted men who 
 have attempted a matrimonial alliance between science 
 and revealed religion, the folly of which effort can 
 only be condoned in the multitude of services these 
 excellent men have rendered humanity in other de¬ 
 partments. I speak of such men as Mivart, Bunsen, 
 S. Baring-Gould, Muller, etc., who, with all their 
 efforts at reconciliation, have succeeded only in re¬ 
 affirming an old truism, “ that science was conceived 
 in antagonism to all revealed religion,” and that in the 
 final judgment one or the other must go to the wall, 
 unless there is a repeal of the law of contradiction. 
 There is, however, a set of intellectual Grahamites 
 whose appetites are satisfied with the husks of truth, 
 and who entertain but narrowly conceived notions of 
 the capacity of a healthy mental organism; these men 
 with great parade and sound of trumpets retail their 
 weak decoctions of science to unaccustomed ears, who 
 listen and applaud their bombastic promises of enlight¬ 
 enment, and have not the sagacity to detect the fraud 
 or discover the barrenness of the results. 
 
 The applause received by Joseph Cook as a scientific 
 lecturer before religious audiences stimulated him to 
 higher flights. His appearance before the scientific 
 world was not unlike that of the street showman who 
 had been so successful in tricks performed with a 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 II 
 
 monkey that he was encouraged to practice them 
 with a bear, which resulted in a discontinuance of the 
 business. 
 
 A great scientist has said that “ all error is truth 
 gone astray,” but I should rather say that error is 
 undeveloped truth, such as the old explanation of the 
 perturbations in the orbit of the planet Uranus. The 
 relations of alchemy to chemistry, astrology to astron¬ 
 omy, are also illustrations of this great truth, while 
 the Buddhistic, Mohammedan, Roman, and Pagan re¬ 
 ligions are not classed as errors ; they are false religions, 
 they have no premise in their high claim as a divine 
 revelation. It was formerly the method in our investi¬ 
 gations after truth to suspend all our hypotheses and 
 platforms from the sky, but Auguste Comte taught us 
 that all our scaffoldings for a perfect and invulnerable 
 structure must in the future be firmly planted on the 
 earth, or in experience. The completest apprehension 
 we can acquire of the true in a phenomenon is that 
 based upon personal experience or the evidence of our 
 senses — certainties ; the next is that achieved by dem¬ 
 onstration, next by positive testimony of eye-witnesses, 
 and the lowest of all comprehension of the true in 
 phenomena is that derived from probabilities or accords 
 and discords. That which we see is truth ; that which 
 is communicated to us by others is evidence, testimony, 
 and may or may not be true. A dogma or the pro¬ 
 scription by authority does not necessarily contain any 
 element of truth. 
 
 In order that a historical relation be recognized as 
 truth, it does not follow that it must be in harmony 
 with all known experience. The statements of a known 
 
12 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 respectable historian living near enough to the scene 
 and time of the events he narrates to guarantee the 
 probability of his competent information upon the sub¬ 
 ject, is entitled to our confidence; even his opinions, 
 persuasions, common beliefs, and reasonings become 
 legitimate elements of history, providing he nowhere 
 transcends the sphere of known facts or rational prob¬ 
 ability, and providing also that his statements have not 
 been transmitted to us through polluted channels by 
 interested and designing men. All such statements, 
 opinions, persuasions, and beliefs we accept upon a 
 standard of personal conviction growing out of the 
 harmony or combination of all these taken together, 
 and which experience has disciplined the mind to 
 approve simultaneously with their announcement. 
 
 It was said by an early explorer that the New Zea¬ 
 landers were intelligent, brave, but cruel. Another has 
 said that they were ignorant, cowardly, but kind. The 
 mind cannot accept both, but does not revolt at either 
 of these enormously conflicting statements ; either may 
 be true, but, as ethnological facts, both cannot. One 
 of the narrators is in error, and we set about collecting 
 facts and drawing our own conclusions, when we en¬ 
 counter another adventurer who says that the New 
 Zealanders carry their heads under their arms detached 
 from their bodies. A unanimous verdict is at once 
 rendered against the statement of the last writer, be¬ 
 cause it transgresses well-known laws of nature, and 
 antagonizes all experiential truth. It has no physical 
 relation with anything of which we have experience, 
 and is cut off by an insurmountable barrier from all 
 the true (to us) in the universe„ 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 13 
 
 Thus, while the mind readily accepts either of the 
 first-named conflicting statements without testimony 
 above the naked recital, it instantly and firmly rejects 
 the third. And it would be only folly to attempt to 
 convince the logically constituted mind of the truth of 
 the third statement, upon the same quantity or the like 
 quality of proof which would be conclusive under the 
 first and second; for to the extent that a statement 
 implicates unfamiliar phenomena, to that extent must 
 its attestation be profuse and decisive, unless to the 
 mind dwarfed and diseased by long discipline and 
 training. 
 
 A philosopher of the higher consciousness type says 
 (arguing in favor of miracles): “ My father died before 
 the electric telegraph came into use, and my grand¬ 
 father before steam was applied to purposes of locomo¬ 
 tion. Had the one been told that it was possible to 
 communicate with England in forty seconds, the other 
 that a journey between New York and Philadelphia 
 could be accomplished in ninety minutes, they each 
 would have pronounced their informant a mendacious 
 idiot.” The allegory is not entirely clear, unless to show 
 the wisdom of the ancestors of my philosophical friend. 
 But if he expects me to believe in the miraculous events 
 related in the Life of Apollonius because my father and 
 grandfather in their wisdom believed in them, then he 
 is a mendacious idiot; but if he will demonstrate ex¬ 
 perimentally before my eyes as plainly as present com¬ 
 munication with England that it can be done, then I am 
 a mendacious idiot if I longer doubt it. 
 
 Now, if we discover in the phenomena which have 
 provoked this discussion the relation of events which 
 
14 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 transcend the customary and known experiences of life, 
 so shall we expect their demonstration, proof, and proba¬ 
 bilities correspondingly to transcend in unanimous attes¬ 
 tation an ordinary historical relation attested by personal 
 conviction. For nothing can be plainer than that the 
 relation of an extraordinary event arouses doubt above 
 that of an ordinary one ; it disturbs the mental inertia, 
 and the mind is set in motion in a direction antagoniz¬ 
 ing the event, to meet which there must not only be 
 proof sufficient to verify an ordinary historical event, 
 but also and first a certain amount of demonstrative 
 force must be expended to allay the opposition and to 
 bring the mind to that receptive state in which it must 
 be to receive an ordinary account. As with the New 
 Zealanders, the first relation comes entirely within the 
 sphere of probability or personal experience, for some 
 savages are cruel, others kind ; some intelligent, others 
 ignorant; but in the third statement the story is sur¬ 
 rounded with a halo of improbabilities, and lies entirely 
 without the sphere of all known experience, within 
 which every event must be brought or experience 
 widened before it can become accepted truth. 
 
 The naked statement of the most excellent man whom 
 all personal experience affirms never told a falsehood, 
 will certainly not avail to bring conviction unsupported; 
 for while we have no experience of men who carry their 
 heads under their arms, we have an abundant experi¬ 
 ence that some of the best men will lie , 1 and sometimes 
 
 l Saint Augustine (Aurelius Au¬ 
 gustinus), the most illustrious of all 
 the Latin fathers of the Church, was 
 born a pagan at Tagasta in Nu- 
 
 midia, A. d. 354. He has left more 
 literature than any man of his day, 
 and which has had more influence 
 as evidence in proof of a pure spirit- 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 15 
 
 without any apparent motive; and what one man has 
 been known to do sometimes without any apparent 
 motive, another may do frequently for a consideration, 
 and thus the falsehood may be confirmed by a second and 
 third, until it becomes epidemic and everybody affirms 
 it; for upon the best authority— personal experience — 
 we know that the belief of multitudes is contagious; 
 and when a godly narrative becomes too occult to be 
 accepted upon the acclamations of the multitude, then 
 it either appeals to the supernatural or retires beyond 
 the jurisdiction of experiential science for ratification. 
 
 No one probably ever comprehended this truth with 
 more force than the great prophet of the Latter-day 
 
 ual life than any writings aside from 
 the New Testament; in fact, it 
 ranks next to the gospel. In his 
 youth he taught grammar and rhet¬ 
 oric at Carthage and Rome; he was 
 also professor of rhetoric and phi¬ 
 losophy at Milan. Under the 
 preaching of Saint Ambrose in 368, 
 Augustine experienced a decided 
 conversion. He was shortly or¬ 
 dained a priest, and afterward be¬ 
 came Bishop of Hippo. He first 
 distinguished himself at the Council 
 of Carthage, A. D. 401, for his un¬ 
 ostentatious piety, eloquence, and 
 Christian logic. No praise was too 
 great to be heaped upon this holy 
 man by his brethren, or by posterity. 
 He was truly a representative Chris¬ 
 tian of all ages. In his published 
 sermons printed at Paris, 1679-1700, 
 in II volumes folio (republished in 
 1836,22 vols.), we find in his thirty- 
 third sermon addressed to a conven¬ 
 
 tion of reverend brethren, this state¬ 
 ment : “ I did myself, while Bishop 
 of Hippo in Africa, preach the gos¬ 
 pel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus 
 Christ to whole nations of men and 
 women that had no heads but had 
 eyes in their bosoms ; and in coun¬ 
 tries further still in the interior, I 
 preached to a whole nation, among 
 whom each individual had but one 
 eye, and that situate in the middle 
 of the forehead .”—Syntagma of the 
 Evidences of the Christian Religion, 
 etc., by Rev. R. Taylor, A. B., p. 
 52 ; Tillemont, Vie de Saint Augus¬ 
 tine (in Ecc. Hist.), 1657; Ponjou- 
 lat, Vita Sancti Augustini, 1646; 
 Ecclesiastical Memoirs , Rivius, Pa- 
 Iceoromaica, 1822, p. 357; Ancient 
 Metaphysics, vol. iv. p. 92 ; cf. His¬ 
 tory of the Conflict between Re¬ 
 ligion and Science, by John W. 
 Draper, M. D., IX. D. (New York, 
 i8 75 ), P- 5 7 , etc. 
 
16 
 
 PREFACE . 
 
 Saints, Joseph Smith. He took every precaution to 
 have his Book of Mormon overwhelmingly attested. It 
 was certified by John Cowdrey and eight other wit¬ 
 nesses, all men well known, and some of them persons 
 who up to this time were noted for being men of good 
 character, and none of them noted for untruthfulness. 
 Their attestation is in the following words : 
 
 “ Be it known unto all nations, kindreds, tongues, 
 and peoples unto whom this work shall come, that we, 
 through the grace of God the Father and our Lord 
 Jesus Christ, have seen the plates which contain the 
 record; that the translation is correct, and was attested 
 by an angel in our presence.” This statement was 
 subscribed by all the parties (except the angel), and 
 sworn to before a justice of the peace. It is the best 
 attested book in the world. 
 
 It is a threadbare argument, and it appears to me a 
 meritless one, that it is easier to believe an improbable 
 story, attested by respectable men, than to set aside as 
 perjurers those who have attested it; but this is not 
 true, for if the Book of Mormon were sworn to by the 
 whole convocation of Latter-day Saints, it would not 
 change its status one iota with any intelligent man or 
 woman. They furthermore urge for the Book of Mor¬ 
 mon that it is a divine revelation, and favored of God, 
 upon the obdurate fact that its proselytes reached the 
 unparalleled number of 350,000 in less than fifty years, 
 four times as many as Christianity made in three times 
 the number of years. But all this can’t save it, for it 
 is, notwithstanding its assumptions, a prodigious fraud. 
 
 The great problem, however, which we find mature 
 and awaiting deliverance under the present discussion, 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 1 7 
 
 is : What is the status and relative value of the two 
 records, Matthew and Philostratus, as historical men¬ 
 tors ? Is there any exclusive privilege which we are 
 bound to accord to one of these narratives which we 
 are compelled to withhold from the other ? Shall one 
 of them be privileged to challenge the historic domain 
 at the exclusion of the other, equally well authenticated ? 
 If not, and this is a free field, we wish to be heard. 
 “ An honest inquiry into the truth of the gospel,” Mr. 
 Moody tells us, “ is not only every man’s privilege, but 
 every man’s duty; but,” he significantly and in genuine 
 orthodox logic adds, “ should we conclude that it is not 
 true then we will surely be damned.” 
 
 With this sketch of our method of treating phenom¬ 
 ena called miraculous, we shall proceed with our Life 
 of Apollonius of Tyana in answer to the challenge, 
 amplifying with notes, as we may deem necessary from 
 time to time, for the better illustrating our sketch. 
 
 A prominent feature of our work is the bibliographi¬ 
 cal references, which cover a very important and hereto¬ 
 fore almost unexplored field of literature. Nor are our 
 numismatic references without their value. 
 
 Flatbush, L. I., 1886. 
 
 D. M. T. 
 
u 
 
 LIFE OF 
 
 APOLLONIUS OF TYANA. 
 
 C T us roll back the curtain of partisan bitterness 
 which has veiled for eighteen centuries the real 
 history of the first ten decades of our era, and 
 essay to construct upon the remains of ruined temples, 
 works of art, the broken and defaced monuments, per¬ 
 verted and interpolated records-—the only unimpeach¬ 
 able heritage we possess of this past age—a panorama 
 of the geographic and historic events of that portion of 
 the Roman empire lying around and adjacent to the 
 eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea. The success 
 of our efforts, of course, much depends upon antecedent 
 preparation and present enthusiasm for our work, and 
 we hope the reader will observe a punctilious conser¬ 
 vatism as we lay in the background of neutral tints, 
 adjustable to any phase, which the development of new 
 facts may justify us in tracing upon the surface of our 
 
 19 
 
20 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 ideal panorama. 1 Of all the events of this land and this 
 age about to engage our attention, the most memorable 
 is, that it witnessed the last of a series of prodigies ; the 
 end of a long line of incarnations and avatars ; the 
 closing out of a stock in remainders of miracles and of 
 divinely appointed and commissioned personages, which 
 have been worked into the woof and warp of the written 
 and traditionary history of man from the earliest ages; 
 all of which, from the times most prehistoric, present 
 about the same measure of incompleteness in detail, and 
 possess about the same amount of intrinsic merit, and 
 offer analogous claims upon our credulity for recogni¬ 
 tion. We do not mean to say that there is anything 
 startling or marvelous in the mere survival, perpetuation 
 of these stories of god incarnations ; they began with the 
 earliest ages of our race, and constituted the only liter¬ 
 ature of primitive man, and come to us encumbered 
 with all the peculiar superstitions of the age which 
 marked their birth or transfiguration. But on the 
 closest scrutiny of these marvelous relations we find no 
 evidence of growth; we look for the superimposed layers 
 of succeeding epochs of culture, the faithful guide-posts 
 of the scientists, in vain; they are without the sphere 
 
 1 “ The classic scholar whose stud- superciliously affect to despise.”— 
 ies have hardly exceeded the limits Alexander Wilder, M. D., Intro- 
 prescribed in the curriculum of the duction to Ancient Symbol Worship. 
 universities, and the biblical scholar With such, and especially another 
 whose explorations of the Hebrew class who have invested themselves 
 scriptures have not led him beyond by the severest mental discipline 
 the field of exegesis in theological with an integument of dogma im- 
 pursuit, may recognize a vague and pervious to all logical methods, I 
 misty chaos of mythologies (in these anticipate but indifferent results, 
 relations) which not accurately beyond the severest condemnation 
 understanding he will (probably) for my presumption. 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 21 
 
 J 
 
 of all past and present experience, and defy scientific 
 demonstration. The last age of miracle was no more 
 significant for the quality of miracle than the first. They 
 are the unchanging esto perpetua annuity of the faithful 
 through all succeeding ages in all countries. 
 
 Leaving therefore the unworthy testimony of miracle 
 with our introductory chapter we shall proceed with 
 our story. 1 
 
 1 From the time that disputes 
 began concerning the Christian 
 religion, Christians have charged 
 Philostratus with having appropri¬ 
 ated the events and miracles con¬ 
 tained in Matthew’s gospel to adorn 
 his life of Apollonius of Tyana, and 
 the pagans have made counter 
 charges of plagiarism against the 
 writer of this gospel. Cf John 
 Henry Newman’s Life of Apollonius 
 of Tyana , vol. i. (History of the 
 Chnstian Church ), p. 345 ; see, also, 
 Mosheim’s Ecclesiastical History , 
 etc., 2 vols. (Blackie & Son, 1839), 
 vol. i. p. 90, b. 2, c. xvii. Upon the 
 earlier accounts of Apollonius these 
 charges have been held to be of 
 sufficient importance to meet with 
 efforts of refutation from eminent 
 Christians; even as late as our day 
 Rev. Albert Reville did not think it 
 beneath his dignity, nor his great 
 learning, to attempt in 1866 a refu¬ 
 tation of “ this great and monstrous 
 infidel slander.” He attempted to 
 show in a little book bearing the 
 title of Apollonius the Pagan Christ 
 of the Third Century (meaning the 
 first century), that Philostratus had 
 borrowed his leading facts from the 
 
 Gospel of Matthew. The transla¬ 
 tion of Philostratus by Rev. Edward 
 Berwick was with the same avowed 
 intent. Both of these excellent au¬ 
 thors, we regret to say, have very 
 much contracted the field of their 
 usefulness by their strong partisan¬ 
 ship. I apprehend that the Gospel 
 of Matthew had but one grand cen¬ 
 tral idea; and that to give the 
 events in the real life of one Jesus 
 of Nazareth; this I believe is ac¬ 
 cepted from Justin Martyr to Con¬ 
 stantine Tischendorf, although some 
 of the more timid and witless of the 
 modern theological savants, as if to 
 ward off an impending blow aimed 
 at the real man, now declare that 
 the physical life of Jesus is as im¬ 
 material to vital Christianity as the 
 physical life of Mahomet. Tis¬ 
 chendorf, however, says : “ That 
 
 Christianity does not in any sense 
 rest upon the teachings of Christ, 
 but that it rests upon his person 
 only, and if we are in error concern¬ 
 ing the miraculous conception and 
 physical nature of Jesus, then is the 
 church a deception and a fraud.” 
 He further says: “ That whatever 
 the early ages of the church report 
 
22 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 “So extremely slight,” says Charles Lesley, “is the 
 authority upon which the biography of Apollonius of 
 Tyana, the stoic, is fabricated, that many learned men 
 
 to us concerning the person of 
 Jesus from pretended independent 
 sources, all is either derived from 
 the gospel or is made up of a few 
 insignificant details of no historic 
 value in themselves. And that 
 Christianity had not nor has it any 
 other radiating or central point, 
 everything else is subservient to 
 the dogma of the real historic man, 
 and if this is a fallacy then does the 
 whole scheme of redemption fall 
 like the provincial towns of a con¬ 
 quered empire.”— When were the 
 Gospels Written? An Argument, by 
 Constantine Tischendorf, etc. (Lon¬ 
 don), p. 40. 
 
 “ The prevalent opinion amongst 
 the early Christian converts,” says 
 Mosheim, “ was that Christ existed 
 in appearance only, and not in real¬ 
 ity, and that his body was a mere 
 phantom. The book of the Acts of 
 Peter, John, Thomas, and Paul 
 speak of Christ as a phantom, and 
 such was the idea of the followers 
 of Corinthus, of the Nicolaitans who 
 are denounced in the Apocalypse 
 of the Docetse of Cordon, Marcion, 
 Lucian, Apelles, and Faustus.” 
 
 And there can be no doubt of the 
 truth of what Tischendorf here says: 
 “ Author after author, volume after 
 volume, of the life of Christ may 
 appear until the archives of the 
 universe are filled, and yet all we 
 have of the life of Jesus is to be 
 
 found in Matthew’s gospel. Not 
 a single person specially associated 
 with Jesus impinges history.”— 
 What is Christianity? etc., by 
 Thomas L. Strange (London, 1880), 
 p. 38. 
 
 “Many,” says Mosheim, “have 
 undertaken to write a history of 
 the Apostles — a history of fables, 
 doubts, and difficulties.” 
 
 Henry More, D. D. (1660), says 
 in his work, entitled An Explanation 
 of the Grand Mystery of Godliness , 
 or a True and Faithful Representa¬ 
 tion of the Everlasting Gospel of Our 
 Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ , the 
 Only Begotten Son of God, etc., etc. 
 (London, 1660), at p. 124: 
 
 “We have made a parallel of the 
 miracles and prophecies of Christ 
 and Apollonius, and have spent our 
 judgment upon them; the truth of 
 which censure, that it may the bet¬ 
 ter appear to all, we shall briefly 
 compare their temper or frame of 
 spirit, which I confess is as brave 
 in Apollonius as the animal life will 
 reach unto. But the animal life falls 
 short of the saving knowledge of 
 God and is but that which in a man¬ 
 ner is common to beasts, devils, and 
 man. This, therefore, we will ac¬ 
 knowledge to be in Apollonius a 
 general sense of political justice, a 
 severe profession of temperance, a 
 great affection for humanity, and an 
 ardent love of knowledge, especially 
 
OF TYANA . 
 
 23 
 
 have doubted whether there ever was such a man.” 1 
 Lesley, however, wrote with strong prejudices, and 
 based his conclusions upon a very slender tissue of fact. 
 Lucian and Apuleius speak of Apollonius as of one 
 with whom they were familiar; and Ammianus Mar- 
 cellinus, a pagan historian of Antioch, also mentions 
 
 of things to come. But how far 
 short does he fall in all his virtues 
 of the truly heavenly and divine! 
 His life was spent in industriously 
 trotting from one nation of the 
 world to another to gather honor 
 and applause to himself by correct¬ 
 ing the customs of the heathen and 
 renewing their fallen rites and play¬ 
 ing the uncontrollable reformer 
 whenever he pleased. He was ever 
 ‘ haile fellow well met ’ with the 
 highest kings and emperors, they 
 being ever taken with great admira¬ 
 tion of hi§ wisdom. 
 
 “ It is most evident that the nat¬ 
 ural sense of honor and gallantry 
 was the wing and spirit which made 
 Apollonius such a great reputation 
 in his time, and that he being of a 
 lofty and generous nature, apt to 
 reach out at high things, the king¬ 
 dom of darkness hooked him in to 
 make an instrument of him for their 
 own turn, and so to dress up pagan¬ 
 ism in the best attire they could to 
 make it if it were possible to vie 
 with Christianity.” 
 
 I know of no one except some 
 jealous Christians who ever thought 
 of making a comparison of Apol¬ 
 lonius to Jesus, and all the gascon¬ 
 ade about the efforts made either by 
 Apollonius or his biographers to 
 
 equal him to Jesus is the merest 
 bosh. Neither Apollonius nor Philo- 
 stratus ever heard of Jesus, nor did 
 they ever hear of any celebrities 
 who are said to have been associ¬ 
 ated with him, nor had they ever 
 heard of the religion which he is 
 said to have established on earth. 
 And how could they ape institu¬ 
 tions of which they had no knowl¬ 
 edge ? 
 
 John Henry Newman, in his Life 
 of Apollonius of Tyana, having all 
 the above facts before him, has 
 made an exhibition of littleness 
 hardly to have been expected from 
 a man of his reputation. He says: 
 “ The reputation of Apollonius has 
 been raised far above his personal 
 merits, by efforts to bring him 
 forward as the rival of the author 
 of our religion. His life was writ¬ 
 ten with this object about a century 
 after his death.” Statements of this 
 character made by any other man 
 would be characterized as false¬ 
 hoods ; that is, statements made for 
 the purpose of deceiving. Cf John 
 Henry Newman’s Life of Apollonius 
 of Tyana (History of the Christian 
 Church), p. 345. 
 
 1 We believe that Charles Lesley 
 is the only learned man who ever 
 intimated such a thing. 
 
24 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 him. John Henry Newman, D. D., says of Apol¬ 
 lonius: “Yet, after all allowances, there remains enough 
 to show that, however fabulous the details of his 
 history may be, there was something extraordinary 
 in his character; some foundation there must have 
 been for statements which his eulogists were able to 
 maintain in the face of those who would have spoken 
 out had they been entirely novel.” “ He was a phi¬ 
 losopher,” says Voltaire, “ whom history has not re¬ 
 proached with one equivocal action, nor any of those 
 weaknesses of which Socrates himself was accused.” He 
 traveled among the Magi and the Brachmans, and was 
 everywhere the more honored, on account of his mod¬ 
 esty and virtue ; giving always wise and prudent 
 counsels, and rarely disputing with any one. The 
 prayer which he was accustomed to offer up to the 
 gods is admirable: “ Oh, ye immortal gods, grant us 
 whatever you shall judge fit and proper to bestow, and 
 of which we may not be undeserving.” He was by no 
 means an enthusiast himself, but his disciples were so. 
 The Tyanaeans have ranked him among the demi¬ 
 gods ; and the Roman emperors approved his apo¬ 
 theosis. But, in the course of time, the deification of 
 Apollonius shared the same fate as that decreed to the 
 Roman emperors; and his chapel became as deserted 
 as that which the Athenians erected in honor of 
 Socrates. 1 
 
 As late as the fifth century we find one Volusian, a 
 pro-consul of Africa, descended from an old Roman 
 
 1 The Philosophy of History; Bazen (Voltaire), translated by 
 or, a Philosophical and Historical H. W. Gaudell (London, 1829), 
 Dissertation, etc., etc., by L’Abbe p. 193. 
 
OF TYANA . 
 
 25 
 
 family, still worshiping Apollonius of Tyana as a 
 supernatural being. 1 Eusebius styles him a wise man, 
 and seems to admit the correctness of Philostratus, 
 except the miraculous part of the narrative. Lactan- 
 tius does not deny that a statue was erected to him at 
 Ephesus. Sidonius Apollinaris, who even wrote his * 
 life, speaks of him as the admiration of the countries 
 he traversed, and the favorite of monarchs. One of his 
 works was deposited in the palace of Antioch by 
 Hadrian. 2 Statues were erected to him in the temple 
 by Caracalla, Alexander Severus, and Aurelianus. 3 It 
 is claimed for Apollonius by his followers that he was 
 the son of the god Proteus, 4 a claim, we apprehend, 
 with a very frail foundation, and repudiated by him. 
 From the best evidence in our possession he was 
 born in the year one of our era, 5 during the reign 
 of Caesar Augustus, and near the close of the great 
 Augustan period, which rose in such glory and splen¬ 
 dor and sank in darkness and gloom. It occurred in 
 the same year that the chief minister of Augustus, 
 the companion and adviser of Octavius,— Maecenas,— 
 died; 6 and was the same year that Archelaus, son of 
 
 1 Pagan Christ (Reville), p. 56. 
 
 2 A coin of Hadrian’s time is ex¬ 
 tant, with the inscription, Toava 
 lepa aobXoq abiovofioq. 
 
 3 The Life of Apollonius of Tyana, 
 with a comparison between the Mir¬ 
 acles of the Scriptures , etc., etc., by- 
 John Henry Newman, D. D. (His¬ 
 
 tory of Christian Church), vol. i. 
 p. 348; also, Eusebius Volaiscus 
 
 Lampsidius, etc., as quoted by 
 
 Bayle. 
 
 4 Apollonius De Tyane. Sa Vie, 
 Ses Voyages, Ses Prodiges, etc. 
 (Paris, Chassang), p. 5, et seq. 
 
 5 In the year of Rome 750, or of 
 the Christian era 1.—J. H. New¬ 
 man. 
 
 6 Cf. Life of Mcecenas, with crit¬ 
 ical notes, History, etc., by Ralph 
 Schomberg, M. D. (London, 1776); 
 also, Suetonius (Bohn, 1855), p. 
 182; Richter, Vie de Mecinas (1746); 
 Merbonius de C. C. Mcecenatis Vita 
 
 4 
 
2 6 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 Herod the Great, was recognized by Caesar Augustus 
 as king of Judea. 1 It is said that Apollonius-was of 
 divine parentage, and that messengers of Apollo sang 
 at his birth. 2 Proteus, his reputed father, was a Greek 
 god of philosophy, son of Neptune, and king of Egypt. 
 He is represented as a prophetic old man, who could 
 tell future events. 3 The life of Apollonius extended 
 over ten decades. He died in the year 98 of our era. 
 This is quite a remarkable age, but not very extraordi¬ 
 nary ; for in Vespasian’s time they counted within the 
 circuit of a small district fifty-four men of the age 
 of a hundred; forty between one hundred and ten 
 and one hundred and forty; and two past one hundred 
 and fifty. 4 
 
 ( 1 653); McecenasLiteratorumPatro- 
 nus, Bellman’s Upsal (1705); Taci¬ 
 tus, Annales, lib. 1, iii. iv.; Dion 
 Cassius, History of Rome. 
 
 1 Josephus, Antiquities , Judea, lib. 
 17, c. xv. ; History Israelites and 
 Judeans , Philosophical and Critical 
 (Trubner, London, 1879), vol. ii. p. 
 391; Irenseus, Adv. Ilaer. vol. i. 
 p. 26; Stathis , lib. 5, ii. verses 
 138-9; Inman , p. 304, etc. 
 
 “ Apollonius of Tyana,” says 
 Gibbon, “ was born about the same 
 time as Jesus Christ. His life (the 
 former) is related in so fabulous a 
 manner by his fanatic disciples that 
 we are at a loss to discover whether 
 he was a sage or impostor.” 
 
 2 Dissertations on the Mysteries 
 of the Cabiri , or the Greek Gods of 
 Phoenicia , Samothrace , Egypt , Troas, 
 Greece , Italy , and Crete , by George 
 Stanley Faber, 2 vols. (1803), vol. ii. 
 p. 234: 
 
 “ Never had been Rome more 
 flourishing than during the present 
 reign of Augustus, who had been 
 its sole ruler for thirty years under 
 the title of Son of God. The other 
 Caesars proclaimed themselves liv¬ 
 ing gods. Augustus had restored 
 order in Italy, and added Egypt, 
 Rhaetia, Noricum, and Pannonia to 
 his empire. He had been appointed 
 imperator for the fourth term of ten 
 years by the people. In the refor¬ 
 mation of religion during the reign 
 of Augustus, Apollo Palatinus was 
 installed as next to Jupiter Capitoli- 
 nus, the tutelary deity of Rome.” 
 
 3 Ammianus Marcellinus ranks 
 Apollonius among the most emi¬ 
 nent men who had prophesied by 
 supernatural aid of a daemon or 
 genius, as Socrates or Numa. 
 
 4 Idein iiber de Politik den Ver- 
 keht tend den Handel vomehensten 
 Volker der Allen Welt , von A. L. 
 
OF TYANA . 
 
 2; 
 
 Valerius Maximus says that Terentia, widow of Cic¬ 
 ero, attained the age of one hundred and three. Pliny 
 says she was one hundred and seventeen when she died. 
 On the authority of Pritchard, Whitehead, Bailey, and 
 others, Apollonius was one hundred and thirty when 
 he died: bearing in mind, in the meantime, however, 
 that it has been maintained with great resolution and 
 bitterness that no such person as Apollonius of Tyana 
 had ever lived, and that the pretended span of his life 
 and history were entirely the product of the brain of 
 
 Philostratus. 1 
 
 Heeren, 2 vols. (Gottingen, 1796), 
 vol. ii. p. 184; cf. Histoire de VEcon¬ 
 omic Politique en Europe depuis les 
 Anciens jusqu'a nos jours , par 
 Blanque (Paris, 1842). 
 
 1 We believe this sketch of Apol¬ 
 lonius, with all the labor it repre¬ 
 sents to us, if not of its own intrinsic 
 merits as a classic, will have signifi¬ 
 cance in determining the standard 
 value of other and contemporaneous 
 characters with which it stands in 
 contrast. The usual methods of 
 saying things and declaring them 
 proven, pervades nearly all the liter¬ 
 ature prepared, admittedly, to write 
 down Apollonius. But I know of 
 no vulnerable point of attack upon 
 Philostratus’s Life of Apollonius , 
 which will not, with vastly aug¬ 
 mented force, under the same meth¬ 
 ods of reasoning, recoil upon Mat¬ 
 thew’s Gospel of the Life of Jesus. 
 But they declare that Philostratus 
 wrote up a character in imitation 
 of Christ, and in opposition to the 
 Christian religion, when the best evi¬ 
 dence in the world exists (his entire 
 
 silence) that he had never heard of 
 Christ or Christians. However, if 
 Philostratus did create a character in 
 imitation of Christ, how much more 
 worthy of our imitation in practice 
 and precept is the counterfeit! 
 
 It is equally remarkable that, 
 although Plutarch’s miscellaneous 
 writings make mention or allude 
 with unerring certainty to nearly 
 every ethical or theurgic opinion of 
 his time (A. D. 50 to 120 A. D.), he 
 is absolutely silent on the subject of 
 Christianity. And this is more sin¬ 
 gular because the provinces of Bi- 
 thynia and Pontus, only a few days’ 
 journey from Bceotia,were,ifwemay 
 believe Christian writers, already 
 swarming with the proselytes of 
 Christianity. And on like authority 
 Athens, Corinth, Ephesus, and 
 Philippi were centers of great Chris¬ 
 tian revivals. He ought to have re¬ 
 membered Nero’s persecution of the 
 Christians ; yet while he speaks of 
 every other persecution, he is per¬ 
 sistently silent upon the great event 
 of the day. 
 
28 
 
 APOLLON/C/S 
 
 At the period of the birth of Apollonius, A. D. i (or 
 about), the Roman empire was in the zenith of its 
 power and glory. 1 The geography of the earth known 
 to the Romans at this period was a slight knowledge 
 of Britain, a small portion of Germany, Gallia (France), 
 Hispania (Spain), a very limited knowledge of the 
 countries of Africa immediately bordering on the Med¬ 
 iterranean, of Egypt as far as Ethiopia on the Nile, 
 Italy, Greece, Asia Minor, Syria, and Persia; India and 
 China had a traditionary existence only. And of these 
 countries Apollonius in his life-time visited all except 
 Britain, Germany, and China. As a traveler he was 
 excelled by no man anterior to his time, and it was 
 probably his foreign itineraries which accounted for his 
 breadth of thought and the liberality of his political and 
 religious creed. He had, for the period in which he 
 lived, developed a marvelous knowledge of human 
 affairs, through his great and varied experiences at 
 home and abroad, which had given rise to the belief 
 with many that he possessed miraculous powers. 2 
 
 Flavius Philostratus, the biographer of Apollonius of 
 Tyana, or author of the Gospel of Philostratus, 3 the son 
 of Verrus, was born at Lemnos, A. D. 172. 4 He was 
 the Talleyrand of the second century; he studied rhet- 
 
 1 Eutropius’s Abridgment of Ro- 3 Reville’s Pagan Christ , etc., 
 man History , translated by Wil- pp. 4-75• 
 
 son, b. 7, c. ix. (Bohn, London, 4 Clinton, Fasti Romani, vol. i. p. 
 1853). 257, supposes the birth of Philostra- 
 
 2 Cf. Caji Suetonii Tranquilli tus occurred a. d. 182. Dr. Smith’s 
 
 Opera et In ilia Commentarius; Classical Dictionary makes it A. D. 
 
 Samuelis Pitisci Quo Antiquitates 172. Cf. Blount, Berwick, Tillemont, 
 Romance , etc., etc. (1590), vol. i. and others. See also Encyclopedia 
 p. 226. Britannica , article, Philostratus. 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 29 
 
 oric at Athens; afterward resided at Rome; he was a 
 man of high literary attainments, so say his contempo¬ 
 raries ; he was a sophist, and wrote the Lives of the 
 Sophists, Short Biographies of Fifty-nine Rhetoricians 
 and Philosophers, Heroica, Discourses on Seventy 
 Heroes of Homer, Traite sur la Gymnastique, 1 leones, 
 Comments on Certain Paintings in the Gallery which 
 was at Naples, 2 a Collection of Letters, seventy-three 
 in number, 3 and also an exhaustive treatise on the 
 Philosophy and Religion of his day. 4 And more es¬ 
 pecially pertinent to this inquiry he compiled the His¬ 
 tory and Biography of Apollonius of Tyana. 5 He was 
 
 1 Paris, 1858. 
 
 2 The writer is introduced as liv¬ 
 ing in a villa near Naples, which con¬ 
 tains a choice collection of paintings. 
 To please the son of his host and his 
 young companions, he undertakes to 
 describe and explain the pictures, 
 which are sixty-four in all. The 
 descriptions are exceedingly good, 
 and reveal the skillful word-painter, 
 no less than the accomplished con¬ 
 noisseur of art.—R. Garnett, LL.D., 
 Enc. Brit., article, Philostratus; 
 cf Fredericks, Die Philostratus 
 chen Bilder (1860); Brunn, Die Phi- 
 lostratischen, Gernalde (1861); A. 
 Bougot, Une galerie antique (1881); 
 E. Bertrand, Une Critique d 'art 
 dans V anti quite Philostrate et son 
 ecole (1882). 
 
 3 Lipsise, 1842. 
 
 4 The entire works of Philostratus, 
 by Morel (Paris, 1608); the same, 
 byOlearius (Leipsic,i709); same,by 
 Kayser (1844); Eunape , par Bois- 
 
 sonade ; Declamations of Himerus, 
 par Dubner (Paris), 1 vol. For the 
 writings of Philostratus, cf. Vossius, 
 Jonsius, Meursius, Fabricus. 
 
 5 A copy of this work in Greek 
 may be found in the Library of Con¬ 
 gress. Philostratus informs us that 
 the materials for his work were ob¬ 
 tained from different cities wherein 
 Apollonius was held in high esteem; 
 also from temples whose long-dis¬ 
 used rites he restored, from tradi¬ 
 tions, and from the epistles of 
 Apollonius addressed to kings and 
 sophists. Of these letters, the Em¬ 
 peror Adrian had made a collection, 
 which he deposited in his palace at 
 Antium. Caracalla honored Apol¬ 
 lonius, and dedicated a temple to 
 him as a hero; and he was in such 
 estimation with Alexander Severus, 
 that he had his statue in his private 
 closet (Tillemont). Philostratus was 
 also assisted in his work by the use 
 of Apollonius’s work on Astrology 
 
30 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 one of the most prolific writers of his time. Various 
 charges have been preferred against Philostratus, such 
 as being visionary, superstitious, illiterate, or obscure. 
 These things were intended to injure his standing as a 
 historian, and have probably but little foundation in 
 truth. 1 The charge of being superstitious may not 
 have been entirely unjustifiable ; for the credit which he 
 seems to give to the account of ridiculous miracles 
 attributed to Apollonius might hold him guilty on this 
 count. And again he says : “ I have seen the will of 
 Apollonius, which conclusively proves him to be an 
 inspired man.” This is very inconclusive, indeed, to all 
 who have not seen the will. 2 As to the other charges 
 against Philostratus, they are wholly untrue, and are 
 amply refuted in the pages of general history without 
 recourse to special annals. He also made a permanent 
 impression upon the age and literature of his time, 3 and 
 
 and Sacrifice; also, that he made 
 use of the book of Maximus the 
 JEgsean, the biography written by 
 Damis the Assyrian; and he was 
 fortunate enough, he informs us, to 
 meet with the book written by 
 Maeragenes. 
 
 1 Bibliotheque Universe lie, Auteurs 
 Ecclesiasiiques, par Louis Ellers 
 Dupin (Paris, 1686-1704), 58 vols. 
 
 2 There is no doubt but that the 
 admirers of Apollonius have en¬ 
 deavored to crown him with the 
 attributes of divinity. Meanwhile, 
 the statistics of personal history 
 which would give the lie to such 
 assumption have been destroyed; 
 dates, stubborn barriers in the way 
 
 of apotheosis, have been lost; regis¬ 
 ters of births there are, unfortu¬ 
 nately, none; thus, through the 
 sophistry of designing men, the 
 inference to the minds of the igno¬ 
 rant and credulous is, that he had 
 no mortal father, but sprang from 
 the soil, or rose from the sea, or 
 came down from heaven, or was the 
 joint offspring of God and a human 
 maiden. The circumstances attend¬ 
 ing the death long forgotten, the 
 partisan story of heavenly descent 
 and ascension, could not be refuted, 
 and the territory which truth could 
 not occupy, superstition and fraud 
 at once claimed. 
 
 3 Encyclopedia Britannica. 
 
OF TYANA . 
 
 31 
 
 the genius of history has assigned him an important 
 niche in her temple. 1 
 
 He was not only a man of general culture but of 
 tolerant and liberal views on subjects of religion, and is 
 quoted as authority by hundreds of subsequent writers. 
 He was the only authority upon which J. T. Wood, 
 F. S. A., based his theory, and the only guide to his ex¬ 
 plorations, which resulted in such glorious achievements 
 at Ephesus. 2 
 
 The discovery of the temple of Diana on New 
 Year’s Day, 1870, one of the greatest archaeological 
 legacies of modern times, was the result of a careful 
 reading of Philostratus, who says that “ a rich Roman 
 named Damianus had connected the temple with the 
 city by a stoa, or covered portico, six hundred feet in 
 length; and so accurate was Philostratus in this state¬ 
 ment and details, that upon it alone Mr. Wood com¬ 
 menced his excavations and obtained his great success. 3 
 Philostratus wrote also on religious subjects embraced 
 within the first half of the first century of our era. 
 
 1 Universal Pronouncing Diction¬ 
 ary of Biography and Mythology , 
 (Thomas, Philadel phia, 18 70), 2 vols.; 
 also, History of Philosophy: Fabri - 
 cus , Bibliotheca Grceca , Rehfus. “ A 
 la renaissance des lettres Philostrate 
 obtint en Europe les honneurs 
 que meriterent les grands ecrivains 
 d’Athenes et de Rome.— Le Grand 
 d’Aussy, p. 42, avantproposP 
 
 2 Mr. Wood says: “ In my per¬ 
 plexity I chose Strabo, Pausanias, 
 
 and Philostratus. The last-named 
 appeared to give the most valuable 
 
 information to the probable site of 
 the temple, etc.”— Discoveries at 
 Ephesus , etc. (J. T. Wood, 1877), 
 p. 22. 
 
 3 This temple was three hundred 
 and forty-three feet long by one 
 hundred and sixty-four wide, and 
 was built about 500 b. c. It was 
 burned by Erostratus 356 B. c., and 
 was ruined by the Goths 262 a. d. 
 Coins and medals found in the villa 
 of Hadrian and now in the museum 
 of the Vatican confirm the chro¬ 
 nology of the temple. 
 
APOLLONIUS 
 
 
 2 2 
 
 He speaks at length on the religious customs, super¬ 
 stitions, and schisms among the Jews and pagans, and 
 there are no reliable writings of the period now extant 
 which throw more valuable light upon the manners, 
 customs, creeds, and politics of the times than those of 
 Philostratus. 1 He died, according to Suidas, at the 
 age of seventy or over. 
 
 Rev. Albert Reville says that Philostratus was one 
 of the many men of letters who gravitated around 
 Julia Domna, wife of Septimius Severus (a. D. 193 to 
 211). 2 She was a woman of uncommon attainments 
 and purity of character. The efforts made by early 
 Christian writers to defame her by charging upon her 
 incest have been amply refuted by Herodian and Dion 
 Cassius. Her likeness is said to be faithfully repre¬ 
 sented on Roman coins, many of which are still extant; 
 on some she is associated with Septimius Severus, 
 Caracalla, and Geta. They are of both gold and cop¬ 
 per. Julia was the daughter of Bassianus, a priest of 
 the sun (so says Dr. Reville), a native of the city of 
 Emesa in Syria, near Jerusalem, and was entitled the 
 beautiful Carian. As soon as she was made empress, 
 she attracted about her the finest intellects and the 
 greatest orators of her day, among whom were Dion 
 
 1 “ In the Life of Apollonius ,” which would, of necessity, influence 
 says Rev. Albert Reville, “we are the sympathies of pagan thinkers, 
 enabled to understand more of the On these grounds it richly deserves 
 moral aspect of times which it is the high rank assigned to it by 
 almost impossible to realize when modern criticism.”—Reville’s Apol- 
 studied in the light of Roman his- Ionites, p. 5. 
 
 tory than in any extant contempo- 2 Cf Eutropius’s Abridgtnent of 
 raneous writings. It admits us at Roman History, b. 8, c. xviii. 
 once into the religious atmosphere 
 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 33 
 
 Cassius, Ulpian, Papinianus, and Philostratus. 1 She 
 lived much in seclusion, devoting her time to literature 
 and philosophy, and it was at her instigation that 
 Philostratus prepared and published the Life of Apollo¬ 
 nius of Tyana , she having furnished the materials. 2 
 She also brought together a great collection of works 
 on art, and a library devoted to biography and philoso¬ 
 phy ; and, next to the great enchantress, Cleopatra, we 
 know of no -woman of ancient times who became so 
 eminent as a collector of literature. She brought to¬ 
 gether books from every part of the known world, and 
 formed an immense library, the nucleus of which, how¬ 
 ever, was laid by Ulpinus Trajanus, but was rendered 
 
 1 History of Greek Literature (Ma- 
 haffy), vol. ii. p.351.—Dion Cassius 
 was born in Nicsea, A. D. 155. He 
 was a descendant from Dion Chrys¬ 
 ostom, and governor of Smyrna 
 and Pergamus under Macrinus. He 
 wrote several works in Greek, the 
 principal of which was a History of 
 Rome down to his day, in eighty 
 books; fragments only remain in 
 the works of Xiphilinus. There are 
 eighty speeches of his on Philosophy, 
 etc. His writings are esteemed for 
 their elegance of style and their ac¬ 
 curacy ; he was diligent in research, 
 and his work was a rich collection 
 of documents on Roman institu¬ 
 tions; he did not recognize Christ 
 or Christians ; and from the nature 
 of his writings, the country, and 
 period, it seems marvelous that he 
 should have omitted it upon any 
 other theory than that they were not 
 
 there. Domitius Ulpian, an eminent 
 Roman jurist, born at Tyre, A. D. 
 170. He was author of a work 
 entitled Ad Edictum , the fragments 
 of which have been published. He 
 was assassinated by his soldiers, 
 A. D. 228. 
 
 2 It is remarkable that Philostra¬ 
 tus, a man of character and reputa¬ 
 tion, should have believed a tithe of 
 the wonders he has related of him; 
 and notwithstanding all this evident 
 falsehood of Apollonius, such was 
 the superstition and credulity of his 
 period, that temples and statues 
 were erected in his honor, and his 
 appellation was, “ the true friend 
 of the gods .”—The Philosophy of 
 Magic , Prodigies , and Apparent 
 Miracles, by Eusebe Salverte, with 
 notes by Anthony T. Thompson,. 
 2 vols. (London, 1844), vol. i. 
 p. 248. 
 
 5 
 
34 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 famous and ponderous through the patronage of Julia 
 Domna . 1 This great library remained intact until the 
 
 1 We have no information to be 
 relied upon concerning Grecian 
 books before the wars of Troy and 
 Thebes. The Lacedaemonians had 
 no books; their trained memories 
 rendered books useless for that age. 
 But if the Greeks had few books 
 the Romans had still less, in this 
 early age. The Athenians, who 
 were great speakers, also wrote a 
 great deal; and when the age of 
 books began, Athenian literature 
 formed the material for many vol¬ 
 umes which enriched the later Gre¬ 
 cian libraries. When Xerxes be¬ 
 came master of Athens, he removed 
 all the books and manuscripts to 
 Persia. Zuringer says : “ There was 
 a magnificent library on the island 
 of Cnidus, which was burned by 
 order of Hippocrates, because the 
 inhabitants refused to adopt his 
 method of medicine.” The most 
 numerous, as well as the best se¬ 
 lected libraries, were those of the 
 Egyptians, who surpassed all other 
 . nations by their books and knowl¬ 
 edge. Diodorus, the Sicilian, in¬ 
 forms us that Osymandias was the 
 first who founded a library in 
 Egypt (b. c. 1800). There was a 
 library at Memphis, in the temple 
 of Vulcan, at the time of Homer, 
 whom Naucrates accused of steal¬ 
 ing the Iliad and Odyssey, and 
 using them as his own productions. 
 The most magnificent library of 
 Egypt was that begun under Ptol¬ 
 emy Soter (his portrait is preserved 
 
 on a bronze medal in the British 
 Museum) at Alexandria. His son, 
 Ptolemy Philadelphus, inherited the 
 book passion, and enriched this 
 Alexandrian library. Josephus says 
 there were 200,000 volumes in this 
 library. When Julius Caesar was 
 besieged in Alexandria, he found it 
 necessary to set fire to the fleet as 
 it entered the port; the wind, un¬ 
 luckily, spread the flames, and the 
 fire communicated with the city, 
 and the celebrated library was de¬ 
 stroyed ; it is said to have contained 
 400,000 volumes. The books saved 
 from this conflagration, and the 
 fragments of the library of Per- 
 gamus, given to Cleopatra by An¬ 
 tony, were formed into the new 
 library of Serapion. Plutarch as¬ 
 sures us that Paulus ^Emilius dis¬ 
 tributed among his children the 
 library of Perseus, king of Mace- 
 don, whom he led captive to Rome 
 (167 B. c.) Next came the library 
 of Apellicon, the Teian, brought 
 from Athens by Sully (86 B. c.) 
 Plutarch also mentions the library 
 of Lucullus as one of the most con¬ 
 siderable in the world, both for the 
 number of volumes and the monu¬ 
 ments with which it was decorated. 
 Augustus founded a library on the 
 Mount Palatin (30 B. c.), which 
 was burned during the conflagration 
 under Titus. The idea of this li¬ 
 brary was conceived by Julius 
 Caesar. Tiberius founded one near 
 the temple of Apollo, and Vespasian 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 35 
 
 time of Justinian, A. D. 410/ who renovated it of its 
 “ philosophical chaff/’ as he called it; but which was 
 really a wedge entered for its destruction. It was left, 
 however, for Pope Gregory the Great, who became 
 disgusted with the vast amount of pagan literature (a. D. 
 585), to entirely demolish it. Thus ended one of the 
 great libraries of the world, 2 and with it probably 
 perished the noblest collection of pagan literature ever 
 brought together. 
 
 The primitive Christians, renouncing every other 
 care but that of the salvation of souls, burnt all the 
 books which they could lay hold of bearing no affinity 
 to their religion ; and thus, for more than one thousand 
 years, this conflict against literature and learning con¬ 
 tinued. The Crusaders burnt the library of Tripoli; 
 Cardinal Ximenes delivered to the flames at Grenada, 
 in the sixteenth century, 80,000 Arabian manuscripts, 
 many of them translations of classical authors. 3 
 
 founded one near the temple of 
 Peace in imitation of Augustus and 
 Tiberius, after the burning of Rome 
 under Nero. But the grandest Ro¬ 
 man library was the Ulpian, founded 
 by the Emperor Trajan in the 
 forum, afterward removed to the 
 baths of Diocletian. This library 
 was patronized and enlarged by 
 Julia Domna. It contained the 
 works of many renowned writers -— 
 as Callimachus, Lycophron and Apol¬ 
 lonius Rhodus, poets; Eratosthe¬ 
 nes, who measured the size of the 
 earth; of Apollonius ; of Perga, 
 who invented conic sections ; of 
 Hipparchus, who made a list of the 
 stars; of Euclid, the geometrician ; 
 
 of Manetho, the astrologer ; of Dio¬ 
 nysius, author of a geographical 
 poem; of Aratus, poet; and Nican- 
 der, writer on medicine. 
 
 1 Histoire de Jtistinien (Isambert, 
 1856) ; Decline and Fall of the Ro¬ 
 man Empire (Gibbon) ; Grandeur 
 et Decadence des Domains, ch. xx. 
 (Montesquieu). 
 
 2 Cf. Ecclesiastical History (Fleu- 
 ry); Encyclopedia Brit., art. Libra¬ 
 ries ; The Lives of the Fathers, 
 Martyrs, and other Principal Saints, 
 etc., by Rev. Alban Butler, 12 vols.; 
 vol. iii. p. 109, art. Gregory. 
 
 3 History of the Conflict between 
 Science and Religion, by John W. 
 Draper, M. D., LL. D., p. 104. 
 
36 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 Julia Domna died, A. D. 217. “As an accomplished 
 and distinguished woman,” Rev. A. Reville says, “ she 
 occupies the foremost rank.” She was known and be¬ 
 loved at Jerusalem, where a coin bearing her effigy was 
 struck, and another bearing her effigy and name. The 
 citizens of Tyana also honored her by striking a coin 
 to her, and Roman coins bearing her portrait and name 
 are now plentiful. 1 
 
 The journal of Damis, a disciple of Apollonius, and 
 the principal source of Philostratus’s information con¬ 
 cerning Apollonius, embracing a period from about 
 A. D. 43 to A. D. 98, was furnished by Julia Domna 
 from her valuable collection of authentic manuscripts, 
 before referred to. It is a plain story made up of in- 
 
 1 Pagan as she was, the people 
 of Jerusalem, as late as the third 
 century, struck a coin in honor of 
 Julia Domna. It bore her portrait 
 on one side and a turreted female 
 on the other, symbolical of confi¬ 
 dence. A fine example of this ex¬ 
 ceedingly rare coin is in the Reich- 
 ardt Collection, London. The por¬ 
 trait of Julia Domna on the Roman 
 minted coins of her day, and they 
 are abundant, represents a woman 
 about thirty-five, with fine features 
 and a severe expression. These 
 coins were struck in all the metals 
 — gold, silver, bronze, and copper. 
 The type of the gold coin is, Cybele 
 seated between two lions, with an 
 inscription, MATER DEUM ; and on 
 the reverse, ivlia domna avc, 
 with Venus leaning on a column, 
 VENERI VICTR. — Cf. History of 
 Jewish Coinages in the Old and 
 
 A r ew Testaments, by Frederick W. 
 Madden (London, 1864); Coin Col¬ 
 lectors' Manual: or, Guide to the 
 Formation of a Cabinet of Coins, 
 etc., etc., by H. Noel Humphrey, 
 vol. ii. pp. 346, 624, 668; also, 
 Coins and Medals of the Ancients, 
 etc., by Barclay V. Head (London, 
 1801); also, Spartianus Vita Septim- 
 ius Severus, c. xvii. 
 
 We regret exceedingly that Greek 
 coins lie without the field of our re¬ 
 search ; we come entirely within 
 the Roman empire, and all Greek 
 coins antedated that period. The 
 study of Greek coins is one of the 
 most instructing and interesting 
 chapters in the history of ancient 
 civilization. We shall indulge a 
 little in reference to them in such a 
 manner as is not entirely irrelevant 
 to our story, but which is crisp and 
 sparkling in interest. 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 37 
 
 tensely interesting and well selected events in the life 
 of Apollonius, put down as they transpired by a sim¬ 
 ple and enamored disciple who loved his master, and 
 from the first to the last believed him to be inspired; 
 who never doubted or denied him, and who was never 
 happy out of his presence. 
 
 But the greatest literary merit of the journal is the 
 consortship it begets with its principal actor. We 
 journey with him in his travels from Cappadocia into 
 farther India, Ionia, Rome, Spain, Africa, Egypt, Sicily; 
 become familiar with every move, his features, his 
 moods, and his eccentricities; we learn to pity his 
 weaknesses, and sympathetically share his misfortunes. 
 All this may be attributed to the enthusiasm and art¬ 
 lessness of Damis, and is probably as free from design 
 as is that biography of biographies, Boswell’s Life of 
 Johnson} Having now, I think, thoroughly demon- 
 
 1 J. A. Froude, in The Nineteenth 
 Century of September, 1879, says: 
 “ In the Acts of the Apostles we 
 meet with a class of persons whose 
 features in our own times become 
 again familiar to us,— quacks and 
 conjurers, professing to be in com¬ 
 munication with the spiritual world, 
 and who are regarded with curi¬ 
 osity and interest by serious men 
 high in rank and authority. Ser¬ 
 gius Paulus was craving for any 
 light which could be given to him, 
 and in default of better teaching 
 had listened to Elymas the sorcerer. 
 Simon Magus, if we may credit 
 Catholic tradition, was in favor at 
 the imperial court of Rome, where 
 he matched his power against St. 
 
 Peter, and was defeated only be¬ 
 cause God was stronger than the 
 devil. The curious arts of these 
 people were regarded both by Chris¬ 
 tian and heathen as a mastery of a 
 supernatural secret, and in the hun¬ 
 ger for information about the great 
 mystery with which the whole so¬ 
 ciety was possessed, they rose many 
 of them into positions of extraordi¬ 
 nary influence and consequence. 
 Asia Minor seems to have been 
 the chief breeding-ground of this 
 Eastern magic, and here it came in 
 contact with Greek civilization, and 
 this imposture was able to disguise 
 itself in the phases of philosophy. 
 Apollonius of Tyana was the most 
 remarkable of these adventurers. 
 
38 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 strated the status of Philostratus as a respectable his¬ 
 torian, and one entitled to the highest consideration as 
 a student and scholar, we will proceed with the narra- 
 
 According to Philostratus he was a 
 heathen saviour, who claimed a com¬ 
 mission from heaven to teach a pure 
 and reformed religion, and in attes¬ 
 tation of his authority went about 
 healing the sick, curing the blind, 
 raising dead men to life, casting 
 out demons, stilling tempests, and 
 prophesying future events, which 
 came afterward to pass. The in¬ 
 teresting fact about Apollonius is 
 the extensive recognition he ob¬ 
 tained and the ease with which his 
 impostures found acceptance in the 
 existing condition of the popular 
 mind. He was born, four years 
 before the Christian era, in Tyana, 
 a city of Cappadocia (cf. Phylostra- 
 tus de Vita Apollonii Tyanei Scriptor 
 Luculentus , a Philippo BeroaldoCas- 
 tigatus, primus lib. [1502]). His 
 parents sent him to be educated at 
 Tarsus, in Cilicia, a place of consid¬ 
 erable wealth and repute, and he 
 must have been about the beginning 
 of his studies there when St. Paul 
 as a little boy was first running 
 about the streets. The life in Tar¬ 
 sus being too luxurious for Apollo¬ 
 nius’s aspirations, he betook himself 
 to the temple of .dEsculapius at dEgse, 
 and became a water-drinker and a 
 vegetarian. His devotion to yEs- 
 culapius means that he studied 
 medicine. On the death of his 
 father he divided his property 
 among the poor, and after five years’ 
 
 retirement he traveled as far as In¬ 
 dia in search of knowledge. Here 
 he discoursed with the learned Brah¬ 
 mans, and came home with enlight¬ 
 ened ideas and with some skill in 
 the arts of the Indian jugglers 
 (there is no warrant for the last 
 assertion in the journal of Damis). 
 With these two possessions he be¬ 
 gan his career as a teacher in the 
 Roman empire. He preached his 
 new religion, and performed mira¬ 
 cles to induce people to believe in 
 him. He was at Rome in Nero’s 
 time, when Simon Magus and St. 
 Peter were there. In the convul¬ 
 sions which followed Nero’s mur¬ 
 der, being then an old man, he 
 attached himself to Vespasian in 
 Egypt. Vespasian, who was not 
 without his superstitions, and had 
 himself once been persuaded to 
 work a miracle, is said to have 
 looked kindly on him and patronized 
 him, and Apollonius blossomed out 
 into glory as the spiritual adviser 
 of the Vespasian dynasty. The 
 cruelties of Domitian estranged him. 
 He was accused of conspiring with 
 Nerva and vdth having sacrificed a 
 child to bribe the gods to Nerva’s 
 interest. He was even charged 
 with having pretended being a god 
 himself. He was arraigned, con¬ 
 victed, and was about to suffer, 
 when he vanished out of the hands 
 of the Roman police and reappeared 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 39 
 
 tive of Apollonius, 1 a sketch of whom had been 
 previously published by Maximus of Algae, 2 a secretary 
 to Emperor Archelaus and tutor to Apollonius. 3 This 
 account was written and published between A. D. 17 
 and A. D. 20, while he was yet a youth. It extolled 
 the wonderful mental qualities of the youth, and re¬ 
 garded him especially favored of the gods. The 
 sketch was quite imperfect, a fact of which Philostratus 
 complains. 
 
 There was another account of Apollonius in the four 
 books of Maeragenes. Philostratus does not speak 
 very complimentary of this work. 4 He says: “There 
 
 at Ephesus, where he soon after 
 died. Apollonius of Tyana, among 
 many others, was looked upon 
 through a greater part of the Ro¬ 
 man empire as an emanation of 
 the divine nature. Such periods 
 are the opportunities of false pro¬ 
 phets.” 
 
 1 “ Sur les oeuvres de Philostratus 
 et celles de son neveu Philostrate le 
 Jeune voyez deux excellents articles 
 de M. Miller .”—Journal de Sa¬ 
 vants , Octobre et Decembre, 1849. 
 
 As before stated, Apollonius was 
 born in the year one of the Chris¬ 
 tian era, four years after the death 
 of Herod, king of Judea, who had 
 divided his kingdom among his 
 surviving sons, Archelaus, Antipas, 
 and Philippus. His will and dispo¬ 
 sition of his kingdom was in the 
 main approved by Augustus (a. d. 
 7). Archelaus, king of Judea, was 
 removed and banished to Vienne, 
 and was succeeded, in A. D. 9, by 
 
 Marcus Ambivius. The next proc¬ 
 urator in Judea was Ammianus Ru¬ 
 fus (a. d. 13). The next year 
 Augustus died. 
 
 2 Algae was a sea-port town of 
 Cilicia, noted for its shipping and 
 its pirates. — Lucian’s Fharsalia, 
 b. iii. 227. 
 
 3 Parmi les auteurs grecs qui ont 
 parle d’Apollonius quatre principale- 
 ment avoient laisse des memoirs sur 
 la vie: ce dont Damis, Maxime, 
 Meragene, et Philostrate. — Vie 
 d’Apollonius de Tyane , par Pierre 
 Jean Baptiste Le Grand d’Aussy 
 (Paris, 1807), p. 35, avant propos. 
 
 Archelaus ascended the throne of 
 Cappadocia 34 B. c. He w r as the 
 son of a high-priest of the same 
 name, who was deposed by Caesar. 
 Died, A. d. 17. 
 
 4 Origen refers to this Life of 
 Apollonius by Maeragenes to prove 
 that he was a magician, and per¬ 
 formed miracles by magic. 
 
40 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 was a certain man named Damis, who was well read in 
 philosophy, a citizen of ancient Ninus, who became 
 one of the disciples of Apollonius, and who wrote an 
 account of his travels, wherein he set down his opinions, 
 discourses, and predictions:” 1 Julia Augusta became 
 possessed of these commentaries, and as “ I was a great 
 deal conversant in the imperial family from the en¬ 
 couragement given by the Empress to rhetoric and its 
 professors, she commanded me to transcribe and revise 
 the commentaries, and pay particular attention to the 
 style and language, for the narrative of the Ninevite 
 was plain and not eloquent. To assist me in the work 
 I was fortunate in procuring the book of Maximus, the 
 Aegean, which contained all the actions of Apollonius 
 at Algae, and a transcript of his will, from which it ap¬ 
 peared how much his philosophy was under the influence 
 of a sacred enthusiasm; also a collection of letters, and 
 some private memoranda, relative to his conduct and 
 opinions, and, lastly, public records. I also happened 
 to meet with the four books of Mseragenes, which were 
 not of great value on account of the ignorance of the 
 writer. I have now explained the manner of my col¬ 
 lecting materials, and the care taken in their compila¬ 
 tion.” 2 Nicomachus 3 and Tascius Victorianus 4 were not, 
 as has been claimed, biographers of Apollonius; they 
 were men of learning, who corrected the copies of Phil- 
 ostratus, as they did those of Livy and other authors; 
 
 1 Philostrati Opus luculentum vita 
 Apollinii Thyanei philosophi pytha- 
 gorici, ad Philip Bervaldum, p. 28. 
 
 2 The Life of Apollonius of Tyana, 
 
 translated from the Greek of Philos- 
 
 tratus, with notes and illustrations, 
 
 by Rev. Edward Berwick, vicar of 
 Leixlip, Ireland (1809), p. 6. 
 
 3 Mathematician and Pythagorean, 
 and a contemporary of Philostratus. 
 
 4 A grammarian and contempo¬ 
 rary of Philostratus. 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 41 
 
 nor was there ever a Life of Apollonius of Tyana com¬ 
 piled by Apollonius Sidonius, as some writers have 
 
 ♦ 
 
 stated; 1 he only transcribed the works of Philostratus. 2 
 Tyana, the birthplace of Apollonius, was a Greek 
 city; 3 the capital of Tyanitis, a prefecturate of Cappa¬ 
 docia, and situated on the causeway of Semiramis, 
 about midway from Caesarea and Tarsus; it was built 
 by Troas, king of Tauro Scythi, and was first named 
 Eusebia, from the worship of Jupiter Asmabaeus; the 
 city is chiefly remarkable for being the birthplace of 
 Apollonius — hence he is called Tyaneius. 
 
 “ Ostendit ad hue Tyaneius illic 
 
 Incola de Medio vicines corpore Truncos.” 
 
 Ovid Metam.—8. 
 
 At the period here referred to, Tyana was the metrop¬ 
 olis of Cappadocia, which became a Roman province 
 under Tiberius Augustus A. D. 16. 4 Apollonius was con¬ 
 nected with the ancient and honorable families who were 
 the founders of the city, and he bore the same name as 
 his father, from whom he inherited a competency, which 
 was conveyed to him by will, and into the possession 
 
 1 Clinton, Fasti Romani, vol. i. 
 p. 256. 
 
 2 Le Cabinet des Antiques de la 
 
 Bibliotheque imperiale possede un 
 contorniate d’une haute antiquite 
 
 sur lequel est represente le buste 
 d’Apollonius de Tyane. Les traits 
 sont nobles, la tete porte une cou- 
 ronne, et le corps est revetu de la 
 tunique et du pallium. Voyez la 
 gravure de ce contorniate dans 
 FIconographie Grecqtie de Visconti, 
 planche xvii .—Apollonius de Tyane, 
 
 6 
 
 sa Vie, ses Voyages, ses Prodiges, par 
 Philostrate, etc., etc. (A. Chassang), 
 p. v. Intro. 
 
 3 All of the coins of the city of 
 Tyana, and there is an unbroken 
 series from Nero to Septimius Sev- 
 erus, 217 A. D., were, with Latin 
 inscriptions and pagan coins, con¬ 
 tinued to be struck and circulated in 
 Cappadocia six centuries after this 
 period. 
 
 4 Tacitus died at Tyana, A. D. 276. 
 —Lares and Penates (Barker), p. 38. 
 
42 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 of which he entered on arriving at age. When he was 
 fourteen years of age, the year in which Augustus 
 died, 1 and the first of the reign of Tiberius, his father 
 
 1 Augustus died on the fourteenth 
 of the calends of September (19 
 August), A. D. 14, being seventy-six 
 years of age.— Cf. Suetonius’s Lives 
 of the Twelve Ccesars (Bohn edition, 
 A. D. 1853), p. 145, etc. 
 
 The coins of Augustus are very 
 numerous in gold, silver, bronze, 
 and copper, and are confirmatory of 
 nearly all the important events as¬ 
 cribed to his reign, and nearly all of 
 the weaknesses of his character. 
 
 It may here at the outset be said 
 of Roman coins in general that they 
 delineate with fidelity and preserve 
 with little variation more portraits 
 of real characters (the portrait of 
 Cicero was from a Roman coin), 
 give more perfect representations of 
 implements, dresses, buildings, and 
 symbols, fix precisely more chrono¬ 
 logical dates, record a greater num¬ 
 ber of historical events, and afford 
 
 l 
 
 better traces of manners and cus¬ 
 toms than the coins of any other 
 nation.— Numismata imperatorum 
 Romanorum a Traiano Decio ad 
 Palceologos Augustos accessit Biblio¬ 
 theca nummaria sive Auctorum qui 
 de renummaria scripse runt Lutetice 
 Parisiorum, 2 vols. folio (1718), par 
 A. Banduri. 
 
 On some of the coins of Augustus 
 he is associated with Julius Caesar, 
 on others with Lepidus, Agrippa, 
 Tiberius, Julia, Caius, and Julius and 
 Germanicus. And many of these 
 
 coins were restored by Claudius, by 
 Nero, Titus, Domitian, Nerva, and 
 Trajan, ROM et avg. This was virt¬ 
 ually an indorsement of the Au¬ 
 gustan administration. On his per¬ 
 sonal coins Augustus is represented 
 as the “Son of God." A later coin 
 represents him wearing a laurel 
 wreath after the manner of Apollo, 
 inscribed “ Caesar Augustus, Son of 
 God. ” The usual types of Augustan 
 coins were: A Bull Walking , Head 
 of Augustus (one of these was re¬ 
 stored by Trajan) ; Winged Victory, 
 Globe, restored by Nerva. Three 
 brass coins, Quadriga with Ele¬ 
 phants, restored by Titus, also by 
 Nerva. All the Egyptian coins of 
 Augustus were in Greek. Some 
 bear the Eagle and Thunderbolt 
 (common to Syracuse) with the 
 emperor’s head and his title as 
 “ Son of God." There seems to be 
 some quality on the above coins of 
 Augustus which recommend them 
 to his successors for reproduction, 
 and in the estimate which Apol¬ 
 lonius has put upon their characters 
 respectively it is just what we might 
 have anticipated. — Cf. Traite des 
 finances et de la fausse monnoie des 
 Romains, auquel on a joint line dis¬ 
 sertation surla maniere de disc emeries 
 Medailles antiques,etc. (Paris,1740); 
 also, Numismata imperatorum Au- 
 gustorum et Ccesarum a populis Ro¬ 
 mance ditiones grcece loquentibus ex 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 43 
 
 carried him to Tarsus 1 to be educated, 2 and committed 
 him to the care of Euthydemus, the Phoenician, a 
 stoic and a celebrated rhetorician, and where he en¬ 
 joyed conversation with the disciples of Pythagoras, 
 Plato, Chrysippus, and Aristotle. During the first 
 
 omni modulo percussa quibus, etc. 
 (J. Vaillant, Paris, 1698), 4to. 
 
 By a vote of the senate the name 
 of September Sextilis, the sixth 
 month from March, was changed to 
 August, and the period of his life 
 from birth to death was inserted in 
 the calendar under the title of Au¬ 
 gustan Age. 
 
 The Roman empire in the time 
 of Augustus had attained to a pro¬ 
 digious magnitude. It was bounded 
 on the east by the Euphrates, on 
 the west by the Atlantic Ocean, on 
 the north it extended to the Danube 
 and the Rhine, on the south to the 
 deserts of Africa. It included 
 nearly all the known world. And 
 the literary fame of this period was 
 more marked if possible than its 
 political.— Cf. Suetonius , p. 186. 
 
 Although illicit pleasures marked 
 the character of Augustus in his 
 youth, he became temperate after 
 he became emperor, and he tried to 
 check the progress of corruption, 
 but it was in the bosom of his own 
 family that it proved irrepressible. 
 His daughter Julia became so dis¬ 
 solute and such a scandal that he 
 was compelled to banish her.— His- 
 toire du Luxe Prive et Public depuis 
 VAuguste jusqu’a nos Jours, par 
 H. Baudrillart, 4 vols. (Paris, 1880). 
 
 1 Philostratus, i. 7. 
 
 2 Tarsus, the metropolis of Cilicia, 
 was called by Strabo “ The Mother 
 of Cities,” from its great learning, 
 and St. Paul says it was no mean 
 city. During the period of which 
 we write little is known of this re¬ 
 markable city of Tarsus; the chain 
 of history appears to have been 
 severed a short period before the 
 Christian era, and the connection 
 not found for a lapse of nearly five 
 centuries. In fact, this is true of 
 nearly all Asia Minor; its history is 
 little more than speculation and hy¬ 
 pothesis from B. c. 130 to A. D. 800; 
 although we know from the results 
 and from its surviving coins, medals, 
 and monuments that the period was 
 filled with important events and 
 there was no want of historians to 
 record them. 
 
 Tarsus was a Phoenician city; 
 the ancient coins amply attest this 
 truth; there was a coin of Tarsus 
 bearing the decree of Jupiter Tarsus 
 or Baal Tars as is clearly in Phoe¬ 
 nician legend sur la Numismatique 
 des Satrapes, et de la Phoenice et 
 la Numismatique et inscriptions 
 Cypriotes.— Recueil des Monnoies 
 tant anciennes que modernes , par 
 de Salzade (Bruxelles, 1767), p- 
 30, etc. 
 
44 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 century no place on earth was more tolerant in religious 
 worship than Tarsus. Apollo, Isis, Venus, Jupiter, 
 Serapis, Mercury, Diana, Juno, Pallas, Pluto, Her¬ 
 cules, Adonis, Horus, Pan, Anubis, Aesculapius, were 
 all held sacred, and had their shrines here. 1 Apol¬ 
 lonius became attached to his master, but the manners 
 of the city did not please him, so he removed with his 
 master to EEgae, 2 a maritime town near Tarsus. Here he 
 was placed under the tutelage of Euxemes of Herac- 
 lea, a town of Pontus. He submitted to the author¬ 
 ity of Euxemes, and was guided by his advice in the 
 attainment of knowledge; although not having much 
 respect for his philosophy, which was of the Epicurean 
 order, he nevertheless continued to respect him for his 
 many virtues, and afterward gave him a house with a 
 garden and a fountain belonging to it. 3 
 
 Strabo says that the inhabitants of Tarsus had distin¬ 
 guished themselves so much by their application to 
 
 1 Many of these facts were demon¬ 
 strated on the coins of Tarsus, as 
 an extant coin of Tarsus bearing 
 the image of Apollo, seated upon a 
 mount with a lyre in his hand, indi¬ 
 cating that this deity was the pre¬ 
 siding influence in the schools. 
 Apollo was an oracle in Tarsus. 
 Jupiter, Mercury, and Juno are also 
 represented on old coins. Strabo 
 says that Tarsus was founded by 
 Triptolemus, a priest of Argos, in 
 his search for Io, and remains of 
 statues and inscriptions discovered 
 at Tarsus prove that Io was vene¬ 
 rated there.— Lares and Penates , 
 Cilicia and its Governors , etc. (Wm. 
 Burckhardt Barker, London, 1853), 
 p. 152, etc. 
 
 Barker says Tarsus became a 
 Christian city, A. D. 70. The coins 
 of Tarsus go far to disprove this 
 theory; pagan coins were struck up 
 to the 6th century, and no edict was 
 promulgated against them before 
 the 8th century. 
 
 2 Antiochus, a celebrated Greek 
 sophist, was a native of this town. 
 There is a succession of coins struck 
 at ^Egse from Augustus to Saloni- 
 nus, which have been of invaluable 
 service to the historian; they are 
 not, however, pertinent, otherwise 
 than generally, to our inquiry. They 
 are in all the metals. 
 
 3 Philostrati opus luculentum de 
 vita Apollonii Thy and, b. i. 48. 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 45 
 
 philosophy and literature, that this city, in that respect, 
 surpassed Athens or Alexandria. Tarsus possessed 
 schools for every kind of instruction. Among the 
 illustrious men produced by this city are, Antipater, 
 so glowingly spoken of by Cicero; Archimedes and 
 Nestor, stoic philosophers; and the two Athenadori, 
 preceptors of Augustus, also stoics. Augustus sought 
 the friendship of the stoics, and was withheld from 
 many cruelties by the exhortations of stoic philosophers. 
 Another celebrated stoic, Cordylion, was a native of 
 Tarsus; he was librarian of Pergamus, and died in the 
 house of Cato at Rome. 1 
 
 When Tiberius 2 came into power (a. D. 14) he re¬ 
 moved Ammianus Rufus, and appointed Valerius 
 Gratus procurator in Judea. He also banished all 
 Jews and Egyptians from Rome, considering them 
 dangerous to the state. 3 This decree extended over 
 the whole of Italy according to Suetonius. 4 
 
 1 The stoic of whom Cicero speaks 
 so glowingly was a native of Tarsus. 
 
 2 The Life of Tiberius was written 
 in the second century by Dion Cas¬ 
 sius, a friend of Philostratus (and 
 who also belonged to the coterie of 
 Julia Domna). He describes him 
 as a man of many virtues and very 
 many vices ; both of which he car¬ 
 ried to extreme length. Dion and 
 Tacitus agree in their estimate of 
 Tiberius. Velleius Paterculus, a sol¬ 
 dier who served under Tiberius in 
 Germany and Pannonia, in the 
 years A. D. 5 and 6, wrote his cam¬ 
 paigns in glowing terms. Suetonius, 
 however, has dealt severely with 
 
 the character of Tiberius.—Cf. Sue¬ 
 
 tonius , p. 192 (Bohn ed.) 
 
 3 From the expulsion of Archelaus, 
 the ethnarch, A. D. 6, to the death 
 of Augustus, A. D. 14, there were 
 Roman coins struck at Jerusalem 
 commemorating every important 
 historical event; in order not to 
 offend the Jews, they were without 
 effigies. They had uniformly rep¬ 
 resented upon them Palms , Dates , 
 Ears of Corn, Cornucopice, and 
 Laurel Wreaths.—History of Jewish 
 Coinage and of Money in the Old 
 and New Testament, by Frederick 
 W. Madden (London, 1864). 
 
 4 Cf. Suetonii Tranquilli opera 
 et in ilia Commentarius Quo Anti- 
 quitaies Romance , turn ab Inter- 
 pretibus Doctissimis , etc., vol. i. 
 p. 561. 
 
46 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 As Apollonius grew up he became an admirer of 
 Aesculapius, in whose name he is said to have per¬ 
 formed some wonderful miracles ; and he also began to 
 develop evidences of greatness of character, which so 
 conspicuously marked his future life. He was author 
 of Four Books on Judicial Astrology , A Treatise on 
 Sacrificed and many epistles, some of which have been 
 preserved by Philostratus, and others by Cajucius; he 
 was also author of some memoirs. 1 2 His only work 
 of importance, which has reached modern times, is his 
 Apology , written in reply to Euphrates. 3 
 
 The Emperor Adrian collected as many of the letters 
 of Apollonius as were accessible, and kept them in the 
 palace at Antium, with a little book of Apollonius con¬ 
 cerning the answers he had received from the oracle 
 of Trophonius. This book was accessible at Antium 
 in the time of Philostratus, and it was regarded as the 
 most curious of all things in this little town. 4 When 
 Apollonius was in his eighteenth year Titus Livius 
 (Livy), whose philosophy (lost) and style of rhetoric 
 he had made his model, died at Padua. He felt 
 severely the loss of his preceptor, and from his frequent 
 mention of this great man proves that he cherished 
 his memory to the end of his life. 
 
 1 This book was quoted by Euse¬ 
 bius ; Suidas also refers to it. 
 
 2 Cf Pierre Bayle’s Dictionnaire 
 Historique et Critique , 2 vols. fol.; 
 also English edition, 4 vols. fol. 
 
 3 There seems but little doubt 
 that Apollonius was the author of a 
 voluminous philosophical literature, 
 
 much of which Philostratus must 
 have had before him in the diary 
 
 of Damis. Damis so frequently 
 says that he only preserved— only 
 committed to writing, etc. — the 
 most valuable of the sayings and 
 discourses of Apollonius. — Uni¬ 
 versal Pronouncing Dictionary of 
 Biography and Mythology , by J. 
 Thomas, A. M., M. D.; art. Apol¬ 
 lonius of Tyana. 
 
 4 Bayle’s Dictionary . 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 4 7 
 
 Although Apollonius is said to have performed 
 miracles in the name of Aesculapius, 1 yet the course of 
 his life to its very close was strictly in accord with that 
 course laid down by Pythagoras to his disciples. 2 His 
 biographer, however, whether unwittingly or design¬ 
 edly, classed him as a stoic, and we believe very prop¬ 
 erly ; for, in our analysis of the life, sayings, and 
 doings of Apollonius, we find more that conforms to 
 stoicism than any other philosophy, and by association, 
 sympathy, and utterances he was a stoic. Some of the 
 noblest characters of antiquity were stoics; Marcus 
 Aurelius (a. D. 130) was the most consummate produc¬ 
 tion of this philosophy, and it was introduced to him 
 through the writings of Apollonius of Tyana. Aurelius 
 was as virtuous a man as ever appeared on earth. 
 “ From Apollonius,” said Aurelius, “ I have learned 
 freedom of will and understanding, steadiness of pur¬ 
 pose, and to look to nothing else, not even for a 
 moment, except to reason.” Eutropius, in his abridg¬ 
 ment of Roman history, says Marcus Aurelius was 
 trained in his philosophy by Apollonius of Chalcedon. 3 
 
 Gibbon says : “ A superstitious reverence for the 
 countrymen of Apollonius caused Claudius Aurelian 
 
 1 Eusebius casts doubts upon the 
 miracles of Apollonius ; yet the 
 early Christians did not deny them. 
 Celsus attributed the miracles of 
 Jesus to sorcery, which he said “ in¬ 
 fluenced only the minds of the 
 ignorant and immoral.” Origen re¬ 
 plied that, in order to convince him¬ 
 self to the contrary, he has only to 
 read the memoirs of Apollonius, by 
 Mseragenes, who declares him to be 
 
 both a philosopher and sorcerer; 
 and yet he swayed the minds of the 
 most learned. 
 
 2 The History and Antiquities of 
 the Doric Race , by C. O. Muller, 
 vol. ii. p. 180. 
 
 3 Theophratus, Characteres, Mar- 
 ci Antonini, Commentarif Epicteti 
 Dissertationes ab Ariano Literis 
 Mandates, Frag?nenta et Enchirid¬ 
 ion. Greek and Latin (Didot, 1842). 
 
48 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 (a. D. 273) to treat with lenity the conquered city of 
 Tyana.” 1 Marcus Aurelius has been charged by Chris¬ 
 tians with causing persecutions, political and religious. 
 In consideration of his integrity and sense of justice, 
 these charges would seem to be untrue. It, however, 
 is certain that he examined into charges against per¬ 
 sons accused with an earnestness and honesty of pur¬ 
 pose never before known by any Roman ruler; and 
 also that he sentenced reluctantly and with the utmost 
 lenity. “ I implore you,” said he to the Senate, “ to 
 keep my mercy and your own unstained. I beg that 
 no one be put to death, and that the banished be re¬ 
 called and the fines remitted ; would that I could also 
 bid you restore the dead.” 2 Marcus Aurelius died in 
 camp near where Vienna now stands, some say Bel¬ 
 grade (a. D. 180). When dying he said to his friends 
 around him, “ Quid me fletis, et non magis de pesti- 
 lentia et communi morte cogitatis?” He answered his 
 last attendant with these words, “ Turn to the rising 
 sun, for I am setting.” 3 While at Ahgae Apollonius 
 heard of the death of his father. He immediately 
 hastened to Tyana, and with his own hands interred 
 him near the tomb of his mother, who had died shortly 
 before. The fortune left by his father was considera- 
 
 1 Vopiscus writes, that as the 
 forces of Aurelian were marching 
 against Tyana, the citizens having 
 shut the gates against him, incensed 
 the emperor so that he declared that 
 he would not leave a dog alive in the 
 city ; but the ghost of Apollonius 
 appeared to him in his tent, threat¬ 
 ened him into a better mind, and 
 
 for Apollonius’s sake he spared the 
 inhabitants. — The Grand Mystery 
 of Godliness , by Rev. H. More, p. 
 151 (London, 1660). 
 
 2 Vulcatii Gallicanus, Avidius Cas¬ 
 sius, c. xiv. p. 104; also, Euirophis, 
 b. 8, c. xx. 
 
 3 Castle St. Angelo , etc., W. W. 
 Story, p. 18; Reign of Stoics, p. 52. 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 49 
 
 ble, which he divided with his elder brother 1 (now 
 twenty-three) and his relatives." After his return to 
 ALgae he converted the temple of Aesculapius into a 
 Lyceum 3 and Academy, in which resounded all man¬ 
 ner of philosophical disputations. Blount says : ‘AEs- 
 culapius rejoiced to have Apollonius witness his cures.” 
 That is, the priests of the temple were exceedingly 
 glad to have so crafty a man as Apollonius in collu¬ 
 sion with them; and, according to Pausanias and 
 Strabo, no school was better adapted for the education 
 of an impostor. 4 I hardly think this applies with much 
 
 1 Philostratus, i. 13. 
 
 2 There are many events in the 
 career of Apollonius which seem to 
 confirm the theory that he retained 
 a sufficiency of his estate to keep 
 him from want. In his itineraries 
 there are accounts of his borrowing 
 money; the liquidation of theseloans 
 must have been from private funds. 
 
 3 Lyceum was the name of a 
 school erected by Cicero at Tus- 
 culum; it was called so after the 
 school of Aristotle at Athens. The 
 Lyceum at Athens was first built 
 by Pericles, where he taught phi¬ 
 losophy. In imitation of this Ly¬ 
 ceum at Athens, Apollonius erected 
 one at yEgse. 
 
 4 Aesculapius was worshiped as 
 the saviour of mankind.—C/iDeane’s 
 Serpent Worship , Knight’s Priapus , 
 Squier’s Serpent Symbol, Ferguson’s 
 Tree and Serpent Worship. 
 
 The mint of the Island of Cos 
 produced a coin wherein Aescula¬ 
 pius was called the “ Saviour”; and 
 
 also on a coin of Ancyra the same 
 type appears. Games were also 
 mentioned in honor of him as “sav¬ 
 iour,” and always with the serpent 
 about him. KOS.— Numismata An¬ 
 tiquorum silloge populis grcecis mu- 
 nicipiis et colonis romanis casorum , 
 etc. (Londini, apud David Mortier, 
 1708), 4to, p. 168; Humphrey’s Coin 
 Collector's Manual , 2 vols. pp. 557 " 
 593; Essay Toward a Natural His¬ 
 tory of Serpents , by Charles Owen 
 (London, 1742). Another, Head of 
 Bearded Hercules , rev. KQION, 
 Crab and Club. Some of these 
 coins had the heads of eminent phy¬ 
 sicians, all of whom were termed 
 “saviours.” “Son of God” and 
 “ Saviour ” were expressions of so 
 common application to men who 
 had, or who imagined they had, 
 rendered service to humanity that 
 nothing was thought of it. The 
 lower orders of society believed it, 
 and the wise lent themselves to the 
 fraud. 
 
 7 
 
50 - 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 force, inasmuch as he converted the temple into a 
 lyceum; and he also on a former occasion rebuked the 
 young Assyrian who came to the temple to sacrifice 
 for the disease of intemperance. 1 As a stoic, Apollo¬ 
 nius’s name must be associated with the noblest names 
 of antiquity; and of the five emperors who succeeded 
 Domitian, from A. D. 98 to A. D. 193, namely, Nerva, 
 Trajan, 2 Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, Aurelius, and Corn- 
 modus, all were pupils of stoicism,— indeed Nerva had 
 been banished by Domitian as a stoic. Hadrian was a 
 pupil of Epictetus. Rev. Richard C. Trench, Archbishop 
 of Dublin, 3 says : “ The stoic porch was the last 
 
 refuge and citadel of freedom. During the last cent¬ 
 ury of the republic every patriotic statesman was 
 either a stoic or an admirer of stoicism.” 4 And Lecky 5 
 says “ that in the Roman empire almost every charac¬ 
 ter, almost every effort in the cause of liberty, ema¬ 
 nated from the ranks of stoicism.” We therefore find 
 Apollonius an important factor in the succession of a 
 
 1 At this period (a. d. 25) Pontius 
 Pilate was appointed procurator in 
 Judea, with whom the Jews were 
 displeased, and great and incessant 
 tumults arose in consequence at 
 Jerusalem. It was a hot-bed of 
 insurrection, and continued so dur¬ 
 ing the procuratorship of Pilate, 
 who managed to maintain himself, 
 however, for ten years. The his¬ 
 tory of this period is full of incident. 
 Many of the leaders in insurrec¬ 
 tion Pilate caused to be put to death, 
 whose names have not been histori¬ 
 cally announced. Philo Judaeus 
 loads bis memory with obloquy. 
 
 2 Centuries later, when Pope 
 Gregory the Great, on reading how 
 Trajan halted his army to do justice 
 to a poor widow, was moved to pray 
 that this one heathen might be de¬ 
 livered from the hell which held all 
 of the rest. 
 
 3 In four lectures on Plutarch, his 
 Life, his Lives, and his Morals 
 (Macmillan & Co., 1873), p. 92. 
 
 4 Niebuhr’s Vortrage uber Romes 
 die Geschichte, vol. iii. p. 60. 
 
 5 History European Morals, 2 vols. 
 (N. Y. 1869), vol. i. p. 134.—Cf. 
 The Similitudes of Detnophilus, or 
 Golden Sentences of Democratus. 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 51 
 
 race of the noblest men the world has ever produced. 
 And during his own age many were confessedly in¬ 
 debted to his teachings for the purity of their lives. 
 Even Archbishop Trench was reluctantly forced to this 
 confession, that “ the stoic school was in some sort the 
 noblest school of philosophy in the ancient world, and 
 had never shown itself so nobly as in the evil times of 
 the empire.” The pages of Tacitus show that the great 
 example of Cato was nobly imitated by other Roman 
 stoics. 1 The noble Cleanthes, 2 who succeeded Zeno 
 (b. c. 260), left us a most charming relic of stoic ethics 
 in the lofty hymn to Jupiter, from which Paul quoted 
 on Mars Hill. 3 
 
 The emperors Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, Nero, and 
 Domitian found their despotism opposed by the stoics, 
 with a courage which very often rose to martyrdom. 
 Such men as Cornutus, Priscus, Rufus, Apollonius, and 
 others dared look their masters (in brute force), in the 
 face, and say, “Your works are evil and corrupt. It is 
 for us to tell the truth and for you to slay.” 4 During 
 
 1 The Reign of the Stoics (Hol¬ 
 land), p. 141. 
 
 2 History Classical Greek Litera¬ 
 ture, vol. i. p. 33. 
 
 3 Of his many writings, there is 
 only one remaining.—Cf. Literary 
 Recreations (Rev. W. Curd, 1811), 
 p. 10; also, Reign of the Stoics (F. 
 M. Holland), p. 225 ; Classical Lit- 
 erature : Greek , Sanscrit, and Ro¬ 
 man, by C. A. White, p. 220. 
 
 Chrysippus, son of Apollonius 
 Tarsus, a native of Soli, a city of 
 Cilicia, afterward Pompeilis, was a 
 stoic and a pupil of Cleanthes. He 
 
 wrote several hundred volumes, and 
 was the greatest logician that ever 
 lived. 
 
 4 Pagan antiquity, says Lecky, has 
 left us no grander example than that 
 of Epictetus, who, while sounding 
 the very abyss of human misery, and 
 looking forward to death as simple 
 decomposition, was yet so filled with 
 a sense of divine presence that his 
 life was one continued hymn to Prov¬ 
 idence. The great stoic himself 
 says, “What else can I do, a lame 
 old man, but sing hymns to the 
 gods ? ”— Reign of the Stoics, p. 32. 
 
52 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 the reigns of three of the above-named emperors, in the 
 words of Tacitus, “ Virtue was a sentence of death.” 
 At no period had brute force more completely tri¬ 
 umphed ; in none was the thirst for material advantage 
 more intense, or vice more ostentatiously glorified. Yet 
 in the midst of all these circumstances, the stoics taught 
 a philosophy which was in no sense a compromise, not 
 an attempt to moderate the popular excesses, but 
 which in its austere sanctity demanded their complete 
 prohibition ; this course was the extreme antithesis of 
 what, according to prevailing examples, their interests 
 would dictate. And these men were no impassioned 
 fanatics, fired with the prospects of coming glory or the 
 selfish hope of future personal rewards,— they were 
 men from whose motives of action the belief in the 
 immortality of the soul was resolutely excluded; their 
 impulsion to virtuous acts was for virtue’s sake. The 
 later philosophy impels to good acts through promises 
 of future reward. Pliny, 1 perhaps the greatest of all 
 Roman scholars, admitting the sentiments of all that is 
 implied in the school of Epicurus relating to future life, 
 says, that “ it is a form of madness, a puerile and per¬ 
 nicious illusion.” 2 
 
 Panaetius, the founder of Roman stoicism, maintained 
 that the soul perished with the body, and his opinions 
 were followed by Epictetus and Cornutus. 3 
 
 1 Sallust, Catilina, etc., C. li. “ Neque igitur mors est 
 
 2 See that most impressive pas- Q uam degendem natura animi mortalis hab- 
 
 ■*- A etur y 9 
 
 sage ( History , Nat., vii. 56): The 
 
 notion of the sleep of annihilation 3 Cf. De Officiis de Ciceronis, 
 as the happiest end of man, is the Sjoico Diss. Lugd. B. (1802), vol. iii. 
 favorite thought with Lucretius, p. 567; cf. Stobseus sxXopu ^oor/tca 
 Thus, (1575), fol. lib. I, c. Iii. 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 53 
 
 Seneca contradicts himself on this subject Marcus 
 Aurelius never rose beyond a vague and mournful 
 aspiration. 1 
 
 It may be interesting just here as showing more fully 
 the bent of the stoic mind morally, to which Apollo¬ 
 nius seemed to have so strong an affinity, to quote a 
 few of their aphorisms. Stoicism was a pure moral¬ 
 ity stripped of all absurd divine sanction, and was in 
 the main pretty much the same as modern atheism. 
 And, while doubt is expressed in the writings of some 
 of the commentators on Apollonius, whether or not he 
 fully accepted the creed of atheistic stoicism, I think 
 there is a residuum about him which implies more than 
 they credit him for; and then those with whom he is 
 classed, his associates and admirers, all strongly draw us in 
 that direction. Epictetus and Antoninus were originally 
 explicit upon this head. “ Whither do you go ” (in¬ 
 quired the former) “ at death ? Nowhere to your hurt: 
 you return whence you came — to a friendly consocia¬ 
 tion with your kindred elements. That which is of the 
 nature of fire in your composition returns to fire; that 
 which is of earth to earth; that which is of air to air ; 
 that which is of water to water.” For the professors of 
 this philosophy there was no first cause, no providence, 
 no supreme governor of the world. 2 
 
 “The stoic rule of life is to be useful and helpful, and 
 
 1 History of European Morals from a long line before us. The same at 
 
 Augustus to Charlemagne (Lecky), Athens as at Antioch and Smyrna, 
 p. 102. and all the other seats of learning 
 
 2 G. R. Cleig, M. A., The Great and fashion, and for several centuries 
 Problem, Can it be Solved? p. 175. the characteristic features of their 
 In the pages of Philostratus and philosophy scarcely change. “Philo- 
 Eunapius we see the sophists pass in stratus.” 
 
54 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 not to look after ourselves alone, but after the individual 
 and common interests of mankind.” 1 
 
 “ Everything transpires according to law.” 2 
 “ It is a foolish thing to pray for that good disposi¬ 
 tion which you are able to give yourself.” 4 
 
 “ Shun that philosophy which pretends to be inspired 
 by the gods, for they who tell you such foolish false¬ 
 hoods about the deity fill with self-conceit.” 4 
 
 “ What is God ? The mind of the universe. Where 
 is he ? All that you see, and all that you don’t see.” 1 
 
 “ He who is at peace with himself is at peace with 
 the gods.” 1 
 
 “ He is best and purest who pardons others as if he 
 sinned himself, daily, but who avoids sinning as if he had 
 never pardoned.” 3 
 
 “ We follow our natural dispositions when we do 
 good.” 1 
 
 “ First endeavor to gain the knowledge of yourself; 
 when this knowledge is obtained consult the gods, if 
 you please, but in my judgment you will need no oracle 
 if you arrive at an understanding.” 5 
 “ Purity is part of man’s nature.” 3 
 “ The chief end of a natural creature is social life.” 2 
 
 1 Seneca. 2 Aurelian. 
 
 3 Epictetus. 4 Philostratus. 
 
 6 Dion Chrysostom. 
 
 There was another system of 
 ethics said to have been extant at the 
 same period. “ If any man would 
 be my disciple he must hate his own 
 father, mother, wife, and children, 
 brothers and sisters ”; or, “ If any 
 man come to me and hate not his 
 father,” etc., etc. And which 
 
 charges its disciples, “ Into whatever 
 city ye shall enter, and they receive 
 you not, go your ways, shake off 
 the dust of your feet. But I say 
 unto you, it shall be more toler¬ 
 able in that day for Sodom than for 
 that city.” “Depart from me, ye 
 cursed, into everlasting fire,” etc., 
 etc.— Jesus. 
 
 And contrast the Jewish and 
 Christian God with the pagan’s god. 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 55 
 
 “ Even a bad reputation nobly earned is an acquisi¬ 
 tion.” 1 
 
 “ Those who are over-anxious about the future do 
 not properly use the present.” 2 
 
 “ Cause depends upon cause, and all public and pri¬ 
 vate affairs are carried by a long chain of events.” 2 
 
 “ How to receive favors from my friends without 
 either feeling humbled or acting ungratefully, and that 
 I should not disregard a friend who finds fault even 
 unreasonably, but strive to restore him to his usual 
 disposition. These were among my lessons from 
 Apollonius.” 3 
 
 “Nature endears man to man.” 1 
 
 It was Cicero who first uttered the word “ Human- 
 itas.” With him there was no Jew or gentile, no 
 Greek or barbarian. It was he who pronounced the 
 immortal words, “ Charitas Generis Humanse ” and 
 “ Totius Complexus Gentis Humanae.” He had no clas¬ 
 sification,— no sinners, no saints, no heirs of glory, or 
 inheritors of damnation. 4 
 
 “The world is my country.” 2 
 
 “ I, the Lord thy God, am a jealous 
 God, visiting the iniquities of the 
 fathers upon the children unto the 
 third and fourth generation of them 
 that hate me.” Contrast this with 
 the words put by'the Hindu in the 
 mouth of Brahma : “ I am the same 
 to all mankind. They who hon¬ 
 estly serve other gods involuntarily 
 worship me. I am he who partaketh 
 of all worship, and I am the reward 
 of all worshipers.” 
 
 1 Cicero. 2 Seneca. 
 
 3 Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 
 
 b. i. secs. 8-13; see also Thoughts 
 of the Emperor (M. A. Antoninus), 
 translated by George Long (1869); 
 also, Fronto, Marcus Aurelius et 
 Theoph 7 'atus; also, Lactantii Divin- 
 arum Institutionum Contra Gentes, 
 lib. 5, c. iii. (Anno 1660). 
 
 4 “ Go not into the way of the 
 Gentiles, and into any city of the 
 Samaritans enter ye not, but go 
 rather to the lost sheep of the 
 house of Israel. I am not sent but 
 unto the lost sheep of the house of 
 Israel.”— Jesus. 
 
56 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 “To do good my religion.” 1 
 
 “ Under whatever government his lot is cast man has 
 the family, the duties of a citizen to occupy him, and 
 his philosophy to console him.” 2 
 
 And Herodes Atticus, a man who combined more 
 learning, persuasive eloquence, and humanity than any 
 man of his period, when accosted in the midst of a 
 group of friends by an impostor in the name of stoicism, 
 for something wherewith to buy bread, answered: Be 
 he what he may, let us give him something, if not to 
 him as a man, at least because we are men. “ Tan- 
 quam homines non tanquam homine.” 3 
 
 Aristotle was once blamed for helping a man who 
 did not deserve it. “ It was not the man whom I 
 helped,” said he; “it was suffering humanity.” 4 
 
 Of this school of practical wisdom and morals Apol¬ 
 lonius was a distinguished chief. He maintained that 
 the only good was moral excellence, the only true 
 satisfaction, independence of external circumstances; 
 and consequently held that wealth was an obstacle to 
 the development of virtue; and the whole of his life was 
 
 1 Thomas Paine. 
 
 2 Apollonius of Tyana, cf. Hieroclis 
 philosophi stoici in A nreos Pithagorce 
 versus Commentarii (1551); Defense 
 du Paganisme , par l’empereur J ulien, 
 avec des disputations et des notes , par 
 le Marquis d’Argars (Berlin, 1766). 
 
 3 Philostratus, Vi tee Sop hist arum ; 
 Bur igny, Stir la vie dPI erodes A tticus. 
 
 4 And while we may, even in this 
 enlightened age, point with pride to 
 these unparalleled models of moral 
 excellence, we may refer with equal 
 raptures, as lovers of a common hu¬ 
 
 manity, to those immortal pagans 
 and stoics, Socrates, Plato, and 
 Aristotle. Who has not acknowl¬ 
 edged the great stagirite as a mas¬ 
 ter ? Who has not learned history 
 from Thucydides and Herodotus ? 
 Who can say in all respects that he 
 is superior to Xenophon ? Where 
 is the orator to take the place of De¬ 
 mosthenes or Cicero ? What mod¬ 
 ern dramatist has excelled yEschylus, 
 Sophocles, or Euripides ? In sculpt¬ 
 ors’ art, who bears the prize from 
 Phidias, Polycletus,or Callimachus ? 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 57 
 
 spent, and the whole of his teachings are founded, on 
 the idea that all men are called to receive and practice 
 truth. He speaks and acts as a reformer and lover of 
 humanity everywhere,— on the banks of the Euphrates, 
 the Nurbudda, the Nile, in Spain, and in Ethiopia. He 
 had no narrow notions of nationality, no local clique 
 to serve; he came to no chosen people, but to all 
 mankind. 1 As he grew up to manhood he was hailed as 
 
 the son of Jupiter, and was 
 
 1 I can scarcely regard that writer 
 honest who, being familiar with all 
 the vagaries of the Greek, Roman, 
 and Hebrew fable and mythology, 
 passes over without one word of 
 comment (in a moral discussion) 
 that system of ethics which pro¬ 
 duced such men as Cato, Aurelian, 
 Seneca, Hadrian, Trajan, and Nerva, 
 whose lives and practices were mas¬ 
 terpieces of moral excellence for 
 their time; to delve amid the abom¬ 
 inations of Hebrew tradition for a 
 miserable apology of a moral code, 
 and even that a starved exotic bor¬ 
 rowed from the pagan ethics. When 
 I see men take so much trouble to 
 live in darkness and shed darkness 
 about them; when I see men hus¬ 
 banding the little light struggling 
 to them through a knot-hole and re¬ 
 fusing the glorious privileges ten¬ 
 dered to them of basking in a 
 sunshine as boundless as the hori¬ 
 zon, I can scarcely deem them hon¬ 
 est in their professed ignorance. 
 
 “ School-masters and professors 
 in literature are in affinity with man¬ 
 ifest idolatry and sin.”—Tertullian’s 
 Christian Ethics. 
 
 8 
 
 so declared by every oracle 
 
 “ It is a great thing to live in truth 
 and justice with kind feelings even 
 to the lying and unjust. 
 
 “ It is peculiarly human to love 
 even those who do wrong .”—Stoic 
 Ethics. 
 
 There is no stint of these tenets ; 
 volume after volume of them exist, 
 and they are the utterances of men 
 as pure as their literature. They 
 are the noblest and purest books of 
 antiquity. The enemies against 
 which stoicism contended with fear¬ 
 ful odds were corrupt princes, po¬ 
 litical vampires, and the fanaticism 
 of a growing spiritual religion based 
 on miracle. There are those who 
 deride the oracles of Apollonius’s 
 incarnation, and who would ridicule 
 to scorn the oracle of the Pythoness 
 of Delphi, extorted by the command 
 of Alexander with drawn sword, 
 “ My child, thou art invincible,” and 
 yet revere as a divine revelation 
 (oracle) the descent of the dove, the 
 emblem of Dodona, which had 
 wielded the political destinies of 
 Greece and Lybia for centuries when 
 it exclaimed, “ This is my beloved 
 son in whom I am well pleased.” 
 
53 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 of Greece ; he, in the meantime, maintained that he 
 was simply the son of Apollonius, a citizen of Tyana. 
 Nevertheless, the evidence that he was a messenger, 
 with a divine commission, is entitled to as much con¬ 
 sideration as that of any of the various sons of God 
 who have appeared on earth. 1 To discuss, however, 
 the credibility of miraculous conceptions and births at 
 this age of the world is to offer an insult to the human 
 understanding. 
 
 Apollonius now determined to pass five years in 
 silence, according to the Pythagorean code. 2 This 
 period was passed chiefly in Pamphylia and in Cilicia; 
 and, although he traveled through provinces whose 
 manners were corrupt and effeminate, and much needed 
 reformation, he never uttered a word, nor did a mur¬ 
 mur ever escape him. The method he used in express¬ 
 ing his sentiments during his silence was by his eyes, 
 his hands, and the motion of his head. 3 He never 
 seemed morose nor out of spirits, and always preserved 
 an even, placid temper. He complained that this life 
 was irksome, inasmuch only as he had many things to 
 
 1 Worshiped as a God.— Banier, 
 vol. iii. p. 430. 
 
 2 Silence, or the art of governing 
 the tongue, was a virtue of such 
 consequence with the ancients that 
 they deified it. The Orientals wor¬ 
 
 shiped it under the title of Har- 
 pocrates; the Romans also made it 
 a goddess, and called her Ageronia. 
 The feast instituted in her honor was 
 celebrated on the 21st of December 
 every year. There were statues rep¬ 
 resenting her holding her finger to 
 her mouth.— The Mythology and 
 
 Fables of the Ancients , etc. (Abbe 
 Banier), vol. iii. p. 135 ; also, His¬ 
 tory and Antiquities of the Doric 
 Race , by C. O. Muller, from the 
 German, by Henry Tufnell, Esq., 
 etc. (London, 1839), vol. ii. pp. 
 184-193. 
 
 3 Rev. Gilbert Austin, in his in¬ 
 genious dissertation on Rhetorical 
 Delivery, has adduced the waving 
 of Apollonius’s hand to the corn 
 monopolists, to prove the effects of 
 the eloquence of the hand without 
 the aid of language. 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 59 
 
 say which he refrained from saying; that he heard 
 many things of a disagreeable nature which he affected 
 not to hear, and when provoked to anger could only 
 say to himself, 
 
 “ Alas, poor suffering heart, support the pain 
 Of wounded honor, and thy rage restrain.’ 71 
 
 In this manner he passed over many mischievous 
 things said against him in dignified silence. This disci¬ 
 pline for the human mind the great master Pythagoras 
 fully understood and comprehended, and hence the 
 injunction. 
 
 Whenever Apollonius entered a town in a state of 
 tumult or uproar he always pressed forward into the 
 crowd, where, presenting himself, he showed by his 
 countenance and the waving of his hand the reproof he 
 intended to express, and all kept silent, as if engaged 
 in the most mysterious ceremonies of religion. While 
 residing in Aspendus, a city of Pamphylia, on the 
 river Eurymedon, the inhabitants became enraged, 
 and well disposed to insurrection. To this condition 
 they were driven for want of the necessities of life; a 
 famine prevailed in the land, and the monopolists had 
 hoarded all the corn, in order that they might sell it at 
 enormous profits. The people were stirred up against 
 the Governor, whom they believed the cause of their 
 suffering, and were about to burn him alive, even if he 
 were found at the feet of the statue of Tiberius , 2 which 
 
 1 (Pope’s rendering) Odyssey , b. Suetonius says this custom was 
 
 xx. 1. 18. carried to so great an extent that it 
 
 2 Tacitus says that the statue of was a capital offense for a man to 
 
 Tiberius was a sanctuary, where beat his slave who had an image 
 even the assassin was protected.— of Caesar in his pocket.— Tiberius , 
 Annals , b. iii. c. 36. c. 52. 
 
6o 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 was then more feared than all the gods, even Jupiter 
 Olympus. 
 
 Apollonius approached the Governor, and asked 
 him, by the waving of his hand, the cause which ex¬ 
 cited the multitude, and of what duty he, as a governor, 
 had been remiss ? “ In none,” replied the Governor ; 
 
 “ and I think I could appease them if they would hear 
 me.” Then, turning to the multitude, Apollonius by 
 a sign made them understand that the Governor must 
 be heard; on which an immediate silence ensued, the 
 people acting as if in awe of Apollonius. When the Gov¬ 
 ernor saw this he took courage, and commenced haran¬ 
 guing the people, informing them who were the guilty 
 persons who had hoarded up the corn, and produced 
 the present calamity; he also informed them where the 
 corn was concealed. When the Aspendians heard this 
 they began organizing for the purpose of breaking 
 open the repositories, and taking the corn by force. 
 Apollonius admonished them not to act hastily, that 
 their demands would be complied with without the 
 commission of crime. He advised them first to sum¬ 
 mon the monopolizers, which they resolved to do. 
 As soon as the monopolizers arrived, he was sorely 
 tempted to break through his silence, so great was the 
 provocation to administer a rebuke to these unworthy 
 merchants . 1 However, he respected the law of silence, 
 and wrote his reproof on a tablet, informing them of 
 the excited condition in which he had found the 
 people, and the great risk they ran in thus exposing 
 themselves to the fury of a hungry mob. As soon as 
 
 1 Vie d Apollonius de Tyane, par given in English, by Charles Blount, 
 Philostrate, with the Commentaries, vol. i. p. 248. 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 6l 
 
 the speculators saw and understood the position of 
 affairs, and the extremity to which the people were 
 driven, they were but too happy to purchase their per¬ 
 sonal safety, and that of their property, by opening 
 their store-houses, and filling the markets with corn . 1 
 
 As soon, however, as Apollonius had fulfilled, ac¬ 
 cording to the Pythagorean law, his period of silence, 
 he journeyed into Issus and Alexandria, and came to 
 Antioch in Syria, surnamed the Great, situated on the 
 Orontes, and which is classed by Apollonius as the 
 third city in importance of the Roman empire . 2 At 
 
 1 Quelque apparence qu’il ait 
 que tout cela est de l’invention de 
 Philostrate, en supposant que la 
 chose est arrivee comme il la raconte, 
 elle prouve seulement qu’Apollone 
 etoit un homme adroit et prudent, 
 et qui avoit des manieres propres a 
 s’insinuer dans l’esprit du peuple. 
 —Du Pin, FHistoire DApollone. 
 
 2 There is no doubt but that in 
 the study of Greek archaeology we 
 are more indebted to Greek coins 
 than any other one thing, the extent 
 and variety of which are marvelous. 
 They were issued in every little 
 town, in every corner of the Greek 
 world, and they are full of informa¬ 
 tion as to ancient religious cults, 
 manners, and arts. M. de Long- 
 perier says: “ Coins are serious 
 monuments of public use, bearing 
 on them indications of time and 
 place either quite exact, or at least 
 quite approximate; this is an im¬ 
 mense advantage over all other 
 monuments. By studying the types, 
 the style, the inscriptions of coins, 
 
 we may gain a key to many other 
 antiquities.” The coins of Antioch 
 are the most important, next to the 
 Alexandrian, known to us; not, 
 however, in their variety, but in 
 chronological importance. They 
 are principally of bronze, copper, 
 and baser metal, few only in silver. 
 From the Seleucido, B. c. 37; the 
 Pharsalian era, B. C. 38 to B. C. 22 ; 
 the Actian era, B. C. 6 to A. D. 13, 
 and the Caesarian era, from A. D. 55 
 to the third century, and even of 
 later date, the coins of Antioch 
 prove that city to have remained 
 during that period a pagan center. 
 The types represented on these 
 coins are the city of Antioch per¬ 
 sonified as a female figure seated 
 on a high rock, from under which 
 issues the river Orontes, personified 
 in the form of a youth in the atti¬ 
 tude of swimming. This legend 
 seems fully to establish the pagan 
 era" of the city of Antioch. While 
 these are interesting and significant 
 archaeological facts, they are not 
 
62 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 Antioch he entered the temple of Apollo Daphneus, 
 where it is said that Daphne, the daughter of the 
 river Ladon, was metamorphosed into a tree, and her 
 statue was held in high estimation here . 1 When he 
 entered the temple and perceived that no rational 
 worship was performed there, but everything was in 
 barbarous neglect, he turned his eyes to the Ladon 
 river and cried, “ Not only was thy daughter changed, 
 but thou thyself, from having been a Greek and an 
 Arcadian, art become a barbarian.” 
 
 When it pleased Apollonius, he discoursed to the 
 people of Antioch, but he avoided promiscuous multi¬ 
 tudes and places of public resort, for he disliked their 
 rude and disorderly manners; he characterized them as 
 clowns. But he admitted with pleasure into his con¬ 
 versations all who were of good behavior, and yet he 
 
 very important as historical testi¬ 
 mony, and would have no signifi¬ 
 cance at all were it not that the 
 records of Antioch have been de¬ 
 stroyed so thoroughly. There were 
 ancient coins of Antioch with the 
 head of Pallas and the owl, like 
 those of Athens, with whom they 
 claim a common descent. There 
 are a few other types, as : A Ram 
 Running, Head turned toward a 
 Crescent and Stars; these are nu¬ 
 merous. The art is rude and is 
 wanting in Hellenic refinement. 
 The principal abbreviations on the 
 Roman coins of Antioch are : A. M. 
 B., Antiochise Moneta Officina Se- 
 cunda; A. N. b. or A. N. t. b., An- 
 tiochise Officina Secunda; A. N. F. F., 
 Annum Novum Felicem Faustum ; 
 
 A. N. T. P., Antiochige Percussa; A. 
 N. t. S., Antiochige Signata.—Hum¬ 
 phrey’s Coin Collector's Manual , 2 
 vols. (London), vol. ii. p. 552. 
 
 There was nothing to prevent the 
 Christians of Antioch, if their histo¬ 
 rians are not in error, to have dis¬ 
 continued striking pagan coins, and 
 coining money with the emblems of 
 their own religion, a thing which 
 did not take place until several hun¬ 
 dred years after. 
 
 1 This temple was about thirty 
 stadia from Antioch, and connected 
 by the Heraclean Way, which passed 
 through the gardens with hot springs 
 and fountains, medicinal wells, etc. 
 Apollonius says : “ Everything was 
 salubrious and beautiful. ’’ Here was 
 also the temple of Apollo and Diana. 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 63 
 
 admired and spoke in glowing terms of their beautiful 
 city, noted for elegant streets and dwellings and porti¬ 
 coes. One magnificent street traversed the entire city 
 from west to east, about twenty-four stadia in length, 
 partially covered, and called the stoa Herodes. On 
 this was located the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, now 
 being enlarged. It was not finished until Trajan . 1 
 The people of Antioch at the time were under Caesar’s 
 displeasure, and as a punishment he had by an edict 
 closed the hot baths. Apollonius said that by a for¬ 
 feiture of this right for their wickedness the king had 
 unwittingly taken means for preserving their health 
 and prolonging their lives; for he believed hot bath¬ 
 ing beyond a moderate indulgence detrimental to 
 health. “All these things, and many others not here 
 enumerated in consequence of the vagueness of the 
 tradition and a want of proper data,” says Philostratus, 
 “ were collected from monuments and records of cities, 
 temples, and from tradition .” 2 
 
 The state of the country under the artful and sus¬ 
 picious Tiberius, and the infamous Sejanus, was such 
 that all persons professing philosophy or virtue were 
 looked upon and treated as enemies of the empire . 3 
 The eloquent and accomplished stoic philosopher Atta- 
 lus, of whom Seneca was a pupil, had been banished 
 through the influence of Sejanus; Drusus had been 
 permitted to die of poison, and the virtuous Cordus, 
 
 1 Ovid’s Metamorphoses, lib. i. ; (1690); Trajecti ad Rhenum, vol. i. 
 
 Chas. Blount, vol. i. p. 62; cf. Caji p. 759. 
 
 Suetonii Tranquilli Opera et in ilia 2 Philostratus Vita, p. 30. 
 Commentarius, Samuelis Pitisci. 3 Cf. Suetonii Tranquilli. Ti- 
 Quo Antiquitates Romance, turn ab berius , Nero, Ccesar, vol. i. p. 
 Interpretibus Doctissimis, etc., etc. 561. 
 
64 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 historian and stoic, who had written the history of 
 Rome during the reign of Augustus, which gave him 
 immortality, had just been doomed to die, and his work, 
 which was then very popular and largely circulated 
 among the learned, ordered to be burned by the 
 ^Ediles. His daughter Marcia, however, managed to 
 preserve one copy at the risk of her life, which was 
 reproduced and multiplied. It is now, unhappily, lost. 1 
 In consequence of this very unstable state of affairs in 
 the empire, Apollonius was fully alive to the necessity 
 of moving about with great caution. 2 
 
 During the latter part of this reign, A. D. 28, however, 
 Tiberius retired to the island of Caprese, 3 which he 
 made a nest of impurity and debauchery. He had 
 ingeniously contrived apartments especially adapted to 
 abominable lewdness to inflame the languid appetite. 
 In short, his foulness is not fit to be mentioned or 
 heard of, and ought not to be credited. 4 The little res¬ 
 pite from his bestial life was spent in building arches, 
 erecting columns, and in robbing the whole world of 
 art works to adorn this island for the admiration of pros- 
 
 1 Memoirs of the Life of Agrip¬ 
 pina , wife of Germanicus, by Eliza¬ 
 beth Hamilton, 2 vols. (London, 
 1811), yoI. ii. p. 246. 
 
 Agrippina, the wife of Germani- 
 cus, had also been murdered, and 
 Drusus, her son, was starved to 
 death, A. D. 33. 
 
 2 This reign of Tiberius, which 
 terminated, A. D. 37, in murder, is 
 
 especially rich in coin, and they 
 
 confirm the important events of his 
 reign. They are of gold, silver, 
 bronze, and brass. Some of them 
 
 are of the greatest historic value, 
 and have obtained the highest rar¬ 
 ity; many of them were restored by 
 Titus, Domitian, and Trajan. The 
 restored coins are difficult of de¬ 
 tection.— Strabonis , xvi. 738; Im- 
 peratorum Romanornm numismata , 
 
 p. 86. 
 
 3 One of the most delightful isl¬ 
 ands on earth, just outside the Bay 
 of Naples. It had also been the 
 sumptuous residence of Augustus. 
 
 4 Eutropius’s Abridgment of Ro¬ 
 man History. —Wilson, b. vii. c. 8. 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 65 
 
 titutes, thieves, and assassins. This wholesale robbery 
 of works of art and virtu committed by the emperors 
 Tiberius, Caligula, and Nero to adorn their favorite 
 cities was the principal cause of the hatred of Apollonius 
 to the Romans. They spared nothing; statues, books, 
 columns, shrines, and even entire temples were removed 
 from Greece to adorn the despised capital. Claudius 
 afterward, with a chivalry utterly out of character for 
 a Roman emperor, ordered the celebrated Cupid in 
 bronze, by Lysippus, which had been stolen by Calig¬ 
 ula, restored to its temple in Thespiae. Nero spared 
 no place except Rhodes. And yet so prolific had been 
 Greek art that Pliny says: “ There still remained at 
 Athens after Nero’s spoliation three thousand statues 
 and nearly as many at Olympia and Delphi.” 1 While 
 at Capreae (a. D. 32) Tiberius became aware of the 
 treason of Sejanus; his villainy he had never doubted. 2 
 He was arrested in the senate chamber, whither he had 
 repaired to receive new honors from the emperor; he 
 was loaded with chains, and as he was carried along the 
 streets the populace became frantic in their joy at his 
 fall; they reviled and derided him. 3 He was strangled 
 by the hands of the very executioner he had so often 
 employed in similar service. The satisfaction of Apol¬ 
 lonius was great at this deserved end of a most infa- 
 
 1 But not in Athens, nor in any 
 part of Greece, did the spoliation 
 of the emperors compare with the 
 utter destruction of works of art by 
 the early Christians in their hatred 
 of idolatry. Nero and Domitian 
 stole and appropriated them because 
 of their love of art. The Christians 
 
 9 
 
 destroyed them in barbarous ignor¬ 
 ance. 
 
 2 Tiberius well knew that no man 
 could strike fire with a feather; hard 
 service required hard tools. This 
 was his reasoning in securing the 
 services of Sejanus. 
 
 3 Suetonius, Tiberius , i. 16. 
 
66 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 mous and dreaded tyrant. Matters, however, did not 
 change much for the better, and Apollonius believed it 
 safer to extend rather than to contract the distance 
 from a ruler of whom he could utter no word of praise, 
 and whose infamous life seemed only spared for the 
 commission of crime. 1 But all things must have an 
 end, and Tiberius’s licentious, incestuous life closed, A. D. 
 37, aged 78, and Caligula, his murderer, became his 
 successor at the age of 25. Affairs were somewhat 
 improved by this change, and the people breathed with 
 more freedom, although Caligula was, by admission, 
 half, if not quite, a madman; he declared “that Jove 
 had invited him to become his contubernalis or com¬ 
 rade, but his determination was to become Jove’s 
 rival.” He squandered the vast wealth left by Tiberius, 
 $85,000,000, in one year. Over $300,000 was spent 
 in one supper. Thus the old corruption was rooting 
 itself afresh in Rome. 2 
 
 Apollonius, in the meantime, went about from city to 
 city and from temple to temple, keeping himself well 
 informed of all matters at the capital, but to all appear- 
 
 1 Cf. Suetonius Tranquilhis , p. 
 172, et seq. 
 
 2 Caligula often appeared abroad 
 habited like a woman, sometimes in 
 silks; at other times in the crepidae 
 or buskins, or in the sock used 
 by women, and commonly with 
 a golden beard fixed to his chin, 
 holding a thunderbolt in his hand, 
 a trident, or a caduceus, marks of 
 distinction belonging to the gods 
 only. Sometimes, too, he appeared 
 in the habit of Venus. He wore 
 very commonly the triumphal orna¬ 
 
 ments, even before his expedition, 
 and sometimes the breast-plate of 
 Alexander the Great, taken out of 
 his coffin. He was so fond of 
 singing that he could not refrain 
 in the theater from singing with 
 the tragedians. And the very day 
 on which he was slain it was 
 thought that he intended to take 
 advantage of the licentiousness of 
 the season and make his first ap¬ 
 pearance on the stage.—Suetonius 
 (Bohn ed.), Caligula t lib. iv. p. 
 287. 
 
OF TYANA . 
 
 67 
 
 ances giving no attention to political affairs. Whenever 
 he visited a city which happened to be of Greek origin 
 and was in possession of an established code of religious 
 worship, he called together the priests and discoursed 
 to them on the nature of their gods and the discipline 
 of their temples, and if he found that they had departed 
 from the ancient and usual forms he always set them 
 right. But when he came to a city where religious 
 rites and customs were barbarous and with immoral 
 tendencies, he inquired by whom they were established 
 and for what they were intended and in what manner 
 they were observed (A. D. 30), 1 at the same time sug¬ 
 gesting whatever occurred to him as better, more be¬ 
 coming, and more adapted for the general good; this 
 he sometimes did by private advice to the priests; at 
 others by public discourses. 
 
 Legrand D’Aussy says Apollonius was “ Ecrivain 
 profond, orateur eloquent, moraliste severe, predicateur 
 fervent, apotre enthousiaste ; cet homme extraordinaire 
 eut tout ce qui subjugue les esprits, tout ce qui appelle 
 la confiance et l’estime, tout ce qui commande Tadmi- 
 ration.” 
 
 Wherever Apollonius in his travels found devotees 
 of virtue and morality associated for the promotion of 
 the true philosophy, he commanded them to ask what 
 they pleased, assuring them that those who cultivate 
 the virtues and the true philosophy ought in the morn¬ 
 ing commune with the gods concerning the matters of 
 
 l Strabo, the geographer and his- and a stoic. He refers to the 
 torian, a native of Pontus, died prevailing superstitions of his day. 
 about A. D. 30. He was a grave He is silent concerning Chris- 
 and solid writer, a great traveler, tianity. 
 
68 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 the gods, and in the evening, of human affairs. When 
 he had answered all questions of friends and talked as 
 much as he deemed sufficient he then addressed the 
 multitude, with whom he always discoursed in the 
 evenings, but never before noon. In this manner of 
 occupation his time was employed many years at An¬ 
 tioch and surrounding cities up to A. D. 40. 1 
 
 The ample means which Apollonius had secured by 
 the death of his father gave him facilities for gratifying 
 a passion which had pursued him from his youth up, to 
 travel in foreign countries, study their institutions, and 
 converse with their wise men. This resolution he now 
 communicated to his disciples, seven in number, who 
 endeavored to dissuade him from his design. But he 
 had determined to go, and giving them good advice, 
 commending them to the study of philosophy, he bade 
 them farewell, and, accompanied by two faithful and 
 expert scribes of his own family, he set out for India, 
 to communicate with the Brachmans and Gymnoso- 
 phists, being by his own showing yet a young man. 
 Caligula, 2 who had obtained from Nocereus, son of 
 
 1 During the year A. D. 40 the 
 Jews of Egypt sent Philo on an 
 embassy to Rome to represent their 
 grievances to Caligula (the griev¬ 
 ances of Alexandrian Jews, none 
 other). Philo was a Platonist, al¬ 
 though by birth and faith a Jew, 
 born in Egypt; he was a man of 
 unblemished character and a writer 
 of great note, and a man of learning. 
 Caligula would not give audience to 
 their complaints, and Philo with¬ 
 drew. Philo wrote on all the extant 
 religions of his day except Christi¬ 
 
 anity. Pie died about A. D. 50, hav¬ 
 ing never heard of Christianity. 
 
 2 The coins of Caligula, although 
 of elegant workmanship, bear out 
 the charge of infamy against him; 
 his three sisters, with whom he is 
 said to have been criminally inti¬ 
 mate, appear on nearly all his coins. 
 The first bronze coins of his reign, 
 which confirm his imperatorship, 
 are extremely rare; the senate called 
 them in in execration of his mem¬ 
 ory. They bear the inscription 
 “ Caius the God.” 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 69 
 
 Sesostris, king of Egypt, the obelisk in Heliopolis, and 
 spent three years of his reign in removing it to Rome 
 and setting it up in the Vatican Circus, who had at¬ 
 tempted to suppress the poems of Homer, Virgil, and 
 Livy, and abolish the profession of law, whose reign 
 had been one continued scene of debauchery, who as 
 pontifex maximus (pope) was the first to introduce the 
 servile custom to Roman citizens of presenting his foot 
 to be kissed, had just fallen beneath the dagger of the 
 tribune, Cassius Chaerea 1 (a. D. 41), and had been 
 succeeded by his uncle Claudius at the age of fifty, 
 whose wife, Messalina, the imperious daughter of Ger- 
 manicus, was a woman above all her sex the most mag¬ 
 nificent in sin, a first-century Catherine de Medici, and 
 who contributed largely to the infamy of this reign. 
 And although Claudius added Great Britain and the 
 Orcades to the Roman empire and had a son whom he 
 named Britannicus, his reign was inauspicious for any 
 great achievements to the welfare of the Roman people. 2 
 
 1 On the 24th of January, A. D. 
 41, it is said that Chserea came up 
 behind Caligula while he was talk¬ 
 ing with some boys of noble extrac¬ 
 tion who had come to Rome to act, 
 and gave him a heavy blow on the 
 neck with his sword, crying out at 
 the same time, “ Take this.” That 
 then a tribune named Cornelius 
 Sabinus ran him through the breast. 
 As he lay on the ground crying out 
 that he was still alive, the other con¬ 
 spirators dispatched him with thirty 
 wounds. Immediately afterward his 
 body-guard came running in and 
 killed some of the conspirators 
 
 and also some senators who had no 
 concern in the affair.— Cf. Sueto¬ 
 nius ,, p. 291 (Bohn ed., 1855); also 
 Tacitus; also Eutropius, b. vii. c. 12. 
 
 2 Suetonii Opera, vol. ii. p. I 
 (1590 A. D.); Etitropius , b. vii. c. 13. 
 
 For the acquisition of Britain both 
 emperor and son were honored by 
 the senate with the title Britannicus, 
 and coins were struck (and medals 
 commemorating the event) in silver 
 and gold, having a laureated head 
 of Claudius on the obverse with the 
 inscription ti. clavd caesar avg. 
 p. M. TR. P. VIIMP. XI. Tiberius 
 Claudius Csesar Augustus Pontifex 
 
70 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 The account of the journey of Apollonius into India, 
 which was compiled by Philostratus from the journals 
 of Damis of Ninus, a disciple who never for one 
 moment left the side of his master, constitutes the most 
 interesting and valuable portion of the book of his life, 
 inasmuch as he was the first Greek who had visited 
 India for purposes other than conquest or commerce, 1 
 his object being to make himself familiar with the 
 religious rites, discipline, and doctrines of the Hindoo 
 philosophers; 2 and as he traveled without a retinue 
 above his three companions, and was otherwise unen¬ 
 cumbered, he was welcomed and entertained by the 
 kings and wise men of the country, and had every 
 opportunity of familiar intercourse with all classes of 
 its population. He was, therefore, circumstanced to 
 acquire much accurate and valuable information beyond 
 the reach of ordinary travelers. He went by way of 
 Babylon and Susa, in order that he might meet and 
 
 maximus Tribunitia potestate sex- 
 tum imperator undecimum. 
 
 Of the Roman coins found in 
 Britain of the first century, there 
 are seven of Augustus; one of 
 Agrippa; two of Tiberius; one of 
 Antonia (wife of Drusus); two of 
 Caligula; fifteen of Claudius; eleven 
 of Nero; thirteen of Vespasian; 
 one of Titus ; ten of Domitian, and 
 one of Nerva.— Cf. Landi, Selec- 
 tiorum numismatum prcecipue Ro- 
 manorum , expositiones (1695), p. 
 142. 
 
 1 This would seem questionable, 
 for Apollonius declares the Hindoos 
 already familiar with Homer and 
 teach his writings to their children. 
 
 Dion Chrysostom (De Homero 
 Oratio, i. iii. 272, ii. Riecke), con¬ 
 temporary with Plutarch and a friend 
 of Apollonius, insists in a panegyric 
 upon Homer upon his wide-spread 
 reputation; for his poems, it is said, 
 are sung by the Indians, who have 
 translated them into their own lan¬ 
 guage. I think, however, that the 
 Ramayana and the Mahabharatta 
 have been mistaken for imitations 
 or copies of Homer, while they are 
 more probably (certainly) the orig¬ 
 inals whence Homer drew and 
 which he naturalized and clothed in 
 Greek garments. 
 
 2 John Henry Newman, vol. i. 
 P- 343 - 
 
OF TV AN A. 
 
 7 I 
 
 converse with the Persian Magi. 1 Damis became his 
 companion and disciple at Ninus on the Euphrates, 2 
 between Antioch and Zeugma. At Zeugma the cus¬ 
 toms were collected from those passing and repassing 
 from Syria into Mesopotamia. “ Nature seems,” said 
 Apollonius, “ to have marked the Euphrates as the 
 ultima thule of Roman dominion, and * terminas ’ may 
 be transcribed upon the portals of the bridge at 
 Zeugma.” Mesopotamia is bound by the Tigris on the 
 east and Euphrates on the west; these two rivers run 
 out of Armenia and the farthest parts of Mount Taurus, 
 and encompass the country, in which are some cities 
 and many villages. 3 They spent but little time in this 
 country, but pressed on from the Euphrates to the 
 Tigris; and, after passing beyond the Ctesiphon, they 
 entered the territory of Babylon, where Apollonius 
 was met by the king’s guard and commanded to halt. 
 We shall go no further with Apollonius on his Indian 
 journey, the translated account of which, in Rev. 
 Edward Berwick’s Life of Apollonius , occupies one 
 hundred and eighty-three pages of closely printed 
 matter. It is nearly one-half the entire book. It is 
 also set forth at large, and specially in Priaulx’s Indian 
 Travels of Apollonius of Tyana, etc. (Quaritch, London, 
 1873). We shall be prevented, through a necessary 
 economy of space in this sketch, doing more than occa¬ 
 sionally referring to this interesting journal, it also 
 being not quite pertinent to the purposes of our book. 
 
 1 Cf. Indian Travels of Apollonius on the Tigris. The journal of Damis 
 of Tyana , by Priaulx (Quaritch, begins at Zeugma. 
 
 London). 3 The Indian Travels of ApoU 
 
 2 This could not have been Ninus lonius of Tyana , etc., p. 3, et seq. 
 
72 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 “ But why need we stoop to particulars ? ” says Rev. 
 H. More, in his book, The Grand Mysteiy of God¬ 
 liness , etc. “ The whole life of Apollonius was nothing 
 else than a lofty strutting on the stage of the earth or 
 an industrious trotting from one nation of the world to 
 another, to gather honor and applause to himself by 
 correcting the customs of the heathen or renewing 
 their fallen rites. 
 
 “ Besides, the bold visits he made to princes and 
 potentates with the greatest confidence and ostentation 
 of his own virtues that could be imagined, and this 
 unexpected audacity of his proved ever successful, and 
 he managed somehow to swagger himself into respect: 
 so that he was ever ‘ haile fellow well met ’ with the 
 highest kings and emperors, they being ever taken with 
 great admiration of his wisdom. He was lodged in 
 their palaces, and shown the pomp and glory of their 
 kingdoms. They offered him great sums of mone}/ 
 and precious stones, which he claims to have refused. 
 And then his intermeddling into the affairs of the 
 Roman empire; his lengthy political conference with 
 Vespasian in Egypt; his abetting conspiracies against 
 Nero and Domitian; his learned discourses with the 
 Babylonian Magi; —all prove him to be a man of great 
 lip-wisdom and conceit.” 1 
 
 Some who have investigated this subject have ex¬ 
 pressed doubts of Apollonius ever having visited India 
 at all. But the account of Damis is so minute in detail 
 and exact in description, and bears such evidence of 
 artless honesty and truthfulness, that we are convinced 
 on reading it that it could have been written by none 
 1 More’s Grand Mystery of Godliness. 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 73 
 
 other than an eye-witness. 1 Many of the places and 
 events described and related by Damis were never 
 heard of in Greece before the visit of Apollonius, the 
 truth of which modern research has confirmed. 2 He 
 
 1 Cf. A. Chassang’s Apollonius de 
 Tyane (Paris, 1862). 
 
 2 Cf. Fiihrmann, W. D., Histor- 
 ische Untersitchung iiber die Begrdb- 
 nissplatze der Alten, besonders iiber 
 Deutsc/ien, zind Fortgangdie Gewohn- 
 heil unter den Christen die Leichen 
 innerhalb der Siddte und in den 
 Kirchen zu beerdigen. (1801.) 
 
 In a work published in 1731, 
 called Grafs Gunnery , we find the 
 following as quoted by Captain 
 Francis Grose: “In the Life of 
 Apollonius , written by Philostratus 
 about fifteen hundred years ago, 
 there is the following passage con¬ 
 cerning the people of India, called 
 Oxydra. ‘ These truly wise men 
 dwelt between the rivers Hyphasis 
 and Ganges. Their country Alex¬ 
 ander the Great never entered, de¬ 
 terred not by fear of the inhabitants, 
 but, as I suppose, by religious con¬ 
 siderations ; for had he passed the 
 Hyphasis, he might doubtless have 
 made himself master of the country 
 all around them; but their cities he 
 never could have taken, though he 
 had had a thousand as brave as 
 Achilles or the thousand such as 
 Ajax brought to the assault; for they 
 came not out into the field to fight 
 those who attacked them, but their 
 holy men, beloved by the gods, over¬ 
 threw their enemies with tempests 
 and thunderbolts from the walls.’ ” 
 
 It is said that the Egyptian Her¬ 
 cules (A New System , or an Analy¬ 
 sis of Antient Mythology , etc., by 
 Jacob Bryant, Esq., vol. ii. p. 345) 
 and Bacchus, when they overran 
 India, invaded this people also, and, 
 having prepared warlike engines, 
 attempted to conquer them. They 
 made no show of resistance; but 
 upon the enemy’s near approach to 
 their cities they were repulsed with 
 storms of lightning and thunder 
 hurled upon them from above. In 
 a book entitled The Gunner , printed 
 in London in 1664, it is observed 
 that Uffana states that “ the inven¬ 
 tion and use as well of ordinance as 
 of gunpowder was in the eighty- 
 fifth year of our Lord made known 
 and practiced in the great and in¬ 
 genious kingdom of China, and that 
 in the maretyme provinces thereof 
 there yet remain certain pieces of 
 ordinance, both of iron and brasse, 
 with the memory of their years of 
 founding engraved upon them, and 
 that arms of King Vitney, who, he 
 saith, was the inventor.” 
 
 Maurice, also speaking of the 
 prowess of the Hindoos in war, 
 says: “ The missile weapons darted 
 by these sages in noise and effect 
 resembled lightning and thunder.”" 
 These must have been the fire- 
 rockets described in the sketches 
 of the Hindoos.— History of IIindoo- 
 
 IO 
 
74 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 speaks of the ancient — ancient in his day — commer¬ 
 cial relations existing between the Egyptians and the 
 Hindoos, 1 and quotes from laws enacted for the protec¬ 
 tion of navigation. He describes ancient ships of the 
 Egyptians and their pilots, and that it took many 
 hands to manage their sails ; that part of the crews 
 were armed to defend themselves against pirates. 
 Modern research has confirmed all these things. He 
 describes the system of astronomy of the Hindoos, a 
 system at that time unknown in Greece, and which 
 John Bentley of the Asiatic Society has fully explained 
 in his work called A Historical View of the Hindoo 
 Astronomy from the Earliest Dawn in India , etc. 
 (Smith, Elder & Co., 1825). Apollonius is said to have 
 visited Barygaza, a city of great commerce in his day, 
 situated on the Nurbudda River, and supposed to have 
 been the Tarshish of Solomon. He visited all their 
 temples, made himself familiar with their philosophy, 
 mode of worship, and the nature of their gods. Six 
 hundred years before the time of Apollonius, Buddha 
 had held forth in these same sacred temples of 
 Barygaza. 
 
 It was through these Indian itineraries of Apollonius 
 that a renewed impulsion was given to the Hindoo ele¬ 
 ment pervading the religion and philosophy of Greece ; 
 for long anterior to Apollonius, Buddhism and Brah¬ 
 manism were known and their influence felt in Asia 
 Minor, in Alexandria, in Greece, and in all the Oriental 
 parts of the Roman empire. 2 The founding of the 
 
 stan; its Antiquity and Sciences as 1 Bryant’s AntientMythology, vol. 
 
 connected with the other great Em- iv. p. 373, et seq. 
 piresofAsia,2vo\s. (Thos. Maurice, 2 H. A. Daniel, Theologische Con- 
 1795), vol. ii. p. 652. troversen (1843). 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 75 
 
 great library and museum of Demetrius Phalerius made 
 Alexandria the great center of art, science, literature, 
 and religion, whence it radiated to all the eastern 
 world. That beautiful Hindoo allegory, the tenth 
 incarnation of Christna, the Saviour of the Maha race, 
 lost but little in the land of its adoption, the prophe¬ 
 cies concerning his coming—the miraculous concep¬ 
 tion of his mother Mary — being overshadowed by the 
 great god Brahm. The manger, the shepherds, have 
 all been reproduced in Judea; Cansa, the king and 
 uncle of the child, seeking to destroy him, and ordering 
 all the male children to be slain; the warning to his 
 mother in a dream; the flight out of the country and 
 remaining until the death of those who sought the 
 child’s life, are all coincidences too striking to be 
 purely accidental, and are too familiar to every Chris¬ 
 tian ear to be recited in detail. 1 * * * * & 
 
 1 History of Hindoostan : Its Arts 
 and its Sciences as connected with the 
 other great Empires of Asia during 
 the most ancient period of the zvorld, 
 by the author of Indian Antiquities 
 (Thomas Maurice), 2 vols. quarto 
 
 (London, 1798), vol. ii. p. 311, etc.; 
 La Bible dans V Inde, Vie de Jezeus 
 
 Christna, par Louis Jacolliot (Paris, 
 
 1869), p. 273 ; Vestiges of the Spirit- 
 History of Man, by S. F. Dunlap 
 (New York, Appleton & Co.), p. 
 
 157 , etc.; The Mythology of the 
 Aryan Nations, George W. Cox, 
 M. A., 2 vols. (Longmans, Greene 
 
 & Co., London, 1870), vol. ii. p. 
 102 ; The History of India, Hindu, 
 Buddhist, and Brahmanical, by J. 
 Talboys Wheeler (Triibner & Co., 
 1874), pp. 67, 366, 376, etc.; Es¬ 
 
 says and Lectures, chiefly on the Re¬ 
 ligion of the Hindoos, by the late H. 
 H. Wilson, M. A., F. R. S., 2 vols. 
 (Triibner & Co., London, 1874), vol. 
 ii. pp. 10, 264; cf. Asiatic Research¬ 
 es, or Translations of the Society in¬ 
 stituted in Bengal for Inquiring into 
 the Arts, Sciences, and Literature 
 of Asia, 6 vols. (1779); cf. Indian 
 Antiquities, or Dissertations Relative 
 to the Ancient Geography, Coined 
 Moziey, Literature, etc., etc., of Hin¬ 
 doostan, 7 vols. (London, 1800); 
 Tree and Serpent Worship, or Illus¬ 
 trations of Mythology and Art in 
 India in the First and Fourth Cen¬ 
 turies after Christ, from the Sculpt¬ 
 ured Topes of Sane hi and Amravati, 
 by James Ferguson (London, 1873), 
 second edition, p. 74, etc. 
 
76 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 The miracles said to have been performed by 
 Christna during his mission being almost identical with 
 those attributed to Apollonius, were all well known and 
 discussed in Alexandria at this time, and leave but little 
 credit for originality to attach to the miraculous per¬ 
 formances of Apollonius. And although Apollonius 
 never encouraged the propagation of the story of his 
 divine nature, yet he never emphatically repudiated it, 
 knowing that but little respect attached to the person or 
 teachings of any philosophy with the vulgar multitudes 
 unless founded on the evidence of divine inspiration, the 
 demonstration of which was miracle; and he appears to 
 have allowed the vulgar populace to believe this. 1 
 
 Of all the dogmas which have permeated the relig¬ 
 ions of all times and all countries, ancient or modern, 
 none is more universal than the sonship of the gods: 2 
 for as the ages progressed to that period when men 
 could no longer persuade their deluded satellites that 
 they were gods, they accepted the less illogical dogma 
 of sons of God, and some, that although only sons, 
 were co-equal with the father. 
 
 Again reverting to Judea, we find that on the death 
 of King Agrippa, A. D. 44, 3 Claudius appointed Cuspius 
 Fadus as procurator at Jerusalem. So much importance 
 was attached to the performance of miracles in Judea 
 at this period, that Fadus beheaded one Theudas who 
 created a public disturbance in an effort to perform a 
 miracle by dividing the Jordan. 
 
 1 The vanity and egotism of Jesus 2 Cf. Vestiges of the Spirit-History 
 in pressing his claims as “son of of Man, by S. F. Dunlap (1858). 
 God,” and the fawning servility with 3 Assassinated by a tribune who 
 which he ratified his title, mark him commanded his guard.— Suetonius, 
 as a man of low origin. p. 208. 
 
 
OF TV AN A. 
 
 n 
 
 After the journeyings of Apollonius in India, which 
 probably did not extend beyond the reign of Claudius, 
 from A. D. 41 to A. D. 54, he returned to his native country 
 by the Erythraean Sea, Babylon, thence to Ninus and to 
 Antioch, in the northern part of Syria, where he had 
 formerly resided. 1 This magnificent city, for many 
 years the residence of the Macedonian kings and Roman 
 governors, was subsequently noted as being the “ Eye 
 of the Eastern Christian Church,” and the witness of ten 
 ecclesiastical councils. It is here that the name Chris¬ 
 tian is said to have been first applied to the followers 
 of Jesus. 2 This christening of the new creed must have 
 taken place during Apollonius’s first stay in Antioch, 
 which extended to 41 A. D., and during a period in 
 which he was delivering lectures upon divine matters, 
 and informing himself upon all religious subjects in the 
 province. It is strange he did not mention the rumor 
 of the new schism. 3 
 
 1 A. Chassang, Apollonius de 
 Tyane (Paris), p. 138. 
 
 2 We have no historical evidence 
 of the period when they were so 
 called. In Theodoret’s History of the 
 Church , b. I, c. xxiii., he says that 
 the groves of Daphne in the neigh¬ 
 borhood of Antioch, once sacred to 
 Apollo, were in A. D. 357 dedicated 
 to the church. These were the 
 grounds on which stood, in time of 
 Apollonius, the magnificent temple 
 of Apollo Daphnaeus. 
 
 3 That the disciples were first 
 called Christians at Antioch (a 
 heathen city) about A. D. 43, rests 
 upon the sole authority of the book 
 of Acts, which Dr. Davidson con¬ 
 
 cedes was not written earlier than 
 a. D. 125. But there is no positive 
 proof that it was written as early as 
 A. D. 200. Therefore its value, as 
 establishing the fact about Antioch, 
 is quite apparent .—Revelations 
 Antichrist, p. 98. 
 
 It is a great pity that we have no 
 more reliable data concerning this 
 interesting city; nearly all the rec¬ 
 ords concerning it stop short and 
 abrupt just before the Christian era. 
 And Antioch the great, the second 
 city of the Roman empire, the oldest 
 Christian city on earth, is blotted 
 from the page of history for over five 
 hundred years, for it does not ap¬ 
 pear again until the middle of the 
 
73 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 Apollonius spent several months in Antioch, A. D, 
 48, just after the great earthquake, during the reign 
 of Claudius. He describes minutely the habits and 
 religion of the people; he says they were indolent, 
 indulging in every species of idle merriment, and were 
 extremely superstitious, leaving no room for the pur¬ 
 suits which are held in high estimation by the Greeks. 
 The city was supplied with magnificent temples ; the 
 one to Jupiter was the most famous out of Rome. One 
 of its great retreats for pleasure was the cypress grove 
 of Daphne, 1 about twenty stadia from the city, hence 
 S7ui Aa<pv7]. At this time work was progressing upon 
 the stately Selucidian theatre. 
 
 The dissolute morals of the city were so distasteful to 
 Apollonius that he determined not to remain, and he 
 immediately departed for Seleucia, the seaport of An¬ 
 tioch. 2 His journey was down the Heraclean Way 
 ('HpaxXsov) which passes among beautiful villas and 
 
 fifth century. There is a record of an 
 earthquake there A. D. 37 ; another 
 during the reign of Claudius, and 
 another A. d. 115. But everything 
 resembling consecutive history has 
 been carefully laid aside beyond the 
 reach of the historian.—See Encyclo¬ 
 paedia Brit ., ar t. Antioch. The stories 
 of the great splendor of Antioch, 
 of its palaces and triumphal arches, 
 sacred images in the groves, and 
 costly pictures and statues in private 
 apartments, are tantalizing in their 
 meagerness, and yet, gleaning from 
 the poets and other pagan sources, 
 its general features maybe discerned 
 enough to confirm its greatness. 
 
 1 Mythology and Fable (Banier), 
 
 i- 345 - 
 
 2 This city was built by Seleucus 
 Nicator, who had determined mak¬ 
 ing it the capital of his new kingdom. 
 It was dedicated to the thunder- 
 god, Jupiter Fulminans Seleucen- 
 sium, and this was the Jupiter To- 
 nans of the Romans. Imperial 
 Greek coins were issued at Ephesus 
 and Seleucia without intermission 
 from Augustus to Septimius Sever- 
 us, with the type of “ thunderbolt 
 and flame,” and pagan coins circu¬ 
 lated without discount in these 
 places seven hundred years after 
 Apollonius. 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 79 
 
 fountains; he spent his first night in the temple of 
 Apollo and Diana, situated in the grove of Daphne; 
 here was a colossal statue of Apollo, the work of Bry- 
 axis. 1 The next day he reached Seleucia, forty stadia 
 distant, and proceeded at once to the port 2 and took 
 passage in a vessel bound for Smyrna. He embraced 
 the time occupied in taking in cargo to visit the city, 
 the walls of which were about forty stadia in extent, 
 with two gates, one opening to the port and the other 
 on the Heraclean Way toward Antioch. The aque¬ 
 duct which supplied the city with water Apollonius 
 describes as a stupendous structure; the most remark¬ 
 able he had ever seen. The next morning, before day¬ 
 light, they put to sea in tempestuous weather, but with a 
 fair wind, and in the afternoon of the same day made 
 the island of Cyprus. Cyprus (IvuTTpo?) was the birth¬ 
 place of Zeno, the father of stoicism. He was born at 
 Citium, but early in life settled in Athens. There was 
 another Zeno, a stoic, he was a Sidonian; and still 
 another, of Tarsus, son of Dioscorides. Zeno, the Greek 
 physician mentioned by Galen, was also probably a 
 stoic, as well as Zeno the historian of Rhodes, and Zeno 
 of Caria, a Greek sculptor. 
 
 Cyprus, more especially than any part of the East, 
 had passed through great vicissitudes of fortune, having 
 had successively Egyptian, Phoenician, Persian, and again 
 Egyptian masters. 3 It was now a Roman pro-consular 
 province attached to Silicia. Apollonius says the early 
 
 1 This is confirmed "by the extant this basin was entirely artificial, and 
 
 coins of Antiochus Epiphanes. was excavated to make shelter for 
 
 2 A basin 2000 feet long, 1200 feet shipping. 
 
 wide, occupying an area of 47 acres; 3 Lang’s Cyprus , p. 13. 
 
8 o 
 
 A POLL ONI US 
 
 history of Cyprus is obscure and imperfectly known, 
 and many vague traditions have gained currency there 
 from an ignorance of its monuments, its medals, its 
 obelisks, and the language in which its annals are re¬ 
 corded,— he scoffed the old tradition that Cyprus was 
 separated from Syria by an earthquake. 1 
 
 1 Cyprus, in the archaic period, 
 was the most noted country in the 
 East. It was the seat of civilization 
 and refinement when Europe was 
 wild and barbarous, and it is from 
 here that Greece undoubtedly de¬ 
 rived much of her culture and relig¬ 
 ion, as Cyprus no doubt secured hers 
 from Egypt. Cyprus has long been 
 noted among classical writers as a 
 principal seat of the worship of the 
 goddess Aphrodite, identical with the 
 Phoenician Astarte, the Ashtaroth 
 of the Bible, and better known as 
 the Paphian or celestial Venus. But 
 the island was inhabited by many 
 peoples and races; the modern re¬ 
 searches of General di Cesnola have 
 brought to light statues and other 
 relics of the worship of Cybele Dem¬ 
 eter, Parsalia, and the Phoenician 
 Hercules, the Moloch of Scripture, 
 and the Kronos of Grecian mythol- 
 ogy; Egyptian tombs, symbolical 
 figures, and pottery were also ex¬ 
 humed. The city of Paphos, now 
 Paleopaphos, as distinguished from 
 New Paphos, was situated about 
 fifty stadia, or six miles, from the 
 port, or New Paphos. The name 
 arose in this wise: Pygmalion, a 
 famous statuary, formed a beautiful 
 image of a virgin in ivory, with which 
 
 he became so deeply enamored that 
 he treated it as a real mistress, and 
 continually solicited Venus by 
 prayers and sacrifices to animate his 
 beloved statue. His wishes were 
 granted, and by this enlivened 
 beauty he had a son called Paphos, 
 who gave his name to the city of 
 Paphos in Cyprus. The worship 
 of the goddess was of the most las¬ 
 civious character, being the same as 
 that accorded to Mylite.— Ovid, lib. 
 x. 245; cf. A Neiv Pantheon of the 
 Heathen Gods, etc., by S. Boyse 
 (London, 1753), p. 103 ; Tacitus, p. 
 384; Knight’s Ancient Art, etc., p. 
 154; also, Cyprus, Its Ancient 
 Cities, Tombs, and Temples : A Nar¬ 
 rative of Research , etc., by General 
 Louis Palma di Cesnola. Like the 
 city of Antioch, but little is known 
 of the island of Cyprus, except 
 through the writings which have 
 escaped destruction, as those of 
 Apollonius. The early history of 
 Cyprus is pretty succinctly told up 
 to 130 B. C. ; from that period there 
 is nothing reliable related of it, ex¬ 
 cept the record of destructive earth¬ 
 quakes until the fifth century, A. D. 
 The destroying angel had made 
 pretty effective work with the history 
 of this island; during this historic 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 8 i 
 
 It had been the intention of Apollonius to visit the 
 ancient port and city of Salamis, on the east end of 
 Cyprus, and verify the Greek tradition of Teucer, son 
 of Telemon, the Trojan hero, 1 and thence to proceed 
 by land to Paphos, visiting ancient Citium, 2 Curium, 
 the sacred temple of Apollo Hylates, and the Phoeni¬ 
 cian city of Amalthus; and this port they were ap¬ 
 proaching, but a violent gale from the east prevailing, 
 
 interim there are some traditions of 
 the great work and great miracles 
 wrought through Christianity. But 
 all reputable historians give these 
 traditions a wide margin. 
 
 Pomponius Mela, author of De 
 Situ Orbis, an unreliable though 
 prolific writer, left no testimony con¬ 
 cerning Christianity.—Cf. Heathen 
 Records to Jewish Scripture History, 
 etc., by Rev. Dr. Giles, p. 90; see 
 also di Cesnola’s great work (Har¬ 
 pers, 1878). 
 
 1 Mythology and Fables of the 
 Ancients (Banier), vol. iv. p. 249. 
 
 2 Cf. Lang’s Cyprus, p. 24. 
 
 Little is known of this ancient 
 
 town. It issued coins down to the 
 time of the Ptolemies, and although 
 Smith’s Dictionary says “ they did 
 not coin money,” R. Hamilton Lang, 
 formerly British Consul for Cyprus, 
 has several in his possession bearing 
 the letters K. 1., indicating that they 
 belong to Citium.—Inman’s Ancient 
 Faiths, etc., vol. ii. p. 196. 
 
 Upon certain coins of Cyprus w r e 
 find the “ simulacrum ” of Venus, 
 as described by Tacitus and Maxi¬ 
 mus Tyrius. The coins of Cyprus 
 
 I I 
 
 united Greek art and Phoenician 
 language and Egyptian supersti¬ 
 tions. They were engraved by the 
 Greek, inscribed in Phoenician let¬ 
 ters,— on one side the bull Apis, 
 with the symbol of life; on the 
 other, the dove. Apollonius says 
 their religion was a mixture. The 
 pieces of Augustus, Livia, and Dru- 
 sus, without naming the island, but 
 with the temple of Venus Paphia, 
 have Latin legends ; those of Clau¬ 
 dius, Latin and Greek legends; all 
 later pieces are entirely Greek.— 
 Ntimismata Imperatorum Romano- 
 ncm, etc. (J. Vaillant, 1694), p. 38. 
 
 The coins of Cyprus are of the 
 highest numismatic interest; they 
 represent six different kingdoms of 
 the island. They are also impor¬ 
 tant religious records, the most 
 ancient having a large Phoenician 
 element, then Babylonian and Egyp¬ 
 tian.— Cyprus : Its History, its Pres¬ 
 ent Resources end Future Prospects, 
 by R. Hamilton Lang (London,. 
 1878), p. 352 ; Cyprus: A Hew Sys¬ 
 tem, or an Analysis of Antient My¬ 
 thology, etc., by Jacob Bryant, 6 
 vols. (London, 1807), vol. i. p. 283. 
 
82 . 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 the commander, deeming it unsafe to risk his vessel in 
 so open and exposed a roadstead as Salamis, again 
 stood out to sea, and before dark had passed the Pe- 
 dalion (now Cape Greco), and early the next day 
 anchored in the port of Paphos. 1 On debarking at 
 New Paphos, Apollonius and his disciples proceeded 
 to Paphos at once, about twenty stadia from the port. 
 Paphos had during the reign of Augustus been nearly 
 destroyed by an earthquake, but had been rebuilt by 
 the munificence of the emperor. 2 They visited the 
 temple and statue of Venus (the latter consisted of a 
 conical stone only 3 ), and having instructed the priests 
 of the inner court of the temple in many things, Apol¬ 
 lonius deemed it unwise to remain longer, in conse¬ 
 quence of the unsettled state of the weather, and took 
 his departure for the port. 
 
 With the rites performed in the inner court of the 
 temple of the celestial Venus, Apollonius expressed 
 himself satisfied in the highest degree. No blood of 
 bulls or goats or any living creature ever stained the 
 altar of this temple. But with the feast of Mylitta, 4 an 
 accessory performed without and in the vestibule of 
 the temple, he was strong in condemnation. This rite 
 did not of right belong to the worship of the goddess, 
 but was a Babylonish sacrament imposed upon it. The 
 
 1 Apollonius deTyane (Chassang), 
 
 P- 139 - 
 
 2 Cyprus : Its History , its Pres¬ 
 ent Resources and Future Prospects , 
 by R. Hamilton Lang (1878), 
 P* 35 * 
 
 3 Inman’s Ancient Faiths, etc., 
 
 vol. i. p. 468. 
 
 4 K]V 0 sov MoXitta. Mylitta, or 
 Mylidoth, is a Chaldaic word which 
 Scaliger interprets “ genitrix,” one 
 of the epithets of Venus. Her 
 temple was sacred to Succoth Be- 
 noth, signifying “ tent of the girls.” 
 — Larclier’s Notes on Herodotus , 
 2 vols. (London, 1884), vol. i. p. 190. 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 temple was anciently the temple of the Tyrian Her¬ 
 cules and Astarte, the solemn veiled priestess, 1 who sat 
 with an infant at her bosom,— the original whence was 
 derived the idea of the Christian Madonna. This 
 heartless and wanton goddess, who afterward became 
 the beautiful and charming Aphrodite, was the most 
 beautiful of all ideal creatures, and was subsequently, 
 under the Greek regime , transformed into Venus. She 
 has undergone her third transformation, and is now the 
 virgin mother of God (Aphrodites). The great temple 2 
 stood upon a high point, and could be seen by mariners 
 at a great distance. 3 Its dimensions were two hundred 
 and twenty-one by one hundred and sixty-seven feet, 
 and was founded by Cinyras, the story of whose daugh¬ 
 ter Myrrha and son Adonis is familiar to every clas¬ 
 sical scholar. 4 The rites to which Apollonius had 
 expressed so strong disapprobation were in honor 
 of Aphrodite Mylitta, or the Paphian Venus, 5 and 
 which required every native female once a year, or 
 at least once in her life, to prostitute herself to any 
 
 1 Vestiges of Spirit-History of 
 Man (Dunlap), p. 37, et seq. 
 
 2 Afterwards a Christian church, 
 then a mosque, now an indefinable 
 ruin. 
 
 3 A most extraordinary feature 
 of this Cyprian beauty, Venus, was, 
 that she was exhibited with a beard 
 under the name of Aphroditus 
 
 ('AcppoSixoc; Hesychus). She is also 
 
 so represented by Servius (Servius 
 upon Virgil , JEneid , lib. ii. v. 632). 
 “ Est etiam in Cypro simulacrum 
 barbatce Veneris.” The poet Calvus 
 speaks of her as masculine.— Ma- 
 
 crobiuSy lib. iii. c. 8 ; Porphyry apud 
 Eusebium. Prcep . Evang. lib. iii. 
 c. II. 
 
 4 Apollonius thinks the curious 
 story related by Pliny (from an an¬ 
 cient tradition), that there was a 
 lion with emerald eyes surmount¬ 
 ing a tomb of one of the kings of 
 Cyprus at Paphos, was a mere fable. 
 The lion was said to overlook the 
 sea, and the dazzling rays of his 
 emerald eyes scared the tiny fish 
 from the coast. 
 
 5 Inman’s Ancient Faiths , etc., 
 vol. ii. p. 350. 
 
8 4 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 stranger who presented himself and offered her money, 
 and for this purpose she kept herself in waiting in the 
 stoa of the temple . 1 In Babylon, as well as in Cyprus, 
 the observance of this rite was considered indispensable 
 by women of every rank and position . 2 
 
 On arriving at New Paphos Apollonius found the 
 vessel ready to leave the port, not being able to 
 remain, in consequence of the boisterous weather 
 and the exposed nature of the harbor. Although 
 late in the day, they sailed immediately, and as 
 soon as the vessel had cleared the headlands of the 
 
 1 Travels of Antenor (translated 
 by E. F. Lantier), vol. iii. p. 69, etc. 
 
 2 Herodotus, i. 199. 
 
 Mylitta is the Assyrian name of 
 this goddess; the Arabians called 
 her Alitta, the Persians Mitra, 
 Aphrodite with the Greeks.—Cf. A 
 New System, or an A nalysis of A n- 
 tient Mythology, etc., by Jacob Bry¬ 
 ant, 6 vols. (London), vol. i. p. 377; 
 Ibid. vol. iii. p. 23, etc. 
 
 This custom prevailed in Armenia, 
 Phrygia, Palestine, Carthage, and 
 Italy,— everywhere, except with the 
 Greeks and Egyptians, says Herod¬ 
 otus. These exceptions Herodotus 
 might have omitted, at least so far 
 as concerns the Greeks, for there 
 were thousands of sacred prostitutes 
 kept in each of the celebrated tem¬ 
 ples of Venus at Eryx and Corinth, 
 who were said to have been ex¬ 
 tremely expert in the duties of their 
 profession. And Hosea, referring 
 to this peculiar form of Mylitta 
 worship, declared Samaria levied a 
 reward at every corn floor.— Dis¬ 
 
 sertation sur les Attributs de Venus , 
 by Abbe de La Chan (Paris, 1776), 
 p. 160; also, Herodotus , ii. 64; 
 Strabo , viii. ; Diodorus Siculus , iv.; 
 Juvenal, Satire, 22', cf. The Symbol¬ 
 ical Language of Ancient Art and 
 Mythology (R. Payne Knight),p. 54. 
 
 The coinage of Cyprus is of the 
 highest numismatic interest. There 
 have been recovered six different 
 types of coins whose Cypriote ori¬ 
 gin is attested by legends in Cypriote 
 characters. In all we have forty- 
 eight varieties of coins from Cyprus. 
 On the early Greek coins, upon 
 which is found an inverse or in¬ 
 dented square, sometimes divided 
 into four and sometimes into more 
 compartments, are symbols of the 
 celestial Venus, or female productive 
 power. Similar impressions occur 
 on some Egyptian amulets of paste, 
 all having the same significance. 
 The lyre was also a type on one of 
 Mylitta. — Catalogue of Oriental 
 Coins, by S. L. and R. Poole, vol. 
 iv. Egypt. 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 85 
 
 roadstead of Paphos they headed for the coast of 
 Lycia, the gale continuing in the mean time unabated 
 through the greater part of the night. The master of 
 the ship, being well versed in a knowledge of the winds, 
 and also of the celestial bodies, their motions and influ¬ 
 ence, and also being familiar with the harbors and rocks, 
 continued his course during the night. The next 
 morning, being more favored by Neptune, they sighted 
 Mount Cragus, the south promontory of Lycia, and on 
 the evening of the same day anchored in the harbor of 
 Rhodes. The harbor was filled with merchantmen 
 engaged in the various traffics of Alexandria and Syra¬ 
 cuse . 1 The winds favoring, they sailed the next morn¬ 
 ing before day, and coasted in sight of the shores of 
 Caria, Doris, and Cnidus , 2 the last being the birthplace 
 of Eudoxus, the astronomer; Ctesias, the historian ; and 
 Sostratus, the builder of the Pharos at Alexandria, and 
 for the night put into the harbor of Halicarnassus (now 
 Budrum), opposite the island of Cos, rendered famous 
 by the services of that great woman, Artemisia, and the 
 magnificent tomb erected by her on the principal street 
 in the heart of the city to the memory of her husband, 
 Mausolus ; this work was executed by the sculptors 
 Scopas, Leschares, and Bryaxis . 3 There were also 
 
 1 Travels of Anterior , vol. ii. p. 
 357 * 
 
 2 Cnidus, like Mytilene, Myndus, 
 and many other Hellenic cities, was 
 originally built on an island which 
 the Greeks called Triopion; it is a 
 lofty rock, rising abruptly from the 
 low isthmus which now connects it 
 with the mainland, but which was 
 
 formerly a strait. In ancient times 
 this port was a secure haven for 
 Phoenician and Egyptian navigators 
 during storms and gales. 
 
 3 The head of this famous statue 
 of Mausolus was unearthed at Bud- 
 rum, 1857, by C. T. Newton, keeper 
 of Greek and Roman antiquities of 
 the British Museum. 
 
86 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 celebrated temples to Mars, Apollo, and Venus, but 
 more especially was this city attractive to Apollonius 
 for being the place where Herodotus was born, from 
 which he was banished, and where he died. “We set 
 sail,” says Damis, “on the next day, and, steering 
 northerly of Cos and near unto the island of Calymna, 
 entered the gulf of Issus, and from thence, passing 
 under the craggy summits of Samos, the mightiest of 
 all the states of Greece, in the days of Pericles, save 
 only Athens, on the close of the third day arrived at 
 Panormus, seaport of Ephesus, where Apollonius, having 
 paid his vows to the gods, proceeded at once to Ephe¬ 
 sus ,” 1 one of the great cities of Ionia, and sacred to 
 Artemis (Diana); they debarked at the city port, in front 
 . of the gymnasium, in the rear of which was the Forum, 
 at the foot of Mount Coressus. The moment he arrived 
 it was noised about the city, and the citizens left their 
 work and followed him, paying him homage and ap¬ 
 plause . 2 The first discourse Apollonius gave at Ephe¬ 
 sus was from the porch of the temple of Diana , 3 after 
 
 1 There appears to be a great 
 hiatus in the profane history of Ephe¬ 
 sus ; nothing is related of it with 
 certainty of history from some time 
 before the Christian era to the fifth 
 century. Ecclesiastical history, how¬ 
 ever, says that Paul preached there, 
 and wrote some of his epistles there, 
 55, 56, and 64, A. D. (Encyclopedia 
 Brit. ; Haydn’s Die. of Dates) ; not 
 sustained by contemporaneous facts. 
 J. T. Wood, in his great work, Dis¬ 
 coveries at Ephesus, including the 
 Great Temple of Diana of Ephesus, 
 declined throwing any light upon this 
 subject, or giving us any history of 
 
 this famous city during a period of 
 eight hundred years, so complete 
 and thorough had been the work of 
 the literary despoiler. Not that the 
 town wanted importance, for it was 
 an important place up to the eleventh 
 century, and a pagan city during the 
 eighth century. 
 
 2 The entry of Apollonius into 
 Ephesus, says d’Aussy, is a parallel 
 to the triumphal entry of Jesus into 
 Jerusalem.— Le Grand d’Aussy, vol. 
 i. p. 24. 
 
 3 This temple was one of the seven 
 wonders of the world. It was 425 
 feet long and 250 broad, and was 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 87 
 
 the manner of the stoics, exhorting them to spend their 
 time in study and philosophy, and to abandon their 
 dissipation and cruel sports . 1 He also preached on 
 “ Community of Goods,” illustrating his discourse with 
 the parable of the sparrow; other discourses were held 
 in the groves near Xysta . 2 And the city of Ephesus, 
 which was so notorious for its profligacy and frivolity, 
 was brought back by the teachings of Apollonius to 
 the cultivation of philosophy and the practice of virtue . 3 
 He did not teach after the manner of Socrates, but 
 endeavored to detach his disciples from all occupation 
 other than philosophy . 4 Damis admired the Ephe¬ 
 sians, with all their faults, and he was enamored with 
 
 supported by 127 columns of marble 
 60 feet high. It was 200 years in 
 building, and was burned by Ero- 
 stratus and rebuilt with equal splen¬ 
 dor and beauty. 
 
 1 Apollonius de Tyane ( Chassang), 
 
 p. 141. 
 
 2 The boundary of the temple of 
 Diana was an asylum, a refuge for 
 fugitives from justice or vengeance 
 (Tep.£VO<;), and it had beenfrom time 
 to time extended, until it embraced a 
 large portion of the city with Xysta. 
 Augustus, comprehending the evils 
 growing out of this exemption, con¬ 
 tracted the boundaries and built a 
 wall around the temple. 
 
 3 Re'ville, p. 28. 
 
 4 Lecky’s Hist, of European Mor¬ 
 als, vol. i. p. 350. “Apollonius 
 was admired at Ephesus; the devils 
 themselves contributed to his popu¬ 
 larity by their oracles, which they 
 gave out in his favor. It is claimed 
 that he reclaimed the city from idle¬ 
 
 ness, from a love of dancing, and 
 from other fooleries to which it was 
 addicted, and that he endeavored to 
 bring the inhabitants to be friendly 
 to one another. He labored in like 
 manner in the other cities of Ionia, 
 to reform the manners of the people, 
 and to establish unity amongst them. 
 For the devil, whom some of the 
 fathers had called the ‘ ape of God,’ 
 and who would be well contented 
 that men should be a little more 
 regular in their outward behavior, 
 providing they were but impious in 
 neglecting the worship of God, at¬ 
 tempted by his agent, Apollonius, to 
 undo what Jesus Christ had accom¬ 
 plished by his apostles,— the refor¬ 
 mation of manners by the preaching 
 of the gospel .”—An Account of the 
 Life of Apollonius, by M. Lenain 
 de Tillemont (London, 1702), p. 14; 
 see Phylostratus de Vita Apollonii 
 Tyanei Scriptor Luculentus , a Phil- 
 ippo Beroaldo Casiigatus (1502). 
 
88 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 their city, which he describes as being built upon 
 a fine plain, stretching westward forty stadia to the 
 sea. To the north of the main way on the campania, 
 between Mounts Coressus and Solmissus, was the sacred 
 precinct and the famous temple of Diana of the Ephe¬ 
 sians , 1 the most magnificent edifice on earth. The 
 great aqueduct which was to convey water to Ephesus 
 from Mount Magnesia was not yet completed, and the 
 Stadium, near the Coressian Gate, was also in process 
 of construction. Apollonius was received everywhere 
 
 1 Travels of Anterior, vol. iii. 
 p. 329. 
 
 The importance paid to the wor¬ 
 ship of Diana of the Ephesians is 
 evidenced by the great number of 
 Ephesian coins and medals bear¬ 
 ing her image; it was styled 
 ’E^ESION, chief city of all Asia, 
 on coins and medals, and Diana, the 
 greatest of all the gods. A bee was 
 always the symbol of Diana; as early 
 as the middle of the fifth century 
 B. c., the Ephesian Artemis was 
 symbolized by a bee, and the city 
 of Rhodes has two specimens with 
 the same symbol, also Cnidus, and 
 Smyrna, and Syracuse; this is a 
 proof of the alliance between these 
 four cities. The same symbol was 
 found on the coins of Croton in Italy 
 B. c. 389. Philostratus says that 
 when the Athenians led their colony 
 to found the city of Ephesus the 
 Muses, in form of bees, flew about 
 them, directing the course of the 
 fleet. Hence this symbol on Ephe¬ 
 sian coin. There is an extant 
 Ephesian coin bearing the image of 
 
 Septimius Severus, another of Jupi- 
 per, but all bearing the image of 
 Diana. There is a coin of Ephesus, 
 also of Athens, bearing a stag, and 
 Diana, significant of the Elaphobo- 
 lia, wherein a pair of stags were 
 sacrificed to Diana. The coins of 
 Ephesus are numerous, and confirm 
 many alliances with many cities of 
 Asia, principally for commercial pur¬ 
 poses.— Para Magnce Grcecice num- 
 ismata nunc curante Georgio Vol- 
 chamero denuo recusa (1683). Great 
 confusion has been occasioned by 
 some Greek historians interpreting 
 Melissce , MsXiaoa, Bee. — Inman’s 
 Ancient Faiths, vol. ii. p. 351. He¬ 
 rodotus says that all the northern side 
 of the Danube was occupied by bees. 
 Jove, also, upon Mount Ida, was 
 said to have been nourished by bees. 
 The building of the temple of Del¬ 
 phi the second time w r as by bees. 
 The Melissse were the attendants 
 upon Demeter and Persephone, and 
 hence when they migrated or in¬ 
 troduced their rites it was misinter¬ 
 preted into the doings of bees. 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 89 
 
 with demonstrations of joy and reverence ; the people 
 flocked to hear him, and many were benefited by his 
 preaching . 1 
 
 1 Philostratus claims that pagan¬ 
 ism at Ephesus, Antioch, Smyrna, 
 Corinth, and Athens (all claimed- 
 to have been Christian centers in 
 Paul’s day) was remodeled and re¬ 
 formed through the preaching of 
 Apollonius, and that churches and 
 bishops were established there long 
 before Paul’s time. All this seems 
 quite rational enough when we con¬ 
 sider that there is no account of any 
 Christian teachers visiting Rome, 
 Ephesus, Antioch, etc., prior to 
 Paul. And yet Paul addresses 
 large congregations and prosperous 
 churches there. What churches ? 
 There is no evidence outside of 
 merely Paul’s word or the interpo¬ 
 lator that these churches, bishops, 
 deacons, presbyters were Christians; 
 on the contrary, they appear to be 
 strongly pagan. For Paul refers to 
 their institutions as of long stand¬ 
 ing and of no novelty. (Christian 
 churches and other evidences of 
 Christianity at Ephesus discovered 
 by Mr. Wood do not antedate the 
 ninth century.) Nor were they 
 being demolished and the inmates 
 burned, as Paul (or his interpola¬ 
 tors) declares was the fate of all the 
 churches. Philo Judeas speaks of 
 these things as of long established 
 notoriety and venerable antiquity in 
 his day, A. D. 3 7, and Philo wrote 
 before Josephus, and when Jesus 
 was not more than 15 years of age. 
 Philo was a member of a relig¬ 
 
 ious community, having parishes, 
 churches, bishops, priests, and dea¬ 
 cons, pretending to have apostolic 
 founders, using scriptures which 
 they believed to be divinely inspired, 
 and which Eusebius himself believed 
 to be nothing else than the substance 
 of the gospels. They also had mis¬ 
 sionary stations and colonies at 
 Rome, Corinth, Galatia, Ephesus, 
 Philippi, Colossae, and Thessalo- 
 nica; all this was nothing new in 
 Philo’s day. This was probably as 
 early as A. D. 18. Now it is infi¬ 
 nitely absurd, nay it is absolutely 
 impossible, that a body of ignorant 
 believers in a new and alien religion 
 of an alien and despised race had 
 formed themselves into such wealthy 
 and powerful church organization 
 amid the most violent persecutions 
 and martyrdoms. Paul writes “ I 
 beseech Euodias and beseech Syn- 
 tyche that they be of the same mind 
 in the Lord, and I intreat thee also, 
 true yokefellow, help those women 
 which labored with me in the gos¬ 
 pel,” etc.—Phil. iv. 2, 3. There 
 is no pretense that the earliest 
 Christian gospel appeared sooner 
 than sixteen years after this, and 
 yet Paul declares that he was made 
 a minister of the gospel which had 
 already been preached to every 
 creature under heaven.— Col. i. 23. 
 “ The brethren which are with me 
 greet you. All the saints salute 
 you, chiefly they that are of Caesar’s 
 
 12 
 
go 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 The priests and oracles of Colophon and of Didymus 
 and of Pergamus had already declared in his favor, 
 
 household.”—Phil. iv. 22. It must 
 be a source of infinite amusement 
 to the man of learning to read the 
 article on Episcopacy, by Rev. 
 Canon Venables, in Encyclopedia 
 Brit. Its evident effort at disguis¬ 
 ing truth or its utterance of willful 
 falsehood is too apparent to deceive 
 the most ordinary scholar. This is 
 the Canon’s contribution to the 
 cause. Now, if what the Christians 
 claim be true of Nero, Vespasian, 
 and Domitian, I submit that Caesar’s 
 household must have been a highly 
 uncomfortable dwelling-place for 
 Christian saints. 
 
 From the epistles of Paul we 
 learn that in the two great cities of 
 Ephesus and Philippi, also on the 
 island of Crete, and in fact through¬ 
 out all Asia Minor, there were 
 well organized and matured Chris¬ 
 tian communities, bishops, deacons, 
 presbyters, ministering and govern¬ 
 ing under the ancient forms and 
 ceremonies of churches which ap¬ 
 pear to be held in both royal and 
 popular favor ; while from the same 
 authority we learn that the empe¬ 
 rors were torturing and burning 
 every man, woman, and child who 
 was suspected of entertaining Chris¬ 
 tian doctrines. These epistles need 
 revision. And again, the incredibly 
 short space of time in which these 
 things were accomplished, places the 
 account entirely without the pale of 
 even possibility. 
 
 Before the pretended date of any 
 
 one of the gospels which have come 
 to us, before any one of the disciples 
 had suffered martyrdom, before any 
 one of them had completed his mis¬ 
 sion, we find a spiritual dynasty 
 established, exercising the most tre¬ 
 mendous authority ever grasped by 
 man, not merely over the lives and 
 fortunes, minds, and persons, but 
 over their prospective eternal desti¬ 
 nies. We find (by the Christian 
 record) a church at Rome, Corinth, 
 Galatia, Ephesus, Philippi, Co- 
 lossae, and Thessalonica, rooted and 
 grounded in the faith, called of 
 Jesus Christ, in everything enriched, 
 in all utterances and in all knowl¬ 
 edge, beloved of God and in favor 
 with the king. And if an apostle 
 himself or an angel from heaven 
 preach any other gospel than that 
 which they had received let him be 
 accursed.— Gal. i. 8, 9. 
 
 Christian churches did not begin 
 to appear until the time of Alexan¬ 
 der Severus, A. D. 220.— Der Fall 
 des Herdenthurus , von Dr. H. G. 
 Tschinier, 8vo. (Leipsig, 1829). 
 
 Histoire de la Destruction de Pa¬ 
 ganism e en l’Occident, ouvrage cou- 
 ronne par l’Academie Royale des 
 Inscriptions et Belles Lettres,enl’an- 
 nee 1832, par A. Beugnot, de l’lnsti- 
 tut de France, 2 tomes (Paris, 1835). 
 
 And then again, how account for 
 the ignorance of the Ephesian 
 Christians, “ grounded in the faith,” 
 as Paul informs us, which is so mani¬ 
 fest in their answer to Paul’s ques- 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 91 
 
 and all persons who stood in need of assistance were 
 commanded by the oracle to repair to Apollonius, such 
 
 tion, " Have ye received the Holy 
 Ghost since ye believed ? ” And 
 they said unto him, “ We have not 
 so much as heard whether there be 
 any Holy Ghost.”—Acts xix. 2. 
 This certainly is no evidence of 
 high Christian culture among the 
 brethren at Ephesus. We must 
 conclude that the Christianity of 
 the Ephesians in Paul’s and Apol¬ 
 lonius’s day was of a very base coin¬ 
 age. For if the Holy Ghost or the 
 Ghost especially to whom the Chris¬ 
 tian neophyte owes primordial alle¬ 
 giance was unknown to these new 
 converts, then I am unable to clas¬ 
 sify their Christianity. 
 
 Paul writes to Timothy, A. D. 58 
 (according to Conybeare and How- 
 son), 2 Timothy iii. 15, and in that 
 letter tells Timothy that “ from a 
 child thou hast known the holy 
 scriptures which are able to make 
 thee wise unto salvation through 
 faith which is in Christ Jesus.” 
 These things look very strange, and 
 either Paul was, or we are, mistaken 
 about their truth. There is no pos¬ 
 sible escape from it. 
 
 In an analysis of the character of 
 Paul as given to us in the revealed 
 word, we find him a strange com¬ 
 pound of paganism by birth, Juda¬ 
 ism by artfulness, and a Christian I 
 wonderfully suspect by interpolation 
 and literary touchings of the records 
 by subsequent revelators. Tarsus, 
 the birthplace of Paul, was not a 
 Jewish but a Roman town. Paul is 
 
 not a Jewish but a Roman name, 
 and the protestation of Paul that 
 “ my manner of life was first among 
 mine own nation at Jerusalem, know 
 all the Jews; which knew me from 
 the beginning, if they would testify, 
 that after the straitest sect of our 
 religion I lived a Pharisee,”—Acts 
 xxvi. 4, 5,— needs attestation, for he 
 confesses that the Jupiter of Aratus, 
 the poet, was the god whom he 
 adored. 
 
 Would not one suppose from 
 reading the account of Paul that 
 the great storm of persecution had 
 already passed, to see stately edi¬ 
 fices erected for the public worship 
 of God, with a great number of eccle¬ 
 siastical offices ? On the contrary we 
 are told that during the Apostolicage, 
 and long after, the Christians wan¬ 
 dered about in deserts and mount¬ 
 ains, in dens and caves of the earth, 
 being destitute, afflicted, and tor¬ 
 mented. 
 
 Their sacred rites, we are told, 
 were performed with the utmost 
 plainness and simplicity and in se¬ 
 cret and obscure places, sometimes 
 at cemeteries or graves of the mar¬ 
 tyrs. These epistles of Paul do not 
 dovetail with the facts of this age as 
 taken from all other sources. There 
 
 A 
 
 is not a single authority, Christian 
 or otherwise, that there were edi¬ 
 fices designedly for the use of the 
 Christians, for it was a common ob¬ 
 jection against the Christian in the 
 mouth of every pagan, Templa non 
 
92 
 
 APOLL ONI US 
 
 being the will of Apollo and the Fates . 1 Embassies 
 were sent from all- the principal cities of Ionia offering 
 him rights of hospitality. Smyrna sent embassadors, 
 who, when questioned for a reason of the invitation, 
 replied, “To see you, Apollonius, and be seen by you.” 
 “ Then,” said Apollonius, “I will come; our curiosity 
 is mutual.” In visiting the temples, advising with the 
 priests, and lecturing to the people, Apollonius spent 
 his time at Ephesus . 2 He also traveled into other places 
 of Ionia adjacent to Ephesus, always addressing the 
 people. He then departed for Smyrna, three hundred 
 and sixty stadia from Ephesus, a two-and-a-half-days’ 
 journey, and as he drew near unto the city, the Ionians, 
 who were engaged in their Panionian festival , 3 came out 
 to meet him . 4 He found the people given up to idle 
 
 habent, non aras, non altaria, non 
 simulacra , even a long time after 
 the Apostolic age, and the apologists 
 themselves admit this to be true. 
 A remarkable passage in Isidore 
 Pelusiota, in which he expressly af¬ 
 firms that there were no churches 
 in the Apostolic age; and as to offi¬ 
 cers of the church spoken of by 
 Paul, neither Clemens nor Ignatius 
 nor Polycarp nor Justin Martyr 
 nor Ireneus appears to have known 
 anything about them.— A Discourse 
 on the Pretended Apostolic Constitu¬ 
 tions, etc., etc., by Robt. Turner, 
 M. A., vicar of St. Peter’s in Col¬ 
 chester (London, 1715). 
 
 1 Benuick, p. 189; General Bio¬ 
 graphical Dictionary of the Most 
 Eminent Persons of Every Nation, 
 by Alexander Chalmers, 32 vols., 
 art. Apollonius. 
 
 2 DA ussy, vol. i. p. 243; Ber¬ 
 wick, p. 189; Chassang, p. 141; 
 The French Translation of Blount, 
 vol. iv. p. 80. 
 
 3 Apollonius de Tyane (Chassang), 
 
 P- 143 - 
 
 4 The festival in which none but 
 Ionians were allowed to participate 
 (Larcher’s Notes on Herodotus, vol. 
 i. c. ii. 16.) It was instituted in honor 
 of Neptune, surnamed Helicon, from 
 Helice, a city of Achaia. 
 
 Of Pergamus, Smyrna, Sardis, 
 Philadelphia, and Laodicea, next to 
 nothing is known during the period 
 from 240 B. C. to A. D. 700, except 
 a rambling ecclesiastical history, 
 principally relating to saints, won¬ 
 ders, and miracles.—Haydn’s Die. 
 of Dates . 
 
 Cf. Encyc. Brit., Ephesus, Smyr¬ 
 na, and Pergamus. 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 93 
 
 disputings, and much divided in their opinions upon all 
 subjects which tended for the public welfare and the 
 good government of the city. He exhorted them in 
 their disputes to vie with each other in giving the best 
 advice or in discharging most faithfully the duties of 
 citizens, in beautifying their city with works of art and 
 graceful buildings, advising them that beautiful cities 
 resemble the statue of Jupiter Olympus which Phidias 
 had made, or the elegant work of Cleanthes, the Co¬ 
 rinthian, or of Polycletus, or the fabulous works of 
 Daedalus , 1 always beautiful and artistic, and giving joy 
 and culture to the beholder. 
 
 The natural advantages of the situation of Smyrna 
 for trade called forth the commendations of Apollo¬ 
 nius ; but it had been subjected to most prodigious 
 earthquakes, and had been nearly destroyed during 
 the reign of Tiberius. 
 
 Apollonius delivered many discourses at Smyrna, 
 always confining himself to such topics as were most 
 useful to his hearers. He was the guest of Theron 
 the elder, of Smyrna, a stoic and an astronomer. 
 Smyrna, Cnidus, and Pergamus were the chief centers 
 of learning in these days, and the great schools were 
 at Cos, at Cnidus, at Pergamus, and Smyrna. Hip¬ 
 pocrates, whose writings won for him from his succes¬ 
 sors the title of “The Divine Old Man,” 2 and from the 
 moderns that of the “ Father of Medicine,” was a 
 
 1 Dissertation on Grecian Mythol- physician, the seventeenth lineal 
 
 ogy, etc. (Musgrave, 1782, London); descendant from iEsculapius. His 
 also, cf. Strabo , xiv. p. 641. mother was Phenerata, the eight- 
 
 2 “The Prince of Medicine,” eenth in descent from Hercules. 
 “The Father of Physic,” “The In his family there were seven phy- 
 Oracle of Cos.” His father was a sicians named Hippocrates. 
 
94 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 native of Cos. Praxagoras, who wrote on the pulse, 
 was also a native of Cos, as well as Nicander, Theo- 
 phrastos, Chrysippus, and Polybius, 1 who established 
 the rival sect of Dogmatici. Praxiteles was from 
 Cnidus; Pythagoras came from Samos; Anaxagoras, 
 the friend and master of Pericles, Euripides, and Soc¬ 
 rates, were all of Chios. Archimedes, 2 whose name is 
 still pronounced with gratitude and veneration, was a 
 native of Syracuse (b. c. 287), as was Philistus; and 
 Diodorus Siculus was also a Sicilian. 
 
 At this time embassadors came from Ephesus to 
 Apollonius, entreating him to return to them as their 
 physician, for the plague was now raging in that city. 
 During his former residence there he had warned 
 these Ephesians of the danger threatening them from 
 this disease through the uncleanliness of their city; 
 but deeming it best not to delay his journey in their 
 distress, although he felt aggrieved at their disregard 
 of his warning, he proceeded at once to Ephesus. 
 As soon as he arrived he harangued the people, charg¬ 
 ing them not to be dejected, but to keep up their 
 spirits, and he would that day put a check upon the 
 disease. 3 After having stayed the ravages of the 
 
 1 Son-in-law to Hippocrates. 
 
 2 He, too, treated the quadrature 
 of the circle, and determined the 
 ratio of the circumference within 
 .0012 of the truth, and wrote on 
 conoids, spheroids, and cylinders, 
 and came as near the discovery of 
 differential calculus as was possible 
 without the aid of algebra. 
 
 3 “There is no need of remarks/’ 
 says Lardner, “upon so silly a story. 
 
 Justly does Eusebius say that Phil- 
 ostratus’s account of Apollonius’s 
 miracles is inconsistent and there¬ 
 fore altogether incredible.” 
 
 Ne trouvant aucun remede a op- 
 poser au fleau, les Ephesiens envoy- 
 erent des deputes a Apollonius, dont 
 ils esperaient leur guerison. Apol¬ 
 lonius ne crut pas devoir differer: 
 “Allons,” dit-il, et au meme instant 
 il fut a iLphese, sans doute pour 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 95 
 
 plague, in commemoration of which the Ephesians 
 consecrated to him a statue under the title of Hercules 
 Alexicacus, 1 he departed, and visited many places in 
 Ionia, giving the people such advice as he deemed 
 necessary for their benefit, and for the benefit of their 
 temples and their gods. But becoming weary of this 
 monotonous life, 2 and impatient for seeing Greece, he 
 began making preparations for an early departure for 
 Athens, not, however, without first paying his respects 
 to ancient Pergamus, 3 noted for being the most emi¬ 
 nent seat of learning in the world at this time. He 
 visited localities rendered sacred to him as once hav¬ 
 ing been familiar to Crates, the stoic and philosopher, 
 who lived and taught here; and it was here also that 
 Galen, the most celebrated of all the pagan philos- 
 
 imiter Pythagore, qui s’etait trouvd 
 en m£me temps a Thurium et a Meta- 
 ponte. II rassembla les £phesiens 
 et leur dit: “ Rassurez-vous des 
 aujourd’hui je vais arr£ter le 
 fleau.” II dit et mena la multitude 
 au theatre, a l’endroit ou se trouve 
 aujourd’hui une statue d’Hercule. 
 — Chassang’s Apollonius de Tyane, 
 etc., p. 146. 
 
 1 Lactantius, a Latin father of the 
 third century, says the Ephesians 
 nevertheless consecrated a statue to 
 Apollonius, under the title of Her¬ 
 cules Saviour, in commemoration 
 of his having delivered them from 
 the plague. 
 
 2 Apollonius continued in Ephe¬ 
 sus, Smyrna, etc., from A. D. 50 to 
 59, and was in Rome from A. D. 63 
 to A. D. 66. The accounts of Paul 
 
 say that he was in Ionia and Greece, 
 A. D. 53 ; in Ephesus, A. D. 54, and 
 again, from 56 to 58; in Rome in 
 A. D. 65 and 66.— Hist. Christian 
 Church, by John H. Newman, vol. 
 i. p. 348, etc. 
 
 3 The kingdom of Pergamus, 
 famous in its day, was founded by 
 Philetasrus, a eunuch, whom Lysim- 
 achushad made governor of the place 
 and guardian of his treasures. He 
 was succeeded by Eumenes I., B. c. 
 263. The kingdom at this period 
 embraced nearly all of Asia Minor. 
 It was one of the great kingdoms of 
 the East. It became a Roman prov¬ 
 ince, B. c. 159.— Cf Abbe Sevin, 
 Recherches sur les Rois de Pergame, 
 Memoires de V Academie des Inscrip¬ 
 tions, vol. xii. (Paris, 1829), 4to; 
 Clinton’s Kings of Pergamus. 
 
96 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 ophers, was born (131 A. D.) 1 It was also the native 
 city of the physician Oribasius, a pagan and friend of 
 Julian, who was banished by Valentinian, A. D. 370, and 
 here Scipio died. Pergamus possessed an enormous 
 library, although eighty years before the visit of 
 Apollonius 1 2 Marc Antony had robbed it of 200,000 
 volumes and deposited them in the temple of Serapis 
 at Alexandria to gratify the passion of his enchantress 
 Cleopatra for literature. 3 At Pergamus Apollonius 
 performed worship in the temple of Aesculapius, with 
 which he was much pleased. He also discoursed there 
 in the temple of Athena Pallas, the patron goddess of 
 the city. Pergamus continued to rank with Ephesus 
 and Smyrna as one of the three great cities of the 
 province until the time of Nero. 4 After Apollonius 
 
 1 Claudius Galen was a Roman 
 and pagan, born in Pergamus, A. D. 
 131. He remodeled the works of 
 Hippocrates and added much to 
 them. He detested Epicureanism, 
 and was of the same school as 
 Apollonius.— Cf. his works : De 
 Usu Partium, De Locis Affectis, and 
 Ars Medica ; see also P. Watson’s 
 Medical Profession, p. 161. 
 
 2 The exportation of papyrus from 
 Egypt had been prohibited by Ptol¬ 
 emy Philadelphus, to prevent Eu- 
 menes, king of Pergamus, increasing 
 his libraries (b. c. 263). Eumenes 
 turned his attention to parchment, 
 and so improved it for making into 
 books that little or no change has 
 taken place in it to the present.— 
 Technical History of Commerce, etc., 
 by John Yeats, LL. D. (London, 
 1872), p. 77. 
 
 3 The coins of Pergamus, the de¬ 
 
 vice of which was an Eagle on a 
 Thunderbolt, confirm the data of all 
 her historic kings from Eumenes 
 1st. All these coins are beautifully 
 executed, and were issued from Au¬ 
 gustus, extending long into that 
 period of the history of Pergamus 
 of which we have no records. They 
 have Latin inscriptions. Some bear 
 the name and. device of Mytilene, 
 proving an alliance between these 
 towns. There is a Cornelian gem 
 extant bearing the portrait of Per¬ 
 gamus, the founder of the city, and 
 a bronze medal of Pergamus the 
 younger. 
 
 4 Excavations made on the site 
 of this ancient city, by the Prussian 
 government, have disclosed many 
 buildings on the Acropolis, and 
 among them the temple of Athena 
 and the temple dedicated to Au¬ 
 gustus.— Bohn and Humann . 
 
OF TVANA. 
 
 97 
 
 had suggested many things to the worshipers and 
 priests of the various temples concerning maladies, he 
 departed for Ilium, a three days’ journey from Per- 
 gamus. 
 
 While at Ilium he was moved by a divine emotion; 
 this sacred territory, sanctified by the achievements of 
 illustrious heroes, filled him with veneration, and while 
 his mind was in this humor of reverence for the fallen 
 brave, he repaired to the tombs of the Achaeans, invoked 
 the gods, and sacrificed to that noble band of heroes. 
 Of all the chiefs of the Grecian army, those which inspired 
 the highest respect in Homer were the Achaeans. To that 
 race belong the Atudae, Achilles, Ulysses, Diomedes, 
 and Nestor. 1 Apollonius proposed to spend one night 
 in the tomb of Achilles, 2 in order to ascertain from the 
 shades of that hero where Palamedes was buried ; and 
 for this purpose they set out from Ilium on foot, down 
 
 1 The Achaean League affords 
 probably the most perfect example 
 of all antiquity of the federal form 
 of government, and, allowing for 
 difference of time and place, its re¬ 
 semblance to that of the United 
 States government is very remark¬ 
 able.— 'Cf Freeman’s Federal Gov¬ 
 ernment, 2 vols. (1863); Comparative 
 Politics (New York, 1873) ; Droysen 
 Geschichte des Ilellensincies, 2 vols.; 
 Ilelwing Geschichte des Achaeschen 
 (Bunder). 
 
 2 Philostratus has not so much as 
 suggested a doubt concerning the 
 tomb of Achilles being at Troas. 
 The number of writers who have 
 written to disprove the facts stated 
 in Homer concerning the war of 
 Troy — of Helen, Paris, Achilles — 
 
 13 
 
 is quite great. Anaxagoras, a philos¬ 
 opher born in the 70th Olympiad, 
 and quoted by Diogenes Laertius, 
 was the first skeptic on this subject. 
 There were others after him, as 
 Metrodorus, Diogenes Laertius, 
 Ilesijch, Totian, and a writer in 
 Athenaeus, of whom we know noth¬ 
 ing ; Basil Magnus, an author of 
 the lower ages of the Roman em¬ 
 pire.— Jacob Bryant, in his work 
 entitled, A Dissertation Concerning 
 the War of Troy, and the Expedi¬ 
 tion of the Greeks , etc. (a. d. 1796). 
 The authors who seem to favor 
 the story among the ancients are 
 Hesiod, Pindar, Tryphiodorus, Cal¬ 
 limachus, yEschylus, Sophocles, 
 Euripides, Lycophron, and Philos¬ 
 tratus. 
 
98 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 the Simois River, and on the first night made their 
 camp at the confluence of the Simois and the Scaman- 
 der Rivers, on the plains of Troy, near where the army 
 of Xerxes passed on its way to Abydos. This army 
 and cattle, it is said, “ drank the Scamander dry, the 
 Simois being muddy.” The next day they arrived at 
 Sigaeum, on the Hellespont, convenient to which are 
 located the tombs and mausolea of Patrocles and 
 Achilles. The Dioscoridae (Aioaxopoc), 1 who had now 
 become his friends and followers, endeavored to dis¬ 
 suade him from his purpose of spending a night in the 
 tomb, assuring him that death would be the penalty of 
 such rashness and impiety. “ But,” said Apollonius, 
 “Achilles 2 still loves conversation and pleasant stories; 
 when alive he was very fond of the Pylian Nestor, 
 who always told him something interesting. He used 
 to call old Phoenix his foster-father and companion, and 
 other endearing appellations, because he told to h?m 
 facetious tales. Even Priam, his mortal enemy, he 
 regarded with admiration when he heard him speak, 3 
 and it is my determination to talk with him, with more 
 pleasure than ever did his friends of old; 4 and should 
 he kill me I shall have the honor of reposing with 
 Memnon and Cycnus, and I doubt not Troy will 
 
 1 Also called Corybantes, Curetes, 
 Idaei, Dactyli, and Telchines. The 
 places where they worshiped pre¬ 
 vailed over Italy, Crete, Samothrace, 
 and Troas. 
 
 2 Mythology and Fables of the An¬ 
 cients (Banier), iv. 278. 
 
 3 Apollonius de Tyane, sa Vie , 
 ses Voyages, ses Prodiges, etc., par 
 
 A. Chassang, p. 148. 
 
 4 People used to resort there 
 every year in order to offer up sac¬ 
 rifice in his honor; and a tradition 
 was current that his shade, dressed 
 in armor, was accustomed to appear 
 in a threatening posture, notwith¬ 
 standing which, says Bayle, Apollo¬ 
 nius attempted to speak to it. It is 
 related that miracles were wrought 
 at his tomb. 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 99 
 
 honor me with a burial as honorable as that given to 
 Nestor, the Pylian sage.” 
 
 Apollonius carried out his design, and his com¬ 
 panions were surprised to see him returning the next 
 morning safe and sound. He reported that to the 
 several questions which he was permitted to ask, he 
 ascertained that Helen was never carried to Troy by 
 Paris as stated by Homer, 1 but that she remained in 
 Egypt at the house of Proteus, king of Egypt, to 
 which she had been conveyed by Paris. 2 He also 
 ascertained that the reason why Homer nowhere men¬ 
 tioned Palamedes 3 was because he was put to death 4 to 
 gratify the hatred of Ulysses, and Homer did not like 
 to cast reproach on the character of the crafty son of 
 Laertes and Anticlea, daughter of Antolychus. 5 He 
 also learned that Palamedes was buried at Methymna, 
 in Lesbos, on the extreme northern end of the island, 
 which was rendered famous as being the birthplace of 
 Sappho (XaTrcpo).) 6 
 
 1 So says Herodotus, Dion Chry- 
 sostom, xi. p. 162; Tertullian De 
 Spectaculis, p. 290, C ; Photius, p. 
 433 > Strabo, lib. xiii. p. 900. 
 
 2 The detention of Helen by Pro¬ 
 teus is made serviceable in one of 
 the tragedies of Euripides. A very 
 succinct account of Helen may be 
 found in Encyclopedia Britannica, 
 under Helena; see, also, Paris and 
 Menelaus. 
 
 3 Palamades was the inventor of 
 
 scales, measures, chess, dice, and 
 
 several letters of the Greek alpha¬ 
 bet. He joined the expedition 
 
 against Troy, and exposed by an 
 ingenious stratagem the feigned in¬ 
 
 sanity of Ulysses, and thereby 
 incurred his enmity. Palamedes 
 was convicted of treason, and put 
 to death.— ALneid, lib. ii. 80. 
 
 4 The manner in which Ulysses 
 procured the death of Palamedes is 
 uncertain. Ovid says he hid some 
 money in Palamedes’s tent, and then 
 had him condemned by a council of 
 war for having received a bribe ; 
 Pausanias says that Ulysses and 
 Diomedes pushed him in the water, 
 and held him under until drowned. 
 —Banier, vol. iv. p. 290. 
 
 5 Banier, vol. iv. p. 389. 
 
 6 Sappho, a contemporary of Al¬ 
 caeus and Erinna, has rendered 
 
100 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 Having obtained this, his most desired information, 
 he immediately took passage for Lesbos; the wind was 
 fair from the land, and the ship ready to sail. But 
 at this season of the year (autumn) the Aegean sea 
 was not much to be trusted, and such crowds flocked on 
 board, anxious to embark with Apollonius, supposing 
 that he had power over fire and water and perils of 
 every kind, that he quietly withdrew to another vessel 
 lying at anchor near the tomb of Ajax, 1 the pilot and 
 master of which, a Rhodian, was engaged in the corn 
 
 Mytilene, a city of Lesbos, noted 
 for all time, in having established a 
 literary society there, consisting en¬ 
 tirely of women (600 b. c.), who 
 gathered around her from all parts 
 of Greece. There was another 
 Sappho, a courtesan.— History of 
 Classical Greek Literature, by Rev. 
 J. P. Mahaffy, M. A., 2 vols. ; vol. 
 i. p. 20. 
 
 A I’epoque de Sapho et d’Alcee, 
 les cites eoliennes et ioniennes 
 avaient encore ces moeurs aristo- 
 cratiques qui les font ressembler, a 
 beaucoup d’egards, a la republique 
 de Venise du temps ou le noble 
 Marcello composait pour la haute 
 societe du Grand-Canal les psaumes 
 qui ont rendu son nom celebre ; les 
 relations sociales y etaient libres 
 et faciles, quelquefois licencieuses 
 inais toujours empreintes d’ele- 
 gance et de cette noblesse de mani- 
 eres qui appartienne aux aristocra- 
 ties. Du reste le climat des lies 
 et des rivages eoliens est d’une 
 douceur qui tourne a la mollesse, 
 et qui engendre aisement la volupt£; 
 
 le canal de Lesbos est eclaire le 
 soir d’une sauve lumiere et parcouru 
 sans cessepar des brises tiedes mais 
 non enervantes que parfument les 
 arbustes odoriferants des mon- 
 tagnes. Les richesses et le luxe 
 de l’Asie abondaient sur ces rivages 
 et donnaient aux nobles Grecs de 
 ces contrdes ces habitudes de lan- 
 gueur et de po£sie passionnee, dont 
 nous retrouvons encore quelque 
 chose dans leurs descendants Ita- 
 liens et Asiatiques.—M. E. Bur- 
 nouf, Literaticre Grecque, vol. i. 
 p. 194. 
 
 1 Off the Rhetean promontory, on 
 the edge of a sandy shore, the sta¬ 
 tion of Ajax was on the left wing of 
 the camp at Troy, and opposite that 
 of Achilles; that is to say, it was 
 nearest to what was afterward called 
 the Rhetean promontory. Antony, 
 or Pompey, it is thought, plundered 
 the tomb of Ajax of its ashes, and 
 carried them to Egypt. Pausanias 
 testifies that it had been opened.— 
 A Vindicator of Homer, etc., etc., 
 by J. B. S. Morritt (1798), p. 104. 
 
OF TV AN A. 
 
 IOI 
 
 trade, and was bound for Alexandria, in Egypt. On 
 entering the Aegean sea, they ran down the coast of 
 Troas before a strong north wind, passing in sight of the 
 tombs of Patroclus, and of Antilochus, and Alexander 
 of Troy, and Penelaus, the last at Cape Troas ; also in 
 sight of the island Tenedos, 1 the fatal station to which 
 the Greeks retired with their fleet for concealment while 
 awaiting the result of their stratagem for the capture 
 of Troy. 
 
 After doubling the Trojan promontory, Apollonius 
 bid the pilot steer for ^Eolia, over against Lesbos, and 
 to make it by coasting near to Methymna, situated at 
 the extreme north end of the island of Lesbos; at this 
 place he landed, for it was here that Achilles told him 
 Palamedes was buried. He visited the locality, and 
 saw the tomb and the fallen statue of the god, and 
 read the inscription thereon in these words, “ To the 
 Divine Palamedes.” 2 The free and easy manner of 
 the people of Methymna 3 did not accord with the 
 austere life of Apollonius; but he determined to re¬ 
 main there until he could restore the statue to its 
 proper place, which he did, and erected a chapel over 
 it, capable of containing ten guests; 4 and, after hav¬ 
 ing performed this sacred office, deeming his stay no 
 longer profitable, he made the following prayer at 
 the chapel, and departed from Methymna: “ O Pala¬ 
 medes, forget the just anger you had for the Greeks; 
 
 1 Whence issued the serpents that 4 This chapel has been kept in 
 strangled Laocoon and his sons. repair by various pilgrims and ad- 
 
 2 Apollonius de Tyane (Chas- mirers from the time of Apollonius, 
 
 sang), p. 150. and was standing in 1854.— New- 
 
 3 Knight’s Worship of the Pria- ton’s Levant, vol. i. p. 347; Ber- 
 
 pus, p. 105. wick’s Apollonius, p. 200. 
 
102 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 grant them prosperity and to multiply in numbers, and 
 in wisdom accede this, O Palamedes; from whom 
 comes all knowledge, and by you and the Muses I 
 live.” 1 
 
 Thus, while Apollonius was performing acts of vene¬ 
 ration to the memory of these great human benefactors, 
 in one corner of the Roman empire, stirring events 
 were taking place in others. In Judea a new procura¬ 
 tor had been appointed named Ventidius Cumanus 
 (a. D. 51), and tumult and rioting were the rule of the 
 day—quiet the exception at Jerusalem. The Jews 
 were divided into parties with excessive hate for each 
 other, and the innovation of the Roman soldier was no 
 conciliatory element. Some of the insurrectionists or 
 Jewish leaders who aspired to be kings were executed 
 
 1 Cf. A rchives des Missions Scien- 
 tifiques (Paris, 1856), vol. v. pp. 
 2 73 - 3 6 4 - 
 
 There are many extant coins of 
 the island of Lesbos, of more value, 
 however, to the enthusiast than to 
 the historian. (There are some 
 coins very much prized by the col¬ 
 lector, representing the rites of their 
 tutelary goddesses in a manner too 
 explicit for description here.) There 
 is one very ancient silver coin of 
 Methymna, with the type of a 
 dolphin, symbol of, and sacred to, 
 Sappho ; another, inedited, with the 
 type of Arion on a dolphin. The 
 general device of the Methymnian 
 coin was “ The Boar.” The lion’s 
 head, which was always a type 
 of Samian coins, was also a type 
 of the Lesbian coins. The type of 
 bull’s and calf’s head was, however, 
 
 more common. Methymna has some 
 very interesting coins (to the collect¬ 
 or) in silver, with the boar and head 
 of Athene, with her helmet adorned 
 by a Pegasus rising above her fore¬ 
 head, and with the inscription at 
 full length, ME 0 TMNAIQN. These 
 are indeed curious, but too ancient 
 to be serviceable in illustrating this 
 inquiry, all being anterior to 400 
 B. C. Modern types of Lesbian coins 
 have the head of Apollo and the 
 lyre. Lesbian coins seldom repre¬ 
 sented hero-worship; but there is an 
 ancient copper coin of their coinage 
 at Mytilene inscribed to “The Di¬ 
 vine Theophanes.” Through him 
 the liberties of the Mytilenaeans- 
 were restored.— Travels and Dis¬ 
 coveries in the Levant, by C. T. 
 Newton (1865), vol. i. p. 68; Coins 
 of the Ancients, Head, I. A., x. p. 5. 
 
OF TYANA . 
 
 103 
 
 by crucifixion. Jerusalem promised no peace for Jew 
 or Roman. 1 
 
 Claudius was still reigning. At the close of the 
 year A. D. 50, Ostorius, a Roman general, was sent to 
 displace Plautius in the half-conquered island of Britain, 
 and in the latter part of A. D. 51 Ostorius defeated 
 Caractacus, king of the Silures, and sent him prisoner 
 to Rome. About this time, A. D. 52 and 53, Curtius 
 Severus, prefect of Syria, marched against the Clitae 
 who had become troublesome to the province of Cilicia 
 under one Troxobar. They made inroads upon the 
 farmers and townsfolk, merchants and shipping. In the 
 mean time Claudius Felix had been appointed procu¬ 
 rator at Jerusalem, which added new complications ; and 
 disorders and disturbances continued to multiply. The 
 two parties had organized or employed gangs of assas¬ 
 sins to operate against one another. The priests were 
 engaged in the tumults, riot prevailed everywhere, 
 which Felix was impotent to quell. In this year Clau¬ 
 dius improvised a great naval battle upon Lake Fucinus, 
 an artificial aqueduct commenced in A. D. 38 and just 
 finished. This was gotten up in imitation of the great 
 exhibition of Augustus on the basin of the Tiber, ex¬ 
 cept that it was on a much grander scale. 2 
 
 The galleys were equipped with nineteen thousand 
 men; the entire lake was occupied by marines and 
 decked vessels; an immense multitude covering the 
 adjacent hills to their very summits were present to 
 witness the fight and to pay their respects to the 
 
 1 Cf. An Account of the Life of 2 Cf. Abridgment of Roman His- 
 Apollonius, by M. Lenain de Tille- tory (Eutropius), b. 7, c. xiii.; Sue- 
 mont, p. 15. tonius, Aug., xliii. 
 
104 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 emperor, who, with Agrippina seated near him, 
 presided. 1 
 
 The battle was fought by condemned criminals, and 
 much blood was shed. Apollonius thanked the gods 
 that the distance intervening between him and this 
 brutal exhibition was too great to make him a corn- 
 pulsatory witness of it. There are abundant coins and 
 medals commemorating this historical event. 2 
 
 While in Lesbos, Apollonius visited the temple of 
 Orpheus at Mytilene, whom he held in high esteem for 
 his many virtues. He is said to have lulled to sleep 
 the dragon that guarded the golden fleece, and such 
 was his power upon a lyre, presented him by Apollo, 
 that he could enchant wild beasts, serpents, birds, and 
 trees. He perished at the hands of the Thracian 
 women who, in a sexual frenzy, stripped the flesh from 
 his bones because he treated their charms with con¬ 
 tempt. In this temple Apollonius sacrificed to the 
 memory of Pittacus, a philosopher, one of the seven 
 wise men of Greece, and a native of Mytilene. He 
 slew Phrynon, the leader of the Athenians, in single 
 combat, for which he was venerated by his country. 
 He was also celebrated as a poet, and many of his 
 elegiacs Apollonius declares were full of tenderness ; 
 expressive of great sorrow. Pittacus ruled ten years 
 in Lesbos and resigned his charge. His sepulture was 
 at Mytilene. 3 
 
 1 Cf. Histoire des Emperenrs et des lian, Macedonian, etc ., Coins, by R. S. 
 
 autres Princes qui ont regne durant Poole (London), 7 vols.; vol. i. p. 4. 
 les six premiers siecles de Ve'glise, par 3 There is a bronze medallion ex- 
 Sebastien Lenain de Tillemont, 6 tant, bearing the effigy of Pittacus, 
 vols. (1700). and on the reverse the portrait of 
 
 2 Catalogue of Greek, Italian, Sici- the poet Alcreus, who was exiled. 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 105 
 
 At Mytilene Apollonius was the guest of Polemon, 
 the preceptor of Tiberius, and son of Lesbonax, the 
 stoic. And he also attended the theater where Polemon 
 was honored with a marble chair in the front among the 
 civil and religious dignitaries of the city ; the seat rested 
 upon lions’ legs, with serpents entwined, and on which 
 was the inscription IIOTAM&NOS TO AESB^NAKTOS 
 IIPOEAPIA. “The place of honor of Polemon, son of 
 Lesbonax.” He was furnished with a passport by 
 Tiberius in this form, “ If any one dare to injure Pole¬ 
 mon, the son of Lesbonax, let him consider whether he 
 will be strong enough to wage war with Tiberius.” 
 Apollonius spent one season at Mytilene in Lesbos, 
 and in the autumn directed, according to a long-cher¬ 
 ished desire, his steps toward Athens, the Paris of 
 antiquity. 
 
 They took ship at Mytilene and sailed from the south 
 port, but were detained nearly two days in consequence 
 of a dispute between the master of the vessel and the 
 father of an Armenian girl. ' The difficulty arose from 
 some misunderstanding about the price the captain 
 was to pay the father for the services of the girl as 
 his companion during the voyage. Their difficulties 
 were finally settled to the satisfaction of all the parties, 
 except those who had taken passage in the ship. The 
 girl was particularly pleased; she appeared to have 
 escaped a great tyranny. Apollonius deprecated this 
 monstrous evil which prevails in all the maritime ports 
 of Greece and Ionia. 1 From Mytilene they sailed 
 directly for Samos, passing to the left of Chios, which 
 
 l Travels of Antenor, vol. ii. p. 216; Lenain de Tillemont, vol. iv. 
 p. 86; Marriage Rites, etc., by Lady Hamilton, p. 73 (1822). 
 
 14 
 
io 6 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 was kept in sight the greater portion of the second day 
 out, and on the third day they arrived at the harbor 
 of Samos. “ Samos/’ said Apollonius to his disciples, 
 “ was one of the mightiest states of Greece in the days 
 of Polycrates (b. c. 552) and a rival of Athens in the 
 days of Pericles ” (b. C. 460). It was to Apollonius 
 sacred ground, for here Pythagoras, Anacreon, and 
 Mandrocles (who built the bridge over the Bosphorus) 
 were born, and from which they were driven by impe¬ 
 rial oppression. While remaining in port, Apollonius 
 embraced the opportunity of visiting the great temple 
 and the celebrated statue of Juno by Smilis, the Greek 
 sculptor, 1 at Heraeum, about twenty stadia distant, and 
 here, as in most other Greek cities, the route was over 
 a magnificently paved road, called the Sacred Way , 
 which was crowded with a procession of pomp and 
 wealth, and bordered by the tombs of the most cele¬ 
 brated of Samos. The temple of Hera is one of the 
 richest and most splendid of Greece, and was of great 
 antiquity. The goddess stood erect, was veiled, and 
 clad in a long chiton. 2 
 
 There had been a long, and it was still an unsettled, 
 dispute, whether the cult of Hera was older at Samos 
 or Argos. Juno had also a temple at Rome, where she 
 was styled Moneta, and she is represented upon medals 
 with the instruments of coinage, the hammer, the anvil, 
 the pincers, and the die, with the Latin word Moneta. 
 Buneus, son of Mercury, is' said to have erected a tem¬ 
 ple to her at Corinth. Pliny says, she had a temple 
 adorned with paintings under the name of Juno Ardia. 
 
 1 There was another of this goddess, by the same artist, at Argos. 
 
 2 See Strabo and Titus Livius and Herodotus. 
 
OF TV AN A. 
 
 107 
 
 Upon a medal of Salonius, she is represented as a stag. 
 She was worshiped in Syria, Lybia, and Egypt (As- 
 tarte and Isis). 1 
 
 Apollonius thinks that there is but little value to be 
 attached to these vain phantoms, and that the history 
 of Samos is but a tissue of myths and fables little to be 
 relied upon. 2 
 
 The coins of Samos, which are numerous, incline 
 more to a religious enthusiasm than to art or history. 
 Hera, or Juno, is fully represented on the beautiful 
 Samian coins of almost every period. 3 
 
 1 The worship of Diana (also 
 Hera and Juno in Gaul) under the 
 name of Lady Abunde, with feasts, 
 races, and dancing, was extant to 
 the sixth century.— See Dulaure, 
 Histoire de Paris , first ed. vol. v. 
 p. 259; also, Glossar: verbis Di¬ 
 ana et Holda. 
 
 2 The Mythology and Fables of the 
 Ancients , etc., by the Abbe Banier, 
 vol. ii. p. 243. 
 
 3 The study of Samian coins is, 
 from their great variety, interesting 
 and profitable from the fact that 
 they pick up segments of its lost 
 history.— See Samos and Samian 
 Coins, by P. Gardner, M. A. (Mac¬ 
 millan & Co., 1882). 
 
 There seems, from these coins, 
 no break in the veneration of the 
 Samians for their pagan deities up 
 to and into the fifth century. 
 
 The form in which Hera appears 
 on Samian coins of imperial times 
 bears a close resemblance to the 
 well-known shape of the Ephesian 
 Artemis at Ephesus and Perga, 
 
 with the sun and moon on either 
 side of her head. The local goddess 
 was Artemis, and, like Aphrodite, 
 Persephone, and Mylitta, she was 
 the patroness of sexual desire.— 
 Gardner’s Samos and Samian Coins 
 (1882). Here was also a sanctuary 
 to Poseidon. In fact, no Roman 
 sea-port was complete without a 
 temple dedicated to this god of ocean 
 and navigation. There were other 
 cults in Samos; it was a religious 
 hot-bed. They had many shrines, 
 as that of Aphrodite, established 
 by Athenian courtesans who accom¬ 
 panied the army of Pericles when 
 he besieged Samos ; also the shrines 
 of Demeter, Athene, and of Hermes. 
 
 The prevailing type of all the 
 Samian coins was the lion or bull’s 
 head or scalp, sometimes head and 
 shoulders and fore feet; this was 
 also true of the Lesbian coins, and 
 there appears to have been a com¬ 
 pact between them of which history 
 is silent; but they were known 
 by the letters A. E. (Lesbos), the 
 
io8 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 The voyage from Samos to Athens was delightful 
 for that time of the year, it being autumn, at which 
 season the Grecian seas are specially noted for their 
 tempestuousness. A genial and pacific atmosphere and 
 an unruffled sea afforded Apollonius an opportunity of 
 introspecting and enjoying the beautiful scenery of the 
 islands of the Eubean archipelago; and on the even¬ 
 ing of the first day the calmness of the water, the 
 cloudless sky, and the setting sun, as it now tinged 
 the receding heights of Lemnos, while the shades of 
 evening were gathering around the summits of Chios, 
 contributed to produce a scene of dazzling beauty: 
 never to be effaced from memory. Apollonius re¬ 
 mained out until late at night, and when he came on 
 deck the next morning, far away on their left they 
 could just discern the island of Naxos, rendered famous 
 by Ariadne; and during the day, the wind continuing 
 light but favorable, they sailed between the islands 
 Paros and Delos, the green fields and rocky summits 
 of both being in full view. The latter island, said 
 Apollonius, is the most memorable of all the archi¬ 
 pelago. It was the birthplace of Apollo and Diana 
 and Homer. 1 It has temples to Apollo, Diana, Latona, 
 Serapis, Isis, and Anubis, 2 and here was kept the great 
 statue of Venus by Daedalus, presented by him to 
 
 Samian by £. A. or £ A M I (Sa¬ 
 mos). Nearly all the imperial coins 
 from Augustus, B. c. 30, to Galli- 
 enus, A. d. 270, are interesting as 
 representing local myths,—>all of 
 which have the head of Hera, ex¬ 
 cept one of Domitian having two 
 peacocks; one of Valerian Nemesis 
 
 veiled fore-part of a galley, Domi¬ 
 tian. 
 
 1 It is known that Homer offi¬ 
 ciated as a priest of Apollo at 
 Delos .—Hymns of Homer, p. 18. 
 
 2 Plutarch says they are the 
 most stately structures in the uni¬ 
 verse (vol. iii. p. 98). 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 109 
 
 Ariadne, and by her to Theseus, and by Theseus to 
 Delos. So very sacred did the ancients regard the 
 island of Delos that no hostilities were practiced there. 
 Even by nations that were at war with one another, 
 all contentions ceased when they entered the waters 
 of Delos. It was called “Daughter of the Ocean .” 1 
 During the day they sighted Syros, Cythnus, Gyarus, 
 and Ceos, Apollonius in the mean time discoursing 
 upon their history, productions, and philosophy. He 
 said the first colonies sent out by Greece settled at 
 Lesbos and founded six cities; after which, in their 
 turn, twelve colonies were founded upon the islands 
 Samos , 2 Chios, Miletus, Myus, Priene, and at Ephesus, 
 Colophon, Lebedus Teos; other bands founded cities 
 in Crete and Rhodes. The Laconians founded Cnidus. 
 At first the inhabitants of these islands were con¬ 
 stantly engaged in piracy. But when Minos, king of 
 Crete, established a fleet, he drove the pirates out and 
 settled colonists there, and the Greeks who at first lived 
 inland for greater safety have now removed their 
 towns near the sea-shore for the sake of commerce. 
 Damis became restless under these conversations, and 
 when he could endure it no longer charged Apollonius 
 with wasting time on subjects old and obsolete, when 
 there were others of much greater moment within 
 reach. “And what subject,” said Apollonius, “ do you 
 consider preferable to the history and colonization of 
 these islands by the Greeks ? ” “You tell us,” rejoined 
 
 1 Livy says the war-ships of Per- a war of extermination was being 
 seus of Macedon and Eumenes of carried on between them without. 
 Pergamus rode peaceably side by 2 Gardner’s Samos and Samian 
 side in the harbor of Delos, while Coins . 
 
110 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 Damis, “ that you have conversed with Achilles, and 
 have found out from him many things of which we 
 are ignorant. Why not inform us of them, and give 
 us the express form and countenance of the man 
 instead of these conversations about passing islands 
 and ship-building?” “You shall hear it all,” said 
 Apollonius. “ I obtained the honor of conversing with 
 Achilles, not, after the manner of Ulysses, by digging 
 a trench, nor by cooking his manes by the blood of 
 lambs; but I accomplished it with prayers addressed 
 to that god, and who was pleased to hear and answer 
 them. Achilles appeared to me in the form of a youth 
 about five cubits high, dressed in a Thessalian mantle. 
 His countenance was not expressive of that pride and 
 haughtiness with which the Greeks have charged him.” 
 He then recounted the conversation: How that Polyxena 
 perished by her own hand, and was not slain by the 
 Greeks. How that Helen was never at Troy; that 
 after her second marriage she was sent to Rhodes, 
 where she was strangled in a bath; and that the 
 Rhodians erected a temple to her under the title of 
 Helen Entitris. Also the reason why Homer never 
 mentioned Palamedes, and the information concerning 
 his tomb. This was all that passed on shipboard. 
 
 The sea continuing tranquil and the weather mild, 
 Apollonius remained on deck all night, that he might 
 hail the point Sunium, sacred to Minerva and Neptune, 
 an old and revered custom among the Greeks. They 
 passed the point just as the sun rose bright and clear 
 upon the blue waters of the Saronic Gulf, and the temple 
 of Sunium 1 gleamed resplendently in his rays. 
 
 1 Minerva and Neptune, constructed of white Parian marble. 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 I11 
 
 On the fifth day out they entered the harbor of 
 Piraeeus, the sea-port of Athens, founded by Pericles, a 
 city into which poured the riches of the world , 1 and 
 which is surrounded by a wall extending to Athens, 
 forty stadia long, sixty feet high, and so thick that two 
 chariots may drive abreast on the top of it. Apollonius 
 says the harbor and basin were lined with ships, and 
 the docks were covered with warehouses and bazaars. 
 The town contained many temples of native and alien 
 gods. Here Zeus was worshiped as the saviour of 
 mankind. He did not tarry at Piraeeus, but proceeded 
 at once to the most prosperous city of Greece, and the 
 noblest of the world , 2 but whose glory was now being 
 overshadowed by the imperial despotism of Rome. The 
 noteworthy objects along the road were the tombs, the 
 most illustrious of which, observed by Damis, were those 
 
 1 Pirseeus was the harbor and 
 place of commercial business of 
 Athens (four and one-half miles dis¬ 
 tant), and it was thronged with the 
 various appliances and elements of 
 commerce. All the finest products 
 of Sicily, of Italy, the Pontus, Pelo¬ 
 ponnesus, and the far East, “Ath¬ 
 ens, by her empire of the sea, is able 
 to collect into one spot,” says Xen¬ 
 ophon. The commerce of the world 
 and the purity of Athenian coin 
 procured it a universal circulation. 
 It is uncertain where the apyopo- 
 xouetov or mint was situated, but in 
 a state so celebrated as Athens for 
 silver coin it must have been a 
 building of importance. Banking 
 was a flourishing trade at Athens. 
 Bankers received deposits at call, 
 
 or upon interest, the usual rate 
 being one per cent, per menseur. 
 The temples also, whose sacred 
 character made them places of great 
 security, took people’s spare money 
 and valuables in safe keeping. 
 
 The shrine of Apollo at Delphos 
 was a famous “bank of deposit,” 
 and it was from these sources that 
 Apollonius’s immediate wants were 
 supplied, by loans made to him, he 
 having a large amount to his credit 
 in some temple, probably ^Escula- 
 pius, at Tarsus. 
 
 2 Cf. Encyclopedia Brit. ; The 
 Topography of Athens , with some 
 Remarks on its Antiquities , by 
 William Martin Leake, 2 vols. 
 (London, 1841), vol. i. p. 365; 
 Pausanias, Att. ii. 2. 
 
112 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 of Menander and Euripides ; the latter was empty ; he 
 was buried in Macedonia. Near the gate by which 
 they entered Athens, Apollonius observed a statue of 
 a soldier, standing by a horse. “Who it is, I know 
 not! ” said he, “ but both horse and soldier are the work 
 of Praxiteles .” 1 Just inside the walls (they entered 
 Athens by the road that passes straight through the 
 city and leads to the Academy, about eighty stadia 
 beyond the Dipylum Gate, which was shaded with 
 cypresses), they first came upon the temple of Ceres, 
 containing a statue of Ceres, Proserpine, and Iacchus. 
 Here was the tomb of Pericles; there the resting-place 
 of Thrasybulus, and the altars of the Muses and of Mer¬ 
 cury, of Hercules, and of Minerva . 2 And this, apostro¬ 
 phized Apollonius, is Athens, which for ages has 
 furnished light and science to the world, where genius, 
 wisdom, and taste have reached their highest perfection, 
 and from which Rome, with all her boastful originality, 
 borrowed all she now has. Here Zeno retired from his 
 native Cyprus, and was so impressed with the teachings 
 of Socrates as to become a pupil of Stilpo, a native of 
 Megara, the successor of Diogenes and Plato. Zeno’s 
 stainless reputation won favor for his philosophy, and 
 he taught stoicism in Athens fifty-eight years. The 
 confidence reposed in him as a teacher by the Athen¬ 
 ians, and he a foreigner , 3 was a glorious testimony to 
 the character of Zeno. And here also lived and reigned 
 Pericles, the stoic, the greatest of all statesmen, the 
 
 1 These figures were standing on 2 Topography of Athens (Leake), 
 a tomb; it is uncertain whose.— vol. i. pp. 62-108. 
 
 Pausanias. 3 Life of Zeno , Ritter, Zeno Phi- 
 
 Gate Hippades, c Ircn:a§ov. losophus. 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 113 
 
 most eloquent of all orators, the most dignified of all 
 citizens, and the most beloved of all men. The day of 
 their arrival was the first day, orfopiids, or day of the 
 assembly or the preparation for celebrating the Eleusin- 
 ian mysteries. This great gathering always took place 
 at Athens during the month BoTjSpoputov (September 
 and October), and lasted nine days, and two women 
 born of unlawful wedlock presided each day; on the 
 third day was the sacrifice of flour and cakes; on the 
 fourth day the procession proceeded to Eleusis, about 
 one hundred stadia distant, along the Sacred Way, the 
 two presiding women carrying the sacred laws on their 
 heads; during the procession no person was permitted to 
 ride. On the fifth day they walked the streets the 
 night long, in imitation of the search which Ceres made 
 for her daughter; the rites of the sixth day, however, 
 were in honor of Ceres and Proserpine, embodying the 
 great dogma of death and resurrection. A great portion 
 of these festivities were gross, vulgar, and scandalous in 
 the extreme. The phallus, corresponding with the 
 Hindoo yoni and lingam , was carried in the proces¬ 
 sion, and was the subject of vulgar jests. All this 
 ended in the sacrament of bread and wine . 1 The city 
 was crowded with people from all parts of Greece, who 
 had come together more for pleasure than piety, and 
 yet there was more piety than morality — the show¬ 
 bills upon the walls and public places proclaimed it 
 
 1 Essai surles mysteres a Eleusis , N. Y., 1875) ; see also Encyclopaedia 
 Ouwaroff(Paris, 1816); Topography Britannica , Eleusinia; Symbolic 
 of A thens ( Leake), vol. i. pp. 3-483; Language of A ncientA rtand Mythol- 
 The Eleusiman and Bacchic Mys- ogy, etc., by R. Payne Knight, Esq., 
 teries , A Dissertation , by Thomas pp. 5, 15, etc.; Bryant’s AntientMy- 
 Taylor, p. 160, etc. (J. W. Bouton, thology , vol. i. p. 229. 
 
 15 
 
APOLLONIUS 
 
 114 
 
 rather the saloon of Venus than the temple of Vesta; 
 a court more meet for the voluptuary than the philoso¬ 
 pher . 1 At this period Athens was also ripe in all polit¬ 
 ical intrigues. She had her party bosses, her Tweeds, 
 her Kellys ; her financial tyrants, her Jay Goulds and 
 her Vanderbilts. Her offices were alternately filled 
 with an army of turbulent vultures. Eighteen hun¬ 
 dred years ago that infamous maxim which has been 
 the curse of American politics, “To the victors belong 
 the spoils,” was enforced to the bitter end. 
 
 Apollonius was recognized and acknowledged by 
 the people as he approached and passed through the 
 crowd, amid greetings and acclamations of joy, regard¬ 
 less of the sacredness of the occasion. But he charged 
 them to attend to the sacred rites, and that he would 
 speak his mind to them at a more convenient time, as 
 he wished to be initiated himself at the Epidaurian, or 
 eighth-day festival . 2 * 4 But when the intention of Apol¬ 
 lonius of presenting himself for initiation became 
 
 1 Travels of Antenor , translated 
 by E. F. Lantier, vol. iii. p. 334. 
 
 2 Veil of Isis (Reade); Topography 
 of Athens (Leake), vol. i. pp. 23, 24. 
 
 The eighth day of the mysteries 
 was called the day of the Epidaur- 
 ians, because .dEsculap'/ius, coming 
 from Epidaurus to Athens, and de¬ 
 siring to be initiated, the lesser 
 mysteries were repeated; hence it 
 became necessary to celebrate them 
 a second time on that day, and to 
 initiate those who had not enjoyed 
 that privilege.— See The Mythology 
 and Fables of the A ncients, Explained 
 from History , by the Abbe Banier, 
 
 4 vols. (London, 1740), art. Eleusis; 
 
 Initiation of Apuleus in the Golden 
 Ass, c. xi. ; cf. Isis Unveiled: A 
 Master Key to the Mysteries of An¬ 
 cient and Modern Science and The- 
 ology, by H. P. Blavatsky (Bouton, 
 New York, 1877), vol. ii. p. 44; 
 Eleusinian and Bacchic Mysteries : 
 A Dissertation, by Thomas Taylor, 
 edited by Alex. Wilder, M. A. 
 (1875); see also Herodotus, ii. 81 ; 
 On Egyptian and Pythagorean 
 Mysteries; Ancient Symbol Wor¬ 
 ship, p. 12; Progress of Religious 
 Ideas, etc., by Lydia M. Child, vol. 
 ii. p. 308; A Discourse on the Wor¬ 
 ship of the Priapus, by Richard 
 Payne Knight (London, 1865). 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 115 
 
 known to the hierophant, the revealer of holy things, 
 who had charge of the ceremonies, he would not ad¬ 
 mit him, saying, that he was not permitted by the laws 
 to initiate an enchanter, or reveal the Eleusinian mys¬ 
 teries to a man not pure in things touching religion. 1 
 Apollonius was unmoved by his refusal, and replied 
 that the hierophant had, in his ignorance, overlooked 
 the only real objection to his initiation ; it being that 
 “ I know more of the ceremonies of initiation than you 
 do.” When the hierophant became sensible that he 
 had made a mistake, he prayed Apollonius to accept 
 the rites at his hands ; to which he replied that he would 
 wait until the ceremony should have another premier. 
 
 During his residence in Athens, Apollonius became 
 familiar with the grace and grandeur of the Areopagus 
 (’Apfjl'ov 7rdyov), or the hill of Mars (arsenal-fortress), 2 
 and with the Acropolis or Cecropian Hill, just to the 
 east of it, with its Dionysiac theater, then undergoing 
 repairs. 3 No other inclosure on earth embraced so 
 much beauty within its walls. 4 Its three great struct¬ 
 ures were the Propylsea, 5 the Erechtheum, and the 
 
 1 Nero, the emperor, was refused 
 initiation on account of his mother’s 
 murder, and, notwithstanding his 
 threats, they persisted in their re¬ 
 fusal ; and Constantine could find 
 no pagan priest who would consent 
 to absolve him from his murders. 
 He became a Christian, and pro¬ 
 cured absolution.— Philosophy of 
 History; or, A Philosophical and 
 Historical Dissertation, etc. etc., 
 by Voltaire (London, 1829), p. 
 219. 
 
 2 Larcher’s Notes on Herodotus, 
 
 vol.'ii. p. 360. 
 
 3 This description is wonderfully 
 confirmed on an ancient coin of 
 Athens (British Museum). A curi¬ 
 ous medal represents the great 
 Athenian theater viewed from the 
 plain below. Its proscenium and 
 carved fronts, and its gradation of 
 seats, are distinctly seen. Above 
 the theater rises the wall of the 
 Acropolis, over the center of which 
 is seen the Parthenon, and to the 
 left the Propylsea. 
 
 4 Pausanias, vol. i. p. 86. 
 
 5 Topography of Athens (Leake), 
 vol. i. pp. 5-86. 
 
APOLLONIUS 
 
 11 6 
 
 Parthenon, temple of Minerva, or Virgin-house (227 
 feet long, 101 wide,, with 46 columns 6 feet in diameter 
 each at the base), containing a colossal figure of the 
 invincible virgin, by Phidias. The ancient coins of 
 Athens have furnished us with many interesting facts 
 concerning this gigantic statue. 1 There were three 
 statues of Minerva in the Acropolis. There was a small 
 circular temple, in front of the Parthenon, 2 dedicated to 
 Augustus, erected soon after he attained to the Eleu- 
 sinian mysteries; also in front of the Parthenon stood 
 Apollo Parnopius, by Phidias; also the statue of Peri¬ 
 cles. 3 The Acropolis contained statues of Diana, Epi- 
 charmus, CEnobius, Theseus, Hercules, Minerva, Jupiter, 
 and Neptune. There was a little temple on Acropolis Hill, 
 dedicated to Niki-Apteros, 4 the decorations of which 
 were attributed to Scopas and his school; it contained 
 a statue of Victory without wings. Apollonius saw 
 this ; it had disappeared in the time of Pausanias, a 
 few years later. 5 There was a view of the sea from 
 the summit of this temple, and it was from here that 
 yEgeus threw himself, and perished. 6 Apollonius de¬ 
 scribed the Acropolis in its pride and glory as one 
 grand offering to the gods, surpassing in excellence, 
 richness, and beauty all other offerings of man. 7 The 
 
 1 Topography of Athens, with 
 some Remarks on its Antiquity, by 
 William Martin Leake, of the Dilet¬ 
 tanti (London), 2 vols. 1841. 
 
 2 Topography of Athens, etc., vol. 
 i. p. 356. 
 
 3 Hist, of Greek Sculpture (Mur¬ 
 ray), p. 241. 
 
 4 N'v.y] ’AOfjva, A Short History 
 
 of Art (De Forest), p. 72. 
 
 5 Pausanias , vol. i. p. 56. 
 
 6 Travels in Italy, Greece, and the 
 Ionian Islands, by H. W. Williams, 
 Esq., 2 vols. (Edinburgh, 1820), 
 vol. ii. p. 295. 
 
 7 The authentic history of the 
 Athenian Acropolis reaches back 
 from the present time to a period 
 scarcely less than three thousand four 
 hundred years ago. It undoubtedly 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 II7 
 
 Pantheon, the temples of Diana, Minerva, and Venus, 
 the Dionysiac theater, just without its walls, on lower 
 ground, and, if it were less fresh and beautiful, it pos¬ 
 sessed more interest than in the days of Pericles. Just 
 over upon the plains (to the south-east) towered the 
 majestic columns of the temple of Jupiter Olympus, 1 
 described by Apollonius as one of the most magnificent 
 structures in the world, convenient to which was the 
 temple of Serapis, near the gate Hadrian. The temple 
 
 was originally the city ('1] rcoXl?, the 
 city Acropolis). No other fortress 
 has embraced so much beauty and 
 splendor within its walls, nor was any 
 ever surrounded by so much magnifi¬ 
 cence without; none has witnessed a 
 series of more startling and momen¬ 
 tous changes in the fortunes of its 
 possessors. Wave after wave of war 
 and conquest have beaten against 
 it. The city which lies at its feet 
 has fallen beneath the assaults of 
 the Persian, the Spartan, the Mace¬ 
 donian, and the Roman. It has 
 opened its gates to the barbaric 
 hordes of Alaric, and the not less 
 savage robbers of Catalonia. It 
 has passed from the representatives 
 of the Crusaders into the hands of 
 the Ottoman Sultans, and the shrine 
 of Athena has seen the offerings 
 of heathenism give place to the rit¬ 
 ual of Greek and Latin Christianity, 
 and these in their turn succeeded by 
 the cold and lifeless ceremonials of 
 Islam, Through all these and other 
 vicissitudes it has passed, changing 
 only in the character of its occu¬ 
 pants— unchanged in its loveliness 
 and splendor. With a few blem¬ 
 
 ishes and losses, whether from the 
 decaying taste of later times, or the 
 occasional robberies of a foreign 
 conqueror, unaffected in its general 
 aspect, it presented to the eyes of 
 the victorious Ottoman the same 
 front of unparalleled beauty which 
 it had displayed in the days of 
 Pericles. The professors of new 
 creeds had worshiped within its 
 beautiful temples; but beneath the 
 deep blue of the Athenian sky, 
 and the dazzling splendor of the 
 Athenian sun, the shrine of the 
 gray-eyed goddess, and the hall of 
 Erechtheus, had lost but little of 
 their early glory, long after one 
 had become a mosque and the other 
 a harem. To him who looks upon 
 it now the scene is changed, not 
 only in the loss of its treasures 
 of decorative art (for of many of 
 these it had been robbed before), 
 but with its loveliest fabrics shat¬ 
 tered, many reduced to hopeless 
 ruin, and not a few utterly oblit¬ 
 erated. 
 
 l Pausanias , vol. i. p. 18 ; My¬ 
 thology and Fables of the Ancients 
 (Banier), vol. i. p. 225. 
 
118 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 of Jupiter Olympus 1 was founded by Deucalion, and 
 its structure commenced by Pisistratus (b. C. 530), under 
 whom some progress was made; Phidias was em¬ 
 ployed in adorning it, and the throne and the statue 
 of the god were his master-pieces ; but the broils that 
 followed upon the death of Pisistratus left the temple 
 unfinished for nearly three hundred years; B. C. 174 
 it was still unfinished, and Antiochus Epiphanes, king 
 of Syria, employed a Roman architect, named Cossu- 
 tius, to proceed with it On the death of Antiochus 
 the work dragged along, some of the columns were car¬ 
 ried to Rome, and utilized in the Capitoline. The 
 work was not again resumed until the time of Augus¬ 
 tus, when the kings and states in his alliance agreed to 
 finish it at their joint expense. After the death of 
 Augustus work was again suspended upon the nearly 
 completed temple, and it was this condition of the 
 noble edifice which Apollonius describes to us. It was 
 finally dedicated under Hadrian, six hundred and fifty 
 years from its foundation. 2 
 
 1 Topography of Athens, vol. i. 
 p. 129. 
 
 2 Apollonius has given us some 
 invaluable hints concerning Athens, 
 and fortunate it is, indeed, that the 
 works of Pausanias, who made the 
 tour of Athens about the year 170 
 A. D., have been preserved to us. 
 With the exception of those two 
 travelers, Athens is a sealed book 
 from 52 B. C. to the fifth century, 
 A. D. Haydn, in his chronology, 
 closes events with Athens B. c. 47, 
 and opens again A. d. 396. Ency - 
 clopcedia Britannica says, there was 
 
 a chasm of seven centuries of repose 
 in the history of Athens. When the 
 world shall become just enough 
 to mete out to the villains who de¬ 
 stroyed these records the anathemas 
 they deserve, instead of extolling 
 their virtues to the skies, we may 
 then hope for more fairness in mod¬ 
 ern historical deductions, and not 
 till then. So long as men persist 
 in declaring that the meager 
 amount of stoic virtue and stoic 
 morality, which has struggled along 
 for eighteen hundred years, in spite 
 of Christianity, is all due to that 
 
OF TYANA . 
 
 119 
 
 His opportunities for observation were of the highest 
 order, being in favor with the people of the city and 
 the priests of the temples. His time was passed in asso¬ 
 ciations of the first circles. Athens at this period was 
 the great center, whither flocked persons from every 
 quarter of the known world in pursuit of gain, instruc¬ 
 tion, and pleasure. The philosophic schools, however, 
 were now under surveillance and in a forced decline, 
 and yet hundreds of students were attracted to the 
 lecture-rooms, some for amusement, others for instruc¬ 
 tion. It was the seat of the Muses, of wit, eloquence, 
 laws, and learning. But few, says Philostratus, of the 
 academic world of Athens were native-born. Aliens 
 rose to posts of honor, like Sollianus, the first occupant 
 of the Athenian chair. And it was complained that 
 the schools and academy were patronized by such a 
 multitude of foreigners that they had corrupted the 
 Attic tongue. 1 
 
 Thither also resorted the Syrian silk merchant of 
 Antioch, the corn factor of Egypt, the Parthian spice 
 
 faith, there is but little hope of the 
 regeneration of mankind. We barely 
 know that the Isthmian (Banier, iv. 
 436), Pythian (Ibid. iv. 432), and 
 Nemean ( Ibid. iv. 435) games were 
 still celebrated ; the Roman colony 
 still indulged in the slaughtering of 
 wild beasts in the theater; and the 
 temples were generally opened and 
 patronized until the middle of the 
 fifth century, or to the reign of 
 Theodosius.— The Topography of 
 Athens , with some Remarks on its 
 Antiquity, by William Martin Leake, 
 of the Dilettanti, vol. i. p. 49. 
 
 l Philostratus , ii. p. 62. 
 
 Here too are now preserved the 
 records of the greatest of all modern 
 scientific societies, “The London, 
 Berlin, and Greek Anthropological 
 Society of Athens.” It was near 
 Athens where those truly celebrated 
 terra-cotta images known as the Tan- 
 agra Figurines were disentombed. 
 A collection of these beautiful speci¬ 
 mens is now in the Boston Art 
 Museum, the gift of G. T. Appleton, 
 Esq. In the rage for these match¬ 
 less relics eight thousand tombs 
 have been rifled. 
 
120 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 dealer, the negro in the train of the Carthaginian pro- 
 consul, the Iberian with his consignment of silver and 
 of iron, and the Massilian Gaul with the wines of Nar- 
 bonne. In the middle of the great square were con¬ 
 gregated the slave-dealers, with lash and rod, with 
 victims of every age and sex, while in full sight stood 
 the profaned “Altar of Pity.” One of the favorite re¬ 
 sorts of Apollonius at Athens was the portico called 
 the Pcecile Stoa, adorned with frescoes by Polygnotus, 
 the greatest painter of the Cimonian period. It was 
 one of the monuments of this wonderful city. He was 
 also a daily visitor at the gymnasia, of which there 
 were three in Athens, the Cynosarges, the Lyceum, 
 and the Academy. Another favorite resort was the 
 Agora, 1 or the markets or marts of trade. Here was 
 the ayop & jovaixsta, or shops where goods were sold 
 peculiarly for women ; flour market; ready-made cloth¬ 
 ing ; butcher’s meat and fish; another devoted to oint¬ 
 ments, pottery, vases, garlic, onions, perfumes, cheese, 
 etc. The booksellers’ shops were called (3if3Xio67]%ai and 
 had their special locality, 2 There were also galleries of 
 art-sculpture by the great masters of antiquity. 3 And 
 for aught we know to the contrary Apollonius may 
 have looked with adfniration upon that matchless work 
 of art, the statue of Demeter (Ceres), found at Athens 
 
 1 Planned by the celebrated arch- W. Williams, Esq., vol. ii. p. 287, 
 
 itect Hippodaurus. etc. 
 
 2 To the present day this is sub- 3 St. Paul at Athens , etc., by 
 
 stantially the division of every ba- Charles Shakespeare (London, 
 zaar in any important city of Greece. 1878); Archceologia Grceca , or the 
 — Topography of Athens, vol. i. p. Antiquities of Greece , by John 
 487. Cf. Travels in Italy , Greece, Porter, D. D. (1875), vol. i. p. 
 and the Ionian Islands , etc., by H. 1, etc. 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 121 
 
 (in whose honor the sixth day of the Mysteries of 
 Eleusis was devoted), and now in the Metropolitan 
 Museum of Art in New York. 1 Here was also the 
 statue of Athene Parthenon, the virgin goddess of 
 Athens, still glittering in ivory and gold. It was thirty- 
 six feet high, the work of Phidias, and perished at Con¬ 
 stantinople in the sixteenth century. We are furnished 
 impressions of it upon the early coins of the period. 
 Here were also the great galleries of art—for Nero 
 had not yet robbed Greece of her master-pieces. 2 
 
 Such was the condition of Athens when (A. D. 59) 
 Apollonius held forth from the same porch in advo¬ 
 cacy of the same philosophy that, five hundred years 
 before, had echoed to the wisdom of Socrates, and 
 on one occasion discoursed from the very words of 
 Socrates, “ How many things there are which I do not 
 want.” 3 Damis says that he delivered many discourses 
 both in the temples to the priests, and in the stoa to the 
 people, he having preserved only portions of those on 
 
 1 M. Colignon has published a 
 well-executed catalogue of the 
 painted vases in the Museum of the 
 Archaeological Society of Athens. 
 Books of the kind are always help¬ 
 ful to science. In this case the au¬ 
 thor has followed the really classic 
 models afforded by M. de Witte, in 
 his description of the famous Du¬ 
 rand collection, and by Otto Jahn, 
 M. Stephani, and M. Heydemann 
 in their Catalogues of the Vases in 
 the Museums of Munich, St. Peters¬ 
 burg, and Naples. The reading 
 of this catalogue makes one keenly 
 regret the too long delay in the ap- 
 
 l6 
 
 pearance of M. Albert Dumont’s 
 great work on Les Ceramiques de 
 la Grece PropreP 
 
 2 Philostratus, Suetonius, Taci¬ 
 tus. 
 
 3 See following works, Biograph¬ 
 ical History of Philosophy (Geo. H. 
 Lewes), Encyclopedia Britannica 
 (art. Socrates), Life of Socrates (Car¬ 
 penter), Life of Socrates (Ritter), 
 Worth of Socrates as a Philosopher 
 (Schleiermacher), Neue Apologiedes 
 Socrates (Eberhard), Socratische 
 Denkwiirdigheiten (Hamann), for 
 comparisons between these two 
 philosophers. 
 
122 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 the most important subjects. 1 And when he found that 
 the people of Athens were in all things superstitious 
 and much given to religion, he made Sacrifice the sub¬ 
 ject of several discourses. Athens was not intolerant, 
 she was simply religious; not a city of philosophers 
 only, but of priests,— a city of Eleusinian mysteries, 
 famed through all lands — pomp of ritual, of fragrance, 
 of incense, sacrifice, and magnificent temples, of conse¬ 
 crated statues of gods and heroes, — these were hers 
 preeminently above any city on earth. 
 
 There was a young man at Athens, a native of Cor- 
 cyra, and descended from Alcinous, who entertained 
 Ulysses so well of old. 2 This young man insulted 
 Apollonius by immoderate bursts of laughter while 
 he was talking, whereupon he looked steadfastly upon 
 him and said : “ It is not you whom I consider as 
 offering me this insult, but the demon* within you.” 
 The young man then laughed and cried by turns 
 without any apparent cause; he even sang and 
 talked to himself. As soon as Apollonius fixed his 
 eyes upon him, the demon began to cry aloud and 
 broke out into angry and horrid expressions and swore, 
 begged that he might be left alone and he would 
 depart out of the youth and never enter another. 
 Apollonius commanded him to depart, whereupon the 
 young man was in great agony and then relapsed into 
 a quiet state, as if coming out of a trance. He then 
 
 1 From the frequent mention by be regretted that he did not embody 
 Damis that he only preserved a por- it in his sketch of him.— See also 
 tion of the lectures of Apollonius, Tillemont’s Histoire des Empereurs , 
 we are led to believe that Philostra- etc., vol. v. p. 321; cf. also with 
 tus had a great volume of the phi- DA ussy, Benvick and Newman. 
 losophy of Apollonius, and it is to 2 Pausanias, vol. i. p. 317. 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 123 
 
 laid aside the soft Sybarite garments, and adopted the 
 garb of a philosopher, and became a disciple of Apol¬ 
 lonius. This was in A. D. 54. 1 Claudius, who had been 
 poisoned by his second wife, Agrippina, was succeeded 
 by Nero, 2 a youth of seventeen, a son of Agrippina by 
 her former husband, Domitius. 3 
 
 At Athens, Apollonius corrected many abuses of the 
 temples; but the people refused generally the advice 
 of philosophers and rushed in crowds to witness the 
 combats of gladiators. 4 Adulterers, fornicators, house- 
 
 1 During the same year Philo 
 Judeas published his two great 
 works describing the sufferings of 
 the Jews under Caligula. 
 
 2 Caji Suetonii Tranquilli Opera 
 et in ilia Commentarius , etc. (1590), 
 vol. ii. p. 141. 
 
 3 Nero began his reign A. D. 54, 
 and Seneca, the stoic and tutor of 
 Nero, was elevated to minister of 
 state.—Tillemont’s Histoiredes Em- 
 pereurs , etc. 
 
 4 And let me charge the reader 
 to make no mistake about the 
 moral and religious reformation 
 which was taking place at this time 
 under the direction of Apollonius, 
 or soon after Paul wrote his epistles 
 and visited Rome. This was a pa¬ 
 gan and not a Christian reforma¬ 
 tion ; presbyters, elders, bishops, 
 are of pagan and not Christian ori¬ 
 gin, and existed hundreds of years 
 anterior to Christianity.— Prophet of 
 Nazareth , p. 498. In a little book 
 entitled St. Paul at Athens , etc., 
 being nine sermons preached in St. 
 Stephen’s Church,Westbourne Park, 
 
 by Charles Shakespeare, B. A., As¬ 
 sistant Curate, with a Preface by 
 Rev. Canon Farrar, D. D. (London, 
 1878), on pages 86, 87, etc., we find 
 that “ there were many martyrs who 
 perished for philosophy, or rather 
 the virtue which it inspired. Under 
 its influence a humanizing spirit 
 breathed itself into the foremost 
 minds, and toward the close of the 
 century made itself felt in the pal¬ 
 ace of the Caesars, such was the 
 religious tone and bent of what was 
 called philosophy in the first cent¬ 
 ury and part of the second (Chris¬ 
 tianity had not in the mean time 
 been heard of. Athens did not be¬ 
 come Christian until five hundred 
 years after Paul’s preaching, and 
 then her people and temples were 
 converted by armed forces).” The 
 gladiatorial games, the shambles, 
 where men were butchered to make 
 a Roman holiday,were discontinued; 
 and it was a philosopher who dared, 
 when it was proposed to introduce 
 the Roman amphitheater at Athens, 
 to say, “First, then, Athenians, tear 
 
124 
 
 A POLL ONI US 
 
 breakers, cut-purses, men-stealers, were bought at high 
 prices and armed and forced to fight against each other 
 for the amusement of citizens and strangers. This bar¬ 
 barous custom was most severely censured by Apollo¬ 
 nius. He refused to attend the assembly of the poets 
 and philosophers at the Athenaeum on the ground that 
 it was polluted, impure, and tainted with blood. In 
 one of his epistles he expressed surprise that the god¬ 
 dess Minerva had not abandoned her citadel, such was 
 the pollution of her temples; but although eloquence, 
 poetry, art, and philosophy have declined from the 
 glorious perfection of the days of Pericles, yet Minerva 
 and the Muses have never deserted Athens, 1 and it has 
 ever remained the center of Hellenic culture. 2 
 
 Apollonius remained at Athens two years, at the 
 expiration of which period he accepted an embassy to 
 the Thessalians, in obedience to a command of Achilles. 3 
 They were at this time assembled at Thermopylae 4 
 
 down your altars erected to Mercy.’’ 
 “ And I tell you, my brethren, we 
 shall miss the real lesson to be 
 learned from these facts if we as¬ 
 sume, as is too often assumed in a 
 polemical interest, that such philos¬ 
 ophy was a plagiarism either of 
 Judaism or of Christianity.”— 
 Charles Shakespeare, B. A. 
 
 1 This was the famous statue of 
 Minerva, composed of ivory and 
 gold, the work of Phidias, and was 
 erected by Pericles in the Pantheon 
 at Athens, b. c. 456. This was the 
 statue in the construction of which 
 Phidias is said to have stolen a part 
 of the gold intended for its con¬ 
 struction. The charge Phidias re¬ 
 
 futed. The temple in which it was 
 placed is now called Santa Maria 
 ^Egyptiaca; there was a little chapel 
 within it in the form of Christ’s 
 sepulture. An ancient coin of 
 Athens (b. c. 470) of the age of 
 Pericles is still extant, with the 
 head of Minerva on one side and 
 the habitual owl on the other.—Cf. 
 Topography of Athens (Leake), vol. 
 i. p. 529. 
 
 2 Cf. Suetonius ; Antiquites de la 
 Grece en general et d’’Athenes en 
 particulier, par Lambert (Bos, Paris, 
 1761), 8 vo. 
 
 3 Apollonius de Tyane (Chassang), 
 
 p. 161. 
 
 4 Larcher’s Notes, c. v. 113. 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 1 25 
 
 (Amphictyonic council in the temple of Demeter), 1 The 
 journey to Thermopylae was performed by Apollonius 
 and his disciples on foot, through Bceotia, Via Sacra or 
 Cloven Way. On the evening of the third day out they 
 arrived at Delphi, situated at the foot of Parnassus, in 
 Phocis. 2 Here was established the most celebrated of 
 all the oracles of Greece. 3 They were conducted to the 
 temple of Apollo, over the entrance of which was en¬ 
 graven, “ Know Thyself” ; on entering the temple they 
 were purified with laurel water. 4 Apollonius remained 
 in the temple that night, which, says Damis, is a square 
 edifice, built of fine stone, and erected under the super¬ 
 intendence of the architects Agamedes 5 and Trophonius, 
 and is approached by four avenues. One side of the 
 temple is appropriated to the residence of the priests, 6 
 and for all holy itinerants, and others whose presence 
 will not desecrate the holy place. Apollonius arose 
 the next morning with the sun, and performed his 
 
 1 Encyclopedia Brit., art. Am- 
 phictyony. 
 
 2 Inman’s Ancient Faiths, vol. ii. 
 p. 426. 
 
 3 Plutarch, vol. ii. p. 119; Travels 
 of An tenor (Lantier), vol. ii. p. 72. 
 
 4 The History and Antiquities of 
 the Doric Race (Muller), vol. i. p.224. 
 
 5 Pausanias, vol. iii. p. 24. 
 
 6 These were pagan priests. 
 Nineteen hundred years have 
 passed, the temple has gone, the 
 pediment adorned with Diana and 
 Apollo and the Muses is gone. The 
 fountain and the women Hyades are 
 gone. The washerwoman has 
 invaded the sacred fountain. A 
 Christian priest occupies not the 
 
 temple, but a hovel; he still enter¬ 
 tains travelers, although his house 
 has but one room, twenty-five feet 
 long, no furniture except two chests, 
 a trough for making bread, a sieve, 
 a few jars, some mugs, and a plenty 
 of blankets, with a family of ten, his 
 library, three books of scripture. 
 There is no glass in the house; light 
 enters through a square hole; the 
 outside of the house is too filthy for 
 description. Such was and such is 
 Parnassus. The priest has never 
 deserted it, he is the same persistent 
 thing to-day as then; his line of 
 descent is as clear, he has simply 
 degenerated. Jupiter or Christ is 
 all the same to him; only feed him. 
 
126 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 devotions to that luminary. 1 The priest who had charge 
 of the temple, and whose office it was to fix crowns of 
 laurel to the doors, the altars, and tripods, and to draw 
 the waters of lustration in a golden vessel from the 
 fountain Castalis with which to sprinkle the pavement, 
 the gate, and the laurel crowns, arose at the same 
 moment, and joined Apollonius in his devotion. The 
 Pythiae 2 who uttered the oracle from the tripod were not 
 admitted to their high office under fifty years of age. 3 
 At first virgins only were admitted, but one of them 
 having been violated by a Thessalian named Echecrates, 
 they afterward chose women over fifty, who simply 
 wore the habit of virgins. 4 This temple contained a 
 statue of Codrus, the last king of Athens, by Phidias. 
 The oracle had declared that if the Dorians killed 
 
 Codrus, they would not conquer Attica. The Attic 
 king hearing of this went in disguise to the Dorian 
 camp, picked a quarrel, and was killed. 5 Apollonius 
 remained but a short time at Delphi, 6 and in two stages 
 
 1 Larcher’s Notes on Herodotus, 
 
 V. 114. 
 
 2 Mythology and Fables of the 
 Ancients, etc., by Abbe Banier, vol. 
 i. p. 283. 
 
 3 Inman’s Ancient Faiths, etc., 
 vol. ii. p. 540. 
 
 4 Tillemont’s Hisioire des Empe- 
 reurs et des autres Princes, etc. 
 
 5 A bronze medal bears the por¬ 
 trait of Codrus. 
 
 Nero removed five hundred 
 brazen images from the sacred pre¬ 
 cincts of this temple, and Constan¬ 
 tine destroyed the remainder. 
 
 Croesus had sent ^Esop with a 
 
 treasure of gold to make a magnifi¬ 
 cent offering to Apollo, and to 
 distribute four minae to each of the 
 Delphians, but zEsop became dis¬ 
 pleased with them, offered up the 
 sacrifice, but sent the money back to 
 Sardis. This so offended the Del¬ 
 phians that they accused him of 
 having stolen some of the sacred 
 vessels, and condemned him to be 
 thrown down the rock. 
 
 6 The Amphictyonic council had 
 its temple at Delphi, and the con¬ 
 vention of the Boeotians, Phocians, 
 Dorians, Euboeans, and Athenians 
 still held alternate sessions here. 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 127 
 
 over the Locrian road he completed his journey to 
 Thermopylae. Here, out of respect to the memory of 
 Leonidas, king of Sparta, who defended the Pass of 
 Thermopylae against Xerxes, he erected a chapel around 
 his tomb, as he had to Palamedes’. 
 
 In answer to an inquiry of Damis, Apollonius said: 
 “ Nothing is more celebrated than the Amphictyonic 
 council. 1 It was first assembled by Amphictyon, son 
 of Deucalion, whose dominion was on the confines of 
 Thermopylae ; after this they assembled twice a year, 
 spring and autumn, in the temple of Ceres at Ther¬ 
 mopylae. No private causes were determined at this 
 council, such being considered of too small consequence 
 for such an august assembly. The business related to 
 matters of war and religion, and the decrees were en¬ 
 graved upon marble columns .”—-Arundel Marbles . 
 
 Near the tomb of Leonidas was the hill where it was 
 said the Lacedaemons fell, overwhelmed with arrows. 
 Apollonius heard his friends disputing about which was 
 considered the highest ground in Greece; he ascended 
 the hill, and cried out: “ This is the highest ground in 
 Greece; the men who died here in defense of liberty 
 
 All Hellas yet participated in the 
 Olympian, Nemean, Isthmian, and 
 Pythian games, and the olive crown 
 was still deemed the highest honor 
 that could be conferred on mortals. 
 But these rites had lost their mean¬ 
 ing, and had no religious or political 
 significance .—The History and An¬ 
 tiquities of the Doric Race , by C. O. 
 Muller, vol. i. p. 279. The Am¬ 
 phictyonic synod was instituted 
 1498 b. c., and was the most influ¬ 
 
 ential of all the institutions of 
 Greece. It was not discontinued 
 until the close of the fourth century 
 of the Christian era. Its immediate 
 office was to attend to the oracle of 
 Delphi, and was composed of twelve 
 of the wisest and best men from all 
 the cities of Greece. Apollonius 
 was a delegate to this important 
 council. 
 
 1 Larcher’s Notes on Herodotus , 
 
 v. 113. 
 
128 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 have raised this above many Olympuses. I love all 
 these men, but above all Magistius the Acarnanian, 
 who, foreknowing what they were to suffer, wished to 
 share with them their fate, fearing not death, but fearing 
 he might not be permitted to die with them.” 
 
 Nero was now reigning at Rome. Apollonius visited 
 all the temples of Greece, including the most distant 
 oracle of Dodona in Epirus, at the source of the 
 Thyamus River, nine hundred and twenty stadia from 
 Thermopylae, and had spent two days at Argos 
 Amphilochicum. 1 He knew the fame of the Pythian, 
 had lodged in the temples of Abae, and consulted the 
 oracle of Apollo. He had entered the cave of Amphi- 
 araus and Trophonius, and ascended the heights of the 
 Helicon. 2 After this method he passed from province 
 to province and temple to temple without distinction 
 of sect, in an endeavor to purify the pagan worship, as 
 he had done at Antioch, Ephesus, Smyrna, and Athens, 
 establishing new parishes, bishops, presbyters, elders, 
 and priests. In this work he was assisted by the priests 
 of the temples and his disciples. He revised the pagan 
 festivals, amended the rites of sacrifice and penance, 
 during a period in which Paul is said to have instituted 
 Christian churches in the same places. 3 
 
 1 There are records that the oracle 
 of Dodona continued in favor until 
 the fifth century. It had a Bishop 
 and his See, and is in the imperial 
 documents called Bonditza. The 
 oracle is now in ruins, but a church 
 named Bodista occupies a spot near 
 its site, and seems to have inherited 
 both its name and attributes.— Cf. 
 De Origine atque Auctoribus Orac- 
 
 ulorum Veterzi?n Ethnicorum, Dis- 
 sertationes dues (Anthony Van Dale, 
 Amsterdam, 1700). 
 
 2 See Pausanias, vol. iii. p. 70. 
 
 3 It was for the permanent estab¬ 
 lishment of the noble endurance 
 which characterized the stoic philos¬ 
 ophy that Apollonius labored. The 
 culture initiated by Pericles, the wis¬ 
 dom embodied by Minerva, instead 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 129 
 
 After these itineraries Apollonius turned his face 
 toward Athens, with the object, however, of immediately 
 departing for Corinth. 1 
 
 At this time Demetrius, the philosopher, was at Cor¬ 
 inth. He was a friend of Apollonius, a cynic, and a 
 man who fully comprehended the entire force of the 
 cynic philosophy; 2 he is mentioned with great respect 
 by Favorinus in his orations. Demetrius felt the same 
 zeal 3 in favor of the wisdom of Apollonius, as Antis- 
 
 of being subjects of reminiscent de¬ 
 light, he intended to make an in¬ 
 spiration to practical reform there 
 and then. And even in our day, 
 although the halls of the philoso¬ 
 phers are no more, yet schools of 
 science abound, the plays of Sopho¬ 
 cles are only a memory; yet the 
 people of Athens have newspapers. 
 Mythology is a poetic dream; 
 yet popular education is a grand 
 reality; Pallas Athene is dethroned; 
 the days of naiads, satyrs, and titans 
 are over; while those of the steam- 
 engine and telegraph have come. 
 Let the Greeks ever remember and 
 obey the grand old inscription on 
 the temple of the Delphic Apollo : 
 “Know thyself”; “Let the dead 
 past bury its dead.” 
 
 1 Athens, the greatest name of all 
 Greece, does not hold its rank in 
 monetary art; but although it did 
 not rank high in point of art, yet it 
 circulated more widely than the coin 
 of any Grecian state. The Athenian 
 coins bore the symbol of the tutelary 
 deity, Minerva (Athena), the owl. 
 They were issued in all the metals, 
 and had a wide-spread commercial 
 
 17 
 
 value. Extant coins in the posses¬ 
 sion of collectors prove that Athens 
 was in full tide of her commercial 
 glory long after she had historically 
 passed into oblivion. The complete 
 blotting out of Athenian history 
 must have been the work of omnip¬ 
 otent hands. And the fifth century 
 of the Christian era found Athens 
 sunk in a darkness greater than 
 that from which it emerged ten cen¬ 
 turies before. Her coins, however, 
 escaped the despoiler, and hence we 
 know the fact of her greatness, but 
 are deprived of the detailed his¬ 
 tory.— H. Goltzii, Grceciee universes 
 Asiceque Minoris et Insularum Nu- 
 mismata vetarinn , p. 220. 
 
 2 Apollonius de (Chassang), 
 
 p. 163. 
 
 3 Demetrius was a cynic philoso¬ 
 pher whom the Emperor Caligula 
 wished to gain in his interests by 
 large presents, but Demetrius re¬ 
 fused them with indignation, and 
 said, “ If Caligula wishes to bribe me 
 let him send me his crown.” Ves¬ 
 pasian afterward, during his reign, 
 became displeased with his inso¬ 
 lence, and banished him to an island. 
 
130 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 thenes did for that of Socrates, which he gave as his 
 reason for changing his philosophy and becoming a 
 follower of Apollonius and for recommending him to 
 his friends, of whom Menippus, a young Lycian, about 
 twenty-five years of age, was one; he was intelligent 
 and handsome, and, with his open, manly air of an 
 athlete, won the esteem of Apollonius, concerning 
 whom more will be said hereafter. 
 
 Apollonius, after visiting Marathon, 1 returned to 
 Athens by the Euboean road, and left the same day for 
 Corinth by the Sacred Way, which begins at the temple 
 of Theseus and the stoa Basileus and ends at Eleusis. 
 It gains the open country at the gate Dipylum; 2 near 
 this gate, just beyond the city walls on the Sacred Way, 
 are the sepulchers of the Spartan polemarchs, Chaeron, 
 Thibarchus, and other Lacedaemonians killed in battle. 
 There were also the sepulchers of Pericles, Chabrias, 
 and Thrasybulus. 3 But the most remarkable of all the 
 monuments along this way before coming to the road 
 which branches off to the academy of Plato, both for 
 magnitude and ornament, were those of a Rhodian who 
 dwelt in Athens, and the one built by Harpalus, a 
 Macedonian, in honor of his wife Pythonice, who had 
 been a courtesan at Athens and Corinth. Pausanias 
 says the latter “ was the most remarkable of all the 
 sepulchral monuments of Greece.” They turned aside 
 to visit the academy where Plato taught, and which he 
 
 1 Larcher’s Notes on Herodotus, 3 Pausanias , vol. i. p. 85 ; Herod- 
 
 vi. 145. otus, ix. 35; Thucydides, i. 107; 
 
 2 Travels in Italy, Greece, and the Diodorus, xi. 80; also Philostrate de 
 
 Ionian Islands, etc., by H. W. Will- Vita Apolloni Tyanei, libri octo, 
 iams, vol. ii. p. 300, etc. grcece (1501). 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 13 I 
 
 in his day deserted for unhealthfulness. This school was 
 surrounded with a wall built at a great expense by 
 Hipparchus, and in ancient times it was a place of great 
 sanctity; it was a profanation to laugh there. Inside 
 the inclosure was an altar to Prometheus, 1 also an altar 
 of the Muses, and another of Hermes, and within these 
 again were those of Minerva and Hercules. The acad¬ 
 emy grounds also contained the garden of Attalus, 
 where the sophist Lacydes had his school, a poGpos 
 (tank). Near to the academy on the other side of the 
 road were many monuments of distinguished Athenians 
 who had been slain in battle. 2 There is a temple on the 
 road (Sacred Way) common to Venus and Apollo, at 
 which Apollonius and his companions spent the night. 
 Just beyond they came to a place called Erineus, where 
 it is said that Pluto descended and carried off Proser¬ 
 pine. Apollonius classes all these as idle tales and 
 fables. 3 
 
 At Eleusis there is a temple to Triptolemus, another 
 to Diana Propylaea, one to Neptune (father), and a well 
 called Callichorum, where the Eleusinian women per¬ 
 formed a lascivious dance and sang in honor of the 
 goddess. And it is here the sacred barley, the sacri¬ 
 ficial cakes, the mysterious rites, concerning which the 
 uninitiated were not permitted even to inquire, were 
 performed. These were the greatest mysteries of 
 Greece, into which every one was desirous of being 
 initiated. On approaching Eleusis from Athens, Apol- 
 
 1 Fausanias, vol. i. p. 91. tanti, 2 vols. (London, 1841), vol. i. 
 
 2 The Topography of Athens, with p. 593, etc. 
 
 some Remarks on its Antiquities , by 3 Mythology and Fables of the 
 
 William Martin Leake, of the Dilet- Ancients (Banier), vol. iii. p. 61. 
 
132 
 
 APOLLON/US 
 
 Ionius says the sacred buildings standing near the east¬ 
 ern entrance conceal the town, which on closer view 
 augment the awe and reverence for the place. They 
 represent the genius of Pericles, Phidias, Ictinus, Mete- 
 genes, and Philo. 1 
 
 On departing from Eleusis Apollonius continued 
 his journey to Corinth, taking the road to Megara 
 (y) MsYapixvj). At Megara he visited the temple of 
 Apollo at the gate of the city, and was hospitably 
 entertained by the priests. Near to this temple was 
 the temple of Diana, which contained twelve statues 
 of the gods; besides, there were statues of the god¬ 
 desses Persuasion and Consolation by Praxiteles. The 
 peculiar province of these goddesses was to attend 
 newly married females. 2 Further on was the temple 
 of Isis. Damis became interested in the history of 
 Hyllus, son of Hercules, whose tomb was at Megara. 
 He was slain in a single combat with Echenaus, the 
 Arcadian, son of Hiropus. 3 Here also the philosopher 
 Euclid was born and flourished, and the Megarians 
 struck a medal to his memory. The city and temples 
 were much in decay and of little interest to Apol¬ 
 lonius. 4 
 
 While affairs were thus quietly transpiring in Greece 
 (a. D. 56-57), disgraceful scenes were taking place in 
 Rome, the capital. Nero, the monarch of an empire 
 extending from the Atlantic Ocean to the River Eu- 
 
 1 Coins of Eleusis are still com- 2 The History and Antiquities of 
 mon, representing Demeter drawn the Doric Race , etc., by C. O. Miil- 
 by dragons or serpents, inscribed ler, vol. i. p. 97, vol. ii. p. 186. 
 EAEUSI within a wreath of ears 3 Pausanias, vol. i. p. 119. 
 of corn. 4 See Encyclopcedia Britannica . 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 133 
 
 phrates, was wasting himself in debauchery and crime. 
 He would pass whole nights in taverns, and even en¬ 
 gage in drunken broils in the streets. After dark, with 
 some of his mad companions, he would sally out in 
 the public highway to attack, insult, and even rob the 
 most' respectable individuals. He would break into 
 houses and shops and plunder them, and sell the goods 
 thus stolen at auction the next day in the palace. 1 He 
 procured the murder of his brother Britannicus, A. D. 
 56; and finally, A. D. 60, procured two villains base 
 enough to assassinate his mother, Agrippina, who had 
 committed almost every known crime to secure for him 
 the crown, and who bore the relation to the Emperors 
 of Rome of granddaughter, sister, wife, and mother. 2 
 Remorse (if possible) never deserted Nero, who from 
 this time, as if to drown an awakened conscience, in¬ 
 dulged in the follies of the play-house, and, in A. D. 
 62, added to his crimes the murder of his wife Octavia, 
 sister of Britannicus and daughter of Claudius. 
 
 At Corinth Apollonius found a deputation of Elians 
 in waiting, who had come to meet him and invite him 
 
 1 Tacitus, Annals, 13, c. xxv.; 
 Suetonius, Nero, xxvi. ; Dion Cas¬ 
 sius, lxii. 16; Juvenal’s Satires; 
 cf Eutropius’s Abridgment of Ro¬ 
 man History, b. 7, etc. (Breviarium 
 Rerum Romanorum). 
 
 2 The infamous Agrippina II. was 
 daughter to Germanicus, grand¬ 
 daughter to Augustus, sister to 
 Caligula, wife of Claudius, and 
 mother of Nero. With all her 
 crimes she deserved better in her 
 old age from this monster son. 
 
 Drusilla, her sister, the second 
 daughter, who committed incest 
 with her brother Caligula, gained 
 after her decease a place in heaven 
 among the celestial gods. The un¬ 
 erring testimony of some Greek 
 medals which have reached our 
 day bear the style and title of the 
 goddess Drusilla.— Lives of Mar¬ 
 cus Valerius, Messala Corvinus, 
 and Titus Pomponius, etc. (Rev. 
 Ed. Berwick, 1813, London), p. 
 172. 
 
134 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 to visit Olympia in Elis during the Olympian games, 
 then about to commence . 1 He therefore remained no 
 longer in Corinth than necessary to pay his respects to 
 the philosopher Demetrius and visit the celebrated 
 naked statue of Hercules by Daedalus, erected on the 
 Aero Corinthus , 2 which he describes as resembling the 
 Acropolis at Athens . 3 Apollonius says: “For these 
 marvelous productions of Greek art we are indebted 
 to the living models of manliness, grace, and beauty 
 which were daily before the artist’s eye in the gymna¬ 
 sium or the sacred games. These arense of the athletes 
 offered rare opportunities for the study of muscle, pos¬ 
 ture, form, and motion, and hence the massive limbs 
 and startling sinews of the statue of Hercules.” Apol¬ 
 lonius now proceeded immediately with the deputation 
 
 1 Pausanias , vol. ii. p. 24. 
 
 The device of the Corinthian coin, 
 like that of Eleusis, was the Peg¬ 
 asus (the type of Eleusis was more 
 frequently the sow), with the head 
 of Minerva on the reverse. She is 
 here said to have been the protect¬ 
 ress of Bellerophon, who by her 
 assistance was enabled to possess 
 himself of a winged horse., and hence 
 Pegasus. She had a temple as such 
 at Corinth. Eckhel, who ought to 
 be authority on the subject, says 
 that “ Corinth coined no proper 
 money.” All of the coins here 
 spoken of have Latin legends ex¬ 
 cept those struck to Antinous, which 
 have Greek inscriptions. We dis¬ 
 miss these as possessing no great 
 curiosity and of but little value to 
 
 the historian,—with this exception 
 only, knowing as we do from all 
 historic experience of that period 
 that the slightest political or relig¬ 
 ious transmutation brought about 
 the substitution of an entire new 
 coinage,— it being the ultimate mes¬ 
 senger of a successful revolution, 
 and many times bore the first intel¬ 
 ligence to the distant subject of a 
 change in government. If we are not 
 in error concerning these facts, and 
 Corinth was no exception to the rule, 
 then Christian writers have erred 
 many centuries concerning the period 
 when Corinth became Christian.— 
 The History and Antiquities of the 
 Dome Race (Muller), vol. i. p. 96, etc. 
 
 2 Pausanias, vol. i. p. 147. 
 
 3 Travels of Antenor, p. 102, etc. 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 135 
 
 to Olympia. In passing through many places in Sicy- 
 onia and Arcadia sacred to the worship of Proserpina 
 Soteira, the virgin of salvation, the people turned 
 out to show their respect for him. As they came 
 near to Olympia, the roads were thronged with people, 
 pilgrims, priests, curious travelers, athletes, strolling 
 minstrels, and thousands of petty performers and ven¬ 
 ders of small wares, all destined for the great festival. 
 The prodigious concourse of people which the celebra¬ 
 tion of these games drew to Olympia enriched the city 
 and all Elis . 1 Nothing in Greece was comparable to 
 this entertainment. On his arrival at Olympia Apollo¬ 
 nius found embassadors from Lacedaemon or Sparta, 
 waiting to receive him and to request him to pay them 
 also a visit after the close of the games. He accepted 
 their kind invitation, but he scanned the physical 
 appearance of the embassadors, and observed that 
 there was indeed but little in that relation to remind 
 him of the reputation of the Spartans of old, of whom 
 he had heard so much. They were effeminate, and 
 looked as if they had breathed all their lives the pollu¬ 
 tions of the Sybaris. He at once wrote to the ephori , 2 
 declaring against their modern methods with young men, 
 and advising them to establish the ancient regime. He 
 was afterward informed that the ephori would comply 
 with every letter of his instruction should he remain of 
 the same mind after visiting them. He then wrote them 
 another letter more concise than the ancient Scytale. 
 
 1 Larcher’s Notes on Herodotus, word ephori exactly corresponds to 
 
 viii. 20. the word episkopus or bishop.—See 
 
 2 Plutarch , vol. ii. p. 323. The Liddell’s Greek Lexicon. 
 
APOLLONIUS 
 
 136 
 
 “Apollonius to the Ephori: 
 
 Xl Greeting: If is the part of men to err, but of 
 ingenuous men to acknowledge and promise to 
 remedy it.” 1 
 
 Damis describes Olympia as consisting of two 
 parts,— the precinct of Zeus, known also as the Altis, 
 and the sacred grove, a walled inclosure, forming an 
 irregular quadrangular inclosure with a length of about 
 eight stadia, parallel with the river, and about four stadia 
 in width. Within this inclosure were: 1. The altars for 
 the worship of Zeus, combined with the cult of the hero 
 Pelops; 2. The temple of Zeus; 3. The temple of 
 Hera; 4. The temple of the mother of the gods 
 (Metroon); then the votive edifices erected by the 
 individual states. 2 Twelve treasure-houses to contain 
 the treasures of the individual states (without the in¬ 
 closure) Damis names Sicyon, Syracuse, Epidaurus, 
 Byzantium, Sybaris, Cyrene, Selinus, Megara, and 
 Gela. The exedra of Herodes Atticus stood on the 
 north of the Altis, within the inclosure. Outside the 
 walls, on the north-west, were the gymnasium, Palaestra 
 (for wrestlers), and Council Hall. Nero’s house and the 
 hippodrome for the races — chariot, horse, and foot — 
 were on the south-east. These, as Damis informs us, 
 embraced a few only of the structures of the place, 
 while every available space, not otherwise occupied, 
 was filled with statues and votive offerings. There 
 were six bronze statues of Jupiter, which had been 
 
 1 Apollonius advised them to pro- living be reestablished. “ Then,” 
 hibit the use of pitch in the baths said he, “ the Lacedaemonian would 
 and all other debilitating prepara- begin to look like himself again. ” 
 tions, and let the ancient mode of 2 These were all Doric. 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 137 
 
 erected from the fines imposed upon wrestlers who had 
 used fraud to procure the prize. There were monu¬ 
 ments of every epoch and from every region where 
 Greeks were found and the Greek language spoken. 
 Apollonius’s time was exclusively taken up with the 
 religious ceremonies within the inclosure. 1 Damis and 
 his companions in the mean time, however, had become 
 enamored with the sports outside, which consisted of 
 horse-racing, foot-racing, leaping, javelin-throwing, 
 quoit-throwing, wrestling, and boxing. “ The wrest¬ 
 lers,” he says, “ were naked, anointed, and covered 
 with sand, that they might take hold.” Striking was 
 not allowed. The boxing, however, was a severer part 
 of the sport, and was indulged in only by those of the 
 profession; it was not held in the highest repute; 
 it was practiced naked, with clinched fists; the victory 
 was awarded to him who could best ward off the blows 
 of an antagonist. The exercise was violent and dan¬ 
 gerous, and two of the combatants lost their lives. 
 There was another method, called the “ Klimax,” where 
 the combatants faced each other, but never warded the 
 blows at all; as soon as one was knocked down, the 
 other fell upon him with continued blows, until oftener 
 than otherwise he arose from the dead body of his 
 adversary. The games continued for five days. 2 
 
 Once at Olympia, as Apollonius was absorbed in the 
 contemplation of the most famous statue of Olympus 
 (Jove, Zeus), he unconsciously ejaculated, “ Hail, pro¬ 
 pitious Jove; your goodness and clemency reach and 
 are imparted to all mankind.” Gaining his presence 
 
 1 Mythology and Fables of the Ancients (Banier), vol. iv. p. 424. 
 
 2 The History and Antiquities of the Doric Race (Muller), vol. i. p. 315. 
 
 18 
 
138 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 of mind, he immediately turned about and found him¬ 
 self facing the brazen statue of Milo, 1 a pupil of Pythag¬ 
 oras, who is said to have been a wrestler of such invin¬ 
 cible strength that he once carried a bull on his 
 shoulders to the sacrifice and killed it with a single 
 blow of his fist. 2 
 
 As he stood contrasting the two characters, Olym¬ 
 pian Jove and Milo, a young arrogant philosopher 
 addressed him, praying the favor of an audience the 
 next day, saying that he had something to recite. 
 Apollonius asked him what it was. He replied, an 
 oration composed in praise of Jupiter. Apollonius 
 inquired of him, “what he saw in Jupiter Olympus to 
 commend which had not already been told?” 3 After, 
 however, accepting the appointment, and patiently 
 hearing the young man through, he said: “ I think 
 Jupiter will care but little for your praise, and I would 
 advise you as a panegyrist to turn your attention to 
 things more within the reach of your talent and expe¬ 
 rience, as the ills of humanity rather than the adulation 
 of the gods ; dropsy, catarrh, and gout are prolific sub¬ 
 jects, and you might gain a reputation by attending the 
 
 1 Larcher’s Notes on Herodotus , rerum naturalium passivum ut acti- 
 ii. p. 209. “The statue,of this prince yum Jupiter a quo impraegnata Juno 
 of wrestlers,” Apollonius informs Semina rerum divino utero concipit. 
 us, “ blasphemously represented a Quorum cum innumera sit multitu- 
 priest of Juno standing on a small do, atque varietas ista Junonis tot 
 buckler with a pomegranate in his seminibus foetae faecunditas malo 
 hand.” “The symbolic pomegran- Punico Symbolice fuit designata in 
 ate,” says Pausanias, “ belongs to quo maxima, inter omnia roma se- 
 an arcane discourse (mysterium ar- minum copia. 
 
 canum), which is thus explained 2 Thomas’s Dictionary of Biogra- 
 by Olearius: Nempe in <l> 5 a'.y.Y] phy and Mythology. 
 
 TeOeXeYe/AevY]. Juno est principium 3 Many Cults; see Cumcean Sibyl. 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 139 
 
 dead to their graves, and relating the many qualities of the 
 disease of which each died. And it might also soothe 
 the grief of the bereaved relatives to know that the death 
 was caused by a distemper which prevailed in families of 
 the nobility.” Apollonius dismissed him, advising him 
 never to attempt the praises of one whose good qualities 
 are so little known as those of the gods. The discourses 
 of Apollonius at Olympia turned chiefly upon topics 
 more in the relation of man to man and to himself than 
 to the gods; such as fortitude, wisdom, temperance, 
 charity, and, in short, all the virtues. On these subjects 
 he always discoursed, like the stoics, in the porch of the 
 temple of Jupiter at Olympia, 1 the most famous of all 
 the temples of ancient Greece, 2 and his eloquence en¬ 
 deared all hearers to him. 
 
 One day, as Apollonius was expressing himself won¬ 
 derfully pleased with the good behavior, order, religious 
 zeal, and honesty of the Eleans at their festival, 3 Damis, 
 
 1 The statue of the Olympian Jove 
 (Jupiter Olympus - Zeus), before 
 which all Greece bowed with pro¬ 
 found veneration and respect, was 
 the most celebrated in the world; 
 it was forty-two feet high and the 
 most majestic representation of an 
 impersonated deified humanity ever 
 conceived by man. Juno of Argos, 
 Hera, the legitimate wife of Ju¬ 
 piter, and who shared his attri¬ 
 butes, also adorned this temple. 
 She was an ideal matron. The 
 former is the master-piece of Phidias, 
 and the latter of his worthy rival, 
 Polycletus of Sicyon. After them 
 came Praxiteles and Scopas. The 
 
 most faithful representation of this 
 statue of Jupiter is preserved to us 
 on coins and medals of the reign of 
 Pladrian. This statue was burned, 
 A. D. 408. On the Elis coins of 
 Hadrian, it is said to be excellently 
 represented.— Hist. Greek Sculp¬ 
 ture (Murray), p. 268; Heyne, An- 
 tiq. Aufs. i. 2037. Plutarch, Phi- 
 lochorus, and Diodorus Siculus 
 all agree that Phidias embezzled 
 some of the gold and fled to the 
 Eleans. 
 
 2 History of Ancient Art (Franz 
 von Reber), p. 222. 
 
 3 Life of Apollonius of Tyana 
 (Rev. Edward Berwick), p. 222. 
 
140 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 who had not formed so favorable an opinion of them, 
 thought it nothing, remarkable for them to acquit them¬ 
 selves nobly one day in five years. After the Olym¬ 
 pian games he visited and remained some time in 
 Sparta; here the Lacedaemonians came in crowds to 
 hear him, and pronounced him, in the presence of 
 Jupiter, their guest, the father and director of the 
 young, and the ornament of the old. 1 He inquired 
 well into the habits of the Spartans, to the end that he 
 might decide upon the best method for the production 
 of perfect men; he discovered that their habits were 
 simple, mode of life plain ; there was but little con¬ 
 struction about their houses,— most of their time was 
 spent in the open air,— their dress of the most unosten¬ 
 tatious material and cut—it being woolen, without 
 sleeves, and fastened by clasps ; intoxicating drinks 
 were prohibited ; adultery was unknown; one custom 
 only among them Apollonius held to be highly repre¬ 
 hensible : that of permitting their maidens to attend the 
 games and festivals, and excluding the married women. 
 He commended them upon the discontinuance of the 
 old custom of “ showing their young women naked.” 2 
 
 As a race, they appeared in a monstrous contrast 
 with the deputation which waited upon Apollonius at 
 Olympia. The Lacedaemonians he describes as a race 
 of soldiers; they cultivate neither arts, commerce, nor 
 agriculture. All pursuits with the Spartan nobility, 
 except that of soldier, were looked upon as dishonora¬ 
 ble ; this, Apollonius declares their most pronounced 
 characteristic, and he relates the case of a young Lace- 
 
 1 Apollonius de Tyane, sa Vie, etc. (Chassang), p. 384. 
 
 2 History of the Doric Race , vol. ii. p. 272. 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 141 
 
 daemonian, 1 of noble extraction, who was living under 
 accusation of transgressing the customs and laws of his 
 country, inasmuch as he was so devoted to nautical 
 pursuits and commercial speculations as to engage in 
 traffic between Carthage and Sicily in vessels of his 
 own construction; and so infatuated was he with this 
 pursuit, that he neglected those duties to the republic 
 and to that nation who had made his ancestors famous, 
 some of whom were of the gymnasiarchs and ephori, 
 and all guardians of the laws; he boasted in being a 
 descendant of Callicratidas (KaX)axpcmode), the Spartan 
 general who succeeded Lysander during the Peloponne¬ 
 sian war, and who blockaded the port of Mitylene. 2 
 The charges against him, and for which he was incar¬ 
 cerated, were in depriving his country of services justly 
 her due, and in prostituting a name so glorious in her 
 annals ¥ the gratification of personal avarice ; the pen¬ 
 alty for this offense was a sacrifice of name and nation¬ 
 ality. Apollonius was determined to dissuade this 
 young Spartan from so dishonorable a pursuit. He 
 demonstrated to him that although his occupation in¬ 
 volved large profits and promised great wealth, it 
 was a dishonor to the great names of Sparta, and that, 
 moreover, one or two bad investments might render 
 him unable to pay his debts and he be compelled to 
 spend his life in a debtor’s prison, a poor compensa¬ 
 tion, indeed, for a name glorious in the records of his 
 country which he had inherited and which it was his 
 duty to perpetuate. Apollonius further proved to him 
 that Sparta, under military glory, 3 rose to the skies, but 
 
 1 Apollonius de Tyane, par A. Chassang, p. 170. 
 
 2 Berwick, p. 226. 3 Sparta was 800 years without walls. 
 
142 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 as a commercial people they had become the prey of 
 all the earth, and had been blotted from both land and 
 sea. To all this the young Callicratidas listened with 
 marked attention, and shortly after resolved to reform 
 his life and pursue the road to fame rather than afflu¬ 
 ence ; whereupon he was released from confinement 
 and furnished with a commission becoming the dignity 
 of his family name. 1 
 
 In casting our eyes momentarily at this time toward 
 Jerusalem, we find that riots, disorders, robberies, and 
 murders are fast working out the destiny of the Jewish 
 people. Festus has just been appointed procurator, 
 whose efforts to pacify the factions are so abortive, that 
 an outbreak seems inevitable. 2 A temporary stay is, 
 however, brought about by the sudden death of Festus. 
 In the mean time, A. D. 62-3, great and stirring events 
 were transpiring at Rome. Nero has married Poppasa 
 and put Octavia to death; Tigellinus, a court favorite, 
 has been appointed praetorian prefect. 3 
 
 The infamous Pallas, who was a party to the murder 
 of Claudius, an accomplice of Agrippina, had been con- 
 
 1 Apollonius de Tyane , sa Vie, ses 
 Voyages, ses Prodiges, etc., par A. 
 Chassang, p. 170. 
 
 2 The History of the Israelites 
 and Jtidceans, etc., vol. ii. p. 319, 
 et seq. 
 
 3 Tigellinus Sophonius was born 
 at Agrigentum in Sicily. He was a 
 horse-breaker by profession, and he 
 catered to the worst passions of 
 Nero.— Eutropius’s Abridgment of 
 Roman Hist., b. 7, c. xiv; Tacitus’ 
 Annals, xiv. 51. 
 
 He was proprietor of a magnificent 
 
 estate called the ALmilian gardens, 
 on the slope of the Pincian, between 
 the Piazza del Popolo and the Piazza 
 di Spagna; above it was the burial- 
 place of the Domitii, where Nero’s 
 remains now repose. Tigellinus 
 committed suicide, A. D. 70, to es¬ 
 cape a worse death. He was disso¬ 
 lute, revengeful, and unprincipled; 
 he was the evil genius of the em¬ 
 peror, whose last noble impulse he 
 sought to stifle.— See Tacitus’ 
 History , i. 72; also Dion Cassius , 
 lxii. 13, lxiii. 12. 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 143 
 
 demned, and his wealth, consisting of twelve millions 
 of dollars, confiscated, A. D. 62. During this year 
 Boadicea, Queen of Britain, humbled the Roman pride 
 by defeating Anneus and slaughtering seventy thou¬ 
 sand Romans. Upon this information court manners 
 slightly improved at the capital. It was manifest that 
 Rome was no longer omnipotent, and Apollonius de¬ 
 termined during the lull and after the winter was over 
 on visiting Rome, although he was well informed that 
 Nero had no partiality for philosophers, and that, under 
 the espionage of Tigellinus, he would be surrounded 
 with spies immediately on entering the city. But, 
 notwithstanding all the dangers, he determined to take 
 no longer upon rumor, but to see for himself the splen¬ 
 dor of this “ Queen of Cities,” crowning her seven hills 
 in marble majesty, the mistress of the world, conquered 
 by the valor of her sons, and now trailing in the dust 
 through the imbecility of the imperial homicide. 1 
 While he was thus contemplating his journey to Rome, 
 he had a dream, 2 which caused him to change his 
 course, and he thought proper to go into Crete, the 
 birthplace of Zeus. Consequently, from Sparta he pro¬ 
 ceeded to Epidaurus, 3 on the Gulf of Argolis, and took 
 up his abode in the temple of ZEsculapius, about forty 
 stadia from the city. This city was a colony from 
 Epidaurus, on the Saronic Gulf, called the holy, ^ ispa 
 5 E7ci£aopo<;, a kingdom founded by Pelops. The great 
 public edifices of the city were a theater of Polycletus, 
 a temple to Dionysius and Artemis, and a shrine to 
 
 1 Apollonius de Tyane, sa Vie, ses 2 Berwick , 228. 
 
 Voyages, ses Prodiges, par Chassang, 3 Mythology and Fables (Banier), 
 
 p. 176. iii. p. 155. 
 
144 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 Aphrodite. The most illustrious deeds of Aesculapius 
 were performed at Epidaurus. He cured all manner 
 of diseases, and even raised the dead; and Apollonius 
 says a long list of the names of those who had been 
 miraculously cured by this god was engraven within 
 the temple. Divine honors were paid Aesculapius, and 
 the eighth day of the Eleusinian mysteries was called 
 Epidauria in honor of him. The temple had, two hun¬ 
 dred years before this time, been desecrated by the 
 Romans, and the statue of the healing god removed to 
 Rome and set up on the Insula Tiberina. On leaving 
 Epidaurus, he pressed forward to Malea, spending one 
 night at Bcea. There being many vessels stationed at 
 Malea, he sailed immediately, all his disciples accom¬ 
 panying him. A south-easterly gale coming on soon 
 after leaving port, they were driven behind the island 
 Cythera, and sought shelter in the little harbor of the 
 town of Acmea. The wind, however, suddenly changing 
 in the opposite direction, they ran down upon the island 
 of Crete. The snowy summits of the Cretan Ida being 
 in sight during the whole voyage, and sailing along the 
 coast of Cydonia for two days with head winds, they 
 finally put in at Gnossus, the birthplace of Chersiphon, 
 the architect of the temple of Diana of Ephesus. Here 
 Apollonius sought out the residence of his friend Atne- 
 sidemus, the stoic, who embraced him and hospitably 
 entertained him while at Gnossus. The disciples in the 
 mean time visited the famous labyrinth, 1 said to have 
 been the dwelling-place of the fabled Minotaur, who 
 devoured seven Athenian youths and seven Athenian 
 
 1 A winding cavern, artificial, and common in countries occupied by 
 the Ethiopian race, used as temples where human victims were sacrificed. 
 
OF 7'YANA. 
 
 145 
 
 maidens furnished every seven years by Athens. 1 This 
 monster was the product of a commerce of Pasiphae, 
 wife of Minos, king of Crete, with a bull; and King 
 Minos, to conceal his disgrace, had the labyrinth built 
 as a dwelling-place of Minotaur, 2 who was finally slain 
 by Theseus. The disciples ascended Mount Ida and 
 examined all the sacred monuments of the island; this 
 was the birthplace of Jupiter, 3 and here he was nursed, 
 whence came the worship of Cybele and the priests 
 called curetes (Idsei Dactyli). 4 It was on this sacred 
 mount that Minos received the Cretan laws engraved 
 on tables of stone, delivered to him by Zeus long 
 ere the laws from Elohim Jehovah were delivered to 
 Moses. 5 Apollonius visited the temple of Libene, 
 dedicated to ^Esculapius, and the most famous in Crete. 6 
 It looked toward the Lybian Sea, standing near Phaes- 
 tus, a town where a great sea is restrained by a very 
 little rock. This temple is called Libenean, from a 
 promontory of the same name resembling a lion. The , 
 story about it is, that the promontory was one of the 
 lions yoked of old to the chariot of Rhea 7 (Tsia, Tsa, 
 called by the Romans Aps Cybele, mother of Uranus). 
 
 It was during the sojourn of Apollonius on the island 
 
 1 This famous labyrinth is repre¬ 
 sented on the reverse of a medal 
 of Gnossus.— Coins of the United 
 States Mint, Du Bois. There were 
 coins of Crete marked with a square 
 or labyrinth to denote the celestial 
 Venus.— Encyclopcedia Britannica, 
 art. Crete. 
 
 2 Symbolical Language of Ancient 
 Art (R. Payne Knight), p. 64, etc. 
 
 3 Jupiter was worshiped in Crete 
 
 19 
 
 as Dies. Peter (R. P. Knight), 
 p. 70. 
 
 4 The History and Antiquities of 
 the Doric Race (C. O. Muller), vol. 
 ii. p. 406, et seq. 
 
 5 Mu)taY]i; was the Muse of Wis¬ 
 dom with the Cretans. 
 
 6 History of Classical Greek Lit¬ 
 erature (Mahaffy), p. 50. 
 
 7 Mother of Osiris, Isis, and 
 Typhon ; wife of Pan. 
 
146 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 of Crete that the cities of the Campania, Herculaneum 
 and Pompeii, were partially destroyed by the eruption 
 of Vesuvius, A. D. 64. 1 The shock took place about 
 midday, while Apollonius was talking to a great con¬ 
 course of people on the subject of religion and the 
 gods ; the violent concussion shook the whole island, 
 followed by a rumbling noise from the ground ; the 
 sea withdrew about seven stadia from the shore, and 
 many supposed that its recession would sweep the 
 temple and all belonging to it away. Apollonius, how¬ 
 ever, calmed their fears, and no harm came out of it. 2 
 After he had visited all of their temples and completed 
 his mission in Crete, he turned his face longingly 
 toward Rome, and, finding a number of vessels at 
 Gnossus ready to sail, he took leave of his friend JEne- 
 sidemus, who had affectionately warned him of the 
 hazard of a philosopher visiting Rome at the present 
 time, and set sail immediately for Puteoli, the port of 
 Cumse, in Campania. Puteoli was originally a colony 
 from Samos, and was first called Discearliae, place of 
 commercial tumult. It was the great emporium of Italy; 
 its mole or breakwater was a wonderful structure built 
 upon a stone foundation thirty feet below tide-water, and 
 protected a harbor large enough to hold an imperial navy. 
 “ The great merchant-ships come sluggishly into port 
 deeply laden, but go nimbly away empty, Alexandria 
 being their home.” 3 This was in the same year, but prior 
 
 1 Pliny and Apollonius are the Naples. He had just left the build- 
 only persons who have referred to ing when it fell.—Dyer’s Ruins of 
 this great eruption. I think I am Pompeii , p. 4. 
 
 not mistaken. 3 A New System ; or , an Analysis 
 
 2 At the time of this earthquake of An tient Mythology, etc., by Jacob 
 Nero was singing in a theater at Bryant,Esq., in 6 vols.,vol. v. p. 347. 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 14 7 
 
 to the great fire in Rome under Nero. “Without men¬ 
 tioning,” says Philostratus, “ the many great and good 
 men who incurred royal displeasure, chiefly in conse¬ 
 quence of their unbending adherence to virtue and 
 truth, we cannot pass unnoticed Musonius, 1 a Babylo¬ 
 nian or a Chaldean, and of whom Tacitus speaks as a 
 man devoted to the study of philosophy, and in par¬ 
 ticular to the doctrines of the stoic sect, 2 who was con¬ 
 sidered second in wisdom and austere morality to 
 Apollonius, and who was cast into prison, where he 
 would have died had he not possessed a robust consti¬ 
 tution and body. It was whilst philosophy and its 
 professors were in such perilous circumstances that 
 Apollonius came to Rome, during the year that Nero 
 made his debut upon the stage at Rome and Naples 
 (Neapolis). 
 
 On arriving at Puteoli, Apollonius repaired at once 
 to the temple of Neptune, and sacrificed to that god 
 for his safety from perils of the sea; he then visited 
 the temple of Diana, 3 with its statue of that goddess 
 thirteen cubits high, the fame of which had reached 
 him years before. He also visited the temple of 
 Jupiter Serapis, famous throughout the world. Puteoli 
 was an unrivaled sea-port and watering-place of Ro¬ 
 man imperialism, and the place where every known 
 vice was practiced to perfection; in front of the city 
 
 1 Musonius Rufus, a stoic philos- sonal friend of Apollonius. He 
 opher, born in Etruria, banished by knew not the Christians.—Cf. Wyt- 
 Nero, returned under Vespasian, tenbachii de Musonio Rufus , phil. 
 and was excepted from the sentence Stoic (Amstel, 1783), 4to. 
 of exile pronounced against all 2 Qtdntilian, b. x. 124. Stoics, 
 stoics. He was highly esteemed 3 Symbolical Language of An- 
 by Pliny, Tacitus, and was the per- cient Art, etc. (Knight), p. 99. 
 
148 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 lay the beautiful Bay of Baiae, more remotely called 
 Neapolis, still bearing the defacement of Caligula’s 
 great folly, the Bridge of Baiae, now, however, in ruins, 1 
 a short distance beyond the freshly burned cities of 
 Herculaneum and Pompeii, still smoking in their ruins; 
 the island of Capreae, scarcely visible to the south, 
 still retaining the memories of the beastly Tiberius. 2 
 Horace, Virgil, and Cicero have frequented and glori¬ 
 fied this place, lavishly ornamented with temples and 
 pillars and statues and imperial villas. Hadrian, 
 Agrippa, Caesar, Augustus, and Tiberius had their villas 
 here ; it was now the darling retreat of Nero, and it 
 was here that he held some of his most voluptuous 
 orgies, and planned some of his choicest crimes — as 
 the murder of his mother. “ The various failures he 
 had before made in this delicate business,” as Apollo¬ 
 nius said at the time, only confirm the truth of the 
 old adage: “ If you want a thing done, do it yourself.” 
 
 1 This great and useless work ex¬ 
 tended across the bay from Baiae to 
 Puteoli, a distance of over three 
 miles and a half. It was constructed 
 of a continuous line of great vessels, 
 placed side by side and anchored, 
 and a broad road formed over them. 
 On the sides of the road were erected 
 inns, supplied with water by con¬ 
 duits ; trees and shrubs were 
 planted. It was lighted by an in¬ 
 genious method. The opening of 
 this grand and useless work was 
 conducted in a style of magnificence 
 before unequaled. The infantry and 
 cavalry were marched over it, with 
 Caligula at their head. Speeches 
 and feasting followed through the 
 
 three following days.— The Picto¬ 
 rial History of Rome , by Arnold, 
 Onley, and others, p. 467. 
 
 2 Suetonius , c. xlii. p. 218. 
 
 The noble and interesting temple, 
 Jupiter Serapis, for the possession 
 of which earth and sea have been 
 contending through many centuries, 
 was located at Pozzuoli. Occasion¬ 
 ally it has been submerged; then an 
 earthquake would throw it up, or the 
 sea retire and leave it on dry ground. 
 These oscillations have been going 
 on here since the historic period. 
 It is now high and dry; near it 
 stands the temple of Neptune, half 
 under water, and the temple of the 
 Nymphs is entirely submerged. 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 149 
 
 Apollonius now proceeded toward Rome by the Ap- 
 pian Way, 1 which had just undergone a thorough repair 
 by Nero, and it was now one of the grandest cemeteries 
 of the world — the exclusive privilege and possession of 
 the rich. When he had arrived within one hundred 
 and twenty stadia (fourteen miles) from Rome, near the 
 grove of Aricia, he was met by Philolaus, a Roman, 
 now of Cytseum, a town on the island of Crete. He 
 was a man of great eloquence, but not constituted to 
 endure much hardship in times of persecution, although 
 he had once smarted under the rod of a merciless 
 centurion. Apollonius saluted him, and Philolaus ex¬ 
 horted him to give way to the storm and forego his 
 determination of visiting Rome, where philosophy at 
 the present time was so much restricted, assuring him 
 that if he continued his journey he would certainly be 
 arrested at the city gates, and would probably lose his 
 life for his imprudence, which surely would be no great 
 gain. It will cost you more than it did Ulysses when 
 he fell into the hands of the Cyclops. Remember the 
 words of Alcibiades when about to be tried by his 
 countrymen on a capital charge: “ It is foolish to 
 spend so much money and time in trying to get off 
 when it is so easy to get away”—and he acted accord¬ 
 ingly; but Apollonius was inflexible. Among his fol¬ 
 lowers, consisting of thirty disciples, on hearing this 
 intelligence all except eight deserted him. 2 “Very 
 well,” said Apollonius, “ every man to his humor,” 
 and for which he thanked the gods, but uttered no 
 word of censure upon those who turned back. Among 
 
 1 Life of the Greeks and Romans (Guhl and Koner), p. 341. 
 
 2 Brucker, vol. ii. p. 120. 
 
APOLLONIUS 
 
 150 
 
 those who persevered were Menippus, Dioscorides the 
 Egyptian, Damis, and five others, whom Apollonius 
 addressed as follows: “ I do not blame those who have 
 left me, but I praise those who have remained; those 
 who have fled through fear of Nero I do not call cow¬ 
 ards, but those who have conquered their fears are 
 philosophers. We go to the city which commands the 
 habitable earth, but tyranny is enthroned within it. 
 Let no one deem it foolish in us in our attempt to visit 
 this city, which, as members of this great despotism, 
 whether by our own selection or by force, is not only 
 our privilege but our right, and from which so many 
 philosophers have fled ; there is no terror to men who 
 have made temperance, wisdom, and truth the maxims 
 and rules of their lives. We will go to Rome, and 
 Nero’s edict banishing philosophers we will oppose by 
 the iambic of Sophocles. Such orders were never 
 given by the fathers of the gods, and, I will add, nor 
 by Apollo, the god of wisdom.” 
 
 Six stadia from Aricia they passed through the 
 ancient city of Albano, founded by ^Eneas; and on 
 their right, near the city of Rome, on the ground that 
 formerly belonged to Pompey, Apollonius halted to 
 examine a large tomb erected to Ascanius and Pompey. 
 They approached the city late in the day, and entered 
 by the gate of Appia 1 without being questioned, 
 although the guards made some uncomplimentary 
 remarks about their dress; they took up their abode 
 
 1 This gate was substituted for stone by the censor Appius Clau- 
 the porta Caperia when the city was dius, in the year 442 of Rome, and 
 enlarged; it derived its appella- was the most magnificent road of 
 tion from the Appian Way, which all those opened by the Romans.— 
 was paved with large blocks of Old Rome , etc. (Burn), p. 194. 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 151 
 
 at an inn near the ancient city’s walls, and adjacent to 
 Cicero’s house, 1 one of the finest in Rome. It was 
 filled with books, paintings, and statues of the greatest 
 artists. Damis says Rome was owned by wealthy and 
 selfish capitalists who thought of nothing but them¬ 
 selves. The streets on the elevations were filled with 
 houses nearly equal to Cicero’s. Croesus was said to 
 have owned half of the city. Greek was spoken in 
 Rome; it was an accomplishment of which they were 
 proud ; every noble Roman had a Greek preceptor in 
 his house, 2 and Rome was a Greek city to the extent 
 of its culture and art. All the statues of heroes and 
 gods which decorated the squares, porticoes, and pri¬ 
 vate mansions of the nobility were Greek, and cap¬ 
 tives in Italy. Rome had stolen a million statues from 
 Greece. They envied the Greek his culture; the 
 Greek despised Roman vulgarity. Day after day 
 Apollonius and his friends spent their time in visiting 
 the different parts of the city, which was now divided 
 into fourteen regions, and the regions were subdivided 
 into vici; and in regard to its architecture, Apollonius 
 declares that, “ There is not a structure nor a statue 
 in all Rome but that had a Greek origin.” 3 He, how¬ 
 ever, compliments their methods of furnishing pro¬ 
 visions to the people ; butchers, bakers, 4 and millers 
 were selected citizens, incorporated, and were held ame¬ 
 nable to the severest laws in their business; slaughter- 
 
 1 Cicero’s house was on the upper 3 History of Greek Sculpture, etc. 
 slope of what is now known as the (Murray), p. 131, etc. 
 
 Mons Esquilinus; the inn was in 4 The Romans learned to make 
 the valley below it. leavened bread from the Greeks.— 
 
 2 Life of the Greeks and Romans Pliny. See Archceologia Grceca, etc. 
 
 (Guhl and Koner), p. 89. (Potter), vol. ii. pp. 352, 361. 
 
152 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 houses were built of marble, and Nero had just com¬ 
 pleted a meat market equal in size to the amphithe¬ 
 ater. Apollonius was a frequent visitor at the Septa, 1 
 on the Capitoline, and the Colonnades of Hadrian. 
 Two celebrated Greek groups adorned the Septa, Pan 
 and Young Olympus, and Chiron and Achilles. 2 
 
 They endeavored to make themselves as little ob¬ 
 served as possible, preferring rather to obtain correct 
 information concerning the ancient institutions of Rome, 
 which they had heretofore known only by tradition, 
 and to take into account the present corruptions and 
 criminalities of Nero and his counselors, than openly 
 declaring against the abominations of a tyrant, who 
 possessed all but omnipotent power. 3 In furtherance of 
 this object, Apollonius had delayed his visits to the 
 temples and sacred places of the city, and had attended 
 the Circus Maximus, and spent much time at the Forum. 
 The Circus Maximus was at the terminus of the Ap- 
 pian Way, and below the Palatine on the left, and near 
 to his lodgings; to it the Roman people paid a mad 
 devotion,—here they sacrificed their lives, here they 
 spent all their earnings in drink and gambling, here 
 they verily dwelt and here they worshiped. Clustered 
 about the entrance of the Circus were some of the 
 
 1 Life of the Greeks and Romans 
 (Guhl and Koner), p. 414. 
 
 2 The Septa was once simply an 
 inclosed place on the Campus Mar- 
 tius, divided off into a number of 
 partitions, where the presidents 
 passed and received the votes of the 
 centuries. It had now become the 
 
 great resort and mart of the slave 
 
 vender, and of idlers and loungers ; 
 it was also a market for many kinds 
 of goods, and in the evenings the 
 lewd women promenaded here. It 
 stood just east of the temple of Isis, 
 Serapis, and Minerva Chalcidica, in 
 the ninth region.— Old Rome , etc. 
 (Robert Burn), p. 127. 
 
 3 Suetonius’s Nero, xviii. 
 
OF TV AN A. 
 
 153 
 
 lowest drinking and gambling dens in Rome. On the 
 day of the races, before sunrise, they ran headlong to 
 the Circus, and some even passed sleepless nights to 
 be in readiness in the morning. The number of idle 
 persons in the streets of Rome during the season of 
 the races, Apollonius says, is enormous. 1 
 
 On the other side of the Palatine was the Roman 
 Forum, which was exceedingly rich in Greek art; here 
 were statues of Alcibiades, Pythagoras, and before the 
 Rostra the three Sibyls; also a picture by Serapion, 
 some works of art from Sparta, and many others. To 
 reach the Forum they had to descend by the Via 
 Sacra, the great thoroughfare of the nobility; all the 
 other streets leading to it were narrow, and so thronged 
 with people during the business hours as to be nearly 
 or quite impassable. The Forum was the great com¬ 
 mercial center of the city ; here all stock and corn ex¬ 
 change and all legal business were transacted, and it was 
 also the place to gather the news of the day. The fashion¬ 
 able pedestrians, promenaders, and loungers sought the 
 Via Sacra, or the retired porticoes of the Circus Fla- 
 minius. After dark the Via Sacra was entirely monopo¬ 
 lized by the lewd women of the city and their satellites. 
 In the most circumspect manner Apollonius and his 
 followers passed their time for several months, visiting 
 every quarter of the city and noting everything worthy 
 of observation, without apparently attracting any undue 
 attention, when one evening their quarter of the city 
 
 1 Pliny says the Circus Maximus lius Victor estimates its capacity 
 was capable of containing two hun- at three hundred and eighty-five 
 dred and sixty thousand persons, thousand .—The Life of the Greeks 
 which Sextus Rufus confirms; Pub- and Romans, etc., p. 423. 
 
 20 
 
154 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 
 was visited by a man pretending to be intoxicated ; he 
 sang verses of Nero, for which he received a salary ; he 
 was a spy, the Ate of the savage Nemesis, 1 and had 
 power to arraign all persons who listened with inatten¬ 
 tion or who did not pay; finding that little or no 
 attention was paid him by Apollonius and his com¬ 
 panions, he cried out that they had violated the majesty 
 of Nero, and were the enemies of his divine voice; at 
 which the philosophers did not seem much concerned. 
 Whereupon Menippus asked Apollonius his opinion of 
 what the performer said. “ The same,” replied Apollo¬ 
 nius, “as of what he sang.” “But it is not our busi¬ 
 ness,” said Menippus, “to show him any signs of 
 disapprobation; let us pay him for his music, and leave 
 him to sacrifice to the Muses of Nero. 2 To this Apollo¬ 
 nius assented. The next day, however, Apollonius was 
 sent for by Telesinus, one of the consuls, and in the 
 private interview Telesinus was amazed at his religious 
 zeal and his boldness in answer to questions put to 
 him; and being desirous of showing him respect of¬ 
 fered to write to the priests to permit him to enter the 
 temples. “Would they not receive me,” said Apollo¬ 
 nius, “ without your written command ? ” “ No,” said 
 
 he, “ for the permission depends on my authority as 
 pontifex maximus ” 3 (high-priest or pope). “ I am 
 
 1 The savage goddess Nemesis 3 The pontifex maximus was es- 
 
 commissioned her ominous genius teemed the judge and arbitrator of 
 Ate to fly incessantly over the whole all divine and human affairs, and his 
 earth, and gather the thoughtless authority was so great and his office 
 and important words uttered by so much revered “ that all the em- 
 her subjects, which she might pre- perors, after the example of Julius 
 sent as an apology for torturing Caesar and Augustus, either actually 
 them. took upon themselves the office or 
 
 2 Apollonius de Tyane (Chassang), used the name.”—Rennet’s Roman 
 
 p. 1 79 - A ntiquilies. 
 
 I 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 155 
 
 glad,” said Apollonius, “ that a man so illustrious is 
 appointed to fill that office, but I would prefer dwelling 
 in temples which are not so vigilantly guarded ; none 
 of the gods reject me, and all give me the protection of 
 their roof; this is all the permission I crave, and with¬ 
 out which I care not to enter the sacred precincts; and 
 this is not denied me even by the barbarians.” “ If 
 this is so,” said Telesinus, “ the barbarians have been 
 beforehand with us in such praiseworthy attention; but 
 I would much prefer having these good things said of 
 ourselves.” 
 
 After this Apollonius took up his abode in the 
 temples, and he dwelt in none without making some 
 reformation. He visited no man, paid no court to 
 royalty, but received all who came unto him with civil¬ 
 ity. In this manner he passed from temple to temple. 
 These freedoms extended to him gave rise to many 
 questionings and much bitterness, until A. D. 65, when 
 Demetrius, a Greek cynic philosopher of celebrity, came 
 to Rome; he was an officer under the government of 
 Nero ; he loved Apollonius, having met him at Corinth, 
 and was secretly his disciple. 1 He showed to him 
 so much attention that Nero was provoked by it, 
 and began to suspect that the arts which Apollonius 
 professed had great power over Demetrius. When 
 Nero had finished his gymnasium, which was the admi¬ 
 ration of all Rome, and celebrated the anniversary of it, 
 in the midst of the senate and the knights assembled, 
 and performed all the necessary sacrifices on the occa¬ 
 sion, Demetrius entered it, and pronounced an oration 
 
 1 Demetrius was eulogized by to an island, was restored, but 
 Seneca, who quoted his maxims, finally died in exile at an advanced 
 He was banished by Vespasian age. 
 
156 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 against all who bathed in it, 1 saying they were effemi¬ 
 nate and polluters, not cleansers of themselves ; to which 
 he added that the expense attending such works was 
 idle and superfluous. These words would have cost 
 him his life had not Nero the night before outdone 
 himself in singing, and been greatly applauded, which 
 rendered his otherwise ferocious nature extremely 
 amiable. The singing took place in a tavern near the 
 gymnasium and Circus Maximus, before an audience 
 of the most abandoned characters, men and women. 
 Nero had only a girdle tied around his waist during the 
 performance; in every other respect he was naked. 
 
 From this moment to the time Apollonius left Rome 
 his movements were watched, either for evidence to 
 convict of treasonable utterances, or to prevent him from 
 eluding them by the commission of suicide, 2 and thereby 
 
 1 There was a hot bath joined to 
 the gymnasium, after the fashion of 
 the Greeks, and this appears from 
 Suetonius, who says : “ Upon the 
 first opening of a hot bath and a 
 school exercise gymnasium which 
 Nero built, he furnished the senate 
 and the equestrian order with oil in 
 which to bathe. ” 
 
 2 This tendency to suicide began 
 with the cynics, one of whose most 
 noted disciples, Diogenes, causedhis 
 death by suffocation (Diogenes 
 Laert., Life of Diogenes, xi.), and 
 Stilpo, his favorite disciple, also 
 destroyed himself, as did also his 
 colleagues Onesicratus, Metrocles, 
 and Menippus. Demonax, a cynic, 
 also ended his life because he had 
 outlived authority. Peregrinus, of 
 the same school, burnt himself 
 alive. 
 
 The stoic heirs of the cynic school 
 were the first to erect suicide into a 
 dogma, and create an enthusiasm for 
 it. Many stoics committed suicide 
 under circumstances which show 
 how little regard they had for life. 
 Their founder, Zeno, took his own 
 life. His successor, Cleanthes, 
 showed an equal contempt for life. 
 Diodorus cut his throat, Cassius fell 
 by his own dagger, Pomponius Atti- 
 cus, Cicero’s friend, starved himself 
 to death. Nearly all of these crimes 
 were committed to escape some real 
 or imaginary evil, mostly the dread 
 of imperial vengeance; many that 
 their estates might be saved to their 
 heirs, a provision of Roman law. 
 — Cf. Suicide, Studies on its Philoso¬ 
 phy, Causes, and Prevention, by 
 James J. O’Dea, M. D. (New York, 
 1882), p. 50, etc. 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 157 
 
 saving his estate, which was believed to be considerable, 
 to his legal representatives; for conviction of treason 
 was followed by confiscation. But he took care to 
 indulge in no license of speech, and yet not to show too 
 much concern for those who were watching him, for he 
 knew that those who professed philosophy stood on 
 most slippery ground. 1 These things took place about 
 the period when Juvenal, 2 the friend of Martial, Quin¬ 
 tilian, and Pliny the younger, was thundering with his 
 eloquence and wit against the follies and corruptions of 
 his day. Perseus the stoic, the Faust of Zeno, the 
 pupil of Cornutus, the associate of Lucan and Seneca, 
 had just died, aged twenty-nine (A. D. 65). Italicus, 
 the lawyer and pro-consul, had crowned his career of 
 ease and luxury with a philosophical suicide. While 
 stoicism was philosophy in the abstract, yet there were 
 many radical divergences. Philosophy was the refuge 
 and consolation of the oppressed, and taught resignation 
 and tacit submission. Stoicism inspired men with indig¬ 
 nation at their wrongs, and with burning zeal to redress 
 them. It made men turbulent, and meddlers in state 
 affairs. Nothing on earth could reconcile Seneca, 
 Lucan, or Apollonius with the imperialism of Nero ; and 
 if the rhetorical diatribes of the elder Seneca were justi¬ 
 fiable manifestoes of stoic invectives in the Flavian era, 
 then the Junius Letter to the Duke of Grafton is a 
 gentle utterance, “suaviter in modo ” of party wrath. 
 
 Lucan was born at Cordova, Spain, A. D. 38, edu¬ 
 cated at Athens, “ the Grecian Hub,” which is about 
 
 1 Edward Berwick’s Translation 2 vols. (Paris, 1862), vol. ii. p. 
 of Philostratus, p. 239 ; L'Histoire 68. 
 
 Romaine (Rome), par J. J. Am^ 2 Volker’s Juvenal , Lebens-und 
 piere, de l’Acad^mie Fran5aise, Characlerbild (1857). 
 
158 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 equal to an education at the present day at Cambridge, 
 and implies that he was a gentleman born. He was 
 the companion of Nero, the nephew of Seneca, and the 
 author of Pharsalia. At twenty-five he was a prodigy 
 of information, and was making conquests over the 
 conceited Nero in literary contests; this proved his 
 ruin — five years later he was in exile, 1 and in A. D. 65 
 was put to death. In the same year it was decreed 
 that Seneca also must die. Both were put to death by 
 order of Nero, who had now clothed nearly every noble 
 family of Rome in mourning. 2 * * 
 
 At the death of Festus (a. D. 63), Albinus was 
 appointed procurator at Jerusalem; this gave great dis¬ 
 satisfaction to the turbulent Jews, and the boldness of 
 the attacks of the assassins was becoming more and more 
 
 1 Philostrate leones Heroica et Vita 
 Sophistarum (Aldus, 1503); Jacob 
 Palmer, Apologiapro Lucano (1704); 
 Voltaire, Essai sur la Poesie e'pique ; 
 J. G. Meusel, Dissertationes de Lu¬ 
 cano (1767); Karl H. Weise, Vita 
 Lucani (1835). 
 
 2 Tacitus, Annals,b. xiv. xv. Nero, 
 
 with a conscious timidity, avoided 
 
 the society of the maligned philoso¬ 
 pher. To avert the storm which he 
 saw was inevitably approaching, 
 
 Seneca offered to surrender his 
 wealth and withdraw into the shade 
 of private life. The emperor, sus¬ 
 pecting and distrusting, refused his 
 old tutor’s resignation, and Seneca 
 pleaded delicate health and the pre¬ 
 occupation of study; and flying 
 from the scenes of his former power 
 and popularity, was henceforth, sel¬ 
 
 dom seen in the city (a. d. 62). A 
 fresh accusation was brought against 
 Seneca in his retirement. He was 
 accused of taking part in a conspir¬ 
 acy, at the head of which was the 
 illustrious Piso. Seneca succeeded 
 in effectually retorting the charge 
 of treason on his accuser Romanus. 
 If the conspiracy was an imaginary 
 one, it was followed soon after by a 
 plot against Nero of a really for¬ 
 midable character. 
 
 Macaulay has said of Seneca “ that 
 it was easy to declaim in praise of 
 poverty with two million pounds 
 sterling out at usury, and to meditate 
 epigrammatic conceits about the evils 
 of luxury in gardens which moved 
 the envy of kings, to rant about 
 liberty while fawning on the insolent 
 stnd pampered freedman of a tyrant. 5 * 
 
OF TYANA . 
 
 159 
 
 notorious. Albinus used every effort to put down 
 these murderous assaults, but without result; for many 
 of the most influential among them — even the high- 
 priests— were implicated in the disturbances. One 
 Jesus, son of Damneus, was removed from the office of 
 high-priest, and another Jesus, son of Gamaliel, was 
 appointed in his place; these two rival pontiffs fought 
 and scrambled for the tithes until removed by force of 
 Roman arms. Albinus was not resolute enough for the 
 times and the tumultuous material with which he had 
 to deal. He was removed this year (A. D. 65). 1 
 
 Again returning to Rome, Apollonius informs us a 
 distemper prevailed there, which the physicians called 
 catarrh, and which was attended with a cough and a 
 great difficulty in breathing. Nero had an attack of this 
 distemper and a swelling in his throat, and in conse¬ 
 quence of this indisposition the temples were crowded 
 with votaries offering prayers for his recovery. Apol¬ 
 lonius became greatly incensed at this madness of the 
 people, and gave expression to his contempt. These 
 facts reached the ear of Tigellinus, 2 the public prosecutor 
 who had supplanted Seneca in the favor of Nero. He 
 sent immediately and had Apollonius arrested under 
 charge of high treason. An informer, well instructed in 
 his part, who had been the ruin of many worthy citizens 
 and whose record was full of such Olympic victories, 
 
 1 The History of the Israelites and 
 Judceajis (Triibner), vol. ii. p. 319. 
 
 2 This man, Tigellinus, had been 
 recommended to Nero by his de¬ 
 baucheries. He afterward betrayed 
 him, and committed other acts of 
 perfidy. He had been formerly ban¬ 
 
 ished by Claudius for intrigues with 
 Agrippina. He exiled himself dur¬ 
 ing the short reign of Galba, and was 
 put to death by Otho, to the great 
 joy of all the people.— The Satires 
 of Decimus (J. J. Gifford, 1802), 
 p. 30. 
 
i6o 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 presented himself at the hearing, holding in his hand a 
 roll whereon was written the accusations, and which he 
 flourished like a sword before the eyes of Apollonius, 
 boasting that he had given it a sharp edge, and that 
 now his hour had come. Upon this, Tigellinus un¬ 
 folded the roll, when lo ! neither letter nor character 
 was to be seen. 1 This made all think that Apollonius 
 was a demon, an opinion entertained of him afterward 
 by Domitian. When Tigellinus saw this he took him 
 into a more secret part of the court, where the most 
 solemn business was transacted ; and, making the people 
 withdraw, asked him who he was. Apollonius told his 
 name, that of his father, and his country. Tigellinus 
 then asked: “ How do you discover demons and the 
 apparition of specters ? ” “ Just as I do homicides and 
 
 impious men,” replied Apollonius; and this he said in 
 sarcastic allusion to Tigellinus, who countenanced and 
 
 1 Apollonius de Tyane , sa Vie, ses 
 Voyages, ses Prodiges, par Chassang, 
 p. 182. This was undoubtedly the 
 work of Menippus, who was the 
 secret friend at court of Apollonius, 
 and who afterward avowed his doc¬ 
 trine, and became a disciple and fol¬ 
 lowed him in his travels. The 
 original roll had, no doubt, been 
 removed and a blank one put in its 
 place, and that both Apollonius and 
 Menippus were parties to this trick. 
 
 These things took place about 
 the period when Paul, who had ap¬ 
 pealed unto Caesar (Nero), was in 
 Rome, and where he was allowed 
 to dwell in peace and employ him¬ 
 self for two whole years in making 
 converts to Christianity, even in the 
 
 emperor’s household (Phil. i. 13, iv. 
 22), and wrote letters to the Ephe¬ 
 sians, Colossians, Philippians, etc. 
 And still it is recorded that the Chris¬ 
 tians were persecuted by the pagans. 
 We have never seen the record, nor 
 have we sufficient data; in fact, all 
 data go to disprove that there 
 were Christians in Caesar’s house¬ 
 hold or anywhere else in Rome at 
 this period. But we do know, 
 from ample testimony, that Caesar’s 
 (Nero’s) household was infested 
 with stoicism. Would it not be 
 strange if the entire story of Paul’s 
 Christianity had an origin in a strata 
 no more reliable than the story of 
 Christ’s miracles?— Prophet of Naz¬ 
 areth, p. 4 7, et seq. 
 
 \‘ 
 
OF TV AN A. 
 
 l6l 
 
 encouraged Nero in all his cruelty and debauchery. 
 Tigellinus continued: “ Will you prophesy for me, 
 Apollonius, if I ask it?” “How can I?” said he; “I 
 am no soothsayer.” 1 “How comes it, then,” said 
 Tigellinus, “ that you do not fear Nero ? ” “ Because,” 
 
 answered he, “ the same deity who has made him for¬ 
 midable has made me bold.” “And what do you 
 think of him ? ” “ More than you do,” said Apollonius, 
 
 “ for I would not advise him to sing and play the lyre, 
 as you do, while he ought to hold his tongue.” 
 “ Having such sentiments, I advise you,” said Tigel¬ 
 linus, “ to keep beyond Nero’s reach during his aberra¬ 
 tions.” “The very advice I had intended for you,” 
 replied Apollonius, “if he ever comes to his senses.” 
 
 1 Tigellinus (to Nero): 
 
 Nay, if you seek for potent talismans, know 
 Apollonius of Tyana 
 
 Is now in Rome — he whom some deem a god. 
 
 He with his power could set at naught their arts. 
 
 Nero : 
 
 Has he such magic powers ? 
 
 Tigellinus : 
 
 He has, indeed; 
 
 Under your edict he was lately brought 
 Before the Consul and myself. In sooth, 
 
 Such was his power, we deemed it best 
 To set him free at once. 
 
 Nero : 
 
 Go to him, then, 
 
 As will enable me to set at naught 
 All these foul practices. Go, go at once. 
 
 Tigellinus : 
 
 I shall obey. 
 
 — Nero: A Historical Play , act iv. scene 2. 
 
 21 
 
APOLLONIUS 
 
 162 
 
 Damis says that Tigellinus behaved very much as one 
 with a wolf by the ears—it was equally unsafe to let go 
 as to hold on. After this and much other conversation, 
 “Go where you please,” said Tigellinus, “only giving 
 security for your appearance when required.” For all 
 these things appeared to Tigellinus as divine, and he 
 feared to contend with a god. 
 
 Apollonius, having thus fortunately gained his lib¬ 
 erty by an accident or through the cowardice of Tigel¬ 
 linus, became more circumspect in his conduct. One 
 day as he was passing along the street in company 
 with some of his disciples he met a funeral procession 
 bearing a girl upon a bier. The girl had been on the 
 point of being married, and was followed by her friends 
 and intended husband in great affliction, and as she 
 was of a consular family all Rome condoled with him. 
 Apollonius approached the procession and said to the 
 attendants and pall-bearers, “Set down the bier, and I 
 will dry the tears being shed for this maid.” The spec¬ 
 tators thought he was going to pronounce a funeral 
 oration ; but all he did was to touch the maid, and, after 
 uttering a few words over her in a low tone of voice, 
 she arose as if awakened from a sleep, but seemed to 
 be overcome; in a few days, however, she had entirely 
 recovered. 1 The relatives of the girl sought out Apol¬ 
 lonius and presented him with a hundred and fifty 
 thousand drachmas, which he in return begged to settle 
 upon her as a marriage portion. In all the miracles 
 of Apollonius, real or pretended, this one excepted, he 
 seems to ignore and even ridicule the power of per¬ 
 forming wonders; in this he has left the full force of 
 
 1 Apollonius de Tyane , par A. Chassang, p. 184. 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 163 
 
 a miraculous resurrection to rest upon his. power to 
 restore life, and rather encourages us to believe that he 
 did perform the feat through supernatural agency. 1 
 
 About this time (a. d. 66) Cornutus, a stoic and 
 teacher, was banished for telling Nero that nobody 
 would ever read his poetry. Musonius Rufus, 2 before 
 mentioned, a friend of Apollonius and of Pliny, Taci¬ 
 tus, and other eminent men, was also arrested and cast 
 into prison, and was finally sent in chains to work in 
 the canal which was to connect the Adriatic with the 
 Aegean sea at Corinth. Rufus declared that he would 
 rather work in Nero’s ditch at Corinth than be com¬ 
 pelled to hear him sing at Rome. He had formerly 
 been a teacher; among his pupils was the lame 
 slave, afterward known as Epictetus (meaning “ ac¬ 
 quired”), the ablest of all the expositors of stoicism. 
 Communication was kept up between Apollonius and 
 
 1 Eusebe commence par faire re- 
 marquer que Philostrate lui-meme 
 semble ne pas aj outer foi & ce mi¬ 
 racle, et essaye tout le premier de 
 l’exprimer d’une maniere naturelle; 
 pius il ajoute: “ Si un miracle aussi 
 evident que celui-la avait ete fait a 
 la vue de Rome aurait-il ete inconnu 
 a l’empereur, aux senateurs et a 
 Euphrate qui demeurait en ce temps- 
 la dans cette capitale de l’empire et 
 qui accusa peu apres publiquement 
 Apollonius de magie ? Un fait de 
 cette importance aurait sans doute 
 fourni la matiere au premier et au 
 principal chefd’accusation. ” Voici ce 
 que dit, en ce m£me endroit, Eusebe 
 au sujet de deux miracles rapportes 
 plus haut dans le IV e livre. “ II 
 
 n’est pas necessaire d’employer 
 beaucoup de paroles pour montrer 
 combien il etait aise de faire deux 
 des miracles qu’on attribue a Apol¬ 
 lonius. L’un ne consiste qu’a avoir 
 chasse des demons d’un lieu en un 
 autre. On pretend qu’il en chassa 
 un du corps d’un jeune homme fort 
 debauche et qu’il en ecarta un autre 
 qui prenait la figure d’une femme et 
 qui selon le savant auteur de cette 
 histoire, dtait de ceux qu’on appelle 
 empusa.”—Reponse a Hierocles , c. 
 30, trad, du President Cousin. 
 
 2 See Neuwland’s Dissertatio de 
 C. Musonius Rufus (1783); Tacitus, 
 Annals, books xiv. and xv.; cf. 
 Eutropius’s Abridgment of Roman 
 History. 
 
164 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 Musonius Rufus during his imprisonment, 1 and under 
 Vespasian, through the influence of Apollonius, he was 
 reinstated. 
 
 During the first century there is but little doubt that 
 certain schools of philosophy, as stoicism, were danger¬ 
 ous elements in the commonwealth,—a philosophy which 
 the emperors could not win by kindness or purchase by 
 favors, nor crush with persecution. Its professors could 
 not reconcile the authority which one man sustained by 
 force, by sword and police, with their ideas of the just 
 predominancy of the wise. They lived in an ideal Pla¬ 
 tonic republic, and cherished the memories of Cassius 
 and Brutus. These political metaphysicians could not 
 see that a mild autocrat like Augustus was the only bar¬ 
 rier between the people and anarchy and bloodshed, and 
 their mood was consequently one of perpetual censure 
 of the conduct, public and private, of the Caesars. They 
 would not celebrate his birthday, nor go in mourning 
 at his death; they shunned his services, and feigned 
 indifference whether he smiled or frowned. But the 
 greater body of them, in the later years of Rome, dur¬ 
 ing the reign of Nero, knew enough to prudently, if 
 not consistently, keep silent; or not protest against the 
 outrages of Nero, unless safely beyond his reach. 2 But 
 when Vespasian came into power, and the mildness of 
 .his reign warmed these professors of wisdom into con¬ 
 fidence, they again began to hiss and sting, and made 
 their school resound with the praises of Hermodus and 
 Aristogeiton. 
 
 Nero was now setting out for Greece (A. D. 66), and 
 just before he departed he published an edict expel- 
 
 1 Reign of the Stoics. 2 See Suetonius , c. xxxvii. p. 367. 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 165 
 
 ling the philosophers (stoics) from Rome. Of all the 
 undertakings of Nero, the one he set himself most de¬ 
 terminedly about, was to sweep from the face of the 
 earth the two sects, stoics and cynics. 1 
 
 At Rome during this early period the learned com¬ 
 posed a very small class, philosophy was confined to 
 the salon and coteries, public education in its modern 
 sense was unknown, therefore literary men were thrown 
 into one another’s company, much as they are in iso¬ 
 lated towns at the present day. Rome had its Hotels 
 de Rambouillet and its Holland Houses, its public 
 readings and its philosophical lectures; beyond these, 
 which were extremely private, all was gross ignorance. 2 
 Apollonius, knowing that outspoken philosophers, or 
 even those who confessed themselves as such, were 
 being pursued by Nero, and inasmuch as lectures upon 
 
 1 This decree, according to Ole- 
 arius, was made before the month 
 of November, a. d. 66, and has 
 been used by Christian evidence- 
 mongers, says Robert Taylor, D.D., 
 as a decree against the Christians; 
 Christian being interpolated where 
 the word philosopher occurred, and 
 indeed, on pages 21, 22, and 23 of 
 Mosheim’s Ecclesiastical History, 
 Ancient and Modern (the Blackie 
 and Son edition of 1839), one may 
 discover on inspection what slight 
 perversion of the text would be 
 affected were the word Christian 
 stricken out and the word philoso¬ 
 pher inserted, rendering it much 
 more in conformity with facts as we 
 have them handed down to us in 
 any reliable form. Christianity, no 
 
 matter how, nevertheless did be¬ 
 come the great and implacable foe 
 of paganism; a foe which disdained 
 all compromise, and rejected all 
 alliance. It claimed the right of 
 invasion; outside of its pale there 
 was no security in this life, and no 
 salvation in the next. All were in¬ 
 vited to its communions, and those 
 who rejected the invitation were 
 brought in by force. Had Marcus 
 Aurelius resorted to the same vil¬ 
 lainies to establish stoicism that 
 Constantine and Eusebius did in the 
 establishment of Christianity, the 
 name even of Christianity would 
 not have reached our day. 
 
 2 The Life of the Greeks and Ro¬ 
 mans (Guhl and Kouer), p. 73, 
 etc. 
 
APOLLONIUS 
 
 166 
 
 science and literature were unattractive and unprofitable 
 to the masses, resolved to travel into Spain and Africa 
 (a. D. 66); and, when pressed upon by his disciples for 
 his reasons in visiting these barbarians, said his great¬ 
 est solicitude at present was how to get gracefully 
 out of Rome,— concerning which, since the murder of 
 Seneca, he felt very much as Aristotle did when'he left 
 Athens, where Socrates had just suffered death,— that 
 he did so lest the Athenians should commit two philo¬ 
 sophical blunders. 1 
 
 Nero’s troops had just been defeated at Jerusalem 
 under Cestus, and Vespasian is sent to retrieve the 
 calamity (a. D. 66). In the autumn of the same year 
 Apollonius reached Spain. Damis has given no par¬ 
 ticulars of the journey to Spain, 2 not even the route, 
 except that they left the city of Rome by the Fla- 
 minian Way and Gate, which began at the Pantheon and 
 led to Florence, Pisa, and Genoa. None of these places 
 are referred to by Damis, however. “ The people of 
 
 1 It has been the reproach of the 
 lecturers of antiquity that they talked 
 for talking’s sake, and amused their 
 hearers with inflated periods upon 
 unprofitable themes. The modern 
 lecturer or stump speaker may dilate 
 upon politics or religion or both,— 
 two of the most important subjects 
 which engage man’s attention. Lit¬ 
 erature, science, and the arts are also 
 open for him,— in short, he may dis¬ 
 course de omnibus rebits , except per¬ 
 haps on church ceremonials, without 
 risking a hiss. But it was not so in 
 Apollonius’s time; a lecture on 
 “ State Creed ” would have found 
 
 no hearers; a thesis upon Nero’s 
 conduct in banishing philosophers 
 would have been courting prison or 
 death. The tastes of Greece and 
 Rome were rhetorical; to confuse an 
 opponent, to make the worse appear 
 the better reason, to dazzle with 
 words and bewilder with distinc¬ 
 tions,—“ hce erant artes ,”—were the 
 object of the performers. Most lec¬ 
 turers had their corps of well-drilled 
 applauders (claqueurs), and Nero 
 said “ nothing short of it could even 
 star a Caesar.” 
 
 2 Apollonius de Tyane (Chassang), 
 
 p. 186. 
 
OF TYANA . 
 
 167 
 
 this country (Spain),” says Apollonius, “are quite igno¬ 
 rant of the customs of enlightened nations, and are 
 very superstitious about religion. They have erected 
 an altar to old age , and are the only people known who 
 sing hymns in honor of death. 1 Even art and poverty 2 
 have altars with them. With the inhabitants about 
 Gades (Gadeira), however, it is quite otherwise; they 
 are said to be descended from the Greeks, and are in¬ 
 structed in our customs, and have a temple to Hercules.” 3 
 Julius Caesar conferred the civitas of Rome on all the 
 citizens of Agadir (Cadiz), and, shortly after, Cornelius 
 Balbus built the new city and harbor and constructed 
 the bridge across the strait (Santi Petri), of which 
 Apollonius speaks in terms of great praise. He 
 says that Augustus erected Gades into a municipium, 
 under the title of Augustus Urbs Gaditana, and its 
 citizens ranked next to Romans. 4 They honor the 
 Athenians above all the Greeks, and offer sacrifices to 
 Menestheus, king of Athens; and they have raised a 
 statue of brass to the memory of Themistocles, who 
 
 1 It has been called the kingdom 
 of Pluto, land of darkness (Tar¬ 
 tarus). Pluto was reckoned king 
 of the dead. He resided at Cadiz. 
 At bottom, however, I think all this 
 can be explained in the fact that the 
 West was always a region of death 
 and darkness. Erebus is synony¬ 
 mous with darkness. It was the 
 gloomy kingdom of Pluto, over¬ 
 spread with the thickest darkness, 
 the common mansion of the dead. 
 Homer characterizes the Atlantic 
 Ocean “ The gloomy mansions of 
 the Titans.” 
 
 2 Poverty, Penia (lima), a god¬ 
 dess whom Aristophanes describes 
 in his play of “ Phitus,” was held 
 in high veneration by the people of 
 Spain from an idea that she was the 
 inventress of arts, by her power of 
 quickening the industry and calling 
 forth the genius of men. 
 
 3 Apollonius de Tyane (Chassang), 
 190; Vie d'Apollonius ('D’Aussy), 
 vol. ii. p. 80. 
 
 4 Some remains of the ancient 
 city and the bridge and the temple 
 of Hercules, it is said, are still visi¬ 
 ble under the sea. 
 
168 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 commanded the Athenian fleet. In the temple of Her¬ 
 cules at Gades 1 were two pillars composed of gold and 
 silver so nicely blended as to form but one color. They 
 were more than a cubit high, of quadrangular form, 
 like anvils, and were inscribed with characters neither 
 Greek, Egyptian, nor Indian, and they could not be 
 deciphered, nor could the priests of the temple give 
 any explanation of them. Apollonius said: “ The 
 Egyptian Hercules will no longer suffer me to remain 
 silent. The pillars are the chains which bind together 
 the earth and sea; the inscriptions on them were exe¬ 
 cuted by Hercules in the house of the Parcse to 
 prevent discord arising among the elements, or an 
 interruption of that friendship which they entertain for 
 each other. 2 As to the pillars, called the pillars of 
 Hercules, which are said to be the western bounds of 
 the earth, I shall pass over,” said Apollonius, “as 
 entirely fabulous, and devote myself to such things as 
 are worthy to be related.” 3 This MsvsaQsoc, to whom 
 the Gadeans sacrificed, was a semi-fabulous king of 
 Athens, who obtained the throne in the absence of 
 Theseus, who was the lawful monarch and who com¬ 
 manded the Athenians in the Trojan war. 4 
 
 1 Jowett’s Plato, Crit ., 114. 
 
 2 Apolloniusde Tyane (Chassang), 
 p. 192, etc. 
 
 3 We are not quite satisfied to 
 dismiss the pillars of Hercules as 
 summarily as Apollonius has done. 
 
 Homer, speaking of Calypso, a 
 daughter of Atlas, one of the Titans, 
 who were great navigators and knew 
 all the soundings of the deep, says : 
 “ They had also long pillars or obe¬ 
 
 lisks, which referred to the sea, and 
 upon which was delineated the whole 
 system of both heaven and earth 
 (ajacp t^), all around, both in front of 
 the obelisk and on the other sides; 
 and Bryant thinks they were similar 
 to the columns of Alexandria. 
 
 4 Philostratus de Vita Apollonii 
 Tyanei Scriptor Luculentus a Phil- 
 ippo Beroaldo Castigatus (1502), 
 pp. 99, etc. 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 169 
 
 Apollonius studied the phenomenon of the ebbing 
 and flowing of the tides of the ocean, 1 and the cause 
 thereof, but he does not inform us whether or not he 
 discovered their true cause, 2 nor is it related of him, as 
 of Aristotle, who, on his failing to make a similar dis¬ 
 covery, in his despair uttered this prayer, “O thing 
 of things, have mercy upon us.” 3 Apollonius explored 
 the river Boetus, and found that the nature of the river 
 contributed much toward an explanation of the rise and 
 fall of the sea. 4 While at Gades he related to his disci¬ 
 ples the tradition of the Fortunate Islands, and dis¬ 
 coursed on subjects concerning the Titans and gods of 
 the seas, oceans, and rivers,— maintaining that water, 
 moisture, humidity was first of all created, and princi¬ 
 pal of all things, and of the adoration paid to it by the 
 ancients, and which was propagated into Greece by 
 Thales. 5 He also discoursed upon subjects concerning 
 
 1 This was probably at Gibraltar, 
 which is forty-five miles from Cadiz. 
 Olearius supposes it was at Mas- 
 silia, now Marseilles, where the 
 ebbing and flowing was observed 
 by Apollonius. 
 
 2 Reville’s Pagan Christ, p. 31. 
 
 3 Cf. M. Costard’s History of As¬ 
 tronomy, p. 256; Diodorus Siculus, 
 p. 172; Strabo, lib. iii. p. 148. 
 
 4 Seaman's Delight, containing the 
 Flux and Reflux of the Sea, the 
 Closet of Magnelical Miracles Un¬ 
 locked, p. 30 (1686). 
 
 5 See The Mythology and Fables 
 of the Ancients, explained from 
 History, by Abbe Banier, 4 vols. 
 (London), vol. ii. p. 470. 
 
 How the doctrine that all things 
 
 originated in water can be recon¬ 
 ciled by Apollonius with his profes¬ 
 sions of Pythagorism is a little 
 difficult for us to comprehend. The 
 Pythagoreans, the Persians, and the 
 Chinese considered fire the first 
 principle of life in the world.— La 
 Chine (Panthier), i. 116, ii. 354. 
 The ancient Chinese (b. C. 550) 
 thought that the Taike (the first 
 principle) is made up of both mind 
 and matter. Lao Tseu recognized 
 the igneous principle of life and 
 the luminous principle of intelli¬ 
 gence, and that they can no more 
 be separated “ than fire from the 
 burning substance.”— Vestiges of 
 Spirit-History of Man (Dunlap), 
 p. 150. 
 
 22 
 
APOLLONIUS 
 
 170 
 
 the country Lusitania (Boetica), but Damis says that 
 here as elsewhere he preserved only the conversations 
 which he deemed most worthy of preservation. It is 
 not to the reproach of Apollonius that he discoursed 
 sometimes upon unprofitable subjects. One day he 
 and his disciples, who constituted an order of pagan 
 monks, were sitting in the temple of Hercules, and he 
 discoursing to them of the various kinds of immortality 
 sought after by its various votaries, and referring to the 
 immortality of the hero (military glory), as of Alex¬ 
 ander and Xerxes; the immortal fame of the philoso¬ 
 pher, as Pythagoras, 1 Thales, and Plato; and the 
 immortal folly of Sardanapalus, who is said to have 
 cast himself into the crater of ALtna, first announcing 
 that he was a god; and, again, the immortality of 
 infamy which would certainly attach to Nero. Menip- 
 pus 2 smiled on the mention of Nero, and said, “What 
 shall we think, my friends, of that good emperor ? 
 Are there any contests in which we can give him the 
 merit of winning a crown ? Do not you think that the 
 Greeks must nearly die of laughter when they see him 
 enter the lists ? ” To this Apollonius said, “ I have 
 heard from Telesinus that the excellent Nero fears 
 
 being flogged by the Eleans, with whom he is to con¬ 
 tend in the arena.” 3 When his flatterers exhibited him 
 
 1 History of Greek Literature, 
 (Mahaffy), p. 220. 
 
 2 An eminent Greek rhetorician, 
 renowned throughout Asia for his 
 eloquence. Cicero compared him 
 to Brutus. He was a disciple of 
 Apollonius. 
 
 3 Probably nothing was more 
 ridiculous than the figure of this 
 silly and profligate emperor in con¬ 
 
 tending for prizes in the Roman 
 arena. But what could be ex¬ 
 pected ?— the first instructors of 
 Nero were a dancer and a barber. 
 It is true that at the age of twelve 
 he was put under Seneca, and re¬ 
 ceived, no doubt, lessons in litera¬ 
 ture and philosophy; but it seems 
 his mind had received its permanent 
 bent, and he preferred the buffoon. 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 171 
 
 to conquer at the Olympian games, and had a procla¬ 
 mation of it made at Rome by the voice of a common 
 herald, he said, “ But what if the Eleans chastise me ? 
 for I am informed they scourge with rods, and take 
 more upon themselves than I do myself.” These, with 
 many other impertinences, he used to utter. “ For my 
 own part,” said Apollonius, “ I suppose he will conquer 
 at Olympia, for who would be so foolhardy as to con¬ 
 tend against him ? But he will never conquer at the 
 Olympian games when celebrated after the due and 
 ancient manner; for when, by the law of Greece, the 
 Olympic games should have been solemnized last year, 
 Nero ordered them to be adjourned till he came him¬ 
 self, as if the sacrifices on the occasion were to be 
 offered to him instead of Jupiter. And what are we to 
 think of his laying aside the royal purple of Augustus 
 and Julius, and putting on that of Amcebeus and Terp- 
 sius, 1 and piquing himself to express distinctly or rep¬ 
 resent with exactness the sentiments of Creon and 
 GEdipus, which he never understood ? How can an 
 actor appear in the characters of CEnomaus and Cres- 
 phontes and be no more impressed with the nobility 
 of the characters than to leave the stage, get drunk, 2 
 assault and rob unarmed citizens, and commit acts of 
 the most unparalleled obscenity and tyranny ? What 
 are we to think of his departing so far from the dignity 
 becoming an emperor and that of the Roman people as 
 to thrill notes of music to impressed audiences, 3 and 
 
 1 Two celebrated musicians. As 2 Cf. Aloge de Vlvresse (par Sal- 
 soon as Nero became emperor he lengre) a Bacchopolis et Paris, p. 90. 
 sent for the harper Terpsius, and 3 He sang the pieces, “ Orestes, 
 by his side he used to sit while he the Murderer of his Mother,” 
 played after supper until late at “ CEdipus Blinded,” and “Hercules 
 night.— Suetonius . Mad.”— Suetonius , p. 352. 
 
172 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 trail the royal purple in the filth of the stage instead 
 of enforcing the laws for the regulation of morals and 
 the extension of the empire ? And then there are 
 tragedians among whom he wishes to have his name 
 enrolled. 1 Who appears, think you, O Menippus! most 
 reprehensible in the eyes of the Greeks,— Xerxes lay¬ 
 ing all things waste with fire and sword, or Nero strid¬ 
 ing across the stage and singing a licentious song ? If 
 the expense to the state of one of his songs be taken 
 into consideration, with the expense attending official 
 accusation and fines and sacrifices springing from this 
 great royal folly, the cost, no doubt, would exceed that 
 of Xerxes in destroying an empire. Every person was 
 expected to attend and applaud or be catechised, as : 
 ‘ You, sir, have you not been to hear Nero ?’ or, * You 
 attended, but did not listen with attention,’ ‘You 
 laughed, but did not applaud,’ ‘ You offered no sacrifice 
 for the improvement of the emperor’s voice.’ I say, 
 when you consider all these things, you will not differ 
 with me in thinking that Rome has many Iliads of Woe 
 (IXiac Kaxcov) of which to complain.” 
 
 Apollonius charged Nero with being everything 
 rather than a musician, 2 and yet a musician rather than 
 an emperor; “ and as to his cutting through the isthmus, 
 or whether at present he is or is not engaged in it, 
 matters not, 3 for I have long foreseen the consequences 
 
 1 Annals of Tacitus , b. 19, c. xv. the Adriatic and the Aigean seas, 
 
 p. 263, etc. he thought to save the passage 
 
 2 Suetonius, Nero, xx. around Cape Malea. The cut was 
 
 3 When at Corinth Nero formed begun at Lechaeum, and by immense 
 the design of cutting through the labor was carried about four stadia, 
 isthmus in order to shorten the At last Nero gave it up on the ad- 
 route for his shipping. By joining vice of some Egyptians, who gave 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 173 
 
 by the suggestions of a god,” said Apollonius. “ But 
 sure,” said Damis, “ the idea of cutting through the 
 isthmus far exceeds his other public enterprises. 1 You 
 may see yourself what an undertaking it is, and the 
 benefits to arise from its accomplishment.” “ I do,” 
 said Apollonius, “ but the not finishing what he has 
 begun adds nothing to his glory. It is an appeal to the 
 world that he digs no better than he sings. 3 In review¬ 
 ing the actions of Xerxes, I commend the man,” said 
 Apollonius, “ not for joining the Hellespont by a 
 bridge, 3 but for having passed over it; while Nero, I 
 plainly foresaw, would never sail through the isthmus 
 or finish what he had begun, for it was not his project, 
 but Alexander’s, and Julius Caesar had resolved upon 
 it; Nero only had the foolish hardihood to undertake 
 it.” “ But,” said Damis, “ Nero should be applauded 
 for his love of art and his persistent efforts to beautify 
 and adorn the capital with fine temples and works of 
 art.” “Yes,” responded Apollonius, “he did order 
 the bronze statue of Alexander executed by Lysippus 
 to be gilded; and, in his insatiable thirst for works of 
 art, he did dispatch the ruthless Acratus, one of his 
 
 it as their opinion that vEgina would 
 be drowned by the overflow of the 
 waters of Lechseum. 
 
 1 Cf. Apollonius de Tyane , etc. 
 (Chassang), p. 162. 
 
 2 It may be well to remind the 
 reader, however, that Demetrius 
 attempted the same thing, which 
 was also projected by Julius Caesar 
 (c. xliv.), but they all failed. It 
 was paralleled by the great under¬ 
 taking of Claudius to drain the 
 
 Fucine Lake, for the purpose of 
 converting its bed into agricultural 
 lands,— an enterprise which any 
 wiser man would long have hesi¬ 
 tated before attempting. He em¬ 
 ployed thirty thousand men eleven 
 years. Lake Fucinus still adorns 
 the map of the ancient Sabini. 
 
 3 Xerxes cut a channel through 
 Mount Athos, which lies upon the 
 iEgean Sea, for his fleet to sail 
 through. 
 
174 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 freedmen, and Secundus Carinas, both bad and un¬ 
 learned men, to pillage Greece of everything which 
 pleased their fancy in the name of the emperor. In all 
 seriousness, there is no act of Nero or Tiberius which 
 does them less dishonor than their wholesale theft of 
 Grecian works of art and their love of Grecian genius. 
 If Nero’s past conduct furnishes any material upon 
 which to prophesy his future, I think when the climax 
 comes he will quit Greece in terror and dismay, and 
 endeavor to reach an asylum elsewhere. Such an end 
 is in euphony with such a life.” 1 “ Do not too much 
 deride the merits of our worthy Nero,” rejoined Menip- 
 pus; “ remember the lame school-master Tyrtseus, 2 the 
 bard of liberty and war; how the Spartans in a dire 
 extremity were directed by the oracle of Delphi to 
 appeal to Athens for a commander, and how the Athe¬ 
 nians in derision sent the young man Tyrtseus, who had 
 no military fame or knowledge. But the strains of his 
 martial poetry 3 roused the ancient fire of Sparta to its 
 former height, and the soldiers galloped into battle 
 chanting his war odes, and in one campaign so inspired 
 they succeeded in saving the Spartan nationality, and 
 in reducing the insolent foe to a condition of helpless 
 servitude. And what may not our Nero yet accom¬ 
 plish ? for Hesiod, you know, so says Petronius, was 
 excluded from contending at the Pythian games be¬ 
 cause he could not play the lyre as an accompaniment 
 to his singing; and you, no doubt, have observed that 
 
 1 Suetonius's Twelve Ccesars ; 2 A Greek poet and musician, born 
 
 Nero (Bohn ed., 1855), ch. xl. There at Miletus, 685 b. c. 
 is no act of Nero’s life which testi- 3 A History of Classical Greek Lit- 
 
 fies to Christ or Christians. erature (Mahaffy), vol. i. p. 159, etc. 
 
OF TYANA . 
 
 175 
 
 all heroes suffer more or less when brought down from 
 their pedestals and ‘ compelled to mingle with the 
 crowd.’ ” 
 
 “You remember, my dear Menippus, the elegant 
 Petronius; I am just informed that he, in consequence 
 of a hint from the gentle Nero, suggesting to him that 
 his accomplishments were no longer agreeable at court, 
 has perished by his own hand.” 1 
 
 Spain produced many celebrated and worthy men 
 about this period, among whom was C. Silius Italicus, 
 a celebrated advocate, born A. D. 20. In A. D. 68 he 
 was sent pro-consul to Asia,— he also wrote a history 
 of the Second Punic War; L. Annaeus Seneca, born 
 just before the Christian era; Pomponius Mela, the 
 geographer, was also born in Spain, A. D. 48,— he left 
 a work on Chorographia, De Solis Orbis; M. Valerius 
 Martialis was born in Spain, at Bilbilis, A. D. 43, and 
 became so poor that he begged for cast-off clothing ; 
 he lived in a garret because he could not afford the 
 luxury of a fourth story; he was ill understood. He 
 went to Rome, where he became a great favorite of 
 Titus and Domitian, and left twelve hundred epigrams 
 in fourteen books. Lucan, a stoic, author of Pharsalia , 
 was born in Spain, A. D. 38. 2 M. Fabius Quintilian 
 
 1 Petronius Arbiter was a skilled 
 but depraved Latin writer, who fur¬ 
 nished voluptuous literature, and 
 figured as the Arbiter elegalities at 
 the court of Nero; but the court 
 had outgrown him in licentiousness, 
 and he was dismissed with a gentle 
 hint from Tigellinus that his suicide 
 would save the trouble of summon¬ 
 
 ing an executioner. Petronius in¬ 
 terposed no defense. He committed 
 suicide, A. d. 66. He was author 
 of Satyricon, a classical but scan¬ 
 dalous work. He furnishes no 
 testimony as to Christians.— Cf. 
 Heathen Records (Dr. Giles), p. 
 91. 
 
 2 Suetonius . p. 544 - 
 
176 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 was born in Spain, A. D. 42 ; he was the preceptor of 
 the younger Pliny. His History of Ancient Literature 
 is a very precious work. 1 But from the sixth to the 
 sixteenth century, or from the fall of paganism and 
 ascension of Christianity to the beginning of the age of 
 skepticism, Spain produced no noted men in any de¬ 
 partment of science or literature, except as heretics 
 and dissenters from the established church. During 
 the earlier period of the later contest the Arab carried 
 learning and the arts to a degree of cultivation far be¬ 
 yond anything known to Christian Spain. 2 
 
 The revolt of Caius Julius Vindex, 3 governor of 
 Gaul, was hatched in Spain, during the period of Apol¬ 
 lonius’s exile there. The prominent conspirators and 
 principals were on intimate terms with him, and it is 
 said that he was consulted and advised with, concerning 
 the insurrection 4 (a. D. 68), which ended the dynasty 
 of Nero. Damis, in his journal, very cautiously sug¬ 
 gests that a plot may have been contrived between 
 Apollonius and Vindex, as they had frequent inter¬ 
 views, 5 one of which lasted three days; and Apollonius 
 
 1 Cf. Quintilian Vita (Hummel, 
 1843) > Quintilian and Rousseau 
 (V. Otto, 1836); Institutes of Ora¬ 
 tory, vol. ii. p. 4, et seq. 
 
 2 History of Spanish Literature, 
 by Frederick Bouterwek, trans¬ 
 lated from the German, by Thom- 
 asina Ross, with notes, i2mo. 
 (London), p. 2; Literature of S. 
 Europe (Sismondi), art. Spain. 
 
 3 Cf. Apollonius de Tyane, sa Vie, 
 
 ses Voyages, ses Prodiges, etc., par 
 
 A. Chassang, p. 194, et seq. 
 
 4 Sulpicius Galba had been born 
 about the same time as Apollonius ; 
 he had been consul in A. D. 33 un¬ 
 der Tiberius, and at the time of the 
 revolt commanded the army in 
 Spain. He is said to have been the 
 richest private person that ever 
 came to the imperial seat.— Cf. 
 Plutarch, vol. iii. p. 463 ; Suetonius, 
 p. 408; Annals of Tacitus, b. iii. 
 55 - 
 
 5 An Account of the Life of Apol¬ 
 lonius Tyaneus (Tillemont), p. 17. 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 1 77 
 
 afterward admitted that, in the assistance he gave to 
 Vindex, he aimed a blow against the power of Nero. 
 And there seems but little doubt, from all the facts 
 presented, that the voluntary exile of Apollonius in 
 Spain was a mission for the very purpose of furthering 
 and perfecting the revolt which so soon followed his 
 departure. He was on terms of intimacy, and was in 
 communication with all the men of wealth and influ¬ 
 ence in every part of the empire who opposed the 
 administration of Nero, and then his wonderful secre¬ 
 tiveness seems to have preeminently qualified him for 
 this work of treason. Not even Damis, his constant 
 companion, as he frequently complains, knew or 
 understood the movements of Apollonius. Frequent 
 conferences were held between the governor of the 
 province of Bsetica and Apollonius, the import of 
 which no one knew save themselves; 1 they certainly 
 were never for philosophical discussions or discourses, 
 the governor having no taste for such pursuits, although 
 a man of excellent character. They sometimes met 
 at Gades. Damis supposes that a plot was contrived 
 for putting Nero to death. When they parted, the 
 governor embraced Apollonius, taking leave of him 
 with these words : “Farewell, and remember Vindex.” 
 Thus, while Nero was singing at Naples and Achaia, 
 and blaspheming the solemnity of the Isthmian and 
 Olympian games, a rebellion was maturing in the 
 Hesperian province destined to deprive him of his 
 crown. 
 
 On the fall of Nero, Pliny, a friend of Apollonius, 
 was immediately sent procurator to Spain by Galba, 
 
 1 Reville’s Pagan Christ , p. 31 ; Plutarch, vol. iii. 464. 
 
 23 
 
178 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 and remained during the first years of Vespasian. 1 
 Hadrian, Ulpino, Nerva, and Trajan were all from 
 Spain. 2 
 
 After these events in Spain, Apollonius and his dis¬ 
 ciples passed over into Africa, 3 Mauretania, or Nu- 
 midia, which had become a Roman province with 
 Sallust as pro-consul, whence, partly by land and 
 partly by sea, they journeyed along the African coast, 
 visiting the principal places, as Caesarea and Carthage. 4 
 The last had been taken and burned by order of the 
 Roman senate, but which was now being remodeled 
 and rebuilt under an order of Caesar Augustus. They 
 visited the site of the ancient temple of TEsculapius at 
 Carthage, said to have been the most elegant structure 
 in existence. 5 Apollonius thinks Carthage better fitted 
 for extensive dominion than any city on the African 
 coast, and far more desirable than Rome. The city 
 lay in the recesses of a bay to the west of the Mercurii 
 promontorium, and was sheltered in its position, which 
 commanded both the eastern and western Mediterra¬ 
 
 nean, and faced Rome, with Sicily close at hand as a 
 stepping-stone or vantage-ground in the struggle of 
 conquest or commerce; and he thinks Carthage and 
 
 not Rome ought to have 
 
 1 Eunapii Sophistce prcefatis in 
 Vitas Philosophorum (Geneva, anno 
 1616); Plutarch’s Lives, Galba. 
 
 2 Rev. Edward Berwick’s trans¬ 
 lation of Philostratus, b. v. ch. vii. 
 p. 202; Tacitus’ Annals, b. iv. 58. 
 
 3 Tillemont, p. 18. 
 
 4 Blavatsky , vol. i. p. 520; cf. The 
 Geography of Herodotus (Wheeler, 
 1854, London), p. 552. 
 
 been the center of political 
 
 5 Carthage and her Remains, be¬ 
 ing an Account of Excavations and 
 Researches on the Site of the Phoeni¬ 
 cian Metropolis, etc., by Dr. N. 
 Davis, F. R. G. S. (London, 1861); 
 see Polybius, Diodorus, Livy, Ap- 
 pian ; also Mommson’s History of 
 Greece; Historical Researches into the 
 Politics, Trade, etc., of the Carthagin¬ 
 ians, by A. H. L. Heeren, vol. i. p. 26. 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 179 
 
 power. Since the Carthaginian defeat by Scipio (b. c. 
 149) and the burning of the city by order of the senate, 
 it had remained little else than a heap of ashes up to the 
 period of Julius Csesar, who conceived the idea of re¬ 
 building the city ; his plan was carried out by Augus¬ 
 tus, and with so much success that Carthage had never 
 been so flourishing or powerful as at the period of 
 Apollonius’s visit. 1 From Carthage they sailed to 
 Utica, where they remained but a short time, and 
 took ship for Sicily, anciently settled by the Sicani, a 
 people of Spain, who formerly possessed the island 
 until driven out by Sicul. They landed at Lilybaeum, 2 
 a town of Sicily, founded by the Carthaginians, 3 under 
 Hannibal the younger. It was here that Apollonius 
 heard for the first time of the flight and death of Nero 
 (a. D. 68), who had committed suicide at the villa of 
 Phaon, one of his freedmen, four miles from the city of 
 Rome, between the Salarian and Nomentana Ways. 4 
 Although Apollonius had heard nothing from Rome, 5 
 he knew a revolution was progressing. When Nero 
 
 1 It is painful again to refer to the 
 melancholy fact that with Carthage, 
 as with many other cities referred 
 to in this work, there seems to have 
 been a chasm in its history from 
 about B. c. 122 to A. D. 439. The 
 only information we gather during 
 this period of it is from the itinera¬ 
 ries of men like Apollonius; and 
 this is meager enough. 
 
 2 This promontory forms the west¬ 
 
 ern point of the triangle of Sicily, 
 
 and Strabo says that from this point 
 
 you could see vessels enter and 
 depart from the port of Carthage. 
 
 3 There are no coins and but few 
 medals which commemorate Car¬ 
 thaginian history. Their coins are 
 nearly all of Grecian manufacture. 
 The type is Dido, and legends refer 
 to its founder (Dido) with the palm- 
 tree (Phoenician) and the head of 
 the horse, which is always con¬ 
 sidered a favorable omen.— Hum¬ 
 phrey’s Coin Manual, vol. i. p. 63; 
 cf Eutropius’s Abridgmentof Roman 
 Mist, b. 4, ch. xiv. etc. 
 
 4 Eutropius, book 7, ch. xx. etc.; 
 Murphy’s Tacitus, p. 336. 
 
 5 Suetonius , Nero, b. 14, p. 380. 
 
i8o 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 first heard of the insurrection, he appeared insensible 
 of its magnitude, treated it scornfully, and said he 
 would produce the revolt on the stage if Vindex would 
 permit it. Being aroused at last, however, by the nu¬ 
 merous proclamations of Vindex treating him with 
 reproaches and contempt, he, in a letter to the senate, 
 exhorted them to avenge his wrongs and those of the 
 republic, desiring them to excuse him for not appearing 
 in the senate, as he had a cold. To these entreaties 
 the senate remained inactive. This was a great insult. 
 But nothing so much galled him as to find himself 
 railed at as a pitiful harper, and, instead of Nero, called 
 by his family name, ^Enobarbus. But when he heard 
 that Galba and the Spanish army had declared against 
 him, he fainted. 1 He soon recovered, however, ex¬ 
 claiming : “It is all over with me .” 2 
 
 There are historians who have discovered no redeem¬ 
 ing quality, ever so small, in Nero, and I must myself 
 say that his good qualities were microscopical; but he 
 
 was far in advance of his dav in his love of art and 
 
 * 
 
 nature. 3 
 
 1 Murphy’s Tacitus , 329. 
 
 2 The coins of Nero bearing his 
 effigy are abundant in all metals and 
 all denominations, as well Roman 
 as colonial Greek and Egyptian. Of 
 his wives, however, there are few 
 of Roman mintage, and they are 
 rare in any other class. The por¬ 
 trait of Octavia, whose beauty and 
 virtue could not save her from re¬ 
 pudiation and death, is found on 
 several foreign coins. Poppsea, her 
 depraved but beautiful successor, is 
 
 found most commonly on the potin 
 
 coinage of Alexandria, and her 
 daughter Claudia, who died at four 
 months old (a. d. 64), has a small 
 brass coin struck in her memory. 
 The portrait of his third wife, Statilia 
 Messalina, is only found on imperial 
 Greek money.—Humphrey’s Man- 
 ualy vol. i. p. 322. 
 
 3 The Romans cared little for 
 natural beauty. They showed great 
 taste in selecting their sites high 
 above the level of the surrounding 
 districts, so that an unlimited view 
 for three-quarters of the horizon 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 181 
 
 Nero being the last of the imperial line of the 
 Caesars, his death was the signal for a general disrup¬ 
 tion. Galba, Vindex, Otho, and Vitellius succeeded 
 each other as rulers in Rome with alarming rapidity. 
 Lucius Clodius Macer, a Roman general stationed in 
 Africa, also aspired to be emperor, and raised a revolt, 
 but Galba wielded supreme power long enough to put 
 him to death. 1 Galba was slain in the road near the 
 Lake Curtius, in the Forum Boarinni; Vindex was mur¬ 
 dered : Otho went into exile in Gaul: 2 Vitellius was 
 
 was secured, but that was all. The 
 idea of such a thing as an American 
 park or an American play-ground 
 was unknown to them. Their most 
 famous villas were painfully and 
 artificially stiff, being laid out in reg¬ 
 ular squares and parallelograms, 
 with avenues crossing at right an¬ 
 gles, or were terraced with a geo¬ 
 metrical precision, in straight and 
 symmetrical lines. Even the vegeta¬ 
 tion was forced into rigid geometrical 
 figures; every trace of the free im¬ 
 pulse of nature was annihilated. 
 
 But there is one exception to this 
 rule: there was one man who con¬ 
 ceived and carried out the idea of 
 the simplest and grandest natural 
 park; and that man was Nero. The 
 place selected for this great work 
 was one of the most savage cliffs of 
 the Apennines, the gorge of the 
 Simbruine chain between Subiaco 
 and Terni through which the Arno 
 forces its way into the lower valley 
 crossed by the Via Valeria. He 
 began by damming the precipitous 
 river three times, each dam being 
 at a lower level than the preceding 
 
 one, and obtained in this way three 
 lakes and three magnificent water¬ 
 falls. The dam was nearly two 
 hundred feet high, forty-four feet 
 thick, and sixty-six feet wide, and 
 supported by a bridge numbering 
 some twenty arches, seven of which 
 have been discovered. The lake 
 extended two miles into the heart 
 of the mountain, winding through 
 the projecting spurs, and shaded by 
 dense foliage and overhanging rocks. 
 On its banks were constructed many 
 buildings, which, from their small 
 size and strange architecture, may 
 be considered to have been used as 
 hunting, fishing, and bathing lodges. 
 One of these elegant little establish¬ 
 ments has been discovered right 
 under the masonry of Santa Scolas- 
 tica, at the place at which the 
 mountain stream, now called Fosso 
 di St. Croce, fell into the lake. 
 
 1 The coins of this prince (Macer) 
 were struck in Africa. 
 
 2 A few coins were struck in the 
 name of Otho, bearing the figure 
 of Victory.— Humphrey’s Manual, 
 vol. i. p. 324. 
 
182 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 lost while dreaming of supreme power. 1 Little now 
 remains to commemorate their short and eventful 
 reigns except a' few coins and medals. 2 
 
 Having now visited all the temples at Lilybaeum, 
 including that of Venus on Mount Eryx, 3 and paid 
 his respects to their gods, Apollonius set out for 
 Agrigentum, 4 where they arrived on the fifth day (94 
 miles), having passed through Selinus 5 and Heraclea 
 Minoa. 
 
 Agrigentum had been the birthplace of Empedocles 
 (b. C. 450), the historian, orator, and poet. 6 It was here 
 
 1 Servius Sulpicius Galba was born 
 of a noble family, B. c. 4. He was 
 consul under Tiberius, A. d. 33. 
 Under Caligula he commanded the 
 army in Germany. Claudius made 
 him governor in Africa. On the 
 death of Nero he was in command 
 of the army in Spain, A. D. 68. The 
 troops proclaimed him emperor, 
 which was confirmed by the senate. 
 After a reign of seven months he 
 lost favor, and was slain on the 
 road. He was beastly in his habits. 
 In his lusts he preferred the male 
 sex and such as were old; he kept 
 a score of catamites. 
 
 2 The coins of Galba now extant 
 are very fine and numerous, and, as 
 historical mentors, have their value. 
 They may be known by the head 
 of Galba, military figure, female 
 standing, and female with ears of 
 corn; inscribed, Roma, penasc.— 
 
 IMP. AVG.— DIVA. AVGVSTVS.—IMP. 
 SER. SVLP. GALBA. CAES. AVG. TR. 
 P.— LIB. AVG.— SER. GALBA. IMP. 
 CAES. AVG. TR. P. They are of all 
 
 the metals — gold, silver, bronze, 
 brass, copper. Some of these coins 
 were restored by Titus and Trajan. 
 —Histoire des Empereurs Romains 
 depuis Jules Ccesar jusqu'a Postu- 
 mus, avec toutes les medailles d' 1 ar¬ 
 gent qiPils ont fait baitre de leurs 
 temps, etc., par J. B. Haultin (Paris, 
 de Sommaville, 1645). 
 
 3 Symbolical Language of Ancient 
 Art and Mythology (Knight), p. 55. 
 
 4 The History and Antiquities of 
 the Doric Race, by C. O. Muller, 
 vol. ii. p. 168. 
 
 5 History of Greek Sculp hire 
 
 (Murray), p. 79. A Phoenician city, 
 now a heap of ruins, where there is 
 not even shelter for wild beasts. It 
 once contained a population of a 
 million. In Apollonius’s day it was 
 an important and wealthy city, noted 
 for its commerce and its magnificent 
 temples, of which there were three 
 principal ones. (Strabo says it was 
 in ruins in his day.) 
 
 6 Quintilian’s Institutes of Oratory, 
 b. iii. 1, 8. 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 183 
 
 that the peculiar sect of philosophers known as “ em¬ 
 pirics,” was founded by Acron. Apollonius visited the 
 temple of Jupiter Olympus, 1 where he remained during 
 his stay in the city. This temple he regarded as one 
 of the four largest and most important in the world, 2 the 
 others being Diana at Ephesus, Jupiter at Athens, and 
 Venus at Carthage,— he discoursing in the mean time 
 to his followers on the glory of the ancient city, 3 and 
 how the philosopher Zeno conspired against one of its 
 rulers, named Phalaris, who had enslaved the people, for 
 which he was apprehended and put to tortures: he, 
 however, confessed none of the names of his accomplices, 
 but during his sufferings continued to harangue the 
 people on their inactivity and blindness, and their power 
 to cure their grievances. 4 Telemachus, a simple citizen, 
 discovered a half-suppressed murmur of approbation 
 among the populace during the harangue of Zeno, and, 
 taking advantage of the moment, called on all those 
 who despised the tyrant to follow him. All Agrigen- 
 tum was in a moment at his back. He immediately 
 proceeded to the palace, seized upon the person of 
 Phalaris, and stoned him to death. Both rulers and 
 people of our time, said Apollonius, have many such 
 opportunities before them, and many examples, yet 
 
 1 The dimensions of this great 
 temple at Agrigentum, of which the 
 site now hardly remains, were three 
 hundred and fifty-five feet long, one 
 hundred and seventy-two wide, and 
 waslocated so as to overlook the city. 
 
 2 History of Ancient Art (Franz 
 von Reber), p. 220. 
 
 3 The coins of Agrigentum 
 
 (AKPA) confirm many important 
 events in its ancient and early his¬ 
 tory ; the types are the head of the 
 river god, the eagle, and the crab. 
 These coins, except one of Augustus 
 in bronze, are too old to be service¬ 
 able in our inquiry. 
 
 4 Zeller, Phil, der Griechen , p. 
 1020. 
 
APOLLONIUS 
 
 184 
 
 they are slow to learn from the experience of others, 
 and generation after generation of subjects are tyrannized 
 over, and generation after generation of rulers come to 
 violent deaths, because they do not heed these lessons. 
 If a man resist not the first outrage, he is far less able 
 to resist the second, for the same difficulty that in the 
 beginning might have been surmounted grows greater 
 in the end. “The sword was made to use when the 
 occasion requires, and by using it we gain respect.” 
 Apollonius also visited the temple of Aesculapius, and 
 all the other temples of the city , 1 and having no further 
 business departed for Syracuse, a city founded by 
 Achias of Corinth seven centuries before the time of 
 Apollonius . 2 At the time of his journeyings Syra¬ 
 cuse was the largest city in the world. The perimeter 
 of its walls, says he, was one hundred and eighty stadia; 
 and Cicero, one hundred years earlier, calls it the 
 greatest and most beautiful of all Grecian cities . 3 The 
 decline of Syracuse may, however, be fixed at that period 
 when it fell beneath the sword of leviathan Rome . 4 
 
 1 Temple of Concord, Ceres, Juno, 
 Hercules. The Egyptian Apis was 
 also worshiped in this city. 
 
 2 Eusebius. 
 
 3 Cicero in Verr, b. iv. 53 ; Pom- 
 ponius Mela, b. ii. 17. 
 
 4 Haydn, in his Dictionary of 
 Dates , gives no item in the history 
 or chronology of Syracuse between 
 B. c. 60 and A. D. 669, over seven 
 hundred years a blank, during prob¬ 
 ably the most interesting and event¬ 
 ful period of Syracusan history. 
 The coins of Syracuse are too early 
 to serve any historical purpose with 
 
 us, but as works of art the early 
 coinage of Syracuse has no parallel; 
 that wonderful “decadrachm,” with 
 the serpent head of Proserpine or 
 Ceres on the obverse and the mag¬ 
 nificent quadriga four-horse chariot 
 on the reverse, the dashing grandeur 
 of which, with Victory crowning the 
 driver, is worthy of a Phidias or a 
 Lysippus. It is superior to any¬ 
 thing produced by the parent states 
 of Greece. The head of Pallas on 
 the coins of Thurium, and on those 
 of Athens, the head of Jupiter on 
 the didrachms of Philip of Macedon, 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 185 
 
 On arriving at Syracuse , 1 Apollonius discovered that 
 quite a tumult had been occasioned by the circulation 
 of a report to which credence had been given, that a 
 Syracusan woman of noble family had given birth to a 
 monster such as was never before seen, to which various 
 interpretations had been given by the vulgar. Apollo¬ 
 nius sent Damis to ascertain if the report was true, and 
 after the most diligent search Damis was unable to 
 get a sight of the monster, but was made acquainted 
 with its character by many who had seen it; he re¬ 
 ported that the creature had three heads, and a body 
 of marvelous structure, resembling a sea-monster. In 
 the interpretation of this startling phenomenon, Apol¬ 
 lonius said: “ Rome shall have three emperors, none 
 of whom shall live to secure imperial power.” He 
 had reference to Galba, Otho, and Vitellius; this prob¬ 
 ably was said to appease the superstition of his hearers, 
 and whether it was a shrewd political guess by one 
 
 the head of Diana on some of those 
 of Ephesus, and Juno on the coins 
 of Argos, and Pegasus on those of 
 Corinth, are undoubtedly grand, but 
 none reach in excellence the early 
 productions of Syracuse. The head 
 of Jupiter, the liberator, Diana, the 
 saviour, and the Dolphin, were 
 early Syracusan types. The in¬ 
 scriptions are in Doric; on the ob¬ 
 verse they generally bore the image 
 of the heads of Apollo, Diana, 
 Soteira, Proserpine, and other dei¬ 
 ties. It will be impossible to give 
 any adequate notion of the coins of 
 Syracuse or even of Sicily, during 
 the period embraced in our sketch, 
 for after the death of Augustus, 
 
 24 
 
 Sicilian coins became the currency 
 of the civilized world.—Humphrey’s 
 Coin Collector's Manual , p. 68 ; cf. 
 Imperatorum Romanorum nuniis- 
 mata a Pompejo M. ad Heraclium 
 ab. A. Oecone olim congesta, studio 
 et cura (Biragi, 1683). Of the med¬ 
 als of Syracuse which have survived, 
 there is one in bronze bearing the 
 portrait of Gelon, who succeeded 
 Hippocrates (485 B. c.), and one of 
 Hiero I., brother and successor of 
 Gelon, and one (another Hiero) 
 also in bronze. 
 
 1 He visited all the principal 
 cities on the island.— Le Grand 
 D’Aussy’s Life of Apollonius, vol. ii. 
 p. 98. 
 
APOLLONIUS 
 
 186 
 
 who was in the ring, or a prophecy, I shall not pretend 
 
 to say. 
 
 Apollonius and his associates now took up their 
 abode in the temple of Minerva ; 1 but he made fre¬ 
 quent visits to the temples of Juno and Jupiter Olym¬ 
 pus , 2 and discoursed much with the priests, by whom 
 he was well received and entertained. All of these 
 temples, as well as the walls of the city, had undergone 
 thorough repairs during the reign of Caligula . 3 They 
 also visited the sacred inclosure and grove dedicated 
 to Apollo , 4 in which was erected a colossal statue of 
 Apollo Temenites; nothing but its vast magnitude pre¬ 
 vented it from being stolen by the sacrilegious hands 
 of Verres; it did not, however, escape Tiberius, who 
 removed it to the island of Caprese . 5 It was at Syra¬ 
 cuse that Archimedes was born, and it was here he fell 
 a sacrifice to the stupidity of one of the soldiers of 
 Marcellus during the siege of the city (212 B. C.) The¬ 
 ocritus , 6 the poet, who charmed all Greece and Egypt 
 by the beauty, simplicity, and wisdom of his idyls, was 
 a native of Syracuse, as also was Philistus the historian 
 and the patriotic Hermocrates; and the noble deeds of 
 Timoleon were performed here. And it was to Syra- 
 
 1 Now the Christian church, “ Our 
 Lady of the Pillar.”— Marq. of Or¬ 
 monde. 
 
 2 Built by Hiero, and in which 
 he displayed the Gallic and Illy¬ 
 rian spoils presented by the Roman 
 senate. It is now the church of 
 San Giovanni. 
 
 3 Plutarch, vol. i. p. 376; Old 
 Pome (Burns), p. 177, et seq. 
 
 4 And hence the representation 
 
 of Apollo Temenites on the beauti¬ 
 ful coins of Syracuse, accompanied 
 with a lyre and sacrificial vessel; it 
 alluded to his character as exciter of 
 pestilence, with Diana, the goddess 
 of healing and harmony, on the 
 reverse. 
 
 5 Travels in Sicily , Greece, etc. 
 (Hughes), vol. i. p. 82. 
 
 6 History of Greek Literature 
 
 (Mahaffy), p. 411. 
 
OF TYANA . 
 
 187 
 
 cuse Sappho was exiled, and here she died, and Sicily 
 erected a statue to her, by Selanion, in the Prytaneum, 1 
 which was stolen by Verres. 2 After having fulfilled 
 his mission at Syracuse Apollonius and his friends pro¬ 
 ceeded to Catana, which stands near the base of Mount 
 y£tna, an eruption of which had a few years prior to 
 this (a. D. 40) so frightened Caligula that he fled from 
 Messana where he was then stopping, and could never 
 after be persuaded to visit Sicily. 
 
 Here our travelers had related to them the old tra¬ 
 dition that Typhceus was chained in the subterranean 
 passages of this mountain, and from whom issued that 
 fire which fed ALtna. ; also the absurd story that the 
 thunder-stricken Enceladus, having been vanquished 
 by Jupiter, was bound in chains and buried beneath 
 the load of Aitna., in the fiery workshop of Hephrais 
 (pit of Hades), and in his respirations vomits fire. 3 
 Our philosophers listened to all these idle tales. They, 
 however, accounted for the phenomenon in a more 
 natural way. Apollonius introduced the discussion 
 with asking his companions, “ What think you of my¬ 
 thology as written and sung by the poets?” “And 
 what think you of fables as related by Misop ?” “And 
 which do you consider contains the most wisdom?” 
 
 1 The Prytaneum was a place in Geography of Herodotus, by T. 
 which the magistrates and others Wheeler, p. 92. 
 
 eminent for their public services 3 The idea of JEtna. being a vom- 
 might take their meals.— Livy, lib. itory of hell was subsequently a 
 1 . 141. received article of Christian faith.— 
 
 2 Her native Lesbos, however, New Curiosities of Literature and 
 
 atoned for her exile by stamping Book of the Months, by George 
 her image on their money as that Sloane, B. A., 2 vols. (London, 
 of the genius of their cities .—The 1849), vol. ii. p. 24. 
 
i88 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 “Those of the poets,” replied Menippus, “because they 
 are sung as if true, and have the air and possibility of 
 truth about them, whereas the stories about frogs and 
 asses are absurd, triflings with truth, and are only fit to 
 be swallowed by old women and children.” “And 
 yet,” said Apollonius, “ they appear to me best adapted 
 to convey wisdom. The heroic fables with which the 
 poetry abounds which you seem to favor are often cor¬ 
 rupt and very absurd. They are made up of amours, 
 incestuous marriages, blasphemies against the gods, 
 unbecoming and criminal strategies resorted to, to 
 gratify the passion for glory or lust. The poets do not 
 appeal to the higher attributes of man, but to his lower 
 instincts, and they stimulate his desire to gratify or 
 propitiate the gods who were avaricious, lascivious, and 
 cruel, rather than cultivate those tender emotions which 
 go out from man to his fellows and exalt him. The 
 method of the poets is the old method involving the 
 code, that ‘ to the gods belong all things.’ 1 But 
 Aisop in his wisdom has opened a new and I think a 
 more praiseworthy road to wisdom and virtue, in lay¬ 
 ing before us the claims of humanity. He treats us 
 with common fare, it is true, frogs and asses ([x 50 oc 
 Aiawxswc;), but his feast is well served and is replete 
 with great moral instruction. The poets use every 
 strategy to give their mythology the air of probability, 
 and then leave us to examine into its reality. Aisop 
 presents us no such alternative; he proposes his story 
 of talking animals and sensible things, which we all 
 know to be false, with an aptness of attribute which 
 
 1 Cf. History of Classical Greek Literature (Mahaffy), vol. i., The Poets ; 
 Aristotle’s Treatise on Poetry { Twining), vol. ii. pp. 373, 411. 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 189 
 
 shows his wonderful ready wit; and then he subjoins 
 his moral, the force of which the most ordinary person 
 can understand. We begin in our very infancy to suck 
 in knowledge and instruction from the works of Hisop. 1 
 We form noble and ignoble notions of certain animals, 
 of their innocence and cunning, which never desert 
 us. The oracle which ^Esop has annexed to every 
 fable never fades from our memories. For these rea¬ 
 sons, I prefer ^Esop to Homer,” said Apollonius. 2 
 “ Having proposed a discussion on the phenomenon of 
 JE tna, I may be accused of trifling by'indulging in this 
 praise of fables. As to the highly improbable though 
 common story of the giant Typhceus, or Enceladus, 
 bound in chains, 3 I know not; but I know there are 
 giants, for their bodies have been seen wherever their 
 tombs were opened. 4 And although I make this asser- 
 
 1 A History of Classical Greek 
 Literature, by Rev. J. Mahaffy, 2 
 vols., vol. i. p. 93, etc.; also, 
 Manual of the Hist . of Greek and 
 Roman Literature (Matthiae), p. 28, 
 etc. 
 
 2 Aristophanes calls the fables of 
 y'Esop Xo-fot, and not poOo?.—Lar- 
 cher’s Notes on Herodotus, vol. i. p. 
 
 364; Plutarch, in Convivio Septem 
 Sapientium, p. 150. 
 
 Plato, after having banished Ho¬ 
 mer from his commonwealth, gave 
 H£sop a very honorable place in it. 
 He wishes that children were to 
 suck these fables with their milk, 
 and recommends nurses to teach 
 them, for one- cannot accustom 
 children too soon to wisdom and 
 virtue. 
 
 3 Pindar, in Pythian Odes; H£s- 
 chylus, Thucydides, and Virgil refer 
 frequently to .Etna; so also Aris¬ 
 totle and others. 
 
 4 Strabo mentions the skeleton of 
 a giant sixty cubits in height. Pliny 
 tells of another forty-six cubits. 
 Boccaccio describes one found in 
 Sicily in a cave, two hundred cubits 
 in length, and whose tooth weighed 
 two hundred ounces. Antaeus, sixty 
 cubits in height, mentioned by Plu¬ 
 tarch ; Eleazar, mentioned by Jose¬ 
 phus. Pausanias, in third volume, 
 p. 271, note to vol. i., gives some 
 interesting details about giants. The 
 best-attested accounts of giants are 
 those of Acamas, one of the Cy¬ 
 clops ; Brontes, another of the Cy¬ 
 clops ; Pyrachmon, another; Agrios, 
 
APOLLONIUS 
 
 190 
 
 tion, I do not believe that they ever fought with the 
 gods; 1 but I know that they, as well as the gods, be¬ 
 haved scandalously and with great irreverence in their 
 temples and at their shrines; but as to their scaling the 
 heavens and driving the gods into exile, I think it fool¬ 
 ish to conceive and blasphemous to utter.” Apollonius 
 declared that these eruptions were caused by internal 
 submountain and submarine fires seeking vent, and 
 these were nourished by winds, which penetrate into 
 the mountain. 2 
 
 “ There are many burning mountains,” said he, “ on 
 various parts of the earth, and it is the greatest 
 absurdity to assign their activity to the agency of 
 giants and Vulcans. For these things the poets are re¬ 
 sponsible.” 3 Apollonius said “ he did not believe the 
 
 one of the Titans; Alcyoneus (Ar- 
 gonautic expedition); Clytios,killed 
 by Vulcan; Cormoran, the Corin¬ 
 thian giant (Jack the Giant-killer) ; 
 Eurytios, killed by Bacchus ; God- 
 mer, a British giant; Maul, the giant 
 of sophistry ; Patrick Cotter, 8 feet 
 7 y 2 inches ; William Evans, 8 feet; 
 Gabara (Arab), 9 feet 9 inches; 
 John Middleton, 9 feet 3 inches.— 
 Les My s teres du Syncretisme Phry- 
 gien dans les Catacombs Romaines 
 de Pretextat , par Raphael Garrucci, 
 S. J. (1854), p. 215. 
 
 1 Pausanias, vol. iii. p. 338, notes 
 to vol. ii. 
 
 2 These ideas were more fully 
 exposed in a poem by Lucilius 
 Junior, procurator of Sicily under 
 Nero, entitled FEtna. The author¬ 
 ship of this poem, however, has 
 long been a disputed point; it has 
 
 been attributed to Virgil, Claudian, 
 Quintilius, Varus, Manilius, and, by 
 Joseph Scaliger, to Cornelius Sev- 
 erus, to whom Septimius Severus 
 was related. He was author of 
 Bellum Siculum; he lived in the 
 days of Augustus. Lucilius ridi¬ 
 cules the ideas of the poets as re¬ 
 gards the connection of Aitna with 
 Vulcan and the Cyclops, as well as 
 those myths, Demeter and Proser¬ 
 pine, Acis and Galatea, Polyphemus 
 and Cyclops.— Cf Lucilius Junioris, 
 Adtna, Recensuit notasque; Jos. 
 Scaliger, Frid Lindenbruchii et suas 
 addidit (Fredericus Jacobs, Lipsiae, 
 1826) ; UEtna de Lucilius Junior , 
 par Chenu (Paris, 1843), p. 8. 
 
 3 Etna : A History of the Mount¬ 
 ain and its Irruptions, by G. F. 
 Rodwell (London, 1878), p. 4, etc.; 
 An Account of the Principal Re - 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 191 
 
 popular story that the most excellent Empedocles, the 
 Pythagorean and stoic, being accused of pride and 
 impiety, precipitated himself into the crater of ^Etna, in 
 order to give currency to the story of his apotheosis 
 and to obtain divine honors.” “ Then,” said Damis, 
 “ I suppose we may utterly dismiss the more popular 
 story that his brazen sandals were thrown out of the 
 mouth of the crater five days after his immolation.” 
 Exhorting all men to the practice of virtue, Apollonius 
 closed his discourse. 1 He passed one year in Sicily, 
 whence, designing to visit Athens a second time, he 
 took ship at Messana, 2 and in the autumn, about the 
 rising of the star Arcturus (first of September, A. D. 
 69), passed over into Greece. The voyage was pros¬ 
 perous and favored with good winds as far as Leucas, 
 on the island* Leucadia, where arriving, he said to his 
 followers: “ Let us leave this ship, for it is not good 
 for us to sail in her to Achaia.” These words made an 
 impression only on those who knew the man. They 
 
 mains of Antiquity of the Island 
 (Marquis of Ormonde), p. 127. 
 
 The contest of earth and sky 
 (Ouranous and Ge), which the 
 Greek fable Typhoeus (To cpoov) 
 brings before us, not only the lo¬ 
 cality associated with volcanic en¬ 
 ergy about vEtna, but is traceable 
 in the Calacecaumene and elsewhere 
 in Asia Minor, and in the more gen¬ 
 eral form, which recognized a pow¬ 
 erful spirit of evil. It occurs in 
 Egyptian mythology, when Typhon 
 is opposed to Osiris, and as Ahri- 
 man to Ormuzd in Persian story.— 
 Vesuvius , by John Phillips, p. 2; 
 
 Iliad, b. i. 780 ; Pythian Ode, Pin¬ 
 dar, i. 33 ; JEschylus, i. 363 ; Dio¬ 
 dorus Siculus, iv. c. 21 ; cf. Strabo. 
 
 1 It is more probable that Emped¬ 
 ocles, like Pliny, perished through 
 his devotion to science, and the fool¬ 
 ish story of his immolation was a 
 fabrication of his enemies. The 
 fame of Empedocles was very great. 
 In the fine painting of Raphael rep¬ 
 resenting the school of Athens, 
 Empedocles is placed between Ar¬ 
 chimedes and Pythagoras. 
 
 2 Cf. The Principal Remains of 
 Antiquity existing in Sicily, etc. 
 (Marquis of Ormonde), p. 22, etc. 
 
192 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 then embarked in another vessel- and left port for 
 Lechaeum, the sea-port of Corinth. They had hardly 
 left the harbor when boisterous weather set in, and 
 after three days’ struggling with the elements, put into 
 the port of Ithaca, on one of the Ionian islands, for 
 supplies. Then they made sail and stood to the east¬ 
 ward with fairer weather, but were compelled to make 
 the harbor Chalcis; and while lying in this port they 
 heard of the loss of the Syracusan ship which they had 
 left at Leucas. She sank while navigating the Gulf of 
 Crissa. 1 From Chalcis they sailed for Lechaeum, in the 
 Bay of Corinth, where they debarked and proceeded to 
 Corinth, 2 and without halting pressed on to Port Schce- 
 nus, on the Saronic Gulf, spending one night, however, 
 at the temple Poseidon, near the port, and on the next 
 day sailed for Athens. At Athens Apollonius met the 
 philosopher Demetrius, whom Nero had retired after 
 his celebrated speech concerning the oil-baths. The 
 pleasure of their meeting was mutual, and after two 
 days of counsel and conference Apollonius presented 
 himself for initiation into the mysteries, and the rites 
 were performed by the very hierophant whom he de¬ 
 clared should be the successor of the hierophant who 
 had formerly refused him initiation. 3 Apollonius was 
 frequently with Demetrius, the latter of whom had re¬ 
 mained in Greece during all the time that Nero was 
 conducting himself so indecently at public exhibitions, 4 
 
 1 Berwick’s Apollonius of Tyana , 
 p. 266. 
 
 2 For description, see Geography 
 
 of Herodotus , by Talboys Wheeler, 
 
 p. 41, etc. 
 
 3 Apollonius de Tyane (Chassang), 
 p. 188. 
 
 4 Suetonius, Nero, b. xxiii.; His- 
 toire des Empereurs (Merivale). 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 193 
 
 although he felt that it was hazardous to do so; but 
 with the murder of the tyrant came relief. Demetrius 
 told Apollonius that he had visited Corinth and had 
 seen Musonius at the isthmus bound in chains and 
 forced to dig. Musonius recognized Demetrius, and 
 raising his eyes, said: “ I know, Demetrius, you are 
 troubled to see me thus employed, but what would you 
 have said had you seen me playing on a harp, like 
 Nero?” Musonius was reinstated under Vespasian, 
 and was made an exception to the general sentence of 
 Vespasian exiling all stoics. Apollonius passed the 
 winter in Greece, and in the spring he determined to go 
 into Egypt. In visiting the several cities of Greece and 
 their temples, he never failed giving those in charge 
 the best advice of which he was possessed. He saw 
 much to censure and much to commend, and he never 
 spared praise when it was due. Great reformation 
 was wrought in administering the rites and in the 
 moral practice of the temples, through the teachings 
 of Apollonius. 
 
 In pursuance of his determination to visit Egypt, he 
 departed from Athens, taking the long wall to Piraeeus, 
 and sailed into Ionia. The ship in which they had en¬ 
 gaged passage was freighted with images of gods, 
 Lares and Penates, manufactured at Athens for the 
 Ionian market. The merchant who owned the ship 
 did not like the taking of passengers in the same ship 
 with his sacred cargo. Apollonius inquired of him the 
 cause of his dissatisfaction, and if he thought they 
 would be likely to rob him of his treasures. He re¬ 
 plied that he did not like so promiscuous a multitude, 
 and feared the gods would be defiled by the vicious 
 25 
 
194 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 conversations of passengers and common sailors. 
 Apollonius could not suppress a smile at this, but con¬ 
 tinued in all seriousness : “ My good sir, the vessels 
 
 fitted out by you against the barbarians (for I perceive 
 you are an Athenian) abound in all licentiousness, and 
 yet the gods never thought themselves defiled by em¬ 
 barking in them. You are wrong in preventing philos¬ 
 ophers going aboard of your vessel, in whose company 
 the gods delight, and more especially when you are 
 trying to turn these deities to the greatest advantage. 
 Do you not think that yourself are guilty of a great 
 impiety in hawking them from port to port, like a 
 cargo of Hyrcanian or Scythian slaves ? Think you 
 there is no danger of the gods revolting at such profa¬ 
 nation ? ” 1 Then, turning to his followers, he said: 
 “ It would be injudicious in us to attempt to go against 
 the stream; it might expose us to danger. Socrates 
 was the only man who had courage to undertake it, 
 and it proved his ruin. Truth is known to a very few, 
 and false opinions go current with the rest of the 
 world. The wise man retires within the sanctuary of 
 silence. 5 ’ Saying this, they retired and took passage in 
 another ship for Chios. On arriving at Chios, 2 without 
 going on shore, they quietly entered another ship, 
 which the herald was proclaiming was ready to sail for 
 Rhodes. They embarked in deep silence, this being 
 the mood in which the master had passed several days, 
 they all being desirous to please and obey him in all 
 things. As the vessel was getting under way he 
 
 1 Apollonius frequently indulged (Wheeler), p. 104, etc.; see Account 
 in sarcasm, but the pungency of of Chios, Newton’s Travels and 
 the above is particularly refreshing. Discoveries in the Levant , vol. i. 
 
 2 See Geography of Herodotus p. 214. 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 195 
 
 raised his eyes to heaven and uttered a short invoca¬ 
 tion to the god Nereus 1 for his fatherly protection. A 
 favorable wind soon carried them to their destination. 
 On the morning of their arrival the sea-born “ Island 
 of the Sun ” was in a garment of fog, but they went 
 on shore. Rhodes presented many things of interest 
 to Apollonius and his companions. It was celebrated 
 in antiquity as the island of serpents, hence the legend 
 of the dragon, probably. Apollonius supposed the 
 monster to have been brought from Egypt, and was 
 simply a crocodile — quite impossible. 
 
 “What,” said Damis one day as they were viewing 
 the Colossus, which was now in ruins, having been 
 thrown down by an earthquake many years before, 2 
 “ do you consider greater than this monstrous work of 
 art ?” “A man,” said the master, “whose mind is de¬ 
 voted to philosophy.” 
 
 Rhodes 3 was celebrated as being the birthplace of 
 Apollonius, the sculptor, whose great work in marble, 
 Zethus and Amphion, Pliny says, was brought to 
 Rome. It is now probably at Naples, as “ Toro Far- 
 nese.” Also of Pergamon, the sculptor, who produced 
 “The Wrestlers.” 
 
 Here also flourished Apollonius Rhodes, and here he 
 obtained great honors. This was the same Apollonius 
 
 1 Nyjpet)^, a marine divinity of 
 classic mythology, son of Pontus 
 and Earth. He lived at the bot¬ 
 tom of the sea, and possessed the 
 secret of the golden apples of Hes- 
 perides. 
 
 2 This celebrated work of art was 
 
 made of bronze from the spoils left 
 by Demetrius Poliorcetes, when he 
 
 raised the prolonged siege of 
 Rhodes. The sculptor was Chares, 
 a native of Lindus. It occupied 
 twelve years in construction, and 
 was seventy cubits high.— Mittheil- 
 ungen des deutschen Instituts in 
 A then, part i. p. 45. 
 
 3 Geography of Herodotus ("Wheel¬ 
 er), p. 96. 
 
196 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 who succeeded Eratosthenes as keeper of the great 
 library at Alexandria (180 B. c.) He was the author 
 of Argonautica} 
 
 The celebrated Greek stoic philosopher, Posidonius, 1 2 
 of whom Cicero was a pupil, resided and taught moral 
 philosophy at Rhodes. He was a native of Syria. 
 The day Apollonius entered the harbor of Rhodes was 
 two years before the city was taken by Vespasian (A. D. 
 71). 3 The harbor was filled with shipping from every 
 country on earth; the Rhodians themselves being 
 skillful navigators, and merchants possessing great 
 wealth and learning. Apollonius was not insensible 
 to the great advantage enjoyed by commercial peoples 
 over those who were non-commercial, and especially 
 was the contrast observable at Rhodes, for the Rhodians 
 were familiar with the geography and products of all 
 countries, and more foreign languages were spoken 
 here than in any other known city. He commended 
 the Rhodians for their industry and enterprise, as well 
 as their love for learning and the arts. They worshiped 
 the divine Apelles of Cos, the greatest of all artists; 
 but Apollonius upbraided them for their want of de¬ 
 votion to the gods. 4 
 
 Strabo assigns to Rhodes the title of “ Sovereign 
 Lady of the Sea.” But the Rhodians themselves had 
 long merited the title with which their own historian, 
 
 1 Quintilian’s Institutes, x. 1 . 54. 
 Cf. Suetonius, Life of the Twelve 
 Ccesars. 
 
 2 Thomas’s Dictionary, Biog. and 
 Myth. 
 
 3 After this period absolutely 
 
 nothing is known of Rhodes until 
 
 the period of the Knights Hospital¬ 
 lers, in the thirteenth century. 
 
 4 The old story, intelligence and 
 the gods were never bed-fellows.— Cf 
 Suetonius, Tranquillus, Lives of the 
 Twelve Ccesars, etc., by Alex. Thomp¬ 
 son, M. D. (London, 1855), p. 3. 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 19; 
 
 Simmias, had invested them: “ Sons of the Ocean.” 
 Their shipwrights acquired an early superiority in the 
 construction of vessels, 1 and the dockyards of Rhodes 
 had always been open to foreigners ; it was a policy 
 that built up for her an unparalleled commerce in the 
 days of her ascendency ; no other people tolerated 
 such freedom. The Rhodians had not yet forgotten 
 their Doric manners, and they still preserved strong 
 proneness for the mother tongue. 2 
 
 Apollonius says that Rhodes was built in the form 
 of an amphitheater, facing the harbor. The temples, 
 and other public buildings, were adorned with cele¬ 
 brated works of art, in sculpture and painting ; no less 
 remarkable was the city itself, which, contained more 
 than three thousand statues, one hundred of which 
 were colossal. 3 The temples, the public buildings, the 
 streets, the theaters, and every object which strikes the 
 eye bore the stamp of grandeur and beauty. 
 
 Protogenes, one of the most celebrated painters of 
 antiquity, was a native of Rhodes. He was seven years 
 painting his Ialysus, 4 and it was at his house that he 
 had an interview with Apelles of Cos. 5 
 
 1 Their vessels were constructed 
 with two masts, and were square- 
 rigged (xspatoi)> with two sails on 
 each mast (totta [isyaka .), one above 
 the other, with shrouds (xoctXot). 
 
 2 Cf. An Excellent Account of the 
 
 Island of Rhodes, Cyprus, and Crete, 
 and their Antiquities (published in 
 4to. by the learned professor, J. 
 
 Meursis, at Amsterdam, 1672); Be- 
 loe’s Herodotus , vol. iii. pp. 260, n. 
 
 118; Mitford’s History of Greece , 
 
 vol. i. p. 175; Newton’s Travels 
 in the Orient, vol. ii. p. 241. 
 
 3 The History and Antiquities of 
 the Doric Race (Muller), vol. ii. p. 
 408. 
 
 4 In whose honor coins were 
 struck in the fifth century. 
 
 5 Hist, of Ancient Art (Von Re- 
 ber), p. 381; Pliny, Nat. Hist., 
 xxxiv. c. vi. $ 36. 
 
 The coins oft Rhodes are numer¬ 
 ous, and are in nearly an unbroken 
 
198 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 At Rhodes Apollonius was introduced to a young 
 man who had become suddenly rich, but who was 
 without education. He was then building a house, and 
 collecting pictures and statues from all parts of the 
 world to adorn it. Apollonius inquired of him what 
 money he had expended upon preceptors and education. 
 “ Not a drachma,” said the young man. “ Pray, what 
 has your house cost you?” inquired Apollonius. 
 “ Twelve talents, and I believe it will cost as much 
 more.” “And what will you do with it?” said Apol¬ 
 lonius. “ I will live splendidly in it,” said he; “for I 
 shall have in it places proper for all manner of bodily 
 exercise, and groves in which to walk; there will be 
 little or no necessity forgoing even to the Forum. And 
 men, I think, will come with as much pleasure to visit 
 me as they would to a temple, and I have no doubt 
 men will respect me.” “ But,” said Apollonius, “ are 
 men to be respected on their own account, or on ac¬ 
 count of what they possess?” “The most universal 
 respect is that,” said the youth, “ which is paid to riches; 
 wealth is omnipotent (Xp'/^aF avrjp, Pindar). The edu¬ 
 cated man, it is true, commands respect solely on 
 personal merit, but such respect is narrow and circum¬ 
 scribed.” “Whom do you consider,” said Apollonius, 
 “the best guardian of wealth, the educated or unedu- 
 
 series from Tiberius to Commodus 
 (200 A. D.) Some of the coins circu- 
 latinghereborethe inscription, aa.d. 
 frv. emv. Ad Fruges Emundus 
 (for buying corn); and again, ALIM. 
 ITAL. Alitnenta Italics. The pro¬ 
 vision of Italy for the purchase of 
 corn to be distributed in Italy.—H. 
 
 Goltzii, Grcecice universes Asiceque 
 minoris et Insularum numismata 
 veterum (Antwerp, 1618), pp. 
 
 68-75. 
 
 The type of the coin of the city 
 of Rhodes was almost exclusively 
 limited to the head of Helios.— 
 Humphrey’s Coin Manual. 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 199 
 
 cated ?” The youth was silent, whereupon Apollonius 
 said, “ In my opinion, you do not so much possess 
 your house as your house possesses you ; for when I 
 enter a temple, it matters not how small, I have greater 
 pleasure in seeing one worthy statue of ivory and gold 
 than I have in seeing a spacious temple with an ill 
 assortment of statues.” 
 
 Damis says many things were said and done at 
 Rhodes to the credit of Apollonius. Apollonius now 
 resolved to sail immediately for Alexandria in Egypt, 
 where the citizens loved him, and were as anxious about 
 him as if he were an old acquaintance. 1 The people of 
 Upper Egypt, who were more attached to philosophical 
 than theological pursuits, had invited him to pay them a 
 visit. He took ship at Rhodes, but the wind coming on 
 to blow from the north and east, such was the exposed 
 nature of the harbor of Rhodes that the vessel in which 
 they had taken passage was obliged to make sail, and 
 seek shelter elsewhere ; they ran under the island of 
 Cos. Cos was hallowed in the memory of Apollonius 
 as being the birthplace of Hippocrates, called the 
 “ Divine Old Man,” “ Father of Medicine.” To him is 
 justly due the glory of having destroyed the theological 
 notion of disease, and replacing it with practical and 
 material ideas, and of compiling from the votive tablets 
 that hung in the temple of Aesculapius a body of medi¬ 
 cal “prognostics.” Praxagoras, the first writer on the 
 pulse, was also a native of Cos; also Polybius, who estab¬ 
 lished the rival sect of dogmatici. 2 As soon as the weather 
 permitted they sailed for Cnidus, on the coast of Doris 
 
 1 Berwick’s Life of Apollonius, p. 160. 
 
 2 Polybius zur Geschichte antiker Politik, etc. (K. W. Nitzsch, 1842). 
 
200 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 in Caria. Here, after completing their cargo, they sailed 
 directly for Alexandria. While at Cnidus Apollonius 
 took occasion to visit the mausoleum erected to com¬ 
 memorate the defeat of the Lacedaemonians by the 
 Athenian, Commodore Conon, in a great naval action 
 which took place off Cnidus (b. C. 396). “This,” said 
 Apollonius, “ is a perpetual memorial of Athenian 
 supremacy over the sea.” It stood upon a high prom¬ 
 ontory. 1 Owing to the south-easterly winds which 
 prevail over the Carpathian Sea at this season of the 
 year, and the deep lading of their ship, they were 
 tossed about for five days, making little or no headway, 
 and came near being driven on the rocky shores of 
 Crete. More favorable weather, however, coming on, 
 on the tenth day out they made the Pharos of Alex¬ 
 andria. 
 
 Apollonius entered the port of Alexandria in Egypt, 
 A. D. 69. On the right was the sea and the great 
 Pharos, and on the left the promontory of Lochias, upon 
 which stood the palace or citadel of Marc Antony’s 
 fortress, called the Timonium, itself, as great an object 
 of wonder as the light-house, on the other. In this port 
 were more ships than in any other port in the world. 
 Its export trade was greater than all Italy. The quays 
 were busy with loading and unloading from strange 
 vessels with uncouth sails and rigging. All this was of 
 great interest to Apollonius, while Damis looked on in 
 silent amazement. 2 
 
 1 Travels and Discoveries in the 2 The coins of Egypt have played 
 Levant, by C. T. Newton, M. A., no inconsiderable part in establish- 
 
 2 vols. (London, 1865), vol. ii. pp. ing its chronology, and in bridging 
 167, 227. many historical chasms. During 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 201 
 
 Alexandria at this period contained a population of 
 at least 500,000 Greeks, Jews, and Egyptians; 1 the 
 peace of the city was perpetually harassed by these 
 factions, who possessed but few virtues in common. 2 
 With the Egyptian proper there existed an inordinate 
 fondness for the theater, the hippodrome, and all dra¬ 
 matic representations; boxing, wrestling, and horse¬ 
 
 racing were among the 
 Alexandrian Greek. And 
 
 the first years of the reign of Nero, 
 while yet under the tutorship of 
 Seneca, there is attested upon her 
 coins that Egypt was contented and 
 happy under the Roman yoke. In 
 the third year there is a coin with a 
 queen sitting on the throne, with the 
 word “ agreement,” meaning with 
 his mother, Agrippina. On another 
 the emperor is styled the young good 
 genius, crowned with the double 
 crown of Egypt. But that a change 
 took place in Nero’s conduct toward 
 Egypt is evident from a coin of the 
 thirteenth year of his reign. (See 
 Alexandrian coins, page 217 of this 
 work.) De inscriptione quadam 
 cegyptiaca Taurini inventa et char- 
 acteribus cegyptiis olim et sinis com- 
 munibus exarata , etc. (Tubervillo 
 Needham, Romae, 1761), p. 264, 
 etc. ; Gerardi Hasselti, ampulla 
 Isidis AEgyptia nunc primum luce 
 publica donata et illustrata (Traj. 
 Batav. 1777). Egypt became a 
 Roman province under Tiberius, 
 A. D. 30. 
 
 1 The Conflict of Religion and Sci¬ 
 ence (Draper), p. 17. 
 
 26 
 
 legitimate sports of the 
 yet all were marvelously 
 
 2 The great philosophical struggle 
 in Alexandria was between Neo- 
 Platonism and Olympianism. Neo- 
 Platonism was strictly monotheistic, 
 and utterly opposed to the worship 
 of idols and practice of magic. But 
 Olympianism was a magic-practicing 
 and idol-worshiping polytheism. 
 The former, in the day of Apollo¬ 
 nius, was the religion of the philoso¬ 
 phers (when they may be said to 
 have had any); the latter, of the 
 aristocracy. Its heaven was Olym¬ 
 pus.— Philo Judceus (Bohn ed., 
 
 i8 55 )> vo1 - iv - P- 6 7 * 
 
 Haydn, in his Dictionary of Dates, 
 
 refers to the supplying of the city of 
 Alexandria with a library by An¬ 
 tony in the place of the one burned 
 under Julius Caesar, B. C. 36 (which 
 library Antony stole from Perga- 
 mus). After this, Haydn makes 
 no reference to Alexandria until 
 297 A. D., except the massacre of a 
 youth by Caracalla. And Alexan¬ 
 dria was filled with local historians, 
 and was as productive of stirring 
 events during this lapse as at any 
 previous or subsequent time. 
 
2 02 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 religious,— a religion more encumbered with cere¬ 
 monies, and accompanied with more outward splendor, 
 than any othe'r religion on earth. An infinite con¬ 
 course of people combined in the celebration of their 
 religious festivals, of which there were many. And 
 such were the preparations made for them by the 
 priests, that the people looked forward to them with 
 pleasure as days of riot, licentiousness, and debauchery. 
 They had their feasts of Diana, Isis, Minerva, Latona, 
 Apis, and Mars. Luxuries introduced there were soon 
 carried to the highest pitch ; all gay and elegant amuse¬ 
 ments degenerated into licentiousness. These things 
 were proverbial; public morals were corrupt; and yet 
 of all the places known, its commerce was the most 
 flourishing. It was the center of wealth, the metropolis 
 of the world ; to all of this Apollonius bears witness. 
 The native Egyptians were a dark-skinned, industrious, 
 patient, and mechanical race, capable of great intellec¬ 
 tual exertion; and the liberal and useful arts were cul¬ 
 tivated with a success equal to their commerce. 1 
 Apion (an author with whom Apollonius was familiar), 
 in his history of Egypt (a. D. 44), considers them the 
 most learned of all nations, and in consequence of their 
 great love for study they have produced many learned 
 works. They had correct ideas of the spherical form of 
 the earth, its poles, axis, equator, arctic and antarctic 
 circles, equinoctial points, solstices, specific gravity, and 
 the precision of the equinoxes. 2 All of which, Apollo- 
 
 1 Herodotus gives an account 
 of the physical condition of the 
 Egyptians, ii. 104, vol. i. p. 331. 
 MeXdrfXP 0 ^ dot v ' al obXozpiysQ. 
 
 2 Cf. Conflict between Religion and 
 Science (Draper), p. 29. It was two 
 
 thousand years before the world pro¬ 
 duced the equal of Archimedes and 
 Conon in mathematics.— Cf. Thom¬ 
 as’s Pronouncing Diet, of Biog. and 
 Mythol.; Astronomy of the Ancients 
 (Sir G. C. Lewis, 1862), p. 34, et seq. 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 203 
 
 nius says, is confirmed in the books on Ethics and 
 Physics , written by Apollodorus Ephilus, the stoic. 1 
 
 Coming as Apollonius did from scenes of struggle 
 and death, elemental, physical, and political,— Spain 
 with her thunderstorms, Sicily with her volcanoes, and 
 Rome with her political earthquakes; 2 from the barren 
 highlands of Syria and the unexplored plains of Meso¬ 
 potamia,— the sublime monotony of an azure and rain¬ 
 less sky; 3 the limitless latitude of the great oasis of the 
 Nile valley to his vision, with its perpetual interbreeding 
 succession of life and death, was a new universe, with no 
 discords, naught but a perpetual reign of symphonies. 
 
 1 Both Cyrus and Darius sent to 
 Egypt for medical men. Homer 
 declares that her physicians “ pos¬ 
 sessed knowledge above all other 
 men.” And not only this, but 
 wealthy Romans and even emperors 
 aped Alexandrian manners and lux¬ 
 uries. Their scarlet robes, their 
 jewelry, and trappings were made in 
 Alexandria. The fast Roman youth 
 used Alexandrian slang ; the comic 
 actor, whose jokes set the theater in 
 a roar, was an Alexandrian; the 
 street tunes, hummed up and 
 down the Via Sacra, originated in 
 Alexandria ; and no breed of fight¬ 
 ing-cocks equaled those of Alex¬ 
 andria. 
 
 2 The policy of Rome had filled 
 the city with beggars and noisy 
 mobs; in Alexandria idleness was 
 a crime. Had Rome encouraged 
 agriculture and cultivated the cam- 
 pagnia with half the assiduity of 
 the Egyptians, she would not have 
 been obliged to send to Egypt for 
 corn. 
 
 3 Lepsius (Bohn ed.), p. 369. In 
 Egypt there are no destructive 
 floods nor freshets. In Egypt no 
 rain ever falls. But when the 
 bright dog-star, Sirius, rises with 
 the sun, the mysterious Nile begins 
 to swell, a calm and tranquil inun¬ 
 dation covers the land, at once 
 watering and, by the slime de¬ 
 posited, enriching it. If, when the 
 waters have reached their height, 
 the Nileometer, which measures the 
 depth of the inundation, indicates 
 eight cubits, the harvest at best will 
 be a scanty one; but if it reaches 
 fourteen cubits, the harvest will be 
 plentiful. Thus, before a single 
 seed was planted, while the waters 
 still cover the fields and gardens, 
 the crops of the Egyptian husband¬ 
 man were hypothecated in the mar¬ 
 kets of Rome, Athens, Rhodes, 
 Ephesus, Smyrna, etc. P. Victor 
 says that Augustus imported yearly 
 from Egypt twenty million bushels 
 of corn, and in Justinian’s time eighty 
 millions were sent to Constantinople. 
 
204 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 The aspect of nature, the perpetual environment of 
 increase and decay, the sublime spectacle of birth 
 through the fructifying rays of the divine sun, personi¬ 
 fied in the all-wise Serapis, 1 was the consummation of 
 eternal truth. 2 
 
 The two main streets of Alexandria, which crossed 
 each other at right angles, one extending east and west, 3 
 from the gate of the Necropolis to the Canopic Gate, 
 and the other from the great port to Lake Mareotis, 
 were thronged incessantly with tradesmen, Arabs, 
 priests, beasts of burden, and foreigners of every race, 
 and from every nation under the sun. The dark Nu¬ 
 bian, the black Ethiopian, the swarthy Jew, the sun- 
 browned Arab, Greek, Persian, Hindoo, and Malay 
 pass through the gates from dawn to dark. The crier 
 stands upon the steps of the temple of Serapis, and calls 
 to the heedless crowd, “ All ye who are of clean hands 
 and pure hearts, come to the sacrifice ” (celebration of 
 the mysteries of Isis). Statues of great men, and 
 greater gods and goddesses, adorn every street. Here 
 is the famous temple of Osiris-Apis, there the more 
 famous one of Serapis, 4 on your right the temple of 
 Ammon-Ra, glittering with gold in the sunlight. All 
 
 1 Lepsius (Bohn ed.), 435. 
 
 2 Here this divinity was wor¬ 
 shiped as a bull — not an image, 
 but a living animal. It was the 
 oracle which uttered the famous re¬ 
 sponse to Hannibal,— Aij 3 ou>aa 
 ■Kpoyei ( 3 ottoa 'Avvi( 3 aX asp.a?, from 
 which Hannibal concluded that he 
 
 should be victorious, and return 
 
 safely from Rome, and die a natural 
 death, and be buried in Lybia. The 
 
 real meaning was not discovered 
 until his defeat and suicide. 
 
 3 Conflict between Religion and 
 Science (Draper), p. 18. 
 
 4 Isis and Serapis had a joint 
 temple at Rome. The priests w r ere 
 called Isiaci. They abstained from 
 mutton and pork, wore clean linen 
 clothingand wooden andpaper shoes, 
 used no salt; lest they might violate 
 their chastity they drank no wine. 
 
OF TYANA . 
 
 205 
 
 Egypt adored the sun, the good god Ra, and a perpet¬ 
 ual procession of worshipers swept through the corridor 
 of his somber temple. On your left the Claudian 
 Museum, whither flocked the students of the world ; also 
 the Soma, which held the bodies of Alexandria and the 
 Ptolemies, and the enormous library founded by Deme¬ 
 trius during his exile from Athens. Now a procession 
 of maidens (nuns) from the temple of Ceres and Proser¬ 
 pine obstructs the travel of the main thoroughfare, and 
 the white-robed priestesses, with the sacred basket, 
 emblem of plenty, cry out as they pass along, “ Sinners 
 away, keep your eyes on the ground, keep your eyes 
 on the ground,” for no sinner was permitted to look 
 upon these holy women and preserve his sight. And 
 on the left is the temple of Neptune, a kind of commer¬ 
 cial exchange, crowded with boisterous merchants and 
 brokers in a delirium of the corn exchange. 1 Damis, 
 bewildered, declares “ there are more gods than men in 
 Alexandria.” 
 
 “ And this,” soliloquized Apollonius, “ is Alexandria, 
 famous in all learning, the mother of wisdom, and 
 beautiful from the hands of Grecian architects, whom 
 Epiphanes, without rank and without treasures, de¬ 
 livered by a stroke of genius into the hands of Rome 
 to save it from Lycia and Macedon ” (b. c. 30). 2 The 
 
 1 To the speculator of Alexandria 420; The Monumental History of 
 corn was everything, and an advance Egypt, as recorded on the Ruins of 
 or decline in the corn market was her Temples, Palaces, and Tombs, 
 attended with results as disastrous by William Osborne, 2 vols. (1854), 
 and with an excitement unparalleled vol. ii. p. 372. 
 
 in the most exciting days of Wall 2 History of Egypt, from the 
 Street; every language on earth was Earliest Times till the Conquest by 
 spoken here.— Ancient Commerce, the Arabs, by Samuel Sharpe, 2 vols. 
 etc. (Le Pain, London, 1831), p. (London, 1859), vol. ii. p. 74. 
 
20 6 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 esteem in which the people of Alexandria held Apollo¬ 
 nius was reciprocated, for he loved Egypt, next to his 
 native Greece, 1 for her philosophy, 2 her people, her 
 institutions, her chivalry. The heartless treatment of 
 women in Rome contrasted marvelously with that of 
 Egypt and Greece. Woman was the merest slave of 
 brutal caprice in Rome. She ruled and was honored in 
 Egypt and Greece, no door was barred against her, she 
 could mount the throne, had her part in the priesthood, 
 and was a queen in every house. The great goddess 
 of Greece and Egypt was a mother; 3 of Rome, a 
 virgin. Soon after his arrival at Alexandria, Apollonius 
 heard of the condemnation and suicide of Tigellinus, 
 public procurator under Nero. 
 
 He was a frequent visitor at the temples of Osiris-Apis 
 and Serapis, which were in the west quarter of the city, 4 
 but refused to sacrifice, declaring that the whole race 
 of prophets, from Janus to Clytius and Melampus, have 
 been mistaken in proclaiming so many excellences 
 the product of divine fire ; and he rebuked the Egyp¬ 
 tians as unskilled in knowledge of divine matters, and 
 in the potentiality of their gods. 5 The worship of 
 
 1 Eusebius says : “ By the Egyp¬ 
 tians he was looked upon as the 
 favorite of heaven; he claimed the 
 power of working miracles by his 
 magical skill, and of foretelling 
 events by his knowledge of astrol¬ 
 ogy. In the Thebaid he was so far 
 honored that at the bidding of the 
 priests one of the sacred trees spoke 
 to him, as had been their custom 
 from of old with favorites, and ad¬ 
 dressed him as a teacher from 
 heaven.” —Eusebius against Hiero- 
 cles, lib. vi. 
 
 2 The ethical school of Alexandria 
 was founded by Zeno, the stoic. 
 
 3 Female Warriors, Memorials of 
 Female Valor, etc., by Mrs. Need¬ 
 ham, vol. i. p. 25. 
 
 4 Destroyed, A. D. 389. 
 
 5 Many Christians, it is said, sac¬ 
 rificed at this temple, and those who 
 call themselves Christ’s bishops are 
 devotees of Serapis. Pausanias says: 
 “Qu’ilyavoit dans plusieurs villes 
 de la Grece des temples dedies a Isis, 
 a Serapis, et a d’autres Divinites 
 Egyptiennes.”— Caylus, p. 118. 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 207 
 
 Serapis 1 was coeval with the foundation of Alexandria, 
 and was introduced from Sinope by the first Ptolemy. 
 The statue of Serapis was obtained by force from Syth- 
 otherius, and speedily did the Sinopic god become the 
 great god of his adopted country. Macrobius says 
 (Saturnaliorum , 1-20): “ The city of Alexandria pays 
 almost frantic worship to Serapis and Isis. Yet all this 
 veneration they maintain is but offered to the sun, 
 Ammon-Ra, 2 under that title by their placing the corn 
 measure upon his head.” 3 In the second century the 
 syncretistic sects that had sprung up in Alexandria, 
 the very hot-bed of gnosticism, found, or pretended 
 they had found, in Serapis a prophetic type of Christ 
 as the lord and creator of all, and judge of the living 
 and the dead. Thus, at length Serapis had become 
 merely the idea of the Supreme Being, whose manifes¬ 
 tation upon the earth was the Christ In this manner 
 we are to understand the curious letter of Hadrian 
 (about A. D. 130), preserved by Vopiscus : “Those who 
 worship Serapis are also Christians; even those who 
 style themselves bishops of Crestos are devoted to 
 Serapis.” 4 The primitive form of this worship was 
 simply adoration of the Nile, without the overflow of 
 which Egypt must become a desert. 5 They also wor¬ 
 shiped the sacred cross (Nileometer), the symbol of 
 life and regeneration, and in these temples — Osiris-Apis 
 
 1 Symbolical Language of Ancient 
 Art , etc. (Knight), p. 104. 
 
 2 Lepsius ed., 1853), p. 248. 
 
 3 There was a more ancient tem¬ 
 
 ple of Serapis at Memphis; conse¬ 
 
 quently the importation from Sinope 
 may have some element of romance 
 in it. 
 
 4 Hadrian to his brother Servi- 
 anus. Xp7]0T0<; (Chrestos or Cres¬ 
 tos), Heathen Records (Dr. Giles), 
 
 p. 88. 
 
 5 Mythology and Fables (Banier), 
 i. 492; Was Christ a God ? Con¬ 
 clusions drawn from Apostolic writ¬ 
 ings (Mensinga), p. 8. 
 
208 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 and Serapis — was also associated the worship of the 
 fructifying sun, Ammon-Ra, and these were the great 
 gods of Egypt. * The Nile was “ the water of life,” and 
 was sanctified by the sign of the cross, to the mystical 
 “ washing away of all sin.” 
 
 The identity of Aesculapius with the sun-god Serapis 
 requires no further demonstration than that he was the 
 son of Apollo and Coronis (sun-gods.) 1 In a statue of 
 gold and ivory, at Epidaurus (now in Rome), he is 
 represented with a long beard, and his head is sur¬ 
 rounded with sun-rays. He had temples at Antioch, 
 Smyrna, Pergamus, Thessaly, and Cos. His worship 
 relates essentially to the mysteries or sacred rites. All 
 his temples were sanctuaries, which only those might 
 approach who had undergone a mystic purification. 2 
 Not inappropriate is the designation of Aesculapius as 
 the “ sun of righteousness, with healing on his wings,” 
 for that was his description in old mythologies. 3 
 
 1 Cf. Vestiges of Spirit-History of 
 Man (Dunlap), p. 37, etc. See 
 edict of Constantine, Corp. Jur. Cio. 
 Codicis , lib. iii. tit. 12; he uses the 
 words “ Sacred day of the Sun 
 (God).” 
 
 2 Symbolic Language of Ancient 
 Art (Knight), p. 4. 
 
 3 One of the most remarkable 
 edifices at Alexandria was the Sera- 
 pion, or temple of Serapis. The 
 worship of the god and patron of 
 sailors was introduced from Sinope 
 by Ptolemy I., doubtless not with¬ 
 out a special object. The temple 
 stood in the quarter Rhacotis, near 
 the “ Haven of Fortunate Return,” 
 and art had exhausted her resources 
 
 to make it one of the most splendid 
 on the face of the globe. It was 
 erected on the summit of an artificial 
 mound, raised one hundred steps 
 above the adjacent parts of the city. 
 
 Two hundred and seventy-one 
 years after this period (a. d. 69), 
 Constantine made Byzantium the 
 capital of his empire; he wished, 
 also, to make it the literary "center 
 of the world, and his influence was 
 thrown against Alexandria. Its mu¬ 
 seum was placed under the super¬ 
 vision of the clergy, and decline 
 was the immediate result. Most 
 of the savants left the city in conse¬ 
 quence, and sought safety elsewhere. 
 The Emperor Julian, however, on 
 
OF TYANA . 
 
 209 
 
 In later times he was known principally in his char¬ 
 acter as Bacchus, and is now regarded as the god of 
 wine and reveling. But in earlier days the views taken 
 
 coming into power (a. d. 361) sub¬ 
 jected the Christians to some re¬ 
 strictions, and tried to induce the 
 learned pagans to return. lie 
 succeeded in partly reviving Alex¬ 
 andria’s now rapidly sinking in¬ 
 stitutions ; but his reign was too 
 short to produce lasting results. 
 After his death the spirit of oppo¬ 
 sition between Christians and pa¬ 
 gans became more bitter than ever. 
 The temple of Serapis was the 
 rallying-place of the latter. There 
 was a general belief that the annual 
 overflow of the Nile and the pros¬ 
 perity of Egypt depended upon the 
 favor of this god. This restrained 
 for a while the Christians, who were 
 more than half-believers in the 
 potency of Serapis, from attacking 
 his temple ; nor did the pagans 
 neglect to make the most of this 
 superstition to their own advantage. 
 Several fanatics appeared upon the 
 scene, who endeavored to maintain 
 the worship of idols ; among whom 
 the most conspicuous were Antonius 
 and Olympus. The former was a 
 student of mystical philosophy, and 
 vindicated with great zeal the wor¬ 
 ship of the heathen gods (fourth 
 century). He was constantly at¬ 
 tended by a crowd of young men, 
 drawn to him by his character and 
 eloquence. The latter is repre¬ 
 sented by Suidas as a “man of 
 wonderful acquirements, noble na¬ 
 
 27 
 
 ture, and incredible eloquence.” 
 On this occasion he was chosen by 
 the adherents of the old religion in 
 Alexandria as teacher of divinity in 
 the temple of Serapis. Great num¬ 
 bers flocked to him, eager to be 
 instructed in the religious rites and 
 mysteries of their ancestors, for 
 there were not wanting those who 
 attributed the misfortunes of the 
 times to the neglect of the worship 
 of the gods. 
 
 While these things were going 
 on in Alexandria several imperial 
 edicts were proclaimed throughout 
 the empire ordering the destruction 
 of the heathen temples. Theophilus 
 was at this time (a. d. 386) the 
 Christian archbishop of the city. 
 He is characterized as the “ perpet¬ 
 ual enemy of peace and virtue; a 
 bold, bad man, whose hands were 
 alternately polluted with gold and 
 blood.” With the assistance of the 
 imperial governor and soldiers he 
 made an attack on the pagans, who, 
 under the leadership of Olympus, 
 had provisioned and fortified them¬ 
 selves in the temple of Serapis. A 
 formal siege was begun, and un¬ 
 heard-of cruelties were perpetrated, 
 in which the pagans, may be, outdid, 
 if possible, their opponents. In the 
 year 389 a. D. an armistice was en¬ 
 tered into for the purpose of await¬ 
 ing the imperial mandate, which was 
 to decide the fate of the temple. 
 
210 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 were different; yet the change was not without reason. 
 “ The Prince of Life ” is the giver of health; the 
 Agathodaemon 'and the “ Cup of Blessings,” wreathed 
 
 When the rescript for the destruc¬ 
 tion of the idols in Alexandria was 
 received, the pagans, to avoid the 
 fury of the Christians, hastily took 
 flight. The latter, with loud shouts 
 of exultation, proceeded anew with 
 the work of destruction. The god 
 was broken in pieces, the works of 
 art destroyed, the building sacked, 
 and only the strength of its walls 
 bade defiance to the zeal of the be¬ 
 siegers. The building was after¬ 
 ward repaired and converted into a 
 monastery. We shall probably never 
 know what works of art perished 
 here; but we do know that the 
 splendid library of three hundred 
 thousand volumes was scattered and 
 destroyed. This was the end of the 
 great library of Pergamus and the 
 initiation of a regime which ignored 
 learning as a basis of evil, and the 
 decline of Alexandria began, and its 
 destruction completed, under a re¬ 
 ligion based upon ignorance, super¬ 
 stition, and fraud, unparalleled in 
 the record of religious fervor; and 
 under the same disgraceful regime 
 sank all the cities of the East. The 
 glory of the East was doomed. 
 Christianity possessed but one qual¬ 
 ity upon which its perpetuity could 
 depend, and that was brute force, 
 and well its masters for ten centuries 
 have wielded this power. 
 
 The tragic death of Hypatia, A. b. 
 415 (cf Tillemont’s Memoirs; also 
 
 Charles Kingsley’s Hypatia ), is an 
 episode in the literary history of 
 Alexandria that must not be omit¬ 
 ted from the few scattered notices 
 we possess of its library and mu¬ 
 seum. This event, the memory of 
 which genius has rendered imper¬ 
 ishable in painting and story, gives 
 us an insight into one of the most 
 unfortunate periods of the world’s 
 history, and shows us what a pre¬ 
 carious lease of life the literature of 
 antiquity had in the hands of those 
 who were day by day rising into 
 power. And it is painful to recall 
 that our own age is not entirely de¬ 
 void of the same intolerant spirit. 
 Hypatia was the daughter of the 
 last-mentioned member of the Alex¬ 
 andrian museum, the celebrated phi¬ 
 losopher, stoic, and mathematician, 
 Theon; she was one of the most ac¬ 
 complished women known to his¬ 
 tory,her father’s only child,and early 
 manifested deep interest in philo¬ 
 sophical and mathematical studies. 
 He instructed her with the greatest 
 care. During her stay at Athens, 
 which was still a noted seat of Greek 
 culture, she became a convert to the 
 third Neo-Platonic school, which 
 was then striving to unite the dog¬ 
 mas of Plato and Aristotle for the 
 purpose of stemming the current of 
 that religion which was confessedly 
 and boastfully without learning, 
 without a philosophy, and without 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 211 
 
 by serpents, were alike symbols of both. The fact has 
 been remarked that there was a common knowledge 
 which the ^Esculapian initiates were free to disseminate, 
 
 a morality, based entirely upon the 
 passions and emotions of men. 
 Upon her return to Alexandria she 
 became a teacher, where her elo¬ 
 quence and wisdom, her youthful 
 beauty, and modesty awakened such 
 enthusiasm that her lecture-room 
 could scarcely contain her eager 
 disciples, whilst the first families of 
 the city sought her friendship. 
 
 This philosophy was particularly 
 obnoxious to the ignorant Chris¬ 
 tians. Its intellectual appeals ren¬ 
 dered it the mightiest opponent to 
 the new religion. Hypatia, in so 
 great favor with the learned and in¬ 
 fluential of Alexandria, was the 
 thorn in the flesh of the zealous 
 and fiery Cyril, who happened to 
 be just then at enmity with Orestes, 
 the governor of the city. About 
 this time a certain Hierax, a noted 
 teacher among the Christians, was 
 murdered, and the murderer could 
 not be found. Gradually a report 
 spread through the city that the 
 female philosopher, by her secret 
 influence, prevented a reconciliation 
 between the governor and the 
 bishop, and that she was probably 
 the cause of her opponent’s death 
 by means of bribed bandits. One 
 day during Lent a crowd of fanatics, 
 under the head of a certain reader 
 named Peter, collected around her 
 dwelling. She was not at home, 
 but soon appeared, sitting in her 
 
 chariot. The crowd, who had mur¬ 
 der in their hearts, ran to meet her, 
 forced her to descend, stripped her 
 naked in the street, dragged her into 
 a church, and literally tore her in 
 pieces. Her quivering limbs were 
 trailed through the streets by these 
 monsters and finally thrown into a 
 fire. No one, even among Chris¬ 
 tians then or now, doubts the holy 
 Cyril’s connivance at this deed. The 
 investigation of the riot was dis¬ 
 continued by the timely interposi¬ 
 tion of gifts. This event took place 
 about the year A. D. 415.— A T ational 
 Quarterly , December, 1875; His¬ 
 tory of the Conflict of Religion and 
 Science (Draper), p. 55 (Appleton, 
 1875); Isis Unveiled: A Master- 
 Key to the Mysteries of Ancient and 
 Modern Science and Theology , by 
 H. P. Blavatsky, vol. ii. p. 336. 
 
 The worst feature of this whole 
 transaction is probably that some 
 Christian writers have defended her 
 character with enigmatic praise, and 
 intimate that her death was caused 
 by a mob of infuriated citizens and 
 not Christians, and that there may 
 have been some apparent justifica¬ 
 tion for the violence committed 
 upon her. This damnable method 
 of warping history and creating 
 public opinion is purely Chris¬ 
 tian. She was clubbed to death by 
 Christian monks.—Draper’s Con¬ 
 flict, p. 55. 
 
212 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 as Hippocrates did; and an esoteric wisdom which 
 must not be communicated. 1 
 
 While the most violent revolutionary movements 
 were transpiring in Rome, matters were daily growing 
 worse in the Judean capital. Vespasian, who had been 
 sent by Nero (a. D. 66) to quell these disturbances, 
 had remained an idle spectator to the Judean insurrec¬ 
 tion, as if to demonstrate to the world the utter 
 unfitness of the Jews to govern themselves. Not so 
 indifferent, however, was he to affairs at Rome; for no 
 
 1 “ There can be no doubt,” says 
 C. W. King, M. A., in The Gnostics 
 and their Remains , Ancient and 
 Mediceval , p. 68, “ that the head of 
 Serapis, marked, as the face is, by a 
 grave and pensive majesty, supplied 
 the first idea for the conventional 
 portrait of the Saviour.” Eusebius 
 and Athanasius state that when 
 Joseph and Mary arrived in Egypt 
 they took up their abode in the city 
 of Thebais, in which was a superb 
 temple of Serapis. On their going 
 into the temple all the statues fell 
 flat on their faces to the infant Sav¬ 
 iour. This story is also told by the 
 Evangelium Infantice. Adrian sup¬ 
 poses that the Christian worship of 
 Egypt was the worship of Serapis 
 (Isis Unveiled , vol. ii. p. 336). It 
 may be collected from the many dis¬ 
 putes that no certain image and rep¬ 
 resentation of the form and features 
 of Christ has been handed down by 
 tradition. There is also much weight 
 in the remark that the most ancient 
 effigies are stamped with a Greek 
 or Roman character both in physiog¬ 
 nomy and costume, without any 
 trace of the Arabian or Israelite 
 
 style. Thus, before the Byzantine 
 style fixed a la Grecque the face and 
 costume of Jesus, the paintings of 
 the Roman Catacombs gave him a 
 Roman face and clothed him with 
 the toga and the pallium. Dating 
 from these productions, there have 
 been two principal types,— the type 
 of the Western church and the type 
 of the Eastern, varied to infinity by 
 degrees of civilization, by race, by 
 manners, and by clime. ** The 
 Greeks,” says Photus, “ think that 
 he became a man after their image; 
 the Romans, that he had the feat¬ 
 ures of a Roman ; the Indians, that 
 of an Indian; the Ethiopians made 
 him black.” The manner in which 
 sacred subjects have been travestied 
 is amusing and absurd. Rembrandt 
 in one of his pictures painted Abra¬ 
 ham a burgess of his time, and the 
 Messiah a burgomaster of Saardam. 
 In old paintings of the fall of Adam 
 we find the forbidden fruit varying 
 according to the country. In Nor¬ 
 mandy it was the classic apple, in 
 Burgundy a bunch of grapes, in 
 Portugal the fig and orange, and 
 in America the guava. 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 213 
 
 sooner had he heard of the death of Nero, than he felt 
 a sudden aspiration higher than quietly watching two 
 factions of miserable Jews destroy each other. His 
 army proclaimed him emperor, and he immediately set 
 out for Rome by the way of Alexandria. Before he 
 reached Alexandria, however, his claims had been 
 advocated by the philosophers, Dion, Euphrates, and 
 Apollonius, 1 who had been useful to him in their 
 efforts to secure the allegiance pf the Egyptians. 
 Tiberius Alexander, prefect of Egypt, appointed by 
 Nero, was the first to proclaim in favor of Vespasian, 2 
 and Apollonius was also wholly devoted to his service, 3 
 for which the emperor repaid him by flattery as well as 
 by more tangible favors. 4 As Vespasian approached 
 
 1 Apollonius was the most cele¬ 
 brated of these philosophers. He 
 was one of the first who gained 
 eminence from the study of Eastern 
 philosophy, which was then rising 
 in the opinion of the Greeks. He 
 was master of the fabled wisdom 
 of the magi of Babylon, and of the 
 gymnosophists of India, and he had 
 come to Egypt to compare this 
 mystic philosophy with that of the 
 hermits of Ethiopia and the The- 
 bais. By the Egyptians he was 
 looked upon as the favored of 
 heaven. He claimed the power of 
 working miracles by his magical 
 arts, and of foretelling events by 
 his knowledge of astrology. And 
 if we could believe the wonderful 
 stories told of him by his biogra¬ 
 pher, we would not wonder at Hier- 
 ocles and other pagans comparing 
 his miracles to those of Jesus. So 
 easy was the working of miracles, 
 
 and of so little consequence was this 
 accomplishment, that his pretensions 
 were not at all doubted by even 
 those who had the good sense to 
 detect the fallacy of his philosophy; 
 and by the author of the Book of 
 Revelation, when Vespasian is called 
 the beast, Apollonius is called the 
 false prophet who wrought miracles 
 in the presence of the beast.— His¬ 
 tory of Egypt from the Earliest 
 Times to the Conquest by the A rabs 
 (a. d. 640), by Samuel Sharp, 2 vols. 
 (1859). 
 
 2 Sharp’s Egypt, vol. ii. p. 136. 
 
 3 Cf. Tacitus; also Time and 
 Faith, vol. ii. p. 349, etc. 
 
 4 Vespasian made use of them in 
 furthering his political plans.— Apol¬ 
 lonius de Tyane, sa Vie, ses Voyages, 
 ses Prodiges (Chassang), p. 247; 
 Tacitus, History, lib. iv. p. 60; 
 Eusebius against Hierocles, lib. v. 
 p. 168. 
 
214 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 the gates of Alexandria, the sacred order of priest¬ 
 hood, the civil magistrates, the deputies from the pre¬ 
 fectures, and the philosophers and sages all went out 
 to meet him. 1 But no part of the pompous procession 
 engaged the attention of Apollonius, who was teach¬ 
 ing philosophy in the temple at the time; he did not 
 even leave his school to wait upon the emperor. Ves¬ 
 pasian received the delegation with a short speech, 
 which was at once gracious and benign, and, looking 
 about him, inquired after the Tyanean. 2 Damis in¬ 
 formed him that Apollonius was in the temple. “Then,” 
 replied he, “ thither I will repair, that I may offer my 
 prayers to the gods and converse with the Tyanean.” 
 After the accustomed sacrifices for the past preserva¬ 
 tion and future welfare of the emperor were performed, 
 and the deputies of the various cities represented at 
 Alexandria recognized and addressed, Vespasian turned 
 to Apollonius and said: “To you, Apollonius, more 
 than any other man, am I indebted for my present suc¬ 
 cess. I know your participation in the present revolu¬ 
 tion, and to you I shall look for advice.” 3 “The empire,” 
 replied Apollonius, “ has long been in a disturbed and 
 unsettled state; security of the person or estate, the 
 inherent right of every Roman citizen, has engrossed 
 but little attention from the masters of the Roman 
 people,—they have rather regarded them as their legal 
 prey.” “What think you,” asked Vespasian, “of the 
 
 1 Apollonius de Tyane (Chassang), here, as in many other instances, to 
 
 p. 209. be the mere tool of political fac- 
 
 2 Vie cPApollonius de Tyane, par tions.”— History of the Christian 
 Le Grand D’Aussy, vol. ii. p. 118. Church in the First Century , vol. i. 
 
 3 John Henry Newman, D. D., p. 345. That is a most unwarrant- 
 says that “ Apollonius was found able and undeserving charge. 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 2I 5 
 
 government of Nero ?” Apollonius replied that “ Nero 
 had disgraced his authority by merciless rigor, and 
 then rendered himself doubly culpable by criminal 
 remissness; that flagrant acts of licentiousness had 
 become a part of the administration, and had perverted 
 the authority and demoralized the dignity of the state ; 1 
 the most abominable lusts, the most extravagant lux¬ 
 ury, the most shameful rapaciousness, and the most 
 inhuman cruelty constitute the general characteristics 
 of this detestable tyrant,— all of which have entered 
 into his methods in the administration of public affairs. 
 With no settled policy, he has swayed from childish 
 indulgence to implacable revenge.” “Then you think,” 
 said Vespasian, “that an emperor should observe the 
 golden mean in the government of an empire ? ” “ An 
 emperor should at all times,” replied Apollonius, “ be 
 equitable—that equity defined by the gods.” “ Grant, 
 O Jupiter,” said Vespasian, raising his eyes, “that I 
 may govern and be governed equitably and wisely.” 
 And, turning to the Egyptian delegates, he said, 
 “ Draw from me as you draw from the Nile.” 2 And 
 then addressing Apollonius in an undertone, “ In my 
 present understanding I wish to act under the guidance 
 of the gods, and on you I chiefly found my hopes of 
 success, as I know you are well versed in all knowledge 
 relating to things divine, and for that reason I make 
 you my friend and counselor. And if omens favorable 
 to my cause are given from the gods, I will go on; if 
 they are not propitious to me and the Roman people, 
 I will stop where I am, for I care not to engage in any 
 enterprise unsanctioned by heaven.” 
 
 1 Suetonius, Nero. 2 Apollonius de Tyane (Chassang), p. 260. 
 
216 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 After this conversation Apollonius, like one inspired, 
 said, “ O Jupiter Capitolinus, 1 who art supreme judge 
 and director in the present crisis of affairs, keep thy¬ 
 self for Vespasian and Vespasian for thee.” 2 And 
 then, turning to the emperor, he said : “ Remember that 
 the virtue of a nation depends more upon the mana¬ 
 gers of it than upon the individuals who compose it. 
 Men, from the most barbarous ages to the present 
 time, have ever been composed of the same numerical 
 clay; law and cultivation have made the distinction 
 among them. That proverb of villainy and lawless¬ 
 ness, Nero, was the victim of a set of surroundings 
 which he had inherited; and as the manners of men 
 are almost invariably modified by the nearest patterns, 
 so it had been with him. The original source of na¬ 
 tional virtue or vice can be traced to the throne whence 
 in rivulets it flows through all of the inferior channels 
 of the body politic. The rulers are they who carry 
 the great burden of Atlas upon their shoulders, and 
 upon them fall heavier penalties of misconduct than 
 upon the ruled. If, after thoroughly weighing the 
 matter, you still feel like accepting this great charge, 
 go on with the work which you have so nobly begun. 
 The temple burnt in Rome yesterday by impious hands 
 * the fates ’ have made it your duty to restore.” Ves- 
 
 1 Jupiter was worshiped under 
 three hundred names, but he is the 
 same in all — Jupiter Pluvius, Ful- 
 gurator, Tonans, Fulminator, Im- 
 bricitor, Serenator, Juvictus, Stator, 
 Predator, Triumphator, Victor, Op- 
 timus, Maximus, Imperator, Urbis 
 Custos, etc.— Cf. Chronicum Alex- 
 
 andrinum a Radero (Editum Mu- 
 nahii, anno 1615). 
 
 2 Tacitus , book iii. c. 69, 70; A. 
 W. Crainer, Flavius Vespasianus 
 Heinierod (1785); Flavius Vespa- 
 siani Imperatoris Vita (1833); His- 
 toire des Empereurs (Tillemont); 
 Lenormant, An. Hist. , vol. i. p. 197 . 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 21 / 
 
 pasian was amazed at this, for as yet no intelligence 
 had been received from Rome of this burning of the 
 temple, which took place as follows : Domitian, son of 
 Vespasian, was up in arms against Vitellius in defense 
 of his father’s authority. The youth was besieged in 
 the capital, and in making his escape from the besiegers 
 the temple was burnt,— the account of which reached 
 Apollonius before it did any other man in Egypt. 
 
 The next morning Apollonius introduced Dion and 
 Euphrates to the emperor, assuring him that they were 
 friends attached to his interests, and not unmindful of 
 the critical position of state affairs at present. 
 
 But the emperor kept Apollonius always by his side 
 during his stay in Egypt, and he acknowledged his 
 rank as a prophet. With this intimacy between 
 Vespasian and Apollonius begins the use of gnostic 
 emblems on Alexandrian coins. 1 
 
 1 Eusebius against Hierocles. The 
 coins struck at Alexandria, that is, 
 Roman coins, during the empire, 
 are more complete in the cabinets 
 of collectors than of any other 
 Roman province. They are not 
 very important in themselves as 
 historical factors, but as confirma¬ 
 tory evidence they are invaluable. 
 The general type of all Alexandrian 
 coins was : Egyptian games, Over¬ 
 flow of the Nile, and the Worship 
 of Serapis. There was a bronze 
 coin of Augustus (a. v. g. ), and one 
 of his wife Livia. There were also 
 bronze coins of Caius and Lucius 
 (c. L. CAESS.),sons of Marcus Agrip- 
 pa. The Alexandrian coins of Ti¬ 
 berius (ti. ) were in bronze and 
 
 28 
 
 base metal, and were very numer¬ 
 ous. Of Claudius (ti. clavd. 
 Caesar. AVG. pm. TRP. ), they were 
 of bronze, copper, and base metal, 
 sometimes associated with his wife, 
 Messalina, and at others with Agrip¬ 
 pina. The coins of Nero (ner.) 
 were of copper, bronze, and base 
 metal, on which he was sometimes 
 associated with Agrippina, his 
 mother, facing each other. There 
 were some base-metal coins of Oc- 
 tavia, Nero’s wife, and some of 
 Poppsea with Nero. 
 
 Galba, Otho, and Vitellius were all 
 represented on Alexandrian coins. 
 
 Vespasian (vesp.) began a new 
 era in Alexandrian coinage, and 
 there were many of his, some with 
 
218 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 Vespasian was proclaimed emperor, A. D. 69, being 
 sixty years of age. He had before served as pro- 
 consul in Egypt (a. D. 60), and military tribune in 
 Thrace ; quaester of Crete, afterward praetor. As Apol¬ 
 lonius subsequently went up to the temple of Serapis 
 to worship, a peculiar beauty shone in his face, and the 
 words he uttered on all subjects were divine and framed 
 in wisdom. He approved not of shedding the blood 
 of bulls, nor of goats, nor of other animals, for the sac¬ 
 rifices of such animals he thought unbecoming the 
 feasts of the gods, and he pronounced all such misuse 
 of the sacred temple, profanity. When the patriarch 1 
 asked “why he did not sacrifice,” “I would rather,” 
 said Apollonius, “ask you what your motive is in 
 doing so.” To this the patriarch said: “And who is 
 
 his son Titus in bronze and copper, 
 others with Domatilla, his wife, in 
 the same metals. The coins of 
 Titus (t. or t. caes. divi. vesp. f. 
 AVG.) were few, and were in bronze 
 and copper, as also were those of 
 Domitian (dom. or DOMIT.) There 
 was an Egyptian bronze coin with 
 Domitian associated with Domitia, 
 his wife. All the coins of Nerva 
 (ner.) struck at Alexandria were 
 of base metal. Tiberius, in the 
 tenth year of his reign (a. d. 24), 
 closed the Alexandrian mint, after 
 which period we find no new issues 
 of Egyptian coins. They were again 
 allowed to coin under Claudius, 
 A. d. 41. And now begins the 
 richest Egyptian series. Every coin 
 is dated with the year of Claudius’s 
 reign, while the finest of all Egyp¬ 
 tian coinages in execution and va¬ 
 
 riety was during the reign of 
 Domitian (a. d. 92). Of the reign 
 of Nerva, the coinage is the only 
 trace of his having ruled in Egypt. 
 
 On the ascension of Vespasian, 
 the Egyptians were very much puz¬ 
 zled by the word “ Freedom ” struck 
 on the Roman coins sent for circu¬ 
 lation among them by their foreign 
 masters, but were very much pleased 
 when they found it accompanied 
 with a redress of their grievances. 
 
 There were a few coins struck by 
 the Alexandrian mint in his name, 
 Vespasian, with the figure of 
 Victory.— History of Egypt, from 
 the Earliest Times till the Conquest 
 by the Arabs, A. D. 640, by Samuel 
 Sharpe, vol. ii. p. 135. 
 
 1 The name given to the high- 
 priest of Serapis, hence Pope.— See 
 Encyc. Brit., vol. xviii. p. 410. 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 219 
 
 wise enough to reform the established worship of the 
 Egyptians ? ” “ Every sage,” replied Apollonius, “who 
 comes filled with the wisdom of the Indians.” “This 
 day,” said the patriarch, “ I will burn an ox which has 
 been found ‘ without spot or blemish,’ and I wish you 
 to participate of its odor; and I think you will not dis¬ 
 approve of it if the gods show no displeasure, for it has 
 been sealed with the “holy wafer’ by the sphragistee,” 
 a^pdrpar/^ (priests who were sealers). 1 
 
 “Can you imagine,” said Apollonius, “that the fire 
 proceeding from burning pine or cedar possesses pro¬ 
 phetic quality, and is capable of foretelling events ? 
 Why not reverence the Nile, the common cup of 
 Egypt, or form your prognostics on the rising sun ? — 
 source of innumerable blessings to humanity, and to 
 none more than the Egyptian.” 
 
 Many months’ conference were had and much good 
 advice Vespasian received from Apollonius in this criti¬ 
 cal juncture of the affairs of the empire. For it was un¬ 
 doubtedly true that although Vespasian had wrested an 
 empire from his competitors, Otho and Vitellius, it was a 
 shattered and bankrupt tenancy ; the revenue which had 
 been impaired by Caius and the Claudian freedmen, was 
 plunged by Nero into deeper insolvency, the army was 
 demoralized, the senate was helpless, some of the fairest 
 provinces had been ravaged, two of the noblest cities in 
 Italy were charred heaps, the coasts were swept by 
 pirates, and the capital a ruin. Such was the condition 
 of Rome when Vespasian ascended the throne. 
 
 From Alexandria Vespasian had already sent back 
 his son Titus, who had acquired fame in Gaul, to Judea 
 
 l Isis and Osiris in Plutarch’s Morals , vol. iv. p. 89. 
 
220 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 to finish the siege of Jerusalem. The Jewish historian, 
 Flavius Josephus, was in Alexandria in the service of 
 Vespasian, having been taken prisoner by him. He was 
 promised his freedom on condition of betraying his 
 country’s cause. 1 He accepted the offer, joined the 
 army of Titus, and marched to Jerusalem to overthrow 
 the temple in which his forefathers as high-priests had 
 earned the only fame associated with the name of 
 Josephus. Its overthrow was accomplished the next 
 year, A. D. 70. 2 In considering his future plan of con¬ 
 duct, Vespasian wished everything to turn out for the 
 public good, and in an interview with Apollonius 
 resumed a former conversation, now, however, in the 
 presence of Dion and Euphrates, concerning the former 
 emperors of Rome. 
 
 In considering the character of Tiberius, they agreed 
 that he had come into power under a free government, 
 and that he had willfully and wickedly perverted it to a 
 cruel tyranny. And when he called to mind Caligula, 
 who succeeded him, he was but a panorama of crime. 
 Instead of devoting his life to the advancement of the 
 empire, his life was spent under the dominion of the 
 most unbridled passion, who, clothed after the fashion 
 of the Lydians, died victorious in wars which never 
 existed, and defiled the empire by bacchanalian insanity. 
 He had debauched and lived in open incest with his 
 sisters, ordered the wife of Caius Piso on the night of 
 her marriage to be carried to his own house, and 
 
 1 Josephus wrote Antiquities of nor its temple has been destroyed. 
 the Jews to A. D. 66. He bears no The temple exists to-day, and the 
 testimony to Christ or Christians. wallsofthe city are still there.— His - 
 
 2 Samuel Sharpe, Hist, of Egypt , tory of the Israelites and Judeans, 2 
 vol. ii. p. 141. Neither Jerusalem vols. (London), vol. ii. p. 334. 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 221 
 
 afterward banished her. How he bestowed his affec¬ 
 tions upon Caesonia, who was a wanton of unbounded 
 lasciviousness, and whom he exhibited naked to his 
 friends. 1 But it is disgusting to relate the infamous 
 doings of this monster. And as to the good man 
 Claudius, he had no time to attend to affairs of state, 
 for in attending to his women he became stupefied, and 
 forgot both the empire and himself, and died, as was 
 reported, by their hands. 
 
 “ And Nero,” said Vespasian, “ of whom we have 
 spoken on a former occasion, defiled and debauched the 
 empire. And Galba, 2 murdered in the Forum after 
 having adopted Otho and Piso, 3 both sons of common 
 prostitutes, as participators, promised no improvement 
 in the affairs of the empire.” 
 
 “And as for my part,” further said Vespasian, “if the 
 empire is to be conceded to such a man as Vitellius, the 
 most abominable of all his predecessors, I think it were 
 better that Nero should be restored to us. Taking then into 
 further consideration, my friends,” continued Vespasian, 
 “ the several kinds of tyranny which have disgraced 
 the state, and to avoid the gulf into which my prede¬ 
 cessors have fallen, I appoint you my counselors to 
 advise what are the proper means for meliorating a 
 government so deservedly odious.” 4 
 
 “ In the selection of your counselors,” said Apol¬ 
 lonius, “ you put me in mind of a great musician, a man 
 of much celebrity in his profession, who used to keep a 
 
 1 Suetonius Caligula, xxv. (Bohn 
 ed., p. 268). See, also, Berwick’s 
 Life of Apollonius, p. 282. 
 
 2 Hist. Gemdlde: Galba, etc. (F. 
 
 Horn). 
 
 3 Cneius Piso was prefect of Syria, 
 and was murdered by Germani- 
 cus. 
 
 4 Apollonius de Tyane, etc. (Chas- 
 sang), p. 214, et seq. 
 
222 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 corps of the most unskillful performers always in his 
 employ that he might learn to play from them by con¬ 
 trast.” After this they separated. 1 Apollonius had in 
 the mean time performed many miracles in Egypt, some 
 under the very eye of Vespasian, which endeared the 
 emperor to him, but in consequence of which Euphrates 
 had begun to entertain a secret jealousy of Apollonius. 
 They all being votaries to the shrine of a favorite oracle, 
 and incensed at this imaginary preference, Euphrates 
 became boisterous and undignified in his voice and 
 demeanor. In answer to some remarks of Euphrates, 
 which were personal and insulting in the extreme to 
 Apollonius, and in which he also advised Vespasian to 
 surrender his power to the people, Apollonius said, 
 “ You seem to me to err in your endeavors to make the 
 emperor waver in a matter on which he has fully 
 determined in his heart. The emperor is possessed of 
 great power, and it should be our province as philoso¬ 
 phers rather to school him to use it discreetly and with 
 moderation than to relinquish it. He is also vested 
 with full consular authority, has long filled the highest 
 offices, and a show of weakness at the present crisis by 
 a surrender of any acquired advantage, or a hesitancy 
 in the course he has determined upon, would certainly 
 prove fatal to him and the empire. Let us, there¬ 
 fore, out of consideration to the character of the man, 
 the number of his troops, their excellent discipline, and 
 the wisdom by which he has formed all his plans,— let 
 us rather encourage his good determination and genius, 
 and pray for good omens and all things else which may 
 insure success. It lies within his power to give the 
 1 Vie d " 1 Apollonius de Tyane , par le Grand D’Aussy, vol. ii. p. 125. 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 223 
 
 empire a respite from its past thralldom of blood and 
 lawlessness. He is, moreover, the father of two sons 
 who, according to report, are men of good disposition, 
 Titus and Domitian, both of whom would become his 
 bitterest enemies, were they not sure of receiving the 
 empire at his death. They may by a proper conduct 
 on his part be held as natural guardians of his throne, 
 and not mercenaries forced into allegiance. And this 
 proper conduct on his part may be induced through the 
 enthusiasm displayed by us in his cause, for in us he 
 has implicit faith. It is of little consequence to me 
 what form of government is established; I live under 
 that of the gods; 1 and yet I have always taken great 
 interest and no small hazard in my efforts to sustain 
 popular government. I resisted the power of Nero 
 whilst under the most unjust accusation, and I opposed 
 the infamous Tigellinus to his beard. The assistance I 
 gave to Vindex in Spain was a blow aimed at the 
 tyranny of Nero. But on no account do I claim that I 
 put down the tyrant. I only acted the character be¬ 
 coming a philosopher.” 2 
 
 To a question asked by Vespasian, he said, “You, O 
 Emperor, will make better use of your riches and your 
 power if you use them in protecting the rights and sup¬ 
 plying the necessities of the poor, and in giving greater 
 security to the property of the rich, than any former 
 sovereign. Do not lop away such ears of corn as are tall 
 
 1 For since Cappadocia had be- brute force of the uncultured Ro- 
 come a Roman province Apollonius, man, and looked forward to emanci- 
 in common with other Greeks of pation. 
 
 noble descent, had taken but little 2 Arrian, Epictetus , seu Commen- 
 interest in the affairs of state. They tarii Disputatione Epicteti (Lug- 
 felt themselves degraded by the duni, 1600). 
 
224 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 and most conspicuous, for herein the maxim of Aristotle 
 is unjust, but do you preserve them as allies. In what 
 concerns the public, act like a prince; in what relates 
 to yourself, as you please. Show yourself terrible to all 
 innovators in the politics or government of the state, 
 yet not so much in punishment as a preparation for 
 vengeance. Acknowledge the law of the land to be 
 the supreme rule of your conduct, for you will be more 
 mild in making laws when you know that you are to be 
 subject to them yourself. Reverence the gods more 
 than ever, for you have received great things at their 
 hands and have still much to ask. I need not speak to 
 you of wine, women, and gambling vices to which you 
 were never addicted. You have two sons; keep them, 
 I pray you, under discipline; let them understand that 
 the empire is to be a reward for virtue and not a matter 
 of common rights. I have but one more word to say. 
 In the selection of your governors for the provinces, 
 select them from the people over whom they are sent 
 to rule, and who thoroughly understand the language. 
 Send Greeks to Greece. Whilst I was in Peloponnesus 
 I called upon the governor, who knew nothing of Greek, 
 and the people knew nothing of him and cared less. 
 Hence arose innumerable discords.” On the closing of 
 this discourse Vespasian thanked Apollonius, and com¬ 
 mended him greatly upon his wisdom. And Euphrates, 
 who was an eminent philosopher (on the authority of 
 Pliny, 1 Epictetus, Eunapius, and Eusebius), but an 
 atheist, rose and said: “ I agree with everything the 
 master has spoken. But, O King ! approve and counte¬ 
 nance that philosophy which is consonant to nature, 
 
 1 Briicker , vol. ii. p. 566. 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 225 
 
 and shun that which affects to carry on a secret inter¬ 
 course with celestial beings. There can be but little 
 use in your appealing to the gods, who heretofore have 
 had quite as much as they could do to take care of 
 themselves, and who at best have rendered but little 
 service to Rome which may be accounted for good.” 
 The emperor here gently interposed and Euphrates 
 retired. 
 
 Dion said a few words in advice; the emperor again 
 thanked them, and the conference ended. 1 
 
 After the proper sacrifices had been performed the 
 emperor gave Apollonius leave publicly to ask what 
 present he chose. Apollonius, pretending to have a dis¬ 
 position to make full use of the permission, said, “And 
 what presents do you mean to give me, O King ? ” 
 “Ten talents at this time” said the emperor, “and all 
 I have when you come to Rome.” “Then,” said 
 Apollonius, “ I will be as careful with what you now 
 have as if it were my own, and shall not be prodigal of 
 what must some day be mine. For the present, O 
 Emperor! I request that you may attend to my com¬ 
 panions, who probably will not despise your gifts.” 
 Whereupon Vespasian bade both Euphrates and Dion 
 ask boldly what they wished. On hearing this Dion 
 blushed and said, “ Reconcile me to my master for the 
 contradiction I offered him yesterday.” The emperor 
 
 1 Dion was an amiable and affable 
 man, deserving to be loved for the 
 pleasantries of his discourse, which 
 flowed like the perfumes of a sacri¬ 
 fice. But Vespasian loved Apol¬ 
 lonius, had great delight in hearing 
 him talk of what antiquities he saw 
 
 29 
 
 in his travels, of the Indian Phraotes, 
 of the rivers and wild beasts and 
 products of India, and its immense 
 resources; and above all, when he 
 prophesied the future greatness 
 of the Roman world as communi¬ 
 cated by the gods. 
 
226 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 praised him and said, “ I asked and received on your 
 behalf the reconciliation yesterday ; now demand what¬ 
 ever you please'.” To which Dion replied, “ Lasthenes 
 of Apamea, a town in Bithynia, formerly studied phi¬ 
 losophy with me; he afterward became enamored of 
 military life, and joined the forces now at Jerusalem 
 under Titus; he now wishes to return to his philosophi¬ 
 cal pursuits, and my request is that he may get his dis¬ 
 charge.” The moment the emperor heard this he 
 ordered his discharge with the full pay of emeriti. 
 The emperor now turned to Euphrates, who had put 
 his request in writing, which he gave to the emperor to 
 read when alone ; but Vespasian, anxious to give Apol¬ 
 lonius and all present an opportunity of canvassing it, 
 read it aloud. It appeared from the memorial that 
 Euphrates made several requests, of which some were 
 relative to himself and some to other people; but all 
 had money in them, either directly or indirectly, for 
 their object. Apollonius only smiled and said, “And 
 how came you, Euphrates, to speak so much in favor 
 of a republican form of government who had so much to 
 ask for from a monarch?” This seems to have been the 
 major cause of the difference subsisting between Apol¬ 
 lonius and Euphrates. As soon as affairs at Alexandria 
 were settled, Vespasian determined on taking his depar¬ 
 ture. But before he did so, he expressed a wish that 
 Apollonius should accompany him to Rome. This 
 he begged to decline, inasmuch as he had not seen 
 Egypt as he desired, and more especially as he was 
 disinclined to enter upon a career of political activity in 
 any form, and announced himself as having no interest 
 in the empire, but lived under the rule of the gods; 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 227 
 
 exacting but one promise from Vespasian, that as 
 Rome was happily now at peace, he should use his 
 utmost endeavor to maintain it. And in furtherance 
 of this idea Vespasian, on coming into power, expended 
 large sums on public improvements, rebuilt the capital 
 destroyed by Nero, erected a temple to Peace, 1 and 
 a new Forum. He patronized learning and learned men, 
 made grants of money to professors, and soon united all 
 suffrages under him. His son Titus took command of 
 the army of the East, and by him Jerusalem was in¬ 
 vested and razed (A. D. 70). 2 That a rupture had 
 afterward taken place between the emperor and Apol¬ 
 lonius is evident, the cause of which appears to have been 
 as follows : after the above related interviews Apollonius 
 discontinued his visits to the emperor, though often 
 invited and written to for that purpose. “ Nero,” said 
 Apollonius, “ had given liberty to Greece, 3 and per¬ 
 formed a work more glorious than might have been 
 expected of him from the general texture of his char¬ 
 acter; the consequence of which was, the towns and 
 cities of Greece flourished and resumed their ancient 
 
 1 This was esteemed the finest 
 temple of all Rome. Here were 
 lodged the spoils that were brought 
 from the temple of Jerusalem, and 
 it afterward abounded with an infin¬ 
 ity of other riches. This temple, 
 we are told by Josephus, who was 
 in Rome at that time, was built im¬ 
 mediately after the taking of Jerusa¬ 
 lem, when the Roman Empire had 
 put an end to all their wars, and 
 enjoyed peace on every side. The 
 temple is said to have been nearly 
 two hundred feet in breadth and 
 
 three hundred in length, and lined 
 on the inside throughout with brass 
 plates. One of its noble pillars now 
 stands before the church of Saint 
 Maria Maggiore. There is a group 
 of figures at the Famese palace 
 which was cut from the lower part 
 of one of the pillars. 
 
 2 Tacitus, Hist., b. v. xxi. p. 5. 
 
 3 Freedom to govern themselves, 
 and their cities, free cities.— Ber¬ 
 wick’s Life of Apollonius of Tyana, 
 p. 296; also, Vita Neronis (Tille- 
 ment, 1782). 
 
228 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 Doric and Attic manners; to which may be added that 
 a harmony sprang up among them unknown even in their 
 best days, and they felt little oppression under the 
 Roman yoke. Of this liberty, which produced such 
 good results, Vespasian deprived them, under the pre¬ 
 tense that some disturbance or other had taken place. 1 
 Apollonius believed that the offense did not warrant 
 such a mark of displeasure, which drew from him the 
 following letter: 
 
 “ ‘Apollonius to the Emperor Vespasian. 
 
 “ ‘ Health — You have enslaved Greece, as fame says, 
 by which you imagine that you have done more than 
 Xerxes, without calling to mind that you have sunk 
 below Nero. Farewell.’ ” 2 
 
 Apollonius, being a Greek, was tenacious of the fame 
 and liberties of Greece, and had little concern for the 
 Roman empire. 3 Vespasian was unequal to the great 
 task of restitution ; to supply his coffers, he sold offices 
 to candidates and pardons to criminals ; prefectorates 
 to the highest bidder, and “ gorged the games ” ; he 
 became a financial huckster, 4 rather than an econoitiist; 
 he impoverished senators and consuls. These were 
 the charges preferred against him by Apollonius. 
 Nero was no orator or poet, but he was by no means 
 insensible to eloquence and art. Of these personal 
 attainments, Vespasian was entirely devoid. Had he 
 made verses, for which he had too much good sense, 
 
 1 Pausanias , vol. ii. p. 212. toriarum, grcece et lat., etc. (H. 
 
 2 Apollonius de Tyane , etc., par Stephanus, 1592), p. 62 , et seq. 
 Chassang, p. 226. 4 Suetonius, Les doaze Ce'sars : 
 
 3 Appiani Alexandrini rom. His- Vespasien. 
 
OF TYANA . 
 
 229 
 
 they would have been worse than Nero’s, and his elo¬ 
 quence, unsupported by his thirty legions, would not 
 have gained him a single vote in the senate or a single 
 cause in the courts. But he was a brave man, and a suc¬ 
 cessful general; he had tamed the fierce Celts of Britain, 
 and the fiercer rabble of Judea; he could not inaugu¬ 
 rate revolutions, nor direct their course, but he could 
 stand and battle the whirlwind without flinching; and 
 when it had subsided, he impersonated a compromise 
 of either a glorious or an inglorious peace. Before 
 Vespasian left Egypt, the Alexandrians gave him the 
 nickname of Cybrosactes, the scullion, on account of 
 his stinginess and greediness. 1 
 
 Apollonius now determined to go up the Nile, not, 
 however, until he had paid his respects to ^Elius Pro¬ 
 motes, an Egyptian physician, who wrote in Greek. 
 He had invited Apollonius to become his guest. After 
 an interchange of courtesies with Promotes, he set out 
 for Upper Egypt, accompanied by the celebrated stoic 
 
 1 There are many coins of Ves¬ 
 pasian confirming nearly every im¬ 
 portant act of his life. There are 
 no less than thirteen Roman coins 
 commemorating the capture of Je¬ 
 rusalem. They are quite similar; 
 all have the effigy of Vespasian, and 
 the obverse, Judea, represented by 
 a female sitting upon the ground 
 behind a palm-tree, weeping; some¬ 
 times accompanied by Victory, stand¬ 
 ing.— Cf Humphrey’s Coin Col¬ 
 lector’s Manual, p. 328. 
 
 Some of the coins of Vespasian 
 represent him with his son Titus 
 and Domitian; some bear date at 
 
 Antioch, in Syria. They are of 
 gold, copper, and bronze. He is 
 represented on some with his wife 
 Flavia Domitilla, and with her 
 daughter Domitilla.— Imperatorum 
 Romanorum numismata , a Pompejo 
 M ad Heraclium ab A Occone olim 
 congesta , etc. (1683, F. Mediobarbi 
 Biragi), p. 220. 
 
 There was a coin struck at Rome, 
 commemorating the completion of 
 the temple of Peace. All of the 
 coins attributed to the mother of 
 Vespasian are false.— Observationes 
 et Conjectures in numismata queedam 
 antiqua rcapep^ov (L. Begeri, 1691). 
 
) 
 
 230 A POLL ONI US 
 
 philosopher, Euphrates, an Egyptian or Syrian by 
 birth, whom we have before mentioned, and of whom 
 we know but little. He was troubled with an incurable 
 disease, and afterward sought and obtained permission 
 from Hadrian to commit suicide (A. D. 121). Pliny has 
 mentioned him, and given him a good name. Epictetus 
 spoke of him, admired his eloquence, and commended 
 him for his many virtues. Eunapius also refers to him 
 by name. Euphrates did not like Apollonius. The 
 cause of the difference seems to have been the assump¬ 
 tion of sacred honors by Apollonius. He did not 
 believe in divine inspiration, and consequently thought 
 Apollonius guilty of deceit; and he neglected no oppor¬ 
 tunity to cast ridicule upon the apologists of divine 
 interposition in the affairs of man. 1 
 
 So long as the emperor remained in Egypt, Euphra¬ 
 tes refrained from giving expression to his dislike ; but 
 after the emperor’s departure he gave full vent to his 
 passion, without sparing reproaches, and on one occa¬ 
 sion threatened him with a billet of wood. Apollonius 
 conducted himself like a philosopher, and answered all 
 that he said with the coolest reason. Eusebius has 
 made some just remarks upon the difference between 
 Apollonius and Euphrates. He considers the latter a 
 very celebrated philosopher. Euphrates wrote some 
 books against the Tyanean, which Philostratus promised 
 to refute ; no such refutation has reached our day. The 
 company of Apollonius consisted of thirty followers, 
 pupils, or disciples, or persons desirous of benefiting by 
 his addresses or discourses. Menippus, one of the 
 
 1 Apollonius de Tyane (Chassang), p. 225; also, Apologie pour les 
 Grands Hommes soupgon?ies de Magie, par G. Naude, p. 175. 
 
OF TYANA . 
 
 231 
 
 number, who had just completed his term of silence 
 and was now entitled to address others, was left behind. 
 Dioscorides, whose constitution was unable to bear the 
 fatigues and exposures of a long journey, was advised 
 by Apollonius not to go. He then assembled the rest; 
 for though many had deserted at Arica, where he 
 stopped on his way to Rome in Nero’s time, many had 
 joined him since, with whom he talked of the journey 
 he was about to take in the following manner : 
 
 “ I think it right, my friends, to use an Olympic 
 exodium with you. The people of Elis, on the approach 
 of the Olympic games, exercise their athletes, for the 
 space of thirty days, in their own town. The people 
 of Delphi and Corinth, at the celebration of their games, 
 address all those who are to contend at them in this 
 manner: ‘ Enter the stadium, and show yourselves men 
 worthy of victory.’ The Eleans, when they come to 
 Olympia, thus address the athletse: ‘You who have 
 endured labors fit for the palaestra who have come to 
 Olympia, having never manifested physical or mental 
 impotency, go on bravely. If otherwise, retire.’ ” After 
 this address, twenty of his disciples determined to re¬ 
 main behind with Menippus, at Alexandria, and await 
 his return, among whom was Euphrates. The remain¬ 
 ing ten sacrificed to the gods for a good journey, and 
 set out for the pyramids, mounted on camels, with the 
 Nile and the great Maoris on the right. They some¬ 
 times traveled in boats, that they might see everything 
 worthy of notice. The vessel in which they sailed was 
 not unlike the sacred galley of legation. 1 
 
 1 0 sd>pic> the name given to the ship in which the Athenians made their 
 annual procession to Delos. 
 
232 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 No city, temple, or sacred spot on the Nile was 
 passed unobserved. They arrived at Sais, ancient cap¬ 
 ital of Lower Egypt, 1 on the day of the celebration of 
 the festival of Neith, 2 —Apollonius says Minerva, 3 from 
 the similarity of the rites. Neith was the goddess of ' 
 the lower heavens; the inventress and deity of weav¬ 
 ing ; her emblem was the shuttle ; she was also called 
 “ Mother of the Sun ” and “ Mistress of Heaven. 4 Her 
 temple, the largest in all Egypt, was the palace, or citadel, 
 and stood upon a plot of ground four stadia (one-half 
 mile) square, surrounded by a wall fifty feet thick, in 
 the middle of which stood the temple. Solon.visited this 
 temple, and the priests honored him with an interview. 
 They told him the story of Atlantis, which was sub¬ 
 merged nine thousand years before his time. (See Plato’s 
 Critias.) Apollonius also visited the temple of Ammon- 
 Ra, sometimes Horus, sacred/ to the sun or deity of 
 midday, the soul of the world. Ra was considered the 
 most striking manifestation of the great god Pthah, in¬ 
 carnation of Apis; his statue in this temple was with 
 the head of a sparrow-hawk. 5 His greatest temple was 
 at Memphis. Here was also the temple dedicated to 
 the worship of the bull Ammon-Ehi, called by the 
 Greeks Mnevis. He was the rival of the great bull 
 Apis, worshiped with such magnificence at Memphis. 6 
 
 The festival of Neith, 7 or Minerva, at Sais was 
 
 1 Letters of Lepsius (Bohn ed., 
 * 8 53 )> P- 43 - 
 
 2 Mythology and Fables of the 
 Ancients (Banier), vol. i. p. 492; 
 History of A ncient Egypt, by Geo. 
 Rawlinson, M. A., vol. i. p. 357. 
 
 3 See Herodotus, ii. 168. 
 
 4 Archaic Dictionary , Neith. 
 
 5 Archaic Dictionary , Pthah ; 
 Manuel d’Histoire Ancienne (Le- 
 normant), vol. i. p. 356. 
 
 6 Diodorus Siculus , 1. xvi. p. 20. 
 
 7 NtTouxpic, Erastosthenes inter- 
 prets Minerva victorious. 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 233 
 
 observed in an illumination of the city. On a particular 
 night all who intended to participate in the fete were 
 required to light a number of lamps in the open air 
 around their dwellings. 1 And it was considered of the 
 greatest consequence to do honor to the deity by a 
 proper and unstinted performance of this rite. Apol¬ 
 lonius spent much of his time in this temple, from 
 which he copied the following inscription: “I am that 
 which has been, is, and will be, and no one of mortals 
 has lifted my robe. The fruit which I brought forth 
 became the sun.” 2 Every fourth year the festival of 
 Minerva was attended by all Egypt. 3 The Nile for 
 several days was overspread with barges decked with 
 every conceivable ornament and device; each barge 
 had its musicians and dancers. The banks of the river 
 were crowded on either side as the great procession of 
 barges passed; scurrilous and obscene jests were in¬ 
 dulged in, between the worshipers and spectators. 4 
 The women who were upon the water conducted them¬ 
 selves in a manner too immodest to be described. 5 On 
 
 1 T-jj bpvq oooop.a ussxat Aoyvo- 
 xatp.. The festival of lamp burning. 
 
 2 Larcher’s Notes on Herodotus , 
 2 vols. (London, 1844), vol. i. p. 
 275 ; Pliny, Nat. History , b. x. p. 
 258 ; The Geography of Herodotus , 
 by Talboys Wheeler, F. R. G. S., 
 P- 374 ; Geschichte AEgypteus (Wei- 
 demann), p. 155. 
 
 3 Aphrodite, Hera, Juno, Mylitta, 
 were all the same. 
 
 4 Hist. Ancient Egypt (Rawlin- 
 son), vol. i. p. 434. 
 
 5 But the pagans were not alone 
 culpable for disgraceful religious 
 
 30 
 
 festivals, for as late as the begin¬ 
 ning of the fifth century we learn 
 from Buchardus, that on the most 
 sacred of Christian commemoration 
 days in Africa, dancing was prac¬ 
 ticed in the open streets of a most 
 infamous character, accompanied 
 with lascivious language and ges¬ 
 tures, to the utter disgust of all re¬ 
 spectable citizens, and accompanied 
 by prostitution. These vile cere¬ 
 monies were not confined to the 
 lower orders of the Christians, for 
 the clergy themselves took part in 
 them, etc., etc.— Knight’s Worship 
 
234 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 arriving at Sais they abandoned themselves to mirth 
 and reveling, and more wine was consumed in the city 
 during this festival than in the three years beside. 
 
 This, Apollonius affirms, is not an overdrawn relation 
 of all the festivals of Egypt. There were many other 
 sacred festivals observed at Sais during the year; they 
 were usually held on the new moon and harvest time. 
 The mysteries of Isis were also observed there. Apol¬ 
 lonius made but a short stay at this holy city, being 
 anxious to reach Memphis before the inundation set 
 in. They left Sais, and on the third day arrived at He¬ 
 liopolis, “ City of the Sun,” 1 which had once been pre¬ 
 eminently the great center of philosophy and learning; 
 it was the Athens of Egypt. Manetho, the historian, 
 two hundred and fifty years before Apollonius, had 
 been the keeper of the sacred archives at Heliopolis . 2 
 Colotes, a follower and pupil of Epicurus, was a native 
 of this city . 3 But this ancient seat of learning has never 
 since the siege of Cambyses recovered from that spolia¬ 
 tion ; the streets were deserted ; its schools were empty 
 and its teachers silent. Apollonius was, however, en¬ 
 abled to identify the houses in which the divine Plato 
 and Eudoxus dwelt and studied . 4 He also visited the 
 neglected obelisks erected by Pheron, son of Sesostris, 
 
 of the Priapus, p. 171. The com¬ 
 mand of St. Augustine to the women 
 of his day who attend the sacred 
 Christian festivals needs no com¬ 
 mentary here.— St. Augustine, Ser¬ 
 mon, clii. 
 
 1 Daleth, or the Homestead of the 
 Nations (Clark), p. 44. 
 
 2 Lepsius’ Letters (Bohn ed., 
 1853), p. 46; Manetho and die 
 
 Hundssternperiode (Boeck, 1846); 
 Hist. Ancient Egypt (Rawlinson), 
 vol. ii. pp. 2, 6 , 9, etc. 
 
 3 Lepsius, p. 448; Hist, of Egypt 
 (Brugsch), vol. i. p. 404. 
 
 4 Geographical System of Herodo¬ 
 tus Examined, etc. (Rennell), vol. 
 ii. p. 176; Letters of Lepsius, by 
 Horners (Bohn ed., 1853), p. 
 
 384- 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 235 
 
 out of gratitude for his restoration from blindness; 1 they 
 were dedicated to the sun (Helios); these things en¬ 
 couraged Apollonius in the study of philosophy and 
 the practice of virtue. Having seen all that was worthy 
 of attention at Heliopolis, they commenced their jour¬ 
 ney through the canal of Trajan, and on their route 
 crossed the canal first made by Necho, and which now 
 entered ‘the Nile at Babylon, nearly opposite the great 
 pyramid. 2 It originally united with the Nile at Bu- 
 bastes, eight hundred stadia lower down, 3 and, pass¬ 
 ing through the Bitter lakes, entered the Red Sea at 
 Clysmon, about eight stadia to the south of Arsinoe, 
 now (a. d. 69) far inland, but which was formerly a sea¬ 
 port of the Red Sea, 4 the sea having retreated. 5 
 
 Memphis, situated at the apex of the Delta, 6 was the 
 capital of Egypt before the days of Alexandria, and 
 was also the seat of the worship of the ox-god as the 
 type of Osiris, whose festival was observed in the 
 most magnificent manner annually at the commence¬ 
 ment of the Nile inundation. 7 The bull deity of 
 
 1 Cf. Description Historique et 
 Geographique des Plaines d’Heliop¬ 
 olis, et de Memphis (Paris, 1755). 
 
 2 Blavatsky, vol. i. p. 516. 
 
 3 Here was the ancient temple of 
 goddess Besheh,or 5 'Apxefu«; aypla, 
 or the Grecian Diana. 
 
 4 Horner’s Translation of Lep- 
 sius’’ Letters (Bohn ed., 1853), p. 
 441, etc. 
 
 5 EgpyPs Place in Universal His¬ 
 tory, vol. iv. p. 462. 
 
 6 Rennell’s Geography of Herodo¬ 
 tus, vol. ii. p. 115. 
 
 7 This worship came into Egypt 
 
 from India. The country (India) 
 was full of sacred white bulls. And 
 it is strange how this bovine wor¬ 
 ship fastened itself upon the Chris¬ 
 tian superstition in England.— See 
 Moor’s Oriental Fragments, p. 516. 
 As late as the sixteenth century 
 vows and oblations were made to 
 the white bull; he was never yoked, 
 but was paraded through the streets 
 of, Christian cities and at the gates 
 of monasteries.— See Register of the 
 Monastery of St. Edmonds bury, 
 called “Corolla variaf by Rev. Wil¬ 
 liam Hawkins, of Pladleigh (1834). 
 
236 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 Memphis was an incarnation of Pthah. The “ father of 
 beginnings,” he was the personification of embryonic 
 life. Apollonius describes his statue as that of a de¬ 
 formed child; on his head was figured the scarabeus, 
 and he holds two serpents against his chest, and like 
 Horus stands upon crocodiles. His most wonder¬ 
 ful temple was at Memphis, and near it was another 
 dedicated to the pigmy god Cabeiri, into which none 
 but priests entered. 1 On the south of the temple of 
 Pthah was a richly adorned inclosure, in which was the 
 sanctuary of Aphrodite, and was supposed to have 
 originated while Helen was in Egypt under the protec¬ 
 tion of Proteus. Aphrodite was a stranger in Egypt. 
 
 Apollonius says the most elegant temple of all Mem¬ 
 phis 2 was that of Isis, which he examined, as well as 
 that dedicated to Demeter, twenty stadia from the city. 
 It was a large and handsome structure. The Memphites 
 delighted in all kinds of lively amusements, buffoonery, 
 and bull-fights, which were exhibited frequently in the 
 avenue leading to the temple of Vulcan. 3 Here, as 
 before stated, and at many other places in Egypt (as 
 Ra at Heliopolis), the worship of the ox Apis was car¬ 
 ried to the highest degree of extravagance. They did 
 not worship him as an emblem or symbol, but as a 
 god. Strabo says, Apis was identical with Osiris, and 
 Apollonius holds that the worship is the same as that 
 of Serapis at Alexandria,— he had a bull’s head, and 
 was often called Apis-Osiris, or Serapis. Those who 
 
 1 Samuel Sharpe’s History of 3 ’'Hcpaicto?, son ofZeus, worker 
 
 Egypt, vol. i. p. 192. in metals : he forged the thunder- 
 
 2 Lepsius ’ Letters (Bohn, ed., bolts of Jupiter, and fabricated the 
 
 *853)5 P> 14; Rawlinson’s Hist, of shield of Achilles. Lemnos was his 
 Ancient Egypt, vol. ii. p. 511. favorite residence on earth. 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 237 
 
 wished to consult this god first burned incense on an 
 altar. The same ceremonies were performed in honor 
 of Ammon-Ra, the sun-god. And they also sacrificed 
 to Ammon-Ra on the fourth day of every month. 1 Apol¬ 
 lonius says there were eight principal gods worshiped 
 at Memphis. Damis thinks the next twenty were 
 equally important. 
 
 On leaving Memphis they retraced their steps on the 
 left of the Nile to the pyramids, 2 Apollonius dis¬ 
 coursing, in the mean time, concerning the pyramids, 
 which, he said, were not the work of the Egyptians, 
 first, ‘‘because they resemble none of their structures 
 at the present time; secondly, the Egyptians have 
 always been a very religious people, sincerely attached 
 to their gods, whom they recognize everywhere in 
 statues, inscriptions, and maxims; all their temples, 
 tombs, public edifices of every nature soever, even 
 their private houses, have recognition of their gods in 
 some of these forms. 3 But the pyramids, the largest 
 structures in existence, make no declaration, no prayer, 
 have no god, no altar of sacrifice, no hierophant. 
 Every fact known to us of the pyramids is a negation 
 of every fact known to us of the Egyptians.” 4 In 
 viewing Egypt from the summit of the pyramids (at 
 7ct)pa|ji§sc;), Apollonius describes it as a vast extended 
 oblong plain or valley, lying between two ranges of 
 
 1 Letters from Egypt, Ethiopia, 
 etc., by Dr. Rich and Lepsius 
 (Bohn, 1853), pp. 126, 223; Catul¬ 
 lus and Tibullus, Kelly (Bohn, ed.), 
 
 p. 125. 
 
 2 Daleth, or the Homestead of the 
 
 Nations (Clark), p. 57. 
 
 3 Rawlinson’s Ancient Egypt , vol. 
 i. p. 209. 
 
 4 A rchaic Dictionary, Pyramid ; 
 Pyramids and Temples of Gizeh 
 (Petrie, 1885); Wilkinson, Popular 
 Account of the Egyptians, vol. ii. 
 p. 287. 
 
238 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 mountains, the Arabian on the east, and the Lybian 
 on the west, with the divine Nile dividing it in nearly 
 two equal parts, and beyond which on either side 
 the desert spreads out a sea of verdureless immen¬ 
 sity. He says the pyramids cannot be viewed without 
 astonishment, and thinks they were constructed, firstly, 
 and chiefly, as tombs; secondly, as places of worship; 
 thirdly, to gratify the vanity of the builders — a people 
 who inhabited the country anterior to the Egyptians; 1 
 they also probably were for purposes similar to the 
 pagodas of India, which were always erected on the 
 banks of their sacred rivers, 2 and contained a well, in 
 which were preserved the holy waters, and a chamber 
 in which the priests performed the mysterious rites of 
 their religion. “ The more one sees of the great pyra¬ 
 mid, ” says Apollonius, “ the more does he become im¬ 
 pressed with its vastness.” And, notwithstanding the 
 great antiquity of Memphis, the pyramid overshadowed 
 its builders. The constructors are unknown ; they are 
 without names. Apollonius says the meaning of Mem¬ 
 phis is “land of the pyramid.” 
 
 The third great pyramid which they visited is said 
 to have been built by Rhodopis, a Thracian courtesan 
 (ToSomoq staipsc 'pvaivco?); an idea which Damis scouts. 3 
 
 1 Cf. The Pyramids of Gizeh, etc., 
 3 vols. (Col. Vyse), vol. i. p. 3. 
 
 2 B lava tsky, vol. i. p. 520 ; Tem¬ 
 ples of Jagha-Nauth and Soma- 
 Nauth (Vincent), p. 82. 
 
 3 She was the servant of Iadmin, 
 a Samian, and very beautiful. yEsop 
 was a servant to the same master 
 at the same time. Xanthus took 
 her to Egypt to gain money for the 
 
 use of her person, but she was ran¬ 
 somed by Charaxus, of Mitylene, 
 the brother of Sappho, the poetess. 
 Rhodopis continued to remain in 
 Egypt, and became exceedingly rich. 
 It is said that one day as Rhodopis 
 was bathing at Naucrates, an eagle 
 took up one of her sandals and flew 
 away with it, and dropped it in the 
 lap of the Egyptian king; struck by 
 
OF TYANA . 
 
 239 
 
 On leaving Memphis they pursued their journey by 
 boat; in the mean time, as they progressed, an ex¬ 
 change of knowledge took place everywhere between 
 their party and such learned Egyptians as they chanced 
 to meet. 1 Damis says in the course of their navigation 
 they passed innumerable towns and villages, and visited 
 many cities and temples, the mere mention of which 
 had become tedious to him, for Egypt swarmed 
 with inhabitants, and abounded in more towns and 
 cities than any other country on earth. 2 Many of the 
 villages were adorned with trees of different species, as 
 palms, peach, and groves of acacia. On the Lybian 
 side a large region had of old been overflowed by the 
 Nile, and having no outlet the water became stagnant; 
 to remedy this, an ancient king, Amenemhat III., had 
 dug out the mud, and constructed a lake, which 
 he connected with the Nile by a canal at Herodea, 
 thus preventing the overflow. In this great lake were 
 many islands, with temples and obelisks; also a city, 
 sacred to the crocodiles ; it was called Moeris, after the 
 name of the king, but Apollonius says Mceris signifies 
 “marsh,” from which it is more likely to have been 
 derived. 3 Antinoe, Lycopolis, Abydos, Tentyra, were 
 all visited and explored. 
 
 the strange occurrence, and the 
 beauty of the sandal, he took no 
 rest until he had found out the fair 
 owner, and when he had discovered 
 her he made her his queen.—Lar- 
 cher’s Notes on Herodotus , vol. i. p. 
 
 363 - 
 
 1 Berwick, c. xliii. p. 299. 
 
 2 20,000 inhabited cities, says He¬ 
 rodotus, ii. 177. 
 
 3 Apollonius discoursed upon all 
 the great questions which had agi¬ 
 tated the savants of the world for 
 ages before his day. Whence the 
 people of Egypt? The age of the 
 pyramids ? Their architects ? The 
 cause of the overflow of the Nile ? 
 Its source ? And he compared the 
 valley of the Nile to the Indus 
 in its flora, fauna, Nile overflow; 
 
240 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 At Coptos, the point where the route of commerce 
 diverged from the Nile and crossed the desert to the 
 sea-port Berenice, Apollonius had contemplated remain¬ 
 ing, to await expected news from Rome. This was a 
 place of great business activity. Damis declared that 
 the passage-boats and merchant-ships outnumbered 
 those of Alexandria; and the uproar and confusion of 
 boatmen, sailors, merchants, and camel-drivers at the 
 landing were past endurance ; each seemed engaged in 
 a struggle which comprehended life and death, and all 
 this tumult and bluster, Damis says, culminated like the 
 “ labors of Sisyphus, in accomplishing nothing,” but 
 noise. Berenice was a city built by Philadelphus on 
 the Red Sea, for the accommodation of commerce; 1 it 
 was twelve days’ journey from Coptos, and all the trans¬ 
 portation between these two depots was performed upon 
 camels. Merchandise from the East was unladen at 
 Berenice, and conveyed overland to Coptos, and sent 
 down the Nile to Alexandria, whence it was distributed 
 to the ports of Greece and Rome, while goods intended 
 for the East were shipped at Berenice. Merchants and 
 
 and on all subjects except the 
 source of the Nile he probably 
 knew nearly as much as we do to¬ 
 day. 
 
 Mr. Tooke, in his translation of 
 Lucian, points out the route philos¬ 
 ophy took from the Brachmans to 
 the Ethiopians, and thence to the 
 Egyptians, and he perfectly agrees 
 with Herder (both of whom confirm 
 Diodorus Siculus, by Count Volney 
 and by Voltaire) that the Egyptians 
 were a people of southern Asia, and 
 that they came into Egypt by sea at 
 
 Upper Egypt, and spread them¬ 
 selves down the Nile; this would 
 seem to be so, inasmuch as the 
 oldest Egyptian remains, and the 
 rudest, are to be found in Upper 
 Egypt. — Voyage d'Egypte et de 
 Nubie, par F. L. Norden, 2 vols. 
 (Copen.), vol. ii. p. 184, etc.; Sabcean 
 Researches, a Series of Essays de¬ 
 livered at the Royal Institute of 
 Great Britain, by John Landseer, F. 
 R. S. (1823), 4to, p. 91. 
 
 1 Indian Travels of Apollonius 
 of Tyana (Priaulx),pp. 160, i6i,etc. 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 241 
 
 traders usually remained with their goods until the 
 dog-star rose 1 with the sun, when they set sail for the 
 frankincense country, which Apollonius supposes to 
 be the country of the Indians. 2 From Coptos Apollo¬ 
 nius and his disciples proceeded by camels to Thebes, 
 “ The City of Thrones,” 3 the sight of which kindled anew 
 his admiration for the old monarchs chronicled in the 
 books of Homer. “Memphis,” said he, “is older than 
 history, and yet it was built as a rival of Thebes. 4 Of all 
 the states of Egypt, Thebes was the most religious; 5 
 here Osiris sat upon a throne of gold, in the great tem¬ 
 ple of Karnak, which was approached through a sacred 
 way of crouching figures (sphinxes), with ram’s heads. 
 Damis says there were sixteen hundred of them. 6 The 
 
 1 Dositheus, a Greek astronomer 
 (b. C. 220), says the dog-star rises 
 heliacally twenty-three days after 
 midsummer; Merton says twenty- 
 eight days, and Euctemon thirty-one 
 days. The Egyptian coins of Alex¬ 
 andria and Thebes, celebrating this 
 astronomical event, were very nu¬ 
 merous, and all the Roman coins 
 bearing the fabled return of the 
 phoenix had a similar signification.— 
 Humphrey’s Coin Manual, vol. ii. 
 pp. 558-676. See also, Bentley’s 
 Hindu Astronomy. 
 
 2 History of Egypt, etc., by Sam¬ 
 uel Sharpe, 2 vols. (1859), vol. ii. 
 pp. 93-154. The whereabouts of 
 the frankincense country spoken of 
 by Apollonius we are all unable to 
 conj ecture. But that a large Rom an 
 trade was carried on with various 
 places in India is confirmed in the 
 frequency that Roman coins occur 
 
 31 
 
 in the archaeological researches of 
 that country; and the great quanti¬ 
 ties in which they are found, lead 
 us to suppose that they had been 
 secreted by merchants who had ex¬ 
 pected at some future time to recover 
 them. It is but a few years since that 
 a great quantity of Roman coins were 
 dug up at Calicut; circumstances at 
 once led to the supposition, from 
 the date of the coinage and other 
 facts, that they had been deposited 
 by some Alexandrian merchant, who 
 had never returned. 
 
 3 Sharpe’s History of Egypt, etc., 
 vol. i. p. 96; Pyramids of Gizeh, 
 and a Voyage into Upper Egypt, 
 by Col. Howard Vyse, vol. i. p. 30. 
 
 4 Ancient Art and Mythology 
 (Knight), p. 106. 
 
 5 Archaic Dictionary, Thebes. 
 
 6 Daleth, or the Homestead of the 
 Nations (Clark), p. 197. 
 
242 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 sun-god, Phra, also had a magnificent temple at Thebes. 
 Here Maut, ‘the Mother,’ the passive principle, was 
 worshiped in connection with Ammon-Ra. There 
 were four great temples here, dedicated to Jupi¬ 
 ter Ammon. As Karnak was the sacred region of 
 Thebes, so was Luxor 1 the region of its palaces.” 
 “Thebes stood,” said Apollonius, “in the midst of a 
 plain sixteen hundred stadia wide, guarded by mountains 
 on either side; on the west it extended to the hills ; it 
 was two hundred stadia in ambit.” Spending no unnec¬ 
 essary time at Thebes, Apollonius and his disciples 
 pressed on to Latopolis and Ombos. At the last named 
 city was a grand double temple where they worshiped 
 two forms of Horus, sun-god, and son of Isis and Osiris. 
 The crocodile was sacred to this city, and was wor¬ 
 shiped in the form of the crocodile-headed god, Sarak. 2 
 While at Tentyra, or Denderah, they worshiped the 
 goddess Athor, and captured and killed crocodiles (''octs 
 T uoXspiooc TuspisTuooat). This created disturbances, and 
 
 1 The magnificence of this region 
 (Luxor), the parent of which was in 
 India, has, by the grandeur of its 
 enduring monuments, excited the 
 admiration of all ages. Beauty was 
 crowned at Luxor (city of Thebes). 
 It was so named from Lukshur, in 
 Beloochistan. The present town is 
 in obscurity. The splendor of the 
 architecture of the Egyptian Luxor 
 will be the admiration of many 
 generations to come.— See Its Five 
 Greater Temples , by de W. Abney. 
 It was connected with the capital 
 and temples of Karnak (Blavatsky, 
 vol. i. p. 554), at Thebes by a 
 
 grand avenue of crio-sphinxes, a 
 mile and a half long, terminating in 
 obelisks and colossi. The great 
 colonnade along the river front was 
 the most magnificent structure in 
 existence; it was erected by Horus. 
 — Geographical System of Herodotus 
 Explained, etc. (Rennell), vol. i. p. 
 247 ; Archaic Dictionary, Biograph¬ 
 ical ,, Historical, and Mythological, 
 etc., by W. R. Cooper, F. R. A. S., 
 art. Luxor. 
 
 2 Analysis of Antient Mythology 
 (Bryant), vol. iii. p. 257; Mythology 
 and Fables of the Ancients (Banier), 
 vol. i. p. 551. 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 243 
 
 the two cities, although only about one hundred miles 
 apart, were continually at war, and were alternately 
 sacked until the Roman armies put an end to it. 1 The 
 holy animals of the different cities had their own sacred 
 buildings and temples; they were washed, anointed, 
 richly appareled, and slept at night on soft cushions. 
 Each house had its holy beast, and the sorrow of the 
 household when it died was like that for a beloved 
 child. If the sacred cat died, all the members of the 
 household cut off the hair of their eyebrows, but if a 
 dog died they shaved their head entire (Sopsovmt tyjv 
 aXyjv). And the whole nation went into mourning 
 on the death of the sacred ox; he had certain marks 
 which betokened his divinity, and when duly recog¬ 
 nized was lodged in a splendid temple, and had divine 
 honors paid to him. 2 
 
 With all these absurdities Apollonius became highly 
 provoked. 3 As they approached the sacred island 
 
 1 The quarrels growing out of 
 this antagonism are celebrated in 
 the Fifteenth Satire of Juvenal. 
 
 2 Osiris is sometimes represented 
 with a bull’s head.— Herodotus, iii. 
 28. Apis in Memphis was re¬ 
 garded as the eidolon or visible 
 representation of the soul of Osiris. 
 — Plutarch, Isis and Osiris. 
 
 3 Wolves had their sacred cities; 
 every city and every month had 
 their divinities, in the form of asps, 
 vultures, crocodiles, fishes, cats, 
 dogs, and these divinities had their 
 sacred history. There was an 
 Egyptian work, by Apollonius, sur- 
 named Orapios, mentioned by The- 
 ophilus, patriarch of Antioch, en¬ 
 
 titled The Divine Book, and which 
 gave the secret history and origin 
 of all the gods of Egypt; and an¬ 
 other sacred work, spoken of by 
 Ammianus Marcellinus, which gave 
 the precise age and genealogy of the 
 bull Apis.— Cf Iamblichus, de mys- 
 teriis vFgypiorum, Chaldceorum, As- 
 syriorum; Proclus, in Platonicum 
 Alcibiadem ; Proclus, de sacrificio et 
 magia (Aldus, 1497), fol. i n ed. 
 
 A tomb opened at Marietti bore 
 this inscription : “ This tomb was 
 sealed in the thirteenth year of 
 Rameses II.” (3700 years ago). 
 The hieroglyphics inside the tomb 
 attest that herein was deposited the 
 god Apis, who was born in the six- 
 
244 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 of Philse, “the beautiful/’ Apollonius felt a divine 
 impulse imparted from the hallowed history of the 
 place. 1 Here .Osiris rested, and the most solemn oath 
 of an Egyptian is, “ By him who slept at Philse,” 2 —for 
 while Philae observed the worship of Isis and Osiris, 
 the formulary and licentiousness of an Alexandrian 
 priesthood were here unknown. Her oracles and 
 sacred groves had not yet been corrupted by the gold 
 of the conquerors; 3 and so venerated was the city that 
 kings uncrowned and philosophers uncovered them¬ 
 selves on entering its gates. It was thought more 
 noble to rule over this island, nine stadia long, than to 
 direct the destinies of all Egypt; and every devout 
 Egyptian bowed his head in humility when Philse was 
 named. “ All the great temples,” says Apollonius, 
 “had their festivals, but Philse surpassed them all.” 
 He paid his devotions in the great temple of Am¬ 
 mon-Ra, and departed for Meroe, at which was a 
 temple of Jupiter Ammon. 4 He explored the pyra- 
 
 teenth year of Necho, on the seventh 3 It was under the sacred groves 
 of Paophi; that he was installed in of Philse that Plutarch wrote his 
 the temple of Pthah, in the first year treatise on Isis and Osiris. He 
 of Psammetichus II., on the ninth dedicated it to Kleia, the high- 
 of Epiphi; that the manifestation priestess of the temple, for she had 
 of god toward heaven (died) took inspired its pages. This philoso- 
 place in the twelfth year of Oura- pher was unable to explain the 
 phres, on the twenty-first of Payni; mythology of the Egyptian religion, 
 and that he lived seventeen years, but he found a clear and definite 
 six months, and five days.— See meaning in these two great deities. 
 Mariettas Choix de Monuments et de Herodotus says, “ The only gods 
 Dessins de converts ou executes pen - really worshiped in Egypt.” 
 dant le Deblaiement du Serapeum 4 Meroe was located in Ethiopia, 
 de Memphis, par M. Aug. Marietti called an island by the ancients, al- 
 (Paris, 1857), p. 11, etc. though not really so. It was the 
 
 1 Daleth, or the Homestead of the chief emporium of trade between 
 
 Nations (Clark), p. 243. Egypt, Ethiopia, Arabia, and India. 
 
 2 Archaic Dictionary , Philse. —Lucan’s Pharsalia, b. iv. 1333. 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 245 
 
 mids of Meroe, and went to the confines of Ethiopia, 
 on the east side of the Nile, called Sicaminus, 1 the 
 “ Ultima Thule ” of Egypt. At this place four great 
 ways meet — commercial routes. Here it is that the 
 Greeks and Egyptians transact trade with the barba¬ 
 rians, and the various articles of merchandise are 
 here piled up in heaps waiting for exchange and 
 guarded by only a single unarmed sentinel; the traders 
 never meet. The merchandise consisted of gold in 
 wedges, unstamped, and flax, elephants’ tusks, and 
 many varieties of aromatic roots, perfumes, spices, 
 and gums. This is the method in which trade is car¬ 
 ried on with the barbarians of inner Ethiopia, 2 — the 
 Greeks and Egyptians placing in heaps as much of 
 their goods, consisting of cotton stuffs and implements 
 of the chase or war and trinkets for personal adorn¬ 
 ment, as they are willing to barter for a corresponding 
 quantity of the goods of the Ethiopians, and then 
 retire; this is an offer for exchange. If the savage 
 accepts the terms, he removes the merchandise left by 
 the Greek or Egyptian, and leaves his to be taken by 
 them ; this completes the transaction. 3 
 
 Then, as now, the caravan traversed the sandy desert, 
 and came laden with spice and perfume, gold and ivory. 
 Then also, as now, came the long train, the black slave- 
 gang, prisoners from tribes who had forfeited their 
 lives according to the code of savage warfare. Egypt 
 was the birthplace of bondage long ere the days of 
 
 1 Ptolemy calls it tspa aixapivo?. 3 The Technical History of Com- 
 
 He is the only geographer who merce , etc., by John Yeats, LL. D. 
 mentions it. (1872)7 pp. 33—57; Description de 
 
 2 Herodotus, iv. 186; Daleth, or TEgypte, etc., par Maillet, p. 190; 
 
 Homestead of the Nations , p. 243. Primitive Culture (Figuier), p. 310. 
 
246 
 
 APOLLONIUS 4 
 
 Apollonius. And this doomed swarthy helot of the serv¬ 
 ing caste has ever catered to the luxury and administered 
 to the avarice and sensuality of the dominant race. 
 Their feet have worn a pathway deep into the soil and 
 character of Egypt in an unbroken succession from 
 Nubia to the Mediterranean, beginning with the earliest 
 times. 1 This unceasing march of the slave caravan 
 has outlived all changes and survived all dynasties. 2 
 From Ethiopia they returned to Thebes, and, under 
 the direction of a young man named Timasion, who 
 had strayed into their camp while at Thebes, Apollo¬ 
 nius visited Memnon, “ Son of the Morning.” This 
 statue was erected in commemoration of the son 
 of Aurora, who slew Antilochus at Troy, and was 
 himself slain by Achilles. 3 The two colossi stood side 
 by side, and were sixty feet above the plain, and looked 
 toward the rising sun. They were made of black mar¬ 
 ble, and measured eighteen feet each across the shoul¬ 
 ders. One had been thrown down, during the reign 
 of Tiberius Caesar, by an earthquake, and was now 
 without a head. 4 The feet were united, according to 
 the fashion of sculpture in the time of Daedalus the 
 Cretan, and the hands rested on the base on which it 
 was placed, and, although sitting, looked as if about to 
 rise. The eyes were long and pensive, the forehead 
 low. 5 Damis, who also saw them, says they had gentle 
 features, and that at the rising of the sun Memnon 
 
 1 Egypt's Place in Universal His- 3 Horner’s Translation of Letters 
 tory; also, Journey to Two of the of Lepsius (Bohn ed.), p. 257. 
 
 Oases of Upper Egypt (Edmonstone, 4 Pausanias , vol. i. p. 123 ; Tact- 
 
 1822). tus , book ii. p. 61. 
 
 2 Pliilostratus, leones (Greek ed.), 5 Apollonius de Tyane (Chassang), 
 
 p. 167. p. 235. 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 24 7 
 
 uttered sweet and prolonged sounds, and that it pos¬ 
 sessed the property of shedding tears at pleasure. 1 
 
 From the beginning of the reign of Augustus, Mem- 
 non has been visited by Greek worthies and tourists, 
 many of whom had inscriptions engraven upon the 
 statues to commemorate the event of their visit. One 
 of these inscriptions is as follows: 
 
 In the seventeenth year of the Emperor Caesar 
 Augustus Germanicus, “ I, Titus Petronius Secundus, 
 Praefect, heard Memnon at the first hour in the Ides of 
 March, and gave honor in Greek verses below.” 2 
 
 Again, Viaticus Theramenes made this inscription 
 when he heard Memnon in the Calends of June, at the 
 opening of the lotus blossom : 
 
 “ Servianus being for the third time consul, with him 
 was his wife Asidonia Calpe.” 
 
 1 Tacitus says, “ Germanicus saw 
 the celebrated statue of Memnon, 
 A. D. 19, which, though wrought in 
 stone, yet when played on by the 
 rays of the morning sun returns a 
 vocal sound.” In Desmontier’s Let¬ 
 ters on Mythology there is one of the 
 prettiest accounts we have of the 
 statue. I will give it in his own 
 words: “ On eleva dans la suite 
 une statue de marbre noir, qui 
 representait Memnon assis, les 
 mains elevees et la bouche entr’ou- 
 verte comme s’il allait parler. A 
 peine le premier rayon de 1’Aurore 
 frappit-il le corps de la statue qu’elle 
 prenait un air riant et paraissait 
 s’animer ; mais aussitot que le rayon 
 atteignoit la bouche, il en sortait 
 un son harmonieux et tendre, qui 
 
 semblait dire, Bonjour, ma mere; le 
 soir au moment, ou 1’Aurore allait 
 eclairer l’autre hemisphere, un su- 
 perfaible et plaintif semblait dire, 
 Ma mere, adieu.”—Cf. 5 Ex t<£v 
 Krqalov, 5 AYa6apX^o^ Me/xvovoc 
 taoptxow ’Aimavoo IpY]ptx*q 
 
 ual ’Avvt^a'ixYj (Henr Stephanus, 
 
 1557 ). 
 
 Jacob Bryant says,*' 4 Memnon, the 
 Ethiopian, never was at Troy in 
 Phrygia, but it was at Troy in Egypt 
 at which he fought and was slain.” 
 —Dissertations on the War of Troy , 
 by Jacob Bryant; Mythology and 
 Fables of the Ancients (Banier), vol. 
 iv. p. 329. 
 
 2 Cf (Appendix) Pyramids of 
 Gizeh, etc., by Perring and Vyse, 
 vol. iii. pp. 1 to 200. 
 
248 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 Some of the Greek verses were : 
 
 “ Hearing the sacred voice of Memnon, I longed for 
 thee, O my .mother, and desired also that thou might- 
 est hear it.” 
 
 “ Csecilia Trebulla, thy mother, O renowned Mem¬ 
 non, the goddess, the rosy-fingered Aurora, has 
 rendered thee vocal for me, who have desired to hear 
 thee.” 
 
 Another: “Once the son of Saturn, great Jove, had 
 made thee monarch of the East; now thou art but a 
 stone; and it is from stone that thy voice proceeds.” 
 
 Damis says: “ The similar attestations engraved 
 
 upon the monuments would fill a volume.” 1 
 
 Apollonius is very reserved concerning the vocal 
 powers and genealogy of Memnon; 2 he describes the 
 statue as a representation of a sacrifice to the Ethio¬ 
 pian Sol and Eoan, Eos or Aurora, and then dismisses 
 the whole subject and proceeds, 3 “ Mounted on camels 
 
 l Lepsius, Konigsbuch der Alten 
 AIgyp ter, vol. i. p. 68. 
 
 Grotius relates out of an ecclesi¬ 
 astical writer : “ That there was a 
 statue of Apollonius in Tyana that 
 spoke, being actuated by some as¬ 
 sistant Daemon. It declared certain 
 verses to a young student of phi¬ 
 losophy in Tyana concerning the 
 immortality of the soul. He recited 
 the verses to his fellow-students in 
 a frantic posture, starting out of his 
 sleep, and avowing that Apollonius 
 was then present, though none saw 
 him there but himself.” Grotius 
 further adds, that the mouth of 
 the statue was soon closed by the 
 
 power of Christ, and the preaching 
 of the Gospel.— An Explanation of 
 the Grand Mystery of Godliness, or 
 a True and Faithful Representation 
 of the Everlasting Gospel of Our 
 Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, the 
 only, etc., etc., by H. D. More, 
 D. D. (London, 1660), p. 151. 
 
 2 If the ancients did, as we, regard 
 the voice of Memnon a miracle, the 
 manifestation of a godhead to man, 
 we have for its attestation the most 
 perfect chain of testimony ever of¬ 
 fered to prove a miracle.— See La 
 Statue Vocale de Memnon, etc. (Le- 
 tronne), Qua. Rev., No. 276, p. 533. 
 
 3 Pausanias, vol. i. p. 123. 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 249 
 
 we set out for the dwellings of the gymnosophists.” 
 Damis, however, says that Memnon was the son of 
 Aurora, who is said to have been slain at Troy; but 
 that he did not die at Troy as has been given out, for 
 he was never there, but always remained in Ethio¬ 
 pia, where he reigned for five generations. The 
 Ethiopians are the longest-lived of mortals, and they 
 still lament Memnon as a youth cut off by a premature 
 death. 1 
 
 The gymnosophists were a sect of philosophers of 
 Upper Egypt, whose priests performed their religious 
 sacraments in a state of perfect nudity (yo^voc). To 
 visit these philosophers was the principal object of 
 the journey of Apollonius to Ethiopia. His desire was 
 to compare the tenets, philosophy, and mode of life 
 
 1 We need not remind the reader 
 how, since the commencement of 
 the present century, the patient in¬ 
 dustry of eminent men has poured 
 a flood of light upon ancient Egypt. 
 Not only have its pyramids and 
 sepulchral chambers been explored, 
 but its hieroglyphics deciphered, 
 and its inscriptions read. By these 
 means much has been brought to 
 light, and by the tablets at the back 
 of the colossi of Memnon, we learn 
 that both represent King Ameno- 
 phis the Third, who began his reign 
 about fourteen hundred years be¬ 
 fore Apollonius. They were de¬ 
 signed as an entrance to an avenue 
 leading to the temple-palace of 
 Amenophis, about eleven hundred 
 feet further inland. This palace- 
 temple, once so richly adorned with 
 
 32 
 
 its sculpture, sphinxes, and col¬ 
 umns, is now a mere heap of sand¬ 
 stone. Many centuries later the 
 Greeks began to settle in Egypt; 
 they found the easternmost statue 
 of the pair had been shattered 
 down to the waist. This was its 
 condition when Apollonius saw it. 
 And it may be as aptly said here as 
 elsewhere, that with all the mark¬ 
 ings and engravings that have been 
 discovered in Egypt not a single 
 scratch upon any stone from Alex¬ 
 andria to Meroe confirms the pres¬ 
 ence of the Hebrews; nor is there 
 any history to confirm the Scripture 
 story of Hebrew Captivity,— not 
 one line, not one word,— and every 
 purported discovery of this character 
 is a fraud. — See Prophet of Naza¬ 
 reth , etc., p. 455. 
 
250 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 of the Egyptian gymnosophists with those of India, 
 with whom he had lived so long in their own country, 1 
 to the end -of determining whether they were of the 
 same race, and practiced the same rites. 2 
 
 They had proceeded but a short way on their journey 
 when they met a person dressed after the manner of 
 Memphis; he seemed like an idle lounger, having no 
 decided object in view. On inquiry, it was ascertained 
 that he had committed an involuntary manslaughter, 
 and to escape the penalty by the laws of Memphis, 
 where the crime was committed, he must leave the coun¬ 
 try and take shelter with the gymnosophists, and when 
 he is purified and absolved by them he may return to 
 his home, but not till atonement has been made for 
 his crime by visiting the tomb of the deceased and 
 
 1 Priaulx, Indian Travels of 
 Apollonius of Tyana (Quaritch, 
 London). 
 
 2 Porphyry, treating of a class of 
 religious men among the Indians 
 whom the Greeks were accustomed 
 to call gymnosophists, mentions two 
 orders of them: one, the Brach- 
 manes, and the other the Sama- 
 noeans. The Brachmanes receive 
 their religious knowledge, like the 
 priesthood, in right of birth; but 
 the Samanoeans are select, and con¬ 
 sist of persons who choose to prose¬ 
 cute divine studies. The Brach¬ 
 manes are of the same race, an 
 hereditary order of priests, while 
 the Samanoeans are selected from 
 the whole Indian nation. — Por¬ 
 phyry, de Abstinentia , lib. iv. 
 
 Clemens Alexandrinus describes 
 the Brachman sect as worshiping 
 
 Hercules and Pan. He says: 
 “ Philosophy anciently flourished 
 among the barbarians, and was 
 afterward introduced among the 
 Greeks, as the prophets of the 
 Egyptians, the Chaldees of the As¬ 
 syrians.” The gymnosophists do 
 not inhabit towns or houses; they 
 are clad with the bark of trees and 
 eat acorns and drink water; they 
 do not marry nor procreate chil¬ 
 dren. The religion which they 
 practice is conformable with the 
 Vedas, as well as their manners 
 and opinions. Philostratus and 
 Hierocles say they worship the 
 sun. Strabo and Arrian speak of 
 them as performing sacrifices for 
 the benefit of the nation, as well as 
 individuals. — Arrianus Nicomedien- 
 sis et Quintus Curtius Rufus (Ma- 
 nermann, 1835), p. 142. 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 251 . 
 
 offering there a sacrifice of no costly value. And whilst 
 waiting for admission to the gymnosophists, he is 
 obliged to wander about the borders of their habitation 
 until they become satisfied that he is truly penitent, 
 when they take compassion on him. This penitent 
 had been supplicating for pardon seven months, and 
 had not yet obtained it. All of this Timasion com¬ 
 municated to Apollonius. “ They are probably igno¬ 
 rant,” said Apollonius, “ that Phileseus, whom this man 
 slew in an angry quarrel, was a descendant from 
 Thamus, the Egyptian, who formerly, out of revenge, 
 ravaged the country of their predecessors.” Tima¬ 
 sion, astonished at this revelation of Apollonius, ex¬ 
 claimed : “ How happened this ? ” “ In this wise,” 
 
 said Apollonius: “Thamus meditated a revolution in 
 the government of Memphis, and had already resorted 
 to acts of violence, when the gymnosophists repri¬ 
 manded him and baffled his purpose; for this he vented 
 his fury upon their country, and plundered all that part 
 which lay nearest Memphis. 1 From this revolutionist, 
 Thamus, the murdered Phileseus is removed thirteen 
 generations; and I think it great ignorance in them 
 not to know these facts, and very unwise in them 
 not at once acquitting a young man guilty only of 
 an involuntary crime, and may be committed in self- 
 defense upon one whose ancestor had so deeply 
 wronged the gymnosophists.” These facts were com¬ 
 municated to the young man, when he sought out 
 Apollonius and inquired of him: “ Who art thou, O 
 stranger ? ” “ It is not lawful for me,” said Apollonius, 
 “to communicate with a man stained with blood.” But 
 
 1 Apollonius de Tyane (Chassang), p. 234, etc. 
 
252 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 he desired the young man to wait on him after he had 
 obtained absolution and lodgings with the gymnoso- 
 phists. Four days after this the young man presented 
 himself to Apollonius, who performed the ceremonies 
 enjoined by Empedocles and Pythagoras for purifica¬ 
 tion, and bid him go home cleansed from his crimes. 
 About noon the next day they arrived at the college 
 of the gymnosophists, not far from the banks of the 
 Nile. The place was barren and inhospitable; little 
 attention had been paid to the cultivation of trees in 
 their district, a fact which Apollonius deprecated, inas¬ 
 much as the Indians held the tree sacred, and all their 
 sages assembled in a grove for public business. They 
 had no general place of meeting for public worship, 
 like the Indians; 1 but they had chapels on elevated 
 places, like the Egyptians. They wore a dress like the 
 Athenian; in intelligence and wisdom the Indians 
 excel them as much as they do the Egyptians. 2 The 
 chief object of their worship above all things is the Nile, 
 as the god of humidity and fecundity. They also wor¬ 
 ship the sun at its rising. They live entirely in the 
 open air, and have neither house nor cottage. They 
 have a kind of caravansary for the accommodation of 
 strangers passing through their country. 3 
 
 The cool manner in which the gymnosophists re¬ 
 ceived Apollonius was a surprise to him, as he had 
 anticipated demonstrations in his favor. Damis soon 
 discovered the cause of their indifference to proceed 
 from a report circulated among them by a special mes- 
 
 1 Priaulx, Indian Travels of Apol- 3 Apollonius de Tyane, par Chas- 
 
 lonius of Tyana (Quaritch, Lon.) sang, pp. 234-249; Enc. Brit., art. 
 
 2 Philo, vol. iii. p. 523. Caravanserai. 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 253 
 
 senger from Alexandria sent by Euphrates. This mes¬ 
 senger had arrived and departed in advance of the 
 party of Apollonius. The executor of this artifice 
 was one Thrasybulus, a Naucratite. On his arrival, 
 he pretended great literary affinities with their order, 
 his real object being to forestall public opinion against 
 Apollonius; and he scrupled to nothing to accomplish 
 his purpose. And although the gymnosophists believed 
 that the stories told by Thrasybulus were probably 
 true, yet they did not accord with the character of 
 Apollonius as previously reported to them, and they 
 therefore did not decline intercourse with him when he 
 arrived; but they were very formal and reserved, and 
 spoke lightly of the gymnosophists of India, of whom 
 Apollonius was fulsome in praise. 1 All these things 
 rendered him extremely uneasy, until finally, the 
 above facts being discovered, a mutual understanding 
 took place. After this, he was in daily communi¬ 
 cation and discourse with them. Many of these dis¬ 
 courses were preserved by Damis, and are not without 
 much interest, but which we have thought best to omit 
 from this sketch. 2 
 
 On one occasion, in answer to some questions pro¬ 
 pounded to Apollonius by a learned gymnosophist con¬ 
 cerning his philosophy, his mode of life, and his religion, 
 Apollonius answered: “ O wise Egyptian, the choice 
 which Prodicus 3 says was made by Hercules in his 
 youth, has been rightly and philosophically explained 
 
 1 Indian Travels of Apollonius of lectured at Athens, B. C. 450. Among 
 
 Tyana (Priaulx), p. 132. his pupils were Isocrates, Euripides, 
 
 2 Philo Judceus , vol. iii. p. 523 and probably Socrates. He wrote 
 
 (Bohn ed., 1855). a work, called The Choice of Her- 
 
 3 Prodicus was an atheist. He cules, preserved by Xenophon. 
 
254 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 by you. But I have chosen otherwise. In the doctrine 
 of Pythagoras I observed something sublime; I per¬ 
 ceived the ineffable wisdom by which he not only knew 
 what he was but what he had been. In forming my 
 opinion of it, I considered the purity with which he ap¬ 
 proached the altars, his abstinence from animal food, 
 his wearing no garments made of what had life, the 
 manner in which he held his tongue, 1 and the rules he 
 prescribed for its right government. In short, when I 
 considered how he had laid down the rest of his philo¬ 
 sophical system, founded, as it were, on oracles and 
 truth itself, I flew at once to his doctrines, without 
 choosing a philosophy composed of two systems, as 
 you have advised. I have considered all systems, and 
 have been struck with some beauty in all, and not only 
 beautiful, but divine; but some seemed superior to 
 others, some dazzled by their brightness. But most of 
 them held loose reins on appetites and passions; the 
 hands were left at liberty to grasp at wealth; the eyes 
 to behold every unholy object; and a latitude allowed 
 to love and desire. I found but one which, if true to 
 its tenets, promised complete exemption from all these 
 unruly affections. It stood out to me in unspeakable 
 beauty; it had subdued Pythagoras himself, and had 
 been the guiding star of Zeno; it stood apart from all 
 other systems, and did not mingle in the train of popu¬ 
 lar philosophies, and seemed to invite me within its 
 embraces in these words: ‘ O young man, the path to 
 which I would direct your steps is full of cares and self- 
 
 1 For an explanation of the prov- ium de iis qui corrupti pecunia (in 
 erb of eiu yXoycrq, the bos in qua olim bovis signum) loqui non 
 lingua, consult Erasmus. Proverb- auderent (Berwick), p. 317. 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 255 
 
 denials. If any man conform to my rule of life, he must 
 remove from his table all animal food and forget the 
 use of wine ; he must not mingle the cup of wisdom set 
 in the hearts of all men with a love of wine ; he is to 
 wear no garments made from either hair or wool; his 
 shoes must be of the bark of trees; and his rest and 
 sleep wherever and whenever he can get them. I am 
 so severe with my followers, that I have bridles for 
 curbing the tongue. Attend now, and I will tell you 
 the rewards which await him who makes me his choice. 
 He shall possess, without a rival, the virtues, justice 
 and temperance; he shall become more a terror to 
 tyrants than their slave, and shall be more acceptable 
 to the gods, through his humble offerings, than they 
 who shed the blood of hecatombs of bulls; he shall be 
 sympathetic in the sufferings of others, with a tran¬ 
 scendent love for all humanity. When once he is made 
 pure, I will give him knowledge of hereafter, and so fill 
 his visual ray with light as to render him capable of dis¬ 
 tinguishing the merit of gods and heroes, and of appre¬ 
 ciating, to their full value, all shadowy phantasms 
 whenever they assume the form of mortals or im¬ 
 mortals.’ 
 
 “ This is the philosophy and this is the life I have 
 chosen, O learned Egyptian ! in doing which I think 
 I have neither deceived myself nor have been deceived 
 by others. I have endeavored to act in all things as 
 becomes a philosopher of that school, and have acquired 
 all that was promised by it. I have considered as a 
 philosopher the origin of this art, and whence are 
 derived its principles, and it has appeared to me to be 
 the invention of men who excelled in virtuous actions, 
 
256 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 and consequently in divine knowledge, and who have 
 searched deeply into the nature of the soul, whose 
 mortal and immutable essence is the true source whence 
 it flows. I never thought we were indebted to 
 the Athenians for the knowledge of the soul. 1 The 
 
 1 The inornateness of all occi¬ 
 dental notions on the condition of 
 the human soul, from the time of 
 Plato to our day, is not so much in 
 design as the want of capacity in the 
 western mind, to absorb all the 
 metaphysical subtlety and imagina¬ 
 tive vastness of the oriental intellect 
 whence this philosophy arose. The 
 inane spirituality of the Hindoo 
 heaven was presented in oriental 
 literature on a scale of grandeur 
 and intensity wholly beyond the 
 comprehension of the feeble intel¬ 
 lects of the early Christians. But 
 they took in their fill of it. The 
 Buddhist devotee loathes existence 
 as the sum of all evil. The disciple 
 of the Nazarene clings to it as the 
 only good. The divergence is enor¬ 
 mous. Nor could Christian sophis¬ 
 try in its sublimest flights raise its 
 neophytes to a comprehension of 
 that blessed state, the oriental Nir- 
 wana; to them it was an empty, 
 lifeless, and godless paradise of im¬ 
 mobility, of which nothing could be 
 affirmed. This refined and quies¬ 
 cent rest of the human soul in the 
 Nirwana (heaven) of Gotama had 
 no allurements for the Christian. 
 To satisfy the grossness of his 
 nature and meet his mental rank, 
 heaven must be rapturous, phe¬ 
 nomenal, and sensuous. But while 
 
 this western philosophy could not 
 mount to those higher and more 
 refined states of the philosophy of 
 Valmika, it eagerly and comprehen¬ 
 sively grasped the dogma of the 
 twenty-eight evolutionary hells of 
 the Vishnu Puranas, the complexity 
 of which it evaded in its articles of 
 faith by altogether erecting them 
 into one gigantic hell. And there 
 is no doubt that Christianity has 
 proselytized more by presenting 
 the tortures of a material hell than 
 were possible through the promised 
 rest of the metaphysical nihilistic 
 Nirwana. It was thus that terror 
 and torture were enshrined as fun¬ 
 damental dogmas of the Christian 
 creed. All the vigorously drawn 
 and highly colored pictures of the 
 tortures of damned souls in our 
 theology are but feeble utterances 
 from the original Hindoo. But the 
 founders took in all that they had 
 genius to utilize. None but infidels 
 were damned to the Hindoo hell, 
 and this is also reflected in our 
 philosophy by making the most 
 ample provisions for the accommo¬ 
 dation of the unbeliever — vastly 
 the preponderating class of offend¬ 
 ers. 
 
 The dogma of heaven, or state of 
 rewards, was a subsequent inven¬ 
 tion, and was interpolated in our 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 25 7 
 
 doctrines of Plato were taught us at Athens with divine 
 eloquence, and they were perverted and corrupted by 
 the admission of erroneous doctrines and opinions con¬ 
 trary to the conception of the divine Plato. These 
 corrupted doctrines had gained a foothold in my native 
 country during my minority, and I determined to seek 
 the truth from its fountain-head, and for such reasons I 
 was induced to visit the Indians. And for like reasons I 
 
 have come to you, believing them and you men of sub¬ 
 lime genius because of the pure atmosphere you breathe. 
 But I find that you also, like the Athenians with the 
 doctrines of Plato, have perverted the dogmas of the 
 Indian gymnosophists, and worship your gods more after 
 the ritual of the Egyptians than your own. 1 For myself 
 I will say nothing, but I do not care to hear the Indians 
 spoken of with contumely. And if you possess the 
 candor and wisdom of the Himeraean poet, 2 and think 
 there is any truth in what I say, you will without delay 
 reverse your judgment and change your opinions/’ 3 
 During one of the many conversations had with the 
 gymnosophists, Apollonius said, “You are ashamed of 
 
 theology; it partakes, however, of 
 the character of the age and the 
 race among whom it first appeared. 
 It is a gross and sensuous paradise, 
 with a low order of pleasures; a 
 state that every intellectual man 
 and woman, with ennobling con¬ 
 ceptions of humanity, would rather 
 seek to escape than strive to attain.— 
 See Bhagavat Gita; Die Religion 
 des Buddha , mid ihre Eutstelung 
 (Koeppen, 1858) ; Mythological , 
 Classical, and Philosophical Dic¬ 
 tionary of India (Madras, 1871). 
 
 33 
 
 1 Priaulx, Indian Travels of Apol¬ 
 lonius of Tyana ( Quaritch, London). 
 
 2 Stesichorus, a lyric poet of 
 Himera, in Sicily. He lost his sight 
 for invectives against Helen, and 
 received it again on recanting what 
 he had written. His name at first 
 was Tisias, but was changed to 
 Stesichorus in memory of his being 
 the first who taught the chorus to 
 dance to the lyre. 
 
 3 Apollonius de Tyane, sa Vie, ses 
 Voyages, ses Prodiges , par A. Chas- 
 sang, p. 253. 
 
258 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 having caused the earth’s displeasure which forced you 
 to migrate to this country. You had rather pass for 
 any race than Ethiopians, and yet you are continually 
 exposing yourselves to this charge. You have laid 
 aside all the ornaments, and as far as in your power all 
 the customs peculiar to the Indians. But no man 
 grounded in the wisdom of the Hindoos would ever 
 mistake your nationality. You have worshiped your 
 own gods, but it has been after an Egyptian form, and 
 in speaking of the Indians you have used unbecoming 
 language, just as if blame cast on them did not recoil 
 on yourselves as the descendants of the same race. 1 
 And that the customs which began at the time of your 
 changing your dress are not yet altered; even to this 
 day you are giving specimens of a reproachful, sarcastic 
 style of conversation in saying that the Indians have 
 made no useful discovery, and that they are entirely 
 given over to the phenomena of raising apparitions and 
 specters and certain delusions by which they fascinate 
 and defraud the eyes and ears. All such conversations 
 
 1 Philostratus says that the gym- 
 nosophists of Ethiopia, who settled 
 near the sources of the Nile, de¬ 
 scended from the Brahmins of India, 
 having been driven thence for the 
 murder of their kings. This, Phi¬ 
 lostratus says, he learned from an 
 ancient Brahmin named Iarchus. 
 
 Another ancient writer, Eutathues, 
 also states, that the Ethiopians came 
 from India. — Blavatsky, vol. i. 567; 
 ii. p. 437. Their customs, language, 
 religion, and physiology seem to re¬ 
 duce the entire problem to the answer 
 of one of two questions; either the 
 
 Indians came from Egypt or the 
 gymnosophists came from India, 
 and for a thousand reasons it is 
 more probable that India was the 
 homestead of both.— Anacalypsis : 
 An Attempt to D?'aw Aside the Veil 
 of the Saitic Isis ,— an Inquiry into 
 the Origin of Language, etc., by 
 Godfrey Higgins, vol. i. p. 44. This 
 important ethnological problem was 
 probably more nearly a demonstra¬ 
 ble truth in the days of Apollonius 
 than in our day. And we deem the 
 proofs of the Indian origin of the 
 Egyptian sufficient to-day. 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 259 
 
 are proofs of your ignorance or perversion of the 
 Indian philosophy. It was only a proof of your 
 folly when you passed on my wisdom before I 
 had opened my mouth; however, as to myself I will 
 say nothing . 1 And now, in all candor let me sub¬ 
 mit to you: Do you think that your methods for 
 propagating truth and purifying the world can prove 
 otherwise than a failure ? True, it may tend to the 
 purification of yourselves ; but why not practice your 
 great virtues in the world and surrounded by tempta¬ 
 tions ? Why not remain in the midst of crowded 
 populations and help purify them by your example and 
 practice ? Do you not rob the world of your ennobling 
 influence by taking yourselves out of it ? I think your 
 system of philosophy in these particulars has little to 
 recommend it, beside its selfishness/’ 
 
 Subsequently to this an Egyptian gymnosophist, 
 named Nilus, said to Apollonius : “ I have been very 
 much impressed with what you said in your last dis¬ 
 course concerning the Indians and Egyptians. My 
 father traded on the Red Sea, having command of a 
 ship which the Egyptians sent over from Berenice to 
 India . 2 In his voyages thither he conversed with many 
 
 1 Cf. Priaulx, Indian Travels 
 of Apollonius of Tyana (Quaritch, 
 London). 
 
 2 This route lies up the Nile to 
 Coptos, thence to Berenice (Bel- 
 zoni’s Narrative, p. 304) on the 
 Red Sea (Arabicus Sinus), thence 
 to the outlet of the Red Sea, be¬ 
 tween the points of land, Berenice 
 epi Dives on the west and Oseles 
 on the east, where were erected the 
 
 “ Pillars of Plercules,” they being 
 bronze shafts upon which were en¬ 
 graven the great exploits of sea¬ 
 faring men. Passing between these 
 columns they enter the Avalites 
 Sinus, thence the Erythroeum Mare 
 or Atlantic Sea, where dwelt the 
 Atlanteans (Geography of Herodo- 
 tus, by Wheeler [London, 1854], p. 
 19), on which they sailed to India.— 
 Cf. Plato’s Critias and Trmceus. 
 
26 o 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 Indians, from whom he received the same account of 
 their wise men that you have given. My father told 
 me that they were the wisest of mortals, and that the 
 Ethiopians were a colony from India . 1 In consequence 
 
 1 1 think it is pretty generally 
 conceded that Upper and not Lower 
 Egypt was first peopled; that its 
 first population was a maritime peo¬ 
 ple, and came from India, Ceylon, 
 and the farther East. The oldest 
 monuments are found in Upper 
 Egypt. 
 
 With no intent of entering the 
 realm of ethnology in this essay, 
 we know that Christianity did not 
 originate in Judea, nor do we know 
 where it first manifested itself, nor 
 did those who have told us all about 
 it, know. But this much we do 
 know, that the earliest knowledge 
 we have of it was among the Copts 
 of Egypt (they take their name from 
 Coptos), and that, as they advanced 
 in it, they became more ignorant 
 and bigoted, and it is to the Copts 
 that we also trace our earliest gos¬ 
 pels, more ancient than the Chris¬ 
 tianity of the Syrians, Maronites, or 
 Armenians; this race dates its na¬ 
 tionality far into the prehistoric 
 past. They were the builders of 
 Thebes and the pyramids. Theo¬ 
 logians interested in solving the old 
 proverb of Nazareth may smear 
 themselves over with war-paint, 
 and sound the war-whoop; but if 
 the fight is to be contested with in¬ 
 tellectual weapons, and upon his¬ 
 torical territory, they may more 
 creditably leave the question uncon¬ 
 
 tested, for they have neither weap¬ 
 ons nor territory in their cause. 
 Ethnology teaches us that the Copts 
 were a race from Upper Egypt and 
 Abyssinia, and for ages past their 
 trend has been with the current of 
 the Nile, and for the past eighteen 
 hundred years have become more 
 and more degraded with every re¬ 
 move from their original homestead. 
 The great ethnological residuum or 
 unsolved problem is, Where did the 
 Ethiopians, the ancestors of the 
 Copts, come from ? The best in¬ 
 formation we have from modern 
 scientific men is, that they were a 
 maritime people, and came from 
 India; and this is perfectly consist¬ 
 ent with Plato, and thoroughly sus¬ 
 tained by Apollonius. Without, 
 however, drawing conclusions upon 
 any but the surest foundations, it 
 may be profitable for the curious to 
 pursue this hint, and ascertain if it 
 may not in some way account for 
 the many similar rites and legends 
 of the Christian and Hindoo relig¬ 
 ion. The ancient Brahmins taught 
 the doctrine of periodical creation 
 and destruction of the world; a 
 very complex doctrine, but much 
 modified in the Christian cosmos. 
 This, it is well known, was the doc¬ 
 trine of the early stoics, and, ac¬ 
 cording to Dr. Pritchard, they 
 obtained this doctrine through the 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 26 l 
 
 of this account of my father, and my love for adven¬ 
 ture and knowledge, I resigned my hereditary patri¬ 
 mony and joined the. naked philosophers, to learn 
 from them the wisdom they are said to have obtained 
 from the East. I found them a wise people, but 
 not so wise as my father had represented the Indians 
 to be. And when I asked why they followed not the 
 philosophy of their great antitype, the Indians, they 
 had recourse to invectives such as you heard when you 
 first came among them. And now having acquired 
 all that can be learned among the gymnosophists, I 
 am determined upon deserting them and visiting India, 
 — The Hill of the Sages ,— on the first favorable oppor¬ 
 tunity, and learning from them that wisdom which my 
 father so highly commended, and you so eloquently 
 discoursed upon.” For the information of this young 
 man, Apollonius recounted to him his entire adventure 
 in India , 1 to which he listened with almost breathless 
 interest, and when he had finished exclaimed : “ The 
 gods, O master, have sent you hither as my guide and 
 assistant, to give me intellectual relish of their wisdom 
 without having to travel the ocean.” “ But,” said 
 Apollonius, “have you fully considered the conse¬ 
 quences of a desertion from the gymnosophists, and 
 
 medium of Egyptian priests, whose 
 information was received through 
 the channels of commerce and im¬ 
 migration. Now, it is just possible, 
 were a small modicum of that spirit 
 of investigation, which has for at 
 least one thousand years endeav¬ 
 ored to rationally account for the 
 whence and where of Christianity, 
 
 to devote its research in this direc¬ 
 tion, it might very vexatiously dis¬ 
 cover the real object of their search. 
 — See, also, The Symbolical Lan¬ 
 guage of Ancient Art and Myth¬ 
 ology, etc., by R. Payne Knight, 
 p. 109. 
 
 1 Priaulx, Indian Travels of 
 Apollonius of Tyana. 
 
2 62 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 the censure to which you subject yourself?” “ I have,” 
 said Nilus; “and he who makes a choice may commit 
 a fault, while he who does not has certainly committed 
 one. Up to this time I have served among the light troops 
 of the Egyptian philosophers; from this moment I am 
 going to put on heavy armor, and adorn myself with 
 your shield. It certainly cannot be wrong for a man 
 to take the right way, having found it after having 
 wandered in the wrong. I might remain with the 
 gymnosophists, and with the light which I have this day 
 received, and by my counsel, endeavor to bring them 
 back to the creed of their fathers. For he who advises 
 another to embrace some new doctrine, avoids at least 
 the reproach of giving unsavory advice if he has adopted 
 that doctrine himself. But I shall not remain; I have 
 made my choice.” 
 
 These and many other conversations were held by 
 Apollonius and Nilus, Damis only being present. At 
 a subsequent meeting of Apollonius, Nilus, Thespasian, 
 and Damis, which took place in a grove, Apollonius 
 said he would introduce a subject for discussion by 
 asking a question. The gymnosophists replied, “Ask 
 what questions you please, for all knowledge proceeds 
 from interrogation.” 
 
 “ Why,” asked Apollonius, “ have you given the 
 Egyptian representations of the gods to objects so few 
 of which are conceived in wisdom, or in any degree 
 suitable to the divine nature ? ” On hearing this, the 
 Egyptian savant, Thespasian, with some little warmth, 
 replied, “ Of what nature are statues of the gods with 
 the Greeks ? ” “ They are,” replied Apollonius, “ of 
 
 exquisite beauty.” “I suppose,” said Thespasian, “ you 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 263 
 
 allude to the statues of the Olympian Jove, Minerva, 
 the Cnidian Venus, and Argive Juno .” 1 ‘‘They were 
 not the only ones,” said Apollonius, “ to which I 
 alluded ; but I say in general, that the art which shows 
 itself in the rest has preserved a most becoming pro¬ 
 priety in their formation. As to what I have seen 
 among you, I think you hold your gods rather in a 
 ludicrous than in a serious and honored point of view.” 
 “ Would you have us believe,” said Thespasian, “ that, 
 in their conception, your gods are of a higher inspira¬ 
 tion, and that your Phidias and Praxiteles went up to 
 heaven, whence they drew their art first-hand from the 
 pantheon of the gods ? 2 Or was it something else 
 which skilled them in the arts ? ” “ It was imagina- 
 
 1 The statue referred to is a fig¬ 
 ure of Juno sitting on a throne, 
 with Minerva and the goddess of 
 youth standing. It is a work 
 erected in the temple of Juno at 
 Mantinea. A large figure of Juno 
 as the goddess presiding over mar¬ 
 riage, made of Pentilisian marble, 
 was in the temple of Juno at Pla- 
 tsea. There was a marble statue 
 of the Cnidian Venus at Thespise, 
 another Venus at Alexandria, a city 
 of Caria near Mount Latinos. 
 
 2 A list of some of the principal 
 works of Praxiteles embraces the 
 following: statues of Apollo, La- 
 tona, and Diana, at Megara; a 
 statue of Bacchus, put up in Elis; 
 a statue of Mercury carrying Bac¬ 
 chus when an infant, in marble; a 
 figure of Aesculapius, placed in the 
 grove of Trophonius at Lebadea; a 
 figure of a satyr, made of Parian 
 
 marble and kept at Megara; a fig¬ 
 ure of Pan carrying a leather bottle 
 and accompanied by the nymphs 
 and Danae; statues of the Twelve 
 Deities at Megara; figure represent¬ 
 ing the labors of Hercules, Thebes; 
 a statue of Diana, citadel at Athens; 
 statue of Diana Anticyra, in Phocis; 
 statue of Ceres, Athens; also Pros¬ 
 erpine and Iacchus ; marble statue 
 of Venus at Thespise; statues of 
 Persuasion and Consolation, temple 
 of Venus at Megara; also of For¬ 
 tune ; marble statue of Phryne at 
 Thespise, and another at Delphi. 
 In addition to these, Strabo men¬ 
 tions several in the temple of Diana 
 at Ephesus. I wish this note would 
 warrant us in referring to the cele¬ 
 brated works of Critias, Nestocles, 
 Polycletus, Phsedmon, Scopas, Smi- 
 lis, Polycharmus, Xenocrates, and 
 others. 
 
 « 
 
264 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 tion,” replied Apollonius; “a much wiser mistress than 
 imitation. To form in his mind the image of Jupiter, 
 one should see him with the same enraptured imagina¬ 
 tion Phidias did, sitting with the Hours and stars . 1 
 And he who would attempt a representation of Pallas 
 should first fill his mind with accurate and lofty ideas 
 of wars, armies, and councils, and be able to conceive 
 her transcendental appearance at the moment she left 
 the brain of Jupiter, in full and complete armor. If 
 you place an image of a hawk, an owl, a wolf, a dog, or 
 a bull in your temple to represent Mercury, Minerva, 
 or Apollo, the beast may be exalted by such represen¬ 
 tation, but the gods will certainly be debased. The 
 Greeks, it is true, worship the divine forms produced 
 by their inspired sculptors under a praiseworthy rivalry. 
 No such stimulus to art exists in Egypt; in all her 
 sacred subjects the law is inflexible, no innovation is 
 tolerated, the same forms were preserved, from the re¬ 
 motest period, with a precision of measurement and 
 detail almost marvelous. Religious zeal, therefore, 
 which, with experience, observation, and a freedom of 
 imagination, has made Grecian sculpture the admira¬ 
 tion and adoration of the world, has done nothing for 
 Egypt. They were not allowed to copy nature; it was 
 therefore useless to study it. Certain rules, measure¬ 
 ments, and models have been established by your 
 priesthood,— the miserable conceptions of an ignorant 
 
 !The Egyptian deities were chiefly 
 honored by lamentations; the Greek 
 divinities by dances.— See De Dal- 
 vione , Socrates, Apuleius, Herodo¬ 
 tus. No nation on earth had a 
 richer collection of games and fes¬ 
 
 tivals growing out of its religious 
 system than Greece. The Greek 
 divinity was seldom looked upon as 
 being better than man.— Hist. Eu¬ 
 ropean Morals (Lecky), vol. i. p. 
 
 344- 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 265 
 
 age, which every artist was compelled to follow without 
 the innovation of a hair.” “ I think,” said Thespasian, 
 “ you slight our mode of worship and methods in 
 divine art, before you give a fair examination; for 
 surely what we are speaking of is wise, if anything 
 Egyptian is so. And furthermore, we know our 
 sculpture and worship to be the mother of the Grecian 
 system . 1 True, you represent your gods by the divine 
 form of man, but even yet they have not forgotten 
 their parentage, for many of them now, and formerly 
 all of them, were adorned with the horns of the Egyp¬ 
 tian bull, Apis. Your Serapis and Isis, Jupiter Ammon, 
 Zeus Ammon, Bacchus, Demeter, Achelous, Deme¬ 
 trius, Poliorcetes, and, above all, the head of Astarte, 
 the most famous of all, the Phoenician queen, are rep¬ 
 resented with horns. And more reprehensible still is 
 that system which represents its greatest deified con¬ 
 querors, as Alexander, with the horns of an Egyptian 
 bull . 2 And then your great philosopher Plato affirmeth 
 that there is but one God, and that all things were 
 created by him. Your Thales, who had searched into 
 
 1 Cf Campollion’s PantheonEgyp- 
 tien (Paris, 1825); History of An¬ 
 cient Art (Reber), pp. 1 to 70. 
 
 2 The coins of Alexander, struck 
 at Lemnos, Smyrna, Rhodes, and 
 Aspendus, bear the head of Alex¬ 
 ander with horns. A medal, struck 
 in honor of Marc Antony, and now 
 in the British Museum, bears his 
 image with ram’s horns. When 
 Pythagoras traveled among the 
 Egyptians he was surprised to find 
 that their gods and demons were for 
 the most part identical with those 
 
 34 
 
 of the Greeks. The same identity 
 was observed by Herodotus; he 
 also remarked that the Egyptians 
 worshiped human spirits, men and 
 women deified after death for their 
 good actions during life. And Dio¬ 
 dorus Siculus, who is better author¬ 
 ity than either of the others, tells us 
 that beside the sun, moon, and seven 
 primary planets, which the Egyp¬ 
 tians call the eternal gods, they also 
 worshiped as gods such as were 
 taken from the earth and noted for 
 their good deeds. 
 
266 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 such matters, said that God was an understanding. 
 Pythagoras called him a living mind, from whom all 
 life emanated. Cleanthes defined him to be air; An¬ 
 axagoras an infinite mind, which moved itself. Chry- 
 sippus thought he was a natural power. Some of your 
 philosophers were of the opinion that there were no 
 gods. Diagoras and Theodorus affirmed plainly that 
 there was no god at all. Protagoras reported that he 
 had no certainty of the gods, wherefore you, Athenians, 
 banished him out of the empire. Epicurus granted 
 there was a god, but that he was neither liberal nor 
 bountiful, and had no regard for things ; that God is no 
 god, but only a cruel and unkind monster; while we 
 Egyptians maintain the goodness of the gods, and 
 that we are of their direct lineage; that they began 
 among us, or that we began among them, and that our 
 ancestors were gods. How superior the position of the 
 Egyptians, who look upon the gods as stable and un¬ 
 changeable either in art or philosophy, to the fickleness 
 of a system which allows every man to construct his 
 own, or to worship Eis own conception of them .” 1 
 Apollonius, smiling at this, said, “ O ye sages, what 
 great advantage has accrued to the Egyptians and 
 Ethiopians from the worship of dogs, goats, and 
 bulls?” “I think,” said Thespasian, “there are no 
 
 1 Hera was worshiped in Samos 
 and Thespise under the form of a 
 plank; Athene of Lindus as a 
 smooth, unwrought beam; Pallas 
 of Attica as a rough stake, and the 
 Icarian Artemis as a log. Zeus 
 Meilichios, at Sicyon, had a pyra¬ 
 midal form; Zeus Casius was a 
 
 rock; Apollo Agyieus had the shape 
 of an isosceles triangle, and Hermes 
 exhibited himself as a phallus.— 
 Herodotus , ii. 41. The emblem of 
 Isis is that of a woman having horns, 
 as the Greeks make Io .—Mythology 
 and Fables of the Ancients (Banier), 
 i. 498. 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 267 
 
 people who have been more favored by the gods than 
 the Egyptians. Has not Egypt wrought out a destiny 
 from barbarism to the highest civilization ? and without 
 the aid of the gods no nation can attain to any emi¬ 
 nence in the art of civilization.’’ 1 
 
 “There was an old Athenian,” said Thespasian, “of 
 the name of Socrates who was as great a fool as we 
 Egyptians . 2 He thought a dog, a goose, and even a 
 platanus were gods, and he swore by them.” 
 
 “ He was no fool,” said Apollonius; “ he did not 
 
 1 How natural, resting with an 
 unshaken faith upon that noble 
 river, the Nile, and worshiping it 
 as a deity, tolerating all other re¬ 
 ligions, sending no missionaries or 
 apostles to convert their neighbor¬ 
 ing heathen, to believe that she was 
 specially favored of the gods. The 
 barbarians of the exterior world 
 gave her no anxiety, for uncon¬ 
 sciously they were elevated by the 
 potency of her culture and the con¬ 
 sequent abrasion of carrying on a 
 commerce with her, making herself 
 in the mean time not obnoxious to 
 them; sending out no evangelists, 
 asking no help, resorting to no 
 fagot or stake, she rose, flourished, 
 and fell alone, and left a good repu¬ 
 tation. And through all the ages that 
 have elapsed since her decline, with 
 all her faults, the world has never 
 produced a nation whose virtues 
 equaled those of the Egyptians. 
 Many nations have been more boast¬ 
 ful and pretentious. Greece sent her 
 sons to the banks of the Nile to 
 seek culture, and they succeeded in 
 
 transplanting one century of Egyp¬ 
 tian philosophy in Greece.— The Age 
 of the Stoics. No purer potentates 
 have ever lived on earth than those 
 who ruled in Rome from Nerva to 
 Commodus. But a new and emas¬ 
 culated philosophy had been in¬ 
 stalled with fire and sword under 
 Constantine, and the world became 
 dim with the dark ages ; knowledge 
 was treasured by the few; its pur¬ 
 suit, however, was never entirely 
 suspended, but it struggled, suf¬ 
 fered on until, in the thirteenth 
 century, after nearly one thousand 
 years of the most disgraceful ter¬ 
 rorism, the little spark was again 
 kindled into a flame, and now, in 
 the nineteenth century, commands 
 the conduct of the world, and de¬ 
 mands that the overt acts of super¬ 
 stition and ignorance shall cease; 
 strips the pretentious philosophy of 
 Nazareth naked, and leaves it ex¬ 
 posed to the ridicule of mankind.— 
 Lecture. 
 
 2 R. Payne Knight’s Ancient Art, 
 etc., p. 4. 
 
268 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 swear by them as gods , 1 but he swore by them to avoid 
 swearing by the gods .” 2 
 
 “At all events,” retorted Thespasian, “the Egyp- 
 tians loved their gods; they were pure. The profanity, 
 grossness, and indecency of the Grecian Olympus were 
 unknown in Egypt. The debaucheries of Silenus and 
 of Pan, the obscenities of Priapus, the frauds of Mer¬ 
 cury, the unchastity of Venus, find no counterpart in 
 Egypt .” 3 
 
 Notwithstanding all the rhetoric of Apollonius and 
 Thespasian, there was no debatable divergence between 
 their respective deities ; they were soulless and unim¬ 
 passioned things , and were utterly impotent to inspire 
 reverent emotion. All emotion, however, is purely a 
 human passion, and every spark of the falsely so-called 
 divine enthusiasm is rooted wholly in some human con¬ 
 ception. You may visit all the shrines, all the temples, 
 and all the galleries on earth for all times, and the 
 picture, the statue that enthralls whole generations 
 of men, and which will survive the ravages of time, is 
 some monument of human and not divine nobility, 
 quickened into speaking, living, breathing marble, or 
 rehearsed upon the immortal canvas. And priest and 
 hierophant may write till doomsday to prove that there 
 is beauty or ecstasy in the god-element of a statue or a 
 painting, and die without having moved a muscle in the 
 
 1 Oath explained, Bryant’s An¬ 
 ti ent Mythology, vol. ii. p. 34. 
 
 2 Stanley’s Life of Socrates. 
 
 “ Shallow swears by cock and 
 pye. ”— Shakespeare. 
 
 3 The Serpent Myths of Ancient 
 Egypt, being a Comparative History 
 
 of these Myths Compiled from the 
 Ritual of the Dead, Egyptian In¬ 
 scriptions, Papyri and Monuments 
 in the British and Continental Mu¬ 
 seums, by W. R. Cooper, Hon. Sec. 
 Soc. Bib. Archaeology (London, 
 1873) P- 4 , etc. 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 269 
 
 direction of their effort. It is art only so far as it is 
 implicated with humanity. A god or the gods are to be 
 adored only in proportion as their attributes approxi¬ 
 mate those of their creator—man; of those Raphael 
 painted, Homer sang, and Boccaccio told immortal 
 tales . 1 
 
 The Egyptian gymnosophists had many customs in 
 common with the essenes, therapeutse, jesuits, and 
 Christian orders of later times. They all begged; 
 were all monkish; had a novitiate period, initiation; 
 abstained from wine, meat; practiced the healing art; 
 held goods in common; took oaths of chastity and 
 poverty; educated the children of strangers, and never 
 left their home in the desert except to beg. The gym¬ 
 nosophists of India, a name given them by the Greeks, 
 their name being Vanaprastha, which signifies hermit , 2 
 were the most learned men of antiquity . 3 It is true 
 their system was tinctured with magic, but not to the 
 extent that modern astronomy was with astrology, or 
 chemistry with alchemy. The Egyptian hierophants, 
 of whom Apollonius treats, notwithstanding the prac¬ 
 tice of a stern and pure morality, could not be com¬ 
 pared with the ascetical gymnosophist of India either 
 
 1 Lecture. The Greek concep¬ 
 tion of the gods was that they were 
 persons who wore a form precisely 
 like that of man, no more beautiful 
 and no more majestic. It was the 
 highest excellence they tried to 
 express in their statuary of their 
 gods, and this is the explanation of 
 Greek beauty.— Histoire veritable 
 des temps fabuleux qui contient Vhis¬ 
 toire d^Egypte, par M. Guerin du 
 
 Rocher (Paris, 3 vols.), vol. ii. 
 p. 161. 
 
 2 It is the third stage of Brahmini- 
 cal life; his clothing must be of 
 Kusa grass, must bathe three times 
 a day, must live from alms, must 
 anoint himself with only such un¬ 
 guents as the vegetable world 
 affords. 
 
 3 Priaulx, Indian Travels of Apol¬ 
 lonius of Tyana (Quaritch, Lon.) 
 
2JO 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 in holiness of life or miraculous powers developed in 
 them. By those who knew them they were even held 
 in greater reverence than the magicians of Chaldea . 1 
 Denying themselves the simplest comforts of life, they 
 dwelt in woods and led lives of the most secluded her¬ 
 mits, while the Egyptian brothers at least congregated 
 together. And, notwithstanding the reproach which 
 history has cast upon all those who practiced magic, it 
 is certain that they possessed the greatest medical skill 
 then known. And many are the volumes preserved in 
 Hindoo convents in which are recorded proofs of their 
 learning. They had fathomed nature to its depths, 
 while physiology and psychology were to them open 
 books. To them the secret power of every plant and 
 mineral was elementary . 2 The care which they took 
 in educating youth, in familiarizing it with generous 
 and virtuous sentiments, did them peculiar honor, and 
 their maxims and discourses as recorded by historians 
 prove that they were expert in matters of philosophy, 
 metaphysics, astronomy, morality, and religion . 3 
 
 Among the many discourses of Apollonius to his 
 followers, some were on the relation of the serpent to 
 the healing art . 4 This subject he had discoursed upon 
 in Spain and Crete, where the serpent was still regarded 
 with veneration . 5 The subtlety of many human dis¬ 
 tempers was such that they were compared to a ser¬ 
 pent, the most subtle of all living creatures, and 
 
 1 Philosophy of Magic (Salverte), Modern Science and Theology , by 
 
 vol. i. p. 134. H. P. Blavatsky (2 vols.), vol. i. 
 
 2 Priaulx, Travels of Apollonius of p. 90. 
 
 Tyana (Quaritch, London). 4 Symbolical Law of Ancient Art 
 
 3 Isis Unveiled: a Master Key and Mythology (Knight), p. 175. 
 to the Mysteries of Ancient and 5 Knight’s Priapus , pp. 64, 68. 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 27 I 
 
 vEsculapius was the only philosopher up to his time 
 who had completely subdued the most obdurate dis¬ 
 eases ; hence he is always represented as going about, 
 accompanied by a serpent, the symbol of cunning and 
 insidiousness. It is said that Cadmus never died, but 
 was changed to a serpent . 1 Cecrops was of dual nature, 
 human and serpent . 2 3 The original god of Delphi was 
 a serpent. The cave of Trophonius was guarded by 
 serpents. All these Apollonius pronounced great 
 superstitions. 
 
 Nor have the Egyptians escaped this great scandal. 
 The hooded snake was sacred to them. The great god 
 Thoth was but an impersonation of the serpent. Ser¬ 
 pent worship prevailed all over Egypt; it was the 
 symbol of fruitfulness and life-bestowing power of 
 nature . 8 “And do you not worship and embalm the 
 serpent and erect for him magnificent tombs.” (Apol¬ 
 lonius to Thespasian .) 4 * * * 
 
 1 The Symbolical Language of 
 Ancient Art and Myth. (Knight), 
 
 p. 150. 
 
 2 Same, p. 159. 
 
 3 See Deane’s great work: The 
 Worship of the Serpent Traced 
 Throughout the World, A ttesting the 
 Temptation and Fall of Man by the 
 Instrwnentality of a Serpent Tempter, 
 by Rev. Bathurst Deane, M. A., 
 F. R. S. (second edition, London, 
 Remington, 1833); also, Worship 
 of Priapus , by R. Payne Knight, 
 Esq., p. 137. 
 
 4 Thespasian must have been ig¬ 
 
 norant of the extent of the great su¬ 
 
 perstition, or he never would have 
 
 permitted this remark of Apollonius 
 
 to have passed unanswered, and 
 more especially as the evidence is 
 overwhelming that the worship of 
 the serpent prevailed in its most ob¬ 
 noxious form in Greece. It was 
 also worshiped in Tyre; and Hea, 
 the third person in the Babylonian 
 trinity, was a serpent deity.— 
 Bathurst Deane, Worship of the Ser¬ 
 pent, p. 419. 
 
 To avoid as much as possible 
 the labyrinths of mythic worship, 
 we find that in Epidaurus there 
 was a temple of ^Esculapius and a 
 grove connected with it, in which 
 serpents were kept and provided 
 for in the time of Pausanias .—Cf 
 Knight’s Worship of the Serpent, 
 
2/2 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 In the ascent of the Nile, which was the most im¬ 
 portant, in an archaeological and theological point of 
 view, and fullest of incident, of all of the travels of Apol¬ 
 lonius, save only his journey into India, he visited all 
 
 pp. 39,63, etc. A huge serpent was 
 kept in the temple of this god at 
 Alexandria. The people of Argos, 
 in Greece, held serpents in such 
 veneration, that nobody was allowed 
 to harm them. They were deified 
 and enrolled among the gods.— 
 Sanchoniathon's Fragments : Essay 
 Toward a Natural History of Ser¬ 
 pents (in two parts, to which is added 
 a third part), by Chas. Owen, D. D. 
 (London, 1742); Philo Biblius, On 
 Serpent Apotheosis ; Observations on 
 the Serpent Myths of Ancient 
 Egypt , by W. R. Cooper. 
 
 At Athens there was a temple 
 dedicated exclusively to the serpent 
 god Erecthonios, whose site the 
 Erectheum now occupies.— Hyginus 
 Fab., 140. 
 
 In exploring the antiquities cf 
 Rome, we are astonished at the 
 abundant monuments attesting the 
 prevalence of this idolatry.— Des 
 Divinites Generatrices chez les An- 
 ciens et les Modernes (Paris, Du- 
 laure); cf. The Royal Museum at 
 Naples, being some Account of the 
 Erotic Paintings, Bro7izes, and 
 Statues contained in that Famous 
 “ Cabinet Secret ,” by Colonel Fanin 
 (with sixty full-page illustrations, 
 London, 1871, privately printed). 
 
 There was the tree worship, but 
 apparently no serpent worship, in 
 Germany. The Samogitse, the Poles, 
 
 had both. Both occur throughout 
 Scandinavia. The evidence of 
 sculptured stones admit of it in Scot¬ 
 land and Ireland. But Africa was 
 the hot-bed of this superstition, 
 where it was rife, with as much 
 vigor as it had been in Epidaurus.— 
 History of Egypt, from the Earliest 
 Times till the Conquest of the Arabs, 
 A. D. 640, by Samuel Sharpe 
 (Moxon, London, 2 vols., 1859), 
 vol. i. p. 17, etc.; cf. Ancient Sym¬ 
 bol Worship: Influence of the 
 Phallic Idea in the Religion of An¬ 
 tiquity, by Hodder M. Westropp 
 and C. Stainland Wake, etc. (Lon¬ 
 don, 1874). And among the Da- 
 homas it exists to-day associated 
 with human sacrifice. Human sac¬ 
 rifice also prevailed in America 
 (Peru and Mexico) in the sacra¬ 
 ments of this religion, and in India 
 human beings were immolated in 
 its observance. 
 
 Let us go further afield. On the 
 west coast of Africa is the kingdom 
 of Whidah, where the serpent was 
 till recently worshiped by two dif¬ 
 ferent people, or tribes; and, al¬ 
 though violent antagonisms existed 
 as to the qualities of their respective 
 deities or their mode of worshiping 
 them, they each agreed in this: that 
 a human sacrifice was the most ac¬ 
 ceptable offering to their serpent 
 deity. These people also held that 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 273 
 
 the historic places on both sides, as well as some of the 
 mountainous country on the right of, and more distant 
 from, the Nile, making observations on things most 
 remarkable. He ascended as far as the great cataract, 
 
 the most effectual of all sacraments 
 to appease their angered deity was 
 a self-immolated victim or a vica¬ 
 rious sacrifice. This same notion also 
 prevailed among the Chinese, Cey¬ 
 lonese, Hindoos, Polynesians, and 
 Egyptians.—Cf. Prehistoric Tradi¬ 
 tions and Customs in Connection 
 \with Sun and Serpent Worship , by 
 John S. Phene, LL. D., F. S. A. 
 (London, 1875); Jacob Bryant’s 
 New System, or an Analysis of An- 
 tient Mythology, wherein a7i Attempt 
 is made to divest Tradition of Fable 
 and to reduce Truth to its Original 
 Purity (3 vols. 4to, London), vol. i. 
 p. 473; see Ferguson’s work, Tree 
 and Serpent Worship, or Illustra¬ 
 tions of Mythology and Art in India 
 in the First and Fourth Centuries 
 A. D., from the Sculptures of the 
 Buddhist Topes of Sanchi and Am- 
 ravati , by James Ferguson, F. R. S., 
 M. R. A. S. (1868). 
 
 Ferguson says that serpent wor¬ 
 ship and human sacrifice were co¬ 
 existent in India, but were not a 
 part of the same sacrament as they 
 were in Pelasgic times in Greece, in 
 Rome, Carthage, Phoenicia, and 
 Egypt.— Bryant’s Analysis, vol. i. 
 p. 440. In all of these localities the 
 serpent, as the Agatho-Daemon, pro¬ 
 vider of health, fortune, and revealer 
 of knowledge, points directly to 
 human sacrifice as the most precious 
 
 35 
 
 propitiatory offering.—Wilkinson’s 
 Ancient Egyptians, vol. v. p. 261; 
 also, Symbolical Language of An¬ 
 cient Art and Mythology (R. Payne 
 Knight, Esq.), p. 12. This practice 
 was carried to a fearful extent with 
 the Druids.— Deane’s Worship of 
 the Serpent, p. 450. 
 
 The trinity of the Dahomas is 
 identical with that of the ancient 
 Athenians of three thousand years 
 ago, serpent, tree, and ocean, Erec- 
 thonios, Olive, and Poseidon. Solo¬ 
 mon reprobates the practice so 
 prevalent in his day in the following 
 language: “ They worshiped ser¬ 
 pents void of reason.”— Cf God¬ 
 frey Higgins’s Anacalypsis, p. 158; 
 Prehistoric Traditions and Customs 
 in Connection with Sun and Serpent 
 Worship, by John S. Phene, LL.D., 
 F. S. A., F. G. S. (London, 1875). 
 
 I must, however, close this note; 
 the subject is absolutely endless. In 
 Mexico they had Quetzalcoatl, the 
 great feathered serpent of Anahuac, 
 who taught the Aztecs laws and re¬ 
 ligion, as the serpent Cecrops taught 
 the Greeks. The great pyramid 
 Cholula, in Mexico, was dedicated 
 to him. The same character in 
 Yucatan was called Kukulcan. 
 Huitzlipoctli and Tezcatlipoca were 
 gods associated with serpent wor¬ 
 ship and human sacrifice in Amer¬ 
 ica; and, besides all the above (see 
 
274 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 and returned to Alexandria, after an absence of eight 
 years from the crowning of Vespasian (a. D. 70). He 
 then made an uneventful journey along the sea-coast 
 of Egypt, as far west as the province of Pentapolis, 
 
 Deane’s Serpent Worship, p. no, 
 etc.), it was represented by Votan 
 in Guatemala, Pazuma in Paraguay, 
 Manco Copac in Peru, Amalivaca 
 among the Tamaracs, Hiawatha with 
 the Dakotahs, Ndenger with the 
 Feejeeans, Buddah in India (Naga 
 worship), Fohi in China, Zoroaster 
 in Persia, Osiris, Isis, and Serapis 
 in Egypt, Hermes and Hssculapius 
 in Greece, Juno and Minerva in 
 Rome (Juno is represented holding 
 a serpent in her right hand, and 
 Minerva was sometimes attended 
 by a serpent), Odin in Scandinavia, 
 and Hu among the Bretons.— Cf. 
 Vestiges of the Spirit-History of Man, 
 by S. F. Dunlap, c. iii.; also, Ser¬ 
 pent and Siva Worship and Mythol¬ 
 ogy in Central America, Africa, and 
 Asia, and the Origin of Serpent 
 Worship (two Treatises, edited by 
 Alexander Wilder); also, The Ser¬ 
 pent Symbol and the Worship of the 
 Reciprocal Principles of Nature in 
 A?nerica, by E. G. Squier, A. M. 
 (New York, 1841). 
 
 From what has been said, it would 
 seem that the most universal of all 
 religions was the absurd serpent 
 worship and its consequent, the 
 reciprocal, principle in nature.— 
 Knight’s Priapus, p. 105. 
 
 It is the only religion known to 
 have been universal, and it existed 
 until the very establishment of Chris¬ 
 
 tianity, and from which Christianity 
 cannot claim complete exemption.— 
 Knight’s Priapus, p. 107. 
 
 Manes, a celebrated Christian 
 heretic of the third century, declared 
 the mysteries into which he had 
 been initiated as a Christian taught 
 that Christ was an incarnation of 
 the serpent; and the essenes and 
 the gnostics of the first century 
 taught that the ruler of the world 
 was of Draconic origin.— Fales’s 
 Pagan Idolatry, vol. i. p. 451; also, 
 Bryant’s Annals, ii. p. 91; Deane’s 
 Serpent Worship, p. 160; Gnostics, 
 and Their Remains, etc. (King), 
 pp. 22-171; History of the Cross: 
 The Pagan Origin, etc., of the Image, 
 by Henry D. Ward, M. A., p. 14, 
 et seq. 
 
 The description and history of a 
 great Christian church structure 
 may not be inappropriate here as 
 showing the innovation of this ab¬ 
 surd superstition upon our day and 
 theology (see Serpent Symbol in 
 America, by E. G. Squier). And a 
 careful analysis may develop more 
 of the ZEsculapian superstition basic 
 to our theology than as superficial 
 believers we are prepared to admit. 
 What is said of this great Christian 
 structure may in some degree be 
 said of nearly every similar struct¬ 
 ure in existence.— Godfrey Hig¬ 
 gins, p. 158. “The chancel and 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 275 
 
 and returned to Alexandria during the last sickness of 
 Vespasian. 
 
 From Alexandria Apollonius traveled into the East, 
 the country of the Idurneans, Phoenicians, Syrians 
 
 communion table,” said he, “ were 
 in the extreme end of the edifice, for 
 the purpose, as Vitruvius has said, 
 that the act of devotion should be 
 performed facing the rising sun,— 
 creator,— whose symbol was the 
 universal serpent, from pagan Peru 
 to Christian Rome. The first thing 
 on entering was the serpent,— it 
 trailed and coiled everywhere 
 \_Ancient Symbol Worship; Influ¬ 
 ence of the Phallic Idea in the Relig¬ 
 ions of Antiquity, etc., by Plodder 
 M. Westropp and C. Stainland 
 Wake (New York, 1874)]; it was 
 the principal decoration of the great 
 chandelier that hung from the ceil¬ 
 ing ; it served as a bracket against 
 the pillar to sustain the lamps; it 
 coiled in symbolic folds around the 
 pedestal of the symbolic octagonal 
 font which held the symbolic water 
 of eternal youth, elixir of life; it 
 was painted twining around the 
 cross, or lying torpid at the foot of 
 it [ Ancient Pagan and Modern 
 Symbolism Exposed and Explained, 
 by Thomas Inman, M. D. (1869)]; 
 the triune convoluted columns sup¬ 
 porting the Gothic gallery were con¬ 
 structed in the form of it.”— The 
 Gnostics and Their Remains, An¬ 
 cient and Medieval, by W. C. King, 
 M. A. (1864), p. 227. All this in 
 a Christian church. And now, 
 whence came it there, and how? 
 
 From what damp grotto temples 
 and dim ruins of antiquity had it 
 crept forth to the world’s gaze ? 
 —History of the Cross; the Pagan 
 Origin and Idolatrous Adoption and 
 Worship of the Image, by H. Dana 
 Ward (1872), p. 230. How many 
 sloughings of its skin had it under¬ 
 gone during the thousands of years 
 occupied in crawling into America, 
 Polynesia, Eastern Asia, India, 
 Persia, Greece, Egypt, and Rome ? 
 How has it survived its wonderful 
 experiences of idolatry, alternately 
 savage and refined ? The fearful 
 worship of barbarity ; the cabalistic 
 homage of the Orientals; bruised 
 by the seed of the woman; lifted 
 up as a healing saviour by Moses; 
 enduring the curses and blessings 
 of the nations (Baldwin’s Ancient 
 America, p. 130); at one time the 
 symbol of darkness, at another the 
 symbol of light; now adored as a 
 god, benevolent, then despised as a 
 demon, malevolent; here associated 
 with death, there with immortality ; 
 now symbolizing prodigal nature 
 overflowing with profuse life, then 
 malevolently destroying every germ. 
 
 Whether these are answered, or 
 remain unanswered, the old reptile 
 of immutable duration still lives, 
 and is yet doing symbolic service as 
 faithfully in a Christian church as 
 he did in the pagan temples de- 
 
2 y 6 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 (Antioch), Silicians (Tarsus), and afterward into Ionia, 
 closely observing the habits, customs, and religion of 
 the peopleDamis, in the mean time, recording every¬ 
 thing worthy of preservation. 
 
 On the death of Vespasian 1 Titus, then being in 
 Judea, having reduced Jerusalem, set out for Rome 
 
 scribed by Apollonius.— Cf. Magnce 
 Deum Matris Idcece et A ttidis Initia 
 Ex vetustis monumentis nuper Tor- 
 naci Nerviorum erutis (Auctore Lau- 
 rentio Pignorio Canonico Tarvisino, 
 Amstelodami, 1669); cf. The Lotus 
 of the Ancients, by M. C. Cook, 
 M. D.; Monumental Christianity, 
 or the Art and Symbolism of the 
 Primitive Church as Witnesses and 
 Teachers of Our Catholic Faith and 
 Practice , by John Lundy (1876); 
 The Veil of Isis, or Mysteries of the 
 Druids, by Winwood Reade (Lon¬ 
 don, 1861); The. Mythology and 
 Rites of the British Druids, Ascer¬ 
 tained by National Documents, and 
 Compared with the General Tradi¬ 
 tions and Customs of Heathenism, 
 by Edward Davis (1809). 
 
 Apollonius affirms that the serpent 
 worshipers came from the East, 
 that they were first navigators of 
 the sea and children of the sun, 
 and in their progress first settled in 
 Cyprus, Crete, Rhodes, Samos, 
 Lesbos, Thrace, Euboea, and At¬ 
 tica.— A New System, or an Analy¬ 
 sis of Antient Mythology, etc., by 
 Jacob Bryant (London, 1774, 3 
 vols.), vol. ii. p. 165; The Sym¬ 
 bolic Language of Ancient Art and 
 Mythology , by R. Payne Knight 
 
 (1876), p. 142; Dulaure, Histoire 
 des dijferents Cultes ; des Cultes qui 
 ont precede et amene VIdolatrie ou 
 Vadoration des figures humaines, 
 etc. (Paris, 2 vols., 1825). 
 
 On a coin representing the apoth¬ 
 eosis of Cleopatra is a serpent upon 
 the regal diadem, which subse¬ 
 quently gave rise to the popular 
 story of her death. 
 
 From the testimony of coins and 
 medals exclusively, we can establish 
 serpent worship in Phoenicia from 
 the winged disk which is repre¬ 
 sented on these coins. Hercula¬ 
 neum and Syracuse were famous for 
 it. On the ancient medals of Naples 
 it is again repeated. On a very an¬ 
 cient Phoenician medal the disk and 
 wings are of a somewhat different 
 form; they resemble the Jewish 
 cherubim. Much curiosity has been 
 elicited from this remarkable piece. 
 Prof. Swinton read a paper upon it, 
 which was published in the Philo¬ 
 sophical Transactions (i860). It 
 is now in R. Payne Knight’s col¬ 
 lection. 
 
 1 Vespasian, who had passively 
 submitted to the absurd prepara¬ 
 tion of his apotheosis, observed, 
 when he felt himself ebbing away : 
 “ I think I am becoming a god.” 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 277 
 
 to fill the place of his father (a. D. 79). 1 During 
 the pilgrimages of Apollonius great transformation 
 had taken place at the capital. Rome had been de¬ 
 stroyed in a popular tumult and rebuilt. Vespasian had 
 dedicated a temple to Peace, and commenced the 
 Flavian amphitheater, Coliseum. Helvidius Priscus, the 
 stoic, having offended Vespasian, had been put to 
 death. All the philosophers, except Musonius Rufus, 
 had been driven out of Rome. Demetrius had been 
 expelled, Sabinus Caecina and Marcellus had been in¬ 
 humanly butchered. 2 
 
 On his way to Rome Titus was declared emperor, 
 and invested with imperial dignity, being the first 
 prince who had succeeded by hereditary right. Desir¬ 
 ing a conference with Apollonius, Titus requested that 
 he should meet him at Argos. 3 On their meeting Titus 
 embraced him, and said : “ My father before he died 
 gave me instructions concerning you, and all he 
 wished you to know; he considered you his benefactor. 
 I am now only thirty years of age, and have attained 
 the same honors my father did at sixty. I am called 
 upon to govern, who am yet unconscious that I have 
 learned to obey. What advice, O Tyanean, have you 
 to give concerning my conduct in governing an 
 
 1 In answer to a letter from Apol- 3 Apollonius de Tyaneif. hassang), 
 
 lonius, Titus replied: “ In my own p. 274. This meeting probably did 
 name, and in the name of my coun- not take place at Argos but at Argus, 
 try, I give you thanks, and will be a fortress of Cappadocia, near Nova 
 mindful of those things to which in Cilicia, as this was the route taken 
 you so nobly called my attention.” by Titus on his way to Rome, and 
 — Philostratus, Concerning the Life Apollonius appears to have been in 
 of Apollonius Tyaneus. this part of the country, and not in 
 
 2 Suetonius, Vespasian. Greece, at that time. 
 
278 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 empire?” “None,” answered Apollonius; “you have 
 abundant example before you. There is an old saying 
 of Archytas, 1 in a treatise composed by him on the 
 subject of education: ‘ Let the virtues of a father be 
 an example for imitation to his sons, and his frailties a 
 barrier for their evasion.’ During the life of your 
 father you have had to guard against enemies. Now 
 that you are master of yourself, I advise you to guard 
 with prudence and circumspection against your most 
 intimate friends ; for, of all men, I think it is your duty 
 to be on your guard. And that you may be fore¬ 
 warned of approaching danger, I recommend to you, 
 as a companion and counselor, the philosopher Deme¬ 
 trius, the cynic.” 2 
 
 On hearing the word “cynic” Titus was troubled; 
 but Apollonius replied : “ Homer thought Telemachus 
 wanted two dogs to attend him as companions in the 
 councils of the Ithacans, on account of his youth. But 
 I will give you the cynic Demetrius, who will bark for 
 you against yourself if in anything you offend, and 
 thn he will always do in wisdom, and never without 
 reason.” “ Give me, then,” said Titus, “ this com¬ 
 panion, with permission to bite me, and at all times 
 criticise wisely and fearlessly all my public and private 
 acts, and ever ready to warn me of danger; not as an 
 informer, nor as a flatterer.” 3 
 
 1 The son of Hestiseus of Taren- times chosen by his fellow-citizens 
 turn; he was a follower of Py- Governor of Tarentum. He per- 
 thagoras,, an able astronomer and ished by shipwreck (394 B. c.) 
 geometrician. He redeemed his 2 Demetrius had been banished 
 master Plato from the hands of the from Italy by Vespasian, 
 tyrant Dionysius. He was seven 3 Diss. de Tito Imp. (J. H. Jung). 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 279 
 
 Apollonius then wrote to Demetrius the following 
 letter: 
 
 “Apollonius the Philosopher to the Cynic Demetrius. 
 
 “ Health — I give you to the Emperor Titus, in order 
 that you may instruct him in all royal virtues. Justify 
 what I have said of you to him, and be everything to 
 him; but everything without anger. Farewell.” 1 
 
 Titus ruled in Rome until his murder by his brother 
 Domitian (a. D. 81). The great fire in Rome hap¬ 
 pened in the second year of the reign of Titus. It 
 consumed the temples of Serapis and Isis, and of Nep¬ 
 tune, the baths of Agrippa and Septa, the great theater 
 of Balbus and Pompey, the library of Augustus, and 
 the temple of Jupiter. 
 
 It was probably fortunate for the memory of Titus 
 that he had so brief a reign. He died just soon enough 
 to retain the merited appellation of the “ Delight of 
 Mankind.” 2 Apollonius accredits him with being a good 
 man, and as exemplary a ruler as his surroundings 
 would permit. The festivities instituted by him on the 
 completion of the Coliseum were as ridiculous and 
 absurd as they were expensive; five thousand wild 
 beasts were let into the arena and killed by gladiators ; 3 
 this was but one of the brutal extravagances of that 
 
 1 Apollonius de Tyane , sa Vie, 
 etc. (Chassang), p. 276. 
 
 2 I believe that Philostratus is not 
 
 the only author who claims that Titus 
 was poisoned by Domitian. He 
 was poisoned by eating lepus ma- 
 rinus, a fish from which issues a 
 
 deadly poison, administered under 
 the direction of Domitian, who also 
 murdered Clemens, the consul, 
 though his own cousin, and mar¬ 
 ried to a woman who was also a 
 relative.— Suetonius. 
 
 3 Vespasien et Tite (Rolland, 1830). 
 
280 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 great festival, out of which Titus reaped nothing but 
 disgrace. 1 It was Titus’s dying regret that he had not 
 made provisions to exclude his unworthy brother Do- 
 mitian from the throne. 2 
 
 At this time (a. D. 70), Apollonius being at Antioch, 
 the governor of Syria was stirring up seditions and 
 sowing dissensions among the citizens, by means of 
 which the peace of the city was greatly disturbed and 
 divided into factions; and, to augment the already 
 unsettled state of affairs, the city and country round 
 about were this year visited by a violent shock of an 
 earthquake, which terrified the inhabitants, and many 
 of them fled for safety out of the city. Apollonius 
 declared it was the manifestation of a god for the res¬ 
 toration of peace. These shocks w'ere felt in all the 
 towns situate on the left side of the Hellespont, which 
 created great alarm among the people. And certain 
 Egyptians and Chaldeans, taking advantage of the 
 alarm, went up and down through them, collecting 
 what money they could under a pretense of offering to 
 Neptune and Tellus a sacrifice which would cost ten 
 
 1 There is every evidence that 
 Titus labored to restore the ancient 
 confidence in the empire, and the 
 dignity of his predecessors ; he 
 even recoined their money to pre¬ 
 serve their memory. These coins 
 were called restituli , and are much 
 prized by collectors. His subjuga¬ 
 tion of Judea was typed in nearly 
 all of the coins minted by him, and 
 were inscribed, imp. t. caes. VESP. 
 AVG. P.M. TR. P.P.P. CO. VIII. 
 Translated Imperator, Titus, Caesar 
 
 Vespasian Augustus; High Pontiff, 
 Father of his country, Consul for 
 the eighth time.— Hisioire des Em- 
 pereurs ro7nains depuis Jules Ce'sar 
 jusqida Postumus , avec les me'dailles 
 d'argent , etc. (J. B. Haulten, Paris, 
 1646), art. Titus. 
 
 Many of the coins of Titus were 
 struck during the life-time of his 
 father; Ti. on his coins stands for 
 Tiberius; T. stands for Titus always. 
 
 2 Eutropius’s Abridgment of Ro¬ 
 man History, b. vii. 120. 
 
 I 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 281 
 
 talents. The authorities of the towns and individuals, 
 whilst under the impression of terror, contributed what 
 they could from their public and private funds ; these 
 cheats having declared that no sacrifice could be offered 
 till the money was lodged in the hands of their bankers. 
 Apollonius, learning of this new tribulation of the Hel- 
 lespontines, hastened through their towns and exposed 
 the villainies of these wandering impostors, who were 
 making gain of the misfortunes of the people. Then, 
 inquiring into the cause of the anger of these gods, he 
 offered the proper expiatory sacrifice, and by this 
 means averted the danger which hung over them at a 
 small expense, and the earth had some rest. 
 
 From Antioch Apollonius traveled by land into Issus, 
 where Alexander achieved his great victory over Darius, 
 and thence to Tarsus, where he had been put at school 
 when a youth. Tarsus is said to have been the birthplace 
 of St. Paul; also of the stoics, Antipater, Chrysippus, 
 Archedamus, and Nestor; and of the grammarians, Ar- 
 temidorus and Diodorus; and of the botanist, Dios- 
 corides. It was a great center of learning and science. 
 
 Of old, the people of Tarsus bore no kindness to 
 Apollonius, 1 because of his persistent reproaches for 
 their manifold conceits and ostentations. These chid- 
 ings were not adapted to their sensitive natures. Now, 
 however, at the time of this visit in his old age, they 
 had become to love and respect him as much as if he 
 had been the founder of their city, having learned that 
 his early reproaches were for their good, and, more¬ 
 over, because his fame had reached them from all parts 
 of the world. 
 
 1 Apollonius de Tyane , sa Vie , etc. (Chassang), p. 264. 
 
 36 
 
282 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 When Domitian ascended the throne and began to 
 show signs of the same morbid vanity and cruelty 
 which had characterized Nero, 1 Apollonius at once 
 commenced to travel up and down the empire, sowing 
 everywhere the seeds of discontent and rebellion 
 against the crowned monster. 2 Here again we find 
 Apollonius trying his hand at politics, a science in 
 which most philosophers had proved themselves impru¬ 
 dent and unskillful. Had he and the brother philoso¬ 
 phers of his day confined themselves to their legitimate 
 calling of teaching and lecturing, and left politics alone, 
 these emperors, although monsters of inhumanity, 
 would probably never have disturbed them. But 
 many thought it the duty of the philosophers to in¬ 
 veigh against the political corruptions of the age, 
 against the reigning power, and to stir up the multi¬ 
 tude and introduce reformatory measures. Irritated 
 by the boldness and encouragement which the opposi¬ 
 tion to his tyranny found among the adherents of 
 stoicism was undoubtedly the cause of Nero’s hostility 
 to philosophy, and which also drove Vespasian to ban¬ 
 ish the stoics from Rome. They, however, were per¬ 
 mitted to return under Domitian, when they were 
 again exiled from Rome for a similar offense; a few, 
 probably, were executed. It has been said, and no 
 doubt with a great deal of truth, that it was dangerous 
 to possess talent and employ it to any nobler purpose 
 than that of the most obsequious and degrading flat¬ 
 tery of royalty during the reigns of the dark and 
 suspicious Tiberius, the insane Caligula, the simple 
 
 1 Eutropius’s Abridgment of Roman History, b. vii. 123. 
 
 2 Lenain de Tillemont , p. 26, etc. 
 
OF TYANA. 283 
 
 Claudius, and the sanguinary Nero, who were the mere 
 tools of rascally freedmen and women. 
 
 And yet, while these emperors were besottedly 
 selfish and cruel, they no doubt desired to make their 
 reigns peaceable and popular, and to this end they 
 believed that they must rid the empire of all opposi¬ 
 tion by exile or execution rather than by conciliation. 
 They sought to secure peace to the country by visit¬ 
 ing vengeance rather than clemency and magnanimity 
 upon their enemies, and it is quite true that magna¬ 
 nimity had proved but indifferently successful. For 
 even the philosophers made provoking display of their 
 superior virtues, and treated royalty with contempt, 
 save in time of imminent peril. “ I know,” says Phil- 
 ostratus, “ whoever pleases may consider all that 
 Apollonius did against Nero was a matter of mere 
 ostentation, inasmuch as he did not raise the standard 
 of revolt and march out in battle array against him, 
 but managed to keep himself out of harm’s way; 
 while at the same time it is well known that he boldly 
 and defiantly gave comfort and encouragement to 
 Vindex in the Spanish insurrection, and in the re¬ 
 proaches he poured out against Tigellinus wonderfully 
 weakened his power. I know also that his attack 
 upon Nero, let what may be said of it, required great 
 courage. Although Nero was weak and frail of mental 
 constitution, and led publicly only the life of a player on 
 the harp or lyre, yet he was revengeful and possessed 
 arbitrary power, and his jurisdiction was without limit.” 1 
 
 But this was not all true of Domitian. He was 
 a man of robust mental and physical constitution, 
 l Cf. Suetonii Tranquilli> c. vii. p. 159. 
 
284 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 of a morose and jealous temper, an enemy to all the 
 pleasures which tend to soften man’s rugged nature, 
 a monster whose luxury of delight was derived from 
 the misfortunes of his fellow-creatures and whatever 
 gave them pain , 1 who said that the distrust of the peo¬ 
 ple toward tyrants, and tyrants toward the people, was 
 the phylactery or charm that supported power, and 
 maintained that it was during the night an emperor 
 should cease from all work except that of death and 
 slaughter. Hence it came to pass that the senate was 
 mutilated of its best members, and philosophy so 
 panic-stricken that many of its professors fled in dis¬ 
 guise to the farthest parts of Gaul, others to the deserts 
 of Lybia and Scythia, and some there were who em¬ 
 braced the doctrines most suitable to their personal 
 safety and the fashionable vices of the age . 2 
 
 Whenever Apollonius was reproached by his friends 
 for the unwise course he was pursuing during this 
 imperial terrorism, he replied, “ My only answer to 
 Domitian is the language of Tiresias in the CEdipus 
 of Sophocles, ‘ I am Apollo’s subject, and not thine.’ ” 
 He always considered wisdom his sovereign mistress, 
 and defended liberty even under Domitian. He enter¬ 
 tained no fears for his own life, feeling that he had 
 nearly run his course, but he was deeply affected with 
 what caused the misfortunes of others. And although 
 many were going into involuntary exile, Apollonius 
 
 1 Tacitus says: “ It was our 
 
 wretched lot to behold the tyrant 
 and to be seen by him, while he 
 kept a register of our sighs and 
 groans. Cum suspiria nostra sub¬ 
 scriberenturP 
 
 2 When Domitian was emperor, 
 
 the philosophers were, by a decree 
 of the senate, driven out of the city 
 and banished from Italy. At such 
 time Epictetus, the stoic, went from 
 Rome to Nicopolis on account of 
 this decree .—Aulus Gellius, Nodes 
 Atticce (Beloe, 1795). 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 285 
 
 determined to remain and take up arms for the good 
 of Rome against Domitian, as he had done against Nero, 
 although well knowing that Domitian would condemn 
 him to destruction. But, like Zeus, the inventor of 
 logic, who, when taken in the very act of planning the 
 destruction of Nearchus, and put to the rack, confessed 
 against the tyrant’s most intimate friends as accom¬ 
 plices, who were put to death and he thereby disarmed. 
 Plato declares that he entered into the design of restor¬ 
 ing liberty to the Syracusans by acting as an accom¬ 
 plice with Dion, who was at the head of it, while he 
 was also in favor at court. 
 
 Phyton, when forced to quit Rhegium, fled to 
 Dionysius, the tyrant of Sicily, by whom he was 
 admitted to a greater share of confidence than an exile 
 ought, by which he became acquainted with the tyrant’s 
 secrets; and having learned that he designed making 
 himself master of Rhegium, he gave information of it 
 to the citizens by letters and was discovered. Diony¬ 
 sius ordered him to be fastened to one of his own 
 , machines, which he had directed to be advanced to the 
 walls, believing that the Rhegians would not attack it 
 with offensive weapons out of regard to Phyton; but 
 he cried out, “ Spare me not, for I am the signal of 
 your liberty .” 1 And so had Apollonius determined, 
 let what might befall himself, to cripple the resources 
 of the tyrant for evil by every act in his power, so long 
 as liberty to act was left him. Plutarch had been 
 banished from Rome . 2 His crime was applause of 
 the frugality of Vespasian, the leniency of Titus, and 
 
 1 Philostraius de Vita Apollonii Tyanei Scriptor, Luculentus a Phillippo 
 Beroaldo Castigatus (1502), p. 191. 
 
 2 Treatise on Exile , Plutarch. 
 
286 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 deploring the vices, follies, and crimes of their successor 
 and reformer, Domitian. No one can read Plutarch 
 and not discover his sorrowing over the degradation 
 of his time; while he appears to the casual observer as 
 tacitly drifting with the corrupt current . 1 Dion Chrys¬ 
 ostom had also retired into exile . 2 Martial, on the 
 other hand, had sung the praises of Domitian, and ex¬ 
 alted him to the skies for destroying the palace of Nero, 
 throwing open the gardens to the public, and erecting 
 an amphitheater on the site. He says: “The portico 
 of Claudia covers with its shades the remains of that 
 palace which is now no more. Rome is restored to 
 herself, and under your auspices, Caesar, what were 
 the enjoyments of the people ? ” In another passage 
 of the De Spectaculis he expatiates on the splendor 
 of the new amphitheater, declaring that “ neither 
 the pyramids nor the palaces of Babylon, nor the 
 temple of Diana, nor the mausoleum, could compare 
 with it.” 
 
 Domitian had put to death three vestal virgins, who, 
 it was charged, had violated their oath of chastity. 
 He put to death Sabinus, one of his relatives, and mar¬ 
 ried Julia, his widow and his own niece, she being one 
 of his brother Titus’s daughters. On account of this 
 marriage, the people of Ephesus offered a public sacri¬ 
 fice. Apollonius was present, and was heard to ex¬ 
 claim, “ O night of the Danaids, how singular hast thou 
 been ! ” 3 
 
 1 Suetonius, Lives of Eminent daughters of Danaus, who put to 
 
 Rhetoricians , p. 524. death their fifty husbands, their 
 
 2 Apollonius de Tyane , sa Vie , cousins,— one only excepted, Hyp- 
 
 etc. (Chassang), p. 216. ermnestra, who saved her husband 
 
 3 The Danaids were the fifty Lynceus. 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 287 
 
 During the reign of Titus, Apollonius had corre¬ 
 sponded with Nerva, with Salvidrenus Orfitus, and with 
 Lucius Minucius Rufus (consul with Domitian, A. D. 
 88) on subjects of philosophy and morality; the two 
 latter he had attached to the interest of Nerva on ac¬ 
 count of their good character, and alienated them from 
 Domitian on account of his tyranny, and encouraged 
 them to stand forth in defense of liberty. But he now 
 deemed it unsafe to carry on any epistolary correspond¬ 
 ence whatever, as it was a fact that many of the most 
 powerful citizens were betrayed by their slaves, their 
 friends, and their wives; in short, there was not a 
 house to be found into which it was safe to intrust a 
 secret. 
 
 Apollonius was fully apprised of this and for his 
 companions chose only such as he thought most to be 
 depended upon for prudence. In a short time, however, 
 he was informed that Orfitus and Rufus had been ban¬ 
 ished to the islands and Nerva ordered not to leave 
 Tarentum. 1 
 
 On this information Apollonius began to suspect 
 that an early demand would be made for his attendance 
 at court, and he determined not to have it to regret 
 that he had wasted his time in the idle dream that he 
 might pass unnoticed, or that he might secure imperial 
 clemency. He therefore at once repaired to Smyrna, 
 on the Melis, and commenced a series of discourses on 
 
 1 If Nerva was banished, as is 
 pretty well confirmed by history, 
 he must have returned the same or 
 the following year, for Dion Cassius 
 says he was in Rome when Domi¬ 
 tian was murdered. Nay, that 
 
 writer makes no mention of the 
 banishment of Nerva, which causes 
 us to suspect that Philostratus was 
 right and the other historians 
 wrong concerning the banishment 
 of Nerva. 
 
288 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 “ Fate and Necessity,” having special reference to the 
 present state of affairs at Rome. Near the grove where 
 he held forth stood a brazen statue of Domitian, and on 
 one occasion, when he had the eyes of the spectators 
 turned in that direction, said: “ Thou fool, how little 
 understandest thou the decrees of Fate and Neces¬ 
 sity ! ” These words were carried to Domitian by the 
 informer Euphrates, who had been secretly sent to 
 entrap Apollonius. 
 
 Domitian, although an execrable emperor, was not a 
 man destitute of all taste and culture, as Nero, nor so 
 despicable a monster as Caligula. He maintained the 
 finest botanical garden in the world, and endeavored to 
 reestablish the great Roman empire. He indeed 
 dreaded and banished the philosophers; so had his 
 father, and more than one of his imperial predeces¬ 
 sors. Their banishment, perhaps, at this crisis, was a 
 state necessity, because they harbored dreams of 
 liberty, and were often engaged in conspiracies against 
 the Caesars. 
 
 Domitian built a temple at Rome to Isis, and another 
 to Serapis, and fostered the Egyptian worship. And 
 with such eagerness did the Romans accept these new 
 deities, and in such demand did the pictures of the 
 virgin mother, goddess Isis, with her infant son, Horus 
 Saviour, on her lap, become (according to Juvenal), 
 that all the Roman painters lived upon painting the 
 group — Madonna and Child. Her temple in the 
 Campus Martius (now a Christian chapel) was sup¬ 
 plied with holy water from the Nile to purify the build¬ 
 ing and her votaries, and a regular college of priests 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 289 
 
 were maintained. 1 Apollonius had been secretly advo¬ 
 cating the cause of Nerva, knowing that he was to 
 succeed Domitian; and Domitian, hearing of this, had 
 determined to put them both to death. Whilst he was 
 considering this, and writing to the pro-consul of Asia 
 to have Apollonius apprehended and brought to Rome, 
 the Tyanean was making arrangements to appear volun¬ 
 tarily, being apprised of it all as usual by means of his 
 daemon. 2 He had already told his friends that he was 
 going to take a very singular journey. Not knowing to 
 what he referred, some of them called to mind the story 
 of the ancient Abaris, and thought he was to perform 
 a similar journey. 3 
 
 However, without communicating his intention to 
 even Damis, he took passage on a ship bound from 
 Smyrna to Achaia. Their ship touched at Chio, a 
 flourishing city of the island of Chios, 4 second in com- 
 
 1 Juvenalis Sat., xii. 28; Ibid. 
 vi. 427; Ibid. xii. 364; Isis Un¬ 
 veiled, vol. ii. p. 10; Ibid. vol. ii. 
 p. 50; Ibid. vol. ii. p. 95 ; Symbolic 
 Language of Ancient Art and My¬ 
 thology (Knight), p. 147; cf. Ser¬ 
 pent Myths of Ancient Egypt; also, 
 History of the Cross (Ward); Sun 
 and Serpent Worship (Phene). 
 
 2 Thales, Pythagoras, Plato, and 
 
 the stoics considered the daemons to 
 be physical beings; that the heroes 
 are souls separated from the bodies ; 
 
 some are good, some are bad, and 
 the bad those whose souls are 
 worthless.— Plutarch, Sentiments 
 which Delighted Philosophers, i. 8. 
 “ The great mind of Zeus who loveth 
 
 men disposeth for thee, the Dem¬ 
 on.”— Pindar Pyth.,\. 164. “Men 
 are good and wise as the Demon 
 orders.”— Olympia, xi. 41. Cf. 
 Plutarch, Discourse Concerning the 
 Demon of Socrates, ii. 4. 
 
 3 Iamblicus tells us that Apollo 
 invested the Hyperborean Abaris 
 with the power of flying through 
 the air on a magical arrow, whither¬ 
 soever he pleased. Bayle laughs at 
 the idea of Abaris making his entry 
 into Athens riding on a broom¬ 
 stick. ' 9 c tov Viax&c Tispcecpspe. 
 
 4 Chios was the native place of 
 Theocritus, Theopompus, and Glau- 
 kos, who invented the method of 
 soldering iron (ai$Y]poo ttoWqate;). 
 
 37 
 
290 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 mercial importance to Smyrna. Here they took in 
 cargo for Corinth. Remaining but a few hours, they 
 again made sail, and stood westward and southward over 
 the JEge an sea, and in five days landed at Cenchrese on 
 the Saronic gulf, a sea-port of Corinth. The Isthmian 
 games in honor of Poseidon, 1 which were celebrated 
 here every second year, were now being solemnized. 
 It was near Cenchreae that the famous temple and 
 statue to this god were located; also a temple and 
 statue to Venus. Apollonius did not remain to see 
 the festival completed, but proceeded at once, overland, 
 to Corinth (six English miles). Nearly the whole of 
 this distance is a suburb of that city. They passed the 
 monument of Diogenes, the cynic of Sinope, a temple 
 of Venus Melanis, the tomb of Lais, to whom her fel¬ 
 low-citizens paid almost divine honors, and the tomb 
 of the children of Medea, Pheres and Mermerus. 
 They spent the night in the temple of Apollo, near 
 the market-place, which is surrounded by the temples 
 of the Ephesian Artemis, of Fortune, and of Jupiter 
 Capitolinus, and statues standing in the open air. One 
 is of Pallas, another of Diana, made in bronze. In the 
 Forum there is also a bronze statue of Minerva, at the 
 foot of which are statues of the Muses; and just out- 
 
 1 Barrier’s Mythology and Fables , 
 vol. iv. p. 436. The Isthmian 
 games were an ancient ceremony of 
 the worship of Melkarth, of Phoe¬ 
 nician origin; it was afterward 
 modified into the Ionic worship of 
 Poseidon. The festival at this time 
 was under the management of the 
 Corinthians, and was something after 
 
 the method of the Olympian and 
 Pythian games, but was celebrated 
 every two years. The Athenians 
 were closely connected with the festi¬ 
 val, and had the privilege of the 
 foremost seats, while the Eleans 
 were entirely excluded. The games 
 were gymnastic, equestrian, musical, 
 etc.; the prize, a crown of parsley. 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 291 
 
 side of the Forum is a temple dedicated to Octavia, 
 sister of Augustus. Corinth is noted for the number 
 of its statues and beauty of its public baths. But it 
 had suffered more spoliation at the hands of the 
 Romans than any other Grecian city. About two 
 hundred years before the time of Apollonius she had 
 been sacked and absolutely depopulated. Julius and 
 Augustus Caesar had raised it to its present glory. 
 
 The next day, at noon, having made his vows, as 
 Apollonius always did at midday to the sun in the tem¬ 
 ple of Apollo, he made preparations to depart, not 
 desiring to stay in Corinth, which, he says, was a nest 
 of harlots. The great cause of the looseness of morals at 
 Corinth, Apollonius says, was the forcible introduction 
 and detention of female slaves into the temples of 
 Aphrodite, making them worse than common brothels. 1 
 
 He proceeded the same day to Lechaeum, the harbor 
 or sea-port of Corinth, on the Corinthiacus Sinus. The 
 road taken by Apollonius and his followers began at the 
 market-place, and led north to Lechaeum; it first passed 
 the Propylaea, surmounted by Phaeton and Helois; 
 next was the grotto of Pierene. At Lechaeum, Apol¬ 
 lonius embraced the opportunity of inspecting the great 
 canal of Nero, 2 work upon which had now, however, 
 been entirely suspended ; it had proceeded only about 
 three stadia (600 yards) from the harbor. 
 
 Finding a vessel ready, they embarked, and set sail 
 the same evening for Sicily and Italy, with a fair wind 
 and a calm sea; their voyage was without incident, and 
 
 1 A thousand sacred prostitutes were kept in each of these temples.— 
 Knight’s Worship of the Friapus, p. 104. 
 
 2 A ship-canal across the Corinthian isthmus. 
 
292 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 they arrived on the seventh day at Dicaearchia (Pute- 
 oli), the residence of the philosopher Demetrius of 
 Sunium, who had formerly lived some time at Corinth, 
 
 « r 
 
 and where Apollonius met him fifteen years previous. 
 He had been banished from Italy by Nero, and re¬ 
 called and recommended to Titus by Apollonius as a 
 desirable adviser, and was again under royal dis¬ 
 pleasure. When Apollonius met his old friend, who, in 
 living so near Rome, had displayed more courage than 
 some of the brethren, although Apollonius knew that 
 he meant to keep Domitian at arm’s length, he said 
 to him, in way of jest, “ I am happy to surprise you, 
 Demetrius, in the midst of pleasures and political 
 security, in the most charming spot in all Italy, 1 
 within sight of the delightful island Capreas, to which 
 the virtuous Tiberius retired for expiation; and also 
 within hearing and sight of the eternally contending 
 elements of Vesuvius; in the country where Ulysses 
 is said to have forgotten, in the company of Calypso, 
 the smoke of Ithaca, and his family and household 
 gods.” 2 Whereupon Demetrius embraced him, and, 
 first deprecating the omen, said: “What injury will 
 not philosophy receive if a man like this should suffer ?” 
 “What danger,” asked Apollonius, “is it to which you 
 allude ? ” “ None, I am sure,” returned Demetrius, 
 
 “ but what you are prepared for; for if I don’t know 
 you I don’t know myself; but let us not talk here, let 
 us retire to a more private place; yet Damis is not to 
 be excluded, whom, by Hercules, I look on as the 
 
 1 No spot in Italy was more desirable for country-seats of the nobility 
 than the immediate neighborhood of Puteoli. 
 
 2 Mythology and Fables of the Ancients (Banier), vol. i. p. 300, 
 
OF TYANA . 
 
 293 
 
 Iolaus of your labors.” 1 They retired to a house not far 
 from the town which had formerly belonged to Cicero, 2 
 for since the death of Herennius and Arulenes, A. D. 
 90, another order was issued for all philosophers and 
 mathematicians to leave Rome and Italy. Epictetus 
 had withdrawn to Nicopolis and Dio Prusseus retired 
 among the Goths. Great circumspection was, therefore, 
 necessary in their interviews. In the course of a con¬ 
 versation which lasted several hours Apollonius said, 
 “ What is it you would advise me to do in order to best 
 compose my fears ? ” “ Do not jest with me,” returned 
 
 Demetrius, “ nor affect fear when you have none.” 
 “Would you,” asked Apollonius, “try to make your 
 escape were you circumstanced as I am ? ” “I would 
 not, I swear it by Minerva,” said Demetrius, “ if I had 
 any hope of getting a fair trial. But we have neither 
 law nor justice, nor a judge to hear any defense ; and 
 were he even to hear it, would have you put to death 
 though you should be proven innocent. Nor do I deem 
 
 1 A son of Iphiclus, king of Thes¬ 
 saly, who assisted Hercules in con¬ 
 quering the Hydra. 
 
 2 Cicero is said to have had eight¬ 
 een villas in various parts of Italy. 
 There were probably not over ten. 
 The one in question was his Cuman 
 villa, less than a mile from Puteoli. 
 It was here that Cicero did his 
 finest work. There is no doubt, 
 from his letters, that Cicero was 
 very partial to these enchanting 
 shores; and yet he makes com¬ 
 plaint to Atticus of the frequent 
 intrusion of idle visitors. All this 
 would seem to indicate that Ro- 
 
 manelli was mistaken and Apollo¬ 
 nius correct, concerning this villa 
 of Cicero. On the island of Caprese, 
 distant about fourteen miles from 
 Puteoli, Tiberius had ten villas, and 
 it was to one of these he retreated 
 after he had crushed the conspiracy 
 of Sejanus, and in which he died. 
 Many fine marbles have been un¬ 
 earthed on this island — as the 
 Juno of Tiberius, Cybele of Tibe¬ 
 rius, Vesta of Tiberius. It is said 
 that no man ever lived who was 
 so thoroughly bad in principle.— 
 C. Suetonii Tranquilli , vol. i. p. 
 561, et seq. 
 
2 Q 4 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 it unworthy a man to die for his philosophy. But the 
 death which I conceive to be worthy of a philosopher 
 is, when he dies in the act of giving liberty to his 
 country, or in avenging his parents or friends, or those 
 whom love has procured and united to him. But to die 
 a cold and ignoble death out of vanity for a cause little 
 approved of, but contumaciously adhered to, and thereby 
 give the tyrant a pretense to think that he acted right, 
 would be a severer punishment than being whirled aloft 
 in the air on a wheel, Ixion-like, and infinitely less 
 luxurious than that of the good Aquillius who was put 
 to death by Mithridates by pouring molten gold down 
 his throat. A strong point in your defense will be 
 your voluntary appearance in court, which you suppose 
 will be placed to the account of a good conscience. And 
 even this may fail you, for Domitian may be as keen in 
 detecting subtlety in philosophers as philosophers are in 
 predicating artlessness in emperors, a quality for which 
 our beloved Domitian has never been considered 
 eminent. It is not more than ten days since you were 
 cited, and here you are within two days of Rome, ready 
 for trial before any time has been thought of for hearing 
 you; what think you will be the consequence of all 
 this ? It will probably be considered a full confirmation 
 of the charge of sorcery and foreknowledge. Beware 
 of such coming to pass. If you have not forgotten the 
 days of Nero you will call to remembrance my situation 
 and that I was not one who wanted the courage to die. 
 There were days in Nero’s life which admitted of some 
 relaxation, some respite from cruelty and murder; for 
 if the harp of Nero always infamed the decorum becom¬ 
 ing the imperial character, it sometimes, nevertheless, 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 295 
 
 tended to mitigate its severity. Hence we had a truce 
 with blood, a cessation with slaughter in my crisis, and 
 I was not put to death, though the sentence was sus¬ 
 pended over me, and I was spared simply because Nero 
 had succeeded in a favorite song, which he thought he 
 had sung to admiration; he was too much in love with 
 himself to visit cruelty upon others. But you will 
 never be called upon to sacrifice to sweet sounds under 
 Domitian, for he neither derives comfort from himself, 
 nor from any other person; there is no corner in his 
 organism given over to the Muses, he is full of discord 
 and black bile. 1 
 
 “You see many ships in the harbor, of which some 
 are bound for Libya, Egypt, and Phoenicia, others for 
 Cyprus and Sardinia, and some even for far more dis¬ 
 tant lands. I should think it wise for you to go aboard 
 one of them, and sail to whatever country you like; 
 for you will be charged as an accomplice in the crime 
 for which Nerva and his companions have been ban¬ 
 ished. And you ought not to forget the situation of 
 those men (Nerva, Rufus, and Orfitus) who are named 
 as your accomplices; you will certainly prove their 
 ruin, either by showing too much confidence in your 
 innocence, or by saying what you will not be able to 
 make believed concerning them. Their safety and your 
 own are both before you. Precaution is better than 
 repentance.” Kpsiruoov i\ Tupovoia [xsta^sksLaq. Damis, 
 who had remained silent, was quite overcome with the 
 discourse of Demetrius, and said, “ I thank you for the 
 friendly advice given my master, and trust it may have 
 
 1 Vie cPApollonius de Tyane, par Pierre Jean Bapt. Legrand D’Aussy, 
 etc., vol. ii. p. 201. 
 
296 
 
 APOLLON/C/S 
 
 an effect and be useful to him; for my influence with 
 him avails but little, even when I advise him not to 
 run upon drawn swords. Without having seen you I 
 should never have learned the object of our present 
 journey. No one is more with him than I, and yet, 
 when asked where I am going, I appear quite ridicu¬ 
 lous in not being able to tell; for here I am traversing 
 the Sicilian seas and Tyrrhenean bays, and literally 
 know not for what purpose. If I expose myself to 
 danger I should at least have the satisfaction of being 
 able to answer all questions that were asked; and if I 
 am to be banished to have at least an opportunity to 
 familiarize myself with the language of the country to 
 which I am destined. For forty years past there have 
 been no antagonisms nor rivalry between me and my 
 master, but should any one ask me I should certainly 
 say that in the present case Apollonius courts death, 
 and in that respect I hope to have it understood I antag¬ 
 onize him; still we sail together. If I die, philosophy 
 will suffer but little, for I am but an attendant upon a 
 courageous philosopher; my sole merit consists in fol¬ 
 lowing him. 
 
 “ But if they put Apollonius to death, they may, 
 in my opinion, boast of having accomplished much 
 indeed toward the extinction of philosophy in the de¬ 
 struction of him who of all men was the best able to 
 sustain her. We have to contend with many Anytuses 
 and Melituses, and many are the accusations brought 
 from all sides against the friends of my master. As for 
 my part, I think a man should be willing to lay down 
 his life rather than falsify his philosophy, or to permit a 
 desecration of his altars, his cities, or his sepulchers, 
 
OF TYANA . 
 
 297 
 
 and many are the illustrious men who have died in the 
 defense of such things. But I would neither seek death 
 myself nor commend it in any unless it were honorable 
 to die and dishonorable to live.” 
 
 To this Apollonius replied, “ We must pardon Damis 
 for his great precaution on the present emergency. He 
 is an Assyrian by birth, a country of the Medes, 1 where 
 absolute power is respected, and consequently cannot 
 be supposed to hold very exalted ideas of civil liberty, 
 and yet he is the noblest of his race. I have many 
 friends when I am in favor at court and when I 
 don’t need them, but this fellow is my friend in 
 prosperity and adversity, and stands by me right or 
 wrong. As for you, Demetrius, I cannot see how 
 you can justify yourself to philosophy in the advice 
 you have given me and in arousing the fears of 
 Damis. It is easy to see that I have come here on no 
 fool’s errand, nor am I under any apprehension on 
 account of my own life, for the tyrant’s power is unable 
 to destroy me, even though I wished it myself. But 
 so far as I endanger the lives of others by my conduct, 
 I hold myself culpable; and were I to betray them 
 through my own indolence or a want of zeal in their 
 favor^ what opinion, I pray then, would be formed of 
 
 1 As before stated, we, with Ber¬ 
 wick in a note on page 31, think that 
 the Ninus there mentioned was on 
 the Euphrates, a short distance from 
 Antioch, on the road to Zeugma, 
 and in Syria instead of Assyria. 
 This would make Damis a country¬ 
 man of Julia Domna, which would 
 aid some other probabilities in this 
 
 38 
 
 biography. On page 33 Berwick 
 says, “After they had commenced 
 their journey they came to the 
 bridge at Zeugma, the boundary 
 line of Mesopotamia, where the 
 tollman, officer of customs, inquired 
 of them about their luggage.” All 
 this would be meaningless if Ninus 
 on the Tigris in Assyria was meant. 
 
298 
 
 A POLL ONI US 
 
 me 1 by all good men ? I knew it was impossible for 
 me to escape the imputation of treason; it is part of 
 
 the scheme of Domitian and his advisers. If now I 
 
 • <./ 
 
 should take your advice and leave, and consequently, 
 by that act, impliedly admit guilt and these men be 
 put to death as accomplices, on what coast could I land 
 or to what people fly ? I must exile myself from the 
 Roman empire and go in quest of friends to unknown 
 parts of the earth, or shall I go to the virtuous Phra- 
 otes, the noble king of the Bardenes, to the divine 
 Iarchus, or the generous and learned Thespasian ? 
 Were I to go to the savants of Ethiopia (gymnos- 
 ophists), what could I say to Thespasian ? ‘ O Thes¬ 
 
 pasian, Euphrates has accused me to you of crimes of 
 which I am not conscious; he has told you I was a 
 boaster, fond of the marvelous, and despised the knowl¬ 
 edge of the Ethiopians. These things are false, but I, 
 nevertheless, am the betrayer and the executioner of my 
 friends, and all who once knew and trusted me have 
 lost confidence in me. If a crown of righteousness is 
 awarded by you for such qualities, I am come to carry 
 it away; I am come to receive my reward for having 
 destroyed some of the noblest men, and some of the 
 first houses of Rome.’ But I see, Demetrius, you 
 blush. 
 
 “ I have raised the standard of liberty, and at the 
 moment she is on trial, shall I desert her ? If so, of 
 what friendship am I worthy after having thus betrayed 
 
 1 All of the writers who have lonius, but fail to make comparison 
 written in defense of Christ against of his courage and heroism with the 
 Apollonius admit the nobleness, craven cowardice of Jesus in the 
 magnanimity, and bravery of Apol- garden and on the way to execution. 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 299 
 
 my friends into the very hands of the executioner ? I 
 know, Demetrius, how able you are to abridge and 
 appreciate all dissertations, and that you would at this 
 time naturally address me thus, ‘ Go not to the dwellers 
 on the sacred hill, but go to men with whom no inter¬ 
 course of friendship has subsisted; if you do this, your 
 flight will turn out successful and you will be concealed 
 amongst a people who know you not, until the storm 
 has subsided.’ You thus prescribe for me the physic 
 of preventive, while I consider my case as demanding 
 violent restoratives. But let us look into the force of 
 this matter in some of its other phases. I am of opin¬ 
 ion that a wise man, or one who professes wisdom, and 
 knows himself, ought to do none of those conscience- 
 upbraiding things, even in private or retirement, which 
 vulgar minds frequently justify themselves in doing 
 boastfully in public. The mind is free and capable of 
 judging what is proper to do, and receive self-plaudits; 
 not so with conscience ; it is an immutable python, 
 receiving, it is true, impressions from the images which 
 the mind presents to it, but which never dominates it. 
 If the mind through a course of patient pursuit and 
 training, or of instantaneous selection, makes morality 
 and virtue objects of its choice, conscience is always 
 there and approves and accompanies with pleasing 
 accord the possessor through all the walks of life, the 
 temples, the sacrifice, the sacred groves, and forsakes 
 him not in prison and death. 
 
 “ But if the state of the mind, through improper 
 maturation, inclines to iniquity and vice, conscience 
 becomes an accusing daemon, or deserts him altogether 
 and leaves him a prey to the Furies. Remember the 
 
3 oo 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 story of Orestes, the friend of Pylades, 1 who for the 
 murder of his mother was tortured by the Furies — a 
 condemning conscience. Now, from what I have said, 
 I think I have made it clear, that whatever conscience 
 approves it may be safe to do, and whatever it condemns 
 leave undone. The reason of Demetrius may err, his 
 conscience never. My life is not necessary; to go to 
 Rome my conscience tells me is. I shall therefore be 
 true to myself and shall face the tyrant. With the ad¬ 
 vice of the Spartan mother to her son, who complained 
 that his sword was too short, ‘ Go one step nearer,’ and 
 the words of Homer to encourage me, 
 
 ‘ Mars is our common Lord, alike to all, 
 
 And oft the victor triumphs but to fall,’ 2 
 
 I go to Rome! for, as Thrasea Paetus 3 used to say, 
 I had rather be killed to-day than to go into voluntary 
 exile to-morrow.” 4 
 
 Damis writes that he was so affected by the words 
 of Apollonius that he derived new life from them, and 
 Demetrius persisted no longer in holding views at vari¬ 
 ance with Apollonius, declaring that he spoke with 
 divine instinct and was entitled to the highest commen¬ 
 dations for the dangers to which he had exposed him¬ 
 self for liberty and philosophy. He then offered to 
 take him and his companions to his lodgings, which 
 Apollonius begged leave to decline, from the consider¬ 
 ation of its growing late, and it being his intention to 
 
 1 History of Classical Greek Liter- 3 A stoic philosopher, put to death 
 
 ature (Mahaffy), vol. i. p. 361. by Nero with other stoics, A. D. 66. 
 
 2 Rendered by Pope.—Berwick’s 4 The Works of Epictetus (Hig- 
 
 Life of Apollonius, p. 390. ginson), p. 6. 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 301 
 
 sail in the night, the time appointed for the sailing of 
 the vessel on which they had engaged passage. 
 
 “ However,” said he, “ when times have mended we 
 will sup together; at present the occasion might be 
 made the excuse for charging you with high treason, 
 should it be known that you had eaten with Domitian’s 
 enemy. I do not wish you even to accompany us to 
 the port, lest that very circumstance might involve you 
 in the suspicion of criminal designs against the govern¬ 
 ment.” Then making a simple offering to Serapis, who 
 presided in a magnificent temple at this place, and 
 embracing Demetrius, they left for Dicaearchia (Puteoli), 
 and, as Demetrius and Damis believed, to voluntary 
 death ; 1 and at midnight weighed anchor, and through 
 
 1 Every true disciple of the Stoa 
 believed that it was his privilege to 
 embrace death “when no higher 
 duties bound him to life,” and in his 
 morality and high sense of honor 
 the stoic is in advance of all his con¬ 
 temporaries and has been from the 
 establishment of his philosophy to 
 the present. “ To a reasonable crea¬ 
 ture,” says Epictetus, “ that alone is 
 insupportable which is unreason¬ 
 able; but everything reasonable 
 may be supported. See how the 
 Spartans bear whipping after they 
 have reduced it to reason. Hang¬ 
 ing is not insupportable; for as soon 
 as a man has taken it into his head 
 that it is reasonable, he goes and 
 hangs himself.” “ God be thanked,” 
 says Seneca, “that no one can be 
 forced to live longer than he de¬ 
 sires.” Among all the stoics, 
 whether Greek or Roman, Seneca 
 
 was preeminent as an advocate of 
 suicide. He did not content him¬ 
 self with reserving it for desperate 
 emergencies; he advised it for almost 
 any evil. “Does life please you,” 
 he says, “live on.” 
 
 Epictetus could feel no sympa¬ 
 thy with a life full of murmurings. 
 “ Either live contentedly,” said he, 
 “ or be gone; at all events, don’t 
 live a life of peevish complainings. 
 The door is open; go if you do not 
 wish to suffer, but if you choose to 
 stay, don’t complain.” 
 
 Marcus Aurelius declared “that 
 a man was the arbiter of his own 
 life.” Cicero is made the exponent 
 of the sentiment, “To depart out of 
 this life when it no longer pleases.” 
 Cato approved of suicide as a means 
 of escaping personal humiliation and 
 enhancing personal dignity. The 
 elder Pliny vaunted man’s superior- 
 
302 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 many mishaps on the third day came to moorings 
 in the mouth of the Tiber (a. d. 90-1-2). 
 
 The imperial sword was then in the hands of Tacticus 
 « 
 
 Lilian, the Pretorian prefect. 1 This man had known 
 Apollonius when in Egypt and loved him, and while in 
 public he displayed the utmost zeal in prosecuting the 
 enemies of Domitian, yet he secretly used every means 
 consistent with safety to both, to serve him. When 
 Atlian found that Apollonius lay under grievous accu¬ 
 sations he addressed the emperor, and said, “Sophists 
 are nothing but prattle and flippancy; the art they 
 profess is all for show, and whenever they are unable 
 to derive a maintenance from it they wish to die. 
 Sophists of this description do not wait the voluntary 
 approach of death, but anticipate it by provoking those 
 in power to inflict it. It was for this consideration*, I 
 think, that Nero declined putting Apollonius to death; 
 it would attach to him too much celebrity. 
 
 “The same prince,” said he, “kept Musonius, the 
 Tyrrhenian, who opposed his authority in many in¬ 
 stances, shut up in the little island of Gyara.” 
 
 In this manner he tried to soothe the emperor 
 before Apollonius arrived; and, when he did arrive, 
 ordered him to be immediately brought before him, 
 
 ity to the gods in that he may die 1 There is a discrepancy about the 
 when it pleases him. period in which ZElian flourished. 
 
 Themistocles committed suicide, Thomas, in his Biographical Dic- 
 as did Diogenes, Menedemus (sue- tionary, says he flourished about the 
 cessor of Stilpo), Onesicratus, Met- middle of the second century, but 
 rocles, Menippus, Italicus Demonax, Philostratus makes him an officer 
 Perigrinus, Diodorus, and Cassius, under the government of Domitian. 
 — Suicide , Studies on its Philosophy , — Cf. JFJianus de militaribus Ordin - 
 
 Cateses, etc., by James O’Dea, M. D. ibus instituendis , etc. (F. Robortelli, 
 (New York, 1882), p. 30. 1552). 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 303 
 
 when his accusers attacked him with great violence. 
 But ALlian requested them to reserve their accusations 
 for the emperor’s tribunal, and proceeded to examine 
 the stoic apart and not in open court. 
 
 He then retired with Apollonius into the most 
 private part of the court, where causes of the greatest 
 moment are tried sub silentio, and ordered all attend¬ 
 ants to withdraw, such being the emperor’s pleasure. 
 When they were alone, AHian said to Apollonius, “ I 
 was but a very young man at the time the emperor’s 
 father, Vespasian, went into Egypt to sacrifice, and to 
 advise with you on the state of affairs at Rome. I 
 accompanied him as a military tribune, in consequence 
 of the knowledge I possessed of the art of war. I 
 remember you received me with so much kindness, 
 which, with the importance attached to your councils 
 by the emperor, made a lasting impression upon me, 
 and I seem to have been commissioned by the gods 
 to do you service, for I assure you the danger to 
 you is imminent. I am here the guardian of a cruel 
 tyranny. If I fail to discharge any part of my duty my 
 punishment is certain. I have already given you a 
 proof of my friendship, and what I told you from the 
 beginning of my unceasing regard for you may, I 
 think, be sufficient to call to remembrance my char¬ 
 acter. My wishing to speak to you alone on the 
 charges of your accuser, is a mere pretense and con¬ 
 trivance of mine to show you the confidence that is 
 placed in me at this court, and communicate confiden¬ 
 tially to you what you have to expect from the emperor. 
 I know not what sentence he will pass on your case, 
 but I know he is very much in the temper of those 
 
304 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 judges who wish to condemn and yet are ashamed to 
 do so without some solid grounds; besides, he is desir¬ 
 ous to do what ought not to be done, and to do it 
 under the cloak of justice.” 
 
 Apollonius, when he heard this, said, “ I shall in 
 future speak to you without reserve, for as you have 
 opened your mind to me, I shall do the same to you. 
 I had it in my power to escape this peril by flight, for 
 there are still many parts of the earth not subject to 
 your power, to which I might have retired. I could 
 have found an asylum with wise men, men much wiser 
 than myself, who worship the gods according to right 
 reason; in a country inhabited by a people much more 
 pious than the people of Rome, among whom exists 
 neither information nor accusation; a people who com¬ 
 mit no willful injury themselves, and whose example 
 is a successful bar against any infraction by others, 
 and who have no need of inquisitions or courts of jus¬ 
 tice. But, fearing to incur the imputation of guilt and 
 the character of a traitor, should I dodge a defense, and 
 that they who are in danger on my account should 
 suffer in consequence, I am come to plead my own 
 cause. My first great need now is to know the nature 
 of the accusation against me, in order that I may pre¬ 
 pare for my defense.” 
 
 “ Among the charges preferred against you are 
 the peculiarities of your dress, 1 your mode of living 
 [having relation probably to his food and wandering 
 habits], the adoration paid to you ; your answer to the 
 
 1 It will be remembered that Apollonius’s dress and food were entirely 
 vegetarian. He wore no manner of clothing which had an animal struc¬ 
 ture or animal tissue .—Apollonius von Tyana und Christus (Baur). 
 
OF TYANA . 
 
 305 
 
 Ephesians, relative to the plague; of words spoken in 
 public and private against the emperor; but the grav¬ 
 est of all is the charge of having met Nerva in a field 
 and there sacrificed an Arcadian boy for him, in order 
 to determine an augury for the death of the emperor, 
 and secure the empire for Nerva. All, except the last, 
 are merely collateral; your apology must be directed 
 principally against the sacrifice. And I beg that you 
 will speak so as to give no occasion for offense to the 
 emperor.” To which Apollonius replied : “ I shall sub¬ 
 mit my conduct to your judgment, first, on account 
 of your own worth, and next, the regard you have 
 ever shown for me.” 
 
 He was then placed in custody by the keepers of 
 the prison to await the pleasure of the emperor. 
 
 One day a tribune who knew Apollonius, having 
 met him before, asked him, when he passed the cell, 
 the cause of his present trouble, to which he replied 
 that he did not know. “ I do,” said the tribune; “ it is 
 in consequence of the worship paid you by the people 
 of Ephesus, which has given rise to the charge of blas¬ 
 phemy, and in your trying on other occasions to pass 
 yourself off as one of the gods.” “ Is that all ? ” replied 
 Apollonius. “ When I was a boy at Ephesus,” said the 
 tribune, “ you delivered the city from the plague, and 
 multitudes worshiped you.” “They did well,” said 
 Apollonius, “ as did the city of Ephesus when deliv¬ 
 ered from such a calamity. But why am I here instead 
 of the Ephesians who committed the blasphemy ? They 
 probably occupy the next cell.” “ But,” continued the 
 tribune, “ I have found out the means of saving you, and 
 drawing you out of your present difficulty. It is said 
 39 
 
30 6 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 that you have great magical powers; let us go out of 
 the city, and if I cut off your head with this sword all 
 these accusations against you will fall to the ground, and 
 you will stand acquitted; but if you so terrify me by 
 your acts as to make the sword drop out of my hands, 
 then we shall know that you are a god, and will wor¬ 
 ship you as such by a public decree.” 1 
 
 Apollonius never once affected to hear the last re¬ 
 mark, but continued his conversation with Damis. This 
 was the same mischievous tribune who had previously 
 preferred charges against Aristides, and wished to 
 have him banished. The next day Apollonius was 
 removed by ^Elian into another prison, where the 
 prisoners were not bound. There were many persons 
 confined in this prison, charged with Various offenses. 
 There was a man from Cilicia who told Apollonius 
 that the real cause of his confinement was his wealth, 
 of which some one had been covetous. “ If,” said 
 Apollonius, “ you have obtained your wealth by un¬ 
 justifiable means, by dark transactions, then it ought 
 to be confiscated, and given to the rightful owner.” 
 “ My property,” said the Cilician, “ has arisen from 
 numerous relations, all of which has at last centered 
 in myself. Informers and spies have abused me, have 
 threatened to report me as a disloyal subject; by my 
 wealth I have purchased their silence. And after I had 
 made great accessions to my wealth in trade, both by 
 
 1 On ne comprend pas bien (says etre dit serieusement; et on ne 
 Dupin) le dessein de cet homme, peut excuser Apollone de l’appro- 
 ou plutot de Philostrate, dans cette bation qu’il donne a ceux qui lui 
 histoire; mais quel qu’il puisse etre, avoient rendu des honneurs divins 
 on ne croira jamais, que cela ait pu a Ephese. 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 307 
 
 sea and land, I became such a slave to fear that I gave 
 part of it to sycophants to stop their mouths, part to 
 magistrates to defend me against cheats and impostors, 
 part to relations to keep down envyings and jealousies, 
 and part to my slaves to keep them from growing 
 worse under pretense of being neglected by me. And, 
 notwithstanding all the care I have taken to secure 
 my riches and to fence them around, here I am in this 
 great peril, nor do I know whether I shall come safe 
 out of it or not.” 
 
 Here also was confined the chief magistrate of Ta- 
 rentum, who had to vindicate himself from the charge 
 of having omitted to say that Domitian was the son of 
 Pallas, in a sacrifice which he had made. To him 
 Apollonius replied, “You forsooth believed this incred¬ 
 ible inasmuch that Pallas never brought forth by reason 
 of her perpetual virginity, but are you ignorant of the 
 fact that this goddess was accessory in giving the 
 Athenians Erichthonius, a deformed monster, with tails 
 of a serpent instead of legs ? He was supposed to have 
 been the son of Vulcan.” 1 
 
 There were about fifty persons of rank confined in 
 this prison, charged with various offenses against the 
 person and royalty of Domitian, many of whom were 
 dejected in spirits, and in expectation of death were 
 bemoaning their hard fate. Whereupon Apollonius, 
 calling them together, thus addressed them, “ O you, who 
 are my companions in this dreary abode, I am sorry to 
 see that you by your fretfulness are gradually putting 
 yourselves to death before it is known whether the 
 information against you will be sufficient to destroy you 
 1 He was a fabled king of Athens who built the Erechtheum. 
 
3°8 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 or not. You ought not so to conduct yourselves, but 
 should take comfort from the words of Archilochus the 
 Parian, who said, under conditions similar to ours, 
 ‘ Endurance and patience in adversity are inventions 
 of the gods, to enable us to bear the evils of life with¬ 
 out despondency/ Do not then account those things 
 so grievous which you endure and which you cannot 
 help, and to which others have exposed themselves of 
 their own free will and choice for the common weal of 
 humanity. It is true, if you are conscious of any guilt, 
 you should lament the day in which your hearts de¬ 
 ceived you and made you do unlawful or disloyal things. 
 But believe me, your courage should rise in proportion 
 to the sorrow you feel for those most nearly connected 
 with you. Exorcise yourselves for such trials of endur¬ 
 ance.” These and many other words of encouragement 
 Apollonius uttered to the prisoners, many of whom 
 took courage and began to entertain hopes, and re¬ 
 mained hopeful so long as he was with them. 
 
 The next day, while he was haranguing them in 
 the same strain, a person entered the prison, who had 
 been sent by Domitian to take an account of the phi¬ 
 losopher. He had a melancholy air, and was, he said, 
 in imminent danger, and spoke with contumely of the 
 emperor. Apollonius, seeing at once the snare that was 
 laid for him, said nothing which could serve his purpose. 
 He talked of rivers, and mountains, and wild beasts, 
 and trees, and all this, while it amused the other prison¬ 
 ers, profited the informer nothing. He tried, however, 
 to induce Apollonius to say something disrespectful of 
 the tyrant; but he was on his guard, and adroitly 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 309 
 
 turned the scales upon him in this manner: “You may 
 say what evil you please, my friend, of the emperor; 
 your great prudence is unnecessary; you need have no 
 fear of me, for I will never turn informer; but I will 
 tell him in person whatever I consider reprehensible in 
 his conduct.” 
 
 Many other things transpired in the prison, some the 
 effects of mere chance; others designedly and insidi¬ 
 ously contrived, in order to entrap Apollonius. Damis 
 speaks of them all, in order; he says, apologizing for 
 the omission, “ they are, however, of no great moment 
 and deserve little attention.” On the evening of the 
 fifth day of his confinement a stranger came into the 
 prison, who used the Greek tongue, and asked where 
 the Tyanean was. He then took him aside from 
 the prisoners, and said, “ The emperor will speak to 
 you to-morrow, and the keeper has been ordered "to 
 see that you are supplied with everything necessary.” 
 “But,” said Apollonius, “I want nothing.” “Would 
 you not,” returned the messenger, “wish the advice of 
 a friend, to instruct you how to address the emperor ? ” 
 “I should, indeed,” said he, “provided he did not 
 advise me to flatter him.” “But suppose,” replied 
 the messenger, “ he were to advise you not to treat 
 him with disrespect, nor to speak to him with inso¬ 
 lence ? ” “I thank you,” said Apollonius, “ for the 
 kindly hint.” “It was for this purpose,” returned the 
 messenger, “that I was sent here.” “Let not the 
 harsh and dissonant voice of the emperor, or his bloated 
 and bilious countenance, or his heavy and terrible eye¬ 
 brows intimidate you, O Tyanean, for they are natural 
 
3io 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 and unavoidable defects.” “ I shall endeavor,” said 
 Apollonius, “to show as little fear as Ulysses when 
 surprised in the cave of Polyphemus.” 
 
 On the sixth day, as soon as it was light, Apollonius 
 arose and paid his adoration to the rising sun, in as 
 acceptable a manner as the unfitness of the place would 
 permit; and, after his devotions, he talked with all 
 who came to him on subjects of their own selection. 
 About midday an officer of the court arrived, order¬ 
 ing his attendance at the palace, who said he came to 
 have him in readiness before he was called. “ Let us 
 go at once,” said Apollonius, and he forthwith set out 
 with some eagerness. As he passed along, guarded 
 by four officers who attended him, but who kept at a 
 greater distance from him than was usual when guard¬ 
 ing a common prisoner, thereby admitting his rank, 
 Damis followed him, but with great fear and pensive¬ 
 ness. All eyes were turned upon Apollonius; his sin¬ 
 gular dress attracted their attention as well as their 
 sympathies and admiration for him, in consequence of 
 the dangers he had encountered in behalf of Nerva, 
 Rufus, and Orfitus; he had conciliated the affections 
 of all, even his enemies, for in their hearts the people 
 despised Domitian. 
 
 As they stood before the palace gates waiting for 
 admission, Apollonius observed, in the great crowd 
 passing and repassing, the attentions and compliments 
 which were mutually given and received by different 
 classes of people, some unfortunately in position, others 
 seeking to get in. One man, of imposing presence and 
 address, who, he was told, had worn himself out in 
 the service of an ungrateful master, and was now can- 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 31 1 
 
 vassing for the government of an outlying province, 
 and on that account was paying the most servile court 
 to the emperor. “ O Damis,” said Apollonius, “ Sopho¬ 
 cles himself would be impotent, with all his logic, to 
 persuade this man to rather fly than court this wild 
 and truculent master.” “A master whom we, too, 
 have of our own accord selected,” replied Damis, “ and 
 before whose gates we also now stand as mendicant 
 suitors.” “ I believe,” said Apollonius, “ you imagine 
 Abacus to be the keeper of these gates, as he is said to 
 be of those of hell, and which you are about to 
 enter, for you appear to have lost all courage and are 
 like a dead man.” “ Not quite a dead man yet,” 
 replied Damis, “ but like one with whom the ritual of 
 the dead was shortly to become an interesting formu¬ 
 lary ; and I am fearful that Domitian has it in his heart 
 to deprive me of my master’s service for that conclud¬ 
 ing sacrament.” “And so, Damis,” said Apollonius, 
 “ you still seem faint-hearted in contemplation of death, 
 notwithstanding your long attachment to me, who have 
 been a philosopher from my youth. I thought you 
 were prepared for death.” “ It is a matter,” replied 
 Damis, “ for which I have no great zest. And then 
 I have been taught by my master that philosophers 
 should consider the time most fitting them to die, 
 so that they may leave the world with greater delib¬ 
 eration, and not after the manner of men taken by 
 surprise.” 
 
 As soon as the emperor was at leisure Apollonius 
 was introduced into the palace by the officers in wait¬ 
 ing, who would not permit Damis to follow him. The 
 emperor had on his head a garland of green boughs, 
 
312 
 
 APOLLON/C/S 
 
 and had stopped a moment at the Hall of Adonis . 1 He 
 was still intent on the thoughts of the sacrifice in which 
 he had been engaged, as Apollonius approached from 
 the opposite direction; turning about and being struck 
 with the extraordinary appearance of the man, he cried 
 out, “O JEYmn, you have brought me a daemon !” At 
 this, Apollonius, without the least hesitation or intimb 
 dation, said, “ O Emperor, I was considering you like 
 Diomede at Troy, under the protection of Pallas , 2 who 
 purged his eyes of that mist which dims the sight of 
 mortals, and gave him the faculty of distinguishing 
 between gods and men . 3 But from your eyes, O 
 Emperor, the goddess has not yet removed the mist, 
 otherwise you would have known better than to class 
 men with daemons.” “But how long, philosopher,” asked 
 the emperor, “ is it since your eyes were purged 
 from darkness?” “Since I began the study of phi¬ 
 losophy,” replied Apollonius. “ How is it, then,” said 
 he, “ that you adore as gods my greatest enemies ? ” 
 
 1 The feast of Adonis was cele- cannot persuade by reason. When 
 
 brated in most of the Grecian cities stoics were pining in Corsican pris- 
 in honor of Venus, and in memory ons, wasting away on desolate rocky 
 of her beloved Adonis. Images, or islands, or accepting self-destruc- 
 pictures, of Adonis and Venus were tion to escape fiendish vengeance, 
 brought forth with all the pomp and it was enough to humble a philoso- 
 ceremonies used at funerals; the pher of sterner and more youthful 
 women tore their hair and beat nerves than Apollonius. But Apol- 
 their breasts. lonius stood his ground, nor did 
 
 2 Powerless before an omnipotent one murmur escape him. He had 
 will, we rather pity than condemn taken the cup, and had prepared to 
 an Apollonius, an Ovid, a Seneca, drink it to its dregs, without whin- 
 or a Tasso, who seek to propitiate ing or complaining.— Philostrati, 
 by flattery the brute wdiom they leones , etc., 1503. 
 
 3 “ I also purge thy sight, the mist that once 
 Obscured it fled, thou shalt distinguish gods 
 From mortals clearly.” Homer, Iliad, b. v. 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 313 
 
 “ Do you, then, war with the Indian philosophers, 
 Iarchas and Phraotes, who, of all men, are the only 
 ones whom I consider in any sense deserving of 
 the appellation of gods ? ” “ Answer me,” said Domi- 
 
 tian, “ as to Nerva, your friend, and his accomplices.” 
 “Do you, then, command me to plead the cause of 
 Nerva ? ” “I do,” returned the emperor. “ Listen, 
 then,” said Apollonius, “ for I shall conceal no truth. 
 I know that Nerva is the most moderate and mildest 
 of men, I know that he is much attached to you, I 
 know that he is an excellent magistrate, I know that 
 he is little disposed to meddle in affairs of state, and I 
 know that you have been misinformed concerning him. 
 He is not the man, O Emperor, to attempt innovations 
 in governments, or to lend assistance to those who do.” 
 On hearing this the emperor became furious with 
 anger, and exclaimed, “ And he, I suppose, if interro¬ 
 gated about you, would probably say that you were 
 neither an enchanter, nor hot-headed, nor a braggart, 
 nor covetous, nor a despiser of the law; so much are 
 ye all agreed in crime.” Apollonius listened calmly to 
 all he had to say, and replied, “ It is not honest in you, 
 O Emperor, nor agreeable to law, either to enter into a 
 judicial discussion of what you are already persuaded, 
 nor to be persuaded of that, the merits of which have 
 not been discussed. If such is your pleasure, permit 
 me to begin my defense with saying that you are prej¬ 
 udiced against me, and more unjust than the common 
 informer, for what he pledges himself to prove you 
 have passed upon without proof.” “Begin then,” said 
 Domitian, “ where you please; I know where I ought 
 to begin and end.” 
 
 40 
 
314 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 After this the emperor treated Apollonius with great 
 contempt and severity; he ordered his hair and beard 
 cut off, and commanded that he be sent back to prison, 
 loaded with irons, and cast among the vilest felons, 
 but he deferred taking summary vengeance. ^Eiian 
 managed to communicate to Apollonius that all these 
 things were favorable omens. 
 
 As he was being remanded back to prison, Apollonius 
 playfully remarked, “ I did not know that I had in¬ 
 curred this great danger on account of my hair.” 
 Damis, who had received new life from the course 
 matters had taken, responded, “You will be above 
 suspicion from that cause in the future.” 
 
 Two days after he had been bound in chains, a 
 stranger entered the prison, who said he could be of 
 service to him, if allowed a conference, and the object 
 of his visit was to advise with him on his present situa¬ 
 tion. He was a Syracusan, the mind and tongue of 
 Domitian , and, like a former visitor on a like errand, 
 was suborned by the emperor; but the part he acted 
 was better contrived and not so easily discovered. 
 The former took a most circuitous way of sounding 
 Apollonius; the present guest began his attack at once, 
 exclaiming, “ Who, O ye gods, could have thought of 
 binding the Tyanean in chains ? And, pray, how do 
 your legs bear the fetters?” All the Syracusan said 
 was spoken with an insidious design of trying his tem¬ 
 per, and cause him to reproach the emperor as the 
 author of his sufferings. But Apollonius knew too 
 well the purpose of the interview and never lost his 
 presence of mind for one moment. At last the Syra^ 
 cusan, being reduced to silence by the well-timed and 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 315 
 
 evasive answers which fell from the lips of Apollonius, 
 said, “You have incurred the emperor’s displeasure on 
 many accounts, but particularly on account of Nerva and 
 his friends, who have escaped, although guilty of high 
 treason. Certain false accusations have also been car¬ 
 ried to him of some discourses held by you in Ionia, 
 and which have been reported as uttered with the most 
 hostile tendency. But, as far as I understand, the 
 emperor pays little or no attention to such calumnies, 
 because his displeasure on the present occasion has 
 arisen from subjects of higher moment. And yet, the 
 man who has given him all his present information is 
 one who stands high in reputation.” “You allude,” 
 said Apollonius, “ to some person who once gained a 
 crown by excelling at the Olympic games, and now sup¬ 
 poses he can win another in excelling in calumny. I 
 know you mean Euphrates, to whom I am indebted for 
 many similar kindnesses. He anticipated my visit to the 
 gymnosophists of Ethiopia and poured venom in their 
 ears, and had I not had a previous knowledge of the 
 machinations of the man, I should have been compelled 
 to return without accomplishing the object of my mis¬ 
 sion.” The Syracusan, amazed at these revelations, 
 said, “ Do you think it then of less account to be 
 accused by the emperor than to be underrated by 
 the gymnosophists on account of the deception of 
 Euphrates?” “I do, indeed, for I went to them to 
 acquire knowledge, and I came here to communicate 
 it.” “To communicate what, are you come?” inquired 
 the Syracusan. “ I came to deny in person the calum¬ 
 nies of my traducers. I came to report with my own 
 lips that I am of good repute, and have an honestly 
 
3i 6 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 acquired fame, of all which the emperor is ignorant! ” 
 The Syracusan then left the prison and went out, testi¬ 
 fying his admiration of Apollonius, and that he believed 
 him more than a philosopher. 
 
 As soon as he was gone, Apollonius turned to Damis, 
 saying, “Did you understand that Python ? ” “ I did,” 
 said he, “ and knew he was suborned for the very pur¬ 
 pose of taking you by surprise.” 1 
 
 Damis says Apollonius held many similar conver¬ 
 sations with persons attached to the court of Domitian, 
 but declared that for himself he had lost all hope and 
 knew of no way of escape from the present difficulties 
 except what might arise from prayers to the gods, which 
 had saved them from greater perils. Some time before 
 midday, Damis said, “ O Tyanean, what do you think 
 will become of us?” “Nothing but what has usually 
 happened to us; there will be a way provided by the 
 gods for us out of this; no one will be put to death.” 
 “But when will you be set at liberty?” “To-mor¬ 
 row,” answered Apollonius, “ if it depended solely on 
 the judge, and this instant if it depended on myself.” 
 And, without a word more, he drew his leg out of the 
 fetters, and said to Damis, “You see the liberty I enjoy, 
 and I hope you will keep up your spirits, and I shall 
 behave myself like a man bound in chains.” 
 
 While Apollonius was making these revelations to 
 Damis, and talking to him on various subjects, a person 
 entered the prison with the following message from 
 Domitian: “ The emperor says he, at the solicitations 
 of Ailian, orders you to be released from your fetters, and 
 
 1 Python was a Byzantine orator, the son of Augustus, to persuade 
 who possessed great powers of per- the Greeks to submit to his yoke, 
 suasion. He was sent by Philip, He was opposed by Demosthenes. 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 31 7 
 
 gives you leave to inhabit a more roomy apartment till 
 the time for your making your defense arrives, and which, 
 I hear,will be allowed you five days hence.” “But who,” 
 said he, “ will take me out of this place ? ” “I myself,” 
 answered the stranger; “follow me.” As soon as he 
 entered the new apartment, it being the same pre¬ 
 viously occupied by him, they who were confined there 
 recognized him, and ran and embraced him as one 
 restored to them contrary to all expectation; they 
 believed he had suffered death under the sentence of 
 Domitian. Their love for Apollonius was on account 
 of his good advice, his gentleness, and the hopeful view 
 in which he regarded their cases, and they expressed 
 their regard for him in the most public manner, be¬ 
 lieving him more than human. 
 
 The day after, Apollonius called Damis to him, and 
 said, “ I must now prepare my defense, to be ready 
 for the time appointed for my hearing. You will depart 
 from here at once and take the Appian Way to Neapolis, 
 and thence to Dicaearchia (Puteoli), and go on foot, as 
 it is the safer mode of traveling; you will there meet 
 Demetrius ; salute him, and turn to the seaside, opposite 
 the island of Calypso, and there I will meet you.” “What, 
 alive! ” said Damis, “or how else?” At hearing this 
 Apollonius laughed and answered, “Alive in my opinion, 
 but in yours raised from the dead .” 1 Damis says, he 
 set out sore against his will, his mind alternating 
 
 1 There is but little doubt that 
 Apollonius had had assurance from 
 yEIian that he was to be released, 
 or, as it would seem more probable 
 from the sequel, means offered him 
 to escape, and thereby save Do¬ 
 mitian the odium of executing a 
 
 beggar. Confirmatory of this, Apol¬ 
 lonius seemed to know that he 
 would not be pursued. All this he 
 undoubtedly kept from Damis, either 
 as a matter of policy, or to preserve 
 in Damis the illusion of his divine 
 nature and influence of the gods. 
 
HE SUN, SUNDAY. MAY 9. 1909. 
 
 Ik could 
 nany 
 bnlv 
 
 hiu’e to vnillils leisure. lie seems bent 
 on approaching it from an entirely new 
 direction und rin avoiding to some ex¬ 
 tent that small but serried band which 
 Mr. Hitchcock understands ao well. 
 
 Similarly, the volunteer Democratic 
 advisers by whom Mr. Ta ft is so closely 
 ‘beleaguered at this time will have to 
 ‘ike things easy for a while. In a 
 tMtlesa and impetuous moment Mr. 
 once said that he intended to ap- 
 for Federal Judges at. the South 
 of the very highest character, 
 at end would choose Demo- 
 sr than fall short of his pat- 
 pose. This was a fine and 
 rapce enough, but it were 
 e confided it to the four 
 make it flagrant. It has 
 \ to 
 
 apoumxivs or tyana. 
 
 ' False gods have always been and always 
 will abound. The number of pseudo 
 Messiaha and impostors masquerading 
 as prophets must be enormous. Man¬ 
 kind loves to be fooled, and every minute 
 a, credulous being is born. Some icono- 
 oiast records seventeen crucified saviors, 
 and before Christ appeared there were 
 wild fanatics who catted themselves 
 Christs and preached the gospels of an¬ 
 archy. It is only necessary to reoail the 
 name of Krishna, so eloquently described 
 ip George Borrow’s “The Romany Rye." 
 It should not be forgotten that at a criti¬ 
 cal moment for Christianity the cult of 
 Mithra threatened to engulf it. Simon 
 Magus pretended to perform the miracles 
 of the Apostles, and like the Phaeton legend 
 a;story is related of this magician flying 
 
 a veritable storm of | ri ew m ‘‘} air at ".‘ e oi ™* , and beyond ,he 
 
 lolioitatiou, which has rtdn'l aU?L“".£ 
 
 „ ... ”* an 1 Apeetnufl, the Libyan, train a 
 
 rather than dlumine spiall army of Libyan parrots to utter 
 
 . Hitchcock s handy these words: “Apsethus is a god! Apse- 
 
 »uid be preferable to thus is a god!” The same anecdote is 
 
 i chase. : mid of Apolloniua of Tyana, a peripatetic 
 
 fight if we have ac- Pl>' lo *optaer, born at Tyana, Cappadocia. 
 
 ills attitude. There Greece; and Apollonius, incredible as it 
 
 his attitude. There 
 [should move speed- 
 i Charleston col- 
 |rleans postmaster, 
 1 he moved with as 
 latch; but there is 
 Inerally speaking, 
 haste. In North 
 e‘ is a Judge- 
 ) attended to as 
 Alabama the 
 r has occupied 
 holding on 
 pleasure in de- 
 psal to confirm 
 instances of 
 [great mass of 
 |ceholders are 
 fb-and unless 
 usher in - a 
 : they will 
 If their class. 
 JpK will sup- 
 |at they are 
 ’ s of fairly 
 lough at the 
 
 t Mr. Taft 
 L being 
 i yearn- 
 |h a purely 
 
 P Not 1 
 
 ling. 1,0 popu 
 kdlal leglsla- 
 ajo as the 
 
 I been 
 lism. 
 
 flLES, 
 
 Profane 
 
 {. , 
 
 J The argu 
 |s are all In 
 l clown, it 
 
 |y. and that 
 id." 
 
 s Court. 
 
 I Allow me, 
 |74". for the 
 |u choose to 
 .ix be thrice 
 |the whalers 
 r to, lower 
 b Ahab that 
 Istorles are, 
 lorn of sea- 
 1 and fourth 
 
 leu lent sen- 
 Iklpper, let 
 ■d friends 
 [ H^’.e and 
 
 fgun with 
 h. There 
 lertone of 
 
 niay seem to-day, was for a hundred years 
 and during the Middle Ages the storm 
 centre of fierce theological disoussions. 
 
 A slender book entitled “Appolonius of 
 Tyana: a Study of His Life and Times,” 
 by F. W. Groves Campbell, with an intro¬ 
 duction by ErneBt Oldmeadow, has ap¬ 
 peared both in London and New York. 
 
 is, as the proface says—the meatiest 
 part of the volume—a tentative essay, for 
 it is doubtful if the publio can be seduced 
 ipto reading at length about this pythago- 
 rean and antiohrist. One hundred years 
 ago, writes Mr. Oldmeadow, Edward Ber¬ 
 wick, vicar of Leixlip in County Kildare, 
 
 , Iceland, published the first English ver¬ 
 sion of the “Life of Apollonius of Tyana,” 
 by Flavius Philosfcratus, the sophist of 
 Lemnos. This book has vanished; money 
 cannot conjure it into the hands of deal¬ 
 ers or bibliophiles. Yet, continues our I 
 oritic, Baur, Zeller, Cardinal Newman, J. I 
 A. Froude, Chassang, have discussed Apol¬ 
 lonius. Old Burton quoted Philostratus 
 and Keats read this quotation, for it is a 
 footnote to his “Lamia.” Swedenborgians 
 and theosophiets have claimed the philoso¬ 
 pher. In the seventeenth century Charles 
 Blount translated the two first books of 
 Philostratus, and a terrible religious row 
 ensued. Bossuet described Apollonius as 
 a magician in league with the devil; the 
 Blount book brought dismay to those of 
 little faith. The Tyanean was born dur¬ 
 ing the same lustrum as Jesus Christ 
 (Mr. Oldmeadow confidently assures us' in 
 a footnote that “everybody knows the 
 current computation of the beginning of 
 the Christian era is incorrect, and the first 
 year of our Lord ought to be dated four 
 or five years earlier.” Perhaps, he con¬ 
 cludes, the birth dates of the two prophets 
 coinoide); both were of miraouloiis birth, 
 that is, both sprang from a god and a 
 human mother; the lives of both were 
 devoted to humanity. Blount caught it 
 hot and heavy for his temerity. In 1098 
 he committed suicide because he could 
 not marry his deceased wife’s sister—a 
 singular reason, indeed, though the church 
 people put his death down to his atheism. 
 
 Philostratus wrote his “Life of Apol¬ 
 lonius” as a counterblast to the Christian 
 Gospels. This was in the year A. D. 216. 
 
 In 305 Hierocles, proconsul ofj Alexandria’ 
 “published a critical examination of 
 Christianity in which he opposed the 
 Apollonian to the Christian miracles.” 
 The work is lost, but soholars kn.ow of it 
 through the reply to its sophistries by 
 Eusebius and Lactantius. Arnobius and 
 St. Jprome, Bishop Sidonius Apollinaris 
 and St. John Chrysostom, as well as Pho- 
 tius of Constantinople—in the ninth cen 
 tury—all attacked Apollonius and his 
 supposed translator. Evidently the Cap 
 padocian made a profound impression 
 Apollonius was what Augustine called an 
 
 “JtisUik 
 tually hj 
 •Satan to 
 intellect-- 
 Notwithsta) 
 struotive 
 Philostratus 
 
 believe Apol 
 a different m 
 with his idea 
 real sage, nei 
 worker, but 
 humanity; a « 
 tellectual powi, 
 ences of a pessi 
 aristocrat. 
 
 A f’onsit 
 
 T" my Ejhtc 
 you kindly jnfon., 
 of Section 4 of Ar 
 slitulion h a s be; 
 
 “No such law shall 
 on within three . 
 or at; any general 
 law or any other 
 be voted for or agi 
 
 of tiie persistent-c 
 •St al e pension oi* tl 
 can be voted on't 
 the sancjt'l&n of t 
 ft iV'agfeed 
 amendment to Artie! 
 tive to the debt, limi 
 fall. I am not.UDm 
 amendment adopt ed 
 words were in Sec 
 to wit, “or arty 
 stitution," and We.. 
 ment 1 adopted*in y. 
 
 changes the fact t 
 menfct to the Constit 
 and a "law" in the sei 
 stitution, and thfe 'moi 
 the duestfoh 6l legist 
 words so eliminated ■ 
 siirjilusage and we 
 No one will pretend a 
 the constitutional am 
 mitted (his i>il, and 
 
 guage.quoted^at the 
 article’ absolutely pr 
 , under said-section be 
 constitutional amend 
 year. 
 
 The Standard Dictiol 
 a "legislative en, 
 draft of a protti- 
 islativo buoy f°^ 
 
 If a prqposeU .. 
 neither a "bill'' no 
 branches or the 
 tlonal amendment^ 
 acted on and voted, 
 as other bills. I imi 
 question fairly up v 
 troller might find- 
 either project impos 
 Clinton - 'and , other 
 appeared befoVe tl 
 apparently’ 'ehtirely* 
 question. - • ».* - 1 , 
 Nkw York; May. ^ 
 
 \ 
 
 >od Wind 1,7 Augustine called an 
 
 cymbals; f Pe * < l°± V™** in his own 
 
 Icymbals; 
 cr pause. 
 
 Justatned 
 lies—and 
 ■heard it 
 (wharves 
 fin’s old 
 s’le of a 
 s of the 
 Inperfect 
 |t as re- 
 . *74." 
 
 . p: 
 
 duttc 
 ce In 
 o the 
 story 
 ipertl- 
 edlt 
 
 lily 
 
 iat the 
 of the 
 I 
 
 i rinted 
 the 
 
 atory 
 
 fate, 
 
 |iU£ 
 
 I ‘Cap'n 
 | Cap'n 
 Inhere 
 ? 8tar- 
 
 (eoently 
 
 * 501 : 
 
 J we re- 
 r Pardon 
 I Cenci-al 
 fdj 1 sent 
 ‘blank 
 |ntryi”’ 
 
 _ Wifi. 
 Bhe State 
 polloquy 
 
 J served 
 
 luted 
 
 fended. 
 
 I'sntiou, 
 lot tl>? 
 Iasr. 
 
 life thpacts of Christ and His Apostles-at 
 least Phdostratus claimed he did. Some 
 nineteenth century critics have ridiculed 
 the translation of the Lemnos rhetorician 
 as pure fable. Cardinal Newman so be¬ 
 lieved; James Anthony Froude called 
 Apollonius a blackguard and an impostor 
 Chassang speaks of him as a Chrysostom 
 doubled by a Plotinus and a Porphyrius 
 Baur and Zeller held that the -Life' was 
 tendency writing”; and the Abb6 Freppel 
 said that Apollonius was “a Don Quixote 
 of philosophy, Damis, his disciple, being 
 his Sanoho Panza." Marcus Aurelius 
 vowed a temple to his honor, and Gibbon 
 does not agree with those who see in the 
 biography of Philostratus “a stroke of 
 offensive defence” against Christianity 
 Strangely enough, it was the Empress 
 Julia Domna who prompted Philostratus 
 to write his Life.” 
 
 Dr Campbell, with Pater in his memory 
 comes dangerously near writing a rhan- 
 sody about his hero. Mr. Oldmeadow 
 who is known as a writer of musical 
 biographies and of several success*! 
 
 of h the’ ]r ,,'" J ( llcu on ® man in his ] 1st 
 of the Apolloman exegetists, though 
 
 I fo bu y ,He eakmg ' DOt a critical 
 to, but the oreator of a more concrete 
 
 [Apollonius of Tyana than can be found 
 
 iTie D s 8a abovi ‘o 0 T? 8 ° tonyof Ule autbor- 
 ities above quoted. We refe,- ,, 
 
 ta m m Fl tat l° n ° f Sa ' nt Anth0 "y.'’ by Gus- 
 ve Flaubert, in the fourth book of which 
 
 after successfully wrestling with the 
 
 saint is°dis f Slm ; n ,^ la the harassed 
 samt is dismayed by the entrance iof 
 
 Apollonius of Tyana ahd the dwarf Damis 
 They are tangible humans. Thu ds 
 oussion that follows is indicative „ i 
 
 only of Flaubert's erudil^tw Z 
 Of his power of projecting dramatioally 
 human characters before the reader 
 His Apollonius is not only the mvthib 
 
 a P ct‘oT P The " Ut ^ 
 m" 0 ”' man » proud of, his virgin 
 
 k ilts “I!” 8 pr ° phesyin,f ’ of favor of 
 kings, emperors and satraps, He has 
 
 seen all countries, all life. He is more 
 beautiful than a god; Damis sings his 
 perfections, a kind of fluting chorus 
 Anthony is aghast at the miracles at the 
 raising of the dead to life, at the casting 
 out. of evil spirits, at the resoue of the 
 | y° UI >_ g man Menippiis, who escapes the 
 
 «l v-‘ 
 
 terrible nas mademe intrepid.” He 
 [° r ® tPl , d ‘hat Vespasian would be emperor 
 
 MKT ““ -*“» 
 
 riZh ^ phe,IIB . A P"lloniu8 witnessed the 
 death + ° r Domitian, who was at Rome 
 \es, at the theatre, in broad 
 
 Of Ocfoh °V he f ?' ,rteen 'h of the kalends 
 of October, he suddenly exclaimed- Thov 
 are murdering Ca-sar!' and he added 
 every now and then, He rolls on the 
 ground! Oh, how he struggles! He gets 
 “ P again; he attempts to fly; the gates are 
 shut. Ah! It is finished. He is dead!’ 
 
 That very day Titus Flavius Domitia- 
 nus was assassinated, as you aro aware." 
 
 Apollonius, so the saint is assured, was 
 once persecuted bythis same Domitian 
 d« a ,TJ?l!!l e , POpalaCe . ^hnessed the 
 
 Socrates and 
 
 .To'tiIR EbjTOR 
 much is said' by w 
 great good that.is,, 1 
 when the right Jo i 
 I would likq.to ask 
 subject. Th-e*. stat; 
 vague as to mea: 
 that >it will bo a 
 that it A^dll be • 
 women, that wot 
 ballot for the sa 
 finally that it *vvi 
 I wish to ask in 
 fit to women gen 
 now stand are d'st . 
 and I cannot,learn 
 which they could 
 A married woman 
 dispose of , iti as 
 consent of her h 
 transfer teal., est 
 whereas lie ca 
 joins in the 
 her support i 
 pay her debt* 
 
 g elled to pay, 
 is support, 
 cannot clai**. 
 couple separ, 
 give the wif 1 
 unless she 
 conduct. 
 
 An unmar, 
 pose of proi 
 where and i 
 her pleasur' 
 a man en.i 
 engage in a. 
 fitted or co| 
 wages or s 
 to her emr. 
 everywhere 
 if she is de< 
 ing may 
 insult or .. 
 ruffian or ill 
 anno3 r her t 
 once her proi 
 go hard with 
 a murder a j 
 convict her, 
 of the sex. 
 
 "What, more, 
 than men hav 
 her purifying 
 women as liab 
 Are there not 
 bribery and 
 are men? Ye* 
 more, for I tru 
 have a sense 
 by men,. 
 
 If some lear 
 some real rea* 
 system for whi 
 some great wro 
 ing injustice w 
 I shall be gla 
 formed. No v 
 ing generalitie; 
 
 W" 
 
 and 
 
 . , ., rviLiiesseq tne 
 
 bu- d«atn of the philosopher; but at the sixth 
 I Jhour came to life, saying,' “It is 1/ 
 
 Heartlonurles A 
 
 'rpTh k Editor of 
 possible should be 1, 
 abominable practice 
 1 recollect one Ins 
 typhoid fever in a i 
 clearly traced to a “I, 
 bay, where there \V 
 proximity. 
 
 If those of eplourea 
 eat with their minds 
 the “specially treated* 
 New York. May 8. 
 
 .4 I 
 
 Stella oome people 
 Well OfT. I '-it ; 
 
 , Bella- And some d' 
 well on. 
 
APOLLONIUS 
 
 318 
 
 between hope and despair, not knowing whether he 
 would be saved or perish,— he was too much absorbed 
 in the probable fate of his master to note with precision 
 the many interesting things of the Appian Way . 1 
 
 On his first day he passed the former residence of 
 Aulus Persius Flaccus, a philosopher and a stoic, and a 
 friend of Apollonius . 2 On the third day he arrived at 
 Dicaearchia where he heard that there had been a 
 violent storm at sea, in which many vessels were lost 
 and many driven to the Sicilian straits. When he 
 heard this he understood why Apollonius advised him 
 to make his journey on foot. 
 
 We will now approach the tribunal where Apollonius 
 was to make his defense. Whilst on his way he asked 
 the officer of the court who conducted him, where 
 he was taking him, who replied, “ To the tribunal.” 
 “ Then,” said he, “ against whom am I to plead ? ” 
 “Against your accuser,” returned the officer, “and 
 afterward the emperor will give sentence.” “ But 
 who,” said he, “ will judge between the emperor and 
 me, for I will demonstrate the injury he is doing to 
 philosophy.” “And what cares the emperor whether 
 or not he injures philosophy ? ” “ And what cares phi¬ 
 losophy,” returned Apollonius, “ if in the practice of it 
 the emperor smarts under the lashes it inflicts ? And 
 yet,” continued he, “it is of infinite consequence to 
 philosophy and to the emperor that he governs with 
 prudence and discretion.” These remarks met the full 
 approbation of the officer, who from the first was well 
 
 1 Cf. Histoire des grands chemins de Vempire ro??iain,\ya,r Nicolas Bergier 
 (1728), 2 vols. 4to, art. Appian Way. 
 
 2 Flaccus’s estate was ten miles from Rome; he died, a. d. 64. 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 319 
 
 disposed toward Apollonius, believing him to be very 
 wise. He then inquired, “ What quantity of water 
 will you require for your defense , 1 a circumstance 
 necessary to be known before you adjust it?” “If, 
 replied Apollonius, “ the emperor permits me to say as 
 much as the cause requires, all of the water of the Tiber 
 will not be enough to measure the time, but if only as 
 much as I wish to say, the interrogant, at his pleasure, 
 may limit the time to be allowed the respondent.” 
 “ Have you, then,” said the officer, “ cultivated the habit 
 of brevity when discoursing ? ” “ Silence,” said Apol¬ 
 lonius, “ would be my only argument were I alone the 
 party on trial here.” “Socrates tried silence,” said the 
 officer, “and won a judgment of death.” “ He did not 
 die. It was the Athenians who thought so. He now 
 lives, and will always live and plead his cause to all 
 coming generations.” 
 
 Whilst they were waiting at the door of the tribunal, 
 another officer came up and said, “ Tyanean, you must 
 enter naked.” “ What,” returned Apollonius, “is it to 
 bathe or to plead my cause I am come here ? It is of 
 but little use, I suppose, however, to raise questions of 
 either propriety or decency here; obedience is the lex 
 non scripta .” “What I have said,” replied the officer, 
 “ alludes not to your clothes but to the emperor’s order, 
 forbidding your bringing with you either amulet, or 
 charm, or book, or any writing whatever.” “ And does 
 he also forbid,” continued Apollonius, “ my bringing 
 
 1 Allusion is here made to the to exceed. The instrument was 
 clepsydra (KXs^oSpa), an instru- regulatedby water dropping through 
 ment used to measure time, which a glass. It was of Assyrian origin, 
 was usually fixed by stipulation, and had been adopted in Greece and 
 and which it was never permitted Egypt. 
 
320 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 along with me a rod for the back of those who have 
 given him such foolish advice ?” 
 
 All the illustrious men of the day attended the em¬ 
 peror, who was particularly anxious to throw as much 
 consequence into these trials as possible, and to make 
 it appear that the persons accused were concerned in 
 actual rebellion. 
 
 One of the freedmen of Euphrates stood beside the 
 accuser while Apollonius pronounced his defense. This 
 man had been sent by Euphrates into Ionia to collect 
 everything said by the Tyanean whilst there. 
 
 Apollonius was ordered to plead to only four counts 
 in the charges i 1 
 
 Charge ist. With wearing garments which differ 
 from those of other men, thereby rendering yourself 
 singular and peculiar, and attracting crowds of boister¬ 
 ous people to the detriment of the good order of the 
 city. Of wearing the hair long and unsightly, and of 
 living as a vagrant, not in accord with good society . 2 
 
 Charge 2d. You allow and encourage men to call 
 you a god . 3 
 
 1 This trial Echard, in his Eccle¬ 
 siastical History , supposes to have 
 taken place in the fourteenth year 
 of Domitian (a. d. 96), under the 
 consulship of Asprenas and Later- 
 anus, a little before the second 
 persecution of the church, about 
 twenty-five years after the destruc¬ 
 tion of Jerusalem. It seems strange 
 to one who has carefully followed 
 the history of this period, step by 
 step, to hear historians speak of a 
 first and second Christian persecu¬ 
 
 tion, when he knows that there 
 were no Christians and no perse¬ 
 cutions during all this period.— Cf. 
 Eusebius in Hierocles , 41. 
 
 2 As is frequently stated by Philo- 
 stratus, the immediate wants of 
 Apollonius were satisfied by loans 
 from the temples, the great banking- 
 houses of that day, and these loans 
 were paid from his private estate; 
 he was by no means a vagrant. 
 
 3 There is one attestation (says 
 Dr. Enfield), among many others 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 321 
 
 Charge jd. Through magic you predicted a plague 
 in Ephesus, and by incantations turned it away. And 
 that you practiced magic for mercenary purposes . 1 
 
 Charge pth . Charged with sacrificing an Arcadian 
 boy outside the city walls, in the suburbs, for pur¬ 
 poses of divination from the entrails if Nerva would 
 succeed to the throne. 
 
 After the accuser had settled upon these charges, 
 Apollonius was permitted to answer for himself . 2 
 
 “ The cause at present before us, O Emperor, is of 
 great moment to the state, as involving the rights 
 of free citizens ; great to you, O Emperor, because you 
 must not appear as the prosecutor of a citizen, nor as 
 the enemy even of philosophy without good cause, 
 under the charges, greater perhaps than those against 
 Socrates at Athens, when his accusers affirmed that he 
 supported new opinions touching the religion of the 
 state; but they did not call him god, nor did they 
 think him one. It has been presumptuously said that 
 I would deliver my defense in anger and make treas¬ 
 onable utterances, and consequently be put to death 
 without any consideration of the question of guilt or 
 innocence as charged. These, and many other things, 
 have reached my ears ; but I am here, in full possession 
 of my faculties, without prejudice, and without any un¬ 
 favorable apprehensions of the results of the hearing 
 which you are to give my cause. It is my privilege 
 
 of Apollonius’s great celebrity, that 1 Moureceji disquisitio de Magia 
 during his life-time he was called a divinatrive et operatrive (Francof, 
 god, and accepted the appellation, 1683). 
 
 saying that every good man was 2 Vie d’Apollonius de Tyane , par 
 honored by it. Legrand D’Aussy, vol. ii. p. 244. 
 
 41 
 
322 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 to be heard before this tribunal, and it is your duty to 
 listen and to pronounce sentence on the charges, if sus¬ 
 tained, according to the voice of the law. Justice 
 requires of you that you shall neither condemn me 
 without a fair hearing, nor carry to the seat of judg¬ 
 ment any prejudice or persuasion of my having com¬ 
 mitted any evil against your person or interests, unless 
 established by direct testimony. Suppose your out¬ 
 lying provinces, the Armenians and Babylonians, in 
 whom you trust, and who have a numerous cavalry, 
 legions of soldiers and archers, and a rich country, 
 should threaten your person and your empire, you 
 would laugh at so ridiculous an effort to dethrone you, 
 and is it possible that you distrust a poor, harmless, 
 unarmed philosopher, arraigned upon the idle tales of 
 an Egyptian sycophant, of whose truth you have re¬ 
 ceived no intimation from Pallas or the gods ? This I 
 do not understand, unless it is that calumny and flat¬ 
 tery have so prospered with some men as to have given 
 them power to make you believe that in things of 
 little consequence the gods condescend to act as your 
 advisers ; but that in matters wherein the great inter¬ 
 ests of the state and your own individual security are 
 concerned, these same gods neither counsel you as to 
 the persons you should avoid, nor as to the way in 
 which you should guard against them. Have they per¬ 
 suaded you to think that calumniators stand in the 
 place of the Higis of Pallas and the hand of Jove ? Is 
 it possible, I say, such men can make you believe that 
 in what concerns your own safety they know more than 
 the gods themselves; and that their sleeping and wak¬ 
 ing is all for your sake and the love they bear you ? 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 323 
 
 “ Let these men then have the privilege of keeping 
 white horses, and of driving about the Forum in splendid 
 equipages; let them eat off gold and silver, wear 
 golden sandals, and form alliances by marriage and 
 maintain boys at an enormous expense, and intrigue 
 with married women whilst it can be done in secret, 
 and afterward marry the victims of their adulteries 
 when discovered, and have their iniquitous acts com¬ 
 mended as glorious deeds, whilst a philosopher, or a 
 man of consular rank, of the best character, if he hap¬ 
 pens to rebuke such conduct and falls' into their hands, 
 is unjustly devoted by you to destruction because they 
 perfidiously suggest it. If such conduct meets your 
 approbation, I should not be surprised if at any pro¬ 
 pitious moment these men were to accuse you of hold¬ 
 ing heretical opinions concerning the state and the 
 established religion. 
 
 “ But whom shall I invoke as my advocate in this 
 ordeal? If I invoke Jupiter, by whom I know I live, 
 I shall be called an enchanter and a magician. That 
 being so, I will appeal to a man whom common usage, 
 custom, and state proclamations have pronounced dead, 
 but who still lives in my affections and in your memory; 
 I mean your father, in whose eyes I was held in the 
 same estimation as he is in yours. He made you em¬ 
 peror, and I contributed largely in making him one. 
 He shall be my advocate in pleading my cause, for he 
 knows my affairs better than you do. He came into 
 Egypt before he was made emperor, to offer sacrifice 
 to the gods of the country and to confer with me on 
 the critical state of the empire. When he met me in 
 my long flowing hair and in this dress, he made no 
 
3 2 4 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 inquiries about it, from an idea that everything I did 
 was right. He confessed he undertook the journey on 
 my account. He parted with me after much commen¬ 
 dation, and said he had communicated with no other 
 person nor had he heard from any man what he heard 
 from me. I communicated to him freely without fear 
 or the possibility of reward. I encouraged him in his 
 purpose of aspiring to the diadem for the good of Rome, 
 though others, among whom was the present accuser, 
 advised him to hesitate, which, I think, yourself would 
 consider not only unwise but a crime against the state 
 at that trying juncture ; and the men who advised him 
 not to take the reins of government were they who 
 would have deprived you of the power of succeeding 
 him. I advised him to think himself worthy of the 
 empire, which was, as it were, at his door, and to make 
 you his heir. He acknowledged the wisdom of my 
 advice, which raised him to the summit of his wishes 
 and stayed the carnage at Rome. It seems idle to 
 waste time in refuting the charge of magic, for had 
 Vespasian deemed me a magician he would never have 
 made me acquainted with his most secret purposes, nor 
 should I have deemed him, in such an event, worthy of 
 the empire. I discoursed with him publicly in the 
 temples of the gods, which are known to be avoided by 
 the corporation of magicians, as being holy and hostile 
 to their craft, who, wrapped up in darkness and obscu¬ 
 rity, suffer not their foolish votaries to make use of either 
 their eyes or ears. I also talked with him in private upon 
 the subject of magicians, never advocating their cause. 
 
 “ He had before coming into Egypt entertained hopes 
 of gaining the empire, and after his arrival he conferred 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 325 
 
 with me only on the most important subjects, namely, 
 the laws, the right possession of riches, the lawful wor¬ 
 ship of the gods, and the advantage which they who 
 govern according to justice are to hope from such con¬ 
 duct. To all such subjects, I need not say, O Emperor, 
 that magicians are the greatest enemies; and why ? 
 because whenever the laws are in force the magic art is 
 impotent. There is one thing, O Emperor ! you ought 
 to consider, which is, that all the arts exercised by men, 
 though different in their operation and effect, have but 
 one object, and that is the acquisition of money, of 
 which some bring in little, others much, and there are 
 others which only furnish a bare subsistence. This is 
 not only true of the servile but of the liberal arts. I 
 call the liberal arts, poetry, music, astronomy, logic, 
 and oratory as practiced in the Forum by sophists and 
 rhetoricians. The arts allied to the liberal ones are 
 painting, carving, sculpture, pilotage, and agriculture. 
 There are arts which are not much inferior to what are 
 called the liberal. There is also an art, O Emperor, 
 that does not appertain to true wisdom, and is only 
 becoming the practice of vain quacks and mountebanks, 
 which ought not to be confounded with the art of 
 divination : an art, if true, most highly to be prized, 
 and yet I am at a loss whether to call it an art or not. 
 Magicians, I affirm, are pseudo-sophists, and I attribute 
 entirely to the heated imaginations of their duped vota¬ 
 ries the powers they possess of making that which is, 
 appear as if it were not, and that which is not as if it 
 were. The truth is,, the whole art lies in the deluded 
 fancies of the spectators. They who practice it fre¬ 
 quently amass great wealth. But of what wealth, O 
 
326 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 Emperor, have you discovered me possessed ? It is 
 certainly not on account of my acquired wealth that I 
 can be charged with magic. And a letter from your 
 father ought to be sufficient to disabuse your mind of 
 any erroneous ideas entertained upon this point 
 
 “ ‘ The Emperor Vespasian to the Philosopher Apollonius : 
 
 “ ‘ Greeting —If all men, Apollonius, as well as you, 
 would but cultivate philosophy, philosophy and pov¬ 
 erty would flourish and be happy. The former would 
 then be above corruption, and the latter respected. 
 Farewell/ 
 
 “This is the defense your father set up for me, in 
 which he ascribed to me a philosophy incorruptible 
 and a voluntary poverty. From my very youth I 
 despised riches. The fortune I derived from my father, 
 which was considerable, I gave to my brothers, friends, 
 and indigent relations, reserving only enough for the 
 plainest necessities of life, having learned in my youth 
 the virtue of living on little. For the truth of these 
 statements I appeal to the Egyptian himself, the pres¬ 
 ent accuser. And thus we think, O Emperor, that the 
 charge of criminal conduct and wicked counsels in the 
 practice of magic for mercenary purpose must fail, for 
 none have been proven, nor do existing facts sustain 
 the accusation. I have merely referred to this count 
 in the charges against me to show that the framer of 
 the charges was misinformed as to facts, or prejudiced 
 in judgment; and if misinformed or prejudiced in this, 
 why not in all ? ” 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 327 
 
 Apollonius then took up the counts in their order: 
 first, as to peculiarity of dress; then his long hair,— 
 charges which he deemed made without seriousness, 
 and upon which no free Roman citizen should be called 
 to plead before this tribunal. And then, as to permit¬ 
 ting men to worship him as a god. Upon this count 
 he said: “ Before an accusation of this kind should be 
 made, I think it would be first right to mention the 
 subjects of my disputation, and next, the wonderful 
 things either said or done that could have prevailed on 
 men to worship me. I never declared to the Greeks 
 either from what body my soul has migrated, or into 
 what it is to migrate. I never spread abroad such an 
 opinion of myself, nor went about publishing oracles 
 and predictions in my favor, like other itinerant fana¬ 
 tics. I never knew any city making proclamation of 
 offering sacrifice to Apollonius; yet I have benefited as 
 many as stood in need of assistance, and many there 
 have been who required it,— in curing the sick, in pro¬ 
 moting a stricter observance of religious ceremonies, 
 and in checking oppression by advising a greater 
 energy to the laws. And the only reward I have 
 received for all this was the reformation effected 
 thereby. If, then, they considered me a god, it is to 
 you, O Emperor, that the error proved a service ; for, 
 under delusion, they would have listened more will¬ 
 ingly to any advice of mine, and would have been 
 more obedient to the laws, through fear of displeasing 
 the gods. But the truth is, they never formed any 
 such opinion of me; they conceived, and rightly too, 
 that men had some degree of affinity with a deity, in 
 
328 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 virtue of which all creatures know a god, and can rea¬ 
 son philosophically of their own nature, and how far it 
 is participant of the divine. Our virtues descend from 
 the gods, and consequently those who are most en¬ 
 dowed with virtue most resemble them. I will not 
 call the Athenians the authors of this sentiment, on 
 account of their being the first who gave men the title 
 of ‘Just’ and ‘Olympian,’ and other like appella¬ 
 tions, which seem to include something more divine 
 than is befitting mortals; but I will call the Pythian 
 Apollo himself the author of it, as appears from what 
 I am about to say: Lycurgus of Sparta visited the 
 temple of Apollo after delivering to his countrymen 
 the code of laws and statutes on which their city was 
 founded. Apollo addressed him on entering under 
 the title and style of a god on account of his great 
 virtues. No process of any kind was issued against 
 Lycurgus for this, nor did he incur any danger with 
 the Lacedaemonians either for having aspired to im¬ 
 mortality, or for not having corrected the Pythian god 
 in his mode of salutation. Therefore, O Emperor, I 
 cannot conceive how I may be found guilty of blas¬ 
 phemy in not rebuking the people, even had they 
 attributed to me, which they did not, godlike qualities, 
 seeing that Lycurgus, a much greater offender, not only 
 went unpunished, but was highly commended thereby. 
 
 “ Now as to the charge of having restored health to 
 Ephesus, let my accuser bring it forward in the way 
 most fitting his purpose; let him, if he pleases, urge it 
 in the following manner: ‘ The Scythians and Celtae, 
 who dwelt not far from the Danube and Rhine, have a 
 town belonging to them not much inferior to Ephesus 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 329 
 
 in Ionia. This town is the bulwark to the barbarians, 
 your enemies. A plague was on the point of destroy¬ 
 ing it, and Apollonius saved it.’ Now in a case like 
 this it might be said that it was not necessary to assist 
 the barbarians or to restore them to health, on account 
 of being implacable enemies of the realm, yet it was 
 nevertheless humane to do so. But who, O Emperor, 
 will pretend to say that it was not right to deliver loyal 
 Ephesians from the plague ? They have a city rich in 
 literary labors of its philosophers and rhetoricians, and 
 its reputation is based not so much upon the strength 
 of its cavalry as by the number of its citizens devoted 
 to science. Do you think there is any wise man v/ho 
 would not take great pains to save a city like this ? 
 Let me call to mind Democritus, who delivered the 
 people of Abdera from a plague; and Sophocles, the 
 Athenian, who appeased the winds when blowing 
 louder and more threatening than usual; or, if it be 
 remembered, how Empedocles checked the fury of a 
 cloud when ready to burst over Agrigentum. 
 
 “ But I see the accuser looking at me ; you see it also, 
 O Emperor! He says I am accused, not for having 
 delivered the Ephesians from a plague, but for having 
 foretold that it would attack them. This foreknowledge 
 he thinks is more than human, and partakes of the 
 marvelous; and he is of opinion I could never have 
 arrived at its discovery without being either a magician 
 or through the aid of a demon . 1 What will Socrates say 
 
 1 Origen, who wrote, A. D. 260; ment of Alexandria, A. D. 260; and 
 Jerome, A. d. 400; Lactantius, A. d. Eusebius, all believed in demons. 
 320 ; Theophilus of Antioch, a. d. — A Short History of the Bible 
 210; Tertullian, 3d century; Cle- (Keeler), p. 59. 
 
 42 
 
330 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 here ? What will Thales and Anaxagoras, of whom the 
 one predicted a great plenty of olives, and the other a 
 great variety of celestial phenomena, say ? Was it the 
 magic art that they made use of to utter these predictions ? 
 True, they were brought before the tribunals, but under 
 very different charges from those preferred against me; it 
 was never insinuated that they were magicians or fore¬ 
 told events; such a charge would have been ridiculous 
 to bring against wise men of Thessaly, where old 
 women are under the evil report of drawing the moon 
 down from heaven, yet no more absurd than is the 
 attitude of the present case. But you will ask, perhaps, 
 how have I foreseen the extraordinary phenomenon 
 which happened at Ephesus ? You heard my accuser 
 speak to that point; he said I did not live after the 
 manner of other men, which was noticed by me in the 
 exordium of my defense; when allowed, I used a par¬ 
 ticular kind of food that was more agreeable to me than 
 the nicest delicacies of Sybaris. This is the kind of 
 living which acts upon me as an occult cause, and keeps 
 my senses unimpaired, with nothing to obscure them, 
 for which reason I have a perception , 1 or as it were in 
 the speculum of a mirror, of things that are and pro¬ 
 phetically of things that are to be. A wise man will 
 not wait until the earth sends forth vapor, or the 
 atmosphere is infected, if the evil comes from above ; but 
 he will perceive that such things are at hand, not so soon 
 as the gods yet sooner than the generality of men. The 
 gods see what is to come, men what is come, and wise 
 men what is coming. As to what respects the causes 
 of the plague, inquire of me, O Emperor, in private, for 
 
 1 Demonologie, ou traite des demons etsorciers (Tourcing, 1752). 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 331 
 
 they are too deep to be divulged. The way in which 
 I live is the only thing which gives that subtlety to the 
 senses, or, more properly speaking, that energy which is 
 fit for producing great and wonderful effects. The truth 
 of what I say may be collected from many things, but 
 particularly from what occurred at Ephesus, during the 
 plague . 1 
 
 “The statue erected for me at Ephesus to Hercules 
 Averruncus is a proof of whose assistance I implored 
 on the occasion. To him I offered my prayers, whose 
 wisdom and courage of old delivered Elis from a plague, 
 and at the time he turned the course of a river into that 
 province which swept away all its pestilential vapors, 
 in the reign of the king Augeas. Will any man, think 
 you, O Emperor, who wishes to pass for a magician, 
 ascribe to a god what he has performed himself ? Did 
 you ever hear of a magician ascribing glory to Hercules ? 
 Did any one charge Epimenides with magic, who was 
 sent for by the Athenians from Crete to stay a plague 
 in Athens; his expiations were successful and he would 
 receive no other reward for his services than a treaty 
 of alliance between the Cnossii and the Athenians . 2 
 
 “ But seeing you wish me to speak on the subject of 
 
 \ 
 
 the sacrifice, which I suppose is signified by the motion 
 
 1 St. Jerome and Justin Martyr 
 assign no other reason for all this 
 wonderful operation than the knowl¬ 
 edge he had of nature, and absolve 
 him from all charge of magic. Je¬ 
 rome says,“Apollonius, sivemagus, 
 ut vulgus loquitur, sive Philoso- 
 phus et Pythagorici tradunt.” Jus¬ 
 tin says, “ Apollonius ut vir natur- 
 alium potentiarum et dissensionum 
 
 atque consensionum earum peritus, 
 ex hac scientia mira faciebat non 
 authoritate divina; hanc ob rem in 
 omnibus indiguit assumptione ido- 
 nearum materiarum quse cum adju- 
 varent ad id perficiendum quod 
 efficiebatur.” 
 
 2 Herodotus , v. 71; Thucydides, 
 i. 126; Diogenes Laer ., i. 109; also 
 Suidas and Pausanias. 
 
332 
 
 A POLL ON I US 
 
 of your hand, listen to what is the ingenuous truth. 
 Though anxious to do all I can for the good of mortals, 
 I never sacrificed for them, nor do I mean to do it. I 
 shall have nothing to do with sacrifices where blood is 
 shed, or to offer up any vows with the sacrificing knife 
 in view, or with anything you call a sacrifice; and I 
 appeal to the preaching and practice of my entire life 
 to brand this accusation false. I am no Scythian, O 
 Emperor, nor one sprung from inhospitable soil. Far 
 from adopting the religious ceremonies of the Massa- 
 getse or Tauri, I have caused them to cease from their 
 bloody sacrifices, and blamed their folly in many dis¬ 
 courses had with them on the subject of divination, 
 and in what it may be considered as efficient and in 
 what not. Can I, therefore, under such a formula, be 
 suspected of staining my hands in blood, or in handling 
 the entrails of victims, the bare mention of which is 
 forbidden and excites horror in me ? But, setting aside 
 the disgust excited in me at the recital of such sacrifices, 
 let my accuser reflect on the method of the charges 
 made; he has acquitted me himself by implication in 
 their structure. He charges me with having foretold 
 the plague at Ephesus, without having recourse to any 
 sacrifice, and now why does he so inconsistently charge 
 me with making bloody sacrifice to foretell what might 
 have been foretold without them ? If I am called upon 
 to answer for Nerva and his friends, and for whom this 
 immolation is said to have been offered, I can only repeat 
 what I said before when accused by you. I look on 
 Nerva as fit for the discharge of any office and worthy 
 of all praise, but ill-calculated for the execution of any 
 enterprise. His body is so enfeebled by disease as to 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 333 
 
 render him scarcely able to attend to domestic affairs. 
 Who can think that Nerva would aim at sovereign 
 power, who would be content to be able to personally 
 superintend the management of his own family ? Or 
 that he should confer with me on a subject of so much 
 moment ? Orfitus and Rufus are men of integrity and 
 moderation, and peaceable so far as I know them. But 
 it is said they are suspected of aspiring to the empire; 
 I know not if the mistake is not as great in their case 
 as in that of Nerva; may be, greater. But he who has 
 summoned me here to trial ought to show how I 
 have, or at least how I possibly might have, given 
 assistance to innovators and ambitious aspirants for 
 empire. My prosecutor does not charge me with hav¬ 
 ing received money from them, or in having been 
 bribed into joining their party. But it may be said I 
 have great claims on them, and on that account put off 
 the day of retribution to that time in which it might be 
 supposed they would be masters of the government, 
 when I might demand much and obtain more. But 
 how can this be proved ? Call to mind, O Emperor, 
 yourself and your predecessors; I mean your brother, 
 your father, and likewise Nero, while they governed 
 the empire. Under them I lived in some degree of 
 celebrity, even before my journey into India, under 
 Tiberius. During the space of eight and thirty years, 
 which is the time elapsed since, I never frequented the 
 doors of emperors, save those of your father in Egypt, 
 but he was not yet emperor, nor have I ever conde¬ 
 scended to anything humiliating in complimenting kings, 
 or even people for the sake of kings. I never boasted 
 of the letters written me by kings, nor of those I wrote 
 
334 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 to them; nor did I once deviate from the respect due 
 to myself, by a mean flattery of kings for what they 
 had to bestow. And yet your father and brother were 
 gracious to seek counsel of me and to desire to retain 
 me in such position near them during their reign. 
 
 “ It is asked of me, under the charge of vagrancy, do I 
 enroll myself with the rich or poor ? After duly consid¬ 
 ering the question, I answer, among the rich. I want 
 nothing, and this is worth all the wealth of Lydia and 
 Pactolus. Mine is the wealth of contentment. c 0 ao<po <; 
 iv aoTc 5 rcepL^ipsi tsv odol av. But there are other kinds 
 and sources of wealth, as that of the philosopher 
 Euphrates, my accuser; he holds his philosophical 
 disputations at the tables of the money-changers, 
 where he not only appears in the character of a philoso¬ 
 pher, but as a merchant, a retailer, a publican, and a 
 usurer; in short, he is all things to all, a seller and yet 
 to be sold. He has nailed himself to the doors of the 
 great, and spends more time in dangling after them than 
 their porters; he is like the dog in the adage, ‘ always 
 hungry and always empty/ He hoards all his wealth, 
 and cultivates a malicious tongue, which, were it to have 
 its deserts, would be cut out of his head. Malicious 
 lying was heretofore a misdemeanor, but under a 
 recent statute of the prosecutor is made perjury. 
 
 “ But to you, O Emperor, I resign Euphrates; if you 
 are not very much enamored of flatterers, you will find 
 him much worse than I have described him. 
 
 “ My accuser, O Emperor, has told you a melancholy 
 tale of my cutting an Arcadian boy in pieces, and 
 though he has told you, I know not yet whether he 
 says it happened by night or in a dream. This boy, 
 
OF TYANA . 
 
 335 
 
 he adds, was of a good family, and handsome, as 
 Arcadians generally are, whose good looks are not 
 affected by meanness of their attire. This youth I am 
 accused of killing whilst in the act of supplicating me 
 with tears for his life; and at the time when my hands 
 were stained with his blood, I am accused of having 
 implored the gods to reveal to me what was to come to 
 pass. Thus far the accusation comes home to myself; 
 what follows concerns the gods, for it is added that they 
 heard my prayers, displayed favorable signs in the 
 entrails, and put not to death the impious sacrificer. 
 Why is it necessary for me, O Emperor, to speak of 
 that which cannot be heard without a crime ? 
 
 “And now as to the boy which I suspect is the prod¬ 
 uct of the imagination of my accuser. Let us inquire 
 who he is. For if he was not of an obscure family, 
 and of no inelegant appearance, surely it is time to ask 
 the name of his parents and family, and in what town 
 in Arcadia he was educated, and from what penates he 
 was dragged to be sacrificed ? For, notwithstanding my 
 accuser’s ingenuity in the art of lying, he fails to fortify 
 his falsehoods with corroborative testimony, of parents, 
 or name, or nativity, or even to surround them with the 
 halo of probability. But, may be, the boy'was a slave 
 for whom this great uproar is made, and for whom we 
 have no name, no parentage, no city, no inheritance. 
 Grant it, then we may fairly ask who sold him; and 
 where is the record of the sale and the purchaser ? For 
 if an Arcadian’s entrails are the fittest for illustrating 
 the power of divination, it is probable that the boy sold 
 for a good price. May be, a special messenger was dis¬ 
 patched to Peloponnesus to bring him to Rome. There 
 
336 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 is no difficulty in buying Pontic, or Lydian, or Phry¬ 
 gian slaves, of whom you may sometimes meet whole 
 droves on their way to Rome. But then in every sale 
 the owner and purchaser must be entered; why has not 
 that record been produced ? But again, the Arcadians 
 do not, like the people of Pontus, Lydia, and Phrygia, 
 sell their slaves. 
 
 “ But all this rhetoric is out of character in my de¬ 
 fense, as out of character with me. It should be simply, 
 * I have shed no blood in sacrificing; I shed no blood 
 at any time and for no object. I touch no blood nor 
 any altar sprinkled with it.’ This is what Pythagoras 
 and his disciples, the gymnosophists of India and 
 Egypt, have commanded and ordained, and I obey. 
 They who perform their religious duty pursuant to 
 their institutions do nothing displeasing to the gods; 
 they grow old by means of moderate indulgence, and 
 keep their minds and bodies in sound health and free 
 from disease. 
 
 “ I think it is not absurd to pray to the gods, who are 
 themselves good, nor to make them pure offerings of 
 frankincense. The gods have expressed themselves 
 pleased with such offerings; then why resort to the 
 sacrificing knife and the shedding of blood ? And yet 
 it has been charged that I, without respect to the gods 
 or myself, have sacrificed in a manner not familiar to 
 me, and in which I wish not to be followed by any 
 mortal. 
 
 “ But the time marked by my accuser will acquit 
 me. For if, on the day in which he says I committed the 
 crime, I was in the country, then will I confess having 
 offered the sacrifice. And yet you, O Emperor, con- 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 33 7 
 
 tinue to repeat the question, whether I was not at that 
 time in Rome ? — a thing not denied. You were there 
 likewise, most excellent Prince, and, I am sure, will not 
 allow of having offered such a sacrifice. My accuser 
 was there also, and he will never own to having com¬ 
 mitted murder. Multitudes of other people were there 
 as well as we, whom it would be more preferable to 
 send at once into banishment than to expose them to 
 accusations, if being in Rome at the time specified is 
 an evidence of guilt. 
 
 “ What then, O accuser! did I do that night ? Were 
 I in your place, and you in mine, I would tell you in 
 answer to that question, ‘ I was laying indictments 
 against the worthy, and snares for the innocent, and 
 instilling lies into the mind of the emperor, for the pur¬ 
 pose of my honor and his dishonor.’ But in my own 
 proper person this is my answer, ‘ Philicus of Melos, 
 who studied philosophy with me for four years, was 
 then very sick in his bed, and on that night I sat by 
 him till he died. He was endeared to me above all 
 other men. Of the truth of what I say, O Emperor, 
 Telesinus, the consul, will inform you, who passed the 
 same night that I did with Philicus in the most friendly 
 attentions. I appeal also to the physician Seleucus of 
 Cyzicus, who attended him, also to Stratocles of Sidon, 
 from whom you will be able to learn the truth of what 
 I say. Besides, the thirty disciples of Philicus will all 
 testify the same. I would wish also to call as witnesses 
 the relations of Philicus, but, in demanding this, you 
 might charge me with an endeavor to put off judgment, 
 for they have not yet returned from Melos, whither they 
 have gone to pay the last sad duties to the deceased.” 
 
 43 
 
333 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 (Here follow the depositions of the witnesses.) 
 
 “The testimony you have heard proves clearly how 
 very consistent with truth the libel was laid, for it 
 appears from the witnesses that I was not in the 
 suburbs, but in the city; not outside the walls, but 
 within them; not with Nerva, but with Philicus; not 
 offering bloody sacrifices, but prayers for the recovery 
 of my friend; not occupied in the business of state, but 
 in that of philosophy; not planning insurrection against 
 you, but intent on saving the life of a man like myself. 
 
 “ What then becomes of the story of the Arcadian 
 boy, what of the story of the victims and the credit 
 which has been given them ? For, supposing what is 
 false to be adduced in a court of justice, instead of that 
 which is true, in what way, I pray thee, O Emperor, 
 should the absurdity of such a sacrifice be treated ? In 
 old times there were soothsayers, whose business was 
 to inspect the exta of beasts; men versed in the art and 
 of great celebrity, of whom Megistias, 1 the Acarnanian, 
 Aristander, 2 the Lycian, and Silanus, 3 the Ambracian, 
 were the chief. The first was soothsayer to Leonidas, 
 the king of Sparta; the second to Alexander of Mace- 
 don ; and Silanus, the third, to Cyrus, at the time he 
 was aspiring to the throne of his brother. If anything 
 had been discovered by these men in the exta of human 
 victims, more luminous, more profound, or more explicit 
 than in those of others, they would have neither 
 
 1 Megistias, a soothsayer, who der. It is said Alexander relied 
 told the Spartans that defended Ther- much on his veracity. 
 
 mopylae that they should all perish. 3 Silanus, an augur in the army 
 
 2 Aristander, a celebrated sooth- of the ten thousand Greeks, at their 
 
 sayer, greatly esteemed by Alexan- return from Cynaxa. 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 339 
 
 scruples nor difficulty in procuring them; for the kings 
 by whom they were employed had plenty of cup¬ 
 bearers and slaves at their disposal; and they were 
 men themselves of such character as would not have 
 declined making use of human victims, through any 
 fears either of danger or prosecution. 
 
 “ But I take it for granted, the same sentiments 
 occurred to them as they do to me, who stand here 
 arraigned for my life for similar offenses; they thought 
 that probably the exta of animals who lose their lives 
 without having any prescience of death, or sense about 
 what they are to suffer, undergo no change whatever. 
 But who will believe that a man who has ever some 
 fear of death, though not immediate, can, whilst the 
 apprehension of death is present, and as it were before 
 his eyes, give any intimation of futurity by his exta, 
 and be a proper subject for a sacrifice ? To be con¬ 
 vinced that my conjectures are right and consonant to 
 the truth, I think, O Emperor, you should consider the 
 matter in the following light. The liver, which the 
 most skillful soothsayers affirm to be the tripod of 
 divination, consists not of pure blood, for it is the heart 
 which retains and circulates by the veins the pure blood 
 through the whole body. The gall which is contained in 
 the liver is put into motion by anger, and is confined 
 by fear within the cavities of the liver. So that the 
 gall, whenever it becomes to effervesce in men of warm 
 passions, and is not able to be kept within its own 
 proper vessels, diffuses into the liver, by which it 
 occupies the whole left region of the entrails wherein is 
 seated the foundation of the art of divination. When a 
 man is under the influence of fear his liver contracts 
 
340 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 and darkens the light in the left region. For then the 
 purer part of the blood withdrawing itself, by means of 
 which the liver is distended like the spleen, and sinking 
 by a natural motion into the membrane inclosing the 
 heart, swims upon the gross matter. 
 
 “ Whence then, O Emperor! the necessity of human 
 sacrifices, if they give no signs of futurity to be 
 depended on ? But man’s own nature is the true cause 
 of its not giving such signs, he himself being under the 
 fear of death. Brave men die with anger, cowards with 
 fear. Hence this art of divination, with people not 
 wholly savage, approves of the sacrificing of kids and 
 lambs, because of their being harmless and not differing 
 from creatures entirely devoid of sense. But cocks, and 
 swine, and bulls, as being of a more generous nature, it 
 considers unfit to be used in their sacred rites. 
 
 “ I see, O Emperor! that my adversary is not 
 pleased with my making you a more enlightened 
 hearer than himself, nor with the attention you seem to 
 pay to my defense. If in any point I have explained 
 myself in a way not so satisfactory as I ought, I beg 
 you may interrogate me respecting it. 
 
 “ I have said what was necessary as an answer to the 
 Egyptian. But since the calumnies of Euphrates are 
 not to be passed over in silence, you will judge, O 
 Emperor! which of us two philosophizes best. His 
 object is to say everything false of me, and mine not to 
 follow his example. He fears you as a slave fears his 
 master, and I respect you as a subject should his sov¬ 
 ereign. He puts a sword into your hand against me, 
 but I do not arm you against him. He makes my con¬ 
 versations in Ionia the grounds of his charge against 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 341 
 
 me, which he says were uttered with an evil mind, and 
 yet all I said there regarded fate and necessity. To 
 illustrate my discourse by examples, I sought in the his¬ 
 tory of princes for such as were appropriate, because in 
 human affairs your rank, 0 Emperor! is most conspic¬ 
 uous. I reasoned on the force of fate, and said, its 
 decrees are so unchangeable, that if they decreed a 
 kingdom to one man, which at the time of making the 
 decree was possessed by another, and that if the reign¬ 
 ing prince was even to put to death his appointed 
 successor, to prevent his succeeding to the throne, I 
 said the dead man would return to life to satisfy the 
 decrees of fate. 
 
 “ Men, you know, are sometimes accustomed to talk 
 in figures and hyperboles to those who will not believe 
 them when they talk in reason and moderation. 
 
 “ It is as if I were to speak in the following language. 
 He whom the Fates destine to be a carpenter, will be 
 one though his hands were cut off. He whom they 
 appoint to win at the Olympic games, will win even if 
 his legs be broken; and he whom they have decreed to 
 hit his mark, will do it though his eyes were put out. 
 The examples which I adduced were taken from the 
 history of kings, and those I had in view were Acrisius, 1 
 Laius, and Astyages the Mede, 2 and many others who 
 thought they had taken the best precautions to secure 
 themselves in their kingdoms. Of these princes, some 
 by putting to death their sons, and others their grand¬ 
 sons, thought to give themselves security; and yet they 
 
 1 Acrisius, the father of Danae, and Astyages, the grandfather of 
 
 whose story is well known. Cyrus, whose stories are equally 
 
 2 Laius was the father of CEdipus, well known. 
 
342 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 were all bereft of their kingdoms by those sons and 
 grandsons, who rose out of darkness by the predominant 
 power of fate. 
 
 “ If I were inclined to flatter, O Emperor, I would 
 say that your situation occurred strongly to me when 
 you were besieged in this city by Vitellius, and the 
 temple of Jupiter Capitolinus was burnt. Vitellius 
 supposed everything would go well with him could he 
 have prevented your escape from the capitol, though 
 at that time you were young and far from what you 
 are at present. But as the Fates decreed otherwise, he 
 perished in the midst of his projects, and you now pos¬ 
 sess his throne. However, as the song of flattery is 
 unpleasing to my ears, from its want of due cadence, 
 I must break its string. Do not believe my thoughts 
 have been engrossed by your affairs ; I have spoken only 
 of the ‘ Fates and Necessity/ which is what my accuser 
 has alleged against me. As to the doctrine of necessity, 
 most of the gods themselves do not object to it, and 
 even Jupiter is not displeased at hearing it mentioned 
 by the poets, who, when speaking of the affairs of Lycia, 
 make him say: 
 
 ‘The hour draws on, the destinies ordain 
 My godlike son shall press the Phrygian plain.’ 
 
 Nor is he angry with the Fates when they deprive him 
 of that son. And in other places the poets, when 
 speaking of the abode of departed spirits, tell us that 
 Jupiter appointed Minos, Sarpedon’s brother, whom he 
 could not exempt from the laws of destiny, judge in 
 the court of Pluto, and honored him with a golden 
 scepter. 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 343 
 
 “ Why then, O Emperor! are you displeased with 
 this doctrine,— a doctrine tolerated by the gods them¬ 
 selves, whose condition is unchangeable, and who punish 
 not with death the poets on account of it. We must 
 obey the destinies; we must not repine at the changes 
 and chances of life, and must give credit to Sophocles, 
 who says, ‘The gods alone are exempt from old age 
 and death/ and ‘ Time in the end is victorious over all 
 things ’; and in this he expresses himself better than was 
 ever done by mortal. The fortune of men is variable, 
 and their happiness only endureth for the period of a day. 
 Neither he who has my estate, nor the man who has 
 the estate of him who possesses mine, can be considered 
 as the real possessors. Taking this into consideration, 
 put a stop, O Emperor! I beseech you, to all banishments 
 and shedding of blood. Use philosophy in everything 
 you like, for true philosophy frees the mind from 
 trouble. Wipe the tears from the eyes of men, whose 
 multiplied groans resound from the sea, and yet more 
 from the land, all and every one lamenting what they 
 held most dear. The evils resulting from hence are 
 more in number than can be counted, evils all to be 
 ascribed to the tongues of informers, who make every¬ 
 thing odious to you, and you, O Emperor! odious to 
 every one.” 
 
 After finishing his speech, and while the emperor was 
 engaged in settling a dispute between one of his cities 
 and a certain subject on the matter of a will, Apollonius 
 vanished from the court-room. This story of his disap¬ 
 pearance from the tribunal is inexplicable upon any 
 other theory than that the emperor did not desire to 
 
344 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 either convict or acquit him, and that while he was 
 otherwise engaged, it was hinted to Apollonius by 
 ./Elian his friend, that he was no longer wanted, and 
 was at liberty to go where he pleased, this being a 
 scheme to be effectually freed from him ; and that he 
 thereupon left the court-room. Some say miraculously ; 
 but there is no reason for such an assumption. 1 That 
 the tyrant who had been for so many years the terror 
 of Greek and barbarian had been but a plaything in 
 the hands of Apollonius has much the appearance of 
 truth. Accustomed to no language but that of servile 
 adulation, Domitian had been completely subdued 
 by the fearlessly spoken truths of Apollonius; for he 
 behaved entirely different from what had been ex¬ 
 pected of him. Whether it was because he held the 
 Tyanean in such supreme contempt that he failed to 
 notice or refer to him after the trial, or that he had 
 been humanized by his eloquence, can only be surmised 
 from the sequel. 
 
 The terms of friendship heretofore existing between 
 Domitian’s father and brother so forcibly laid before 
 him, the eloquent and logical method in which Apol¬ 
 lonius consecutively disposed of the charges against 
 him, it has been suggested, dazed the emperor, and, 
 being ashamed to convict, he allowed him to be dis¬ 
 missed by one of the subordinates of the court rather 
 than receive an acquittal at the hands of the emperor. 
 
 The same day Apollonius appeared to Damis and 
 Demetrius at Puteoli (at least three days’ journey from 
 Rome), as they were conversing on the sea-shore, their 
 
 1 The language, however, in the original is YjcpaviSOY]—he quite vanished 
 away. In another place it is owrqXOe—he went away. 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 345 
 
 hearts filled with sorrow , 1 and walked and conversed 
 with them; but they knew him not, and when he dis¬ 
 covered himself to them, he stretched out his hand, 
 asked them to accept it and examine it, and determine 
 whether he was merely an apparition or a reality, “for,” 
 said he, “ if I bear being touched you must be persuaded 
 that I am alive, and that to reach here I made use of 
 neither the ram of Phryxus or the wings of Daedalus.” 
 He then recounted to them minutely the story of his 
 defense, that they might relate every circumstance to 
 Telesinus, who never ceased making inquiries. When he 
 had ended his account of the trial, and recited his 
 summing up, not omitting one word, he retired to the 
 house where Demetrius lodged, washed his feet, gave 
 orders for refreshments for his companions, of which 
 they seemed to want, and threw himself on the bed, 
 repeated some verses of Homer and went to rest, as if 
 the present state of affairs required no solicitude what¬ 
 ever. 
 
 Early in the morning he informed his companions 
 that he intended sailing for Greece; and finding a ship 
 ready to sail, they took leave of Demetrius and em¬ 
 barked for Sicily,— Syracuse,— and afterward sailed for 
 Peloponnesus, where they arrived in the beginning of 
 autumn, A. D. 95 . Apollonius repaired at once to 
 
 1 While two of his disciples to all knowledge,” and could open 
 (Christ’s) journeyed to Emmaus all its treasure-houses; and at last 
 (which is from Jerusalem about when he discovered himself to them 
 three-score furlongs), on the day of he vanished out of their sight. On 
 resurrection, Jesus overtook them another appearance he begged them 
 on the way, but they did not know to examine his hands and feet, etc., 
 him. He conversed with them, and and determine if he were really a 
 they perceived that he had the “ key ghost. 
 
 44 
 
346 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 Olympia, and discoursed continually to the people, 
 explaining a great variety of matters with great wis¬ 
 dom. He staid forty days at Olympia, in the temple 
 of Jupiter, then went into Lebadea to converse with 
 Trophonius, the son of Apollo, whose temple and cave 
 were there. He visited the cave without the permis¬ 
 sion of the priests of the temple (they having refused 
 it); 1 and the god was so much pleased with the inter¬ 
 view, that he appeared in person to the priests, and 
 reprimanded them for their treatment of him. Various 
 rumors now spread concerning Apollonius, some say¬ 
 ing that he had been burnt alive, others that he had 
 been tortured with little hooks, others again that he 
 had been cast into a deep pit or drowned in a well. 
 But as soon as his arrival was fully ascertained, all 
 Greece flocked to see him with more eagerness than 
 they ever did to the Olympic games. People came 
 from Elis and Sparta and from Corinth; Boeotians and 
 Argives and many persons of note from Phocis and 
 Thessaly. And as he wished to avoid all vain boast¬ 
 ing, to the questions put to him concerning his trial, 
 he said only, “ I pleaded my cause and came off safe.” 
 
 Damis seeing that there was but little money for 
 further pursuing their travels told Apollonius of it, who 
 immediately replied, “ I will remedy it to-morrow.” 
 Next day he made application to the treasury of 
 Jupiter for a loan of one thousand drachmas, which the 
 priests immediately gave him, expressing the belief 
 that the god was highly pleased with making this loan. 2 
 
 1 Larcher’s Notes on Herodotus, Greek apysiov, by some translated 
 
 vol. ii. c. viii. 140 summum templum, which was a 
 
 2 There was a department belong- repository or treasury both for the 
 ing to the pagan temples termed in service of the church and others 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 347 
 
 He now sailed into Ionia with his whole company, now 
 called Apollonians, or followers of Apollonius. He 
 discoursed the most part of his time in Smyrna and 
 Ephesus, without, however, overlooking the smaller 
 towns; there was not one in which he was not well 
 received. After the death of Domitian, which he fore¬ 
 told, he was invited by Nerva to visit Rome; this he 
 declined doing; he also prophesied the early death of 
 Nerva. 1 Domitian was murdered by his wife Domitia, 
 in A. D. 96, and thus perished the last of the twelve 
 Caesars. He was succeeded by Nerva, and this began 
 “ the reign of the stoics,” the most glorious that Rome 
 has ever experienced, notwithstanding Renan’s cowardly 
 assault upon it. During this short reign, however, 
 began a general literary activity. Tacitus, who had 
 barely escaped the tyrannous caprice of Domitian, is 
 preparing his “Annals of the Roman Empire”; 2 Plu¬ 
 tarch, no less fortunate, is reading lectures at Rome on 
 the Lives of Eminent Men; Quintilian, delivering 
 discourses on rhetoric; Juvenal, composing satires on 
 the corruption of Roman manners; Epictetus, disser¬ 
 tation on stoic philosophy; and Josephus, writing a 
 history of his own life. 
 
 Nerva was succeeded by Trajan, A. D. 98 ; 3 Adrian, 
 
 who desired to secure money, as 
 was done by Xenophon, who com¬ 
 mitted his treasures to the custody 
 of the priests of Diana of Ephesus; 
 hence those epithets as given it by 
 Pollux.— Archceologia Grceca, vol. i. 
 p. 225. 
 
 1 Satires of Decimus; Junius 
 Juvenalis (W. Gifford). 
 
 2 Many of the follies and cruelties 
 of Domitian have been preserved 
 
 as monuments of his infamy in the 
 coins issued during his reign.— See 
 IJistoire des Empereurs romains 
 dipuis Jules Cesar jusqu’a Postu- 
 mus, avec toutes les medailles d’’ar¬ 
 gent, etc. (J. B. Haultin, Paris, 
 
 1645)* 
 
 3 The noblest act in the life of 
 Nerva was in passing over all his 
 own relations and personal friends, 
 and naming Trajan as his successor. 
 
343 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 A. D. 117; Antoninus Pius, A. D. 138; Marcus Aurelius, 
 A. D. 161 ; Commodus, A. D. 180 — all stoics under 
 whom Rome was prosperous and happy. 1 Soon after 
 this, A. D. 98, Apollonius died, probably at Ephesus; 
 some say that he entered the temple of Minerva at 
 Lindus (Rhodes) and then disappeared, others say he 
 died at Crete. 
 
 The followers of Apollonius, or Apollonians, became 
 scattered; he continued to be worshiped, however, 
 until the fifth century. A temple was erected to him 
 at Tyana. There was a vast amount of literature, the 
 product of the Apollonian period, more probably than 
 was ever produced before during a like period by the 
 like number of persons. All that we know about it is, 
 that it once existed and was destroyed during the 
 subsequent ages. 
 
 Apollonius was a man of extensive reading, as his 
 familiarity with Plato, Pythagoras, Livy, and Horace 
 testifies, indicated by his frequent quotations; but his 
 favorite author was Homer, and his philosophy the dia¬ 
 lectic stoicism of Zeno. 2 The life of Apollonius may be 
 
 the very man most needed in that 
 exigency. And as he mounted the 
 throne he gave to the captain of the 
 guards the dagger, the symbol of 
 the office, with these words, “Take 
 this and use it; if I rule justly, for 
 me; if otherwise, against me.” 
 
 1 The Reign of the Stoics (F. M. 
 Holland), p. 13, et seq. 
 
 2 How much the ethics of stoi¬ 
 cism, as known in later times, was 
 due to Zeno, the great master and 
 founder of Greek stoicism, we do 
 
 not know.—See The Stoics, Epicure¬ 
 ans, and Sceptics (E. Zeller, London, 
 1870). He came to Athens from 
 Cyprus after the conquest of Alex¬ 
 ander, and established his school in 
 the poecile stoa; he was a faithful 
 and worthy successor of Socrates 
 and Stilpo.— Reign of the Stoics 
 (Holland, 1879). “The true phi¬ 
 losopher,” said Zeno, “is ever ready 
 to serve the state.”—Zeno in Sen¬ 
 eca's Dialogues. He also declared 
 “ that he did not contend for his 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 349 
 
 summed up entirely from the testimony of dissenting wit¬ 
 nesses, as follows: He was exposed to the attacks of 
 enemies although he was engaged in doing good. He 
 went about from place to place while carrying out his 
 work of reform, accompanied by his favorite disciples; 
 and when the hour of danger came, like Jesus, against 
 the advice of friends, he went straight to Rome as Jesus 
 
 own liberty — not himself to live 
 free, but to live among freemen.”— 
 John Stuart Mill on Liberty, 1874; 
 Cato on Seneca’s Epistles . “ I am 
 
 human,” said he, “therefore, no 
 man is a stranger.” Homo sum: 
 humani nihil a me alienum puto. 
 
 The great idea of stoicism, and to 
 which it subordinated all things, 
 was love for humanity; and no phi¬ 
 losophy ever existed in which the 
 practice of its disciples was more 
 consistent with their creed. They 
 held no esoteric views, they taught 
 publicly; and all without restriction, 
 who took upon themselves the stoic 
 name and simple life, were regarded 
 as fellows. Stoicism accepted, 
 but declared God and immortality 
 undemonstrable assumptions. And 
 it stripped morality of all divine 
 sanction. — Religions before Christ 
 (Pressens6). Promulgating such 
 sentiments, we can understand how 
 Apollonius, three hundred years 
 removed from Zeno, persisted in 
 refusing all participation in public 
 affairs, and yet sought with a zeal, 
 which scoffed even martyrdom, to 
 cement those principles of humanity 
 into a republican form of govern¬ 
 ment. The result of the labors of 
 
 the porch is recorded in the acts of 
 the rulers of Rome from Nerva to 
 Commodus, all of whom were stoics. 
 But the empire of this mild and 
 humane philosophy was doomed to 
 ruin by the sanguinary Constantine, 
 who, with sword in one hand and 
 the gospel in the other, declared 
 himself commissioned by heaven to 
 conquer and evangelize the world. 
 —Ecclesiastical History (Eusebius). 
 Stoicism gave way before the powers 
 of the church militant. And then 
 began the reign of saints, a reign of 
 physical terror and of mental dark¬ 
 ness. But the stoic philosophy did 
 not perish. In the thirteenth cen¬ 
 tury it again began to take root and 
 assert itself.— Natural History of 
 Atheism (Blackie, 1878). Chris¬ 
 tianity relaxed its intolerance under 
 the demands of advancing science 
 and free-thought. The surviving 
 individualism of Zeno and Socrates 
 was now silently but certainly press¬ 
 ing the claims of the philosophy of 
 humanity into the very ranks of 
 Christianity, the forces of which were 
 decimated in exact ratio to the dis¬ 
 semination of light and knowledge.— 
 Conflict between Religion and Science 
 (Draper). Christendom is just now 
 
350 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 did to Jerusalem, 1 although Apollonius had no hanker¬ 
 ing for martyrdom. He was accused before Nero as 
 Jesus is said to have been before Herod. He wrought 
 miracles of mercy, for which he was accused. He spoke 
 to evil spirits with authority as Jesus did, and they 
 departed out of their victims. In one case a herd of 
 swine, in another a statue falls overthrown by the 
 violence of the evil spirit. In Rome Apollonius restores 
 a young girl of noble birth to life, precisely similar to 
 the return to life of the daughter of Jairus. The lame, 
 the blind, and the halt came in crowds to be healed. 
 He appeared after his resurrection to Damis and Deme- 
 
 becoming to realize the fallacy of 
 “ pastoral budgets,” “ papal bulls,” 
 and the efficacy of a crucified Christ, 
 and that the scheme laid down for 
 us by the great philosopher of Na¬ 
 zareth is too narrow upon which to 
 found a grand republic of humanity. 
 —The Religious Sentiment ( Brinton). 
 Two hundred years ago Charles 
 Blount commenced the translation 
 and publication of the Life of Apol¬ 
 lonius of Tyana; the religious senti¬ 
 ment of that day was inimical to it, and 
 it was prohibited and anathematized. 
 Have two hundred years wrought 
 any change in the religious sentiment 
 of our race ? • Has that gentle spirit 
 of forbearance and mercy, which 
 characterizes the stoic philosophy 
 of Zeno, made any impress upon our 
 day ? Blackie (Natural History of 
 Atheism) thinks it has. Louis Ja- 
 colliot (La Bible dans VLnde) thinks 
 that the infusion of liberal notions 
 into the religious sects of our day 
 is a movement strongly impregnated 
 
 with the “philosophy of stoicism.” 
 To which a liberated universe re¬ 
 sponds—“Amen.”— Revelations of 
 A ntichrist. 
 
 1 At Rome Apollonius declined 
 all publicity and also to make any 
 blood sacrifice in the temple. But 
 Jesus, on entering Jerusalem, went 
 immediately to the temple, and as 
 he passed through the crowd, some 
 one saluted him, “Hail, King of 
 the Jews!” at which he became 
 tumultuous, and asserted his kingly 
 and godlike authority by calling the 
 merchants (who were selling bulls, 
 sheep, and doves for blood sacri¬ 
 fices under Levitical law) thieves (a 
 den of thieves), and made a scourge 
 of small cords and drove them out 
 of the temple, and kicked over the 
 tables of the money-changers, and 
 assumed a kingly attitude generally 
 after the Roman formula. He de¬ 
 clared that he would destroy the 
 temple and “build it up in three 
 days,” which he did not do. 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 351 
 
 trius. All these are points of resemblance which can 
 neither be accidental nor imaginary, say a host of 
 writers. 1 That Apollonius was a great and good man 
 can hardly be questioned ; the tribute paid him by Titus, 
 Vespasian, and Aurelius is a guarantee. Even among 
 those of the present day most willing to detract from his 
 character many are forced to admit that a certain pure 
 and true morality pervades the whole of his system of 
 teaching. There is a well-established theory in it, that 
 virtue and true piety is the only foundation of happiness. 
 Apollonius was chaste and temperate; he was actuated 
 by a noble desire to know, and the still nobler desire 
 to communicate his knowledge to mankind. He was 
 ingenuous, learned, and, generally speaking, there is 
 something lively and original in his language. 2 No 
 man ever lived who more utterly rejected all vulgar 
 artifices for producing effect upon other men ; no majes- 
 tical pomp of words characterized his teachings. And 
 he was ready at all times and in all places to impart 
 good instruction; and from all the testimony of him no 
 man was more emphatically an apostle of peace. 3 It is 
 difficult, indeed, to overcome the common-sense con¬ 
 clusion, that Apollonius, whom Philostratus has placed 
 
 1 Nor do we believe them acci¬ 
 dental or imaginary; they are the 
 same old familiar frauds handed 
 down from all time, and are the 
 common property of all miracle- 
 mongers. 
 
 2 Rev. Albert Reville’s Pagan 
 Christ , pp. 50, 51. 
 
 3 “ Think not that I am come to 
 send peace on earth,” said Jesus, 
 “ I came not to send peace but a 
 
 sword.” Diabolical as the avowed 
 purpose of Jesus’ mission is, it has 
 been fulfilled to the letter. Never 
 did a man utter words so brimful 
 of truth — melancholy as it is. Never 
 was a prediction, whose disastrous 
 fulfillment has unfortunately lasted 
 without intermission from the time 
 of its promulgation to the present. 
 From the very establishment of this 
 religion of Jesus the sword has 
 
352 
 
 APOLLONIUS 
 
 before us, is a real man, a corporeity, and not a spirit; 
 he walks the earth, eats, drinks, and sleeps like other 
 men, loves and hates as experience teaches us is 
 natural for man. He is an observer of natural phe¬ 
 nomena, compares and speculates, adores nature, birds, 
 animals, trees, flowers, not destitute of humor although 
 of great gravity and dignity. Everywhere in nature 
 and art, with the Brahmins of India, the gymnosophists 
 and the pyramids of Egypt, he found something to 
 admire. And yet there are miracles mixed up with his 
 history, but they are only incidental; they by no means 
 constitute the aggregate of his life. Unfortunately, 
 says the Westminster Review , April, i860, Apollonius 
 of Tyana has been so disguised by later fiction, that it 
 is now nearly impossible to separate the true from the 
 false in the doctrines and noble acts ascribed to him. 
 But he looms up as the last great asserter of the creed 
 of ^Eschylus, the most formidable antagonist of the 
 new faith said to have been preached by Paul of Tarsus. 
 
 Here ends our summary of the leading events in the 
 life of Apollonius, selected from the writings and 
 manuscripts as they have descended to our day, and 
 upon which solely rests his claim as a historical charac¬ 
 ter. We believe the sources of our information are 
 
 remained unsheathed in its service, 
 and more victims have been sacri¬ 
 ficed to its manes than to all other 
 causes combined. Lest he should 
 be misunderstood concerning his 
 mission, Jesus reiterates that he 
 came to send fire on earth, and 
 strife , to make divided households, 
 fathers against sons, mothers against 
 daughters, and that under the new 
 
 regime “ a man’s foes shall be those 
 of his own household.” Boling- 
 broke says, “The scene of Chris¬ 
 tianity has always been a scene of 
 dissension, of hatred, of persecution, 
 and of blood.” Erasmus says, 
 “ Sanguine fundata est ecclesia, san¬ 
 guine crevit, sanguine succrevit, 
 sanguine erit. ”— Familiar Colloquies 
 of Erasmus, by Bailey (1877). 
 
OF TYANA. 
 
 353 
 
 untainted, the witnesses unimpeached, and the channel 
 through which the narrative has descended to us has 
 never been questioned. The historians are men of 
 character, and not without literary fame. He had 
 traveled more extensively than any man of his day, 
 and that he was a man of no mean account is evident 
 from his letters addressed to kings, rulers, philosophers, 
 societies, and the first men of his time, still extant, 
 preserved in the works of Philostratus and Cujacius. 
 
 For many centuries after his death a halo of sanctity 
 was thrown around his head, and he was worshiped 
 as a god in many parts of the world. 1 As late as the 
 fifth century we know of one Volusian, a pro-consul of 
 Africa, descended from an old Roman family, still 
 strongly attached to the religion of his ancestors, almost 
 worshiping Apollonius as a supernatural being. 
 
 Not only did Caracalla build him a temple, but 
 Alexander Severus held him in such esteem that he 
 had his statue in his private closet. 2 On account and 
 out of respect to Apollonius, Tyana was regarded a 
 sacred city, and exempted from the jurisdiction of 
 governors sent from Rome. 3 Pierre Bayle, in Diction- 
 
 1 History of the Christian Religion 
 to the Year Two Hundred (Charles 
 B. Waite, A. M., 1881). 
 
 2 Severe ne fut pas le seul em- 
 pereur qui rendit au sage de 
 Tyane des honneurs divins.— Cf. 
 Vie d'Apollonius de Tyane , par 
 Legrand D’Aussy, vol. ii. p. 286. 
 
 3 The great body of Christians 
 believe that paganism was immedi¬ 
 ately displaced by the religion of 
 Christ. But it must be remembered 
 
 45 
 
 that for hundreds of years after 
 Christianity mounted the imperial 
 throne under Constantine (the most 
 arbitrary that ever existed), sacrifices 
 were still made to the gods in many 
 of the temples of Greece, at some 
 of which Christian priests presided 
 and to a great extent the pagan 
 temples and gods were supple¬ 
 mented only by utilizing them for 
 Christian worship, and this accom¬ 
 plished by imperial decrees. So 
 
354 
 
 APOLLONIUS. 
 
 naive historique et critique (2 vols., folio, 1696), remarks 
 that Apollonius was worshiped in the beginning of 
 the fourth century under the name of Hercules, and 
 refers for his authority to Vopiscus, Eusebius, and 
 Marcellinus. 1 
 
 Albert Reville says, “ the universal respect in which 
 he was held by the whole pagan world testified to the 
 deep impression which the life of this supernatural 
 being had indelibly fixed in their minds.” 2 
 
 that such a revolution is taking 
 place about him to-day.— Cf. Julian 
 apud Cyrill, lib. iii.; Laclantii Ins- 
 tut. lib. iii.; Eusebius, Ecc. Hist. lib. 
 iii. iv.; The Prophet of Nazareth, a 
 Critical Inquiry, by Evan P. Mere¬ 
 dith, p. 220, et seq. 
 
 1 ^Elius Lampsidus, A. d. 350 
 (author Commodus, Diadumenus, 
 Heliogabalus, and Alexander Sev¬ 
 er us), states that Christ was wor¬ 
 shiped together with the Arabian 
 Orpheus and Apollonius, these 
 all being looked upon as tutelary 
 genii. 
 
 2 Pagan Christ. 
 
 much does the Christian revolution 
 lack in that spirit of progress in 
 early times upon which ministers 
 delight to dwell, that nothing could 
 force it forward but executions and 
 decrees. It went into the conflict 
 like a conscript forced to the front 
 at the point of the bayonet, and 
 all the importance and vitality of 
 Christianity of the early ages which 
 have been given 10 it by modern 
 writers, never existed in reality. The 
 most observing man was as uncon¬ 
 scious that a great religious revolu¬ 
 tion was taking place around him at 
 that period, as the most stupid is 
 
 THE END. 
 

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