The Biographer of Apollonius
Flavius
Philostratus, the writer of the only Life of Apollonius which has come
down to us,Consisting of eight books written in Greek under the general
title Τα ες τον Τυανεα Απολλωνιον ] was a distinguished man of letters
who lived in the last quarter of the second and the first half of the
third century (cir. 175-245 A.D.). He formed one of the circle of famous
writers and thinkers gathered round the philosopher empress, [ η
θιλοιφος, see art. “Philostratus” in Smith’s Dict of Gr and Rom. Biog.
(London 1870) iii 327 b.] Julia Domna, who was the guiding spirit of the
Empire during the reigns of her husband Septimius Severus and her son
Caracalla. All three members of the imperial family were students of
occult science, and the age was pre-eminently one in which the occult
arts, good and bad, were a passion. Thus the sceptical Gibbon, in his
sketch of Severus and his famous consort, writes:“Like most of the
Africans, Severus was passionately addicted to the vain studies of magic
and divination,deeply versed in the interpretation of dreams and omens,
and perfectly acquainted with the science of judicial astrology, which
in almost every age except the present, has maintained its dominion over
the mind of man. He had lost his first wife whilst he was governor of
the Lionnese Gaul. In the choice of a second, he sought only to connect
himself with some favourite of fortune; and as soon as he had discovered
that a young lady of Emesa in Syria had a royal nativity, [The italics
are Gibbon’s.] he solicited and obtained her hand. Julia Domna [More
correctly Domna Julia; Domna being not a shortened form of Domina, but
the Syrian name of the empress.] (for that was her name) deserved all
that the stars could promise her.She possessed, even in an advanced age,
[She died A.D. 217.] the attractions of beauty, and united to a lively
imagination, seldom bestowed on her sex. Her amiable qualities never
made any deep impression on the dark and jealous temper of her husband.
[The contrary is held by other historians.] but in her son’s reign, she
administered the principal affairs of the Empire with a prudence that
supported his authority, and with a moderation that sometimes corrected
his wild extravagances.Julia applied herself to letters and philosophy
with some success, and with the most splendid reputation.
She was the patroness of every art, and the friend of every man of genius.” [Gibbon’s Decline and Fall, I,vi.]
We
thus see, even from Gibbon’s somewhat grudging estimate, that Domna
Julia was a woman of remarkable character, whose outer acts give
evidence of an inner purpose, and whose private life has not been
written.It was at her request that Philostratus wrote the Life of
Apollonius, and it was she who supplied him with certain MSS, that were
in her possession, as a basis; for the beautiful daughter of Bassianus,
priest of the sun at Emesa, was an ardent collector of books from every
part of the world,especially of the MSS of philosophers and of memoranda
and biographical notes relating to the famous students of the inner
nature of things.That Philostratus was the best man to whom to entrust
so important a task, is doubtful. It is true that hewas a skilled
stylist and a practised man of letters, an art critic and an ardent
antiquarian, as we may see from his other works; but he was a sophist
rather than a philosopher, and though an enthusiastic admirer of
Pythagoras and his school, was so from a distance, regarding it rather
through a wonder loving atmosphere of curiosity and the embellishments
of a lively imagination than from a personal acquaintance with its
discipline, or a practical knowledge of those hidden forces of the soul
with which its adepts dealt. We have, therefore, to expect a sketch of
the appearance of a thing by one outside, rather than an exposition of
the thing itself from one within.The following is
Philostratus’ account of the sources from which he derived his
information concerning Apollonius: [I use the 1846 and 1870 editions of
Kayser’s text throughout.]“I have collected my materials partly from the
cities which loved him, partly from the temples whose rites and
regulations he restored from their former state of neglect, partly from
his own letters. [A collection of these letters (but not all of them)
had been in the possession of the Emperor Hadrian (A.D. 117-138), and
had been left in his palace at Antium (viii 20). This proves the great
fame that Apollonius enjoyed shortly after his disappearance from
history, and while he was still a living memory. It is to be noticed
that Hadrian was an enlightened ruler, a great traveller, a lover of
religion, and an initiate of the Eleusinian Mysteries.] More detailed
information I procured as follows. Damis was a man of some education who
formerly used to live in the ancient city of Ninus. [Nineveh.] He
became a disciple of Apollonius and recorded his travels, in which he
says he himself took part, and also the views, sayings, and predictions
of his master. A member of Damis’ family brought the Empress Julia the
note-books [ τας δελτους writing tablets.This suggests that the account
of Damis could not have been very voluminous, although Philostratus
further on asserts its detailed nature (i 19)] containing these memoirs,
which up to that time had not been known of. As I was one of the circle
of this princess, who was a lover and patroness of all literary
productions, she ordered me to rewrite these sketches and improve their
form of expression, for though the Ninevite expressed himself clearly,
his style was far from correct. I also have had access to a book by
Maximus [One of the imperial secretaries of the time, who was famous for
his eloquence, and tutor to Apollonius.] of Ægæ which contained all
Apollonius’ doings at Ægæ. [A town not far from Tarsus.]
There is also a will written by Apollonius, from which we can learn how he almost defied philosophy. [ ως
υποφεαζων
την φιλοσφιαν εγενετο .The term υποφεαζων occurs only in this passage,
and I am therefore not quite certain of its meaning.] As to the four
books of Moeragenes [This Life by Moeragenes is casually mentioned by
Origenes, Contra Celsum, vi 41; ed Lommatzsch (Berlin 1841), ii 373.] on
Apollonius they do not deserve attention, for he knows nothing of most
of the facts of his life” (i. 2. 3).These are the sources to which
Philostratus was indebted for his information, sources which are
unfortunately no longer accessible to us, except perhaps a few letters.
Nor did Philostratus spare any pains to gather information on the
subject, for in his concluding words (viii 31), he tells us that he has
himself traveled into most parts of the “world” and everywhere met with
the “inspired sayings” [ λογος δαιμονιος ] of Apollonius, and that he
was especially well acquainted with the temple dedicated to the memory
of our philosopher at Tyana and founded at the imperial expense (“for
the emperors had judged him not unworthy of like honours with
themselves”), whose priests, it is to be presumed, had got together as
much information as they could concerning Apollonius.A thoroughly
critical analysis of the literary effort of Philostratus, therefore,
would have to take into account all of these factors, and endeavour to
assign each statement to its original source. But even then the task of
the historian would be incomplete, for it is transparently evident that
Philostratus has considerably “embellished” the narrative with numerous
notes and additions of his own and with the composition of set speeches.Now
as the ancient writers did not separate their notes from the text, or
indicate them in any distinct fashion, we have to be constantly on our
guard to detect the original sources from the glosses of the
writer.[Seldom is it that we have such a clear indication, for instance,
as in i 25; “The following is what I have been able to learn . . .
about Babylon.”] In fact Philostratus is ever taking advantage of the
mention of a name or a subject to display his own knowledge, which is
often of a most legendary and fantastic nature.This is especially the
case in his description of Apollonius’ Indian travels. India at that
time and long afterwards was considered the “end of the world,” and an
infinity of the strangest “travellers’ tales” and mythological fables
were in circulation concerning it. One has only to read the accounts of
the writers on India [See E A. Schwanbeck, Megasthenis Indica (Bonn
1846), and J W. M’Crindle, Ancient India as described by Megasthenes and
Arrian (Calcutta, Bombay, London 1877). The Commerce and Navigation of
the Erythræan Sea (1879), Ancient India as described by Ktesias (1882),
Ancient India as described by Ptolemy (London 1885) and The Invasion of
India by Alexander the Great (London 1893, 1896.] from the time of
Alexander onwards to discover the source of most of the strange
incidents that Philostratus records as experiences of Apollonius.To take
but one instance out of a hundred, Apollonius had to cross the
Caucasus, an indefinite name for the great system of mountain ranges
that bound the northern limits of Âryâvarta. Prometheus was chained to
the Caucasus, so every child has been told for centuries.Therefore, if
Apollonius crossed the Caucasus, he must have seen those chains. And so
it was,Philostratus assures us (ii 3). Not only so, but he volunteers
the additional information that you could not tell of what they were
made! A perusal of Megasthenes, however, will speedily reduce the long
Philostratian account of the Indian travels of Apollonius (i 41—iii 58)
to a very narrow compass, for page after page is simply padding, picked
up from any one of the numerous Indica to which our widely read author
has access.[Another good example of this is seen in the disquisition on
elephants which Philostratus takes from Juba’s History of Libya (ii 13
and 16)] To judge from such writers, Porus [Perhaps a title, or the king
of the Purus.] (the Râjâh conquered by Alexander) was the immemorial
king of India. In fact, in speaking of India or any other little known
country, a writer in these days had to drag in all that popular legend
associated with it or he stood little chance of being listened to. He
had to give his
narrative a “local colour,” and this was especially the case in a technical rhetorical effort like that of Philostratus.
Again, it was the fashion to insert set speeches and put them in the mouths of well-known characters on
historical
occasions, good instances of which may be seen in Thucydides and the
Acts of the Apostles. Philostratus repeatedly does this.But it would be
too long to enter into a detailed investigation of the subject, although
the writer has prepared notes on all these points, for that would be to
write a volume and not a sketch. Only a few points are therefore set
down, to warn the student to be ever on his guard to sift out
Philostratus from his sources. [Not that Philostratus makes any disguise
of his embellishments; see, for instance, ii 17, where he says: “Let
me, however, defer what I have to say on the subject of serpents, of the
manner of hunting which Damis gives a description.”]But though we must
be keenly alive to the importance of a thoroughly critical attitude
where definite facts of history are concerned, we should be as keenly on
our guard against judging everything from the standpoint of modern
preconceptions. There is but one religious literature of antiquity that
has ever been treated with real sympathy in the West, and that is the
Judæo-Christian ; in that alone have men been trained to feel at home,
and all in antiquity that treats of religion in a different mode to the
Jewish or Christian way, is felt to be strange, and, if obscure or
extraordinary, to be even repulsive.The sayings and
doings of the Jewish prophets, of Jesus, and of the Apostles, are
related with reverence, embellished with the greatest beauties of
diction, and illumined with the best thought of the age; while the
sayings and doings of other prophets and teachers have been for the most
part subjected to the most unsympathetic criticism, in which no attempt
is made to understand their standpoint.Had even-handed justice been
dealt out all round, the world today would have been richer in sympathy,
in wide-mindedness, in
comprehension of nature, humanity, and
God, in brief, in soul-experience.Therefore, in reading the Life of
Apollonius let us remember that we have to look at it through the eyes
of a Greek, and not through those of a Jew or a Protestant. The Many in
their proper sphere must be for us as authentic a manifestation of the
Divine as the One or the All, for indeed the “Gods” exist in spite of
commandment and creed. The Saints and Martyrs and Angels have seemingly
taken the place of the Heroes and Dæmons and Gods, but the change of
name and change of viewpoint among men affect but little the
unchangeable facts. To sense the facts of universal religion under the
ever changing names which men bestow upon them, and then to enter with
full sympathy and comprehension into the hopes and fears of every phase
of the religious mind - to read ,as it were, the past lives of our own
souls is a most difficult task. But until we can put ourselves
understandingly in the places of others, we can never see more than one
side of the Infinite Life of God.
A student of
comparative religion must not be afraid of terms; he must not shudder
when he meets with “polytheism,” or draw back in horror when he
encounters “dualism,” or feel an increased satisfaction when he falls in
with “monotheism”; he must not feel awe when he pronounces the name of
Yahweh and contempt when he utters the name of Zeus; he must not picture
a satyr when he reads the word “dæmon,” and imagine a winged dream of
beauty when he pronounces the word “angel.” For him heresy and orthodoxy
must not exist; he sees only his own soul slowly working out its own
experience, looking at life from every possible view-point, so that
haply at last he may see the whole, and having seen the whole, may
become at one with God.To Apollonius the mere fashion of a man’s faith
was unessential; he was at home in all lands, among all
cults. He
had a helpful word for all, an intimate knowledge of the particular way
of each of them, which enabled him to restore them to health. Such men
are rare; the records of such men are precious, and require the
embellishments of no rhetorician.Let us then, first of all, try to
recover the outline of the early external life and of the travels of
Apollonius shorn of Philostratus’ embellishments, and then endeavour to
consider the nature of his mission,the manner of the philosophy which he
so dearly loved and which was to him his religion, and last, if
possible, the way of his inner life.
Apollonius of Tyana
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- Apollonius Of Tyana Introduction
- The Religious Associations and Communities of the ...
- India and Greece
- The Apollonius of Early Opinion
- Texts, Translations, and Literature
- The Biographer of Apollonius
- Apollonius of Tyana Early Life
- The Travels of Apollonius
- In the Shrines of the Temples and the Retreats of ...
- The Gymnosophists of Upper Egypt
- Apollonius and the Rulers of the Empire
- Apollonius The Prophet and Wonder-Worker
- Apollonius of Tyana Mode of Life
- Himself and His Circle
- Apollonius Of Tyana Sayings and Sermons
- From His Letters
- The Writings of Apollonius
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