Himself and His Circle
Apollonius
is said to have been very beautiful to look upon (i 7, 12; iv 1);
[Rathgeber (G) in his Gross griechenland und Pythagoras (Gotha 1866), a
work of marvellous bibliographical industry, refers to three supposed
portraits of Apollonius (p 621). (i) In the Campidoglio Museum of the
Vatican, Indicazione delle Sculture (Roma 1840) p 68, nos 75, 76, 77;
(ii) in the Musée Royal Bourbon, described by Michel B. (Naples 1837), p
79, no 363; (iii) a contorniate reproduced by Visconti. I cannot trace
his first reference,but in a Guide pour le Musée Royal Bourbon, traduit
par C.J.J. (Naples 1831), I find on p 152 that no 363 is a bust of
Apollonius, 2¾ feet high, carefully executed, with a Zeus-like head,
having a beard and long hair descending onto his shoulders, bound with a
deep fillet. The bust seems to be ancient. I have, however, not been
able to find a reproduction of it. Visconti (E.Q) in the atlas of his
Iconographic Grecque(Paris 1808), vol i plate 17, facing p 68, gives the
reproduction of a contorniate, or medal with a circular border, on one
side of which is a head of Apollonius and the Latin legend APOLLONIVS
TEANEVS. This also represents our philosopher with a beard and long
hair; the head is crowned, and the upper part of the body covered with a
tunic and the philosopher’s cloak. The medal, however, is of very
inferior workmanship, and the portrait is by no means pleasing. Visconti
in his letterpress devotes an angry and contemptuous paragraph to
Apollonius, “ce trop célèbre imposteur,” as he calls him, based on De
Tillemont.] but beyond this we have no very definite description of his
person. His manner was ever mild and gentle (i 36; ii 22) and modest (iv
31; viii 15), and in this,says Damis,he was more like an Indian than a
Greek (iii 36); yet occasionally he burst out indignantly against some
special enormity (iv 30).His mood was often pensive (i
34), and when not speaking he would remain for long plunged in deep
thought, during which his eyes were steadfastly fixed on the ground (i
10 et al.).Though, as we have seen, he was inflexibly stern with
himself, he was ever ready to make excuses for others; if, on the one
hand, he praised the courage of those few who remained with him at Rome,
on the other he refused to blame for their cowardice the many who had
fled (iv 38). Nor was his gentleness shown simply by abstention from
blame, he was ever active in positive deeds of compassion (cf vi 39).One
of his little peculiarities was a liking to be addressed as “Tyanean”
(vii 38), but why this was so we are not told.It can hardly have been
that Apollonius was particularly proud of his birth-place, for even
though he was a great lover of Greece, so that at times you would call
him an enthusiastic patriot, his love for other countries was quite as
pronounced. Apollonius was a citizen of the world, if there has ever
been one, into whose speech the word native-land did not enter, and a
priest of universal religion in whose vocabulary the word sect did not
exist.In spite of his extremely ascetic life he was a man of strong
physique, so that even when he has reached the ripe age of four-score
years, we are told, he was sound and healthy in every limb and organ,
upright and perfectly formed. There was also a certain indefinite charm
about him that made him more pleasant to look upon than even the
freshness of youth, and this even though his face was furrowed with
wrinkles, just as the statues in the temple of Tyana represented him in
the time of Philostratus. In fact, says his rhetorical biographer,
report sang higher praises over the charm of Apollonius in his old age
than over the beauty of Alcibiades in his youth (viii 29).
In
brief, our philosopher seems to have been of a most charming presence
and lovable disposition; nor was his absolute devotion to philosophy of
the nature of the hermit ideal, for he passed his life among men. What
wonder then that he attracted to himself many followers and disciples!
It would have been interesting if Philostratus had told us more about
these “Apollonians,” as they were called (viii 21), and whether they
constituted a distinct school, or whether they were grouped together in
communities on the Pythagorean model, or whether they were simply
independent students attracted to the most commanding personality of the
times in the domain of philosophy. It is, however, certain that many of
them wore the same dress as himself and followed his mode of life (iv
39). Repeated mention is also made of their accompanying Apollonius on
his travels (iv 47; v 21; viii 19, 21, 24), sometimes as many as ten of
them at the same time, but none of them were allowed to address others
until they had fulfilled the vow of silence (v 43).The most
distinguished of his followers were Musonius, who was considered the
greatest philosopher of the time after the Tyanean, and who was the
special victim of Nero’s tyranny (iv 44; v 19; vii 16), and Demetrius,
“who loved Apollonius” (iv 25, 42; v 19; vi 31; vii 10; viii 10). These
names are well known to history; of names otherwise unknown are the
Egyptian Dioscorides, who was left behind owing to weak health on the
long journey to Ethiopia (iv 11, 38; v 43), Menippus, whom he had freed
from an obsession(iv 25, 38; v 43), Phædimus (iv 11), and Nilus, who
joined him from Gymnosophists (v 10 sqq., 28), and of course Damis, who
would have us think that he was always with him from the time of their
meeting at Ninus.On the whole we are inclined to think
that Apollonius did not establish any fresh organization; he made use
of those already existing, and his disciples were those who were
attracted to him personally by an overmastering affection which could
only be satisfied by being continually near him. This much seems
certain, that he trained no one to carry on his task; he came and went,
helping and illuminating, but he handed on no tradition of a definite
line, and founded no school to be continued by successors. Even to his
ever faithful companion, when bidding him farewell for what he knew
would be the last time for Damis on earth, he had no word to say about
the work to which he had devoted his life, but which Damis had never
understood. His last words were for Damis alone, for the man who had
loved him, but who had never known him. It was a promise to come to him
if he needed help. “Damis, whenever you think on high matters in
solitary meditation, you shall see me” (viii 28).We will next turn our
attention to a consideration of some of the sayings ascribed to
Appolonius and the speeches put into his mouth by Philostratus. The
shorter sayings are in all probability authentically traditional, but
the speeches are for the most part manifestly the artistic working-up of
the rough notes of Damis. In fact, they are definitely declared to be
so; but they are none the less interesting on this account, and for two
reasons.
In the first place, they honestly avow their
nature, and make no claim of inspiration; they are confessedly human
documents which endeavour to give a literary dress to the traditional
body of thought and endeavour which the life of the philosopher built
into the minds of his hearers. The method was common to antiquity, and
the ancient compilers of certain other series of famous documents would
have been struck with amazement had they been able to see how posterity
would divinise their efforts and regard them as immediately inspired by
the source of all wisdom.In the second place, although we are not to
suppose that we are reading the actual words of Apollonius,we are
nevertheless conscious of being in immediate contact with the inner
atmosphere of the best religious thought of the Greek mind, and have
before our eyes the picture of a mystic and spiritual fermentation which
leavened all strata of society in the first century of our era.
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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