Apollonius of Tyana, GRS Mead

7/31/2019 Apollonius of Tyana, GRS Mead

1/176

iLOit-*-=00

j M /

i


2/176


3/176


4/176


5/176

J 1 -fc.s/ I U

APOLLONIUS OFTYANATHE PHILOSOPHER-REFORMEROF THE FIRST CENTURY A.D.A CRITICAL STUDY OF THE ONLY EXISTINGRECORD OF HIS LIFE WITH SOME ACCOUNTOF THE WAR OF OPINION CONCERNING HIMAND AN INTRODUCTION ON THE RELIGIOUSASSOCIATIONS AND BROTHERHOODS OF THETIMES AND THE POSSIBLE INFLUENCE QF ,^INDIAN THOUGHT ON GREECE BY of Rf

MEAD, B.A., M.R.A.S.

LONDON AND BENARESTHEOSOPHICAL PUBLISHING SOCIETY

1901


6/176


7/176

TABLE OF CONTENTS.SECTION PAGE

I. INTRODUCTORY 1II. THE RELIGIOUS ASSOCIATIONS AND COMMUN

ITIES OF THE FIRST CENTURY ... 9III. INDIA AND GREECE 17IV. THE APOLLONIUS OP EARLY OPINION . . 28V. TEXTS, TRANSLATIONS, AND LITERATURE . 42VI. THE BIOGRAPHER OF APOLLONIUS . . 53

VII. EARLY LIFE 65VIII. THE TRAVELS OF APOLLONIUS ... 73IX. IN THE SHRINES OF THE TEMPLES AND THE

RETREATS OF RELIGION .... 82X. THE GYMNOSOPHISTS OF UPPER EGYPT . . 99

XI. APOLLONIUS AND THE RULERS OF THE EMPIRE 106XII. APOLLONIUS THE PROPHET AND WONDER

WORKER . . . . . . .110XIII. His MODE OF LIFE 119XIV. HIMSELF AND HIS CIRCLE . . . .126XV. FROM HIS SAYINGS AND SERMONS . . .132XVI. FROM HIS LETTERS 145XVII. THE WRITINGS OF APOLLONIUS . .153XVIII. BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES . . . .156


8/176


9/176

APOLLONIUS OF TYANA.

SECTION I.

INTRODUCTORY.To the student of the origins of Christianitythere is naturally no period of Western historyof greater interest and importance than the firstcentury of our era; and yet how little comparatively is known about it of a really definite andreliable nature. If it be a subject of lastingregret that no non-Christian writer of the firstcentury had sufficient intuition of the future torecord even a line of information concerning thebirth and growth of what was to be the religionof the Western world, equally disappointing isit to find so little definite information of thegeneral social and religious conditions of thetime. The rulers and the wars of the Empireseem to have formed the chief interest of thehistoriographers of the succeeding century, andeven in this department of political history, though


10/176

Z APOLLONIUS OF TYANA.the public acts of the Emperors may be fairlywell known, for we can check them by recordsand inscriptions, when we come to their privateacts and motives we find ourselves no longer onthe ground of history, but for the most part in theatmosphere of prejudice, scandal, and speculation.The political acts of Emperors and their officers,however, can at best throw but a dim side-lighton the general social conditions of the time, whilethey shed no light at all on the religious conditions, except so far as these in any particularcontacted the domain of politics. As well mightwe seek to reconstruct a picture of the religiouslife of the time from Imperial acts and rescripts,as endeavour to glean any idea of the intimatereligion of this country from a perusal of statutebooks or reports of Parliamentary debates.

The Roman histories so-called, to which wehave so far been accustomed, cannot help us inthe reconstruction of a picture of the environment into which, on the one hand, Paul led thenew faith in Asia Minor, Greece, and Rome ; andin which, on the other, it already found itself inthe districts bordering on the south-east of theMediterranean. It is only by piecing togetherlaboriously isolated scraps of information andfragments of inscriptions, that we become aware ofthe existence of the life of a world of religiousassociations and private cults which existed at


11/176

INTRODUCTORY. 3this period. Not that even so we have anyvery direct information of what went on in theseassociations, guilds, and brotherhoods ; but wehave sufficient evidence to make us keenly regretthe absence of further knowledge.

Difficult as this field is to till, it is exceedinglyfertile in interest, and it is to be regretted thatcomparatively so little work has as yet been donein it ; and that, as is so frequently the case, thework which has been done is, for the most part,not accessible to the English reader. What workhas been done on this special subject may beseen from the bibliographical note appended tothis essay, in which is given a list of books andarticles treating of the religious associationsamong the Greeks and Romans. But if we seekto obtain a general view of the condition ofreligious affairs in the first century we find ourselves without a reliable guide ; for of worksdealing with this particular subject there arefew. arid from them we learn little that doesnot immediately concern, or is thought to concern,Christianity ; whereas, it is just the state of thenon-Christian religious world about which, inthe present case, we desire to be informed.

If, for instance, the reader turn to works of ~general history, such as Merivale s History of theRomans under theEmpire (London ; last ed. 1865),he will find, it is true, in chap, iv., a description


12/176

4 APOLLONIUS OF TYANA.of the state of religion up to the death of Nero,but he will be little wiser for perusing it. Ifhe turn to Hermann Schiller s Geschichte derromischen Kaiserreichs unter der Eegierung desNero (Berlin; 1872), he will find much reasonfor discarding the vulgar opinions about themonstrous crimes imputed to Nero, as indeed hemight do by reading in English G. H. Lewesarticle " Was Nero a Monster? " (Cornhill Magazine ; July, 1863) and he will also find (bk.IV. chap, iii.) a general view of the religion andphilosophy of the time which is far more intelligent than that of Merivale s ; but all is still veryvague and unsatisfactory, and we feel ourselvesstill outside the intimate life of the philosophersand religionists of the first century.

If, again, he turn to the latest writers of Churchhistory who have treated this particular question,he will find that they are occupied entirely withthe contact of the Christian Church with theRoman Empire, and only incidentally give usany information of the nature of which we arein search. On this special ground C. J. Neumann,in his careful study Der romische Staat und dieallgemeine Kirche bis auf Diocletian (Leipzig;1890), is interesting ; while Prof. W. M. Ramsay,in The Church in the Roman Empire before A.D.170 (London; 1893), is extraordinary, for heendeavours to interpret Roman history by the


13/176

INTRODUCTORY. 5New Testament documents, the dates of themajority of which are so hotly disputed.

But, you may say, what has all this to dowith Apollonius of Tyana? The answer issimple : Apollonius lived in the first century ;his work lay precisely among these religiousassociations, colleges, and guilds. A knowledgeof them and their nature would give us thenatural environment of a great part of his life ;and information as to their condition in the firstcentury would perhaps help us the better tounderstand some of the reasons for the taskwhich he attempted.

If, however, it were only the life andendeavours of Apollonius which would be illuminated by this knowledge, we could understandwhy so little effort has been spent in thisdirection ; for the character of the Tyanean, aswe shall see, has since the fourth century beenregarded with little favour even by the few,while the many have been taught to look uponour philosopher not only as a charlatan, but evenas an anti-Christ. But when it is just a knowledge of these religious associations and orderswhich would throw a flood of light on the earliestevolution of Christianity, not only with regardto the Pauline communities, but also with regardto those schools which were subsequently condemned as heretical, it is astonishing that we


14/176

6 APOLLONIUS OF TYANA.have had no more satisfactory work done on thesubject.

It may be said, however, that this informationis not forthcoming simply because it is unprocurable. To a large extent this is true ; nevertheless, a great deal more could be done than hasas yet been attempted, and the results of researchin special directions and in the byways of historycould be combined, so that the non-specialistcould obtain some general idea of the religiousconditions of the times, and so be less inclinedto join in the now stereotyped condemnationof all non-Jewish or non-Christian moral andreligious effort in the Roman Empire of thefirst century.

But the reader may retort : Things social andreligious in those days must have been in a veryparlous state, for, as this essay shows, Apol-lonius himself spent the major part of his life intrying to reform the institutions and cults of theEmpire. To this we answer : No doubt therewas much to reform, and when is there not?But it would not only be not generous, butdistinctly mischievous for us to judge our fellowsof those days solely by the lofty standard of anideal morality, or even to scale them against theweight of our own supposed virtues and knowledge. Our point is not that there was nothingto reform, far from that, but that the wholesale


15/176

INTRODUCTORY. 7accusations of depravity brought against thetimes will not bear impartial investigation. Onthe contrary, there was much good materialready to be worked up in many ways, and ifthere had not been, how could there among otherthings have been any Christianity ?The Roman Empire was at the zenith of its

power, and had there not been many admirableadministrators and men of worth in the governingcaste, such a political consummation could neverhave been reached and maintained. Moreover,as ever previously in the ancient world, religiousliberty was guaranteed, and where we find persecution, as in the reigns of Nero and Domitian,it must be set down to political and not totheological reasons. Setting aside the disputedquestion of the persecution of the Christiansunder Domitian, the Neronian persecution wasdirected against those whom the Imperial powerregarded as Jewish political revolutionaries.So, too, when we find the philosophers imprisonedor banished from Rome during these two reigns,it was not because they were philosophers, butbecause the ideal of some of them was therestoration of the Republic, and this renderedthem obnoxious to the charge not only of beingpolitical malcontents, but also of actively plottingagainst the Emperor s majestas. Apollonius,however, was throughout a warm supporter of


16/176

8 APOLLONIUS OF TYANA.monarchical rule. When, then, we hear of thephilosophers being banished from Rome or beingcast into prison, we must remember that thiswas not a wholesale persecution of philosophythroughout the Empire ; and when we say thatsome of them desired to restore the Republic, weshould remember that the vast majority of themrefrained from politics, and especially was thisthe case with the disciples of the religio-philo-sophical schools.


17/176

SECTION II.

THE RELIGIOUS ASSOCIATIONS ANDCOMMUNITIES OF THE FIRST

CENTURY.IN the domain of religion it is quite true thatthe state cults and national institutionsthroughout the Empire were almost withoutexception in a parlous state, and it is tobe noticed that Apollonius devoted much timeand labour to reviving and purifying them.Indeed, their strength had long left the generalstate-institutions of religion, where all was nowperfunctory ; but so far from there being noreligious life in the land, in proportion as theofficial cultus and ancestral institutions affordedno real satisfaction to their religious needs, themore earnestly did the people devote themselvesto private cults, and eagerly baptised themselvesin all that flood of religious enthusiasm whichflowed in with ever increasing volume from theEast. Indubitably in all this fermentation therewere many excesses, according to our presentnotions of religious decorum, and also grievous


18/176

10 APOLLONIUS OF TYANA.abuses ; but at the same time in it many founddue satisfaction for their religious emotions, and,if we except those cults which were distinctlyvicious, we have to a large extent before us inpopular circles the spectacle of what, in theirlast analysis, are similar phenomena to thoseenthusiasms which in our own day may befrequently witnessed among such sects as theShakers or Eanters, and at the general revivalmeetings of the uninstructed.

It is not, however, to be thought that theprivate cults and the doings of the religious associations were all of this nature or confined to thisclass ; far from it. There were religious brotherhoods, communities, and clubs thiasi, erani,and orgeones of all sorts and conditions. Therewere also mutual benefit societies, burial clubs,and dining companies, the prototypes of ourpresent-day Masonic bodies, Oddfellows, andthe rest. These religious associations were notonly private in the sense that they were notmaintained by the State, but also for the mostpart they were private in the sense that whatthey did was kept secret, and this is perhapsthe main reason why we have so defective arecord of them.Among them are to be numbered not only

the lower forms of mystery-cultus of variouskinds, but also the greater ones, such as the


19/176

RELIGIOUS ASSOCIATIONS OF THE FIRST CENTURY. 1 1Phrygian, Bacchic, Isiac, and Mithriac Mysteries,which were spread everywhere throughout theEmpire. The famous Eleusinia were, however,still under the aegis of the State, but though sofamous were, as a state-cultus, far more perfunctory.It is, moreover, not to be thought that thegreat types of mystery-cultus above mentionedwere uniform even among themselves. Therewere not only various degrees and grades withinthem, but also in all probability many forms ofeach line of tradition, good, bad, and indifferent.For instance, we know that it was considered derigueur for every respectable citizen of Athensto be initiated into the Eleusinia, and thereforethe tests could not have been very stringent ;whereas in the most recent work on thesubject, De Apuleio Isiacorum MysteriorumTeste (Leyden; 1900), Dr. K. H. E. De Jongshows that in one form of the Isiac Mysteriesthe candidate was invited to initiation by meansof dream ; that is to say, he had to be psychicallyimpressionable before his acceptance.

Here, then, we have a vast intermediateground for religious exercise between the mostpopular and undisciplined forms of private cultsand the highest forms, which could only beapproached through the discipline and trainingof the philosophic life. The higher side of these


20/176

12 APOLLONIUS OF TYANA.mystery-institutions aroused the enthusiasm ofall that was best in antiquity, and unstintedpraise was given to one or another form of themby the greatest thinkers and writers of Greeceand Kome ; so that we cannot but think thathere the instructed found that satisfaction fortheir religious needs which was necessary notonly for those who could not rise into the keenair of pure reason, but also for those who hadclimbed so high upon the heights of reason thatthey could catch a glimpse of the other side.The official cults were notoriously unable to givethem this satisfaction, and were only toleratedby the instructed as an aid for the people and ameans of preserving the traditional life of thecity or state.By common consent the most virtuous livers

of Greece were the members of the Pythagoreanschools, both men and women. After the deathof their founder the Pythagoreans seem to havegradually blended with the Orphic communities,and the " Orphic life " was the recognised termfor a life of purity and self-denial. We alsoknow that the Orpines, and therefore the Pythagoreans, were actively engaged in the reformation, or even the entire reforming, of the Baccho-Eleusinian rites ; they seem to have broughtback the pure side of the Bacchic cult with theirreinstitution or reimportation of the lacchic


21/176

RELIGIOUS ASSOCIATIONS OF THE FIRST CENTURY. 1 3mysteries, and it is very evident that such sternlivers and deep thinkers could not have beencontented with a low form of cult. Their influence also spread far and wide in generalBacchic circles, so that we find Euripides puttingthe following words into the mouth of a chorusof Bacchic initiates : " Clad in white robes Ispeed me from the genesis of mortal men, andnever more approach the vase of death, for Ihave done with eating food that ever housed asoul." * Such words could well be put into themouth of a Brahman or Buddhist ascetic, eagerto escape from the bonds of Samsara ; and suchmen cannot therefore justly be classed togetherindiscriminately with ribald revellers the general mind-picture of a Bacchic company.

But, some one may say, Euripides and thePythagoreans and Orphics are no evidence forthe first century ; whatever good there mayhave been in such schools and communities, ithad ceased long before. On the contrary, theevidence is all against this objection. Philo,writing about 25 A.D., tells us that in his daynumerous groups of men, who in all respects ledthis life of religion, who abandoned their property,retired from the world and devoted themselvesentirely to the search for wisdom and the culti-

* From a fragment of The Cretans. See Lobeck s Aglao-phamus, p. 622.


22/176

14 APOLLONIUS OF TYANA.vation of virtue, were scattered far and widethroughout the world. In his treatise, On the Contemplative Life, he writes : " This natural classof men is to be found in many parts of theinhabited world, both the Grecian and non-Grecian world, sharing in the perfect good.In Egypt there are crowds of them in everyprovince, or nome as they call it, and especiallyround Alexandria." This is a most importantstatement, for if there were so many devoted tothe religious life at this time, it follows that theage was not one of unmixed depravity.

It is not, however, to be thought that thesecommunities were all of an exactly similarnature, or of one and the same origin, least ofall that they were all Therapeut or Essene. Wehave only to remember the various lines ofdescent of the doctrines held by the innumerableschools classed together as Gnostic, as sketchedin my recent work, Fragments of a Faith Forgotten, and to turn to the beautiful treatises of theHermetic schools, to persuade us that in thefirst century the striving after the religious andphilosophic life was wide-spread and various.We are not, however, among those whobelieve that the origin of the Therapeut com

munities of Philo and of the Essenes of Philoand Josephus is to be traced to Orphic andPythagorean influence. The question of precise


23/176

RELIGIOUS ASSOCIATIONS OF THE FIRST CENTURY. 1 5origin is as yet beyond the power of historicalresearch, and we are not of those who wouldexaggerate one element of the mass into a universal source. But when we remember the existence of all these so widely scattered communitiesin the first century, when we study the imperfectbut important record of the very numerousschools and brotherhoods of a like nature whichcame into intimate contact with Christianity inits origins, we cannot but feel that there was theleaven of a strong religious life working in manyparts of the Empire.

Our great difficulty is that these communities,brotherhoods, and associations kept themselvesapart, and with rare exceptions left no recordsof their intimate practices and beliefs, or if theyleft any it has been destroyed or lost. For themost part then we have to rely upon generalindications of a very superficial character. Butthis imperfect record is no justification for us todeny or ignore their existence and the intensityof their endeavours ; and a history which purportsto paint a picture of the times is utterly insufficient so long as it omits this most vital subjectfrom its canvas.Among such surroundings as these Apolloniusmoved ; but how little does his biographer seem

to have been aware of the fact Philostratushas a rhetorician s appreciation of a philosophical


24/176

16 APOLLONIUS OF TYANA.court life, but no feeling for the life of religion.It is only indirectly that the Life of Apollonius,as it is now depicted, can throw any light onthese most interesting communities, but even anoccasional side-light is precious where all is insuch obscurity. Were it but possible to enterinto the living memory of Apollonius, and seewith his eyes the things he saw when he livednineteen hundred years ago, what an enormouslyinteresting page of the world s history could berecovered He not only traversed all thecountries where the new faith was taking root,but he lived for years in most of them, and wasintimately acquainted with numbers of mysticcommunities in Egypt, Arabia, and Syria.Surely he must have visited some of the earliestChristian communities as well, must even haveconversed with some of the " disciples of theLord " And yet no word is breathed of this,not one single scrap of information on thesepoints do we glean from what is recorded of him.Surely he must have met with Paul, if not elsewhere, then at Eome, in 66, when he had toleave because of the edict of banishment againstthe philosophers, the very year according to somewhen Paul was beheaded


25/176

SECTION III.

INDIA AND GEEECE.THERE is, however, another reason why Apol-lonius is of importance to us. He was anenthusiastic admirer of the wisdom of India.Here again a subject of wide interest opens up.What influences, if any, had Brahmanism andBuddhism on Western thought in these earlyyears ? It is strongly asserted by some thatthey had great influence ; it is as strongly deniedby others that they had any influence at all. Itis, therefore, apparent that there is no reallyindisputable evidence on the subject.

Just as some would ascribe the constitutionof the Essene and Therapeut communities toPythagorean influence, so others would ascribetheir origin to Buddhist propaganda; and notonly would they trace this influence in theEssene tenets and practices, but they wouldeven refer the general teaching of the Christ toa Buddhist source in a Jewish monotheisticsetting. Not only so, but some would have it2


26/176

18 APOLLONIUS OF TYANA.that two centuries before the direct generalcontact of Greece with India, brought aboutby the conquests of Alexander, India throughPythagoras strongly and lastingly influencedall subsequent Greek thought.

The question can certainly not be settled byhasty affirmation or denial ; it requires not onlya wide knowledge of general history and aminute study of scattered and imperfect indications of thought and practice, but also a fineappreciation of the correct value of indirectevidence, for of direct testimony there is noneof a really decisive nature. To such high qualifications we can make no pretension, and ourhighest ambition is simply to give a- fewvery general indications of the nature of thesubject.

It is plainly asserted by the ancient Greeksthat Pythagoras went to India, but as the statement is made by Neo-Pythagorean and Neo-Platonic writers subsequent to the time ofApollonius, it is objected that the travels of theTyanean suggested not only this item in thebiography of the great Samian but several others,or even that Apollonius himself in his Life ofPythagoras was father of the rumour. Theclose resemblance, however, between many of thefeatures of Pythagorean discipline and doctrineand Indo-Aryan thought and practice, make us


27/176

INDIA AND GREECE. 19hesitate entirely to reject the possibility ofPythagoras having visited ancient Aryavarta.And even if we cannot go so far as to entertain the possibility of direct personal contact,there has to be taken into consideration the factthat Pherecydes, the master of Pythagoras, mayhave been acquainted with some of the mainideas of Vaidic lore. Pherecydes taught atEphesus, but was himself most probably a Persian, and it is quite credible that a learnedAsiatic, teaching a mystic philosophy and basinghis doctrine upon the idea of rebirth, may havehad some indirect, if not direct, knowledge ofIndo-Aryan thought.

Persia must have been even at this time inclose contact with India, for about the date ofthe death of Pythagoras, in the reign of Dareius,son of Hystaspes, at the end of the sixth andbeginning of the fifth century before our era,we hear of the expedition of the Persian generalScylax down the Indus, and learn from Herodotus that in this reign India (that is thePunjab) formed the twentieth satrapy of thePersian monarchy. Moreover, Indian troopswere among the hosts of Xerxes ; they invadedThessaly and fought at Platsea.From the time of Alexander onwards therewas direct and constant contact between Aryavarta and the kingdoms of the successors of the


28/176

20 APOLLONIUS OF TYANA.world-conqueror, and many Greeks wrote aboutthis land of mystery ; but in all that has comedown to us we look in vain for anything but thevaguest indications of what the " philosophers "of India systematically thought.

That the Brahmans would at this time havepermitted their sacred books to be read by theYavanas (lonians, the general name for Greeksin Indian records) is contrary to all we know oftheir history. The Yavanas were Mlechchhas,outside the pale of the Aryas, and all they couldglean of the jealously guarded Brahma-vidyaor theosophy must have depended solely uponoutside observation. But the dominant religiousactivity at this time in India was Buddhist, andit is to this protest against the rigid distinctionsof caste and race made by Brahmanical pride,and to the startling novelty of an enthusiasticreligious propaganda among all classes and racesin India, and outside India to all nations, thatwe must look for the most direct contact ofthought between India and Greece.

For instance, in the middle of the third centuryB.C., we know from Asoka s thirteenth edict, thatthis Buddhist Emperor of India, the Constantineof the East, sent missionaries to Antiochus II. ofSyria, Ptolemy II. of Egypt, Antigonus Gonatasof Macedonia, Magas of Gyrene, and AlexanderII. of Epirus. When, in a land of such imperfect


29/176

INDIA AND GREECE. 21records, the evidence on the side of India is soclear and indubitable, all the more extraordinaryis it that we have no direct testimony on our sideof so great a missionary activity. Although, then,merely because of the absence of all direct information from Greek sources, it is very unsafe togeneralize, nevertheless from our general knowledge of the times it is not illegitimate to conclude that no great public stir could have beenmade by these pioneers of the Dharma in the West.In every probability these Buddhist Bhikshusproduced no effect on the rulers or on the people.But was their mission entirely abortive ; and didBuddhist missionary enterprise westwards ceasewith them?

The answer to this question, as it seems tous, is hidden in the obscurity of the religiouscommunities. We cannot, however, go so far asto agree with those who would cut the gordianknot by asserting dogmatically that the asceticcommunities in Syria and Egypt were foundedby these Buddhist propagandists. Already evenin Greece itself were not only Pythagorean buteven prior to them Orphic communities, for evenon this ground we believe that Pythagoras ratherdeveloped what he found already existing, thanthat he established something entirely new. Andif they were found in Greece, much more then isit reasonable to suppose that such communities


30/176

22 APOLLONIUS OF TYANA.already existed in Syria, Arabia, and Egypt, whosepopulations were given far more to religiousexercises than the sceptical and laughter-lovingGreeks.

It is, however, crediblethat insuch communities,if anywhere, Buddhist propaganda would find anappreciative and attentive audience ; but even soit is remarkable that they have left no distinctlydirect trace of their influence. Nevertheless, bothbythe sea way and by the great caravan route therewas an ever open line of communication betweenIndia and the

Empireof the successors of Alex

ander ; and it is even permissible to speculate, thatif we could recover a catalogue of the great Alexandrian library, for instance, we should perchancefind that in it Indian MSS. were to be foundamong the other rolls and parchments of thescriptures of the nations.

Indeed, there are phrases in the oldest treatisesof the Trismegistic Hermetic literature which canbe so closely paralleled with phrases in the Upanis-hads and in the Bhagavad Gita, that one is almosttempted to believe that the writers had someacquaintance with the general contents of theseBrahmanical scriptures. The Trismegistic literature had its genesis in Egypt, and its earliestdeposit must be dated at least in the first centuryA.D., if it cannot even be pushed back earlier.Even more striking is the similarity between the


31/176

INDIA AND GREECE. 23lofty mystic metaphysic of the Gnostic doctorBasilides, who lived at the end of the first andbeginning of the second century A.D., and Vedanticideas. Moreover, both the Hermetic and theBasilidean schools and their immediate predecessors were devoted to a stern self-disciplineand deep philosophical study which would makethem welcome eagerly any philosopher or mysticstudent who might come from the far East.

But even so, we are not of those who by theirown self-imposed limitations of possibility arecondemned to find some direct physical contact toaccount for a similarity of ideas or even of phrasing. Granting, for instance, that there is much resemblance between the teachings of the Dharmaof the Buddha and of the Gospel of the Christ,and that the same spirit of love and gentlenesspervades them both, still there is no necessity tolook for the reason of this resemblance to purelyphysical transmission. And so for other schoolsand other teachers ; like conditions will producesimilar phenomena ; like effort and like aspirationwill produce similar ideas, similar experience, andsimila,r response. And this we believe to be thecase in no general way, but that it is all verydefinitely ordered from within by the servantsof the real guardians of things religious in thisworld.We are, then, not compelled to lay so much


32/176

24 APOLLONIUS OF TYANA.stress on the question of physical transmission,or to be seeking even to find proof of copying.The human mind in its various degrees is muchthe same in all climes and ages, and its innerexperience has a common ground into which seedmay be sown, as it is tilled and cleared of weeds.The good seed comes all from the same granary,and those who sow it pay no attention to theman-made outer distinctions of race and creed.However difficult, therefore, it may be to

prove, from unquestionably historical statements,any direct influence of Indian thought on theconceptions and practices of some of thesereligious communities and philosophic schoolsof the Graeco-Roman Empire, and although inany particular case similarity of ideas need notnecessarily be assigned to direct physical transmission, nevertheless the highest probability, ifnot the greatest assurance, remains that evenprior to the days of Apollonius there was someprivate knowledge in Greece of the general ideasof the Vedanta and Dharma ; while in the caseof Apollonius himself, even if we discount nine-tenths of what is related of him, his one ideaseems to have been to spread abroad among thereligious brotherhoods and institutions of theEmpire some portion of the wisdom which hebrought back with him from India.When, then, we find at the end of the first


33/176

INDIA AND GREECE. 25and during the first half of the second century,among such mystic associations as the Hermeticand Gnostic schools, ideas which strongly remindus of the theosophy of the Upanishads or thereasoned ethics of the Suttas, we have alwaysto take into consideration not only the highprobability of Apollonius having visited suchschools, but also the possibility of his havingdiscoursed at length therein on the Indianwisdom. Not only so, but the memory of hisinfluence may have lingered for long in suchcircles, for do we not find Plotinus, the coryphaeus of Neo-Platonism, as it is called, soenamoured with what he had heard of thewisdom of India at Alexandria, that in 242 hestarted off with the ill-starred expedition ofGordian to the East in the hope of reaching thatland of philosophy? With the failure of theexpedition and assassination of the Emperor,however, he had to return, for ever disappointedof his hope.

It is not, however, to be thought thatApollonius set out to make a propaganda ofIndian philosophy in the same way that theordinary missionary sets forth to preach hisconception of the Gospel. By no means ;Apollonius seems to have endeavoured to helphis hearers, whoever they might be, in the waybest suited to each of them. He did not begin


34/176

26 APOLLONIUS OF TYANA.by telling them that what they believed wasutterly false and soul-destroying, and that theireternal welfare depended upon their instantlyadopting his own special scheme of salvation ;he simply endeavoured to purge and furtherexplain what they already believed andpractised. That some strong power supportedhim in his ceaseless activity, and in hisalmost world-wide task, is not so difficult ofbelief; and it is a question of deep interest forthose who strive to peer through the mists ofappearance, to speculate how that not only aPaul but also an Apollonius was aided anddirected in his task from within.The day, however, has not yet dawned when

it will be possible for the general mind in theWest to approach the question with such freedom from prejudice, as to bear the thought that,seen from within, not only Paul but alsoApollonius may well have been a "disciple ofthe Lord " in the true sense of the words ; andthat too although on the surface of things theirtasks seem in many ways so dissimilar, and even,to theological preconceptions, entirely antagonistic.

Fortunately, however, even to-day there is anever-growing number of thinking people whowill not only not be shocked by such a belief, butwho will receive it with joy as the herald of the


35/176

INDIA AND GREECE. 27dawning of a true sun of righteousness, whichwill do more to illumine the manifold ways ofthe religion of our common humanity than allthe self-righteousness of any particular body ofexclusive religionists.

It is, then, in this atmosphere of charity andtolerance that we would ask the reader toapproach the consideration of Apollonius andhis doings, and not only the life and deeds ofan Apollonius, but also of all those who havestriven to help their fellows the world over.


36/176

SECTION IV.

THE APOLLONIUS OF EARLY OPINION.APOLLONIUS of Tyana* was the most famous

I philosopher of the Grseco-Roman world of thefirst century, and devoted the major part of hislong life to the purification of the many cults ofthe Empire and to the instruction of the ministersand priests of its religions. With the exceptionof the Christ no more interesting personageappears upon the stage of Western history inthese early years. Many and various and oft-times mutually contradictory are the opinionswhich have been held about Apollonius, for theaccount of his life which has come down to usis in the guise of a romantic story rather than inthe form of a plain history. And this is perhapsto some extent to be expected, for Apollonius,besides his public teaching, had a life apart, alife into which even his favourite disciple does

* Pronounced T^ana, with the accent on the firstsyllable and the first a short.


37/176

THE APOLLONIUS OF EARLY OPINION. 29not enter. He journeys into the most distantlands, and is lost to the world for years ; heenters the shrines of the most sacred templesand the inner circles of the most exclusivecommunities, and what he says or does thereinremains a mystery, or serves only as an opportunity for the weaving of some fantastic storyby those who did not understand.The following study will be simply an attempt

to put before the reader a brief sketch of theproblem which the records and traditions of thelife of the famous Tyanean present ; but beforewe deal with the Life of Apollonius, written byFlavius Philostratus at the beginning of the -third century, we must give the reader a briefaccount of the references to Apollonius amongthe classical writers and the Church Fathers, anda short sketch of the literature of the subject inmore recent times, and of the varying fortunesof the war of opinion concerning his life in thelast four centuries.

First, then, with regard to the references inclassical and patristic authors. Lucian, the wittywriterof the first half of the second century, makesthe subject of one of his satires the pupil of adisciple of Apollonius, of one of those who wereacquainted with " all the tragedy " * of his life.And Appuleius, a contemporary of Lucian, classes

* Alexander sive Pseudomantis, vi.


38/176

30 APOLLONIUS OF TYANA.Apollonius with Moses and Zoroaster, and otherfamous Magi of antiquity.*

About the same period, in a work entitledQuaestiones et Responsiones ad Orthodoxos, formerly attributed to Justin Martyr, who flourishedin the second quarter of the second century, wefind the following interesting statement :

" Question 24 : If God is the maker andmaster of creation, how do the consecratedobjects t of Apollonius have power in the[various] orders of that creation ? For, as wesee, they check the fury of the waves and thepower of the winds and the inroads of verminand attacks of wild beasts." {

Dion Cassius in his history, which he wroteA.D. 211-222, states that Caracalla (Emp. 211-216) honoured the memory of Apollonius witha chapel or monument (heroum).

It was just at this time (216) that Philostratuscomposed his Life of Apollonius, at the requestof Domna Julia, Caracalla s mother, and it iswith this document principally that we shallhave to deal in the sequel.

* De Magia, xc. (ed. Hildebrand, 1842, ii. 614).f TeAeoyxaTa. Telesma was "a consecrated object, turned

by the Arabs into telsam (talisman) " ; see Liddell and Scott sLexicon, sub voc.

J Justin Martyr, Opera, ed. Otto (2nd ed. ; Jena,1849), iii. 32.

Lib. Ixxvii. 18.


39/176

THE APOLLONIUS OF EARLY OPINION. 31Lampridius, who flourished about the middle

of the third century, further informs us thatAlexander Severus (Emp. 222-235) placedthe statue of Apollonius in his larariumtogether with those of Christ, Abraham, andOrpheus. ^

Vopiscus, writing in the last decade of thethird century, tells us that Aurelian (Emp. 270-275) vowed a temple to Apollonius, of whom hehad seen a vision when besieging Tyana. Vopiscus speaks of the Tyanean as " a sage of themost wide-spread renown and authority, anancient philosopher, and a true friend of theGods," nay, as a manifestation of deity. " Forwhat among men," exclaims the historian, " wasmore holy, what more worthy of reverence, whatmore venerable, what more god-like than he ?He, it was, who gave life to the dead. He, itwas, who did and said so many things beyondthe power of men." t So enthusiastic is Vopiscusabout Apollonius, that he promises, if he lives,to write a short account of his life in Latin, sothat his deeds and words may be on the tongueof all, for as yet the only accounts are in Greek.JVopiscus, however, did not fulfil his promise, but

* Life of Alexander Severus, xxix.f Life of Aurelian, xxiv.| " Qux qui velit nosse, grcecos legat libros qui de ejus

vita conscripti sunt." These accounts were probably thebooks of Maximus, Moeragenes, and Philostratus.


40/176

32 APOLLONIUS OF TYANA.we learn that about this date both Soterichus*and Nichomachus wrote Lives of our philosopher,and shortly afterwards Tascius Victorianus,working on the papers of Nichomachus,t alsocomposed a Life. None of these Lives, however,have reached us.

It was just at this period also, namely, in thelast years of the third century and the first yearsof the fourth, that Porphyry and lamblichuscomposed their treatises on Pythagoras and hisschool ; both mention Apollonius as one of theirauthorities, and it is probable that the first 30 sections of lamblichus are taken from Apollonius.;);We now come to an incident which hurled thecharacter of Apollonius into the arena of Christianpolemics, where it has been tossed about untilthe present day. Hierocles, successively governor of Palmyra, Bithynia, and Alexandria, and aphilosopher, about the year 305 wrote a criticismon the claims of the Christians, in two books,

* An Egyptian epic poet, who wrote several poeticalhistories in Greek ; he flourished in the last decade of thethird century.

f Sidonius Apollinaris, Epp., viii. 3. See also Legrandd Aussy, Vie d Apollonius de Tyane (Paris; 1807), p.xlvii.

J Porphyry, De Vita Pythagorse, section ii., ed. Kiessling(Leipzig; 1816). lamblichus De Vita Pythagorica, chap,xxv., ed. Kiessling (Leipzig; 1813); see especially K. s note,pp. 11 sqq. See also Porphyry, Frag., De Styge, p. 285,ed. Hoist.


41/176

THE APOLLONIUS OF EARLY OPINION. 33called A Truthful Address to the Christians,or more shortly The Truth-lover. He seemsto have based himself for the most part on theprevious works of Celsus and Porphyry,* butintroduced a new subject of controversy byopposing the wonderful works of Apollonius tothe claims of the Christians to exclusive rightin " miracles " as proof of the divinity of theirMaster. In this part of his treatise Hieroclesused Philostratus Life of Apollonius.To this pertinent criticism of HieroclesEusebius of Csesarea immediately replied in atreatise still extant, entitled Contra Hieroclem.tEusebius admits that Apollonius was a wise andvirtuous man, but denies that there is sufficientproof that the wonderful things ascribed to himever took place ; and even if they did take place,they were the work of " daemons," and not ofGod. The treatise of Eusebius is interesting ; heseverely scrutinises the statements in Philostratus,and shows himself possessed of a first rate critical

* See Duchesne on the recently discovered works ofMacarius Magnes (Paris; 1877).

t The most convenient text is by Gaisford (Oxford ; 1852),Eusebii Pamphili contra Hieroclem ; it is also printed in anumber of editions of Philostratus. There are two translations in Latin, one in Italian, one in Danish, all bound upwith Philostratus Vita, and one in French printed apart(Discours d Eusebe Evque de Cesaree touchant les Miraclesattribuez par les Payens & Apollonius de Tyane, tr. byCousin. Paris; 1584, 12ino, 135pp.).3


42/176

34 APOLLONIUS OF TYANA.faculty. Had he only used the same facultyon the documents of the Church, of which hewas the first historian, posterity would haveowed him an eternal debt of gratitude. ButEusebius, like so many other apologists, couldonly see one side ; justice, when anything touching Christianity was called into question, was astranger to his mind, and he would have considered it blasphemy to use his critical facultyon the documents which relate the " miracles " ofJesus. Still the problem of "miracle" was thesame, as Hierocles pointed out, and remains thesame to this day.

After the controversy reincarnated again inthe sixteenth century, and when the hypothesisof the " Devil " as the prime-mover in all" miracles " but those of the Church lost its holdwith the progress of scientific thought, the natureof the wonders related in the Life of Apolloniuswas still so great a difficulty that it gave riseto a new hypothesis of plagiarism. The life ofApollonius was a Pagan plagiarism of the lifeof Jesus. But Eusebius and the Fathers whofollowed him had no suspicion of this ; they livedin times when such an assertion could have beeneasily refuted. There is not a word in Philostratusto show he had any acquaintance with the lifeof Jesus, and fascinating as Baur s " tendency-writing " theory is to many, we can only say that


43/176

THE APOLLONIUS OF EARLY OPINION. 35as a plagiarist of the Gospel story Philostratusis a conspicuous failure. Philostratus writes thehistory of a good and wise man, a man with amission of teaching, clothed in the wonder storiespreserved in the memory and embellished by theimagination of fond posterity, but not the dramaof incarnate Deity as the fulfilment of world-prophecy.

Lactantius, writing about 315, also attackedthe treatise of Hierocles, who seems to have putforward some very pertinent criticisms ; for theChurch Father says that he enumerates so manyof their Christian inner teachings (intima) thatsometimes he would seem to have at one timeundergone the same training (disciplina). Butit is in vain, says Lactantius, that Hieroclesendeavours to show that Apollonius performedsimilar or even greater deeds than Jesus, forChristians do not believe that Christ is Godbecause he did wonderful things, but because allthe things wrought in him were those whichwere announced by the prophets.* And intaking this ground Lactantius saw far moreclearly than Eusebius the weakness of the prooffrom " miracle."

Arnobius, the teacher of Lactantius, however,writing at the end of the third century, before

* Lactantius, Divinse Institutiones, v. 2, 3 ; ed. Fritsche(Leipzig; 1842), pp. 233, 236.


44/176

36 APOLLONIUS OF TYANA.the controversy, in referring to Apollonius simplyclasses him among Magi, such as Zoroaster andothers mentioned in the passage of Appuleius towhich we have already referred.*

But even after the controversy there is a widedifference of opinion among the Fathers, foralthough at the end of the fourth century JohnChrysostom with great bitterness calls Apolloniusa deceiver and evil-doer, and declares that thewhole of the incidents in his life are unqualifiedfiction, t Jerome, on the contrary, at the verysame date, takes almost a favourable view, for, afterperusing Philostratus, he writes that Apolloniusfound everywhere something to learn and something whereby he might become a better man.|At the beginning of the fifth century also Augustine, while ridiculing any attempt at comparisonbetween Apollonius and Jesus, says that thecharacter of the Tyanean was "far superior" tothat ascribed to Jove, in respect of virtue.

* Arnobius, Adversus Nationes, i. 52; ed. Hildebrand(Halle ; 1844), p. 86. The Church Father, however, withthat exclusiveness peculiar to the Judseo-Christian view,omits Moses from the list of Magi.

f John Chrysostom, Adversus Judseos, v. 3 (p. 631) ;De Laudibus Sancti Pauli Apost. Homil., iv. (p. 493 D. ; ed.Montfauc.).

t Hieronymus, Ep. ad Paullinum, 53 (text ap. Kayser,prsef. ix.).

August., Epp., cxxxviii. Text quoted by Legrandd Aussy, op. cit., p. 294


45/176

THE APOLLONIUS OF EARLY OPINION. 37About the same date also we find Isidorus of

Pelusium, who died in 450, bluntly denying thatthere is any truth in the claim made by " certain," whom he does not further specify, thatApollonius of Tyana " consecrated many spots inmany parts of the world for the safety of theinhabitants."* It is instructive to compare thedenial of Isidorus with the passage we havealready quoted from Pseudo-Justin. The writerof Questions and Answers to the Orthodox in thesecond century could not dispose of the questionby a blunt denial ; he had to admit it and arguethe case on other grounds namely, the agencyof the Devil. Nor can the argument of theFathers, that Apollonius used magic to bringabout his results, while the untaught Christianscould perform healing wonders by a single word,tbe accepted as valid by the unprejudiced critic,for there is no evidence to support the contentionthat Apollonius employed such methods for hiswonder-workings ; on the contrary, both Apollonius himself and his biographer Philostratusstrenuously repudiate the charge of magicbrought against him.On the other hand, a few years later, SidoniusApollinaris, Bishop of Claremont, speaks in the

* Isidorus Pelusiota, Epp., p. 138; ed. J. Billius (Paris;1585).

t See Arnobius, loc. cit.


46/176

38 APOLLONIUS OF TYANA.highest terms of Apollonius. Sidonius translatedthe Life of Apollonius into Latin for Leon, thecouncillor of King Euric, and in writing to hisfriend he says : " Eead the life of a man who(religion apart) resembles you in many things ; aman sought out by the rich, yet who never soughtfor riches ; who loved wisdom and despisedgold; a man frugal in the midst of feastings,clad in linen in the midst of those clothed inpurple, austere in the midst of luxury. ... Infine, to speak plainly, perchance no historian willfind in ancient times a philosopher whose life isequal to that of Apollonius." *

Thus we see that even among the ChurchFathers opinions were divided ; while among thephilosophers themselves the praise of Apollonius was unstinted.

For Ammianus Marcellinus, " the last subjectof Rome who composed a profane history in theLatin language," and the friend of Julian thephilosopher-emperor, refers to the Tyanean as" that most renowned philosopher " ; t while afew years later Eunapius, the pupil of Chrys-anthius, one of the teachers of Julian, writing inthe last years of the fourth century, says that

* Sidonius Apollinaris, Epp., viii. 3. Also Fabricius,Bibliotheca Grseca, pp. 549, 565 (ed. Harles). The work ofSidonius on Apollonius is unfortunately lost.

t Amplissimus ille philosophus (xxiii. 7). See also xxi.14; xxiii. 19


47/176

THE APOLLONIUS OP EARLY OPINION. 39Apollonius was more than a philosopher ; he was"a middle term, as it were, between gods andmen."* Not only was Apollonius an adherentof the Pythagorean philosophy, but " he fullyexemplified the more divine and practical sidein it." In fact Philostratus should have calledhis biography " The Sojourning of a God amongMen."t This seemingly wildly exaggerated estimate may perhaps receive explanation in the factthat Eunapius belonged to a school which knew thenature of the attainments ascribed to Apollonius.

Indeed, " as late as the fifth century we findone Volusian, a proconsul of Africa, descendedfrom an old Eoman family and still stronglyattached to the religion of his ancestors, almostworshipping Apollonius of Tyana as a supernatural being."|

* rt Oe&v re KOL avOpwTrov fLcrov, meaning therebypresumably one who has reached the grade of beingsuperior to man, but not yet equal to the gods. This wascalled by the Greeks the "daemonian" order. But theword "daemon," owing to sectarian bitterness, has longbeen degraded from its former high estate, and the originalidea is now signified in popular language by the term"angel." Compare Plato, Symposium, xxiii., irav TOSaifJAVLOv fJLCTav etrri 6fov re KOL OmjTOVy "all that isdaemonian is between God and man."

t Eunapius, Vitae Philosophorum, Prooemium, vi. ; ed.Boissonade (Amsterdam; 1822), p. 3.+ Reville, Apollonius of Tyana (tr. from the French),p. 56 (London ; 1866). I have, however, not been able todiscover on what authority this statement is made.


48/176

40 APOLLONIUS OF TYANA,Even after the downfall of philosophy we find

Cassiodorus, who spent the last years of his longlife in a monastery, speaking of Apollonius asthe "renowned philosopher."* So also amongByzantine writers, the monk George Syncellus,in the eighth century, refers several times toour philosopher, and not only without theslightest adverse criticism, but he declares thathe was the first and most remarkable of all theillustrious people who appeared under theEmpire, t Tzetzes also, the critic and grammarian, calls Apollonius "all-wise and a fore-knower of all things." JAnd though the monk Xiphilinus, in theeleventh century, in a note to his abridgmentof the history of Dion Cassius, calls Apolloniusa clever juggler and magician, neverthelessCedrenus in the same century bestows onApollonius the not uncomplimentary title of an"adept Pythagorean philosopher," || and relatesseveral instances of the efficacy of his powers

* Insignis philosophus ; see his Chronicon, written downto the year 519.

f In his Chronographia. See Legrand d Aussy, op. cit,,p. 313.

J Chiliades, ii. 60.Cited by Legrand d Aussy, op. cit., p. 286.

|| iAoo-o os HvOayopeios 0-Toixa>/>umKos Cedrenus, Compendium Historiarium, i. 346 ; ed. Bekker. The wordwhich I have rendered by " adept " signifies one "whohas power over the elements."


49/176

THE APOLLONIUS OF EARLY OPINION. 41in Byzantium. In fact, if we can believeNicetas, as late as the thirteenth century therewere at Byzantium certain bronze doors, formerly consecrated by Apollonius, which had tobe melted down because they had become anobject of superstition even for the Christiansthemselves.^Had the work of Philostratus disappeared

with the rest of the Lives, the above would be allthat we should have known about Apollonius. tLittle enough, it is true, concerning so distinguished a character, yet ample enough toshow that, with the exception of theologicalprejudice, the suffrages of antiquity were all onthe side of our philosopher.

* Legrand d Aussy, op. cit., p. 308.f If we except the disputed Letters and a few quota

tions from one of Apollonius lost writings.


50/176

SECTION V.

TEXTS, TRANSLATIONS, ANDLITERATUEE.WE will now turn to the texts, translations,and general literature of the subject in morerecent times. Apollonius returned to thememory of the world, after the oblivion of thedark ages, with evil auspices. From the verybeginning the old Hierocles-Eusebius controversy was revived, and the whole subject was atonce taken out of the calm region of philosophyand history and hurled once more into the stormyarena of religious bitterness and prejudice. Forlong Aldus hesitated to print the text ofPhilostratus, and only finally did so (in 1501)with the text of Eusebius as an appendix, so that,as he piously phrases it, " the antidote might accompany the poison." Together with it appeareda Latin translation by the Florentine Rinucci.*

* Philostratus de Vita Apollonii Tyanei Libri Octo,tr. by A. Rinuccinus, and Eusebius contra Hieroclem,tr. by Z. Acciolus (Venice; 1501-04, fol.). Kinucci stranslation was improved by Beroaldus and printed atLyons (1504?), and again at Cologne, 1534.


51/176

TEXTS, TRANSLATIONS, AND LITERATURE. 43In addition to the Latin version the sixteenth

century also produced an Italian^ and Frenchtranslation, t

The editio princeps of Aldus was supersededa century later by the edition of Morel,^ whichin its turn was followed a century still later bythat of Olearius. Nearly a century and a halflater again the text of Olearius was supersededby that of Kayser (the first critical text), whosework in its last edition contains the latest criticalapparatus. || All information with regard to theMSS. will be found in Kayser s Latin Prefaces.

* F. Baldelli, Filostrato Lemnio della Vita di ApollonioTianeo (Florence; 1549, 8vo).

t B. de Vignere, Philostrate de la Vie d Apollonius(Paris; 1596, 1599, 1611). Blaise de Vignere s translationwas subsequently corrected by Frederic Morel and later byThomas Artus, Sieur d Embry, with bombastic notes inwhich he bitterly attacks the wonder-workings of Apollonius.A French translation was also made by Th. Sibiletabout 1560, but never published ; the MS. was in theBibliotheque Imperiale. See Miller, Journal des Savants,1849, p. 625, quoted by Chassang, op. infr. cit., p. iv.

J F. Morellus, Philostrati Lemnii Opera, Gr. and Lat.(Paris; 1608).

G. Olearius, Philostratorum quae supersunt Omnia, Gr.and Lat. (Leipzig; 1709).

|| C. L. Kayser, Flavii Philostrati quse supersunt, etc.(Zurich; 1844, 4to). In 1849 A. Westermann also editeda text, Philostratorum et Callistrati Opera, in Didot s"Scriptorum Grsecorum Bibliotheca" (Paris; 1849, 8vo).But Kayser brought out a new edition in 1853 ("?),and again a third, with additional information in thePreface, in the "Bibliotheca Teubneriana" (Leipzig; 1870).


52/176

44 APOLLONIUS OF TYANA.We shall now attempt to give some idea of

the general literature on the subject, so that thereader may be able to note some of the varyingfortunes of the war of opinion in the bibliographical indications. And if the general readershould be impatient of the matter and eager toget to something of greater interest, he can easilyomit its perusal ; while if he be a lover of themystic way, and does not take delight in wrangling controversy, he may a.t least sympathisewith the writer, who has been compelled to lookthrough the works of the last century and a goodround dozen of those of the previous centuries,before he could venture on an opinion of his ownwith a clear conscience.

Sectarian prejudice against Apollonius characterises nearly every opinion prior to thenineteenth century.^ Of books distinctlydedicated to the subject the works of the AbbDupint and of de Tillemont { are bitter attacks

* For a general summary of opinions prior to 1807, ofwriters who mention Apollonius incidentally, see Legrandd Aussy, op. cit., ii. pp. 313-327.

t L Histoire d Apollone de Tyane convaiucue de Fausseteet d Imposture (Paris ; 1705).

| An Account of the Life of Apollonius Tyaneus (London ; 1702), tr. out of the French, from vol. ii. of Lenainde Tillemont s Histoire des Empereurs (2nd ed., Paris;1720) : to which is added Some Observations uponApollonius. De Tillemont s view is that Apollonius wassent by the Devil to destroy the work of the Saviour.


53/176

TEXTS, TRANSLATIONS, AND LITERATURE. 45on the Philosopher of Tyana in defence of themonopoly of Christian miracles ; while those ofthe Abbe Houtteville * and Liiderwald t are lessviolent, though on the same lines. A pseudonymous writer, however, of the eighteenth centurystrikes out a somewhat different line by classingtogether the miracles of the Jesuits and otherMonastic Orders with those of Apollonius, anddubbing them all spurious, while maintainingthe sole authenticity of those of Jesus.

Nevertheless, Bacon and Voltaire speak ofApollonius in the highest terms, and even acentury before the latter the English Deist,Charles Blount,|| raised his voice against the

* A Critical and Historical Discourse upon the Methodof the Principal Authors who wrote for and againstChristianity from its Beginning (London ; 1739), tr. fromthe French of M. 1 Abbe Houtteville j to which is added a" Dessertation on the Life of Apollonius Tyanseus, withsome Observations on the Platonists of the Latter School,"pp. 213-254.

t Anti-Hierocles oder Jesus Christus und Apolloniusvon Tyana in ihrer grossen Ungleichheit, dargestellt v. J. B.Liiderwald (Halle; 1793).

t Phileleutherus Helvetius, De Miraculis quae Pythagorae,Apollonio Tyanensi, Francisco Asisio, Dominico, et IgnatioLojolae tribuuntur Libellus (Draci ; 1734).

See Legrand d Aussy, op. cit., ii. p. 314, where thetexts are given.|| The Two First Books of Philostratus concerning the

Life of Apollonius Tyaneus (London; 1680, fol.). Blount snotes (generally ascribed to Lord Herbert) raised such anoutcry that the book was condemned in 1693, and few


54/176

46 APOLLONIUS OF TYANA.universal obloquy poured upon the character ofthe Tyanean ; his work, however, was speedilysuppressed.

In the midst of this war about miracles in theeighteenth century it is pleasant to remark theshort treatise of Herzog, who endeavours to givea sketch of the philosophy and religious life ofApollonius,^ but, alas there were no followers ofso liberal an example in this century of strife.

So far then for the earlier literature of thesubject. Frankly none of it is worth reading ;the problem could not be calmly considered in sucha period. It started on the false ground of theHierocles-Eusebius controversy, which was but anincident (for wonder-working is common to allgreat teachers and not peculiar to Apolloniusor Jesus), and was embittered by the rise ofEncyclopsedism and the rationalism of theEevolution period. Not that the miracle-controversy ceased even in the last century ; itcopies are in existence. Blount s notes were, however,translated into French a century later, in the days ofEncyclopsedism, and appended to a French version of theVita, under the title, Vie d Apollonius de Tyane parPhilostrate avec les Commentaires donnes en Anglois parCharles Blount sur les deux Premiers Livres de cetOuvrage (Amsterdam ; 1779, 4 vols., 8vo), with an ironicaldedication to Pope Clement XIV., signed " Philalethes."* Philosophiam Practicam Apollonii Tyanaei in Scia-graphia, exponit M. lo. Christianus Herzog (Leipzig ; 1709) ;an academical oration of 20 pp.


55/176

TEXTS, TRANSLATIONS, AND LITERATURE. 47does not, however, any longer obscure the wholehorizon, and the sun of a calmer judgmentmay be seen breaking through the mist.

In order to make the rest of our summaryclearer we append at the end of this essay thetitles of the works which have appeared sincethe beginning of the nineteenth century, inchronological order.A glance over this list will show that the lastcentury has produced an English (Berwick s),an Italian (Lancetti s), a French (Chassang s),and two German translations (Jacobs andBaltzer s).* The Eev. E. Berwick s translationis the only English version ; in his Preface theauthor, while asserting the falsity of the miraculous element in the Life, says that the restof the work deserves careful attention. No harmwill accrue to the Christian religion by its perusal, for there are no allusions to the Life ofChrist in it, and the miracles are based on thoseascribed to Pythagoras.

This is certainly a healthier standpoint thanthat of the traditional theological controversy,which, unfortunately, however, was revived*

Philostratus is a difficult author to translate, nevertheless Chassang and Baltzer have succeeded very well with him ;Berwick also is readable, but in most places gives us a paraphrase rather than a translation and frequently mistakes themeaning. Chassang s and Baltzer s are by far the besttranslations.


56/176

48 APOLLONIUS OF TYANA.again by the great authority of Baur, who sawin a number of the early documents of theChristian era (notably the canonical Acts)tendency-writings of but slight historical content, representing the changing fortunes ofschools and parties and not the actual historiesof individuals. The Life of Apollonius was oneof these tendency-writings ; its object was to putforward a view opposed to Christianity in favourof philosophy. Baur thus divorced the wholesubject from its historical standpoint andattributed to Philostratus an elaborate schemeof which he was entirely innocent. Baur s viewwas largely adopted by Zeller in his Philosophieder Griechen (v. 140), and by KeVille in Holland.

This " Christusbild " theory (carried by a fewextremists to the point of denying that Apollonius ever existed) has had a great vogue amongwriters on the subject, especially compilers ofencyclopaedia articles ; it is at any rate a widerissue than the traditional miracle-wrangle, whichwas again revived in all its ancient narrownessby Newman, who only uses Apollonius as anexcuse for a dissertation on orthodox miracles,to which he devotes eighteen pages out of thetwenty-five of his treatise. Noack also followsBaur, and to some extent Pettersch, though hetakes the subject onto the ground of philosophy ;while Mockeberg, pastor of St. Nicolai in Ham-


57/176

TEXTS, TRANSLATIONS, AND LITERATURE. 49burg, though striving to be fair to Apollonius,ends his chatty dissertation with an outburst oforthodox praises of Jesus, praises which we by nomeans grudge, but which are entirely out of placein such a subject.

The development of the Jesus-Apolloniusmiracle - controversy into the Jesus-against-Apollonius and even Christ-against-Anti-Christbattle, fought out with relays of lusty championson the one side against a feeble protest at best onthe other, is a painful spectacle to contemplate.How sadly must Jesus and Apollonius havelooked upon, and still look upon, this bitter anduseless strife over their saintly persons. Whyshould posterity set their memories one againstthe other ? Did they oppose one another in life ?Did even their biographers do so after theirdeaths ? Why then could not the controversyhave ceased with Eusebius ? For Lactantiusfrankly admits the point brought forward byHierocles (to exemplify which Hierocles onlyreferred to Apollonius as one instance out ofmany) that "miracles" do not prove divinity.We rest our claims, says Lactantius, not onmiracles, but on the fulfilment of prophecy.*Had this more sensible position been revived

* This would have at least restored Apollonius to hisnatural environment, and confined the question of thedivinity of Jesus to its proper Judeeo-Christian ground.4


58/176

50 APOLLONIUS OF TYANA.instead of that of Eusebius, the problem of Apol-lonius would have been considered in its naturalhistorical environment four hundred years ago,and much ink and paper would have been saved.

"With the progress of the critical method,however, opinion has at length partly recoveredits balance, and it is pleasant to be able to turnto works which have rescued the subject fromtheological obscurantism and placed it in theopen field of historical and critical research. Thetwo volumes of the independent thinker, Legrandd Aussy, which appeared at the very beginningof the last century, are, for the time, remarkablyfree from prejudice, and are a praiseworthyattempt at historical impartiality, but criticismwas still young at this period. Kayser, thoughhe does not go thoroughly into the matter,decides that the account of Philostratus is purelya "fabularis narratio" but is well opposed byI. Miiller, who contends for a strong element ofhistory as a background. But by far thebest sifting of the sources is that of Jessen.*Priaulx s study deals solely with the Indianepisode and is of no critical value for theestimation of the sources. Of all previousstudies, however, the works of Chassang and

* I am unable to offer any opinion on Nielsen s book,from ignorance of Danish, but it has all the appearance ofa careful, scholarly treatise with abundance of references.


59/176

TEXTS, TRANSLATIONS, AND LITERATURE. 51Baltzer are the most generally intelligent, forboth writers are aware of the possibilities ofpsychic science, though mostly from the insufficient standpoint of spiritistic phenomena.As for Tredwell s somewhat pretentious

volume which, being in English, is accessible tothe general reader, it is largely reactionary, andis used as a cover for adverse criticism of theChristian origins from a Secularist standpointwhich denies at the outset the possibility of" miracle " in any meaning of the word. A massof well-known numismatological and othermatter, which is entirely irrelevant, but whichseems to be new and surprising to the author, isintroduced, and a map is prefixed to the title-page purporting to give the itineraries of Apol-lonius, but having little reference to the text ofPhilostratus. Indeed, nowhere does Tredwellshow that he is working on the text itself, andthe subject in his hands is but an excuse for arambling dissertation on the first century ingeneral from his own standpoint.

This is all regrettable, for with the exceptionof Berwick s translation, which is almost unprocurable, we have nothing of value in Englishfor the general reader,* except Sinnett s short

* Reville s Pagan Christ is quite a misrepresentation ofthe subject, and Newman s treatment of the matter rendershis treatise an anachronism for the twentieth century.


60/176

52 APOLLONIUS OF TYANA.sketch, which is descriptive rather than criticalor explanatory.

So far then for the history of the Apolloniusof opinion ; we will now turn to the Apolloniusof Philostratus, and attempt if possible todiscover some traces of the man as he was inhistory, and the nature of his life and work.


61/176

SECTION VI.THE BIOGRAPHER OF APOLLONIUS.

FLAVIUS PHILOSTRATUS, the writer of the onlyLife of Apollonius which has come down to us,*was a distinguished man of letters who lived inthe last quarter of the second and the first halfof the third century (dr. 175-245 A.D.). Heformed one of the circle of famous writers andthinkers gathered round the philosopher-empress,t Julia Domna, who was the guidingspirit of the Empire during the reigns of her husband Septimius Severus and her son Caracalla.All three members of the imperial family werestudents of occult science, and the age was preeminently one in which the occult arts, good andbad, were a passion. Thus the sceptical Gibbon,in his sketch of Severus and his famous consort,writes :

" Like most of the Africans, Severus was* Consisting of eight books written in Greek under the

general title To, es TOV Tvavea ATroAAwviov.f 77 os, see art. " Philostratus " in Smith s Diet,

of Gr. and Rom. Biog. (London; 1870), Hi. 3276.


62/176

54 APOLLONIUS OF TYANA.passionately addicted to the vain studies ofmagic and divination, deeply versed in theinterpretation of dreams and omens, and perfectlyacquainted with the science of judicial astrology,which in almost every age except the present,has maintained its dominion over the mind ofman. He had lost his first wife whilst he wasgovernor of the Lionnese Gaul. In the choiceof a second, he sought only to connect himselfwith some favourite of fortune ; and as soon ashe had discovered that a young lady of Emesain Syria had a royal nativity* he solicited andobtained her hand. Julia Domna t (for thatwas her name) deserved all that the stars couldpromise her. She possessed, even in an advancedage, | the attractions of beauty, and united to alively imagination a firmness of mind, andstrength of judgment, seldom bestowed on hersex. Her amiable qualities never made anydeep impression on the dark and jealous temperof her husband, but in her son s reign, sheadministered the principal affairs of the Empirewith a prudence that supported his authority,and with a moderation that sometimes corrected

* The italics are Gibbon s.f More correctly Domna Julia ; Domna being not a

shortened form of Domina, but the Syrian name of theempress.

J She died A.D. 217.The contrary is held by other historians.


63/176

THE BIOGRAPHER OF APOLLONIUS. 55his wild extravagances. Julia applied herself toletters and philosophy with some success, andwith the most splendid reputation. She was thepatroness of every art, and the friend of everyman of genius." *We thus see, even from Gibbon s somewhatgrudging estimate, that Domna Julia was awoman of remarkable character, whose outer actsgive evidence of an inner purpose, and whoseprivate life has not been written. It was ather request that Philostratus wrote the Life ofApollonius, and it was she who supplied himwith certain MSS. that were in her possession, asa basis ; for the beautiful daughter of Bassianus,priest of the sun at Emesa, was an ardentcollector of books from every part of the world,especially of the MSS. of philosophers and ofmemoranda and biographical notes relating tothe famous students of the inner nature ofthings.

That Philostratus was the best man to whomto entrust so important a task, is doubtful. Itis true that he was a skilled stylist and apractised man of letters, an art critic and anardent antiquarian, as we may see from his otherworks ; but he was a sophist rather than a philosopher, and though an enthusiastic admirer ofPythagoras and his school, was so from a

* Gibbon s Decline and Fall, I. vi.


64/176

56 APOLLONIUS OP TYANA.distance, regarding it rather through a wonder-loving atmosphere of curiosity and the embellishments of a lively imagination than from apersonal acquaintance with its discipline, or apractical knowledge of those hidden forces ofthe soul with which its adepts dealt. We have,therefore, to expect a sketch of the appearance of a thing by one outside, rather thanan exposition of the thing itself from onewithin.

The following is Philostratus account of thesources from which he derived his informationconcerning Apollonius : *

" I have collected my materials partly fromthe cities which loved him, partly from thetemples whose rites and regulations he restoredfrom their former state of neglect, partly fromwhat others have said about him, and partlyfrom his own letters, t More detailed information I procured as follows. Damis was aman of some education who formerly used to

* I use the 1846 and 1870 editions of Kayser s textthroughout.

f A collection of these letters (but not all of them) hadbeen 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 shortlyafter his disappearance from history, and while he was stilla living memory. It is to be noticed that Hadrian was anenlightened ruler, a great traveller, a lover of religion, andan initiate of the Eleusinian Mysteries.


65/176

THE BIOGRAPHER OF APOLLONIUS. 57Jive in the ancient city of Ninus.* He becamea disciple of ApoHonius and recorded histravels, in which he says he himself took part,and also the views, sayings, and predictions ofhis master. A member of Damis family broughtthe Empress Julia the note-books t containingthese memoirs, which up to that time had notbeen known of. As I was one of the circle ofthis princess, who was a lover and patroness ofall literary productions, she ordered me to rewrite these sketches and improve their form ofexpression,

for though the Ninevite expressedhimself clearly, his style was far from correct.I also have had access to a book by Maximus 1of Mgsd which contained all Apollonius doingsat Mgsd. There is also a will written by Apollonius, from which we can learn how he almostdeified philosophy. || As to the four books ofMoerageneslI on Apollonius they do not deserve

* Nineveh.f TOLS SeXrov?, 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).

| One of the imperial secretaries of the time, who wasfamous for his eloquence, and tutor to Apollonius.A town not far from Tarsus.

|| 0)5 VTroOcid&v rrjv Des Associations religieuses chez les Grecs, Thiases,Cranes, Orgeons, avec le Texte des Inscriptions relatives a cesAssociations (Paris ; 1873).

Liiders (H. 0.), Die dionyschischen Kiinstler (Berlin ; 1873).Cohn (M.), Zum romischen Vereinsrecht : Abhandlung aus derRechtsgeschichte (Berlin ; 1873). Also the notice of it in Bursian s

Philol. Jaresbericht (1873), ii. 238-304.Henzen (G. ), Acta Fratrum Arvalium quse supersunt ; . . . .accedunt Fragmenta Fastorum in Luco Arvalium effossa (Berlin ;1874).

Heinrici (G.), "Die Christengemeinde Korinths und diereligibsen genossenschaften der Griechen " ; " Zur Geschichte der An-fange paulinischer Geraeinden " ; arts, in Zeitschr. fiir wissensch.Theol. (Jena, etc. ; 1876), pp. 465-526, particularly pp. 479 sqq. ;1877, pp. 89-130.Duruy (V.), " Du Regime municipal dans 1 Empire romain," art. inLa Revue historique (Paris ; 1876), pp. 355 sqq. ; also his Histoiredes Romanis (Paris ; 1843, 1844), i. 149 sqq.De Rossi, Roma Sotteranea (Rome; 1877), iii. 37 sqq., andespecially pp. 507 sqq.Marquardt (J.), Rbmische Staatsverwaltung, iii. 131-142, in vol.

vi. of Marquardt and Mommsen s Handbuch der romischen Alther-thiimer (Leipzig ; 1878) ; an excellent summary with valuable notes,especially the section "Ersatz der Gentes durch die Sodalitates fiirfremde Culte."Boissier (G.), La Religion romaine d Auguste aux Antonins (Paris ;2nd ed. 1878), ii. 238-304 (1st ed. 1874).Hatch (E.), The Organization of the Early Christian Churches : The

Bampton Lectures for 1880 (London ; 2nd ed. 1882) ; see especiallyLecture ii., "Bishops and Deacons," pp. 26-32; German ed. DieGesellschaftsverfassung der christlichen Kirchen in Aithertum (1883),p. 20 ; see this for additional literature.Newmann (K. J.), " Qia.rai I7j(ro0,"art. in Jahrbb. fiir prot. Theol.(Leipzig, etc. ; 1885), pp. 123-125.

Schiirer(E.), A History of the Jewish People in the Time of JesusChrist, Eng. tr. (Edinburgh ; 1893), Div. ii. vol. ii. pp. 255 and 300.Owen (J.), " On the Organization of the Early Church," an Introductory Essay to the English translation of Harnack s Sources of theApostolic Canons (London ; 1895).Anst (E. ), Die Religion der Romer ; vol. xiii. Darstellungen ausdem Gebiete der nichtchristlichen Religionsgeschichte (Miinster i.W. ; 1899).


167/176

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES. 159See also Whiston and "Wayte s art. Arvales Fratres, " and Moyle s

arts. "Collegium" and " Universitas, " in Smith, Wayte andMarindin s Diet, of Greek and Roman Antiquities (London; 3rd ed.1890-1891); and also, of course, the arts. "Collegium" and1 Sodalitas " in Pauly s Realencyclopadie der classichen Alterthums-wissenschaft, though they are now somewhat out of date.

PRINTED BY NEILL AND CO,, LTD., EDINBURGH.


168/176

WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR.

THE PISTIS SOPHIA: A Gnostic Gospel.(With Extracts from the Books of the Saviour appended).

Originally translated from Greek into Coptic, and nowfor the first time Englished from Schwartze s LatinVersion of the only known Coptic MS., and checked byAme"lineau s French Version. With an Introduction andBibliography. 394 pp., large octavo. Cloth, 7s. 6d. net.

SOME PRESS OPINIONS."The Pistis Sophia has long been recognised as one of themost important Gnostic documents we possess, and Mr Mead

deserves the gratitude of students of Church History and of theHistory of Christian Thought, for his admirable translation andedition of this curious Gospel." Glasgow Herald.

" Mr Mead has done a service to other than Theosophists byhis translation of the Pistis Sophia. This curious work has nottill lately received the attention which it deservesHe has prefixed a short Introduction, which includes an excellentbibliography. Thus, the English reader is now in a position tojudge for himself of the scientific value of the only Gnostictreatise of any considerable length which has come down to us."Guardian.

"From a scholar s point of view the work is of value asillustrating the philosophico-mystical tendencies of the secondcentury." Record.

" Mr Mead deserves thanks for putting in an English dressthis curious document from the early ages of Christian philosophy."

Manchester Guardian.

THE THEOSOPHICAL PUBLISHING SOCIETY,LONDON AND BENARES.


169/176

WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR.FRAGMENTS OF A FAITH FORGOTTEN.

Some short Sketches among the Gnostics, mainly of the First TwoCenturies a Contribution to the Study of Christian Origins

based on the most Recently Discovered Materials.I. Introduction. Outlines of the Background of the Gnosis ; Literatureand Sources of Gnosticism.II. The GnosIS according: to its FOGS. Gnostic Fragments recoveredfrom the Polemical Writings of the Church Fathers; the Gnosis in theUncanonical Acts.

III. The Gnosis according to its Friends. Greek Original Works inCoptic Translation ; the Askew, Bruce, and Akhmim Codices.

Classified Bibliographies are appended. 630, xxviii. pp., Large Octavo,Cloth. 10s. 6d. net.SOME PRESS NOTICES.

" Mr Mead has done his work in a scholarly and painstaking fashion." The Guardian."The ordinary student of Christian evidences, if he confines his reading to the Fathers,learns nothing of these opinions [the so-called Gnostic heresies ] except by way of refutation and angry condemnation. In Mr Mead s pages, however, they are treated with

impartiality and candour These remarks will suffice to show the unique characterof this volume, and to indicate that students may find here matter of great service to therational interpretation of Christian thought." Bradford Observer.

11 The book, Mr Mead explains, is not intended primarily for the student, but for thegeneral reader, and it certainly should not be neglected by anyone who is interested inthe history of early Christian thought." The Scotsman." The work is one of great labour and learning, and deserves study as a sympatheticestimate of a rather severely-judged class of heretics." Glasgow Herald." Written in a clear and elegant style The bibliographies in the volume are ofworld-wide range, and will be most valuable to students of theosophy." Asiatic Quarterly."Mr Mead writes with a precision and clearness on subjects usually associated with

bewildering technicalities and mystifications. Even the long-suffering general readercould go through this large volume with pleasure. That is a great deal to say of a bookon such a subject." Light." This striking work will certainly be read not only with the greatest interest in the

select circle of the cultured, but by that much larger circle of those longing to learn allabout Truth May be summed up as an extraordinary clear exposition of theGnosis of Saints and the Sages of philosophic Christianity." The Roman Herald."Comprehensive, interesting, and scholarly The chapters entitled SomeRough Outlines of the Background of the Gnosis are well written, and they tend tofocus the philosophic and religious movement of the ancient world. There is a veryexcellent bibliography." The Spectator."Mr Mead does us another piece of service by including a complete copy of theGnostic Hymn of the Robe of Glory .... and a handy epitome of the Pistis Sophia isanother item for which the student will be grateful." The Literary Guide."The author has naturally the interest of a theosophist in Gnosticism, and approachesthe subject accordingly from a point of view different from our own. But while his pointof view emerges in the course of the volume, this does not affect the value of his workfor those who do not share his special standpoint Mr Mead has at anyrate renderedus an excellent service, and we shall look forward with pleasure to his future studies."

The Primitive Methodist Quarterly.This is the First Attempt that has been made to bring together All theExisting Sources of Information on the Earliest Christian Philosophers.

THE THEOSOPHICAL PUBLISHING SOCIETY,LONDON AND BENARES.


170/176

WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR.SIMON MAGUS: An Essay.

The most complete work on the subject. Quarto. Price :5s. net. Wrappers.

THE WORLD MYSTERY : Four Essays.Contents: The World-Soul ; The Vestures of the Soul ; TheWeb of Destiny ; True Self-reliance. Octavo. Price :

cloth, 3s. 64 net.

THE THEOSOPHY OF THE GREEKS.PLOTINUS.

With an exhaustive Bibliography. Octavo. Price : cloth,Is. net.

ORPHEUS,With three Charts and Bibliography. Will serve as an

Introduction to Hellenic Theology. Octavo. Price :cloth, 4s. 6d. net.

THE THEOSOPHY OF THE VEDAS.THE UPANISHADS : 2 Volumes.

Half Octavo. Paper, 6d. ; cloth, Is. 6d. each net.VOLUME I.

Contains a Translation of the Isha, Kena, Katha, Prashna,Mundaka, and Mandukya Upanishads, with a GeneralPreamble, Arguments, and Notes by G. R. S. Mead andJ. C. Chattopadhyaya (Roy Choudhuri).

VOLUME II.Contains a Translation of the Taittiriya, Aitareya, and

Shvetashvatara Upanishads, with Arguments and Notes.


171/176


172/176

a


173/176


174/176

-


175/176

B Mead, George Robert Stow536 Apollonius of Tyanacop. 2

PLEASE DO NOT REMOVECARDS OR SLIPS FROM THIS POCKET

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO LIBRARY


176/176

Documents

Apollonius of Tyana, GRS Mead