Apollonius of Tyana, the Philosopher-Reformer of the First Century A.D Part 8

43. If any say he is my disciple, then let him add he keeps himself apart out of the Baths, he slays no living thing, eats of no flesh, is free from envy, malice, hatred, calumny, and hostile feelings, but has his name inscribed among the race of those whove won their freedom.

Among these letters is found one of some length addressed to Valerius, probably P. Valerius Asiaticus, consul in A.D. 70. It is a wise letter of philosophic consolation to enable Valerius to bear the loss of his son, and runs as follows:[125]

There is no death of anyone, but only in appearance, even as there is no birth of any, save only in seeming. The change from being to becoming seems to be birth, and the change from becoming to being seems to be death, but in reality no one is ever born, nor does one ever die. It is simply a being visible and then invisible; the former through the density of matter, and the latter because of the subtlety of being--being which is ever the same, its only change being motion and rest. For being has this necessary peculiarity, that its change is brought about by nothing external to itself; but whole becomes parts and parts become whole in the oneness of the all. And if it be asked: What is this which sometimes is seen and sometimes not seen, now in the same, now in the different?--it might be answered: It is the way of everything here in the world below that when it is filled out with matter it is visible, owing to the resistance of its density, but is invisible, owing to its subtlety, when it is rid of matter, though matter still surround it and flow through it in that immensity of s.p.a.ce which hems it in but knows no birth or death.

But why has this false notion [of birth and death] remained so long without a refutation? Some think that what has happened through them, they have themselves brought about. They are ignorant that the individual is brought to birth _through_ parents, not by parents, just as a thing produced _through_ the earth is not produced _from_ it. The change which comes to the individual is nothing that is caused by his visible surroundings, but rather a change in the one thing which is in every individual.

And what other name can we give to it but primal being? Tis it alone that acts and suffers becoming all for all through all, eternal deity, deprived and wronged of its own self by names and forms. But this is a less serious thing than that a man should be bewailed, when he has pa.s.sed from man to G.o.d by change of state and not by the destruction of his nature. The fact is that so far from mourning death you ought to honour it and reverence it. The best and fittest way for you to honour death is now to leave the one whos gone to G.o.d, and set to work to play the ruler over those left in your charge as you were wont to do. It would be a disgrace for such a man as you to owe your cure to time and not to reason, for time makes even common people cease from grief. The greatest thing is a strong rule, and of the greatest rulers he is best who first can rule himself. And how is it permissible to wish to change what has been brought to pa.s.s by will of G.o.d? If theres a law in things, and there _is_ one, and it is G.o.d who has appointed it, the righteous man will have no wish to try to change good things, for such a wish is selfishness, and counter to the law, but he will think that all that comes to pa.s.s is a good thing. On! heal yourself, give justice to the wretched and console them; so shall you dry your tears. You should not set your private woes above your public cares, but rather set your public cares before your private woes. And see as well what consolation you already have! The nation sorrows with you for your son. Make some return to those who weep with you; and this you will more quickly do if you will cease from tears than if you still persist. Have you not friends? Why! you have yet another son. Have you not even still the one thats gone? You have!--will answer anyone who really thinks. For that which is doth cease not--nay _is_ just for the very fact that it will be for aye; or else the is not is, and how could that be when the is doth never cease to be?

Again it will be said you fail in piety to G.o.d and are unjust. Tis true. You fail in piety to G.o.d, you fail in justice to your boy; nay more, you fail in piety to him as well. Wouldst know what death is?

Then make me dead and send me off to company with death, and if you will not change the dress youve put on it,[126] you will have straightway made me better than yourself.[127]

SECTION XVII.

THE WRITINGS OF APOLLONIUS.

But besides these letters Apollonius also wrote a number of treatises, of which, however, only one or two fragments have been preserved. These treatises are as follows:

_a._ The Mystic Rites or Concerning Sacrifices.[128] This treatise is mentioned by Philostratus (iii. 41; iv. 19), who tells us that it set down the proper method of sacrifice to every G.o.d, the proper hours of prayer and offering. It was in wide circulation, and Philostratus had come across copies of it in many temples and cities, and in the libraries of philosophers. Several fragments of it have been preserved,[129] the most important of which is to be found in Eusebius,[130] and is to this effect: Tis best to make no sacrifice to G.o.d at all, no lighting of a fire, no calling Him by any name that men employ for things of sense. For G.o.d is over all, the first; and only after Him do come the other G.o.ds. For He doth stand in need of naught een from the G.o.ds, much less from us small men--naught that the earth brings forth, nor any life she nurseth, or even any thing the stainless air contains. The only fitting sacrifice to G.o.d is mans best reason, and not the word[131] that comes from out his mouth.

We men should ask the best of beings through the best thing in us, for what is good--I mean by means of mind, for mind needs no material things to make its prayer. So then, to G.o.d, the mighty One, whos over all, no sacrifice should ever be lit up.

Noack[132] tells us that scholars.h.i.+p is convinced of the genuineness of this fragment. This book, as we have seen, was widely circulated and held in the highest respect, and it said that its rules were engraved on brazen pillars at Byzantium.[133]

_b._ The Oracles or Concerning Divination, 4 books. Philostratus (iii.

41) seems to think that the full t.i.tle was Divination of the Stars, and says that it was based on what Apollonius had learned in India; but the _kind_ of divination Apollonius wrote about was not the ordinary astrology, but something which Philostratus considers superior to ordinary human art in such matters. He had, however, never heard of anyone possessing a copy of this rare work.

_c._ The Life of Pythagoras. Porphyry refers to this work,[134] and Iamblichus quotes a long pa.s.sage from it.[135]

_d._ The Will of Apollonius, to which reference has already been made, in treating of the sources of Philostratus (i. 3). This was written in the Ionic dialect, and contained a summary of his doctrines.

A Hymn to Memory is also ascribed to him, and Eudocia speaks of many other (?a? ???a p????) works.

We have now indicated for the reader all the information which exists concerning our philosopher. Was Apollonius, then, a rogue, a trickster, a charlatan, a fanatic, a misguided enthusiast, or a philosopher, a reformer, a conscious worker, a true initiate, one of the earths great ones? This each must decide for himself, according to his knowledge or his ignorance.

I for my part bless his memory, and would gladly learn from him, as now he is.

SECTION XVIII.

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES.

NINETEENTH CENTURY LITERATURE ON APOLLONIUS.

Jacobs (F.), Observationes in ... Philostrati Vitam Apollonii (Jena; 1804), purely philological, for the correction of the text.

Legrand dAussy (P. J. B.), Vie dApollonius de Tyane (Paris; 1807, 2 vols.).

Bekker (G. J.), Specimen Variarum Lectionum ... in Philost.

Vit App. Librum primum (1808); purely philological.

Berwick (E.), The Life of Apollonius of Tyana, translated from the Greek of Philostratus, with Notes and Ill.u.s.trations (London; 1809).

Lancetti (V.), Le Opere dei due Filostrati, Italian trs.

(Milano; 1828-31); in Coll. degli Ant. Storici Greci volgarizzati.

Jacobs (F.), Philostratus: Leben des Apollonius von Tyana, in the series Griechische Prosaiker, German trs. (Stuttgart; 1829-32), vols. xlviii., lxvi., cvi., cxi., each containing two books; a very clumsy arrangement.

Baur (F. C.), Apollonius von Tyana und Christus oder das Verhltniss des Pythagoreismus zum Christenthum (Tbingen; 1832); reprinted from Tbinger Zeitschrift fr Theologie.

Second edition by E. Zeller (Leipzig; 1876), in Drei Abhandlungen zur Geschichte der alten Philosophie und ihres Verhltnisses zum Christenthum.

Kayser and Westermanns editions as above referred to in section v.

Newman (J. H.), Apollonius Tya.n.u.s--Miracles, in Smedleys Encyclopdia Metropolitana (London; 1845), x. pp. 619-644.

Noack (L.), Apollonius von Tyana ein Christusbild des Heidenthums, in his magazine Psyche: Populrwissenschaftliche Zeitschrift fr die Kentniss des menschlichen Seelen- und Geistes-lebens (Leipzig; 1858), Bd. i., Heft ii., pp. 1-24.

Mller (I. P. E.), Commentatio qua de Philostrati in componenda Memoria Apoll. Tyan. fide quritur, I.-III. (Onoldi et Landavii; 1858-1860).

Mller (E.), War Apollonius von Tyana ein Weiser oder ein Betrger oder ein Schwrmer und Fanatiker? Ein Culturhistorische Untersuchung (Breslau; 1861, 4to), 56 pp.

Cha.s.sang (A.), Apollonius de Tyane, sa Vie, ses Voyages, ses Prodiges, par Philostrate, et ses Lettres, trad. du grec. avec Introd., Notes et Eclairciss.e.m.e.nts (Paris; 1862), with the additional t.i.tle, Le Merveilleux dans lAntiquit.

Rville (A.), Apollonius the Pagan Christ of the Third Century (London; 1866), tr. from the French. The original is not in the British Museum.

Priaulx (O. de B.), The Indian Travels of Apollonius of Tyana, etc. (London; 1873), pp. 1-62.

Mnckeberg (C.), Apollonius von Tyana, ein Weihnachtsgabe (Hamburg; 1877), 57 pp.

Pettersch (C. H.), Apollonius von Tyana der Heiden Heiland, ein philosophische Studie (Reichenberg; 1879), 23 pp.

Nielsen (C. L.), Apollonios fra Tyana og Filostrats Beskrivelse af hans Levnet (Copenhagen; 1879); the Appendix (pp. 167 sqq.) contains a Danish tr. of Eusebius Contra Hieroclem.

Baltzer (E.), Apollonius von Tyana, aus den Griech. bersetzt u. erlutert (Rudolstadt i/ Th.; 1883).

Jessen (J.), Apollonius von Tyana und sein Biograph Philostratus (Hamburg; 1885, 4to), 36 pp.

Tredwell (D. M.), A Sketch of the Life of Apollonius of Tyana, or the first Ten Decades of our Era (New York; 1886).

Sinnett (A. P.), Apollonius of Tyana, in the Transactions (No. 32) of the London Lodge of the Theosophical Society (London; 1898), 32 pp.