THE TRAVELS OF APOLLONIUS.
And so Apollonius departs from Antioch and journeys on to Ninus, the
relic of the once great Nina or Nineveh. There he meets with Damis, who
becomes his constant companion and faithful disciple. "Let us go
together," says Damis in words reminding us somewhat of the words of
Ruth. "Thou shalt follow God, and I thee!" (i. 19).
From this point Philostratus professes to base himself to a great extent
on the narrative of Damis, and before going further, it is necessary to
try to form some estimate of the character of Damis, and discover how
far he was admitted to the real confidence of Apollonius.
Damis was an enthusiast who loved Apollonius with a passionate
affection. He saw in his master almost a divine being, possessed of
marvellous powers at which he continually wondered, but which he could
never understand. Like [=A]nanda, the favourite disciple of the Buddha
and his constant companion, Damis advanced but slowly in comprehension
of the real nature of spiritual science; he had ever to remain in the
outer courts of the temples and communities into whose shrines and inner
confidence Apollonius had full access, while he frequently states his
ignorance of his master's plans and purposes.[89] The additional fact
that he refers to his notes as the "crumbs"[90] from the "feasts of the
Gods" (i. 19), those feasts of which he could for the most part only
learn at secondhand what little Apollonius thought fit to tell him, and
which he doubtless largely misunderstood and clothed in his own
imaginings, would further confirm this view, if any further confirmation
were necessary. But indeed it is very manifest everywhere that Damis was
outside the circle of initiation, and this accounts both for his
wonder-loving point of view and his general superficiality.
Another fact that comes out prominently from the narrative is his timid
nature.[91] He is continually afraid for himself or for his master; and
even towards the end, when Apollonius is imprisoned by Domitian, it
requires the phenomenal removal of the fetters before his eyes to
assure him that Apollonius is a willing victim.
Damis loves and wonders; seizes on unimportant detail and exaggerates
it, while he can only report of the really important things what he
fancies to have taken place from a few hints of Apollonius. As his story
advances, it is true it takes on a soberer tint; but what Damis omits,
Philostratus is ever ready to supply from his own store of marvels, if
chance offers.
Nevertheless, even were we with the scalpel of criticism to cut away
every morsel of flesh from this body of tradition and legend, there
would still remain a skeleton of fact that would still represent
Apollonius and give us some idea of his stature.
Apollonius was one of the greatest travellers known to antiquity. Among
the countries and places he visited the following are the chief ones
recorded by Philostratus.[92]
From Ninus (i. 19) Apollonius journeys to Babylon (i. 21), where he
stops one year and eight months (i. 40) and visits surrounding cities
such as Ecbatana, the capital of Media (i. 39); from Babylon to the
Indian frontier no names are mentioned; India was entered in every
probability by the Khaibar Pass (ii. 6),[93] for the first city
mentioned is Taxila (Attock) (ii. 20); and so they make their way across
the tributaries of the Indus (ii. 43) to the valley of the Ganges (iii.
5), and finally arrive at the "monastery of the wise men" (iii. 10),
where Apollonius spends four months (iii. 50).
This monastery was presumably in Nep[=a]l; it is in the mountains, and
the "city" nearest it is called Paraca. The chaos that Philostratus has
made of Damis' account, and before him the wonderful transformations
Damis himself wrought in Indian names, are presumably shown in this
word. Paraca is perchance all that Damis could make of Bharata, the
general name of the Ganges valley in which the dominant [=A]ryas were
settled. It is also probable that these wise men were Buddhists, for
they dwelt in a [Greek: tyrsis], a place that looked like a fort or
fortress to Damis.
I have little doubt that Philostratus could make nothing out of the
geography of India from the names in Damis' diary; they were all
unfamiliar to him, so that as soon as he has exhausted the few Greek
names known to him from the accounts of the expedition of Alexander, he
wanders in the "ends of the earth," and can make nothing of it till he
picks up our travellers again on their return journey at the mouth of
the Indus. The salient fact that Apollonius was making for a certain
community, which was his peculiar goal, so impressed the imagination of
Philostratus (and perhaps of Damis before him) that he has described it
as being the only centre of the kind in India. Apollonius went to India
with a purpose and returned from it with a distinct mission;[94] and
perchance his constant inquiries concerning the particular "wise men"
whom he was seeking, led Damis to imagine that they alone were the
"Gymnosophists," the "naked philosophers" (if we are to take the term in
its literal sense) of popular Greek legend, which ignorantly ascribed to
all the Hindu ascetics the most striking peculiarity of a very small
number. But to return to our itinerary.
Philostratus embellishes the account of the voyage from the Indus to the
mouth of the Euphrates (iii. 52-58) with the travellers' tales and
names of islands and cities he has gleaned from the Indica which were
accessible to him, and so we again return to Babylon and familiar
geography with the following itinerary:
Babylon, Ninus, Antioch, Seleucia, Cyprus; thence to Ionia (iii. 58),
where he spends some time in Asia Minor, especially at Ephesus (iv. 1),
Smyrna (iv. 5), Pergamus (iv. 9), and Troy (iv. 11). Thence Apollonius
crosses over to Lesbos (iv. 13), and subsequently sails for Athens,
where he spends some years in Greece (iv. 17-33) visiting the temples of
Hellas, reforming their rites and instructing the priests (iv. 24). We
next find him in Crete (iv. 34), and subsequently at Rome in the time of
Nero (iv. 36-46).
In A.D. 66 Nero issued a decree forbidding any philosopher to remain in
Rome, and Apollonius set out for Spain, and landed at Gades, the modern
Cadiz; he seems to have stayed in Spain only a short time (iv. 47);
thence crossed to Africa, and so by sea once more to Sicily, where the
principal cities and temples were visited (v. 11-14). Thence Apollonius
returned to Greece (v. 18), four years having elapsed since his landing
at Athens from Lesbos (v. 19).[95]
From Piræus our philosopher sails for Chios (v. 21), thence to Rhodes,
and so to Alexandria (v. 24). At Alexandria he spends some time, and has
several interviews with the future Emperor Vespasian (v. 27-41), and
thence he sets out on a long journey up the Nile as far as Ethiopia
beyond the cataracts, where he visits an interesting community of
ascetics called loosely Gymnosophists (vi. 1-27).
On his return to Alexandria (vi. 28), he was summoned by Titus, who had
just become emperor, to meet him at Tarsus (vi. 29-34). After this
interview he appears to have returned to Egypt, for Philostratus speaks
vaguely of his spending some time in Lower Egypt, and of visits to the
Phoenicians, Cilicians, Ionians, Achæans, and also to Italy (vi. 35).
Now Vespasian was emperor from 69 to 79, and Titus from 79 to 81. As
Apollonius' interviews with Vespasian took place shortly before the
beginning of that emperor's reign, it is reasonable to conclude that a
number of years was spent by our philosopher in his Ethiopian journey,
and that therefore Damis' account is a most imperfect one. In 81
Domitian became emperor, and just as Apollonius opposed the follies of
Nero, so did he criticise the acts of Domitian. He accordingly became an
object of suspicion to the emperor; but instead of keeping away from
Rome, he determined to brave the tyrant to his face. Crossing from Egypt
to Greece and taking ship at Corinth, he sailed by way of Sicily to
Puteoli, and thence to the Tiber mouth, and so to Rome (vii. 10-16).
Here Apollonius was tried and acquitted (vii. 17--viii. 10). Sailing
from Puteoli again Apollonius returned to Greece (viii. 15), where he
spent two years (viii. 24). Thence once more he crossed over to Ionia at
the time of the death of Domitian (viii. 25), visiting Smyrna and
Ephesus and other of his favourite haunts. Hereupon he sends away Damis
on some pretext to Rome (viii. 28) and--disappears; that is to say, if
it be allowed to speculate, he undertook yet another journey to the
place which he loved above all others, the "home of the wise men."
Now Domitian was killed 96 A.D., and one of the last recorded acts of
Apollonius is his vision of this event at the time of its occurrence.
Therefore the trial of Apollonius at Rome took place somewhere about 93,
and we have a gap of twelve years from his interview with Titus in 81,
which Philostratus can only fill up with a few vague stories and
generalities.
As to his age at the time of his mysterious disappearance from the
pages of history, Philostratus tells us that Damis says nothing; but
some, he adds, say he was eighty, some ninety, and some even an hundred.
The estimate of eighty years seems to fit in best with the rest of the
chronological indications, but there is no certainty in the matter with
the present materials at our disposal.
Such then is the geographical outline, so to say, of the life of
Apollonius, and even the most careless reader of the bare skeleton of
the journeys recorded by Philostratus must be struck by the indomitable
energy of the man, and his power of endurance.
We will now turn our attention to one or two points of interest
connected with the temples and communities he visited.