FROM HIS LETTERS.
Apollonius seems to have written many letters to emperors, kings,
philosophers, communities and states, although he was by no means a
"voluminous correspondent"; in fact, the style of his short notes is
exceedingly concise, and they were composed, as Philostratus says,
"after the manner of the Lacedæmonian scytale"[118] (iv. 27 and vii.
35).
It is evident that Philostratus had access to letters attributed to
Apollonius, for he quotes a number of them,[119] and there seems no
reason to doubt their authenticity. Whence he obtained them he does not
inform us, unless it be that they were the collection made by Hadrian at
Antium (viii. 20).
That the reader may be able to judge of the style of Apollonius we
append one or two specimens of these letters, or rather notes, for they
are too short to deserve the title of epistles. Here is one to the
magistrates of Sparta:
"Apollonius to the Ephors, greeting!
"It is possible for men not to make mistakes, but it requires noble men
to acknowledge they have made them."
All of which Apollonius gets into just half as many words in Greek.
Here, again, is an interchange of notes between the two greatest
philosophers of the time, both of whom suffered imprisonment and were in
constant danger of death.
"Apollonius to Musonius, the philosopher, greeting!
"I want to go to you, to share speech and roof with you, to be of some
service to you. If you still believe that Hercules once rescued Theseus
from Hades, write what you would have. Farewell!"
"Musonius to Apollonius, the philosopher, greeting!
"Good merit shall be stored for you for your good thoughts; what is in
store for me is one who waits his trial and proves his innocence.
Farewell."
"Apollonius to Musonius, greeting!
"Socrates refused to be got out of prison by his friends and went before
the judges. He was put to death. Farewell."
"Musonius to Apollonius, the philosopher, greeting!
"Socrates was put to death because he made no preparation for his
defence. I shall do so. Farewell!"
However, Musonius, the Stoic, was sent to penal servitude by Nero.
Here is a note to the Cynic Demetrius, another of our philosopher's most
devoted friends.
"Apollonius, the philosopher, to Demetrius, the Dog,[120] greeting!
"I give thee to Titus, the emperor, to teach him the way of kingship,
and do you in turn give me to speak him true; and be to him all things
but anger. Farewell!"
In addition to the notes quoted in the text of Philostratus, there is a
collection of ninety-five letters, mostly brief notes, the text of which
is printed in most editions.[121] Nearly all the critics are of opinion
that they are not genuine, but Jowett[122] and others think that some of
them may very well be genuine.
Here is a specimen or two of these letters. Writing to Euphrates, his
great enemy, that is to say the champion of pure rationalistic ethic
against the science of sacred things, he says:
17. "The Persians call those who have the divine faculty (or are
god-like) Magi. A Magus, then, is one who is a minister of the Gods, or
one who has by nature the god-like faculty. You are no Magus but reject
the Gods (i.e., are an atheist)."
Again, in a letter addressed to Criton, we read:
23. "Pythagoras said that the most divine art was that of healing. And
if the healing art is most divine, it must occupy itself with the soul
as well as with the body; for no creature can be sound so long as the
higher part in it is sickly."
Writing to the priests of Delphi against the practice of
blood-sacrifice, he says:
27. "Heraclitus was a sage, but even he[123] never advised the people of
Ephesus to wash out mud with mud."[124]
Again, to some who claimed to be his followers, those "who think
themselves wise," he writes the reproof:
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 who've 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 space 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
passed from man to God 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 who's gone to God, 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 pass by will of God? If there's a law in
things, and there _is_ one, and it is God 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 pass 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
that's 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 God and are unjust. 'Tis
true. You fail in piety to God, you fail in justice to your boy; nay
more, you fail in piety to him as well. Would'st know what death is?
Then make me dead and send me off to company with death, and if you will
not change the dress you've put on it,[126] you will have straightway
made me better than yourself."[127]