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he was lavish with his voice when it was necessary, but he is also astounded when the Indian speaks in the Greek tongue, in which Philostratus says things consistent, as it seems, with his own writing. For how would he have been astounded, had he not supposed him a barbarian? And having marveled at such a man, he would never have expected him to speak Greek; then, as if he had presented something paradoxical, being amazed and still ignorant of the cause of this, "tell me," said Apollonius, "O king, whence do you have such command of the Greek tongue? And whence is the philosophy about you here? For you do not, I think, attribute it to teachers, since it is not likely that Indians have teachers of this." These are the paradoxical words of one who had comprehended all things with foreknowledge, which the king, answering, states that he did have teachers and who they were, and tells each of the things that had befallen him from his father's side. Then, when the Indian was judging a certain case concerning a treasure discovered in a field, whether it ought to be assigned to the one who bought it or to the one who sold the plot of land, the man who was in all things a philosopher and favored by the gods, having been asked, rules in favor of the buyer, adding his reasoning in these very words: "that the gods would not have taken away from the one man even his land, if he were not 384 worthless, and on the other hand given to the other even the things under the earth, if he were not better than the seller." So that according to him, it may be concluded, that the wealthy and those who excel in riches, even if they should be most shameful and utterly depraved, are to be considered thrice-blessed and beloved of the gods, and that the only ill-fated and wretched are the very poorest, even if it be Socrates, or Diogenes, or that very Pythagoras himself, or any other of the most temperate and decent of all men. For one following his reasoning would say that according to him the gods would not have taken away even the means for necessary sustenance from the poor—those very men who excelled in philosophy—if they were not utterly worthless in character, and would not have provided abundant and unnecessary things to those more profligate in character, if they were not better than the former, from which the absurdity of the conclusion is manifest to everyone. Having set forth these things also from the second book, let us go on to the third to examine the tales about the celebrated Brahmans; where indeed the incredible tales beyond Thule and whatever other monstrous thing has ever been fabricated by certain myth-tellers, will appear quite credible and most true, by comparison with these, to which it is worthwhile to apply one's mind, on account of the audacity of Philalethes, who attaches to us easiness and frivolity of character, but to himself and those like him, accurate and firm judgment with understanding. See, at any rate, the paradoxes on which he prides himself, preferring Philostratus to our divine evangelists, as one who not only attained the greatest height of learning but also had cared for the truth. First, then, in the journey of Apollonius to the Brahmans, a certain woman 385 is introduced, her complexion being most white from her head to her loins, but the other part of her body black, and as they proceeded on the road to the Brahmans, mountains planted with pepper, and of this, monkeys are the farmers, and certain dragons of marvelous size, from whose heads torches of fire are cast forth, and if anyone should slay them, one would find, he says, marvelous stones in their heads similar to the ring of Gyges in Plato. And these things are before the hill of the Brahmans. And when they arrived at it, here was to be seen a well of vermilion-colored water of a marvelous kind and near it a crater of fire, from which a lead-colored flame was sent up, and two jars of black stone, the one of rains, the other of winds, from which the Brahmans supply those of the land to whom they might be gracious. But there were also among them statues of Athena Polias and Pythian Apollo and Dionysus Limnaios, and of certain other Greek gods, and their teacher over all was called Iarchas, whom one could see sitting far from a philosophic, but rather in a satrap's manner, on a very high throne, and this was of black bronze and

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φωνῆς δέον ἐπεφιλοτιμήσατο, ἀλλὰ καὶ λαλοῦντοςἙλλάδι γλώσσῃ τοῦἸνδοῦ ἐκπλήττεται, ᾗ φησιν ὁ Φιλόστρατος ἀκόλουθα, ὡς ἔοικεν, ἑαυτῷ γράφων. πῶς γὰρ ἂν ἐξεπλάγη μὴ οὐχὶ βάρβαρον οἰηθείς; καὶ τὸν τοιοῦτον θαυμάσας οὔποτ' αν ἑλληνίσαι προσεδόκησεν· ειθ', ωσπερ τι παραδόντα παράδοξον καταπλαγεὶς καὶ τὸ τούτου ἔτ' ἀγνοῶν αιτιον «εἰπέ μοι» ἔφη ὁἈπολλώνιος «ὦ βασιλεῦ, πόθεν οὕτως εχεις φωνῆςἙλλάδος; φιλοσοφία τε ἡ περὶ σὲ πόθεν ἐνταῦθα; οὐδὲ γὰρ ἐς διδασκάλους γε, οἶμαι, ἀναφέρεις, ἐπεὶ μηδὲ ειναιἸνδοῖς εἰκὸς διδασκάλους τούτου.» αυται αἱ παράδοξοι τοῦ πάντα προγνώσει διειληφότος φωναί, ας ὁ βασιλεὺς ἀμειβόμενος, οτι τε σχοίη διδασκάλους καὶ οἵτινες ουτοι εκαστά τε πατρόθεν τῶν περὶ αὐτὸν συμβεβηκότων φράζει. εἶτα καί τισι τοῦἸνδοῦ δικάζοντος περὶ θησαυροῦ φωραθέντος ἐν ἀγρῷ, πότερα τῷ πριαμένῳ ἢ τῷ τὸ χωρίον ἀποδομένῳ δέοι νεῖμαι τοῦτον, ὁ πάντα φιλόσοφος καὶ θεοῖς κεχαρισμένος ἐρωτηθεὶς ἐπικρίνει τῷ πριαμένῳ, λογισμὸν δὴ αὐτοῖς ῥήμασιν ἐπειπὼν «ὡς οὐκ αν οἱ θεοὶ τὸν μὲν ἀφείλοντο καὶ τὴν γῆν, εἰ μὴ 384 φαῦλος ην, τῷ δ' αὖ καὶ τὰ ὑπὸ γῆν δοῦναι, εἰ μὴ βελτίων ην τοῦ ἀποδομένου.» ὡς κατ' αὐτὸν δὴ συνάγεσθαι, τοὺς μὲν εὐπόρους καὶ πλούτῳ διαφέροντας, καν αἰσχρότατοι καὶ πανωλέστατοι τυγχάνοιεν, τρισευδαίμονας καὶ θεοφιλεῖς ἡγεῖσθαι, μόνους δ' αρα κακοδαίμονάς τε καὶ ἀθλίους τοὺς πενεστάτους, καν Σωκράτης, κἂν ∆ιογένης, καν αὐτὸς ἐκεῖνος Πυθαγόρας τυγχάνῃ, καν αλλος, οἱ πάντων ἀνδρῶν σωφρονέστατοι τε καὶ ἐπιεικέστατοι. εἴποι γὰρ αν τις ἑπόμενος τῷ λόγῳ μὴ αν κατ' αὐτὸν τοὺς θεοὺς τοὺς μὲν πένητας, τούτους δὴ αὐτούς, οἳ κατὰ φιλοσοφίαν διήνεγκαν, ἀφελέσθαι καὶ τὰ πρὸς τὴν ἀναγκαίαν τροφὴν μὴ οὐχὶ πάντως φαύλους ὄντας τὸν τρόπον, τοῖς δὲ τὸ ηθος ἀκολαστοτέροις αφθονα καὶ τὰ μὴ ἀναγκαῖα παρασχεῖν, εἰ μὴ βελτίους ἐτύγχανον τῶν προτέρων, ἐξων παντί τῳ καταφανὴς ἡ τοῦ συμπεράσματος ἀτοπία. Ταῦτα καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ δευτέρου παραθέμενοι ἴωμεν ἐπὶ τὸ τρίτον τὰ κατὰ τοὺς βεβοημένους ἐποψόμενοι Βραχμᾶνας· ἔνθα δὴ τὰ ὑπὲρ Θούλην απιστα καὶ εἴ τί περ αλλο τερατῶδές ποτε μυθολόγοις τισὶν ἀναπέπλασται, εὖ μάλα πιστὰ καὶ ἀληθέστατα, ὡς ἐν παραθέσει τούτων, ἀναφανήσεται, οἷς καὶ τὸν νοῦν ἐπιστῆσαι αξιον τῆς τοῦ Φιλαλήθους ενεκεν αὐθαδείας ἡμῖν μὲν εὐχέρειαν καὶ κουφότητα τρόπου περιάπτοντος, αὑτῷ δὲ καὶ τοῖς αὐτῷ παραπλησίοις τὴν ἀκριβῆ καὶ βεβαίαν μετὰ συνέσεως κρίσιν. Ορα γοῦν, ἐφ' οις σεμνύνεται παραδόξοις τῶν ἡμετέρων θείων εὐαγγελιστῶν προκρίνων τὸν Φιλόστρατον, ὡς μὴ μόνον παιδείας ἐπὶ πλεῖστον ἥκοντα, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀληθείας ἐπιμεμελημένον. πρῶτα μὲν ουν ἐν τῇ πρὸς τοὺς Βραχμᾶνας πορείᾳ τοῦἈπολλωνίου γυνή 385 τις αὐτῷ τὴν χροιὰν εἰσάγεται ἀπὸ τῆς κεφαλῆς ἐς ὀσφὺν λευκοτάτη, τὸ δὲ ετερον μέρος τοῦ σώματος μέλαινα, τὰ δὲ προϊόντων τῆς ἐπὶ τοὺς Βραχμᾶνας ὁδοῦ ὄρη καταπεφυτευμένα τὸ πέπερι καὶ τούτου πίθηκοι γεωργοὶ καὶ παράδοξοί τινες τὸ μέγεθος δράκοντες, ων ἀπὸ κεφαλῆς λαμπάδες ἀπορριπτοῦνται πυρός, ους εἴ τις ἀνέλοι, ευ ροιαν, φησι, παραδόξους λίθους ἐν ταῖς κεφαλαῖς τῷ τοῦ Γύγου τοῦ παρὰ τῷ Πλάτωνι παραπλησίους. καὶ ταῦτα μὲν τὰ πρὸ τοῦ τῶν Βραχμάνων λόφου. ὡς δὲ καὶ εἰς αὐτὸν ἀφίκοντο, σανδαράκινον ἐνταῦθα φρέαρ υδατος ἰδεῖν παραδόξου καὶ κρατῆρα πλησίον πυρός, οὗ φλόγα ἀναπέμπεσθαι μολιβδώδη, δύο τε πίθους λίθου μέλανος τὸν μὲν ὄμβρων, τὸν δὲ ἀνέμων, ἀφ' ων τοὺς Βραχμᾶνας, οις αν εἶεν τῆς χώρας ἵλεῳ, χορηγεῖν. ἀλλά γε καὶ ἀγάλματα παρ' αὐτοῖςἈθηνᾶς Πολιάδος καὶἈπόλλωνος Πυθίου καὶ ∆ιονύσου Λιμναίου, καὶ ἄλλων τινῶνἙλληνικῶν θεῶν,Ἰάρχαν δὲ τὸν ἐπὶ πάντων διδάσκαλον καλεῖσθαι, ον καὶ ἰδεῖν καθεζόμενον πολλοῦ γε δεῖ φιλοσοφικῷ, σατραπικῷ δ' ἂν μᾶλλον σχήματι ἐφ' ὑψηλοτάτου δίφρου, χαλκοῦ δὲ μέλανος οὗτος ἦν καὶ