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memory. And he says that Apollonius asked, if there was golden water among them—oh, the wise and strange question!—and he asked about men dwelling under the earth and Pygmies and other shadow-footed men, and if a four-footed animal was found among them, which is called a manticore, which was like a man in its head, and like a lion in its size, and its tail produced hairs a cubit long and thorny, which it would shoot like arrows at those who hunted it, and Apollonius asked such things, but Iarchas taught him about the Pygmies, that they were indeed subterranean dwellers, but they lived and passed their time beyond the Ganges river, but concerning the others, that they were non-existent. In addition to these things, Philostratus writes that wool grew for them from the earth for the material of their clothing, doubtless the philosophers must have been working the loom and laboring at wool-working for the production of their clothing—for the female sex has not been introduced among them—unless he should also say that this automatically and wondrously grew into sacred clothing for them. And each of them carried a staff and a ring possessing a secret power. Then the wonders of the Brahmin, how he called back a possessed man by means of a letter, how he cured a lame man by stroking his buttock, how he granted sight to a blind man and a sound hand to one who was feeble. Many good things may come to the author for releasing us from these matters; for it is clear how true these things are also, when he has previously related that thunder and winds were in jars, and tripods made of stone moved automatically, and cup-bearers made of bronze drove the cups around in a circle, and through the narration of these things as true, he has both revealed and refuted the mythology of all the 389 rest. Philostratus says that Damis said that, without his being present, Apollonius philosophized with Iarchas and received from him seven rings named after the stars, which he would wear one by one according to the names of the days. Having said these things now, the one who is accustomed to honor the truth in his Philalethes, after other parts of his writing, as if indeed condemning the sorcery of the Brahmans and having taken care to establish Apollonius as free from it, adds, saying word for word: “But when he saw among the Indians the tripods and the cup-bearers and all the automatic devices that I said moved in, he neither asked how they contrived them, nor did he ask to learn, but he praised them, yet did not think them worthy of imitation.” And how, O you, did he not think them worthy? He who, without Damis, made a point of philosophizing with them and thought it necessary that his only companion be unaware of what he was doing, how did he not think it worthy to imitate, he who accepted the rings named after the stars and considered it necessary to wear them for his whole life according to the names of the days, although they had, as you yourself say, a secret power? And if it were granted that he did not think it worthy of imitation, as not doing well, he clearly did not imitate it. How then did he praise things which he did not think worthy of imitation? And if he praised them as acting divinely, how did he not imitate things worthy of praise? But for after his sojourn with these people, he says that returning with his companions he came into the country of the Oreitae, where the rocks are of bronze, and the sand is of bronze, and the rivers carry dust of bronze. And so much for what is in the third book; 390 but let us now go on to what follows. He says that having returned from the land of the Indians to Greece, he was proclaimed a companion of the gods by the gods themselves, who also sent the sick to him for health, and indeed, having brought him to us as someone strange and divine from among the Arabs and Magi and Indians, he begins from this point on with strange narratives. And yet one might reasonably say that if indeed he was of a nature more divine than human, this should have been the case long ago, not now, and he should have begun his wonders before partaking of those of others, and superfluous for him would have been that from the Arabs and Magi and Indians
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μνήμην. ἐρέσθαι δέ φησι τὸνἈπολλώνιον, εἰ εστι παρ' αὐτοῖς χρύσεον υδωρ -ὢ τοῦ σοφοῦ καὶ παραδόξου πύσματος-καὶ περὶ ἀνθρώπων δὲ ὑπὸ γῆν οἰκούντων καὶ Πυγμαίων αλλων καὶ σκιαπόδων ἀνερωτᾶν, καὶ εἰ γίγνοιτο παρ' αὐτοῖς ζῷον τετράπουν, ὃ λέγεται μαρτιχόρα, ὃ τὴν κεφαλὴν ἀνθρώπῳ εἰκάσθαι, λέοντι δὲ ὡμοιῶσθαι τὸ μέγεθος, τὴν δὲ οὐρὰν ἐκφέρειν πηχυαίας καὶ ἀκανθώδεις τὰς τρίχας, ας βάλλειν ωσπερ τοξεύματα ἐς τοὺς θηρῶντας, καὶ τοιαῦτα μὲν τὸνἈπολλώνιον ἀνερωτᾶν, τὸν δὲἸάρχαν διδάσκειν αὐτὸν περὶ μὲν τῶν Πυγμαίων, ὡς ἄρα εἶεν οἰκοῦντες μὲν ὑπόγειοι, διατρίβοντες δὲ ὑπὲρ τὸν Γάγγην ποταμὸν ζῶντες, περὶ δὲ τῶν αλλων, ὡς ἀνύπαρκτα εἴη. εριον ἐπὶ τούτοις φυόμενον αὐτοῖς ἀπὸ γῆς ἐς ἐσθῆτος υλην ὁ Φιλόστρατος ἀναγράφει, πάντως δήπου τῶν φιλοσόφων ἱστὸν ἐποιχομένων καὶ ταλασιουργίαις ἐς ἐσθῆτος κατεργασίαν ἐκπονουμένων-οὐδὲ γὰρ εἰσῆκται παρ' αὐτοῖς γυναικεῖον φῦλον-εἰ μὴ καὶ τοῦτο φήσειεν αὐτόματον αὐτοῖς παραδόξως δὴ ἱερὰν ἐς ἐσθῆτα μεταφύεσθαι. φέρειν δ' εκαστον αὐτῶν ῥάβδον καὶ δακτύλιον ἀπόρρητον εχοντα ἰσχύν. εἶτα παραδοξοποιίαι τοῦ Βραχμᾶνος, ὡς δαιμονῶντα δι' ἐπιστολῆς ἀνακαλέσαιτο, ὡς χωλεύοντα καταψήσας τὸν γλουτὸν θεραπεύσειεν, ὡς τυφλῷ τὸ βλέπειν καὶ ἀδρανεῖ τινι τὴν χεῖρα σῴαν χαρίζοιτο. πολλὰ κἀγαθὰ γένοιτο πραγμάτων ἡμᾶς ἀπολύσαντι τῷ συγγραφεῖ· δῆλα γάρ, ὡς ἀληθῆ καὶ ταῦτα, ὅτε βροντὰς καὶ ἀνέμους ἐν πίθοις τρίποδάς τε ἐκ λίθου φοιτῶντας αὐτομάτως καὶ οἰνοχόους ἀπὸ χαλκοῦ περιελαύνειν ἐν κύκλῳ τὰς κύλικας προιστορήσας διὰ τῆς περὶ τούτων ὡς ἀληθῶν ἀφηγήσεως καὶ τῶν 389 λοιπῶν ἁπάντων ἐξέφηνέ τε καὶ διήλεγξε τὴν μυθολογίαν. εἰρηκέναι δέ φησιν ὁ Φιλόστρατος τὸν ∆άμιν δίχα τῆς αὐτοῦ παρουσίας καὶ τῷ Ἰάρχᾳ συμφιλοσοφῆσαι τὸν Ἀπολλώνιον εἰληφέναι τε παρ' αὐτοῦ δακτυλίους ἑπτὰ ἐπωνύμους ἀστέρων, οὓς καὶ φορεῖν αὐτὸν καθ' ἕνα πρὸς τὰ ὀνόματα τῶν ἡμερῶν. ταῦτα δὲ νῦν εἰπὼν ὁ τἀληθὲς τιμᾶν παρὰ τῷ Φιλαλήθει νενομισμένος μεθ' ἕτερα τῆς γραφῆς, ὡς ἂν δὴ γοητείαν τῶν Βραχμάνων καταγνοὺς καὶ ταύτης ἐλεύθερον καταστῆσαι τὸν Ἀπολλώνιον φροντίσας ἐπιφέρει φάσκων κατὰ λέξιν· «ἰδὼν δὲ παρὰ τοῖς Ἰνδοῖς τοὺς τρίποδας καὶ τοὺς οἰνοχόους καὶ ὅσα αὐτόματα ἐσφοιτᾶν εἶπον, οὔθ', ὅπως σοφίζοιντο αὐτά, ἤρετο, οὔτε ἐδεήθη μαθεῖν, ἀλλ' ἐπῄνει μέν, ζηλοῦν δὲ οὐκ ἠξίου.» καὶ πῶς, ὦ οὗτος, οὐκ ἠξίου; ὁ δίχα τοῦ ∆άμιδος σπουδὴν ποιούμενος συμφιλοσοφεῖν αὐτοῖς καὶ τὸν μόνον ἑταῖρον, ὅ τι καὶ πράττοι, λανθάνειν δέον ἡγούμενος, πῶς δὲ οὐκ ἠξίου ζηλοῦν ὁ τοὺς τῶν ἀστέρων ἐπωνύμους καταδεχόμενος δακτυλίους καὶ τούτους ἀναγκαῖον τιθέμενος διὰ παντὸς τοῦ βίου φέρειν πρὸς τὰ ὀνόματα τῶν ἡμερῶν καίτοι γε ἀπόρρητον, ὡς φῂς αὐτός, ἔχοντας ἰσχύν; εἰ δὲ καὶ δοθείη τὸ μὴ ζηλοῦν ἠξιωκέναι αὐτὸν ὡς μὴ εὖ πράττοντα, οὐκ ἐζήλου δηλονότι. πῶς οὖν ἐπῄνει, ἐφ' οἷς μὴ ἠξίου ζηλοῦν; εἰ δ' ὡς θείως ἐνεργοῦντας ἐπῄνει, πῶς οὐκ ἐζήλου τὰ ἐπαίνων ἄξια; ἀλλὰ γὰρ μετὰ τὴν παρὰ τούτοις διατριβὴν παλινοστοῦντα αὐτὸν ἅμα τοῖς ἑταίροις ἐληλυθέναι φησὶν ἐς τὴν τῶν Ὠρειτῶν χώραν, ἔνθα χαλκαῖ μὲν αὐτοῖς αἱ πέτραι, χαλκῆ δὲ ἡ ψάμμος, χαλκοῦ δὲ ψῆγμα οἱ ποταμοὶ ἄγουσι. Καὶ τοσαῦτα μὲν τὰ κατὰ τὸ τρίτον σύγγραμμα, 390 ἐπίωμεν δ' ἤδη καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. ἐπανελθόντα φησὶν ἀπὸ τῆς Ἰνδῶν χώρας ἐπὶ τὴν Ἑλλάδα κοινωνὸν τῶν θεῶν πρὸς αὐτῶν τῶν θεῶν ἀνακεκηρῦχθαι, οἳ καὶ τοὺς κάμνοντας ὡς αὐτὸν ἐφ' ὑγείᾳ παρέπεμπον, καὶ δῆτα ὡς ἐξ Ἀράβων καὶ μάγων καὶ Ἰνδῶν παράδοξόν τινα καὶ θεῖον ἡμῖν αὐτὸν ἀγαγὼν παραδόξων ἐντεῦθεν ἀφηγημάτων κατάρχεται. καίτοι ἄν τις εἴποι εὐλόγως, ὅτι δὴ εἰ θειοτέρας ἢ κατ' ἄνθρωπον φύσεως ἦν, πάλαι, ἀλλ' οὐ νῦν ἔδει, πρὸ τῆς δὲ ἑτέρων μεταλήψεως τῶν θαυμασίων κατάρχεσθαι, περιττὴ δ' ἂν καὶ ἡ ἐξ Ἀράβων αὐτῷ μάγων τε καὶ Ἰνδῶν