"The Buried Classic" from Ancient Greece, and the roots of the Western World .... The Life of Apollonius of Tyana Philostratus {220 AD} Departure from Phroates - His Letter to Iarchas
Web Publication by Mountain Man Graphics, Australia in the Southern Spring of 1995

Departure from Phroates - His Letter to Iarchas ...

" But," said the other, " the law does not yet speak to you thus, for you can remain on the morrow, since you came after midday.

"I am delighted," said Apollonius, "with your hospitality, and indeed you seem to me to be straining the law for my sake."

"Yes indeed,: and I would I could break it," said the king, "in your behalf; but tell me this, Apollonius, did not the camels bring you from Babylon which they say you were riding ?"

"They did," he said, "and Vardan gave them us."

"Will they then be able to carry you on, after they have come already so many stades from Babylon?"

Apollonius made no answer, but Damis said: "O king, our friend here does not understand anything about our journey, nor about the races among which we shall find ourselves in future; but he regards our passage into India as mere child's play, under the impression that he will everywhere have you and Vardan to help him. I assure you, the true condition of the camels has not been acknowledged to you; for they are in such an evil state that we could carry them rather than they us, and we must have others. For if they collapse anywhere in the wilderness of India, we," he continued, " shall have to sit down and drive off the vultures and wolves from the camels, and as no one will drive them off from us we shall perish too."

The king answered accordingly and said: "I will remedy this, for I will give you other camels, and you need four I think, and the satrap ruling the Indus will send bak four others to Babylon. But I have a herd of camels on the Indus, all of them white."

"And," said Damis, " will you not also give us a guide, O king?"

"Yes, of course," he aswered, "and I will give a camel to the guide and provisions, and I will write a letter to Iarchas, the oldest of the sages, praying him to welcome Apollonius as warmly as he did myself, and to welcome you also as philosophers and followers of a divine man."

And forthwith the Indian gave them gold and precious stones and linen and a thousand other such things. And Apollonius said that he had enough gold already, because Vardan had given it to the guide on the sly; but that he would accept the linen robes, because they were like the cloaks worn by the ancient and genuine inhabitants of Attica.

And he took up one of the stones and said: "0 rare stone, how opportunely have I found you, and how providentially !" detecting in it, I imagine, some secret and divine virtue. Neither would the companions of Damis accept for themselves the gold; nevertheless they took good handfuls of the gems, in order to dedicate them to the gods, whenever they should regain their own country.

So they remained the next day as well, for Indian would not let them go, and he gave them a letter for Iarchas, written in the following terms:-

"King Phroates to Iarchus his master and to his companløns, all hail !

Apollonius, wisest of men, yet accounts you still wiser than himself, and is come to learn your lore. Send him away therefore when he knows all that you know yourselves, assured that nothing of your teachings will pelish, for in discourse and memory he excels all men. And let him also see the throne, on which I sat, when you, Father Iarchas, bestowed on me the kingdom. And his followers too deserve commendation for their devotion to such a master. Farewell to yourself and your companions."

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"The Buried Classic" from Ancient Greece, and the roots of the Western World .... The Life of Apollonius of Tyana Philostratus {220 AD} Departure from Phroates - His Letter to Iarchas
Web Publication by Mountain Man Graphics, Australia in the Southern Spring of 1995