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Philostratus The Athenian, Life Of Apollonius, 4.17-4.22


τοιαῦτα μὲν τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς νεώς, ἐς δὲ τὸν Πειραιᾶ ἐσπλεύσας περὶ μυστηρίων ὥραν, ὅτε ̓Αθηναῖοι πολυανθρωπότατα ̔Ελλήνων πράττουσιν, ἀνῄει ξυντείνας ἀπὸ τῆς νεὼς ἐς τὸ ἄστυ, προιὼν δὲ πολλοῖς τῶν φιλοσοφούντων ἐνετύγχανε Φάληράδε κατιοῦσιν, ὧν οἱ μὲν γυμνοὶ ἐθέροντο, καὶ γὰρ τὸ μετόπωρον εὐήλιον τοῖς ̓Αθηναίοις, οἱ δὲ ἐκ βιβλίων ἐσπούδαζον, οἱ δ' ἀπὸ στόματος ἠσκοῦντο, οἱ δὲ ἤριζον. παρῄει δὲ οὐδεὶς αὐτόν, ἀλλὰ τεκμηράμενοι πάντες, ὡς εἴη ̓Απολλώνιος, ξυνανεστρέφοντό τε καὶ ἠσπάζοντο χαίροντες, νεανίσκοι δὲ ὁμοῦ δέκα περιτυχόντες αὐτῷ “νὴ τὴν ̓Αθηνᾶν ἐκείνην,” ἔφασαν ἀνατείναντες τὰς χεῖρας ἐς τὴν ἀκρόπολιν, “ἡμεῖς ἄρτι ἐς Πειραιᾶ ἐβαδίζομεν πλευσόμενοι ἐς ̓Ιωνίαν παρὰ σέ.” ὁ δὲ ἀπεδέχετο αὐτῶν καὶ ξυγχαίρειν ἔφη φιλοσοφοῦσιν.So much for the conversation on board; but having sailed into the Piraeus at the season of the mysteries, when the Athenians keep the most crowded of Hellenic festivals, he went post haste up from the ship into the city; but as he went forward, he fell in with quite a number of students of philosophy on their way down to Phaleron. Some of them were stripped and enjoying the heat, for in autumn the sun is hot upon the Athenians; and others were studying books, and some were rehearsing their speeches, and others were disputing. But no one passed him by, for they all guessed that it was Apollonius, and they turned and thronged around him and welcomed him warmly; and ten youths in a body met him and holding up their hands to the Acropolis, they cried: By Athena yonder, we were on the point of going down to the Piraeus there to take ship to Ionia in order to visit you. And he welcomed them and said how much he congratulated them on their study of philosophy.


ἦν μὲν δὴ ̓Επιδαυρίων ἡμέρα. τὰ δὲ ̓Επιδαύρια μετὰ πρόρρησίν τε καὶ ἱερεῖα δεῦρο μυεῖν ̓Αθηναίοις πάτριον ἐπὶ θυσίᾳ δευτέρᾳ, τουτὶ δὲ ἐνόμισαν ̓Ασκληπιοῦ ἕνεκα, ὅτι δὴ ἐμύησαν αὐτὸν ἥκοντα ̓Επιδαυρόθεν ὀψὲ μυστηρίων. ἀμελήσαντες δὲ οἱ πολλοὶ τοῦ μυεῖσθαι περὶ τὸν ̓Απολλώνιον εἶχον καὶ τοῦτ' ἐσπούδαζον μᾶλλον ἢ τὸ ἀπελθεῖν τετελεσμένοι, ὁ δὲ ξυνέσεσθαι μὲν αὐτοῖς αὖθις ἔλεγεν, ἐκέλευσε δὲ πρὸς τοῖς ἱεροῖς τότε γίγνεσθαι, καὶ γὰρ αὐτὸς μυεῖσθαι. ὁ δὲ ἱεροφάντης οὐκ ἐβούλετο παρέχειν τὰ ἱερά, μὴ γὰρ ἄν ποτε μυῆσαι γόητα, μηδὲ τὴν ̓Ελευσῖνα ἀνοῖξαι ἀνθρώπῳ μὴ καθαρῷ τὰ δαιμόνια. ὁ δὲ ̓Απολλώνιος οὐδὲν ὑπὸ τούτων ἥττων αὑτοῦ γενόμενος “οὔπω” ἔφη “τὸ μέγιστον, ὧν ἐγὼ ἐγκληθείην ἄν, εἴρηκας, ὅτι περὶ τῆς τελετῆς πλείω ἢ σὺ γιγνώσκων ἐγὼ δὲ ὡς παρὰ σοφώτερον ἐμαυτοῦ μυησόμενος ἦλθον.” ἐπαινεσάντων δὲ τῶν παρόντων, ὡς ἐρρωμένως καὶ παραπλησίως αὑτῷ ἀπεκρίνατο, ὁ μὲν ἱεροφάντης, ἐπειδὴ ἐξείργων αὐτὸν οὐ φίλα τοῖς πολλοῖς ἐδόκει πράττειν, μετέβαλε τοῦ τόνου καὶ “μυοῦ”, ἔφη “σοφὸς γάρ τις ἥκειν ἔοικας”, ὁ δὲ ̓Απολλώνιος “μυήσομαι” ἔφη “αὖθις, μυήσει δέ με ὁ δεῖνα” προγνώσει χρώμενος ἐς τὸν μετ' ἐκεῖνον ἱεροφάντην, ὃς μετὰ τέτταρα ἔτη τοῦ ἱεροῦ προὔστη.It was then the day of the Epidaurian festival, at which it is still customary for the Athenians to hold the initiation at a second sacrifice after both proclamation and victims have been offered; and this custom was instituted in honor of Asclepius, because they still initiated him when on one occasion he arrived from Epidaurus too late for the mysteries. Now most people neglected the initiation and hung around Apollonius, and thought more of doing that than of being perfected in their religion before they went home; but Apollonius said that he would join them later on, and urged them to attend at once to the rites of the religion, for that he himself would be initiated. But the hierophant was not disposed to admit him to the rites, for he said that he would never initiate a wizard and charlatan, nor open the Eleusinian rite to a man who dabbled in impure rites. Thereupon Apollonius, fully equal to the occasion, said: You have not yet mentioned the chief of my offense, which is that knowing, as I do, more about the initiatory rite than you do yourself, I have nevertheless come for initiation to you, as if you were wiser than I am. The bystanders applauded these words, and deemed that he had answered with vigor and like himself; and thereupon the hierophant, since he saw that his exclusion of Apollonius was not by any means popular with the crowd, changed his tone and said: Be thou initiated, for thou seemest to be some wise man who has come here. But Apollonius replied: I will be initiated at another time, and it is so and so, mentioning a name, who will initiate me. Herein he showed his gift of prevision, for he glanced at the hierophant who succeeded the one he addressed, and presided over the sanctuary four years later.


τὰς δὲ ̓Αθήνησι διατριβὰς πλείστας μὲν ὁ Δάμις γενέσθαι φησὶ τῷ ἀνδρί, γράψαι δὲ οὐ πάσας, ἀλλὰ τὰς ἀναγκαίας τε καὶ περὶ μεγάλων σπουδασθείσας. τὴν μὲν δὴ πρώτην διάλεξιν, ἐπειδὴ φιλοθύτας τοὺς ̓Αθηναίους εἶδεν, ὑπὲρ ἱερῶν διελέξατο, καὶ ὡς ἄν τις ἐς τὸ ἑκάστῳ τῶν θεῶν οἰκεῖον καὶ πηνίκα δὲ τῆς ἡμέρας τε καὶ νυκτὸς ἢ θύοι ἢ σπένδοι ἢ εὔχοιτο, καὶ βιβλίῳ ̓Απολλωνίου προστυχεῖν ἐστιν, ἐν ᾧ ταῦτα τῇ ἑαυτοῦ φωνῇ ἐκδιδάσκει. διῆλθε δὲ ταῦτα ̓Αθήνησι πρῶτον μὲν ὑπὲρ σοφίας αὑτοῦ τε κἀκείνων, εἶτ' ἐλέγχων τὸν ἱεροφάντην δι' ἃ βλασφήμως τε καὶ ἀμαθῶς εἶπε: τίς γὰρ ἔτι ᾠήθη τὰ δαιμόνια μὴ καθαρὸν εἶναι τὸν φιλοσοφοῦντα, ὅπως οἱ θεοὶ θεραπευτέοι;Many were the discourses which according to Damis the sage delivered at Athens; though he did not write down all of them, but only the more indispensable ones in which he handled great subjects. He took for the topic of his first discourse the matter of rite and ceremonies, and this because he saw that the Athenians were much addicted to sacrifices; and in it he explained how a religious man could best adapt his sacrifice, his libations, or prayers to any particular divinity, and at what hours of day and night he ought to offer them. And it is possible to obtain a book of Apollonius, in which he gives instructions in his own words. But Athens he discussed these topics with a view to improving his own wisdom and that of others in the first place, and in the second of convincing the hierophant of blasphemy and ignorance in the remarks he had made; for who could continue to regard as one impure in his religion a man who taught philosophically how the worship of the gods is to be conducted?


nanNow while he was discussing the question of libations, there chanced to be present in his audience a young dandy who bore so evil a reputation for licentiousness that his conduct had long been the subject of coarse street-corner songs. His home was Corcyra, and he traced his pedigree to Alcinous the Phaeacian who entertained Odysseus. Apollonius then was talking about libations, and was urging them not to drink out of a particular cup, but to reserve it for the gods, without ever touching it or drinking out of it. But when he also urged them to have handles on the cup, and to pour the libation over the handle, because that is the part at which men are least likely to drink, the youth burst out into loud and coarse laughter, and quite drowned his voice. Then Apollonius looked up and said: It is not yourself that perpetrates this insult, but the demon, who drives you without your knowing it. And in fact the youth was, without knowing it, possessed by a devil; for he would laugh at things that no one else laughed at, and then would fall to weeping for no reason at all, and he would talk and sing to himself. Now most people thought that it was boisterous humor of youth which led him into excesses; but he was really the mouthpiece of a devil, though it only seemed a drunken frolic in which on that occasion he was indulging. Now, when Apollonius gazed on him, the ghost in him began to utter cries of fear and rage, such as one hears from people who are being branded or racked; and the ghost swore that he would leave the you man alone and never take possession of any man again. But Apollonius addressed him with anger, as a master might a shifty, rascally, and shameless slave and so on, and he ordered him to quit the young man and show by a visible sign that he had done so. I will throw down yonder statue, said the devil, and pointed to one of the images which were there in the Royal Stoa, for there it was that the scene took place. But when the statue began by moving gently, and then fell down, it would defy anyone to describe the hubbub which arose thereat and the way they clapped their hand with wonder. But the young man rubbed his eyes as if he had just woke up, and he looked towards the rays of the sun, and assumed a modest aspect, as all had their attention concentrated on him; for he no longer showed himself licentious, nor did he stare madly about, but he had returned to his own self, as thoroughly as if he had been treated with drugs; and he gave up his dainty dress and summery garments and the rest of his sybaritic way of life, and he fell in love with the austerity of philosophers, and donned their cloak, and stripping off his old self modeled his life and future upon that of Apollonius.


ἐπιπλῆξαι δὲ λέγεται περὶ Διονυσίων ̓Αθηναίοις, ἃ ποιεῖταί σφισιν ἐν ὥρᾳ τοῦ ἀνθεστηριῶνος: ὁ μὲν γὰρ μονῳδίας ἀκροασομένους καὶ μελοποιίας παραβάσεών τε καὶ ῥυθμῶν, ὁπόσοι κωμῳδίας τε καὶ τραγῳδίας εἰσίν, ἐς τὸ θέατρον ξυμφοιτᾶν ᾤετο, ἐπεὶ δὲ ἤκουσεν, ὅτι αὐλοῦ ὑποσημήναντος λυγισμοὺς ὀρχοῦνται καὶ μεταξὺ τῆς ̓Ορφέως ἐποποιίας τε καὶ θεολογίας τὰ μὲν ὡς ̔͂Ωραι, τὰ δὲ ὡς Νύμφαι, τὰ δὲ ὡς Βάκχαι πράττουσιν, ἐς ἐπίπληξιν τούτου κατέστη καὶ “παύσασθε” εἶπεν “ἐξορχούμενοι τοὺς Σαλαμινίους καὶ πολλοὺς ἑτέρους κειμένους ἀγαθοὺς ἄνδρας, εἰ μὲν γὰρ Λακωνικὴ ταῦτα ὄρχησις, εὖγε οἱ στρατιῶται, γυμνάζεσθε γὰρ πολέμῳ καὶ ξυνορχήσομαι, εἰ δὲ ἁπαλὴ καὶ ἐς τὸ θῆλυ σπεύδουσα, τί φῶ περὶ τῶν τροπαίων; οὐ γὰρ κατὰ Μήδων ταῦτα ἢ Περσῶν, καθ' ὑμῶν δὲ ἑστήξει, τῶν ἀναθέντων αὐτὰ εἰ λίποισθε. κροκωτοὶ δὲ ὑμῖν καὶ ἁλουργία καὶ κοκκοβαφία τοιαύτη πόθεν; οὐδὲ γὰρ αἱ ̓Αχαρναί γε ὧδε ἐστέλλοντο, οὐδὲ ὁ Κολωνὸς ὧδε ἵππευε. καὶ τί λέγω ταῦτα; γυνὴ ναύαρχος ἐκ Καρίας ἐφ' ὑμᾶς ἔπλευσε μετὰ Ξέρξου, καὶ ἦν αὐτῇ γυναικεῖον οὐδέν, ἀλλ' ἀνδρὸς στολὴ καὶ ὅπλα, ὑμεῖς δὲ ἁβρότεροι τῶν Ξέρξου γυναικῶν ἐφ' ἑαυτοὺς στέλλεσθε οἱ γέροντες οἱ νέοι τὸ ἐφηβικόν, οἳ πάλαι μὲν ὤμνυσαν ἐς ̓Αγραύλου φοιτῶντες ὑπὲρ τῆς πατρίδος ἀποθανεῖσθαι καὶ ὅπλα θήσεσθαι, νῦν δὲ ἴσως ὀμοῦνται ὑπὲρ τῆς πατρίδος βακχεύσειν καὶ θύρσον λήψεσθαι κόρυν μὲν οὐδεμίαν φέρον, γυναικομίμῳ δὲ μορφώματι, κατὰ τὸν Εὐριπίδην, αἰσχρῶς διαπρέπον. ἀκούω δὲ ὑμᾶς καὶ ἀνέμους γίγνεσθαι καὶ λῄδια ἀνασείειν λέγεσθε ἔπιπλα μετεώρως αὐτὰ κολποῦντες. ἔδει δὲ ἀλλὰ τούτους γε αἰδεῖσθαι, ξυμμάχους ὄντας καὶ πνεύσαντας ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν μέγα, μηδὲ τὸν Βορέαν κηδεστήν γε ὄντα καὶ παρὰ πάντας τοὺς ἀνέμους ἄρσενα ποιεῖσθαι θῆλυν, οὐδὲ γὰρ τῆς ̓Ωρειθυίας ἐραστὴς ἄν ποτε ὁ Βορέας ἐγένετο, εἰ κἀκείνην ὀρχουμένην εἶδε.”And he is said to have rebuked the Athenians for their conduct of the festival of Dionysus, which they hold at the season of the month Anthesterion. For when he saw them flocking to the theater he imagined that the were going to listen to solos and compositions in the way of processional and rhythmic hymns, such as are sung in comedies and tragedies; but when he heard them dancing lascivious jigs to the rondos of a pipe, and in the midst of the sacred epic of Orpheus striking attitudes as the Hours, or as nymphs, or as bacchants, he set himself to rebuke their proceedings and said: Stop dancing away the reputations of the victors of Salamis as well as of many other good men deported this life. For if indeed this were a Lacedaemonian form of dance, I would say, “Bravo, soldiers; for you are training yourselves for war, and I will join in your dance'; but as it is a soft dance and one of effeminate tendency, what am I to say of your national trophies? Not as monuments of shame to the Medians or Persians, but to your own shame they will have been raised, should you degenerate so much from those who set them up. And what do you mean by your saffron robes and your purple and scarlet raiment? For surely the Acharnians never dressed themselves up in this way, nor ever the knights of Colonus rode in such garb. A woman commanded a ship from Caria and sailed against you with Xerxes, and about her there was nothing womanly, but she wore the garb and armor of a man; but you are softer than the women of Xerxes' day, and you are dressing yourselves up to your own despite, old and young and striplings alike, all those who of old flocked to the shrine of Agraulus in order to swear to die in battle on behalf of the fatherland. And now it seems that the same people are ready to swear to become bacchants and don the thyrsus in behalf of their country; and no one bears a helmet, but disguised as female harlequins, to use the phrase of Euripides, they shine in shame alone. Nay more, I hear that you turn yourselves into winds, and wave your skirts, and pretend that you are ships bellying their sails aloft. But surely you might at least have some respect for the winds that were your allies and once blew mightily to protect you, instead of turning Boreas who was your patron, and who of all the winds is the most masculine, into a woman; for Boreas would never have become the lover of Oreithya, if he had seen her executing, like you, a skirt dance.


διωρθοῦτο δὲ κἀκεῖνο ̓Αθήνησιν: οἱ ̓Αθηναῖοι ξυνιόντες ἐς θέατρον τὸ ὑπὸ τῇ ἀκροπόλει προσεῖχον σφαγαῖς ἀνθρώπων καὶ ἐσπουδάζετο ταῦτα ἐκεῖ μᾶλλον ἢ ἐν Κορίνθῳ νῦν, χρημάτων τε μεγάλων ἐωνημένοι ἤγοντο μοιχοὶ καὶ πόρνοι καὶ τοιχωρύχοι καὶ βαλαντιοτόμοι καὶ ἀνδραποδισταὶ καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα ἔθνη, οἱ δ' ὥπλιζον αὐτοὺς καὶ ἐκέλευον ξυμπίπτειν. ἐλάβετο δὲ καὶ τούτων ὁ ̓Απολλώνιος καὶ καλούντων αὐτὸν ἐς ἐκκλησίαν ̓Αθηναίων οὐκ ἂν ἔφη παρελθεῖν ἐς χωρίον ἀκάθαρτον καὶ λύθρου μεστόν. ἔλεγε δὲ ταῦτα ἐν ἐπιστολῇ. καὶ θαυμάζειν ἔλεγεν “ὅπως ἡ θεὸς οὐ καὶ τὴν ἀκρόπολιν ἤδη ἐκλείπει τοιοῦτον αἷμα ὑμῶν ἐκχεόντων αὐτῇ. δοκεῖτε γάρ μοι προιόντες, ἐπειδὰν τὰ Παναθήναια πέμπητε, μηδὲ βοῦς ἔτι, ἀλλ' ἑκατόμβας ἀνθρώπων καταθύσειν τῇ θεῷ. σὺ δέ, Διόνυσε, μετὰ τοιοῦτον αἷμα ἐς τὸ θέατρον φοιτᾷς; κἀκεῖ σοι σπένδουσιν οἱ σοφοὶ ̓Αθηναῖοι; μετάστηθι καὶ σύ, Διόνυσε: Κιθαιρὼν καθαρώτερος.” τοιάδε εὗρον τὰ σπουδαιότατα τῶν φιλοσοφηθέντων ̓Αθήνησιν αὐτῷ τότε.He also corrected the following abuse at Athens. The Athenians ran in crowds to the theater beneath the Acropolis to witness human slaughter, and the passion for such sports was stronger there than it is in Corinth today; for they would buy for large sums adulterers and fornicators and burglars and cut-purses and kidnappers and such-like rabble, and then they took them and armed them and set them to fight with one another. Apollonius then attacked these practices, and when the Athenians invited him to attend their assembly, he refused to enter a place so impure and reeking with gore. And this he said in an epistle to them; he said that he was surprised that the goddess had not already quitted the Acropolis, when you shed such blood under her eyes. For I suspect that presently, when you are conducting the pan-Athenaic procession, you will no longer be content with bull, but will be sacrificing hecatombs of men to the goddess. And thou, O Dionysus, dost thou after such bloodshed frequent their theater? And do the wise among the Athenians pour libations to thee there? Nay do thou depart, O Dionysus. Holier and purer is thy Cithaeron.Such were the more serious of the subjects which I have found he treated of at that time in Athens in his philosophical discourses.


Intertexts (texts cited often on the same page as the searched text):

6 results
1. Cicero, De Oratore, 3.43 (2nd cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE)

3.43. Athenis iam diu doctrina ipsorum Atheniensium interiit, domicilium tantum in illa urbe remanet studiorum, quibus vacant cives, peregrini fruuntur capti quodam modo nomine urbis et auctoritate; tamen eruditissimos homines Asiaticos quivis Atheniensis indoctus non verbis, sed sono vocis nec tam bene quam suaviter loquendo facile superabit. Nostri minus student litteris quam Latini; tamen ex istis, quos nostis, urbanis, in quibus minimum est litterarum, nemo est quin litteratissimum togatorum omnium, Q. Valerium Soranum, lenitate vocis atque ipso oris pressu et sono facile vincat.
2. Cicero, Letters To His Friends, 4.5 (2nd cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE)

3. New Testament, Acts, 16.18 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)

16.18. This she did for many days. But Paul, becoming greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, "I charge you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!" It came out that very hour.
4. Philostratus The Athenian, Life of Apollonius, 4.18-4.22 (2nd cent. CE

4.18. It was then the day of the Epidaurian festival, at which it is still customary for the Athenians to hold the initiation at a second sacrifice after both proclamation and victims have been offered; and this custom was instituted in honor of Asclepius, because they still initiated him when on one occasion he arrived from Epidaurus too late for the mysteries. Now most people neglected the initiation and hung around Apollonius, and thought more of doing that than of being perfected in their religion before they went home; but Apollonius said that he would join them later on, and urged them to attend at once to the rites of the religion, for that he himself would be initiated. But the hierophant was not disposed to admit him to the rites, for he said that he would never initiate a wizard and charlatan, nor open the Eleusinian rite to a man who dabbled in impure rites. Thereupon Apollonius, fully equal to the occasion, said: You have not yet mentioned the chief of my offense, which is that knowing, as I do, more about the initiatory rite than you do yourself, I have nevertheless come for initiation to you, as if you were wiser than I am. The bystanders applauded these words, and deemed that he had answered with vigor and like himself; and thereupon the hierophant, since he saw that his exclusion of Apollonius was not by any means popular with the crowd, changed his tone and said: Be thou initiated, for thou seemest to be some wise man who has come here. But Apollonius replied: I will be initiated at another time, and it is so and so, mentioning a name, who will initiate me. Herein he showed his gift of prevision, for he glanced at the hierophant who succeeded the one he addressed, and presided over the sanctuary four years later. 4.19. Many were the discourses which according to Damis the sage delivered at Athens; though he did not write down all of them, but only the more indispensable ones in which he handled great subjects. He took for the topic of his first discourse the matter of rite and ceremonies, and this because he saw that the Athenians were much addicted to sacrifices; and in it he explained how a religious man could best adapt his sacrifice, his libations, or prayers to any particular divinity, and at what hours of day and night he ought to offer them. And it is possible to obtain a book of Apollonius, in which he gives instructions in his own words. But Athens he discussed these topics with a view to improving his own wisdom and that of others in the first place, and in the second of convincing the hierophant of blasphemy and ignorance in the remarks he had made; for who could continue to regard as one impure in his religion a man who taught philosophically how the worship of the gods is to be conducted? 4.20. Now while he was discussing the question of libations, there chanced to be present in his audience a young dandy who bore so evil a reputation for licentiousness that his conduct had long been the subject of coarse street-corner songs. His home was Corcyra, and he traced his pedigree to Alcinous the Phaeacian who entertained Odysseus. Apollonius then was talking about libations, and was urging them not to drink out of a particular cup, but to reserve it for the gods, without ever touching it or drinking out of it. But when he also urged them to have handles on the cup, and to pour the libation over the handle, because that is the part at which men are least likely to drink, the youth burst out into loud and coarse laughter, and quite drowned his voice. Then Apollonius looked up and said: It is not yourself that perpetrates this insult, but the demon, who drives you without your knowing it. And in fact the youth was, without knowing it, possessed by a devil; for he would laugh at things that no one else laughed at, and then would fall to weeping for no reason at all, and he would talk and sing to himself. Now most people thought that it was boisterous humor of youth which led him into excesses; but he was really the mouthpiece of a devil, though it only seemed a drunken frolic in which on that occasion he was indulging. Now, when Apollonius gazed on him, the ghost in him began to utter cries of fear and rage, such as one hears from people who are being branded or racked; and the ghost swore that he would leave the you man alone and never take possession of any man again. But Apollonius addressed him with anger, as a master might a shifty, rascally, and shameless slave and so on, and he ordered him to quit the young man and show by a visible sign that he had done so. I will throw down yonder statue, said the devil, and pointed to one of the images which were there in the Royal Stoa, for there it was that the scene took place. But when the statue began by moving gently, and then fell down, it would defy anyone to describe the hubbub which arose thereat and the way they clapped their hand with wonder. But the young man rubbed his eyes as if he had just woke up, and he looked towards the rays of the sun, and assumed a modest aspect, as all had their attention concentrated on him; for he no longer showed himself licentious, nor did he stare madly about, but he had returned to his own self, as thoroughly as if he had been treated with drugs; and he gave up his dainty dress and summery garments and the rest of his sybaritic way of life, and he fell in love with the austerity of philosophers, and donned their cloak, and stripping off his old self modeled his life and future upon that of Apollonius. 4.21. And he is said to have rebuked the Athenians for their conduct of the festival of Dionysus, which they hold at the season of the month Anthesterion. For when he saw them flocking to the theater he imagined that the were going to listen to solos and compositions in the way of processional and rhythmic hymns, such as are sung in comedies and tragedies; but when he heard them dancing lascivious jigs to the rondos of a pipe, and in the midst of the sacred epic of Orpheus striking attitudes as the Hours, or as nymphs, or as bacchants, he set himself to rebuke their proceedings and said: Stop dancing away the reputations of the victors of Salamis as well as of many other good men deported this life. For if indeed this were a Lacedaemonian form of dance, I would say, “Bravo, soldiers; for you are training yourselves for war, and I will join in your dance'; but as it is a soft dance and one of effeminate tendency, what am I to say of your national trophies? Not as monuments of shame to the Medians or Persians, but to your own shame they will have been raised, should you degenerate so much from those who set them up. And what do you mean by your saffron robes and your purple and scarlet raiment? For surely the Acharnians never dressed themselves up in this way, nor ever the knights of Colonus rode in such garb. A woman commanded a ship from Caria and sailed against you with Xerxes, and about her there was nothing womanly, but she wore the garb and armor of a man; but you are softer than the women of Xerxes' day, and you are dressing yourselves up to your own despite, old and young and striplings alike, all those who of old flocked to the shrine of Agraulus in order to swear to die in battle on behalf of the fatherland. And now it seems that the same people are ready to swear to become bacchants and don the thyrsus in behalf of their country; and no one bears a helmet, but disguised as female harlequins, to use the phrase of Euripides, they shine in shame alone. Nay more, I hear that you turn yourselves into winds, and wave your skirts, and pretend that you are ships bellying their sails aloft. But surely you might at least have some respect for the winds that were your allies and once blew mightily to protect you, instead of turning Boreas who was your patron, and who of all the winds is the most masculine, into a woman; for Boreas would never have become the lover of Oreithya, if he had seen her executing, like you, a skirt dance. 4.22. He also corrected the following abuse at Athens. The Athenians ran in crowds to the theater beneath the Acropolis to witness human slaughter, and the passion for such sports was stronger there than it is in Corinth today; for they would buy for large sums adulterers and fornicators and burglars and cut-purses and kidnappers and such-like rabble, and then they took them and armed them and set them to fight with one another. Apollonius then attacked these practices, and when the Athenians invited him to attend their assembly, he refused to enter a place so impure and reeking with gore. And this he said in an epistle to them; he said that he was surprised that the goddess had not already quitted the Acropolis, when you shed such blood under her eyes. For I suspect that presently, when you are conducting the pan-Athenaic procession, you will no longer be content with bull, but will be sacrificing hecatombs of men to the goddess. And thou, O Dionysus, dost thou after such bloodshed frequent their theater? And do the wise among the Athenians pour libations to thee there? Nay do thou depart, O Dionysus. Holier and purer is thy Cithaeron.Such were the more serious of the subjects which I have found he treated of at that time in Athens in his philosophical discourses.
5. Himerius, Orations, 65 (4th cent. CE - 4th cent. CE)

6. Libanius, Orations, 1.19, 1.21 (4th cent. CE - 4th cent. CE)



Subjects of this text:

subject book bibliographic info
acropolis Breytenbach and Tzavella, Early Christianity in Athens, Attica, and Adjacent Areas (2022) 86
acropolis (athens) Tanaseanu-Döbler and von Alvensleben, Athens II: Athens in Late Antiquity (2020) 60
acropolis of athens Breytenbach and Tzavella, Early Christianity in Athens, Attica, and Adjacent Areas (2022) 5, 86
aesop Tanaseanu-Döbler and von Alvensleben, Athens II: Athens in Late Antiquity (2020) 163
antioch Tanaseanu-Döbler and von Alvensleben, Athens II: Athens in Late Antiquity (2020) 163
apollonius of tyana Breytenbach and Tzavella, Early Christianity in Athens, Attica, and Adjacent Areas (2022) 86; Tanaseanu-Döbler and von Alvensleben, Athens II: Athens in Late Antiquity (2020) 60
areopagus Breytenbach and Tzavella, Early Christianity in Athens, Attica, and Adjacent Areas (2022) 5
aristides of athens Breytenbach and Tzavella, Early Christianity in Athens, Attica, and Adjacent Areas (2022) 86
asclepius Tanaseanu-Döbler and von Alvensleben, Athens II: Athens in Late Antiquity (2020) 60
athena Tanaseanu-Döbler and von Alvensleben, Athens II: Athens in Late Antiquity (2020) 60
athenagoras Breytenbach and Tzavella, Early Christianity in Athens, Attica, and Adjacent Areas (2022) 86
autobiography Tanaseanu-Döbler and von Alvensleben, Athens II: Athens in Late Antiquity (2020) 163
christians, martyrs Breytenbach and Tzavella, Early Christianity in Athens, Attica, and Adjacent Areas (2022) 5
city, ‚learning city Tanaseanu-Döbler and von Alvensleben, Athens II: Athens in Late Antiquity (2020) 163
classical period Tanaseanu-Döbler and von Alvensleben, Athens II: Athens in Late Antiquity (2020) 163
comparative Robbins, von Thaden and Bruehler,Foundations for Sociorhetorical Exploration : A Rhetoric of Religious Antiquity Reader (2006)" 231
creaghan, john s. Breytenbach and Tzavella, Early Christianity in Athens, Attica, and Adjacent Areas (2022) 5
critical spatiality Robbins, von Thaden and Bruehler,Foundations for Sociorhetorical Exploration : A Rhetoric of Religious Antiquity Reader (2006)" 231
disciples Robbins, von Thaden and Bruehler,Foundations for Sociorhetorical Exploration : A Rhetoric of Religious Antiquity Reader (2006)" 231
eleusis Tanaseanu-Döbler and von Alvensleben, Athens II: Athens in Late Antiquity (2020) 60
elliger, winfried Breytenbach and Tzavella, Early Christianity in Athens, Attica, and Adjacent Areas (2022) 5
frantz, alison Breytenbach and Tzavella, Early Christianity in Athens, Attica, and Adjacent Areas (2022) 5
gadeira (spain) Tanaseanu-Döbler and von Alvensleben, Athens II: Athens in Late Antiquity (2020) 60
galba Tanaseanu-Döbler and von Alvensleben, Athens II: Athens in Late Antiquity (2020) 60
gods, athena Breytenbach and Tzavella, Early Christianity in Athens, Attica, and Adjacent Areas (2022) 86
gods Breytenbach and Tzavella, Early Christianity in Athens, Attica, and Adjacent Areas (2022) 5
greece Robbins, von Thaden and Bruehler,Foundations for Sociorhetorical Exploration : A Rhetoric of Religious Antiquity Reader (2006)" 231
harnack, adolf von Breytenbach and Tzavella, Early Christianity in Athens, Attica, and Adjacent Areas (2022) 5
healing Robbins, von Thaden and Bruehler,Foundations for Sociorhetorical Exploration : A Rhetoric of Religious Antiquity Reader (2006)" 231
hierophant, eleusis Tanaseanu-Döbler and von Alvensleben, Athens II: Athens in Late Antiquity (2020) 60
himerius Tanaseanu-Döbler and von Alvensleben, Athens II: Athens in Late Antiquity (2020) 163
home Robbins, von Thaden and Bruehler,Foundations for Sociorhetorical Exploration : A Rhetoric of Religious Antiquity Reader (2006)" 231
homeric motifs Tanaseanu-Döbler and von Alvensleben, Athens II: Athens in Late Antiquity (2020) 163
inscriptions, funerary Breytenbach and Tzavella, Early Christianity in Athens, Attica, and Adjacent Areas (2022) 5
jerusalem Robbins, von Thaden and Bruehler,Foundations for Sociorhetorical Exploration : A Rhetoric of Religious Antiquity Reader (2006)" 231
lamps Breytenbach and Tzavella, Early Christianity in Athens, Attica, and Adjacent Areas (2022) 5
lucian' Demoen and Praet, Theios Sophistes: Essays on Flavius Philostratus' Vita Apollonii (2009) 325
mysteries, eleusinian Breytenbach and Tzavella, Early Christianity in Athens, Attica, and Adjacent Areas (2022) 86
mysteries, eleusinian mysteries Tanaseanu-Döbler and von Alvensleben, Athens II: Athens in Late Antiquity (2020) 60
nero Tanaseanu-Döbler and von Alvensleben, Athens II: Athens in Late Antiquity (2020) 60
nicaea/nicaean orthodoxy Breytenbach and Tzavella, Early Christianity in Athens, Attica, and Adjacent Areas (2022) 5
pagan, athenians Breytenbach and Tzavella, Early Christianity in Athens, Attica, and Adjacent Areas (2022) 5
pagan, city Breytenbach and Tzavella, Early Christianity in Athens, Attica, and Adjacent Areas (2022) 5
paul (apostle) Breytenbach and Tzavella, Early Christianity in Athens, Attica, and Adjacent Areas (2022) 5, 86
phaleron (φάληρον), modern neo phaliro (νέο φάληρο) Breytenbach and Tzavella, Early Christianity in Athens, Attica, and Adjacent Areas (2022) 86
philosophers, epicurean Breytenbach and Tzavella, Early Christianity in Athens, Attica, and Adjacent Areas (2022) 5
philosophers, stoic Breytenbach and Tzavella, Early Christianity in Athens, Attica, and Adjacent Areas (2022) 5
philosophy Breytenbach and Tzavella, Early Christianity in Athens, Attica, and Adjacent Areas (2022) 86
philostratus Tanaseanu-Döbler and von Alvensleben, Athens II: Athens in Late Antiquity (2020) 60, 163
piraeus (πειραιάς, ancient πειραιεύς) Breytenbach and Tzavella, Early Christianity in Athens, Attica, and Adjacent Areas (2022) 86
polytheism Breytenbach and Tzavella, Early Christianity in Athens, Attica, and Adjacent Areas (2022) 86
prayers Breytenbach and Tzavella, Early Christianity in Athens, Attica, and Adjacent Areas (2022) 86
proclus (neoplatonist) Tanaseanu-Döbler and von Alvensleben, Athens II: Athens in Late Antiquity (2020) 60
ramsay, william m. Breytenbach and Tzavella, Early Christianity in Athens, Attica, and Adjacent Areas (2022) 5
raubitschek, a.e. Breytenbach and Tzavella, Early Christianity in Athens, Attica, and Adjacent Areas (2022) 5
rejection Robbins, von Thaden and Bruehler,Foundations for Sociorhetorical Exploration : A Rhetoric of Religious Antiquity Reader (2006)" 231
rhetoric Tanaseanu-Döbler and von Alvensleben, Athens II: Athens in Late Antiquity (2020) 163
rome Robbins, von Thaden and Bruehler,Foundations for Sociorhetorical Exploration : A Rhetoric of Religious Antiquity Reader (2006)" 231
school, rhetorical schools Tanaseanu-Döbler and von Alvensleben, Athens II: Athens in Late Antiquity (2020) 163
school, rivalry between schools Tanaseanu-Döbler and von Alvensleben, Athens II: Athens in Late Antiquity (2020) 163
sophist Tanaseanu-Döbler and von Alvensleben, Athens II: Athens in Late Antiquity (2020) 163
space, mental mapping of space Tanaseanu-Döbler and von Alvensleben, Athens II: Athens in Late Antiquity (2020) 163
student, student life Tanaseanu-Döbler and von Alvensleben, Athens II: Athens in Late Antiquity (2020) 163
student Tanaseanu-Döbler and von Alvensleben, Athens II: Athens in Late Antiquity (2020) 60
teacher Tanaseanu-Döbler and von Alvensleben, Athens II: Athens in Late Antiquity (2020) 163
trombley, frank r. Breytenbach and Tzavella, Early Christianity in Athens, Attica, and Adjacent Areas (2022) 5