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ON SOME POSSIBLE SOURCES FOR PHILOSTRATUS' VITA APOLLONII 3.34

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2014

Alexey V. Belousov
Alexey V. Belousov*
Affiliation:
Lomonosov Moscow State University
*
[email protected]
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Extract

The king therefore went down to the village, since the Wise Men's rule did not permit him to spend more than a day with them, but Iarchas said to the messenger, ‘Damis too we consider worthy of the secrets here, so tell him to come, while you look after the others in the village.’ When Damis had come, the Wise Men formed their usual circle and gave Apollonius permission to put questions. So he asked what they thought the universe consisted of, to which they replied, ‘Elements.’ ‘Four, do you think?’ he said. ‘Not four’, said Iarchas, ‘but five.’ ‘What could a fifth one be’, said Apollonius, ‘besides water, air, earth, and fire?’ ‘Ether’, said Iarchas, ‘which we must consider to be the origin (γένεσιν) of the gods. All that breathes air is mortal, but what breathes ether is immortal and divine.’ Next Apollonius asked which of the elements came into existence first. ‘All came together’, said the other, ‘since a living being is not born one piece at a time.’ ‘Am I to consider the universe living?’, asked Apollonius. ‘Yes, if you reason correctly’, said Iarchas, ‘since itself it gives life to everything.’ ‘Should we then call it female’, asked Apollonius, ‘or of the contrary, male sex?’ ‘Of both’, was the answer, ‘since it has intercourse with itself, and performs both the mother's and the father's role with respect to generation. It feels a desire for itself more intense than that of any two other beings, and this joins and unites it, and there is nothing unreasonable about its coalescence. And just as the action of the hands and feet in a living creature comes from mobility and the intelligence (διὰ τὸν ἐκείνου νοῦν) that causes it, so also we must suppose that, because of the intelligence of the universe (κατὰ τὸν ἐκείνου ϕοιτᾷ νοῦν), its parts accommodate themselves to everything that undergoes birth and conception. For instance, the sufferings resulting from drought arise from the mind of the universe, when justice is banished from mankind and treated with dishonor. And this being guides itself not by one hand alone but by many unseen ones that it uses; though too large to be restrained, it moves obediently and tractably.’

The doctrine contained in this extract – the only passage of The Life of Apollonius of Tyana treating matters of ‘cosmogony’ – could be summarized in the six following propositions. First, the universe consists of five, not four elements, the fifth being the ether, the γένεσις θεῶν. Just as mortals breathe air, gods breathe ether. Secondly, there is no ‘primordial element’; all five came into being simultaneously. Thirdly, the universe is a living being. In the fourth place, the universe is both male and female at the same time. In the fifth place, as the universe is androgynous it feels desire (ἔρως) towards itself and it is this desire that makes it whole and united. And finally, the passion of the universe for itself is governed by Intelligence (ἐκείνου νοῦς).

Type
Research Article
Information
The Classical Quarterly , Volume 64 , Issue 2 , December 2014 , pp. 787 - 792
Copyright
Copyright © The Classical Association 2014 

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References

1 There are no relevant variae lectiones in the MS tradition for this passage; see Kayser, C.L. (ed.), Flavii Philostrati opera auctiora: accedunt Apollonii Epistolae, Eusebius Adversus Hieroclem, Philostrati junioris Imagines, Callistrati Descriptiones (2 vols, Leipzig, 1870–1)Google Scholar.

2 Translation from Jones, C.P., The Life of Apollonius of Tyana (Cambridge, MA, 2005), 293–7Google Scholar.

3 Rabinovich, E.G., Filostrat Flaviy: Zhizn' Appoloniya Tianskogo (Moscow, 1985), 285Google Scholar.

4 E.g. the doctrine of ‘five elements’. See Bongard-Levin, G.M., Bukharin, M.D. and Vigasin, A.A., India I antichny mir (Moscow, 2002), 10Google Scholar.

5 Ibid. Cf. Sedlar, J.W., India and the Greek World: A Study in the Transmission of Culture (Totowa, NJ, 1980), 190–3Google Scholar. See also Anderson, G., Philostratus: Biography and Belles Letters in the Third Century a.d. (London, 1986), 210Google Scholar.

6 Hopfner, T., ‘Die Brahmanen Indiens und die Gymnosophisten Ägyptens in der Apolloniosbiographie des Philostratos’, Archiv Orientalni 6 (1934), 58–67, at 63Google Scholar.

7 P. Moraux, ‘Quinta essentia’, RE 24.1.1236; Swain, S., ‘Defending Hellenism: Philostratus in honour of Apollonius’, in Edwards, M.J., Goodman, M., and Price, S. (edd.), Apologetics in the Roman Empire: Pagans, Jews, and Christians, (Oxford, 1999), 157–96Google Scholar, at 187 n. 97; Flintermann, J.-J., ‘“The ancestor of my wisdom”: Pythagoras and Pythagoreanism in Life of Apollonius’, in Bowie, E. and Elsner, J. (edd.) Philostratus (Cambridge, 2009), 155–75Google Scholar, at 165 n. 68. For ‘ether’ in Middle Platonism, see Dillon, J., Alcinous: The Handbook of Platonism (Oxford, 1993), 119–20Google Scholar, 135–6; Dillon, J., The Middle Platonists (Ithaca, 1996 2)Google Scholar, 250, 289, 309, 344.

8 VA 3.42: ὅθεν οὐ χρὴ θαυμάζειν, εἰ καὶ σὺ τὴν ἐπιστήμην ξυνείληϕας τοσοῦτον ἐν τῇ ψυχῇ ϕέρων αἰθέρα.

9 VA 1.8: καὶ τὸν οἶνον καθαρὸν μὲν ἔϕασκεν εἶναι πῶμα ἐκ ϕυτοῦ οὕτως ἡμέρου τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἥκοντα, ἐναντιοῦσθαι δὲ τῇ τοῦ νοῦ συστάσει διαθολοῦντα τὸν ἐν τῇ ψυχῇ αἰθέρα.

10 VA 8.7: τοῦτό μοι, ὦ βασιλεῦ, τὰς αἰσθήσεις ἐν αἰθρίᾳ τινὶ ἀπορρήτῳ ϕυλάττει κοὐκ ἐᾷ θολερὸν περὶ αὐτὰς οὐδὲν εἶναι, διορᾶν τε, ὥσπερ ἐν κατόπτρου αὐγῇ, πάντα γιγνόμενά τε καὶ ἐσόμενα.

11 On ether as ‘the substance of souls’, see Moraux (n. 7), 1213–31; Bos, A.P., The Soul and its Instrumental Body: A Reinterpretation of Aristoteles' Philosophy of Living Nature (Leiden, 2003), 258–303CrossRefGoogle Scholar. See also: J.-J. Flintermann (n. 7), 165 n. 68, 166.

12 Fr. 98–99 Wehrli. See Moraux (n. 7), 193–4.

13 Cic. Tusc. 1.10. 22, 1.26.65–27.66; Ac. 1.7. 26; Macrob. In Somn. 1.12.1–4 = Numenius fr. 34 des Places.

14 See Dillon (n. 7 [1996]), 326–68.

15 Swain (n. 7), 187 n. 97.

16 Rabinovich (n. 3), 285.

17 See Dillon (n. 7 [1996]), 250, 309, 289. On the other hand, the existence of the fifth element is denied by such philosophers as Calvenus Taurus (ibid., 250) and the Neopythagorean Nicomachus of Gerasa (ibid., 344).

18 [Ocell.] De univ. nat. 134.3–4 Thesleff; [Philol.] De anima 150.20 Thesleff. However, both cite Aristotle's etymology of the word ‘ether’: ἀπὸ τοῦ θεῖν ἀεί (Cael. 270b23).

19 Translation from Copenhaver, Brian C., Hermetica: The Greek Corpus Hermeticum and the Latin Asclepius (Cambridge, 1995)Google Scholar, 2, from CH 1.9: ὁ δὲ Νοῦς ὁ θεός, ἀρρενόθηλυς ὤν, ζωὴ καὶ ϕῶς ὑπάρχων, ἀπεκύησε λόγῳ ἕτερον Νοῦν δημιουργόν, ὃς θεὸς τοῦ πυρὸς καὶ πνεύματος ὤν, ἐδημιούργησε διοικητάς τινας ἑπτά, ἐν κύκλοις περιέχοντας τὸν αἰσθητὸν κόσμον, καὶ ἡ διοίκησις αὐτῶν εἱμαρμένη καλεῖται. Cf. ibid. 12: ὁ δὲ πάντων πατὴρ ὁ Νοῦς, ὢν ζωὴ καὶ ϕῶς, ἀπεκύησεν Ἄνθρωπον αὐτῷ ἴσον. Cf. Asclepius 20: hic ergo solus ut omnia: utriusque sexus fecunditate plenissimus semper voluntate sua pregnans parit quicquid voluerit procreare; CH 5.9: τούτου (sc. θεοῦ) ἐστὶν οὐσία τὸ κύειν πάντα καὶ ποιεῖν. On ‘androgynous’ connotations of the words ἀπεκειν and κύειν, see Nock, A.D. and Festugière, A.-J., Corpus Hermeticum. T.1 : traités I–XII (Paris, 1945)Google Scholar, 20. On androgynous deity, see Kroll, J., Die Lehren des Hermes Trismegistos (Münster, 1928), 51–4Google Scholar.

20 CH 6.2, 11.4. See also J. Kroll, ‘Hermes Trismegistus’, RE 8.1.807.

21 CH 1.17 (Copenhaver [n. 19], 4); cf. CH 11.19. Ether is also mentioned in SH 6, 23.11, 17, 34, 24.1, 25.7, 29. Magic papyri, close to Corpus Hermeticum, also deal with the notion of ‘ether’: PGM 12.238–69 (cf. 6.1605–15), 4.1115–64, 475–732.

22 Ascl. 7. See also Mahé, J.P., Le Fragment du Discours parfait et les Definitions Hermetiques Arméniennes (Québec, 1982), 405Google Scholar.

23 Fowden, G., The Egyptian Hermes: A Historical Approach to the Late Pagan Mind (Princeton, NJ, 1993)Google Scholar, 105, 108 n. 69, 137, etc.

24 G. Fowden, in CAH 2 12.529.

25 See Ullman, M., Die Natur und Geheimwissenschaft im Islam (Leiden and Cologne, 1972), 378–81Google Scholar; Weisse, U., Das Buch über das Geheimnis der Schöpfung von Pseudo-Apollonius von Tyana (Berlin and New York, 1980), 17–19CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Dzielska, M., Apollonios of Tyana in Legend and History (Rome, 1986), 119–21Google Scholar; Flinterman, J.-J., Power, Paideia & Pythagoreanism: Greek Identity, Conceptions of the Relationship between Philosophers and Monarchs, and Political Ideas in Philostratus' Life of Apollonius (Amsterdam, 1995), 73Google Scholar.

26 Even though Philostratus himself considers astrology and other prophetic techniques to be beyond human capabilities (VA 3.41).

27 Fr. 1a des Places.

28 Dillon (n. 7 [1996]), 347. Dillon mentions that Numenius was also under the influence of the Chaldean Oracles (348). On the influence of the Corpus Hermeticum on Numenius see also ibid., 354, 360–1; Mel'nikov, S.A., Filosovskiye vzglyady Numeniya Apameyskogo (Philosophy of Numenius from Apameia) (Moscow, 2003, in Russian)Google Scholar.

29 Fr. 21 des Places.

30 Fr. 16, 19 des Places.

31 Fr. 57 des Places.

32 Fr. 11.13–16 des Places.

33 Fr. 58 des Places. See also Mel'nikov (n. 28), 66–7.

34 Fr. 17 des Places.

35 Ether is mentioned only once in the surviving fragments of Numenius' works and even in this instance the word is used metaphorically: Fr. 18 des Places.

36 See Mel'nikov (n. 28), 67.

37 Varro ap. August. De civ. Dei 7.23.

38 See Dillon (n. 7 [1996]), 359–62.

39 Varro ap. August. De civ. Dei 7.6.