Million Book Collection - The Fishers of Men Ministries

218 THE FORMATION OF CHRISTENDOMIndian wise men, in which he said, " Apollonius, thewisest of men, deems you wiser than himself, and iscome to learn what you can tell him. Send him forth,therefore, instructed in all your knowledge, for nothingof it will perish, since he speaks better than all othermen, and remembers what he knows." I pass overall the strange stories inserted in this journey fromAntioch to the land beyond the Ganges, in order tobring Apollonius at once to the object of his travels,the seat of the wise men of India. As after manydays' journey, in a land teeming with wonders, he approacheswithin a furlong of the hill where they dwelt,a very dark Indian youth appeared, bearing in hishand a golden anchor, the symbol of the herald'ssacred office, and addressing Apollonius in Greek,while he passed the others by, " Leave these," he said," here, but come thou as thou art, for it is T/fy whocommand." In this Apollonius recognised the PythagoreanIpse dixit, and followed rejoicing.The Indian sages are described as having a sort ofenchanted dwelling upon a hill rising out of a plain tothe height of the Acropolis of Athens, defended on allsides by rocks. Here they cover themselves withclouds, or disclose themselves at pleasure, open or shutthe vessels of the winds and rains, which they dispenseto India. Apollonius approaching sees statues notonly of the Indian and Egyptian gods, but likewise ofMinerva, Apollo, and Bacchus, and these too worshippedwith Hellenic rites. " I saw," he says, " therah mans living upon the earth, and yet not on itfortified without walls, possessing nothing and yetpossessing all things/' larchas, the chief of the wisemen, with his seventeen companions, receives Apolloniuswith great honour, saluting him in the Greek