[83] φήσας οὐκ ἀνθρώπων ἑαυτῷ δεῖν, ἀλλ' ἀνδρῶν.
[86] That is to say, presumably, spend the time in silent meditation.
[87] That is the Brāhmans and Buddhists. Sarman is the Greek corruption of the Sanskrit Samaṇa and Pâli Samaṇo, the technical term for a Buddhist ascetic or monk. The ignorance of the copyists changed Sarmanes first into Germanes and then into Hyrcanians!
[88] This shows that Apollonius was still young, and not between forty and fifty, as some have asserted. Tredwell (p. 77) dates the Indian travels as 41-54 A.D.
[89] See especially iii. 15, 41; v. 5, 10; vii. 10, 13; viii. 28.
[91] See especially vii. 13, 14, 15, 22, 31.
[92] The list is full of gaps, so that we cannot suppose that Damis’ notes were anything like complete records of the numerous itineraries; not only so, but one is tempted to believe that whole journeys, in which Damis had no share, are omitted.
[93] Here at any rate they came in sight of the giant mountains, the Imaus (Himavat) or Himālayan Range, where was the great mountain Meros (Meru). The name of the Hindu Olympus being changed into Meros in Greek had, ever since Alexander’s expedition, given rise to the myth that Bacchus was born from the thigh (_meros_) of Zeus--presumably one of the facts which led Professor Max Müller to stigmatise the whole of mythology as a “disease of language.”
[94] Referring to his instructors he says, “I ever remember my masters and journey through the world teaching what I have learned from them” (vi. 18).
[95] According to some, Apollonius would be now about sixty-eight years of age. But if he were still young (say thirty years old or so) when he left for India, he must either have spent a very long period in that country, or we have a very imperfect record of his doings in Asia Minor, Greece, Italy, and Spain, after his return.
[96] For the most recent study in English on the subject of Æsculapius see The Cult of Asclepios, by Alice Walton, Ph.D., in No. III. of The Cornell Studies in Classical Philology (Ithaca, N.Y.; 1894).
[97] He evidently wrote the notes of the Indian travels long after the time at which they were made.
[98] This shows that Philostratus came across them in some work or letter of Apollonius, and is therefore independent of Damis’ account for this particular.