|
Thereupon Iarchas remarked: "You must judge more reasonably, O king, both about philosophy and about Phraotes: for as long as you were a stripling, your youth excused in you such extravagances. But now that you have already reached man's estate, let us avoid foolish and facile utterances."
But Apollonius, who found an interpreter in Iarchas said: "And what have you gained, O king, by refusing to be a philosopher?"
"What have I gained? Why, the whole of virtue and the identification of myself with the Sun."
Then the other, by way of checking his pride and muzzling him, said: "If you were a philosopher, you would not entertain such fancies."
"And you," replied the king, "since you are a philosopher, what is your fancy about yourself, my fine fellow?"
"That I may pass," replied Apollonius, "for being a good man, if only I can be a philosopher."
Thereupon the king stretched out his hand to heaven and exclaimed: "By the Sun, you come here full of Phraotes."
But the other hailed this remark as a godsend, and catching him up said: "I have not taken this long journey in vain, if I am become full of Phraotes. But if you should meet him presently, you will certainly say that he is full of me; and he wished to write to you on my behalf, but since he declared that you were a good man, I begged him not to take the trouble of writing, seeing that in his case no one sent a letter commending me."
29. This put a stop to the incipient folly of the king for having heard that he himself was praised by Phraotes, he not only dropped his suspicions, but lowering his tone he said: "Welcome, goodly stranger."
But Apollonius answered: "And my welcome to you also, O king, for you appear to have only just arrived."
|
