Apollonius. "For the space of four successive years I maintained the unbroken silence of the Pythagoreans. The most sudden and unexpected pain never extorted a sigh from me; and when I used to enter the theatre, all drew away from me, as from a phantom."
Damis. "Wouldst thou have done so much?—thou?"
Apollonius. "After the period of my trial had been accomplished, I undertook to instruct the priests regarding the tradition they had lost."
Anthony. "What tradition?"
Damis. "Interrupt him not! Be silent!"
Apollonius. "I have conversed with the Samaneans of the Ganges, with the astrologers of Chaldea, with the magi of Babylon, with the Gaulish Druids, with the priests of the negroes! I have ascended the fourteen Olympii; I have sounded the Scythian lakes; I have measured the breadth of the Desert!"
Damis. "It is all true! I was with him the while!"
Apollonius. "But first I had visited the Hyrcanian Sea; I made the tour of it; and descending by way of the country of the Baraomati, where Bucephalus is buried, I approached the city of Nineveh. At the gates of the city, a man drew near me...."
Damis. "I—even I, good master! I loved thee from the first. Thou wert gentler than a girl and more beautiful than a god!"