Damis—"Tyana, his native city, has erected a temple with priests in his honour!"
Apollonius draws close to Antony, and, bending towards his ear, says:
"The truth is, I know all the gods, all the rites, all the prayers, all the oracles. I have penetrated into the cavern of Trophonius, the son of Apollo. I have moulded for the Syracusans the cakes which they use on the mountains. I have undergone the eighty tests of Mithra. I have pressed against my heart the serpent of Sabacius. I have received the scarf of the Cabiri. I have bathed Cybele in the waves of the Campanian Gulf; and I have passed three moons in the caverns of Samothrace!"
Damis, laughing stupidly—"Ah! ah! ah! at the mysteries of the Bona Dea!"
Apollonius—"And now we are renewing our pilgrimage. We are going to the North, the side of the swans and the snows. On the white plain the blind hippopodes break with the ends of their feet the ultramarine plant."
Damis—"Come! it is morning! The cock has crowed; the horse has neighed; the ship is ready."
Antony—"The cock has not crowed. I hear the cricket in the sands, and I see the moon, which remains in its place."
Apollonius—"We are going to the South, behind the mountains and the huge waves, to seek in the perfumes for the cause of love. You shall inhale the odour of myrrhodion, which makes the weak die. You shall bathe your body in the lake of pink oil of the Island of Juno. You shall see sleeping under the primroses the lizard who awakens all the centuries when at his maturity the carbuncle falls from his forehead. The stars glitter like eyes, the cascades sing like lyres, an intoxicating fragrance arises from the opening flowers. Your spirit shall expand in this atmosphere, and it will show itself in your heart as well as in your face."
Damis—"Master, it is time! The wind is about to rise; the swallows are awakening; the myrtle-leaf is shed."
Apollonius—"Yes, let us go!"