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A THEOSOPHIST : APOLLONIUS OF TYANA

WHEN they had passed the Caucasus, we hear of their seeing men four cubits high, and they were already among blacks ; but when they penetrated beyond the Indus, there was another tribe of five cubits in stature. In the journey to that river they had an interesting incident to report : as they were travelling in a'oright moonlight, they met with an apparition of an Empusa, which assumed now one, now another shape, and sometimes vanished. Apollonius perceived what it was. He then cursed the hag and instructed the rest of the party to do likewise, such being the remedy for this visitation. The apparition beat a hasty retreat, squeaking like a devil.
They were in the course of surmounting the crest, and were actually walking it on foot, for the going was precipitous, when he thus began to question Damis :
` Tell me,' he said, 'where were we yesterday ?'
· In the plain.'
` And to-day where are we, Damis ?'
· In the Caucasus-unless I have taken leave of my senses.'
'Then at which time were you the lower down ?'
` Why,' says Damis, ` that is a question not worth the asking. Yesterday our journey lay in a basin of country, and to-day we are up against the sky! '
` So you think that yesterday's journey was down below, Damis, and to-day's up on high ?'
'By Jove, I do-unless I am stark mad.'
` What difference then do you judge that there is between the two journeys, or in what respect are you better off to-day than yesterday ? '
' In this : yesterday I was walking where many walk, and to-day, where few.'
'But, Damis, even in town, cannot one avoid the crowded thoroughfares and walk with few for company ?'