DaphneANCIENT_Philostratus
Philostratus of Athens, Vita Apollonii Tyanei, 1.16
Apollonios of Tyana was a first-century AD itinerant neo-Pythagorean ascetic whose visits to distant lands are chronicled as if in a novel by Philostratus of Athens. The translation below is by RTM, but a full account is gracefully translated by C.P. Jones in the Loeb Classical Library.
[Apollonios of Tyana] came to visit the great city of Antioch and there ended his vow of silence. He went to the sanctuary of Apollo Daphnaios, where the Assyrians acquainted him with the Arcadian myth. According to this story Daphne the daughter of Ladon was transformed at the spot, and the Ladon River flows nearby; the laurel (daphne) tree is venerated among them, the same tree that previously had been the body of the girl. An impressively tall stand of cypress trees circles the sanctuary and the landscape produces incessant and calm springs where they say Apollo splashes himself. Further, they say that ground there once gave birth to Kyparissos the Assyrian youth and the tree’s appearance gives credence to that metamorphosis.
I likewise seem to have started my explanation [of Apollonios’ sojourn] in a somewhat novel way because I have been investigating such matters; but, this is not mere mythology. What does the story want us to know? What does it mean? When Apollonios looked with delight upon the sanctuary and saw nothing at all serious in the place — instead regarding the Antiochians as uncultured and uninspired — he said, “Apollo, transform these muted people into trees so that as cypress trees they can echo.” And when he saw how the springs ran so deep and that not even a babble sounded from them, he said “This voicelessness here does not allow even babbling in the springs.” And looking upon the River Ladon he said “Not only your daughter was transformed, but also you were too, in that you seem now to have been transformed from a Greek and an Arcadian into an Assyrian barbarian.”
When Apollonios relearned how to communicate, he avoided places that were thronging and riotous…
1.16 Ἐπεφοίτησε καὶ Ἀντιοχείᾳ τῇ μεγάλῃ πεπαυμένος τοῦ σιωπᾶν, καὶ παρῆλθεν ἐς τὸ ἱερὸν τοῦ Δαφναίου Ἀπόλλωνος, ᾧ περιάπτουσιν Ἀσσύριοι τὸν μῦθον τὸν Ἀρκάδα· τὴν γὰρ τοῦ Λάδωνος Δάφνην ἐκεῖ μεταφῦναι λέγουσι καὶ ποταμὸς αὐτοῖς ῥεῖ Λάδων, καὶ φυτὸν τιμᾶται παρ’ αὐτοῖς δάφνης, τοῦτο δὴ τὸ ἀντὶ τῆς παρθένου, κυπαρίττων τε ὕψη ἀμήχανα περιέστηκε κύκλῳ τὸ ἱερὸν καὶ πηγὰς ἐκδίδωσιν ὁ χῶρος ἀφθόνους τε καὶ ἠρεμούσας, αἷς τὸν Ἀπόλλω φασὶ ῥαίνεσθαι. ἐνταῦθα κυπαρίττου τι ἔρνος ἡ γῆ ἀναδέδωκεν ἐπὶ Κυπαρίττῳ φασὶν ἐφήβῳ Ἀσσυρίῳ, καὶ πιστοῦται τὴν μεταβολὴν ἡ ὥρα τοῦ φυτοῦ. καὶ ἴσως νεανικώτερον ἅπτεσθαι δοκῶ τοῦ λόγου διαμυθολογῶν τὰ τοιαῦτα· ἀλλ’ οὐχ ὑπὲρ μυθολογίας ταῦτα. τί δέ μοι ὁ λόγος βούλεται; ὁ Ἀπολλώνιος ἰδὼν τὸ ἱερὸν χαρίεν μέν, σπουδὴν δ’ ἐν αὐτῷ οὐδεμίαν, ἀλλ’ ἀνθρώπους ἡμιβαρβάρους καὶ ἀμούσους „Ἄπολλον,” ἔφη „μετάβαλε τοὺς ἀφώνους ἐς δένδρα, ἵνα κἂν ὡς κυπάριττοι ἠχῶσιν.” τὰς δὲ πηγὰς ἐπισκεψάμενος, ὡς γαλήνην ἄγουσι καὶ κελαρύζει σφῶν οὐδεμία, „ἡ ἀφωνία“ εἶπεν „ἡ ἐνταῦθα οὐδὲ ταῖς πηγαῖς ξυγχωρεῖ φθέγγεσθαι.“ πρὸς δὲ τὸν Λάδωνα ἰδὼν “οὐχ ἡ θυγάτηρ” ἔφη “σοὶ μόνη μετέβαλεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ σὺ τῷ δόξαι βάρβαρος ἐξ Ἕλληνός τε καὶ Ἀρκάδος.