Jerome. Lives of Illustrious Men 40
40 Apollonius PL 23, 655
Apollonius, an exceedingly talented man, wrote against Montanus, Prisca and Maximilla a notable and lengthy volume, in which he asserts that Montanus and his mad prophetesses died by hanging, and many other things, among which are the following concerning Prisca and Maximilla, “if they denied that they have accepted gifts, let them confess that those who do accept are not prophets and I will prove by a thousand witnesses that they have received gifts, for it is by other fruits that prophets are shown to be prophets indeed. Tell me, does a prophet dye his hair? Does a prophet stain her eyelids with antimony? Is a prophet adorned with fine garments and precious stones? Does a prophet play with dice and tables? Does he accept usury? Let them respond whether this ought to be permitted or not, it will be my task to prove that they do these things.” He says in the same book, that the time when he wrote the work was the fortieth year after the beginning of the heresy of the Cataphrygians. Tertullian added to the six volumes which he wrote On ecstasy against the church a seventh, directed especially against Apollonius, in which he attempts to defend all which Apollonius refuted. Apollonius flourished in the reigns of Commodus and Severus.
881 Apollonius, vir disertissimus, scripsit adversus Montanum, Priscam et Maximillam insigne et longum volumen, in quo asserit Montanum, et insanas vates ejus periisse suspendio: et multa alia, in quibus de Prisca et Maximilla refert: Si negant eas accepisse munera, confiteantur non esse Prophetas, qui accipiunt: et mille hoc testibus approbabo. Sed et ex aliis fructibus probantur Prophetae. Dic mihi, crinem fucat Prophetes? stibio oculos linit? Prophetae vestibus et gemmis ornantur? Prophetes tabula ludit et tesseris? Propheta fenus accipit? Respondeant, utrum hoc fieri liceat, an non: meum est approbare, quod fecerint. Dicit in eodem libro, quadragesimum esse annum usque ad tempus, quo ipse scribebat librum, ex quo haeresis Cataphrygarum habuerit exordium. Tertullianus sex voluminibus adversus Ecclesiam editis, quae scripsit περὶ ἐκστάσεως, septimum proprie adversus Apollonium elaboravit, in quo omnia, quae ille arguit, conatur defendere. Floruit autem Apollonius sub Commodo Severoque principibus.
882 Ἀπολλώνιος, ἀνὴρ ἐλλογιμώτατος, ἔγραψε κατὰ Μοντανοῦ, Πρισκίλλας καὶ Μαξιμίλλας μέγα καὶ ἐπίσημον τεῦχος, ἐν ᾧ φησι Μοντανὸν καὶ τὰς μαινομένας προφήτιδας ἀπάγξασθαι, καὶ ἕτερα πολλὰ, ἐν οἷς περὶ Πρισκίλλας καὶ Μαξιμίλλας λέγει. Εἰ ἀρνοῦνται αὐτὰς εἰληφέναι δῶρα, ὁμολογήσουσι μὴ εἶναι προφήτας τοὺς δεχομένους δῶρα, καὶ διὰ χιλίων τοῦτο ἐλέγχω μαρτύρων. Ἀλλὰ καὶ δι' ἑτέρων ἔργων προφῆται δοκιμάζονται. Εἶπέ μοι, κόμην βάπτει προφήτης; στιβίῳ τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς χρίει; προφήτης ἐσθήματι καὶ μαργαρίταις κοσμεῖται; προφήτης τάβλᾳ καὶ βολίοις παίζει; τόκους λαμβάνει προφήτης; ἀποκριθῶσιν, εἰ τοῦτο γενέσθαι ἐξὸν, ἢ καὶ μὴ, καὶ ἐμόν ἐστι ἐλέγξαι ὅτι περ πεποιήκασι. Λέγει ἐν αὐτῇ τῇ βίβλῳ, τεσσαρακοστὸν εἶναι ἐνιαυτὸν ἕως τοῦ καιροῦ, ἐν ᾧ καὶ αὐτὸς συγγράφεται, ἀφ' οὗ τὴν ἀρχὴν ἐδέξατο ἡ αἵρεσις ἡ κατὰ Φρύγας. Τερτυλλιανὸς δὲ ἐκδεδωκὸς λόγους ἓξ κατὰ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας περὶ ἐκστάσεως, τὸν ἕβδομον ἰδικῶς κατὰ Ἀπολλωνίου συνέταξεν, ἐν ᾧ πάντα ἅπερ ἐκεῖνος εὐθύνειν ἐπιχειρεῖ, ἐκδικεῖ. Ἤνθησε δὲ Ἀπολλώνιος ἐπὶ Κομόδου καὶ Σεβήρου.