iVho was Apollonius of Tyana ? 



114 



Apollonius makes common cause. He 

 is further stated to have visited in 

 prison an endangered philosopher. St. 

 Paul at this very time was imprisoned, 

 and in danger of being; martyred at 

 Rome. Now as Apollonius was not 

 merely tlie contemporary of St. Paul, 

 but possibly his schoolfellow, Iiaving 

 also received his early education in 

 the Jewish academies at Tarsus; as 

 they were both gentilizing Jews, and 

 great travellers, and every-where 

 preaching piety, and every-where 

 curing disease ; they must not only 

 have heard of each other, but have met 

 in life repeatedly, and have felt many 

 sympathies. Is it not obvious to sus- 

 pect that Apollonius, about the year 

 54, became a convert to the doctrine 

 of St. Paul? 



Apollonius gave to his medical 

 cures a marvellous turn, a legendary 

 colouring, closely resembling the prac- 

 tice of Chiistian apostles or mission- 

 aries. Here is an instance in the 

 words of Mr. Berwick's translation of 

 Philostratus : — " What I am going to 

 relate is set down among the marvel- 

 lous acts of Apollonius. A girl, on 

 the point of being married, seemingly 

 died, whose bier was followed by him 

 who was to have been jher husband, in 

 all the affliction usual in like cases of 

 interrupted wedlock. As she hap- 

 pened to be of a consular family, all 

 Rome condoled with him. Apollo- 

 nius, meeting the funeral procession, 

 said to the attendants, ' Set down the 

 bier, and I will dry up the tears 

 which you are shedding for the maid ;' 

 whose name he enquired after. Al- 

 most all the spectators present thought 

 he was going to pronounce a funeral 

 oration, like what is done on such oc- 

 casions to excite compassion. But all 

 he did was to touch the maid, and, 

 after uttering a few words over lier in 

 a low tone of voice, he awakened her 

 from that death with which she seem- 

 ed to be overcome. She immediately 

 began to speak, and returned to her 

 father's house, as Alces^is did of old 

 when recalled to life by Hercules. 

 The relations of the girl presented 

 Apollos with 150,000 drachmas, which 

 be in return begged to settle on her as 

 a marriage-portion. It is as difficult 

 to me, as to all who were present, to 

 ascertain whether Apollonius disco- 

 vered the vital spark, which had 

 escaped the faculty ; for it is said that 

 it rained at the time, which caused a 

 vapour to arise from her face : or whe- 



[March I, 



ther he cherished an/I brought back to 

 life the soul, which to all appearance 

 was extinct." 



At the Serapeum of Alexandria, 

 Apollonius is described as preaching j 

 and in that city he was honoured with 

 the notice of Vespasian, wl)0 consider- 

 ed his patronage as very important to 

 a candidate for the Roman empire. 

 Those miracles, — such as tonchingfor 

 the king's evil, — which Tacitus and 

 Suetonius relate of Vespasian, were 

 probably organized by Apollonius. In 

 the fifth book of Philostratus, he is re- 

 presented as countenancing the in- 

 surrection against Nero, and favouring 

 the elevation of the Flavian family, 

 which was the notorious policy of the 

 entire Christian sect. 



After various peregrinations, Apol- 

 lonius became stationary at Ephesus, 

 where he exercised a sort of jurisdic- 

 tion, much resembling that of a Chris- 

 tian bishop. The share which he took 

 in the deposition of Domitian was 

 still more avowed and efficacious than 

 that which he had taken in the deposi- 

 tion of Nero. Such was his hatred 

 against tyranny, that he bespoke at 

 Ephesus the " Ino" of Euripides, and 

 rose in the theatre to apply and io 

 applaud the seditious passages. The 

 same spirit followed him into conver- 

 sation and into the pul|>it ; and it was 

 he who roused the whole empire from 

 Greece to Rome. He ventured to de- 

 signate Nerva, during the life-time of 

 Domitian, as the fittest successor; and 

 he voluntarily came to Home to be 

 tried for prophesying the purple to 

 Nerva. During his stay there he 

 preached repeatedly ; and, in the frag- 

 ments given by Philostratus of his 

 sermons, both the Jewish and the 

 Christian scriptures are quoted. (Con- 

 suit, for instance, p. 216 and p. 219 of 

 Mr. Berwick's translation of Philos- 

 tratus.) This amounts to demonstra- 

 tive proof, that Apollonius was be- 

 come a Christian priest. 



It was a sort of public and avowed 

 conspiracy that Apollonius conducted, 

 — a conspiracy of public opinion 

 against a justly odious tyrant ; and 

 when, in consequence of the alarmists 

 having over-stated the treasonable 

 charges against him, he was acquitted 

 at Rome, the court of justice rang 

 with acclamations, and loud shouts of 

 joy rebounded from every square in 

 the metropolis. The Christians were 

 accused of supporting this conspiracy, 

 and of lending their temples to the 

 propagation 



