APOLLONIUS OF TYANA.
| PAGE | |
| INTRODUCTION.—HIS LIFE WRITTEN BY PHILOSTRATUS, INDIRECTLY AGAINST CHRISTIANITY | [305] |
| 1. HIS BIRTH, EDUCATION, PYTHAGOREAN TRAINING, AND TRAVELS | [306] |
| 2. HIS POLITICAL ASPECT | [309] |
| 3. HIS REPUTATION | [316] |
| 4. HIS PROFESSION OF MIRACLES | [319] |
| 5. NOT BORNE OUT BY THE INTERNAL CHARACTER OF THE ACTS THEMSELVES | [323] |
| 6. NOR BY THEIR DRIFT | [326] |
| 7. BUT AN IMITATION OF SCRIPTURE MIRACLES | [328] |
APOLLONIUS OF TYANA.
Apollonius, the Pythagorean philosopher, was born at Tyana, in Cappadocia, in the year of Rome 750, four years before the common Christian era.[274] His reputation rests, not so much on his personal merits, as on the attempt made in the early ages of the Church, and since revived,[275] to bring him forward as a rival to the Divine Author of our Religion. A narrative of his life, which is still extant, was written with this object, about a century after his death (A.D. 217), by Philostratus of Lemnos, when Ammonius was systematizing the Eclectic tenets to meet the increasing influence and the spread of Christianity. Philostratus engaged in this work at the instance of his patroness Julia Domna, wife of the Emperor Severus, a princess celebrated for her zeal in the cause of Heathen Philosophy; who put into his hands a journal of the travels of Apollonius rudely written by one Damis, an Assyrian, his companion.[276] This manuscript, an account of his residence at Ægæ, prior to his acquaintance with Damis, by Maximus of that city, a collection of his letters, some private memoranda relative to his opinions and conduct, and lastly the public records of the cities he frequented, were the principal documents from which Philostratus compiled his elaborate narrative.[277] It is written with considerable elegance and command of Greek, but with more attention to ornament than is consistent with correct taste. Though it is not a professed imitation of the Gospels, it contains quite enough to show that it was written with a view of rivalling the sacred narrative; and accordingly, in the following age, it was made use of in a direct attack upon Christianity by Hierocles,[278] Prefect of Bithynia, a disciple of the Eclectic School, to whom a reply was made by Eusebius of Cæsarea. The selection of a Pythagorean Philosopher for the purpose of a comparison with our Lord was judicious. The attachment of the Pythagorean Sect to the discipline of the established religion, which most other philosophies neglected, its austerity, its pretended intercourse with heaven, its profession of extraordinary power over nature, and the authoritative tone of teaching which this profession countenanced,[279] were all in favour of the proposed object. But with the plans of the Eclectics in their attack upon Christianity we have no immediate concern.