Page:Apollonius of Tyana - the pagan Christ of the third century.pdf/69

64 Christian forms, traditions, and objections are mirrored upon his written thoughts, and very frequently determine the language in which those thoughts are expressed. Apollonius is not only like Jesus Christ, but he combines in his own person many of the characteristics of the Apostles. Like Paul he travels up and down the world from east to west, and like him, too, he is the victim of Nero’s tyranny. Like John, according to a tradition which prevailed even in his time, he is persecuted by Domitian. He understands and speaks all the languages in the world, and consequently had nothing to be envious of as regards the earliest disciples in what was called the gift of tongues. He is accused of sacrificing children with certain mysterious ceremonies: the early Christians were charged with the same offence by the ignorant of their day. In Sicily he witnessed the birth of a three-headed monster, and inferred from this that the three immediate successors of Nero, Galba, Vitellius, and Otho would reign at the same time, and for a short period only; this might almost be a symbolical vision