Page:Apollonius of Tyana - the pagan Christ of the third century.pdf/70

Rh from the Apocalypse. Apollonius holds the Jews and Judaea in supreme contempt. Titus is, in his eyes, an instrument of Divine wrath, and he refuses to go into a country which is polluted by the crimes and vices of its inhabitants, with whom he could do no good. This leads us to make another observation of a somewhat similar character. In a general way the towns which are known to have been the chief centres of Christianity in the earliest days are either imperfectly noticed, or are said to have been converted by Apollonius. He received his earlier education at Tarsus, Paul’s native city, but he left it on account of the corruption of its morals. Ephesus, Antioch, Smyrna, Alexandria, all of them great centres of Christianity, are the objects of a like censure. To him, Ephesus, the head-quarters of Paul, and afterwards of John, owes its salvation. Apollonius did much good there, we are told, but learnt nothing. A Christian, reading his biography, will easily understand the possibility of remaining attached to the old religion without its being necessary to approve of immoral practices, such as the