Page:Apollonius of Tyana - the pagan Christ of the third century.pdf/84

Rh tians, Septimius Severus threatened that severe penalties should be inflicted on any Pagan who became a Christian. The law seems to have ended in a threat, but the intention by which it was dictated is evident. On the one hand, it was not thought desirable that Christianity should make any rapid conquests; on the other, all facilities were afforded to the proselytism of a confirmed Pagan worship. And what was that worship? The worship of Hercules, of a sun-god, or rather of many gods under one name, who, as Philostratus informs us, are the liberators, the benefactors, and the enlighteners of mankind.

What was the result of this attempt to effect a Pagan reformation? A mere nothing. The burden was a heavy one to raise, the arms that tried to raise it were very feeble. The idea that any one could seriously believe it possible that the star of the Christ of the Gospels should pale before the rising of Apollonius of Tyana, serves only now to raise a smile. But even supposing that history could produce