Page:Apollonius of Tyana - the pagan Christ of the third century.pdf/90

Rh also mentions an Anaxilaus of Larissa, an itinerant Pythagorean of the Augustan period, who was not so famous for the extent of his knowledge as for his powers as a magician; he wrote on the art of magic, was quoted by Pliny, and like Apollonius was compelled to quit Italy in consequence of the imperial decree which banished all magicians from the empire. Hence all these wonder-working Pythagoreans have a suspicious mark on their very face. And, consequently, it is quite natural that, notwithstanding the efforts made by Philostratus to idealise a magician who had gained a great reputation in Asia Minor, the Pagan philosophers of Alexandria should have deemed him unfit to occupy the high position into which he was being forced, and that they should have refused to acknowledge him as their ideal of the wise friend of the gods. They chose rather to raise an opposition to the Christ of the Gospel through the instrumentality of some illustrious Pagan whose character would be less open to suspicion, and whose life and conduct were more creditable.