Page:Apollonius of Tyana - the pagan Christ of the third century.pdf/93

88 was something profoundly mystical in his religious doctrine. The universe, according to him, was one grand choir in which the creative numbers vibrated in one eternal harmony. He believed in the transmigration of souls. During the Trojan war, he had been that Euphorbus who is represented in the Iliad as so devoted to the Service of Apollo. Like Buddha, he had his own way of attaining to perfection, and that way, in opposition to the natural religion of the majority, was through an asceticism which was at enmity with the natural life, and was founded upon puriﬁcations, tastings, silence, absolute chastity, and commandments not to touch anything that had been endued with life. Pythagorism was eclipsed both by the brilliant philosophy of Plato and the severe dialectic of Aristotle, and yet it is affirmed by Aristotle that Plato, when advanced in years, returned to the profession of pure Pythagorism, just as in declining life one returns to the religious belief which had been forgotten amidst the illusions and ambitious projects of mature life. At any rate, we know from history that