Page:Apollonius of Tyana - the pagan Christ of the third century.pdf/95

9O faith that the "river Caucasus," when Pythagoras crossed it, was heard to say, "Welcome Pythagoras!" That Pythagoras converted a voracious bear to habits of moderation, and that he persuaded an ox, by whispering into his ear, never to eat beans again! It is strange that, just as the biography of Apollonius is in a great measure an imitation of the Gospel narrative, so the life of Pythagoras, as it is found written in the work of Porphyry and Iamblichus, is nothing more than a reproduction of the characteristic traits in the life of the hero of Philostratus. Like Apollonius, Pythagoras had made long voyages in order that he might become the receptacle of all earthly wisdom. He had his Domitian in the tyrant Phalaris. He is the son of Apollo just as Apollonius is the son of Proteus. He works countless miracles. He is magician, preacher, moralist, and reformer of political and religious abuses. In a word, it is hard to say whether the Pythagoras of the Alexandrians is not an Apollonius of an earlier date by some centuries, or whether the Apollonius of Julia Domna, besides his