Page:The Great Secret.djvu/250

234 was a native of Tyana, a city of Cappadocia. His birth took place some years before that of our Lord, was foretold long before and accompanied by many prodigies. At the age of fourteen he studied the philosophy of Pythagoras, and at sixteen began his life of self-sacrifice and austerity, abstaining from all animal food, going barefoot and clad only in linen, that he might use nothing proceeding from any living creature.

"Like the Lord Bhudda he relinquished his inheritance to his younger brother and other needy relatives, reserving only sufficient for his own bare necessities, and then commenced his wanderings and teachings. At Pamphylia, Celicia and Aspenda he acted as peacemaker between the infuriated populace and the magistrates. At Antioch and Ephesus, and other cities of Asia Minor, he revived old religions and practised secret mysteries.

"He said that he had direct revelations from heaven, gave proofs that he possessed a thorough and intuitive knowledge of all languages, even those of the beasts and birds, and also stated that he could traverse space as he pleased, and that the innermost heart of man lay open to him.

"He travelled to India by Nineveh and Babylon, conferring with the magi of these cities, and in India was received with marked confidence and respect by Hiarchus, the chief of the Brahmins. All his teachings and example went to repress the licentiousness and moral depravity of the age. As a reformer he accomplished wonders. At Athens he abolished the gladiatorial exhibitions; also at Corinth, Lacedaemonia and Crete his pure and stern example did much good. Protected by some strange occult power he rebuked Nero, as he afterwards did Domitian, who, unable to