Page:Apollonius of Tyana - the pagan Christ of the third century.pdf/43

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APOLLONIUS OF TYANA.

detail to the Ephesians that they could hardly believe their own ears; but they must have been compelled to believe in him fully when the news of the event reached them through the ordinary channels. Apollonius was at that time between eighty and ninety years old, and some say more than a hundred. Many rumours were circulated respecting his death, of which the faithful Damis was not a witness, as his master had intrusted him with a message to Nerva, and it was during his absence that he disappeared from amongst men. The generally-received account was, that having gone to Crete, Apollonius went into the temple of Diana Dictynna, and that he never came out of it again. Young maidens' voices were heard singing in the air, "Quit the earth, ascend up into heaven." It is added that some few years after he appeared suddenly to a young unbeliever who had ridiculed his doctrine, and who fell to the ground awe-struck by the vision, in the greatest consternation and most penitent alarm. After his death, the city of Tyana paid him divine honours, and the universal respect in which he was