Million Book Collection - The Fishers of Men Ministries

THE GOSPEL OF PHILOSOPHIC HEATHENISM209his will, from which it appeared how much his philosophywas under the influence of a sacred enthusiasm.For credit should not be given to Mseragenes, whohas written four books about Apollonius, but wasignorant of many things concerning him. I have nowexplained the manner of my collecting my materials,and the care taken in their compilation. I trust thework may do honour to the man who is the subject ofit, and be of use to the lovers of literature, inasmuchas it will introduce them to the knowledge of thingswith which they were before unacquainted." 1Now as the work thus undertaken at the biddingof the Empress Julia came out not dedicated to her,it is believed to have appeared only after her death,which took place by her own hand j in the year 217,in the troubles which ensued upon the death of herson, Caracalla. As Elagabalus succeeded the next yearafter the short usurpation of Macrinus, we may concludethat it was published in his reign, which coincidedwith the pontificate of Pope Callistus. At thistime the Christian religion was enjoying the longestperiod of tranquillity which occurs in the first threecenturies. It extends from the cessation of the persecutionof Septimius Severus at the beginning ofthe century, interrupted only by the short interval ofthe reign of Maximianus, to the outbreak of the persecutionunder Decius in the year 250. Origen andTertullian were in the midst of their career, andChristianity a well-known religion, and a force whichwas stirring society to its depths. First we mustnote that the Apollonius, of whom Damis is here saidto have written memoirs, had been already dead about1 Life of Apollonius. By Philostratus. Berwick's translation corrected,lib. i. ch. 3.VOL. III. 0