He at one time went to Ephesus, but as the inhabitants did not hearken to his preaching, he left there and went to Smyrna, where he was well received by the inhabitants. While there, ambassadors came from Ephesus, begging him to return to that city, where a terrible plague was raging, _as he had prophesied_. He went immediately, and as soon as he arrived, he said to the Ephesians: "Be not dejected, I will this day put a stop to the disease." According to his words, the pestilence was stayed, and the people erected a statue to him, in token of their gratitude.[262:1] In the city of Athens, there was one of the dissipated young citizens, who laughed and cried by turns, and talked and sang to himself, without apparent cause. His friends supposed these habits were the effects of early intemperance, but Apollonius, who happened to meet the young man, told him he was possessed of a _demon_; and, as soon as he fixed his eyes upon him, the demon broke out into all those horrid, violent expressions used by people on the rack, and then swore he would depart out of the youth, and never enter another.[262:2] The young man had not been aware that he was possessed by a devil, but from that moment, his wild, disturbed looks changed, he became very temperate, and assumed the garb of a Pythagorean philosopher. Apollonius went to Rome, and arrived there after the emperor Nero had passed very severe laws against _magicians_. He was met on the way by a person who advised him to turn back and not enter the city, saying that all who wore the philosopher's garb were in danger of being arrested as magicians. He heeded not these words of warning, but proceeded on his way, and entered the city. It was not long before he became an object of suspicion, was closely watched, and finally arrested, but when his accusers appeared before the tribunal and unrolled the parchment on which the charges against him had been written, they found that all the characters had disappeared. Apollonius made such an impression on the magistrates by the bold tone he assumed, that he was allowed to go where he pleased.[262:3] Many miracles were performed by him while in Rome, among others may be mentioned his restoring a _dead maiden to life_. She belonged to a family of rank, and was just about to be married, when she died suddenly. Apollonius met the funeral procession that was conveying her body to the tomb. He asked them to set down the bier, saying to her betrothed: "I will dry up the tears you are shedding for this maiden." They supposed he was going to pronounce a funeral oration, but he merely _took her hand_, bent over her, and uttered a few words in a low tone. She opened her eyes, and began to speak, and was carried back alive and well to her father's house.[263:1]