[359] _E. G._ his ambitious descriptions of countries, etc. In iv. 30, 32, v. 22, vi. 24, he ascribes to Apollonius regular Socratic disputations, and in vi. 11, a long and flowery speech in the presence of the Gymnosophists--modes of philosophical instruction totally at variance with the genius of the Pythagorean school, the Philosopher's Letters still extant, and the writer's own description of his manner of teaching, i. 17. Some of his exaggerations and mis-statements have been noticed in the course of the narrative. As a specimen of the rhetorical style in which the work is written, vid. his account of the restoration of the Roman damsel, [Greek: O de ouden all e prosapsamenos autes aphypnise],--contrast this with the simplicity of the Scripture narrative. See also the last sentence of v. 17, and indeed _passim_. [360] _E. G._ his accounts of Indian and AEthiopian monsters; of serpents whose eyes were jewels of magical virtue; of pygmies; of golden water; of the speaking tree; of a woman half white and half black, etc.; he incorporates in his narrative the fables of Ctesias, Agatharchidas, and other writers. His blunders in geography and natural philosophy may be added, as far as they arise from the desire of describing wonders, etc. See also his pompous description of the wonders of Babylon, which were not then in existence.--Prideaux, Connection, Part 1. Book viii. For his inconsistencies, see Eusebius and Brucker. It must be remembered, that in the age of Philostratus the composition of romantic histories was in fashion. [361] See Brucker, vol. i. p. 992, vol. ii. p. 378. Apollonius was only one out of several who were set up by the Eclectics as rivals to Christ Brucker, vol. ii. p. 372. Mosheim, de turbata Ecclesia, etc. Secs. 25, 26. [362] Philostr. i. 2, 3. He professes that his account contains much _news_. As to the sources, besides the journal of Damis, from which he pretends to derive his information, he neither tells us how he met with them, nor what they contained; nor does he refer to them in the course of his history. On the other hand (as we have above noticed), much of the detail of Apollonius's journey is derived from the writings of Ctesias, etc. IV. PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY. (_From the_ BRITISH MAGAZINE, 1833-1836.) PREFATORY NOTICE. THE following Papers originally belonged to the "Church of the Fathers," as it appeared in the _British Magazine_, in the years 1833-1836, and as it was published afterwards in one volume, with additions and omissions, in 1840. They were removed from the subsequent Catholic editions, except the chapter on Apollinaris, as containing polemical matter, which had no interest for Catholic readers. Now they are republished under a separate title.