One of the miracles of Apollonius consisted in raising the dead. A
young woman of beautiful person was laid out upon a bier, and was in
the act of being conveyed to the tomb. She was followed by a multitude
of friends, weeping and lamenting, and among others by a young man,
to whom she had been on the point to be married. Apollonius met the
procession, and commanded those who bore it, to set down the bier. He
exhorted the proposed bridegroom to dry up his tears. He enquired the
name of the deceased, and, saluting her accordingly, took hold of her
hand, and murmured over her certain mystical words. At this act the
maiden raised herself on her seat, and presently returned home, whole
and sound, to the house of her father. [133]
Towards the end of his life Apollonius was accused before Domitian of
having conspired with Nerva to put an end to the reign of the tyrant.
He appears to have proved that he was at another place, and therefore
could not have engaged in the conspiracy that was charged upon him.
Domitian publicly cleared him from the accusation, but at the same
time required him not to withdraw from Rome, till the emperor had
first had a private conference with him. To this requisition Apollonius
replied in the most spirited terms. "I thank your majesty," said he,
"for the justice you have rendered me. But I cannot submit to what you
require. How can I be secure from the false accusations of the
unprincipled informers who infest your court? It is by their means
that whole towns of your empire are unpeopled, that provinces are
involved in mourning and tears, your armies are in mutiny, your senate
full of suspicion and alarms, and the islands are crowded with exiles.
It is not for myself that I speak, my soul is invulnerable to your
enmity; and it is not given to you by the Gods to become master of my
body." And, having thus given utterance to the virtuous anguish of his
spirit, he suddenly became invisible in the midst of a full assembly,
and was immediately after seen at Puteoli in the neighbourhood of
Mount Vesuvius. [134]
Domitian pursued the prophet no further; and he passed shortly after
to Greece, to Ionia, and finally to Ephesus. He every where delivered
lectures as he went, and was attended with crowds of the most
distinguished auditors, and with the utmost popularity. At length at
Ephesus, when he was in the midst of an eloquent harangue, he suddenly
became silent. He seemed as if he saw a spectacle which engrossed all
his attention. His countenance expressed fervour and the most
determined purpose. He exclaimed, "Strike the tyrant; strike him!" and
immediately after, raising himself, and addressing the assembly, he
said, "Domitian is no more; the world is delivered of its bitterest
oppressor."--The next post brought the news that the emperor was
killed at Rome, exactly on the day and at the hour when Apollonius had
thus made known the event at Ephesus. [135]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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