The Youth of Apollonius de Tyana

The voice which had one night cried to the ship's captain, "Pan, great Pan is dead!" still echoed over the Tyrrhenian sea; the three magic of Chaldma had hardly climbed their towers after their journey to Bethlehem -- when Apollonius was born in the little town of Tyana in what is now Turkey.

According to legend, great wonders marked his birth. The least remarkable, though still interesting because it is quite credible, seems to be worthy of being set down here. Just before he was born, his mother was walking in a meadow; she lay down on the grass and went to sleep. Some wild swans, at the end of a long flight, approached her and by their cries and the beating of their wings awakened her so suddenly …ver más…

Buddha married the beautiful Yasodhara and loved her tenderly. He even had other wives, in accordance with the custom of his country. Confucius was married to the obedient Ki Koo, and Socrates had two wives, in accordance with the laws of Athens, the charming Myrto and the bad-tempered Xanthippe. Plato made no profession of chastity, and Pythagoras did not include it among the essential rules of his school; for tradition relates that he was married to Theano and that he even laid down a series of precepts for conjugal life. So that it was his own prudence, his own extreme regard for spiritual safety, that impelled the young man of Tyana to keep his virginity, a condition that was exacted only from vestals and Pythian priestesses in his time.

The Great Healer

He took up his quarters at Aegae with his Epicurean master Euxenes. Aegae possessed a temple of Asclepius, the priests of which were philosophers and doctors of the Pythagorean school. People came from all over Greece, Syria, and even Alexandria to consult them. There were pilgrimages, wholesale healings, an atmosphere of psychical phenomena and miracles prevailed. The priests of Aegae healed by the laying on of hands and by the application of the power of thought, which was a science with them. They practiced magic, studied the art of the interpretation of dreams, as well as the more subtle art of inducing