The Arkansaw traveler., 1883-05-19

denied and Alexander vas not slow 10 discover that the powerful and respecsa- { ble fy;hagoreans were the best friends he could enlist. Accordingly he spoke cf PTthagoyas as the greatest of the an cien, sages, and at length le, it be known privately that he was pythagotas. gliding his thigh and letting is sheen be seen accidentally as a further proof cf the iru,hfulness of his revelation. By way of clinching the matter. an inquirer was sent ] 10 ask of the oracle where the soul of Epicurus was. and ;he reply of the oracle to the sealed question was: = In hell. | lying in nth and chains of lead" The ! py,hagoreans needed no more sa,isfac- tory evidence of the orthodoxy of ,he oracle, ard fythaso,as Alexander replied 10 attempts a, exposure by divine rescia- ,ien ,o the etfee, that Eucalyptus regret ted that he mad ever eondescenied ;o visit place fall Of btaspheming atheists and christians. and would only be pia- cated by their expulsion from the prov i ,nce.
 Of the allies against Alexander the Epl- cureans were made more dangerous than the christians. Lepidas, the Roman pro- ! orator. was a man ot sense and culture. ] from whom the provincial capital. Ames- ,ris, took Us intellectual tone. So many l in senious tricks had been played upon the prophe; from that quarter ,hat he
 was compelled ,o announce that n ques- tons from Amestrls would be answered. 1 \ good deal Of mockey followed. and to revive the faith of his worshipers Escu- lapius gave up the practice of making his revelations secretly 10 his prophet and began 10 deliver them viva voce. \ tube was fitted. through which arieulate
 noises could be made to issue from the
 snakes mouth with the help of confed- crate behind the curtain only select vis-
 i,ors were admitted to these especially
 sacred performances and a high price
 was charged. But the experiment was successful. as not only did the fact that the serpen,-god was speaking refresh the faith of his worshippers. but the messages delivered by word of mouth. being taken down 10 be given afterwards to ;he world. could be corrected before publication. The advantage of this plan was soon made manifest. terus had ser, Sevcrian ] to make var on the Arncnians. and the
 oracle had gwen the general an eneeus aging reply. Sesctian, however. WAS cut
 oii, with h.s shele ai'1ly. and AieN E: Ter promptly revealed hgs fat ;ha; the afa le
 had said. t1e na; IL ans, the Armcnans.
 where deaii. and disaster await thee. ana
 thai. consequently. me catastrophe
 prov ed lh2 .z a.-itts ot he sos !. a4Y
 ee adaea ta.ii .sieatrder WAS 900 clever
 ;o set up as :. zenaPoilst and provoke
 pgoiessional iea 8usies. and so woa5a oe- l casloaaliY ;elI a patient that he had -
 message for h.sa. and end ban Ca ag
 other shfine
 | The prophets fa-ne T asviHg reached Rome. to consult him became the iash.on
 n nigh soe.ety. Even the ambitious or ! the conspirns. who had peillous po.ia i cal schemes on hand would consult hltn. ] but he was far 100 wary to send back such valuable documents. and retaining l them, heid the lives of the writers m hiS 1 hands. Presently .he senator Ru,ilian. i devout iy;hag gorean and Il high favofite i at the imperial court. adopted Alexander as his spiritual father and sent aeiega- l ton of trusted friends to ronius 10 inseS- ugate the matter. The prophets males- ,lc appearance ased them into imine- diate consie,ion and having been shown
 wonders they returned to Rome to exag-
 geraie all they thought they mad seen. ! Rut!lian. receiyins their report into his owh eager imagination, brought i, ou, again transhgured. His known pieiy and
 vcraciiy made his testimony all the more
 valuable. Another delegation of officers l of the imperial household was sent over and the members, who beheld the won ! ders and were loaded down with gifts. i returned to Rome to laud the god and 1 hfs prophet. Ra,iiian now obtained leave 1 of absence to see this salvation with hls
 own eyes. He was sixty years of age, a
 wid oweY, with one son. and asked Alex
 ander about his boy's education. Alex ander replied that the child's tutors were
 to be Homer and lythagoraS, and as the
 boy died almost immediately, the father received most convincing demonstra- ton of ihe prophets infallibiliiy. Rutil- ian was delighted to learn that in his pre- vious exis,ences he had been Achilles and Menander, and ,ha; he was 10 be immortal after his present life was over, living as a sunbeam. To make sure of immortality he married one of Alexan- der's female connections-a girl born of the prophets liason with the admirng
 Moon-thus becoming the son-in-law of the goddess Delene and certain of adop- ton into heaven.
 Abonotichus had nos become holy city, and the prophet power in the em- pire. He surrounded himself with pomp
 and display, and instituted a public ser
 vice in the temple in imitation of the mys- teries of Eleusis. lie revealed the fac, ,ha, his mother had been yisi:sd by ro- dalirius, the mythical son of .Fsc ulapias. and made his miraculous birth an article
 of faith, but the revelation nearly gos him
 into trouble, for the question was asked,
 if he was the son of god ho~ vas he
 also Pyihagoras, and how came he by the
 golden thigh. To ,his he promptly re- pied that he was both-that he vas and
 also was TO, Pyhagosas. He had the
 same soul v.,h py,hagoras. for iha, soul
 was the spiri, of God, which wsned and
 was renewed. like the moon. He an-
 nounoed the general truth of the pysha-
 gorean doctrine. insisted on an elevated
 morality, and directed his disciples to ab-