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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A48814	A chronological account of the life of Pythagoras, and of other famous men his contemporaries with an epistle to the Rd. Dr. Bently, about Porphyry's and Jamblicus's lives of Pythagoras / by the Right Reverand Father in God, William, Ld. Bp. of Coventry and Lichfield.	Lloyd, William, 1627-1717.	1699 (1699)	Wing L2674; ESTC R39066	37,819	76

Patches taken out of the ancient Writers and so is this among the rest yet here after all the heap of stuff that he hath collected from others concerning the life of Pythagoras at last he brings in those stories of Miracles wrought by him part of which are in no other Writers and the rest he hath made his Own by vouching for them as I have shewn This I cannot imagine why so wise a man should do but in pursuance of his malicious design against the Christian Religion by making his reader believe that the Miracles of Christ upon which the credit of our Religion is built were of no greater credit themselves than those which were wrought by Pythagoras That I am not mistaken in this the Reader will see in the following instance of Hierocles who writing some few years after Porphyry had so highly advanced Pythagoras set him up in Competition with our Lord Iesus Christ as I shall presently shew Hierocles being chief Iudge at Nicomedia in Dioclet●an's time was a chief Instigator of that bloody Persecution that was then against the innocent Christians And to justifie this he writ two Books against the Christian Religion which he publish'd under the title of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a lover of Truth No doubt by these means he won the heart of the Emperour Galerius who was the first mover of that Persecution and therefore by him he was advanced to the most profitable Government of Alexandria in Egypt There also he went on in his butcherly Trade till an end was put to it by the wonderfull Providence of God which by Constantine's means brought Christianity to be the Imperial Religion Then Hierocles betook himself wholly to Philosophy and among other things writ his Commentary on the Golden Verses that bear the name of Pythagoras which I mention to shew how much he was addicted to the honour of Porphyry's Saint Of his two Books against the Christians it seems that Eusebius saw but One and of that he tells us the most part was stollen out of Celsus and was long since answer'd by Origen It appears that in that work of Hierocles to pull down the honour of Christ he first set up Aristeas as Celsus had done next he sets up Pythagoras and lastly Apollonius Tyaneus All this we learn out of that Fragment of Hierocles which is publish'd in the end of his Works and also at the end of Eusebius's answer to his Book though Eusebius medleth only with that part which concerns Apollonius because that was all that was New in this Controversie In this piece Hierocles having magnified Apollonius Tyaneus for the great things that were recorded of him by Philostratus in his life and having vilified our Lord Iesus Christ whom the Christians as he saith on the account of his doing a few 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 call a God he concludes in these words It is worth the considering that those things of Iesus are brag'd of by Peter and Paul and some others of that sort of men Liars and Illiterate and Impostors but for these things of Apollonius we have Maximus and Damis a Philosopher that lived with him and Philostratus men eminent for their Learning and lovers of truth What a Lover of Truth Hierocles himself was we are to judge not by the title of his Books but by the things contained in them And though his Books against the Christians have been lost many Ages since as those blasphemous Books of Porphyry were yet here we have a kind of Summary of them in this Fragment For here we see in short what he had to say against the Apostles of Christ and what to say for the Evangelists of Apollonius whom he sets up against him and it cannot be denied that on either side the truth of the matters of fact is to be judged of chiefly by the sufficiency and the honesty of the Witnesses Therefore knowing what he has to say of them we know in effect the validity of all that is contained in his Books First In his charge against the Apostles of Christ to say that Paul was Illiterate this was certainly an impudent Calumny For beside his knowledge of the Greek that was his native Language wherein also we see he writ a large Epistle with his own hand and quotes the Greek Poets in several of his Epistles I say beside this he had the Hebrew Learning in great perfection being brought up at the feet of Gamaliel a Doctor in great fame among the Iews to this day And he gave such proofs of his Learning before the Roman Governour and King Agrippa that the Governour said too much learning had made him mad So far was He from calling him an illiterate Man Then to call him and Peter Liars and Impostors what occasion did they give him for this Only by their Preaching and Writing for the Christian Religion But did they believe that Religion or not If they did suppose they might err in this yet they could not be Liars and Impostors for they both knew and writ that all such are in a state of Damnation according to the rules of their Religion But if they did not believe it then indeed they might do wicked things for their Religion if that would recommend them to the Emperour's favour and so to get preferment as Hierocles did But they were so far from that the Government being against their Religion that they could get nothing by it but Dangers and Sufferings Those they met with in all places wheresoever they preach'd And they look'd for nothing else in this world but Sufferings and those to end in a cruel Death for Christ's sake This both of them declared in the last Epiples they writ And in this we see they were not mistaken For both of them suffer'd Martyrdom as Clemens tells us in his Epistle to the Corinthians which he writ within two or three years after their death the truth of which Epistle hath never been question'd by any learned man whatsoever But what shall we say of a man that was perfectly Blinded with Prejudice and Malice or with Ambition and Covetousness If Hierocles had not been so he could not but have seen that those two Apostles of Christ had nothing about them that would suit with those two ugly characters of Liars and Impostors But he had those in his eye that would certainly have been taken by those marks if there had been a hue and cry after them I can't think any learned man in his Age being asked Of all the Writers whose Works were then extant which was the greatest Liar would name any other than Philostratus I am sure he could not if he would speak impartially And yet this Philostratus and his two Authors Maximus and Damis known to none but himself are the men whom Hierocles calleth Learned Men and Lovers of Truth And for an Impostor if such a one had been enquired for I know not whom a learned man

came to Pythagoras in Italy where the cunning Philosopher rooked him of his Money by perswading the poor Man that he was his God And to convince him of the Truth of it they say That Pythagoras shewed him his golden Thigh and then which was worst of all made him swear the People into a Belief that he was Apollo himself If any other Author mentions any of these wonderful Things he declares that he hath it only from report or by hearsay and so leaves the Reader to judge of the Truth of it But most of these things are positively affi●med by Porphyry and his Scholar Jamblichus only they vouch nameless Authorities for them to shew they were not of their own devising which yet one can't forbear to think of as many of them as are not to be found in other Authors But why should these Philosophers either be so wicked to abuse the Faith of Mankind in devising such Stories Or why should they take the Pains to Collect them and Pawn their Faith to give them Credit in the World Such great Men as they were had no doubt great Reason for this But what that should be deserves a farther Consideration wherein if I do a little exceed I know you will not only Pardon me but will take the fault upon your self if these Papers should come to be publisht through your hands It is certain that these Men had a vehement Hatred against the Christian Religion not only through the Prejudices of their Education but much more on the account of that way of Philosophy by which they so much valu'd themselves and had got so great a Fame in the World They had no Patience to see that sort of Learning that had been so long in Possession of Glory among all civiliz'd Nations now to be brought in Disgrace by a Religion which they accounted to be no better than Folly and Nonsense and yet pretending to Divine Revelation would shew that they by all their Wisdom knew not God Their Indignation at this was much the more because th●s New Religion sprung up among the Jews whom they look't upon as much the worst of the barbarous Nations and the first Teachers of it were justly as these Philosophers thought both hated and contemned by the Jews as much as the Jews themselves were by all other Nations That the Author of this Sect our Lord Iesus Christ himself bore no greater Figure in the World than that of a poor Carpenter and that his Apostles and Followers were unlearned and ignorant Men this is own'd to the Glory of God by those among themselves that writ his History and their's in the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles And that these very Books were written by Men of that sort even by them whose Names they bear this I think hath not been gain-said by any that lived within some hundred years after Christ But it hath been acknowledged by those learned Heathens that writ against the Christian Religion and especially by Julian who of all others was best able to inform himself But what is it that these Men say of their Master in the Account they give of him and of them that were the first Publishers of his Doctrine how they came to have such Authority in the World They say he wrought in their Presence an infinite number of Miracles and particularly those which they have published for the Proof as well of his Authority as of his Doctrine They say also of themselves that in their Preaching of him and his Doctrine the Lord worked with them confirming their word with Signs following They laid the chief Stress of their Proof upon his Resurrection from the Dead Of which not only his Apostles were Eye-witnesses but above 500 Persons most of them then living when St. Paul appeal'd to their Testimony And that he did in an Epistle which was written within some 20 years after the matter of Fact The Apostles especially took it on themselves as their Office to be Witnesses of his Resurrection For the faithful Discharge whereof as they could expect nothing but Sufferings in this Life so they desir'd nothing more than to finish their Course by dying for it And they were not deceiv'd in this Expectation all of them being continually persecuted as long as they liv'd and many of them suffering Death for the Testimony of Christ. They were charged with no other Crime in this World As for what they write of his Miracles and also of their own which they profest they wrought only by a Power derived from him the truth of the matters of Fact we do not find was ever question'd by any that lived in that Age. On the contrary we see it was acknowledged by the Pharisees the most malicious and vigilant Enemies of our Lord Iesus Christ and of his Holy Apostles No doubt it puzled their Wise heads to think how ' such wonderful Works should be wrought by such simple illiterate Men. For one cannot think they could satisfie themselves with the account which they gave others of the way that Christ had to cast out Devils when they said that he did it by the Prince of Devils for as he there answer'd them it was visibly against the Devil's Interest to do this the Miracles of Christ being plainly in those Instances to dispossess the Devil of Men's Bodies and by that and other beneficial Works to oblige them and others to receive a Doctrine that would also dispossess him of their Souls But besides the absurdity of this it is plain the Jews did not believe themselves in this Accusation of Christ. For if they had they would have insisted on this as being a Capital Crime not only by their Law but also the Roman And therefore to be sure they would not have been to seek for other Crimes if they had thought they had any Colour to charge him with this But that which the Pharisees said then of that one sort of Miracles though it was against all Reason and against their own Conscience yet for want of a better Colour for their unbelief the Jews in after times have alledged against all the Miracles of Christ and his Apostles and Followers This we see in those Objections of the Jews whom Celsus brings in arguing against the Christian Religion these Jews on this very account rank our Blessed Saviour with Pythagoras of whom enough has been said and with such other Heathen Impostors of whom more will be said afterwards But for those Jews whom Celsus produces since it hath been sufficiently shown that they ought not to be admitted as Accusers in this Cause therefore they might be dismissed but that the same Celsus gives us occasion to make use of them as our Witnesses as to those Matters of Fact which he denies when he comes to speak in his own Person as a Heathen and one that was an Epicurean Philosopher For then he is pleas'd to say That

that had no design to serve with a Lye would have named before Apollonius Tyaneus whom yet Hierocles so much admires that he thinks himself modest for saying only this He was a Favourite of the Gods whereas the Christians say that Christ was God himself for those few strange things that are told of him First For Philostratus on whose single word all the credit of this story of Apollonius depends of what value his word is must be judged by considering how he was qualified for an Historian To begin with the opportunities he had to inform himself it is certain he could say nothing of his Own knowledge For as himself tells us Apollonius died a few weeks after the Emperour Domitian that was in the year of our Lord 96. But Philostratus did not write this till above a hundred years after How came he then by all the stuff with which he hath filled a large History He tells us that while he lived in the Court of Julia that most infamous Empress the Mother and Wife of that horrible brute Caracalla the Minutes of Apollonius's Life written by one Damis that lived with him were presented to her by one of Damis's Relations and she being a Lover of fine Language delivered them to this Sophist Philostratus to put them into a handsome dress But that we may not think these Minutes were all that he had for the furnishing of his History he tells us he had besides an account from one Maximus of Aegae how Apollonius past his time in that Town for the two or three years that he lived there being then about 20 years of Age almost a Boy as Hierocles words it And this is all the help he had from these two Lovers of Truth as Hierocles calls them But there was besides one Moeragenes that writ IV Books On or Against Apollonius but he is not to be heeded saith Philostratus because he was ignorant of many of our Stories so he lost the Honour of being recorded by Hierocles for one of the lovers of Truth In short except the little things that hapned in the short time that Apollonius was at Aegae for any thing else of his Life Philostratus doth not pretend to have any Author but Damis Yet all that he had of Damis was no more than a Table-book of Minutes as Philostratus owns And those might be written by any one else for ought he knew For it was a hundred years after Damis's death before he saw or heard of them Till then they were not known And then a Nameless man pretending to be a relation of Damis brought them and said they were written by Damis Th●s is all the Authority we have for Philostratus's Legend But he saith in the Chapter before he had some things from Town-talk in the places where Apollonius had been and some things he had that other men said of him and some things from Epistles that Apollonius had written to Kings c. As for the Talk of things done a hundred years ago that is very uncertain but of what Authority were these Epistles There may well be a doubt of this For the Epistles in Diogenes Laertius were generally forged by Sophists And Philostratus being a Sophist and one that knew how to write to Kings might be the very man that forged the Epistles now extant We have reason to like them the worse for agreeing too well with his History But besides he seems to doubt that his Reader might suspect these Epistles and therefore question his History To fence against this he saith he took things that were more certain from the Authors that he names afterwards Damis c. Of how little credit those Authors were we have seen And if things taken out of them were more certain as he himself tells us then there is no credit at all to be given to his Epistles So much for the Authority now for the Matters of his History Some of them I dare say were such as Lucian had never heard of and yet He liv'd mid-way between Apollonius and his Historian Particularly I cannot believe he ever heard of that Story of Apollonius how he made the people at Ephesus stone an old Beggar who as He told them was a Daemon and when the Stones had made a Hillock over his body he bad the people remove the Stones which they did and found under them not a man but a Mastiff as big as the biggest sort of Lion and foaming at Mouth as if he had been mad So likewise he tells how Apollonius being invited with many other Guests by his Friend Menippus to his Wedding he found that the amiable Bride was a She-Devil that was in love with Menippus and pretending to be a great Fortune had provided the Wedding Dinner with a noble Antendance and all manner of Delicacies but upon his telling his Friend what she was she together with her Attendance and Dinner vanisht leaving Apollonius to make her Excuse to the Bridegroom and his Company Here were Subjects for Lucian to have bantered upon beyond any that are in his Book so that because they are not There I say again one may be sure he never heard of them He that could thus descry Devils might as well ken Souls one would think and tell what Bodies they had passed through especially being a Pythagorean Philosopher I have shewn Apollonius could do that as well as Pythagoras himself though Philostratus doth not tell us that ever his Soul dwelt as that of Pythagoras did in the Body of a Son of Mercury that had that Gift from his Father But he was not to be measur'd by Pythagoras being as Philostratus tells us far the greater Man of the two He out-did him in many things and particularly in this that he could call up the Souls of any of the Heroes and entertain himself with them at his Pleasure Particularly at the Tomb of Achilles where that Heroe appear'd sometimes frightfully to others who therefore warn'd Apollonius not to come near him he laught at them and spent a whole Night there in Conversation with Achilles till the Cocks-crowing which it seems warns the Sprights away But the next day he told his Company all this how the Ghost appear'd to him at first but five Cubits high but rose up by degrees to be twelve perhaps swelling with Indignation against his Countrey-men of Thessaly of whom he bitterly complained That whereas they used to worship him formerly now they had this good while left it off He called Apollonius by his Name And told him I am glad you are here for I have long lookt for such a one as you to tell them of this But for one thing he expostulated with Apo●l●nius too That he had receiv'd into his Company one Antisthenes that was of the race of King Priamus and that used to sing the Praises of Hector whom belike Achilles hated even after Dea●h But it seems Apollonius having done this