been the case, supposing the
edict against philosophers was as severe as his biographer represents.
In that case neither Apollonius, nor Demetrius the Cynic, who joined him
after his arrival, would have been permitted to remain in Rome;
certainly not Apollonius, after his acknowledgment of his own magical
powers in the presence of Tigellinus.[296]

It is more probable he was sent out of the city; anyhow we soon find him
in Spain, taking part in the conspiracy forming against Nero by Vindex
and others.[297] The political partisans of that day seem to have made
use of professed jugglers and magicians to gain over the body of the
people to their interests. To this may be attributed Nero's banishing
such men from Rome;[298] and Apollonius had probably been already
serviceable in this way at the Capital, as he was now in Spain, and
immediately after to Vespasian; and at a later period to Nerva.

His next expeditions were to Africa, to Sicily, and so to Greece,[299]
but they do not supply anything of importance to the elucidation of his
character. At Athens he obtained the initiation in the Mysteries, for
which he had on his former visit unsuccessfully applied.

The following spring, the seventy-third of his life, according to the
common calculation, he proceeded to Alexandria,[300] where he attracted
the notice of Vespasian, who had just assumed the purple, and who seemed
desirous of countenancing his proceedings by the sanction of religion.
Apollonius might be recommended to him for this purpose by the fame of
his travels, his reputation for theurgic knowledge, and his late acts in
Spain against Nero. It is satisfactory to be able to detect an
historical connexion between two personages, each of whom has in his
turn been made to rival our Lord and His Apostles in pretensions to
miraculous power. Thus, claims which appeared to be advanced on distinct
grounds are found to proceed from one centre, and by their coalition to
illustrate and expose one another. The celebrated cures by Vespasian are
connected with the ordinary theurgy of the Pythagorean School; and
Apollonius is found here, as in many other instances, to be the
instrument of a political party.

His biographer's account of his first meeting with the Emperor, which is
perhaps substantially correct, is amusing from the theatrical character
with which it was invested.[301] The latter, on entering Alexandria, was
met by the great body of the Magistrates, Prefects, an