Between Heathenism and Christianity - College of Stoic Philosophers
Between Heathenism and Christianity - College of Stoic Philosophers
Between Heathenism and Christianity - College of Stoic Philosophers
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The Delay <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Deity<br />
name; for having asked the god through a mes<br />
senger, as we are told, whether he would lead a better<br />
life in the future, the answer came back that it would<br />
be better with him after he w T as dead. And in a<br />
measure this turned out to be true, not long after.<br />
For happening to fall on his head from a height he<br />
lay like one dead from the shock alone, for he had<br />
received no wound, <strong>and</strong> on the third day was already<br />
carried forth for burial. Then all at once recovering<br />
strength <strong>and</strong> coming to himself, he showed a most<br />
astonishing change in his mariner <strong>of</strong> life; for the<br />
Cilicians know <strong>of</strong> no man <strong>of</strong> his time more just in<br />
dealings between man <strong>and</strong> man, none more reverent<br />
toward the gods, none more dreaded by his enemies,<br />
or more faithful to his friends. Consequently all<br />
who knew him were eager to hear the cause <strong>of</strong> this<br />
transformation, as they thought such an alteration <strong>of</strong><br />
character could not be a mere matter <strong>of</strong> chance<br />
which was in fact the case, as he himself related to<br />
Protagenes <strong>and</strong> other equally intimate friends.<br />
For<br />
when he lost consciousness, (literally, when his<br />
rational soul left his body) he at first experienced<br />
about the same sensation as the result <strong>of</strong><br />
the change<br />
that a pilot would feel who should be hurled from a<br />
ship into the deep; afterwards, having recovered a<br />
he thought he had entirely regained his breath<br />
little,<br />
<strong>and</strong> was able to see on every side with his soul<br />
opened as if it were all one eye. Yet he beheld none<br />
<strong>of</strong> the former things, but the objects he recognized<br />
were stars <strong>of</strong> immense magnitude at immeasurable