(Acts 16:16). Why should we refuse to believe that ventriloquism was employed in an Asian temple at this

time of excited feeling among both persecutors and persecuted?

It is not necessary to suppose that the Commune of Asia encouraged and practised everywhere such

methods. It would be sufficient justification for the statements in this passage, if the methods were practised

by any of its official representatives in any of the Asian temples of the Imperial religion, without

condemnation from the Commune. There is no reason to think that the shrine of the Sibyl at Thyatira was

alien to such impostures, or that the people in Ephesus, who were impressed by the magical powers of the

sons of Sceva (Acts 19:13f) and duped by other fraudulent exhibitors, were unlikely to be taken in by such

arts, when practised with official sanction.

That these marvels and signs were connected more particularly with one individual, and not so much with

the Commune as a body, is suggested by the only other reference to them, vis. 19:20, when the Beast and

the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make ar against Him that sat upon the horse and

against His army; and the Beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought the signs in his

sight, wherewith he deceived them that had received the mark of the Beast and them that worshipped his

image. We must understand that these words refer to some definite person, who exercised great influence in

some part of Asia and was the leading spirit in performing the marvels and signs. He is as real as the

prophetess of Thyatira, 2:20. He had been prominent in deceiving the people for the benefit of the Imperial

government, and is associated with its approaching destruction. This association in ruin would be all the

more telling, if the prophet had visited Rome and been received by some of the Flavian Emperors.

A personage like Apollonius of Tyana would suit well the allusions in the Apocalypse. He lived and

exercised great influence in Asia, especially at Ephesus, where after his death he enjoyed a special cult as

"the averter of evil" (Alexikakos), because he had taught the city how to free itself from a pestilence by

detecting the human being under whose form the disease was stalking about in their midst, and putting to

death the wretched old man on whom (like an African wizard smelling out the criminal) he fixed the guilt.

Apollonius enjoyed widely the reputation of a magician. He had been well received in Rome, and was the

friend of Vespasian, Titus and Nerva. His biographer Philostratus defends him from the charge of magic, but

represents him as a worker of signs and wonders; and it must be remembered that St. John does not regard

the prophet as an impostor, but as one to whom it was given to perform marvels. Philostratus, it is true, does

not represent him as an upholder of the Imperial cultus, and rather emphasises his opposition to Domitian;

but the aim of the biographer is not to give an exact history of Apollonius as he was, but to place an ideal

picture before the eyes of the world. There is every reason to think that a man like Apollonius would use all

his influence in favour of Vespasian and Titus, and no reason to think that he would discountenance or be

unwilling to promote the Imperial cultus. While he was opposed to Domitian, it does not appear that the

mutual dislike had come to a head early in the reign of that Emperor, when according to our view the

Apocalypse was written, though Philostratus represents Apollonius as for seeing everything and knowing

intuitively the character of every man.

It seems, then, quite possible that Apollonius may actually be meant by this prophet associated with the

Beast; but, even if that be not correct, yet it is certain that there were other magicians and workers of

wonders in the Asian cities; and it is in no way improbable that one of them may have been employed as an

agent, even as a high-priest, of the Imperial religion. The over-stimulated, cultured yet morbid society of the

great cities of Asia Minor furnished a fertile soil for the development of such soothsayers, fortune-tellers

and dealers in magic: Lucian's account of Alexander of Abonoteichos in Paphlagonia may be taken as a

good example in the second century. The existence of many such impostors in the Province Asia during the

first century is attested, not merely by t he passages already quoted from the Acts, but also by an incident

recorded by Philostratus in the biography of Apollonius. The Asian cities by the Hellespont, dreading the

recurrence of earthquakes, contributed ten talents to certain Egyptians and Chaldeans for a great sacrifice to

avert the danger. Apollonius encountered and drove away the impostors --the circumstances of the contest