Divine Man?

At several points we mention the phenomenon of the "divine man,"  the hero or philosopher who was regarded as embodying the power of God and who exhibited that power by various miracles, divination, foretelling the future and so on. one of the most famous of these was Apollonius of Tyana. He lived through most of the first century and shortly after 217 a "life" of him written by Philostraus, from which we quote an incident. It is a deliberately literary work and hence rather difference from the directness and brevity of the Christian stories, which are only one stage or so removed from oral tradition.
 Now while he was discussing libations, there chanced to be present in his audience a young dandy who bore so evil a reputation for licentiousness, that his conduct had once been the subject of coarse street- corner songs. His home was Corcyra, and he traced his pedigree to Alcinous the Phaeacian who entertained Odysseus. Apollonius was then talking about libations, and was urging them not to drink out of a particular cup, but to reserve for the gods, without ever touching it or drinking. But when he also urged them to have handles on the cup, because that is part of the cup at which men are least likely to drink, the you youth burst out into loud and coarse laughter, and quite drowned his voice. Then Apollonius  looked up at him and said: " It is not yourself  that perpetrates this insult, but the demon, who drives you on without you knowing it." and in fact the youth was, without knowing it possessed by the devil ; for he would laugh at things that no one else laughed at, and then he would fall to weeping for no reason at all, and he would talk and sing to himself. Now most people thought that it was the boisterous humor of youth which led him into such excesses;  but he was really the mouthpiece of a devil, though it only seemed a drunken frolic in which on that occasion he was indulging. Now when Apollonius gazed on him, the ghost in him began to utter cries and anger, as a master might a shifty, rascally, shameless slave, such as one hears from people who are being branded or racked, and the ghost swore that he would leave the young man alone and never take possession  of any man again. bur Apollonius addressed him with anger, as a master might a shifty,
 rascally, and shameless slave and so on and ordered him to quit the young man and show by a visible sign that he had done so. " I will throw down yonder statue said the devil and pointed to one of the images which was I the King's portico, for there it was that the scene took place. Bu when the statue began moving gently, and then fell down, it would defy anyone to describe  the hubbub which arose there at and the way they clapped their hands in wonder. but the young man rubbed his eyes as though he had just woke up, and he looked toward the rays of the sun, and won the consideration of all who now had turned their attention to him; for He no longer showed himself licentious, nor did he stare madly about, but he returned to his own self, as thoroughly  as if he had been treated with drugs;
 and he gave up his dainty dress and summery garments and the rest of his sybaritic way of life, and he fell in love with the austerity of philosophers, and donned their cloak and stripping off his old self modelled his life in future upon that of Apollonius.