c. 10.]

PARADISE.

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like treasures in the embraces of the largest tracts of land, and supplying them with a firm bottom for supporting the vast mass and multitude of waters which are collected in them. But to rivers, by a wise arrangement, he has ever given a free course: affording a passage to the onward current of their waters by the depression of certain localities, and by declivities from the higher to the lower parts.

CHAP. 10. Philostorgius, going entirely upon conjecture, writes, that the situation of Paradise was towards the east ;1 and he so conjectures, firstly, because in the first place the parts to the south of it are all inhabited as far as the outer sea, which the sun scorches with his perpendicular rays; (this is what is called the Middle, or Torrid, Zone ;) and, secondly, because the river now called the Hyphasis, and which is called Pison in the Holy Scriptures, itself taking its rise out of Paradise, seems to flow from the northern parts of the east down towards the south, and to pour its waters into the ocean there, opposite to the island of Taprobana. On the banks of this river is found the fruit, or flower, which is known under the name of Karyophyllum. The inhabitants of those parts believe that it formerly grew in Paradise; and, moreover, all the district above them is especially desert and barren. But as the river produces that fruit, it would seem clear that the river runs entirely above-ground, and that it nowhere has a subterranean channel, for else it could not produce the plant which grows there. And further still, this river shows another sign of its connexion above-ground with Paradise; for they say, that if a man bathe in its waters when he is suffering under the most burning fever, he immediately recovers. On the other hand, the Tigris and Euphrates, as flowing under-ground and then emerging again, can bring down their streams no production of those parts, as the Hyphasis does. No, nor even the Nile; and yet the Nile also flows out of Paradise, according to the oracles of Moses, in which it is called Ghion, though the Greeks named it Ægyptius. This river then, if one may conjecture, takes its rise in Paradise, and before reaching any inhabited region, its waters are absorbed by the sand, whence it makes its way secretly into the Indian Sea, and there takes a sort of circular course,-for what man knows anything accurately concerning this matter, 1 " Ad æquinoctium Orientis.” κατὰ τὰς ἰσημερίας τῆς ἠοῦς. [PHILOSTORGIUS.]

2 G

-and then passing under all the intervening continent, makes its hidden passage into the Red Sea, on the other side of which it eventually appears again beneath the mountain which is called after the Moon. There it is said to form two great fountains, situated at no great distance from each other, and throwing their waters up to a great height from below. The river then falls down a steep ridge of cliffs and passes through Æthiopia into Egypt.

CHAP. 11.-He says that the whole district which lies to the east and the south, though parched up with the excessive heat, brings forth by far the finest and best productions, both by land and sea. For the sea teems with whales of incredible size, which are often seen as they rise out of the sea by those who sail around the coasts. The land also produces elephants of prodigious and gigantic size, and those which are called bull-elephants. As to this kind of beast, it is an ox of huge magnitude, and has a hide in colour and thickness closely resembling that of the elephant. This animal I saw with my own eyes, when it was brought to Rome; and I simply describe what I beheld. There are also among them serpents whose bodies are as thick as beams, and extending in length as much as fifteen fathoms; for I have seen their skins brought to Rome. There is also an animal called a unicorn which is found in these parts. It has a head like a serpent, with the exception of a single crooked horn of no great size which grows upon it; and its whole chin is covered with a beard. Its neck is lengthy and reaches high aloft, and especially resembles the folds of a serpent: but the rest of its body more nearly approaches that of a stag, with the exception of its feet, which are those of a lion. A picture of this animal is to be seen at Constantinople. Moreover, the cameleopard is a production of this region: this beast is in most respects like a very large stag, but in its height it approximates the form of the camel. Its neck, which it carries high aloft, is long beyond proportion to the rest of its body; and the whole of its skin from head to foot is dappled with spots like a leopard. Its fore legs are much taller than its hind ones. In these parts too there is a kind of ape, called the æsopithecus; for the ape tribe comprises a variety of kinds. There is, for in

1

öpyvia, an Eastern measure, containing about six feet; it is said to have been nearly equal to the Latin ulna."

c. 11.]

PRODUCTIONS OF THE EAST.

451

stance, the arctopithecus and the leontopithecus, and the dogheaded ape; for the ape form is found conjoined with a variety of other animals, as is evident from the various specimens of the ape tribe which are brought to us. Of this kind is the deity called Pan, who resembles a goat in his head, face, and horns, and from his middle downwards; while in his breast, his belly, and his hands he is almost a perfect ape. One of these animals was sent by the king of the Indians as a present to the emperor Constantine; it lived a little while and was carried about as a sight, enclosed in a cage on account of its ferocity. After its death, those who had the care of it embalmed its body in salt for the purpose of turning the strange sight to account, and they took it safe and entire to Constantinople. It seems to me that the Greeks must once upon a time have seen this monster, and, amazed at the strangeness of its appearance, adopted it as a god, in accordance with their ordinary practice of making a god out of everything strange and wonderful. This they clearly did in the case of the satyr, which is of the ape tribe, with a red face, and restless motion, and furnished with a tail. The sphinx, too, is a kind of ape, as I myself can testify from what I have seen. The rest of the body of the sphinx is covered with hair, just as all other apes, but from its head to its breast it is free from hair, and has the breasts of a woman. Where its body is bare, it has a raised portion of red, like millet, running round it, which elegantly harmonizes with the fleshy colour in the middle, and improves it. Its face is tolerably round, and inclining to the form of a woman. Its voice is very like the human voice, though not articulate; it most nearly approximates that of a woman uttering her words in a hurried and indistinct manner under the influence of anger and grief, and it is rather flat than sharp; the beast moreover is very savage and cunning, and cannot be tamed without difficulty. This beast, I imagine, was formerly carried to Thebes in Boeotia, and having flown at several of the spectators who came together to view it, and having torn their faces, Edipus slew the monster, because he was indignant at seeing his fellow-citizens thus mangled; and so, as it seems to me, he gained his high renown. But in order to exaggerate the praises of Edipus, the story makes out that the animal was winged, because it flew violently at the spectators; it adds the breast of a woman and the body

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of a lion, because the former was bare and closely approximated to the female figure, and as to the latter, because it was fierce and generally went upon all four feet. The story also represented it as endued with reason, because its voice approached so nearly to that of man; and attributed to it enigmas, because it uttered indistinct sounds and inarticulate words. And the whole of this matter is not to be wondered at, considering that the Greeks are accustomed to distort many other stories also into a fabulous form. This region produces also wild asses of lofty stature, and with skins wonderfully variegated with a mixture of black and white. they have certain coloured streaks running down from their backs to their sides and belly, and then separating, which mutually connecting form a strange intermixture and variety. The phoenix too, a bird so celebrated in story, is found among them. I have also seen a parrot brought from those parts; this bird is the most loquacious of all, and its voice approaches very nearly to that of man. I have seen also some painted and spotted birds which are commonly called Garamantides, (by a name borrowed from the African tribe,) very many of which are brought over to us. Many other animals besides of a remarkable character come from the same districts, but I shrink from recounting them in my present narrative. Above all, the purest gold is obtained there, with golden fibres, as it were, springing out of the ground, layers of which are piled upon layers, and show the clearest proofs of the production of gold. Their fruits too are very large and fine; among these the most remarkable are the nuts. And in a word, the whole region of the Homeritæ, even to the Red Sea itself, brings forth its produce twice every year, from which circumstance it is called Arabia Felix. But speaking generally, all that district which lies toward the east is far superior to the remaining regions in every respect. But Paradise, as being the most pure and excellent spot of all the East, and endued with the brightest and fairest climate, and irrigated by the most limpid of streams, is beyond a doubt incomparably superior to all other portions of the habitable globe, lying

The classical author will remember here, among a crowd of other passages, the "Quicquid Græcia mendax audet in historia" of Juvenal, and the character given by Thucydides of the early legends of Greece, rà πολλὰ αὐτῶν διὰ τὸ μυθῶδες εἰς ἀπιστιάν ἐκνενικηκότα, (b. i. ch. 21).

c. 12.]

ATHANASIUS.

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as it does towards the east, and washed by the waves of the sea.

CHAP. 12.-Philostorgius says that Athanasius reached the emperor of the West, and having used presents in order to propitiate the nobles of his palace, and especially Eustathius, chamberlain of his privy purse, who had very great weight with the emperor, produced letters from Constans to Constantius' to the following purport. "Athanasius comes to us and shows by manifest proofs that the bishopric of Alexandria belongs to him, wherefore allow him to obtain possession of it, or certainly he shall recover it by the assistance of my arms." He adds that, on receipt of this letter, Constantius convened the bishops in order to deliberate with them as to what should be done; and that they advised Constantius that it was better to leave Alexandria smarting under the severe yoke of Athanasius, than to undertake a war against his brother. Constantius therefore, he adds, allowed Athanasius to recover his see, and sent a letter to George, summoning him to his presence. George returned into his native country, Cappadocia, and there busied himself with the administration of his own private affairs. But Athanasius henceforth passed through the cities with greater confidence, and by his discourse brought over all the separate bishops with whom he had any intercourse to the Homoöusian faith. He writes, however, that certain other bishops did not pay deference to the words of Athanasius,2 and that Aetius,3 a bishop of Palestine, who had been accused of fornication, endeavoured to avoid the charge by coming over to the communion of Athanasius, and so ranged himself upon his side; but that he soon paid the penalty of his sin, for that a disease seized upon his genitals, and producing worms, in the end deprived him of

1 Concerning the threatening letters of Constans to his brother Constantius, see Socrates, Eccl. Hist. b. ii. ch. 22, 23; and Sozomen, Eccl. Hist. b. iii. ch. 20.

2 This is beyond a doubt the real meaning of the Greek text, though it has been misunderstood by several interpreters. The assertion, however, of Philostorgius, is proved to be false by the letter of the synod of bishops of Palestine held by the bishop of Jerusalem, of which an account is given by Athanasius in his Apology.

3 The learned Gothofred shows reasons for believing that this is a calumny of Philostorgius, and that Aetius, at all events at this period, was untainted with heresy.