judgments, to live in peace one with another, and to expel those who excited discord. Thus the emperor wrote to the people, exhorting them all to oneness of mind, and striving to prevent divisions in the church.

CHAP. XXIII.- CALUMNY RESPECTING ST. ATHANASIUS AND

THE HAND OF ARSENIUS.

THE Meletians, on the failure of their first attempts, devised other accusations against Athanasius. On the one hand, they charged him with breaking a sacred vase; and on the other, with having slain one Arsenius,' and with having cut off his arm for the purpose of using it in sorcery. It is said that this Arsenius was one of the clergy;2 but that, having committed some crime, he fled to a place of concealment for fear of being convicted and punished by his bishop. The enemies of Athanasius thence devised the most odious calumny. They sought Arsenius with great diligence, and having at length discovered the place of his retreat, they showed him great kindness, assured him of their good-will towards him, and of his own safety, and conducted him secretly to Prines, a presbyter of a monastery,3 who was one of his friends, and of the same sentiments as themselves. After having thus carefully concealed him, they diligently spread the report in the market-places and public assemblies, that he had been slain by Athanasius. They also bribed John, a monk, to corroborate the calumny. As this evil report was universally circulated, and had even reached the ears of the emperor, Athanasius became apprehensive that it would be difficult to defend his cause before judges whose minds were prejudiced by such false rumours, and resorted to stratagems akin to those of his adversaries. He did everything in his power to prevent truth from being obscured by calumny, but the multitude could not be convinced, on account of the non-appearance of Arsenius. Reflecting, therefore, that the suspicion which rested upon him could not be removed except by proving that Arsenius, who was said to be

1 See Socrates, Eccl. Hist. i. 27, 29.

2 He was bishop of Hypsele, as Valesius remarks in his notes on Socrates. 3 Valesius sees reason to doubt this fact, and considers that Sozomen has misunderstood the term μový as it occurs in the apology of Athanasius, whence he derived his story.

A. D. 325.]

CONVERSION OF INDIAN NATIONS.

85

dead, was still alive, he sent a faithful deacon in quest of him. The deacon went to Thebes, and ascertained from some monks that the object of his search had been concealed by Prines; on repairing thither, however, he found that Arsenius was not there; for, on the first intelligence of the arrival of the deacon, he had been conveyed to Lower Egypt. The deacon arrested Prines and conducted him to Alexandria, as also Elias, one of his associates, who was said to have been the person who conveyed Arsenius elsewhere. He delivered them both to the commander of the Egyptian forces, and they confessed that Arsenius was still alive, that he had been secretly concealed in their house, and that he was then in Egypt. Athanasius took care that all these facts should be reported to Constantine. The emperor wrote back to him, desiring him to attend to the due performance of the priestly functions, and the maintenance of order and piety among the people, and not to be disquieted by the machinations of the Meletians, it being evident that envy alone was the cause of the false accusations which were circulated against him, to the disturbance of the peace of the churches. The emperor added that, for the future, he should not permit the circulation of such reports; and that, unless the calumniators preserved the peace, he should certainly subject them to the rigour of the laws, and let justice have its course, as they had not only unjustly plotted against the innocent, but had also infringed upon the order of the church and religion. Such was the strain of the emperor's letter to Athanasius; and he further commanded that it should be read aloud before all the people, in order that they might all be made acquainted with his intentions. The Meletians were alarmed at these menaces, and became more guarded in their conduct. The churches throughout Egypt enjoyed profound peace under the sway of this great bishop, and were daily increased in numbers by the conversion of multitudes of Pagans and heretics.

CHAP. XXIV.-SOME INDIAN NATIONS ARE CONVERTED TO CHRISTIANITY THROUGH THE INSTRUMENTALITY OF TWO CAPTIVES, FRUMENTIUS AND EDESIUS.

We have heard that about this period some of the most distant of the nations that we call Indian, to whom the preaching

of Bartholomew was unknown, were converted1 to Christianity by Frumentius, a priest.2 The wonderful circumstances attending the arrival of this priest in India, and the cause of his ordination, are necessary to be known to show that Christianity is not of man, as is falsely represented by those who are prejudiced against the doctrines of religion. The most celebrated philosophers among the Greeks took pleasure in exploring unknown cities and regions. Plato, the friend of Socrates, dwelt for a time among the Egyptians, in order to acquaint himself with their manners and customs. He likewise sailed to Sicily to examine its craters, whence, as from fountains, spontaneously issued streams of fire, which, by inundating the neighbouring regions, rendered them so sterile that, as at Sodom, no seed could be sown there nor trees planted. These craters were likewise explored by Empedocles, a man highly celebrated for philosophy among the Greeks, and who has expounded his doctrines in heroic verse. He was engaged in prosecuting inquiries as to the cause and origin of these eruptions, when either because he thought such a mode of death preferable to any other, or because, to say the truth, he knew not wherefore he should seek to terminate his life in this manner, he threw himself into the crater and perished. Democritus of Coos relates that he visited many cities and countries and nations, and that eighty years of his life were spent in travelling through foreign lands. Besides these philosophers, thousands of wise men among the Greeks, ancient and modern, habituated themselves to travel. Desirous of imitating their example, Merope, a philosopher and native of Tyre in Phoenicia, travelled as far as India. He was accompanied by two youths, named Frumentius and Edesius; they were his relatives, and he had the charge of their education. After accomplishing a journey through India, he determined upon returning home, and embarked in a vessel

1 Compare Socrates, Eccl. Hist. i. 19.

2 These were the Æthiopians, who were called Indi in a loose sense. Pantænus at an earlier time had converted some of them to Christianity, (see Euseb. Eccl. Hist. v. 10,) but having left no successors behind him, Frumentius began the work of conversion again, and so may be called the Apostle of the Indians.

3 Thus Solon was on his travels, when he came to the court of Croesus. See Herod. b. i. ch. 29.

Or more properly of Abdera, as Valesius suggests.

A. D. 330.] FRUMENTIUS APPOINTED BISHOP OF INDIA. 87

which was on the point of sailing for Egypt. It happened that, from want of water or some other necessary, the vessel was obliged to stop at some port, and the Indians rushed upon it, and murdered Merope and the crew. These Indians had just thrown off their alliance with the Romans; they took pity, however, on the youth of the two lads, and conducted them to their king. He appointed the younger one his cupbearer, and, recognising at once the fidelity and prudence of Frumentius, constituted him his treasurer. These youths served the king usefully and faithfully during a long course of years, and when he felt his end approaching he rewarded their services by giving them their liberty, with permission to go where they pleased. They were anxious to return to Tyre, where their relatives resided, but the king's son and successor being a minor, the mother of the young sovereign besought them to remain and take charge of public affairs, until her son reached the years of manhood. They yielded to her entreaties, and directed the affairs of the kingdom and of the Indian government. Frumentius was impelled by some Divine impulse, or by the promptings of his own mind and the assistance of God, to inquire whether there were any Christians or Roman merchants in India. Having succeeded in finding the objects of his inquiry, he summoned them into his presence, treated them with great kindness and benevolence, and commanded the erection of houses of prayer, that there worship might be offered, and the Roman ecclesiastical routine observed.

When the king's son attained the age of manhood, Frumentius and Edesius besought him and the queen to permit them to resign their appointments and return to the Roman dominions, and they obtained a reluctant assent. Edesius went to Tyre to see his relatives, and was soon after advanced to the dignity of presbyter. Frumentius, however, instead of returning to Phoenicia, repaired to Alexandria, for with him patriotism and filial piety were subordinate to religious zeal. He conferred with Athanasius, the head of the Alexandrian church, described to him the state of religion in India, and the necessity of appointing a bishop over the Christians located in that country. Athanasius assembled the clergy of his diocese, and consulted with them on the subject: they were all of opinion that Frumentius was peculiarly qualified to hold the office of bishop of India, as it was by him

that the name of Christian was first made manifest in that country, and that the first seeds of the Word were sown.1 Frumentius therefore returned to India, and, it is said, discharged the priestly functions so admirably that he became an object of universal admiration, and was revered as an apostle. God highly honoured him, enabling him to perform many wonderful cures, and to work signs and wonders. Such was the origin of the Indian bishopric.

CHAP. XXV.-COUNCIL OF TYRE.

ILLEGAL DEPOSITION OF ST.

ATHANASIUS.

THE malignity of the enemies of St. Athanasius involved him in fresh troubles, excited the hatred of the emperor against him, and stirred up a multitude of calumniators. Wearied by their importunity, the emperor convened a council at Cæsarea in Palestine. Athanasius was summoned thither; but, fearing the artifices of Eusebius, bishop of the city, of Eusebius, bishop of Nicomedia, and of their party, he refused to attend, and for thirty months, in spite of all remonstrances, persisted in his refusal. At the end of that period, however, he was compelled to repair to Tyre, where a great number of the bishops of the East were assembled.2 They required him to reply to the accusations framed by John, and brought against him by Callinicus, a bishop, and a certain Ischurias. These accusations were, that he had broken a vase used in the celebration of the mysteries; that he had thrown down the episcopal chair; that he had often caused Ischurias, although he was a presbyter, to be loaded with chains; and that, by falsely accusing him before Hygenus, governor of Egypt, of casting stones at the statues of the emperor, he had occasioned his being thrown into prison; that he had deposed Callinicus, bishop of the Catholic church at Pelusium, and had debarred him from communion until he could remove certain suspicions concerning his having broken a sacred vase; that he had com

The region over which Frumentius was appointed bishop was, as nearly as can be ascertained, that which is now called Abyssinia.

2 For the acts of this synod, see Socrates, Eccles. Hist. i. 28; Theodoret,

i. 29.

3 In order to avoid making Sozomen inconsistent with his own statements elsewhere, Valesius proposes to insert wç before έπíσкоπоν, which would mean," conducting himself as bishop."