.-oS TRAVELS TO DISCOVER 



MerophpSj a< philolbphcr at Tyre, a Greek by nation and 

 by religion, had taken a paiiagc in a lhip on the Red Sea da 

 India, and had with him two young men, Frumentius and 

 CEdefms, whom lie intended to bring up to trade, after ha- 

 < ine given them a very liberal education. It happened' 

 tln-ir veflel was call away on a rock upon the eoall of A- 

 bvliinia. Meropius, defending himfelf, was 11a In by. the 

 natives, and the two boys carried. to-Axum, the capital of 

 Abvlllnia, where the Court then relidcd. Though young, 

 they foon began to Ihcw the advantages attending a liberal 

 education. They acquired the language very i'peedily ; 

 and, as that country is naturally inclined to admire ftran- 

 2ers, thel'e were- foon looked upon as two prodigies. (Ede- 

 fms, probably the dulled of the two, was let over the king's 

 houfehold and wardrobe, a place that has been filled con- 

 flan tly by a flranger of that nation to this very day. Fru- 

 mentius was judged worthy by the queen to have the care 

 of the young prince's education, to which, he dedicated, 

 himfelf entirely.. 



After having mflructed his pupil in all forts of leaxnblgj 

 he ilrongly imprelTed him with a love and veneration for 

 the Chriftian religion ; after which he himfelf fet out for 

 Alexandria, where, as has been already, faid, he found St. 

 Athanafius* newly elected to that See. 



He related to him briefly what had palled in Ethiopia* 

 and the great hopes of the converfion of that nation, if pro- 

 per pallors were fent to initruct them. Athanafius embraced 

 that opportunity with all the earneftnefs that became his 



11 at ion 



* Yid. Baion, torn. 4. p. 331. et alibi paflim. 



