to transfer a precinct; but also to bring back Timothy the apostle in like manner from Ephesus of Ionia to the same renowned and venerable house. 3.3 That he says how Constantius, having learned that Athanasius had recovered the throne of Alexandria, drove him out of Alexandria, and declared his opinion that George of Cappadocia should be consecrated in his place. But Athanasius, fearing both the threats and death by treachery, went again to the western emperor. 3.4 That he says Constantius sent an embassy to those who were formerly called Sabaeans, but now Homerites. This nation is of those who were born to Abraham by Keturah. And the land is called both great and fortunate Arabia by the Greeks; and it extends to the outermost Ocean; its metropolis is Saba, from whence also the queen came to Solomon. The nation is circumcised, being circumcised on the eighth day; and they sacrifice to the sun and moon and local demons. No small number of Jews are also mixed in with them. To these, then, Constantius sends an embassy, having as his purpose to convert them to piety; he intended, therefore, to win over the leader of the nation with magnificent gifts and a multitude of them, and thence for the seeds of piety to find a place to be sown in him. He also asks him to provide for the building of a church for the Romans arriving there, and for any others of the natives who might incline toward piety. And he generously gave the ambassadors to bring the expense of the building. Among the first in this embassy was also Theophilus the Indian. who long ago, when Constantine the elder was reigning, while still very young in age, was sent as a hostage to the Romans by those called Dibeni; Dibous is their island country, and these also bear the name of Indians. Theophilus, however, having spent no little time with the Romans, had both his morals regulated to the highest degree of virtue and his beliefs toward piety, and had taken up the monastic life; and indeed had even advanced to the rank of deacon, Eusebius having laid his consecrating hands on him, but this was earlier; but having undertaken the embassy, he received the dignity of bishop from those of the same faith. Constantius, however, dispatching the embassy magnificently and in the most pleasing manner, also sent with them as inducements about two hundred of the noblest horses from Cappadocia, conveyed in horse-transport ships, and many other gifts to provide a most costly marvel. And having reached the Sabaeans, Theophilus attempted to persuade the ethnarch both to learn to worship Christ and to renounce the Hellenic error. But the peculiar design of the Jews * And when Theophilus by miraculous deeds, both once and twice, had demonstrated that faith in Christ is invincible, the opposition sank, though unwillingly, into a deep silence; and the embassy received its consummation, as the ruler of the nation, with purity of mind, inclined toward piety and erected three churches, not one, throughout the land, not from the imperial funds which the ambassadors brought, but from what he himself eagerly supplied from his own resources; and he was ambitious to provide a zeal that vied with the wonder of Theophilus's works. Of the churches, he established one in the very metropolis of the whole nation, called Tapharon; another where the Roman market happened to be, situated outside toward the Ocean; they call the place Adane, where it was the custom for those arriving from the Romans to anchor; and the third in the other part of the country, in which a Persian market is known, situated at the mouth of the Persian sea there. 3.5 Theophilus, however, having arranged affairs among the Homerites as far as was possible and the occasion allowed, and having consecrated the churches and adorned them with such ornaments as were possible, sailed away to the island of Dibous, which the account previously stated was his native land. And from there he arrived in the other India, and he corrected many of the unholy practices among them. for sitting down

μετενεγκεῖν τέμενος· ἀλλὰ καὶ Τιμόθεον τὸν ἀπόστολον ὡσαύτως ἐξ Ἐφέσου τῆς Ἰωνίας εἰς τὸν αὐτὸν ἀνακομίσαι περιώνυμον καὶ σεβάσμιον οἶκον. 3.3 Ὅτι φησὶν ὡς ὁ Κωνστάντιος γνοὺς Ἀθανάσιον τὸν Ἀλεξανδρείας θρόνον ἀναλαβεῖν, ἐκεῖνον μὲν ἐλαύνει τῆς Ἀλεξανδρείας, ἀντιχειροτονηθῆναι δὲ γνώμην ἀποφαίνει Γεώργιον τὸν ἐκ Καππαδοκίας. ὁ δὲ Ἀθανάσιος δείσας καὶ τὰς ἀπειλὰς καὶ τὸν ἐξ ἐπιβουλῆς θάνατον, πρὸς τὸν ἑσπέριον ἀφικνεῖται πάλιν βασιλέα. 3.4 Ὅτι Κωνστάντιόν φησι διαπρεσβεύσασθαι πρὸς τοὺς πάλαι μὲν Σαβαίους, νῦν δὲ Ὁμηρίτας καλουμένους. ἔστι δὲ τὸ ἔθνος τῶν ἐκ Χεττούρας τῷ Ἀβραὰμ γενομένων. τὴν δὲ χώραν μεγάλην τε Ἀραβίαν καλεῖσθαι καὶ εὐδαίμονα πρὸς τῶν Ἑλλήνων· καθήκειν δὲ ἐπὶ τὸν ἐξωτάτω Ὠκεανόν· ἧς μητρόπολις ἡ Σαβά· ἐξ ἧς καὶ ἡ βασιλὶς ὡς τὸν Σολομῶντα παραγεγόνει. ἐμπερίτομον δὲ τὸ ἔθνος κατὰ τὴν ὀγδόην περιτεμνόμενον ἡμέραν· καὶ θύουσιν ἡλίῳ καὶ σελήνῃ καὶ δαίμοσιν ἐπιχωρίοις. οὐκ ὀλίγον δὲ πλῆθος καὶ Ἰουδαίων αὐτοῖς ἀναπέφυρται. Πρὸς τούτους οὖν διαπρεσβεύεται Κωνστάντιος, ἐπὶ τὴν εὐσέβειαν σκοπὸν ποιούμενος αὐτοὺς μεταθέσθαι· δώροις τε οὖν μεγαλοπρεπέσι καὶ πλήθει τὸν καθηγούμενον τοῦ ἔθνους οἰκειώσασθαι διενοεῖτο, κἀκεῖθεν αὐτοῦ καὶ τὰ τῆς εὐσεβείας σπέρματα χώραν εὑρεῖν ἐναποθέσθαι. ἀξιοῖ δὲ καὶ παρασχεῖν ἐκκλησίαν τοῖς ἐκεῖσε τῶν Ῥωμαίων ἀφικνουμένοις ἀνοικοδομήσασθαι, καὶ εἴ τι ἄλλο τῶν αὐτοχθόνων ἐπὶ τὴν εὐσέβειαν ἀποκλίνοιεν. ἐδίδου δὲ φέρειν φιλοτίμως τοὺς πρέσβεις καὶ τῆς οἰκοδομῆς τὸ ἀνάλωμα. Ταύτης τῆς πρεσβείας ἐν τοῖς πρώτοις ἦν καὶ Θεόφιλος ὁ Ἰνδός. ὃς πάλαι μέν, Κωνσταντίνου τοῦ πάλαι βασιλεύοντος, ἔτι τὴν ἡλικίαν νεώτατος, καθ' ὁμηρίαν πρὸς τῶν ∆ιβηνῶν καλουμένων εἰς Ῥωμαίους ἐστάλη· ∆ιβοῦς δ' ἐστὶν αὐτοῖς ἡ νῆσος χώρα, τῶν Ἰνδῶν δὲ καὶ οὗτοι φέρουσι τὸ ἐπώνυμον. τὸν μέντοι Θεόφιλον, οὐκ ὀλίγον Ῥωμαίοις ἐνδιατρίψαντα χρόνον, τά τε ἤθη πρὸς ἀρετὴν εἰς τὸ ἀκρότατον ῥυθμίσαι καὶ τὴν δόξαν πρὸς εὐσέβειαν, καὶ τὸν μοναύλιον ἀνελέσθαι βίον· καὶ δὴ καὶ εἰς βαθμὸν διακόνων παραγγεῖλαι, Εὐσεβίου τὰς ἱερουργοὺς αὐτῷ χεῖρας ἐπιθεμένου, ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν πρότερον· τὴν δὲ πρεσβείαν ὑπελθόντα, καὶ ἐφόρου λαβεῖν παρὰ τῶν ὁμοδόξων ἀξίωμα. Ὁ μέντοι Κωνστάντιος, μεγαλοπρεπῶς καὶ εἰς τὸ μάλιστα κεχαρισμένον τὴν πρεσβείαν στέλλων, καὶ ἵππους εἰς διακοσίους τῶν ἐκ Καππαδοκίας εὐγενεστάτων ἱππαγωγοῖς πλοίοις κομιζομένους καὶ πολλὰς ἄλλας δωρεὰς εἰς τὸ πολυτελέστατον θαῦμα παρασχεῖν καὶ θελκτηρίους συνεξέπεμψεν. Καταλαβὼν δὲ τοὺς Σαβαίους, ὁ Θεόφιλος πείθειν ἐπεχείρει τὸν ἐθνάρχην Χριστόν τε σέβειν εἰδέναι καὶ τῆς Ἑλληνικῆς πλάνης ἀποστῆναι. ἡ δὲ τῶν Ἰουδαίων οἰκεία ἐπίνοια * τοῦ δὲ Θεοφίλου παραδόξοις ἔργοις καὶ ἅπαξ καὶ δὶς τὴν εἰς Χριστὸν πίστιν ἄμαχον ἐπιδειξαμένου, εἰς σιγὴν μὲν βαθεῖαν καὶ ἄκον τὸ ἀντιπνέον κατέδυ· τὰ δὲ τῆς πρεσβείας τὸ πέρας ἐδέχετο, καθαρότητι γνώμης τοῦ τὴν ἀρχὴν ἔχοντος τοῦ ἔθνους πρὸς τὴν εὐσέβειαν ἀποκλίναντος καὶ τρεῖς, οὐ μίαν, ἐκκλησίας ἀνὰ τὴν χώραν ἀναστήσαντος, οὐκ ἐξ ὧν οἱ πρέσβεις ἔφερον βασιλικῶν ἀναλωμάτων, ἀλλ' ἐξ ὧν αὐτὸς ἐκεῖνος προθύμως οἴκοθεν ἐχορήγει· καὶ τῷ θαύματι τῶν Θεοφίλου ἔργων ἐνάμιλλον παρέχειν ἐφιλοτιμεῖτο τὸ πρόθυμον. τῶν δὲ ἐκκλησιῶν μίαν μὲν ἐν αὐτῇ τῇ μητροπόλει τοῦ παντὸς ἔθνους Τάφαρον ὀνομαζομένῃ καθιδρύσατο· ἑτέραν δὲ ἐν ᾧ τὸ Ῥωμαϊκὸν ἐμπόριον ἐτύγχανεν ἔξω πρὸς τὸν Ὠκεανὸν τετραμμένον· καλοῦσι δὲ τὸ χωρίον Ἀδάνην, ἔνθα καὶ τοὺς ἐκ Ῥωμαίων ἀφικνουμένους ἔθος ἦν καθορμίζεσθαι· τὴν δὲ τρίτην ἐπὶ θάτερον τῆς χώρας μέρος, ἐν ᾧ Περσικὸν ἐμπόριον γνωρίζεται ἐπὶ τῷ στόματι τῆς ἐκεῖσε Περσικῆς κείμενον θαλάσσης. 3.5 Ὁ μέντοι Θεόφιλος, τὰ ἐν τοῖς Ὁμηρίταις ὡς ἕκαστα δυνατὸν ἦν καὶ ὁ καιρὸς ἐδίδου διαθείς, καὶ τὰς ἐκκλησίας ἱερωσάμενος καὶ κόσμοις οἷς ἐνῆν δυνατὸν διακοσμήσας, ἐπὶ τὴν ∆ίβου νῆσον, ἣν αὐτοῦ πατρίδα προεδίδαξεν ὁ λόγος, ἀπέπλευσεν. κἀκεῖθεν εἰς τὴν ἄλλην ἀφίκετο Ἰνδικήν, καὶ πολλὰ τῶν παρ' αὐτοῖς οὐκ εὐαγῶς δρωμένων ἐπηνωρθώσατο. καὶ γὰρ καθεζόμενοι