Meropius, a philosopher at Tyre, a Greek by nation and by religion, had taken a passage in a ship on the Red Sea to India, and had with him two young men, Frumentius and Œdesius, whom he intended to bring up to trade, after having given them a very liberal education. It happened their vessel was cast away on a rock upon the coast of Abyssinia. Meropius, defending himself, was slain by the natives, and the two boys carried to Axum, the capital of Abyssinia, where the Court then resided. Though young, they soon began to shew the advantages attending a liberal education. They acquired the language very speedily; and, as that country is naturally inclined to admire strangers, these were soon looked upon as two prodigies. Œdesius, probably the dullest of the two, was set over the king's household and wardrobe, a place that has been filled constantly by a stranger of that nation to this very day. Frumentius was judged worthy by the queen to have the care of the young prince's education, to which he dedicated himself entirely.
After having instructed his pupil in all sorts of learning, he strongly impressed him with a love and veneration for the Christian religion; after which he himself set out for Alexandria, where, as has been already said, he found St. Athanasius *[1] newly elected to that See.
He related to him briefly what had passed in Ethiopia, and the great hopes of the conversion of that nation, if proper pastors were sent to instruct them. Athanasius embraced that opportunity with all the earnestnefs that became his
- Vid. Baron, tom. 4. p. 331. et alibi passim.
- ↑ * Vid. Baron, tom. 4. p. 331. et alibi passim.
