Martin
has likewise clearly shown (St. Martin, Add. to Le Beau, i. 291) Armenia
was the first nation w hich embraced Christianity, (Addition to Le Beau,
i. 76. and Memoire sur l'Armenie, i. 305.) Gibbon himself suspected this
truth.--"Instead of maintaining that the conversion of Armenia was not
attempted with any degree of success, till the sceptre was in the hands
of an orthodox emperor," I ought to have said, that the seeds of the
faith were deeply sown during the season of the last and greatest
persecution, that many Roman exiles might assist the labors of Gregory,
and that the renowned Tiridates, the hero of the East, may dispute with
Constantine the honor of being the first sovereign who embraced the
Christian religion Vindication]

[Footnote 77: See, in Eusebius, (in Vit. l. iv. c. 9,) the pressing and
pathetic epistle of Constantine in favor of his Christian brethren of
Persia.]

[Footnote 78: See Basnage, Hist. des Juifs, tom. vii. p. 182, tom. viii.
p. 333, tom. ix. p. 810. The curious diligence of this writer pursues
the Jewish exiles to the extremities of the globe.]

[Footnote 78a: Abba Salama, or Fremonatus, is mentioned in the Tareek
Negushti, chronicle of the kings of Abyssinia. Salt's Travels, vol. ii.
p. 464.--M.]

[Footnote 79: Theophilus had been given in his infancy as a hostage by
his countrymen of the Isle of Diva, and was educated by the Romans in
learning and piety. The Maldives, of which Male, or Diva, may be the
capital, are a cluster of 1900 or 2000 minute islands in the Indian
Ocean. The ancients were imperfectly acquainted with the Maldives; but
they are described in the two Mahometan travellers of the ninth century,
published by Renaudot, Geograph. Nubiensis, p. 30, 31 D'Herbelot,
Bibliotheque Orientale p. 704. Hist. Generale des Voy ages, tom. viii.
----See the dissertation of M. Letronne on this question. He conceives
that Theophilus was born in the island of Dahlak, in the Arabian Gulf.
His embassy was to Abyssinia rather than to India. Letronne, Materiaux
pour l'Hist. du Christianisme en Egypte Indie, et Abyssinie. Paris, 1832
3d Dissert.--M.]

[Footnote 80: Philostorgius, l. iii. c. 4, 5, 6, with Godefroy's learned
observations. The historical narrative is soon lost in an inquiry
concerning the seat of Paradise, strange monsters, &c.]

The irresistible power of the Roman emperors was displayed in the
important and dangerous change of the national religion. The terrors
of a mi