d with mummies that
had lain there for centuries, could of course furnish relics more easily
than most countries, and in this reign Constantinople received from
Alexandria a quantity of bones which were supposed to be those of the
martyrs slain in the pagan persecutions. The archbishop John Chrysostom
received them gratefully, and, though himself smarting under the
reproach that he was not orthodox enough for the superstitious
Egyptians, he thanks God that Egypt, which sent forth its grain to feed
its hungry neighbours, could also send the bodies of so many martyrs to
sanctify their churches.

We have traced the fall of the Greek party in Alexandria, in the
victories over the Arians during the religious quarrels of the last
hundred years; and in the laws we now read the city's loss of wealth
and power. The corporation of Alexandria was no longer able to bear the
expense of cleansing the river and keeping open the canals; and four
hundred _solidi_--about twelve hundred dollars--were each year set apart
from the custom-house duties of the city for that useful work.

The arrival of new settlers in Alexandria had been very much checked by
the less prosperous state of the country since the reign of Diocletian.
We still find, however, that many of the men of note were not born in
Egypt. Paulus, the physician, was a native of AEgina. He has left a work
on diseases and their remedies. The chief man of learning was Synesius,
a platonic philosopher whom the patriarch Theophilus persuaded to join
the Christians. As a platonist he naturally leaned towards many of
the doctrines of the popular religion, but he could not believe in a
resurrection; and it was not till after Theophilus had ordained him
Bishop of Ptolemais near Cyrene that he acknowledged the truth of that
doctrine. Nor would he then put away or disown his wife, as the
custom of the Church required; indeed, he accepted the bishopric very
unwillingly. He was as fond of playful sport as he was of books, and
very much disliked business. He has left a volume of writings, which has
saved the names of two prefects of Cyrene; the one Anysius, under
whose good discipline even the barbarians of Hungary behaved like Roman
legionaries, and the other Poonius, who cultivated science in this
barren spot. To encourage Pasonius in his praiseworthy studies he made
him a present of an astrolabe, to measure the distances of the stars
and planets, an instrument which was constructed under