dly informed, that her father, who had escaped from the ruin of
Carthage, exercised an honorable office in one of the Western provinces.
Her filial impatience was seconded by the pious bishop: Theodoret, in a
letter still extant, recommends Maria to the bishop of Aegae, a maritime
city of Cilicia, which was frequented, during the annual fair, by the
vessels of the West; most earnestly requesting, that his colleague would
use the maiden with a tenderness suitable to her birth; and that he
would intrust her to the care of such faithful merchants, as would
esteem it a sufficient gain, if they restored a daughter, lost beyond
all human hope, to the arms of her afflicted parent.

[Footnote 42: Ruinart (p. 441-457) has collected from Theodoret, and
other authors, the misfortunes, real and fabulous, of the inhabitants of
Carthage.]

Among the insipid legends of ecclesiastical history, I am tempted
to distinguish the memorable fable of the Seven Sleepers; [43] whose
imaginary date corresponds with the reign of the younger Theodosius,
and the conquest of Africa by the Vandals. [44] When the emperor Decius
persecuted the Christians, seven noble youths of Ephesus concealed
themselves in a spacious cavern in the side of an adjacent mountain;
where they were doomed to perish by the tyrant, who gave orders that
the entrance should be firmly secured by the a pile of huge stones. They
immediately fell into a deep slumber, which was miraculously prolonged
without injuring the powers of life, during a period of one hundred and
eighty-seven years. At the end of that time, the slaves of Adolius, to
whom the inheritance of the mountain had descended, removed the stones
to supply materials for some rustic edifice: the light of the sun darted
into the cavern, and the Seven Sleepers were permitted to awake. After a
slumber, as they thought of a few hours, they were pressed by the calls
of hunger; and resolved that Jamblichus, one of their number, should
secretly return to the city to purchase bread for the use of his
companions. The youth (if we may still employ that appellation) could no
longer recognize the once familiar aspect of his native country; and his
surprise was increased by the appearance of a large cross, triumphantly
erected over the principal gate of Ephesus. His singular dress, and
obsolete language, confounded the baker, to whom he offered an ancient
medal of Decius as the current coin of the empire; and Jamblichus, on
the su