414 THE DECLINE AND FALL his two hundred and thirty homilies to the praise of the young men of Ephesus.^^ Their legend, before the end of the sixth centuiy, was translated from the Syriac into the Latin language, by the care of Gregory of Tours. The hostile communions of the East preserve their memory with equal reverence ; and their names are honourably inscribed in the Roman, the Abyssinian, and the Russian calendar.^^ Nor has their reputa- tion been confined to the Christian world. This popular tale, which Mahomet might leani when he drove his camels to the fairs of Syria, is introduced, as a divine revelation, into the Koran. ^^ The story of the Seven Sleepers has been adopted, and adorned, by the nations, from Bengal to Africa, who pi*o- fess the Mahometan religion ; °o and some vestiges of a similar tradition have been discovered in the remote extremities of Scandinavia.^^ This easy and universal belief, so expressive of the sense of mankind, may be ascribed to the genuine merit of the fable itself. We imperceptibly advance from youth to age, without observing the gradual, but incessant, change of human alfairs, and, even in our larger experiences of historj-, the im- agination is accustomed, by a perpetual series of causes and effects, to unite the most distant revolutions. But, if the interval between two memorable aeras could be instantly an- •* James, one of the orthodox fathers of the Syrian church, was born A. D. 452 ; he began to compose his sermons, A.D. 474; he was [made bishop of Batnae, in the district of Sarug, and province of Mesopotamia, A.D. 519, and died A.D. 521 (Assemanni, torn. i. p. 288, 289). For the homily de Pneris Ephesinis, see p. 335-339 : though I could wish that Assemanni had translated the te.xt of James of Sarug, instead of answering the objections of Baronius. ■*8See the Acta Sanctorum of the Bollandists (Mensis Julii, torn. vi. p. 375-397). This immense calendar of saints, in one hundred and twenty-six years (1644-1770), and in fifty volumes in folio, has advanced no farther than the 7th day of October. The suppression of the Jesuits has most probably checked an undertaking, which, through the medium of fable and superstition, communicates much historical and philosophical instruction. [After a long interval, from 1794 to 1845, it was con- tinued, and has now reached November 41111 (1894).] •♦s .See Maracci Alcoran ; Sura, xviii. tom. ii. p. 420-427, and tom. i. part iv. p. 103. With such an ample privilege, Mahomet has not shewn much taste or in- genuity. He has invented the dog (Al Rakim) of the Seven Sleepers ; the respect of the sun, who altered his course twice a day that he might shine into the cavern ; and the care of God himself, who preserved their bodies from putrefaction, by turning them to the right and left. 5" See D'Herbelot, Bibliotheque Orientale, p. 139; and Renaudot, Hist. Patriarch. Alexandrin, p. 39, 40. 51 Paul, the deacon of Aquileia (de Gestis Langobardorum, 1. i. c. 4, p. 745, 746, edit. Grot.), who lived towards the end of the eighth century, has placed in a cavern under a rock, on the shore of the ocean, the Seven S'oepers of the North, whose long repose was respected by the Barbarians. Their dress declared them to be Romans ; and the deacon conjectures that they were reserved by Providence as the future apostles of those unbelieving countries.
