Tyrian philosopher, named Meropius, emulating the travels of Plato and the ancient sages, and
modern ecclesiastical historians, among whom we may reckon Pagi, and particularly the writers on the Ethiopian or Abyssinian history, as Ludolf and Bruce, have asserted that the scene of the history of Frumentius was Ethiopia. Besides the positive testimony of Nicephorus, it will not be difficult to show that the account of the other ecclesiastical writers will not authorise such a supposition. This transaction took place, they say, in India; that is, according to Pagi and Ludolf, Abyssinia or Auxume. Apud Indos, (says the Eoman Martyrology for the 27th Oct.) S. Frumentii Episcopi, qui ibi primum captivus, deinde episcopus ab Athanasio ordinatus, Evangelium ea provincia prædicavit." The name of India was given both to Abyssinia and Arabia Felix. Plerique veterum Indos [Æthiopes] vocaverunt, ut fere omnes zonæ torridæ nationes, quarum speciale nomen ignorarent. Imo, ipsum mare rubrum Indicum a nonnullis veterum appellatur, quo minus mirum accolas illius Indos nominatos fuisse. Ludolf. Hist. Æth. i. 1. And Damianus a Goëz, in his Relatio de legatione Matthæi Abessinorum ad regem Lusitaniæ legati, calls the king of the Abyssinians magnum Indorum imperatorem. But the name was as often, perhaps more frequently, applied to Arabia. In the cosmographies of Æthicus and Julius Honorius, when giving a summary of the countries of the east, Arabia is included under the general appellation of India (Æthici Cosm. p. 28. Excerpt. Jul. Honor. p. 7), whilst neither apply the name of India to any part of Africa, and both mention Ethiopia by its proper name. (Æthic. p. 48. Honor. p. 18.) Arrhian calls the Arabians an Indian nation,—προσοικει δε ταυτῃ εθνος Ινδικον, οἱ Αραβιες καλεομενοι. Peripl. Nearch. p. 4. All the ecclesiastical historians call the southern Arabians, Indians—τοδε των Ινδων εθνος τουτο Σαβα μεν παλαι, απο της Σαβα μετροπολεως, τα νυν δε Ὁμηριτας καλεισθαι. Philostorgius, Hist. Eccl. ii. 6. et iii. 4. Σαβατ, say the Chronica of Eusebius and Cedrenus, αφ' ου Αραβες Ινδων.
