Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 5 (1897).djvu/186

 of Nubia] 164 THE DECLINE AND FALL was obtained, even in this world, by the intercession of the patriarch. In exile at Constantinople, Theodosius recommended to his patroness the conversion of the black nations of Nubia, ^^^ from the tropic of Cancer to the confines of Abyssinia. Her design was suspected, and emulated, by the more orthodox emperor. The rival missionaries, a Melchite and a Jacobite, embarked at the same time ; but the empress, from a motive of love or fear, was more effectually obeyed ; and the Catholic priest was detained by the president of Thebais, while the [suko, king kinff of Nubia and his court were hastily baptized in the faith of Dioscorus. The tardy envoy of Justinian was received and dismissed with honour ; but, when he accused the heresy and treason of the Egyptians, the negro convert was instructed to reply that he would never abandon his brethren, the true believers, to the persecuting ministers of the synod of Chalce- don.^-'^ During several ages the bishops of Nubia were named and consecrated by the Jacobite patriarch of Alexandria ; as late as the twelfth century, Christianity prevailed ; and some rites, some ruins, are still visible in the savage towns of Sennaar and Dongola.^^' But the Nubians at length executed their threats of returning to the worship of idols ; the climate required the indulgence of polygamy ; and they have finally 155 The Abyssinians, who still preserve the features and olive complexion of the Arabs, afford a proof that two thousand years are not sufficient to change the colour of the human race. The Nubians, an African race, are pure negroes, as black as those of Senegal or Congo, with flat noses, thick lips, and woolly hair (Buffon, Hist. Naturelle, torn. v. p. 117, 143, 144, 166, 219, edit, in i2mo, Paris, 1769). The ancients beheld, without much attention, the extraordinary phaenome non which has exercised the philosophers and theologians of modern times. i=''Asseman. Bibliot. Orient, tom. i. p. 329. [The source for the conversion of the Nobadas, under their king Silko, is John of Ephesus, iv. , c. 5 sg^., whose account is minute and interesting. The name of the king is known from the inscription of Talmis (C. I. G. 5072), where Silko. "king of the Nubades and all the Ethiopians," celebrates his victories over the Blemmyes, who dwelled between the Nobada; and the Empire. The Blemmyes by their treaties with the Empire had the right of worshipping in the temple of Isis at Philas, and consequently this temple had to be kept open for them (cp. Priscus, fr. 21 ; C. I. G. 4945, 4946 ; Procop. B. P. i. 19). Their conversion to Christianity seems to have been accomplished under Justinian, and in A.D. 577 the temple of Isis was transformed into a church (C. I. G. 8647-8-9). For the conversion of the Alodes, a people south of the Nobadae and bordering on the Abyssinians, see John of Ephesus, iv, ^- 52. 53- See M. I'abb^ Duchesne, Eglises S6par6es, p. 287 sgy.] 15V The Christianity of the Nubians, A.D. 1153, is attested by the sheriff al Edrisi, falsely described under the name of the Nubian geographer (p. 18), who represents them as a nation of Jacobites. The rays of historical light that twinkle in the history of Renaudot (p. 178, 220-224, 281-286, 405, 434, 451, 464) are all previous to this aera. See the modern state in the Lettres Edifiantes (Recueil, iv. ) and Busching (tom. ix. p. 152-159, par Berenger).