ygia, had
such abundance of the precious metals, that he was said by the poets to
have the power of turning whatever he touched into gold. The tomb of
Mausolus, King of Caria, was one of the seven wonders of the ancient
world. It was the same with the Greek colonies which were scattered
along its coasts; they are renowned for opulence, for philosophy, and
for the liberal and the fine arts. Homer among the poets, Thales among
philosophers, Herodotus, the father of history, Hippocrates, the oracle
of physicians, Apelles, the prince of painters, were among their
citizens; and Pythius, who presented one of the Persian Kings with a
plane-tree and a vine of massive gold, was in his day, after those
kings, the richest man in the known world.

Then come the many splendid cities founded by the successors of
Alexander, through its extent; and the powerful and opulent kingdoms,
Greek or Barbarian, of Pontus, and Bithynia, and Pergamus--Pergamus,
with its library of 200,000 choice volumes. Later still, the resources
of the country were so well recognised, that it was the favourite prey
of the Roman statesmen, who, after involving themselves in enormous
debts in the career of ambition, needed by extortion and rapine to set
themselves right with their creditors. Next it became one of the first
seats of Christianity; St. Luke in the Acts of the Apostles relates to
us the apostolic labours of St. Paul there in town and country; St. John
wrote the Apocalypse to the Churches of seven of its principal cities;
and St. Peter, his first Epistle to Christians scattered through its
provinces. It was the home of some of the greatest Saints, Martyrs, and
Doctors of the early ages: there first, in Bithynia, the power of
Christianity manifested itself over a heathen population; there St.
Polycarp was martyred, there St. Gregory Thamaturgus converted the
inhabitants of Pontus; there St. Gregory Nazianzen, St. Gregory Nyssen,
St. Basil, and St. Amphilochius preached and wrote. There were held
three of the first four Councils of the Church, at Chalcedon, at
Ephesus, and at Nicaea, the very city afterwards profaned by the palace
of the Sultan. It abounded in the gifts of nature, for food, utility, or
ornament; its rivers ran with gold, its mountains yielded the most
costly marbles; it had mines of copper, and especially of iron; its
plains were fruitful in all kinds of grain, in broad pastures and
luxuriant woods, while its hills were favourable to th