liked.

Soon after professing himself a Christian, the emperor began to build a
new capital in the East. There had been a town called Byzantium on the
spot before; but the new city was far grander, and he gave it the name
of _Constantinople_, which means the _City of Constantine_. It was
meant to be altogether Christian,--unlike Rome, which was full of
temples of heathen gods. And the emperors, from this time, usually lived
at Constantinople, or at some other place in the East.

There will be more to say about Constantine in the next chapter. In the
mean time, let us look at the progress of the Gospel.

It had, by this time, made its way into many countries beyond the bounds
of the empire. There were Christians in Scotland and in India; there had
long been great numbers of Christians in Persia and Arabia. Many of the
Goths, who then lived about the Danube, had been converted by captives
whom they carried off in their plundering expeditions, during the reigns
of Valerian and Gallienus (about A.D. 260); and other roving tribes had
been converted by the same means. About the end of the third century,
Gregory, who is called the _Enlightener_, had gone as a missionary
bishop into Armenia, where he persuaded the king, Tiridates, to receive
the Gospel, and to establish it as the religion of his country; so that
Armenia had the honour of being the first Christian kingdom. The
Georgians were converted in the reign of Constantine; and about the same
time, the Ethiopians or Abyssinians (who live to the south of Egypt)
were brought to the knowledge of the truth in a very remarkable way.

There was a rich Christian of Tyre, named Meropius, who was a
philosopher, and wished to make discoveries in the countries towards
India, which were then but little known. So he set out in a ship of his
own, sailed down the Red Sea, and made a voyage to the East. On his way
back, he and his crew landed at a place on the coast of Ethiopia, in
search of fresh water, when the people of the country fell on them, and
killed all but two youths named AEdesius and Frumentius, who were
relations of Meropius. These lads were taken to the king's court, where,
as they were better educated than the Ethiopians, they soon got into
great favour and power. The king died after a time, leaving a little boy
to succeed him; and the two strangers were asked to carry on the
government of the country until the prince should be old enough to take
it into his own hands.