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Imsigiian, who amuses himself with, telling us to our faces such a story, which is quite as fanciful as what he sets down later, that in this island are fonnd emeralds and diamonds on a mountain near a Greek monastery called Agro. 1 see very well that this good monk is in error, and that instead of an emerald, diamond or ruby from China, Goa or Calicut, he gives us stones ready cut on the inaccessible heights of Canada, of which I have spoken elsewhere. I quite allow that in Cyprus are found good marble, jasper, chalcedony, and in some parts of the sea, coral. This island is likewise distinguished by several fine monasteries, as Mancana, Andrio, Pepi, Sergio di Flatri, Cnxnrenti, Angustia, Morfu, Agrotiri and some others. Lastly it is commended to us for having produced a goodly hand of fine and excellent men, such as were Tnphylins, bishop of Xicosia, alive in A.D. 378, in the days of Constautiue the Great, a very eloquent personage, who has written several good books. Titus, a deacon, native of Paphos, was the contemporary of another distinguished Candiot of the same name: hence several scholars have fallen into error in saying and insisting.that the Candiot and the Cypriot were but one Titus, who was converted to the faith with S. Paul. Sergios Nicanor, one of the seven deacons and a disciple of S. Stephen. Epiphauius, who, although the son of a Jewish father and heathen mother, was converted to the faith through the prayers and piety of the Greek monk Lucian after he had roamed for long years through the countries of Asia, Egypt and Persia: later he was elected bishop of Sala-mina. His birthplace was the town of Marachassa. As he was the glory of the learned persons of this island 1 would not have himj forgotten in my History uf Illustrious Men (Les vrais pourtraicts fit vies des hommes illustres, Paris, 1584, p. 22), where you will find his life and portrait just as I brought it from this very island. He it was who first of all condemned thp heresy of Origen and all his writings. Spiridion, another Cypriot, was bishop of Tremittus. This good father was present at the first council of Nieaia, to which, before the bishops and prelates of the Greek and Latin churches, he proposed several questions to confute the sect of the Arians. Sometime after his return he died in the island of Corfu, and was buried in a temple of Greek monks, where his sepulchre was shown to me. As to Theodore, a distinguished person, he was a native of Cyprus, and when he had reached the age of a hundred he was elected bishop of the town of Pacennes, now much ruined. This valiant champion of the Church of (rod composed several beautiful books against the heresies of Dioscorus and Eutyches, and others who were ill disposed to the church of God. The good bishop of Salamis, Hilary, was a bold champion of the Catholic Church. • He composed three large volumes, two of which can be seen in the library of the Greeks at Mount Athos. He lived in the days of another great man, a bishop of Poitiers, also called Hilary; both these were the sconrges of the Arian heretics. As to John the Almoner, patriarch of the church of Egypt, who lived in the year 563, he was a Cypriot, born in the town of Amatus, which was also the birthplace of the good and learned bishop Stadion. His successor was Leonidas, who exchanged his see for that of Kapoleos, to live in greater retirement. When I myself was visiting the island of Cyprus there was shown me a corner of an old Greek monastery where this venerable father Leonidas was buried. In the same place the monks preserve as a great treasure certain manuscripts written in Greek on parchment, composed by him, which have not yet come to the knowledge of the Latins. He flourished in 614, in the days of Syrilos, bishop of the church of Bapho or Papho. I should be very sorry to have forgotten to recall to the reader the good Gelasius, the companion of Spiridion; both were present at the council of Constantinople. They showed there the wisdom and the hearty zeal which they had for the Church of God in encounters with the Arian sect. As to Julius, bishop of Papho, Theobrobrus, bishop of 'fremitus, Tichon, bishop VILLAMOXT. ΤΗ E V KT. 179

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