majorem quam usus habitatorum postulat esse proventum, ad peregrinas etiam urbes transmittunt:  cum & suam comitatem & liberalitatem ostendant, tum ut praeter horum abundantiam cum facilitate res quibus indigent rursus ab illis sibi comparent:  sic & AEgyptii, quod attinet ad religionis athletas, fecerunt.  Cum apud se multam eorum Dei benignitate copiam cernerent, nequaquam ingens Dei munus sua civitate concluserunt, sed in OMNES TERRAE PARTES bonorum thesauros effuderunt:  cum ut suum in fratres amorem ostenderent, tum ut communem omnium dominum honore afficerent, ac civitati suae gloriam apud omnes compararent, totiusque terrarum ORBIS esse METROPOLIN declararent.—­Sanctorum enim illorum corpora quovis adamantino & inexpugnabili muro tutius nobis urbem communiunt, & tanquam excelsi quidam scopuli undique prominentes, non horum qui sub sensus cadunt & oculis cernuntur hostium impetus propulsant tantum, sed etiam invisibilium daemonum insidias, omnesque diaboli fraudes subvertunt ac dissipant.—­Neque vero tantum adversus hominum insidias aut adversus fallacias daemonum utilis nobis est haec possessio, sed si nobis communis dominus ob peccatorum multitudinem irascatur, his objectis corporibus continuo poterimus eum propitium reddere civitati_.  This Oration was written at Antioch, while Alexandria was yet the Metropolis of the East, that is, before the year 381, in which Constantinople became the Metropolis:  and it was a work of some years for the Egyptians to have distributed the miracle-working reliques of their Martyrs over all the world, as they had done before that year. Egypt abounded most with the reliques of Saints and Martyrs, the Egyptians keeping them embalmed upon beds even in their private houses; and Alexandria was eminent above all other cities for dispersing them, so as on that account to acquire glory with all men, and manifest herself to be the Metropolis of the world. Antioch followed the example of Egypt, in dispersing the reliques of the forty Martyrs:  and the examples of Egypt and Syria were soon followed by the rest of the world.

The reliques of the forty Martyrs at Antioch were distributed among the Churches before the year 373; for Athanasius who died in that year, wrote an Oration upon them.  This Oration is not yet published, but Gerard Vossius saw it in MS. in the Library of Cardinal Ascanius in Italy, as he says in his commentary upon the Oration of Ephraem Syrus on the same forty Martyrs.  Now since the Monks of Alexandria sent the reliques of the Martyrs of Egypt into all parts of the earth, and thereby acquired glory to their city, and declared her in these matters the Metropolis of the whole world, as we have observed out of Chrysostom; it may be concluded, that before Alexandria received the forty Martyrs from Antioch, she