43. Two Syriac writers, as they are quoted by Assemanni
(Bibliot. Oriental. tom. i. p. 336, 338), place the
resurrection of the Seven Sleepers in the year 736 (A.D.
425) or 748 (A.D. 437) of the era of the Seleucides. Their
Greek acts, which Photius had read, assign the date of the
thirty-eighth year of the reign of Theodosius, which may
coincide either with A.D. 439 or 446. The period which had
elapsed since the persecution of Decius is easily
ascertained; and nothing less than the ignorance of Mahomet
or the legendaries could suppose an interval of three or
four hundred years.