_The Dead are raised up; the King and the People are converted; a
Fountain is produced, and Tribute promised._
The divine Providence bestoweth on this transitory world the desire of
letters, to the end that the human race, which when death arrives
cannot long continue in the memory, may through distant ages preserve
the record of great events, and recall them as if passing before their
eyes. Therefore do those things appear to me very worthy of
remembrance which were done by Patrick, the illustrious preacher unto
the Irish nation, the holy prelate, who, by the grace of God, in his
evidences, his miracles, and his virtues, became the conqueror of the
old enemy, even to the gathering together the people of Ireland and her
kings, that they might serve the Lord; and at length he came unto the
noble city which is now called Dublinia. And it was inhabited by the
Norwegians and by the people of the Isles, having been conceded by the
King of Ireland unto the dominion of the queen, who was the daughter of
the King of Norwegia; and in course of time was it one while allied to,
and other while warring against, the kings of Ireland. Hither Saint
Patrick coming, found the city defiled with the abominations of idols,
and unknowing of the true Creator. And He who burst asunder the gates
of death and of hell smoothed the path for his servant; for the king
and the people, who erewhile had said unto the Lord, Depart Thou from
us, we will not the knowledge of Thy ways, so cast down were they, so
saddened with weeping and with lamentation, that all memory of their
wonted fierceness, all their barbarous rudeness, and all the pride of
their idolatry, were utterly subdued. Wretched was the spectacle on
that day! The twin hope of the kingdom, the delight of the city, the
solace of the old, the companion of the young, the son of the King of
Dublinia, lay in his chamber dead; and his sister, who had gone to
bathe in the neighboring river, had that day perished in the
mid-stream. And a tumult arose through the whole city; and the funeral
rites of the king's son being wholly neglected, all ran confusedly to
the shore; some, not even casting off their garments, plunge into the
river, some dive into its lowest depths, and others sail down the
course of the tide, lest haply the body of the royal damsel might
thitherward be hurried down. But they who had gone out to seek beheld
in the water the damsel lying down, even as one sleeping. They delay
not; they raise the royal maiden from the stream; they bear her unto
the chamber of her brother for her obsequies; and, according to the
superstition of the pagans, the tombs are prepared. And a rumor
gathers in the palace that he, Patrick of Ardmachia, who in the name of
the unknown God had already raised many that were even dead, had on
that day arrived in the city. This the king hearing rejoiced mightily;
and he caused him to come where his two children lay, and, being
already full of faith, he promised that if God at the prayers of the
saint would restore the children of his age, he and all his people
would worship him. And all the nobles confirm the promise of the king,
and the whole city yearneth toward the faith, so that the children may
but be revived. Then the saint, beholding the gain of souls which was
there prepared for him, poured forth his prayers, and in the sight of
the king and of the people restored to life the royal children; and
they, being made the assistants unto the faith, rising again in their
bodies, assisted in their father and in the people the resurrection of
souls. And this king was called Alphinus, and his son was called
Cochadh, and his daughter Dublinia, and from her the city received its
name. And he and all his people, rejecting their idols and all the
abominations of the devils, were converted unto Christ, and were
baptized at the fountain of Saint Patrick, at the southern side of the
city, which the saint, striking the earth with the staff of Jesus, had
caused to arise, to the increase of the faith of the believers;
wherefore did the saint offer there the sacrifice unto salvation; and
there, even to this day, is honor and reverence paid Saint Patrick and
his successors, the primates of Ardmachia. And from that time the King
Alphinus and all the citizens of Dublinia vowed themselves and all
their posterity to the service of Saint Patrick and the primates of
Ardmachia, and builded one church near this fountain, and another near
the Church of the Holy Trinity, and in the city westward of the
archbishop's palace. And they appointed a tribute unto Saint Patrick
their patron, which was unto the Archbishop of Ardmachia from every
merchant ship a sufficient cask of wine or of honey, a hook of iron, or
a measure of salt; from every tavern a vessel of mead or of ale; and
from every shop a gift of shoes, or gloves, or knives, or combs, with
many gifts of such kind. And on that day the king and his nobles each
offered unto him a talent of gold; but the people offered even as they
could, the which did Patrick, the poor in Christ, give unto the poor,
having retained a part unto the building of churches. Then blessed he
them with the blessings of Jacob the patriarch, and of Moses the
servant of God, like unto the age and spiritual bearing of whom he
appeared, prophesying, and praying, if their deeds agreed with their
words, that they might be unconquered and fortunate, but weak and
unhappy if ever they falsified their vows. Which plainly was proved
when this people, becoming proud and regardless of the blessing of the
saint, neglected to pay the appointed tribute.